What happens when we start with a (near) universally beloved scripture verse — quite possibly the most famous verse of all time — and add a story that can only be described as bizarre, disturbing, and kinda icky??

What happens? Exactly what you think would happen: people stop being polite and start getting real. As in, real curious, real excited, real confused, or maybe just real put off. 

I mean, honestly, who takes the nighttime encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus and pairs it with deadly, poisonous snakes (of fire!) as punishment for complaining in the desert??

The author of the Gospel of John, that’s who. Actually, it turns out we humans have been telling stories of snakes for a really long time. Are snakes good or bad? Tormentor or savior? Friend or foe? As usual, it is more complicated than those binary possibilities suggest. 

So where does that leave us as followers of Jesus today? What could all these dang snake stories mean for us? Maybe that from which we most want to turn away deserves our focus, at least briefly? 

Pastor Dave will attempt to puzzle it all out this Sunday, March 14th, in his sermon, “Why did it have to be Snakes?!”

Register to worship with us in person Sunday at 10:00 a.m. OR join us online as we live stream worship on our Woodridge UMC YouTube Channel.