First preached by the Right Reverend Grant Lynn Ford at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, March 3, 1991; then twelve years later on Sunday, March 30, 2003; and again on Sunday, March 26, 2006. I like this one!
Said by the Reverend Ronald McGuire at the 9:00 am service.
The grace of our Master Teacher — the love of God in the unity of Spirit — be with you all.
God of deserts, islands, sky and seas; God who has delivered us a mighty long way: Through rough terrain, hills, valleys and mountains we have climbed. We give you thanks in the comfort of knowing that you were there all the time. In times of war and peace, abuse and love, decisions good and not so good, you stood in the midst of it all providing us protection, comfort and healing.
Though some of our decisions are not wise. Lord have mercy.
We seek you for refuge. Christ have mercy.
Hopefully we’ve learned lessons from our experiences. Lord have mercy.
Grant us peace. As we embrace the responsibility of our choices. Forgive us for our lack of maturity. With no complaints and complete gratitude, we affirm the good, the right and the generous through the examples of Jesus. Amen.
Said by the Reverend Kati L. Houts at the 10:20 am service.
The grace of our Master Teacher — the love of God in the unity of Spirit — be with you all.
God of all Life: Your unwavering love gives us cause to rejoice. You gave us the gift of your son Jesus who came to let us know just how much we are loved. Your constant love is always there; reaching out for us, protecting us, watching over us and healing our wounds.
Yet we are not always faithful in our love for you. Lord have mercy.
We forget that your love helps us to make right choices. Christ have mercy.
Our trust in you and your love vacillates and is not consistent. Lord have mercy.
Forgive us and help us to love you with our whole selves. Change us so that we may make the right choices. May we love others as you love us. Today we celebrate your goodness in our lives and share it with others. All this we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Numbers 21:4-9 (abridged)
4The people of God traveled to the Red Sea, a long trip, and they grew impatient, 5complaining against God and against Moses. “Why did you bring us from Egypt? To die here in the desert? There’s no bread, no water! We hate it here!”
6In their anger they walked right into a huge den of poisonous snakes. Many were bitten and died. 7They realized their error and pleaded: “It’s our fault. We complained about God and about you. Ask the Holy One to get these snakes out of here.”
Moses began to pray on the people’s behalf. 8That’s when the Eternal told Moses, “Fashion a snake on the top of a pole. If anyone’s bitten, they can look at it and live.” 9So Moses made the bronze snake. When anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
A Course in Miracles
Trials are but lessons that you failed to learn presented once again,
so where you made a faulty choice before you can now make a better one,
and thus escape all pain that what you chose before has brought to you.
John 3:14-17
14“Remember how Moses lifted up the snake in the desert? He gave the people a physical sign so they could believe something spiritual. It’s the same with the Son of Humanity: ‘lifted up’ 15so that everyone who trusts in him may really live…for all eternity.”
16“Because of God’s overwhelming love for all the world the Son — the Begotten One — was given, so that everyone who believes in him may really live — now and forever — and never cease to exist. 17God didn’t send the Son to tell the world how bad it was; that wouldn’t be a ‘love message’. No, the Son came to rescue the world from that kind of thinking, to put the world on the right track.”
Snakes are rather interesting creatures. I don’t know of too many people who choose them as friends, though some so-called friends may remind us of them sometimes.
It seems that during Prohibition there were two salesmen who came to a town not far from Tallahassee. They stopped a fellow on the street and asked him, “Is there any place where a person might get a wee drop to wet one’s whistle!”
“Well,” said the man, “if it’s booze you’re lookin’ for, it’s like this: in this town they only use whiskey for snake bites. Now there’s only one snake in town, and it’s gettin’ kind a late. You’d better hurry down and git in line before that snake gits exhausted.”
Or to put it in the words of W.C. Fields: “I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake — which I also keep handy.”
Today I want to talk about snake bites. (And it’s not because I’m thirsty.) I’m not talking about those snake handlers that one finds in the back hollers of certain American mountain ranges, where they take their scripture literally, such as: “They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them.” Today it’s pretty much accepted that those words did not appear originally in Mark’s Gospel, but that doesn’t stop these good folks from handling rattlesnakes in their religious frenzy. That’s been the source of many a funny story, not to mention one or two rather somber ones. Mark 16:18 NIV
I will resist telling those stories, defer to those who may find jokes about booze not funny, and focus instead on the story found in the book of Numbers. It’s this snake story that catches our attention.
What can we learn from it? First of all, if we choose to complain, we can expect to wander into a bunch of snakes, just as the Israelites did. It was not God who sent the snakes — though they wanted to blame God for it — but it was their own ingratitude and poor perspective that landed them in the snake pit. They were too busy griping to watch where they were going!
If we would apply this story to our present reality we can draw several lessons: 1) if you don’t want to get bit, don’t complain; and 2) don’t blame God for your own mistakes. Unlike many of us, Divine Mind doesn’t ‘buy into’ the ‘blame and shame’ game.
But there’s an even more powerful message in this story, a most powerful metaphor of God’s goodness. It says that the Eternal said to Moses: “Fashion a snake on the top of a pole. If anyone’s bitten, they can look at it and live.”
Our third lesson is this: 3) Look your snake right in the eye! You’ll discover that you made it, just as you created your own reality. But when you elevate the snake on a pole, and look at it in the light of day, you’ll also discover that it has no further power over you.
It’s not alive! It’s not the Truth of God’s goodness. It’s just like that other lie, the snake in the Garden of Creation.
Our addictions are lies which we have empowered. The Truth is, we were meant to live a happy, balanced life of sobriety and joy.
Our illnesses are lies which we have accepted. The Truth is, we were created to live long, sound, and abundantly prosperous lives.
The only way to be cured of the snakes that are biting us is to look at them and see them for what they are. Those snakes have only the power that we give them. When we see that they have no life of their own — like the bronze snake on the pole — we can then quit giving them life-energy, and the snakes quit biting!
The other side of the coin is this: as long as we allow the snakes to live, they’ll keep biting us. Ignoring addiction or disease will not make it go away. Living in denial doesn’t make the pain any less. It only shoves it deeper and deeper into the psyche, where it reappears in irrational behavior or further physical illness.
Look at your snake! Ken Keyes Jr in his Handbook to Higher Consciousness says: “To see your drama clearly is to be liberated from it.”
Jesus said, “Remember how Moses lifted up the snake in the desert? He gave the people a physical sign so they could believe something spiritual. It’s the same with the Son of Humanity.” John 3:14
What is he saying? He’s telling us that he is the living evidence of a powerful spiritual Truth. Most people want to depend utterly on Jesus to free them from the chains of addiction, illness and irrational behavior. They want to ‘get saved’. But Jesus is saying: Look at me! See how I live it. Then live it yourself. This is God’s gift of grace to you!
The Broadway actress Kathleen Andrus tells us: “The bottom line is that I am responsible for my own well-being, my own happiness. The choices and decisions I make regarding my life directly influence the quality of my days.”
Why do we always want to trade in our old dependencies for a new codependency? God’s plan for us — the Divine Design — is that we not develop religious codependency but spiritual independence. Only when we are free of dependency can we really grasp interdependency, which is faith based on love for one another. Real biblical faith is mutual trust between us and our Master Teacher, based on mutual respect and love. We can trust Jesus; Jesus can trust us; therefore we can trust and love others!
How do we build this trust, this faith? Listen to Jesus as he explains further to Nicodemus: “Because of God’s over-whelming love for all the world the Son — the Begotten Beloved — was given, so that everyone who believes in him may really live — now and forever — and never cease to exist. God didn’t send the Son to tell the world how bad it was; that wouldn’t be a ‘love message’. No, the Son came to rescue the world from that kind of thinking, to put the world on the right track. Those who believe this are free of guilt and shame.” John 3:16-18a
He is lifted up for our benefit. We lift him up as our role model. He didn’t succumb to addiction. He resisted instant gratification. We read that he got tired, but never that he got sick. When he died, he did it of his own choosing, in his own time, and for his destined purpose. He was never a Victim, but was always the Victor!
When he walked the shores of Galilee he was abundantly alive in the ‘Right Here, Right Now’. And he never quit living. He merely changed addresses, having manifested all the spiritual qualities that make him our Master Teacher, our Role Model, our Rescuer, our Guide, our Hero and Best Friend. (The friend who tells you how it really is surely is the best friend you can have, especially when that friend will pay the ultimate price for your friendship.)
Jesus tells it ‘like it is’ when he says, “God’s light is streaming into the world while people are running to hide in the shadows. Why? Because they’re afraid that the light will expose them for who they think they are and what they do. But the truth is, those who step into the light will see themselves for who they really are, and will see that what they do is ‘God working in and through them’.” John 3:19-21
You can do what he did, and he’ll give you all the guidance and encouragement that you need to do it. But you have to start out by being honest with yourself. You have to look at your snake. And then — seeing it for the lie that it is — look beyond it to the success story of Jesus. Finally, emulate him. Learn from him. Be empowered by his example and his spirit. Trust in him, and let him trust you, too!
What a God of love! No wonder we stand in awe and wonder of such a Divine Friend. How can we not embrace our own divine goodness, and live up to it?
You know what...that’s the Truth.
I am responsible for my life.
I choose to walk with my Divine Friend.
I choose to live in health.
I choose to live with wealth.
I choose to live with love.
I choose to share my life with others.
I choose to live life abundantly…
and I like it like that!So it is — and it is so! Amen!
Twenty-five years ago I heard Jim Rohn say: “You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” Anthony Robbins encapsulates it when he says: “Whatever happens, take responsibility.”
