On Snakes and Elephants

Today's story about the plague of poisonous snakes whose 'fiery' bite caused many to die is highly symbolic (see Numbers 21:4-9). The people ask for God's help, and God provides a way in which the wounds inflicted by the snakes can be healed: simply by looking directly at a bronze serpent which Moses had made and had lifted up high on a pole in front of all the people! at first hearing, it sounds to us like magical hocus-pocus nonsense. But think again the people were being asked to face the very thing they most feared - the very thing most challenging to them at the time. We have to do the same. We have to face the things we fear most.

Ideally, the church should be the safest place of all to deal with uncomfortable things (like poisonous serpents). Because we trust God, and because we trust one another - we ought to be able here to talk about anything: our deepest realities, our truest natures, our most haunting past experiences.

This is not, of course, the experience of 'church' that many have known. The us cultural norm for 'church' is still largely one of keeping up appearances; of censoring less-flattering human traits; of being nice but not very real. When this happens, the church is not the church. Sometimes there actually are snakes coiling on the ground beneath our feet, or elephants right there in the room with us! And we have to acknowledge these things if we're not to be poisoned or trampled underfoot! Face what you fear...and be healed!

One of the things I feared most to face when I was younger was my sexual orientation. Coming to terms with being gay took a long time and a lot of attention - in part because of societal prejudice, but also because my deeper nature wasn't all that clear to me in my earlier years. I've always been a person drawn to and attracted by many kinds of people, both women and men. This has been a good thing; I think it has served me well in my calling to the ministry. But I was a slow learner in terms of discovering what works best for me in my personal life. I feared rejection by family and friends. Could I ever be secure in my career, especially if that career turned out to have something to do with the church, the institution to which I was increasingly feeling called? Could I reconcile my beliefs and my sexual feelings? Eventually I came to believe that being a Christian and being gay were mot irreconcilable opposite and all. I no longer worry about this in the least. The struggle getting there was worth it. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Lent is the season especially set apart for Christians to face the things we fear and hate, and to realize that we can do this safely, that none of the things we fear have to consume or destroy us. John 3:15: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Human One, the Son of Man, be lifted up."

So: look up to the cross. really see the cross. Don't flinch and don't turn away. To see the cross adequately is not to glorify in the least, but rather, has everything in the world to do with overcoming violence and death. To truly face the cross as Christians is to do the same thing the Hebrews in the wilderness did in Moses' time: it is to face what's real along the way and know by faith we can make it through to that which is far greater and long lasting. Why? Because nothing can separate us from the far-greater and long-lasting love.

Like the people in the wilderness terrified by poisonous snakes, we confront the 'shadow aspects' of our lives so our souls can be healed. "Our spiritual task is not to avoid or destroy shadows, but rather, to dispel shadows by bringing them to light." (Whole People of God)