Sermon for November 22nd, 2015

Numbers 21:4-9

4From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” 6Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” 9So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

John 3:11-15

11“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

The Year In Glass, Part II

I have always been fascinated by windows. This probably goes back to my earliest days as a student, staring out of them, daydreaming about what was outside them, and basically doing anything possible to avoid what was being taught at the front of the classroom. Church windows were even better: They were already full of colorful pictures and symbols, and in any case it never took too much to distract me from the sermon send me on a stained glass flight of imagination.

Ironically, years later I became the one talking at the front of the room--first as a high school teacher, and now as a pastor. So if you're ever tempted to ignore me and just stare at the windows, please know that at the very least, I sympathize with you. And today, we're all going to indulge in that temptation, and let the windows do the preaching.

“People are like stained – glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.” – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross