We present a method for calculating multiple scattering of electromagnetic radiation by a collection of sparsely spaced spherical scatterers (SSSS) of Mie-scattering size based on first principles rather than radiative transfer theory. In this respect, our methodology is conceptually similar to the superposition T-matrix method. However, our implementation, which we call the SSSS scheme, differs in a number of respects. Overall, the SSSS scheme is simpler, it is better suited numerically to sparse spacing, and the computer memory required is only linearly dependent on the total number of scatterers. We suggest that the SSSS scheme would be particularly useful for examining the effects of different spatial configurations of drops within water clouds in Earth's atmosphere and would also be useful in other fields of research in which the exact configuration of a collection of sparsely spaced Mie-sized scatterers is important.