Snakes.......Why Did It Have To Be Snakes??

Last Sunday my quest to find a church home took me to another church in the greater Columbus area. As with the last visit, this church also had a "The Church at....." type of name, but it was sort of the nick name of a local campus of a larger Lutheran church. This church has three campuses and they all seem to be doing very well. The service I attended had two options in two different areas of the building. They had a traditional contemporary service (circa early 90's style) in the main sanctuary, and then they had a more contemporary service in their family life center. I was very impressed with the way they administratively pulled this off. So in short here is my assessment......its a candidate.

The worship band was good, but the service wasn't just about the music. Being Lutheran in denomination it was impressive how they combined the traditions of the lutheran liturgy with new musical styles. They used technology, but it wasn't flashy or in your face. It was a tool. Then the sermon was preached. I was very happy so far.

Now to explain the title of this post. My blog is syndicated to a few other places on the web, and on one of those sites a friend of mine made a joke about the title. He knows that I HATE snakes and he knows that I have a certain disdain for churches where things like snake handling happen. He made this joke on my last post the day before I visited this Lutheran church. How funny when the sermon I received on this visit was preached on Numbers 21:4-9. For those of you who don't have a bible handy....

The Bronze Snake
4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, [a] to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!"

6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

I really didn't think back to my friends joke until the pastor threw a picture of Indiana Jones in the snake pit from Raiders of the Lost Ark up on the screen. I almost laughed out loud. It was awesome. The best part was that the pastor actually presented the gospel. I was so happy. So this church is on my list as a possible place to hang my hat, or at least to visit more frequently. This week I wasn't really feeling well and so I watched my old church online and got a little homesick.

This is the actual picture he used.