I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. (Luke 10:19)
While studying at General Seminary in New York City, I was blessed to take a course called “The Art of Spiritual Autobiography.” It was taught by a brilliant professor from the New School named Katharine Kurs. In order to make us more pastorally aware and in hopes of shaping us to be better priests, we read over 40 spiritual autobiographies. Some we read in total. Others we read excerpts from her published work on spiritual autobiography titled Searching for Your Soul: Writers of Many Faiths Share Their Personal Stories of Spiritual Discovery. Her approach was to have us read first-hand accounts of survivors of trauma, abuse, incest, violence, self-harm, and spiritual crisis in hopes of opening us up to incarnational reality.
In the introduction to her spiritual autobiography anthology, Katharine shares this, “Even since I can remember, I have known two worlds. The concrete, day-to-day physical world-deadlines, desks, dinner-the world of manifestation; and another world, the spiritual world of mystery, the world of God… Attempting to live a spiritual life can indeed be a confusing and painful experience beset with obstacles and detours, rather than filled with the bliss we might have expected…While some describe a strong sense of ‘having arrived’ at place of spiritual stasis, many more suggest that the spiritual life is dynamic, always in flux. We read of transcendence and enlightenment that lasts for a millisecond and ecstasy that is fleeting at best and very hard to sustain. The depression and feelings of immense loss that sometimes follow spiritual ‘highs’ become, for many, intertwined with a relentless longing that, in turn, continues to fuel the search… (Spiritual autobiographies) can inspire us when our own connection to anything spiritual seems just a vague memory. They can provide reassurance when we feel isolated and misunderstood in our quest. When we are about to stumble, they can be the ‘lookout’ just ahead. When we get ‘uppity’ or spiritually complacent or lazy, they challenge us to begin again. And in those moments of union when we are indeed filled with a sense of the holy, they echo our joy.”
My seminary classmates and I looked forward to her class every week. The conversations, insights, and reflections were inspiring and exhausting. One of the first books we read in its entirity in Katherine’s class was Dennis Covington’s Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake-Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia. The summary from Amazon.com states, “For New York Times reporter Dennis Covington, what began as a journalistic assignment-covering the trial of an Alabama pastor convicted of attempting to murder his wife with poisonous snakes-would evolve into a headlong plunge into a bizarre, mysterious, and ultimately irresistible world of unshakable faith: the world of holiness snake handling. Set in the heart of Appalachia, Salvation on Sand Mountain is Covington's unsurpassed and chillingly captivating exploration of the nature, power, and extremity of faith-an exploration that gradually turns inward, until Covington finds himself taking up the snakes.”
In Salvation on Sand Mountain, Covington hopes to reclaim some of his past to make sense of his present identity. As he covers the snake handler’s trial, he shares that “cell memory” connects his present to the past. Covington’s insight, “Knowing where you come from is one thing, but it's suicide to stay there. Covington becomes spiritually seduced by the snake-handling worshippers. Something in his experiences of their worship triggers memories from a distant past. The excitement of snakes, music, melting sanctuary walls, and non-traditional approaches to the Holy Spirit attracts Covington, and he acknowledges his attachment to the adrenaline rush. He shares, “Feeling after God is dangerous business.”
Perhaps “cell memory,” internal body responses to external stimuli, transports him back in time, returning to the family traditions of his childhood, a heritage where his people had come down from the mountains and integrated with the mainstream. Although Covington’s initial attraction to the handlers seems to be related to his obsession with snakes, he discovers that his family heritage is linked with the handlers. He has found “his people” where he wasn’t looking. He has found a connection that alters his position in the scheme of things. Once in the community, he becomes vulnerable to the rules of the handlers.
Recently, during a theological reflection with the staff of EfM (Education for Ministry), I mentioned my fascination with Covington’s spiritual journey captured in Salvation on Sand Mountain. Bobbie Ashley, EfM’s registration specialist, knew of the place. It was only about 30 miles from the University of the South. One Saturday, my Associate Director, Joshua Booher, invited me to go with him to Scottsborro and search for the location of “The Church of Jesus with Signs Following.” But how would we find the place? We were sure the church was long gone. And an internet search didn’t reveal an address.
Joshua had found a clue in the book’s first chapter about where “The Church of Jesus with Signs Following” may have been. Covington recalls the first time he saw the church. He “was on a narrow blacktop called Woods Cove Road, not far from the Jackson County Hospital. I remember it was a cool evening. The sky was the color of apricots, and the moon had just risen, a thin, silver crescent. There weren’t any stars out yet. After I crossed a set of railroad tracks past the hospital, I could see the lights of the church in the distance, but as I drew nearer I started to wonder if this were really a church at all. It was, in fact, a converted gas station and country store, with a fiberboard façade and a miniature steeple.”
We made our way on a beautiful morning. We followed the clues Joshua had written down from the book. We found all the locations mentioned, but we had to guess within the area where the church might have actually been located. This once-isolated area of the outskirts of Scottborro, as described in Covington’s book, is now primarily full of developing subdivisions. As we passed by houses, we wondered if these people knew that once upon a time, these now-developed backroads were filled with the sounds of snake rattlers and screaming and moaning strychnine-drinking followers of Jesus.
In the book, Covington prepares to hold the snake. He shares, “There are moments when you stand on the brink of a new experience and understand that you have no choice about it. Either you walk into the experience or you turn away from it, but you know that no matter what you choose, you will have altered your life in a permanent way. Either way, there will be consequences… Let me tell you, the bite of the serpent is nothing compared to the bite of your fellow man.”
About the HBO/MAX documentary “Alabama Snake:”
The documentary covers the 1992 trial of Glenn Summerford, a snake-handling preacher from Jackson County, Alabama, and his trial for attempting to kill his wife with a serpent.
Summerford is currently serving 129 years in prison for attempted murder after his wife, Darlene Summerford, testified that he forced her to place her hand in a cage where poisonous snakes bit her.
″He took a pipe and hit the cages real hard so the snakes got real mad and then grabbed me by the hair and said he would push my face in if I didn’t stick my hand in there,″ she testified at the trial.