Sandhill Cranes

The sermon this morning was in Numbers.  I was a little surprised because the pastor said he was preaching through the Bible in two years and last week's sermon was mid-Exodus.  It isn't that I mind the jump but I was really looking forward to finally hear preaching from the minor prophets and I certainly didn't want him skipping over them like he just did Leviticus.  Today's sermon was about Moses making a statue of a 'bronze' serpent on a pole.  Unlike the pastor's New International Version, I use my King James Version of the Bible and there is was written as 'brass'.  Made a note to look into why the word changed in the newer versions.  The pastor said that this bronze serpent story might be the basis of the Greek symbol for medicine and projected a picture of a rod w/ a single snake entwined on the wall behind him.  That didn't look quite right.  I knew the symbol for the planet of Mercury had two horns at the top representing two snakes and the god Mercury was the god of healing.  So I made another note to look that up.  The Coffee and Conversation crowd have told me before that a Roman Catholic homily is short because if you can't get across your point in ten minutes, you shouldn't be a priest.  They will be horrified next week when I tell them not only did our preacher talk for at least a half hour but I also had homework.