Difference between revisions of "Sermon for November 15th, 2015"

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(Created page with "==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...")
 
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Strange.
 
Strange.
  
Fast forward another couple of thousand years, to the 1960s, and the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in El Paso--the Reverend Geroge W. Burroughs--writes a book about the church's stained glass windows.  He calls the book "So must the Son of Man be lifted up."  This is from today's gospel reading:  "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."
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Fast forward another couple of thousand years, to the 1960s, and the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in El Paso--the Reverend Geroge W. Burroughs--writes a book about the church's stained glass windows.  He calls the book "So must the Son of Man be lifted up."  This comes from today's gospel reading:  "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."
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So what's the connection? What do snakes, poles, and the Son of Man have to do with our stained glass windows?  Well, that's what this week's sermon, and next week's sermon, are all about.

Revision as of 11:43, 13 November 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 I

On the surface, this must seem like a couple of really odd scripture readings this morning. The Israelites complain about miserable food; God sends snakes to bite them; they quickly apologize; God tells Moses to lift up a snake on a pole, and everyone who looks at it will be saved. Then a few thousand years later, Jesus says to his followers, "Yeah, I'm kind of like that snake Moses lifted up in the desert."

Strange.

Fast forward another couple of thousand years, to the 1960s, and the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in El Paso--the Reverend Geroge W. Burroughs--writes a book about the church's stained glass windows. He calls the book "So must the Son of Man be lifted up." This comes from today's gospel reading: "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."

So what's the connection? What do snakes, poles, and the Son of Man have to do with our stained glass windows? Well, that's what this week's sermon, and next week's sermon, are all about.