4th Sunday of Lent
John 3:14-21
And, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And, this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But, those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”
We Have Never Been this Way Before
We have some interesting readings from the lectionary today. Our Hebrew Bible reading tells the story of the Israelites wandering through the desert after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. Things aren’t going well, or at least not as well as they would like, so they begin to complain. According to the story, because of their complaining, God sends snakes among the people to bite them, and many of them die because of it. The people repent, and God tells Moses to create a serpent out of bronze, and to put it up on a pole so that anyone who is bitten can look at it and be cured.
This reading is one of only three passages in the lectionary that comes from the book of Numbers, and the story that it tells is for lack of a better term, strange. As the Israelites were wandering through the desert, God had been providing them with food, because of course they needed to eat, but it wasn’t the kind of food that they were used to, and probably not as much food as they would like, so they complained. “Why, Moses, did you bother rescuing us out of Egypt, just so we could die in the desert?”
The theme that we’ve been using around the conference this past year is “We have never been this way before.” It signifies a new direction for us, as we explore what it means to be a conference with a small number of people spread out over such a large geographic area, a challenge that is uniquely Montana. We have 26 congregations in our conference, and many of the smaller ones struggle to attract a pastor. What do we need to change so that we can be successful as a conference? What do we need to change as we move forward?
I currently serve on the Committee for Outdoor Ministry, and we decided to also use this theme for our 2024 camp season. Many of the people who come to camp, especially the kids, are entering new phases of their lives, starting new schools, experiencing new family dynamics, new jobs. Even for those who have been to camp before, they’re not the same people that they were when they came before, so their experience of camp is going to be different, the other people at camp are going to be different, and what they take with them when they leave will be different. “We have never been this way before,” applies to even the most seasoned camper.
As the Israelites wandered through the desert, they may very well have been saying to themselves, “We have never been this way before.” They were uncomfortable, things were hard, and they didn’t know when it was going to end. They didn’t want to be there, and they just wished they could go back to the way things used to be, even though what they used to be was an enslaved people in a foreign land. And then, the whole thing happens with the snakes and the bronze serpent on top of a pole, which is alluded to in today’s gospel reading, which starts with the sentence, “And, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
This is interesting because one of the Ten Commandments is that we are not supposed to make idols, and this serpent seems to be a sort of representation of God. In Second Kings, the Israelites actually start to worship this bronze serpent, so King Hezekiah is forced to destroy it. But, setting all of that aside for now, God is one who tells Moses to make this serpent, and it’s God who tells the Israelites to look at it. God points at the serpent and says, “Look over here. Look at me. Stop looking at everything that’s wrong with this situation. Stop worrying about where you are and what’s coming next. Stop looking for things to complain about, stop worrying that the food isn’t what you’re used to. You don’t need to do that, because I am here with you. I am taking care of you. You’re going to be okay, because I am with you.”
We’ve had a lot going on in our conference the last few years, a lot of things to worry about. The conference decided that they could no longer afford to maintain a camp, and they had to let Mimanagish go. It wasn’t an easy decision, because Mimanagish is such a special place to so many people. We have a new conference minister now, and even though we have always been a small conference, as churches across the country, across all denominations, shrink, as they have been for the last few decades, our conference is getting even smaller. Seminaries are closing their doors because fewer and fewer people want to go into ministry, and pastors are becoming increasingly hard to find.
“We have never been this way before.” We don’t know what the future holds. We don’t have a map showing us the way. But, what we do know is that God is with us as we make this journey. God never left us. God is always right here, loving us and providing for us. And, much like the serpent raised up on the staff, God sent Jesus to us to be the way, the truth, and the light.
Even though so much has changed, there are still things we can depend on. Our conference may be small, but the congregations and pastors out there are our family. I’ve come to realize that one of the blessings of being in a small conference is that I’ve been able to really get to know a lot of the people here and make real friendships. It’s impossible to get lost in the crowd and just observe from the corner of the room. If you’re not participating, people are going to notice, and they’re going to come and find you. This conference really does feel like a family, and we support each other and take care of each other.
“We have never been this way before” isn’t just a theme for a conference or a summer camp. It applies to all of our lives. Through all of the uncertainty, all of the worry and sometimes fear, God has been with us. As a congregation, we have done incredible things, through the strength that God has given us. Think about the legacy of Plymouth Congregational Church; think about what this church means to the wider community and what our role is in it.
We are in the season of Lent, a time of reflection and prayer. A time of meditation and fasting. Like Advent, it’s a time of waiting, a time that allows us to grow closer to God and to listen to God. What is God telling you to do? Where is God pointing? God is always pointing the way, guiding us to where we need to go. It’s always going to be something new, somewhere we have never been before. What is God calling you to do this Lenten season? What does God want you to reflect on? Where does God want you to look? Now is the time to be brave, take a deep breath, and step into the unknown. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
