Sermons

'A Serpentine Sermon Story:'

"A Serpentine Sermon Story"
A Sermon by Charles Blustein Ortman
February 24, 2002
At the Unitarian Church of Montclair
67 Church Street, Montclair, New Jersey 07042
973-744-6276 WWW.UUMontclair.org  

(The scene is the open sanctuary floor of the Unitarian Church. The two snakes are circling the space in conversation with one another. The letter “S” of course is often elongated!)

Brother Snake:
So, Sister Snake, it's so nice to see you. How are things?

Sister Snake:
Oh, Same old, same old, I suppose. What's new with you?

Brother Snake:
Not so much. I've been sunning on that rock over there. Sunning and doing a little thinking, I suppose.

Sister Snake:
Oh, and have you been thinking about anything special?

Brother Snake:
Well, you know I've been taking that class in Snake History.

Sister Snake:
Yes, I saw it advertised in the Serpentine Review. I wondered if it would be interesting. What do you think?

Brother Snake:
Well I don't think I was fully prepared for some of the terrible things some people have been saying about us snakes through the ages. You wouldn't believe it if I told you.

Sister Snake:
But I've read lots of the old myths. I thought people – especially women – loved us.

Brother Snake:
What have you heard?

Sister Snake:
Well, I've heard tell that back in ancient times, I mean way back, that people worshipped us. Did you read anything about Ancient Greece in your class?

Brother Snake:
Well, sure we did.

Sister Snake:
Well, then you know that Athena was one of the Greek’s most important Gods. Some of our ancestors would wrap themselves around the tops of her arms, and she would just keep them there. It's said that they were very fond of one another, Athena and the Snakes. And that she got much of her strength from them.
She even made a ship out of clay from the earth. And she made it look just like one of us. Though I don't suppose it was pink. All the other Goddesses adored Athena and her snakes.

Brother Snake:
I did read the chapter on ancient Greece. And I know about Athena and some of the other Goddesses, too. But there are other stories…

Sister Snake:
Sure, like the wonderful stories from the Hopi Indian dances. Did you know that every year, for thousands of years and to this day, the Hopi people have a special festival? They dance with us and eat with us. It's a wonderful time. And then, toward the end of the festival they even put some of us snakes right into their mouths to show how much they love and trust us.

Brother Snake:
I don’t think I would like that very much!

Sister Snake:
No, they do it to honor us. And then the snakes carry the message and prayers of the Hopis up into the hills to deliver to Grandmother Earth. How do you like that?

Brother Snake:
Well, I suppose that is really nice. But there are some other things that I’ve been reading, too.

Sister Snake:
What do they have you reading?

Brother Snake:
We've been reading a book called, Genesis, and I've got to tell you it's not very flattering.

Sister Snake:
What do you mean?

Brother Snake:
Well in Genesis there's this wonderful garden and everything is beautiful and everybody's getting along just wonderfully until we snakes come along. Yes, it's one of ours that convinces Eve and Adam to break the rules, and then everything starts to go wrong. I haven't finished all of it yet, but there's something about a fall. I think the whole garden is going to fall. They say it's our fault, and that people hate us. They say we're evil and that it's our fault there's evil in the world. And it's not only in Genesis. I don't want you thinking this is all the fault of the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. There's a story almost identical to the one in Genesis – but it comes from the Bassari people of Africa. Can you imagine?
The Bassari legend tells the story this way. "One day Snake said, 'We too should eat these fruits. Why must we go hungry?' Antelope said, 'But we don't know anything about this fruit.' Then man and his wife took some of the fruit and ate it. Unumbotte came down from the sky and asked, 'Who ate the fruit?' They answered, 'We did.' Unumbotte asked, 'Who told you that you could eat that fruit?' They replied, 'Snake did.' " It is very much the same story. Can you believe that?

Sister Snake:
Why I never heard of such a thing!

Brother Snake:
That's what I've been trying to tell you. This is a very mixed bag. On one hand you've got the Greeks and some of the matriarchal Goddess cultures that think we're great. And on the other hand you've got some of these Western religions right along with still other matriarchal cultures that think we're slime.
You know in some cultures we represent very best there is, like the cycle of life, itself. All the positive energies of the universe made available to humanity through the mere image of a serpent.

Sister Snake:
I think that’s because we shed our skin and circle back on ourselves. That’s why they consider us a symbol of the Circle of Life and other symbols of renewal.

Brother Snake:
In some places, like Egypt, snakes are a symbol of all that's good and even divine. In other places we're lower than a …well…lower than a snakes belly. What do you make of all this contradiction, sister Snake?

Sister Snake:
People are strange creatures. I'm not sure we can always trust them. They're so…slimy.
Here's what I make of it though. People don't always like to own their own feelings. And sometimes they don't like to take responsibility for their own actions. You know, "The devil made me do it,” sort of thing.
When the things people are doing are good, they don't mind so much. But when they behave badly watch out! They look for anything or anyone to blame.

Brother Snake:
Amen, Sister Snake.

Sister Snake:
They like to make things into symbols. I'm not even sure they know when they're doing it. And if you're a symbol for something good, well that's all fine and well. But if you're the symbol for something bad, well like I said, watch out!

Brother Snake:
I suppose symbols are a good thing if they help people to recognize that the struggle is inside themselves and not with us. But people sure seemed to get confused between their symbols and reality. Uh, oh!

Sister Snake:
What's the matter?

Brother Snake:
My eyesight isn't all that good. I'm stuck with snake eyes, you know. But I think this room might be filled with people, right now. I think were surrounded by them! They're everywhere!

Sister Snake:
My eyes aren't so good either, but I think it's just your snaky imagination. But what if this room were filled with people? What then? What would you want to say to a church full, I mean a room full of people, on a Sunday morning?

Brother Snake:
I suppose I'd want to tell them to give us to break. Whatever they think we've done wrong -- we're innocent. If they want to figure out where things went wrong, they should look to themselves and do a little house cleaning there.

Sister Snake:
I'd want them to know the same thing about the good stuff. Whatever they think that we've done that's absolutely divine -- it's not about us. It's about them! If people could just realize that they are responsible for their own feelings and actions, if they could only own their mistakes and their accomplishments, I'll bet they'd make fewer mistakes and make even greater accomplishments.
And they'd learn to speak with perfectly honest tongues like ours.

Brother Snake:
Amen, Sister Snake. And you know what? I'll bet they'd do a lot better, and they'd be better off if they'd just spend a little more time being quiet and paying attention to what's going on inside. That's where all the symbolism stuff starts in the first place. I think they’d find it very rewarding and quite renewing! If they could sort out their insides, like we do, they'd be way better off. When we get our insides sorted out, we shed our old skin, and we move right along…casting off the old, and coming out with the new. I call it …renewing the spirit!

Sister Snake:
I think you're right, Brother Snake. It takes a lot of time to know who you are... And what you're doing... And what you need to be doing.

Brother Snake:
If people really want to learn anything from us snakes, they should watch how we do it. On warm, sunny days you find a nice flat rock to sun yourself on. And when it gets too hot out, or nasty, you find a nice big rock to hide under for a while.

Sister Snake:
And when you're feeling really good, you get together with a bunch of other snakes, you rattle your rattle a bit, and you get down with some good old-fashioned snake line, circle dancing!

(The script is followed by drumming and chanting provided by the Bum Kneez Drum, Native American chanting group. The congregation is then led into a spiral dance, circling in and out of the sanctuary’s large middle floor.)