Today we have a group of lessons that display a unique unity of purpose.
Our God is a loving God who means well by us but in giving us free will he allows us to make choices and decisions that are not always in our best interest. Whenever and however we stray he is always willing to forgive if we but repent and believe in his mercy. He does not interfere with natural law and remove the side-effects of our actions.
In our OT Lesson the Israelites strayed and were attacked by poisonous snakes. Moses created a bronze figure that to this day is the symbol of a doctor's hippocratic oath to do no harm. The simple act of looking at this figure in faith saved the people who so did.
Psalm 107 acknowledges God's saving grace and man's need to seek and believe in it.
In Ephesians that which separates us from the love of God is termed sin. It is our belief in the grace of God that restores us to spiritual health and well-being if we but repent and believe.
Today's Gospel contains some of the most overworked verses in the entire NT. Moses' lifting up of the bronze serpent is equated with Jesus' crucifixion.
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John Stainer set these texts to some of the most saccharine melodies ever inflicted on an audience.
In the most dramatic possible fashion as Christians we believe that God intervened directly in human affairs by being born as a man and testifying to God's love and forgiving nature through his life, his teaching and his death.
If we can but believe in God's loving forgiveness we can be made right with ourselves, the world, and our God. This aspect of God's love has always existed, Jesus simply came to earth in the most extraordinary way possible to demonstrate it.
Our God is a loving God who means well by us but in giving us free will he allows us to make choices and decisions that are not always in our best interest. Whenever and however we stray he is always willing to forgive if we but repent and believe in his mercy. He does not interfere with natural law and remove the side-effects of our actions.
In our OT Lesson the Israelites strayed and were attacked by poisonous snakes. Moses created a bronze figure that to this day is the symbol of a doctor's hippocratic oath to do no harm. The simple act of looking at this figure in faith saved the people who so did.
Psalm 107 acknowledges God's saving grace and man's need to seek and believe in it.
In Ephesians that which separates us from the love of God is termed sin. It is our belief in the grace of God that restores us to spiritual health and well-being if we but repent and believe.
Today's Gospel contains some of the most overworked verses in the entire NT. Moses' lifting up of the bronze serpent is equated with Jesus' crucifixion.
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John Stainer set these texts to some of the most saccharine melodies ever inflicted on an audience.
In the most dramatic possible fashion as Christians we believe that God intervened directly in human affairs by being born as a man and testifying to God's love and forgiving nature through his life, his teaching and his death.
If we can but believe in God's loving forgiveness we can be made right with ourselves, the world, and our God. This aspect of God's love has always existed, Jesus simply came to earth in the most extraordinary way possible to demonstrate it.
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