BLent4 Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 March 22, 2009 Moses’ serpent of bronze wrapped around a pole. It is quite an interesting symbol. Apparently it was an already familiar symbol to the Israelites When God told Moses to make it. In the book of Numbers, we find the Israelites still in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness after escaping from Egypt. The serpent wrapped around the pole stems from Egyptian goddess worship that the Israelites have apparently brought with them into the exodus. The snake wrapped around a rod or staff has been found on ancient Egyptian crowns - a symbol of protection. If the poisonous snake is on my side, I won’t get hurt. The serpent and pole motif is also found in Greek mythology. It is the sign of Asclepius, [u-sklee-pee-us] the son of Apollo and god of medicine and healing. The shedding of a snake’s skin is a symbol of rebirth, the staff/rod – a symbol of authority. And so, the authority/responsibility to be an agent of healing. We recognize it as the symbol of the American Medical Association. Anyway, all accounts point to the serpent and pole as representing healing and the hope for new life. Jewish midrash teaches that what was life-giving in Moses’ holding this symbol high was that it caused the people to lift their eyes away from that which causes death (the poisonous snakes on the ground) upward toward God, the giver of life. When Jesus mentions this ancient symbol in the gospel of John, he says that his being lifted up on the cross – in the same way will draw people into God’s life-giving, eternal, love. Eternal life – not just a future existence, but in the midst of this life of ashes to ashes and dust to dust, to be drawn into a deep sustaining relationship with the unending source of life. A couple of weeks ago in the catechumenate class, -a class for folks wanting to know more about the Episcopal Church And/or seeking to confirm their faith- as we were talking about the authority and interpretation of scripture, someone asked, “What does salvation mean?” It was kind of like talking about the temperature outside and being asked to explain global warming. Well, maybe not that complicated – because salvation does simply mean to be saved. I guess the bigger question implied is – saved from what? Well, from whatever does not give us life, from whatever it is that can kill us. For me, poisonous snakes are a good example. For the hungry, the thirsty, the poor – salvation is food, water, shelter, clothing. And Jesus was clear that this kind of salvation is very much at the heart of his good news. Being poor in spirit leads can be just as real And he came to save those who hunger and thirst to be alive to God. He came to give us that unending source of living water. There’s another word that accompanies salvation – sanctification. My childhood understanding of salvation warned against ‘works righteousness.’ That our salvation comes solely from the abundant grace and mercy of God. that we fool ourselves if we think we can work to improve ourselves to make ourselves good enough to be ‘saved.’ I believe this is true. BUT – being sanctified is different from being sanctimonious. Last week during the women’s retreat, our speaker, Fr. Bernie Dooly, talked about sanctification in terms of prayer. That as we practice the presence of God in prayer there are three stages of sanctification. We begin with an attitude of prayer that is a reaching toward God In which we ‘say’ our prayers, ‘do’ our ministry, ‘study’ our scriptures, ‘amend’ our lives, and get answers to our questions. In the middle of our spiritual growth, our sanctification, We become responsible collaborators with God. Our prayers become more relational, more meditative. We experience life and ministry as shared and mutual with God and each other. Scripture becomes a dialogue with God. O Our lives are lived in response to God. We learn that questions are just as valuable as answers. Then, as we grow, we begin to relinquish, to let go. Our prayer life becomes one of listening. Our ministry consists in simply being children of God. Scripture becomes a love letter from God. We are free to let our sense of self be absorbed into the greater Self of God. And both the questions and answers settle down into a state of peace in which we are content and fulfilled in the presence of God. We grow into the wonderful truth that we are holy and beloved of God. When I first heard about this kind of ‘path’ my upbringing warned me that it smacked of ‘works righteousness’, of working to attain holiness. But sanctification is not about what we do to be saved. But what we do, how we live, when we wake up to the fact, to the gift that we are saved. That we are holy and beloved in God’s eyes. If we are saved FROM – We are sanctified FOR – To be saved from thirst – means not to die of thirst, to be hydrated with water physically or to receive spiritual refreshment from God. Water is sanctified, set aside as holy, sacred - FOR a special purpose That God’s people and God’s creation, holy and beloved, Will be hydrated and cleansed, in body and in spirit. The waters of baptism sanctify us, set us aside for holy and special purposes. To be saved from hunger – means not to die of hunger, to be filled in body and spirit with what is life-giving, life-sustaining. Food, then, is sanctified FOR the sustenance of our bodies. The bread and wine of holy communion feeds us and sanctifies us to go into the world with gladness and singleness of heart. To be saved – born again, from above – is to be awakened to God’s love by Jesus. To be sanctified is to be drawn into that life-giving love – for the life of the world. Quote from Sarah Dylan Breuer: Sarah Dylan Breuer, SarahLaughed.net, the page for Lent 4B (which is posted this week at TheWitness.org). Breuer takes on the individualist "drive to re-invent ourselves" in contemporary American culture, as often manifested in "born again" theologies. She writes: Following Jesus is not a program for self-improvement; it's an invitation to a community. It's dislocation from a network of relationships that perpetuates injustice, death, and alienation so that we can be knit into a network of relationships that brings healing, reconciliation, and abundant life rooted in the eternal. Think about how many things are set by our birth in this world: We are born in a geographical location that can accustom us to unjust privilege or prevent us from access to clean water, education, the chance to live to adulthood. We are born in families that instill in us a sense that we are loved and too often a sense also that we are deeply inadequate. We are born with a skin color that will also condition our sense of who we are, what we deserve, whom we may love or fear. This world is set up in ways that try to lock us into patterns of relationship based on our birth -- patterns that separate us from one another and from God. How might the world be different if those patterns were disrupted, if you and I could be sisters and brothers in healthy relationship? ... Let me put it this way: What would our relationships look like if we shared one birth and were raised in one loving, supportive family? What would an economy look like that took seriously that we live and work in a world that is our common inheritance, and not a set of disconnected chunks of land and resources to be conquered like a Risk game board? What would a world look like in which we saw every child as our own little sister or brother, if "family first" included them all as our own flesh and blood? That's Jesus' invitation to us today. Coming to invite us to be "born from above" means that Jesus saves us from all that does not breathe into us the larger eternal life and sanctifies us for the purpose of joining him in his ongoing work of salvation. The Great Litany – and next week the Stations of the Cross are exercises in awareness of what Jesus came for. Of what he would save each of us and the world from and what, as holy and beloved of God, we are sanctified for.