“The
First Sunday of Lent
Genesis 9:8-17
March 1, 2009
Dave Russell,
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The
first eleven chapters of Genesis, that portion of the book that comes prior to
the story of Abraham, have a unique quality about them. They are not so
much historical accounts as they are stories that convey deep truths, stories
that address the deep questions that people have. “How did the world come
to be?” The story of creation tells us that God created the world and all
that is in it. Why are there sin and evil and violence in the
world? The story of Adam and Eve in the garden tells us that humans
choose to disobey God. To answer the question of why are there so many
languages, we have the story of the
And
so, we have to wonder, what question is the story of Noah and the ark trying to
answer?
The
story of Noah and the ark and the flood and the rainbow is not an easy story,
although we generally try to make it into an easy story by leaving out the
uncomfortable parts. We’ve made it into
a kid’s story, and with all of the animals on the ark, it is certainly a story
that spurs our imagination and one that kids love. There are great songs
about it – about the “floody, floody,” and the animals getting on the “arky,
arky by twosies, twosies.” A lot of
church nurseries have scenes of the ark and all the animals. When Zoe was young, a friend of ours made a
beautiful little vest with pictures of Noah and all the animals getting on the
ark. Bill Cosby has an incredible monologue about Noah – it is a very fun
story. But it is only fun when we
isolate the section of the story about Noah and his family and all the animals
getting on the ark and going on this fantastic adventure.
When
you really look at it more closely, when you consider the whole story – the
rest of the story – it is not a kid’s story at all. It is serious business. It is deadly serious. It is a terrible,
tragic story of utter devastation.
Noah’s family and all of those animals on the ark - monkeys and zebras
and lions and giraffes – that’s fun.
Countless people facing the rising flood waters, standing on rooftops,
clinging to trees until they go under the water – animals panicking and
drowning as the waters rise – not so much fun.
The
scripture tells us that all of humanity was evil. All flesh was corrupt and filled with
violence, we read, and Noah alone was righteous. So Noah and his family and every kind of
animal boarded the ark, while his neighbors made fun of him. But then the rains came and the floodwaters
rose, and Noah got the last laugh, except that is really isn’t very funny. As evil as all humanity might have been, such
loss of life is not anything to celebrate.
What
question is the story of Noah and the ark trying to answer? At first glance, we might read today’s
scripture and think that it explains the question of where rainbows come from. But the question, I think, is a deeper one
than that. Maybe the question is, given
all of the problems in the world, all the evil, why doesn’t God just wipe it
all out and start over?
You
know, there is something very appealing about making a fresh start. You start out writing a paper, but it just
isn’t going anywhere, so you wad it up and toss it in the trash can and start
with a nice clean sheet. (If you are working on the computer you can just
drag the whole document to your virtual trash can.) Golfers can’t resist
taking a mulligan every now and again.
Or for some of us, again and again.
And do you remember Etch-A-Sketch? A child using the etch-a-sketch
can just shake it and start over with a blank screen.
There
are all kinds of fresh starts, getting rid of the old and starting over with
the new. What about God? Does God
ever want to just start over? Does God ever get so aggravated with
humanity – with the sin, the selfishness, the corruption, the hatred, the
violence, that God just wants to shake the world like an Etch-A-Sketch and
start all over?
God
came close with the flood, but it ends with a word of hope. It ends with a promise. The world might sometimes seem to be going to
hell in a handbasket, but God is still there, and God’s purpose is redemption,
not destruction. God makes a covenant with
Noah. The rainbow is a sign from God, a promise that the world will never
again be destroyed in a flood.
Just
before this morning’s passage, God says, “Never again will I curse the ground
because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from
childhood.” God makes the covenant with humanity despite knowing that we
will break God’s heart. The covenant has
nothing to do with our action; in fact, it is a one-way covenant. There
are no “ifs,” as with some other covenants in the Bible - “if you will
go to this new land I will show you, I will make of you a great nation,” or “if
you will be my people, I will be your God” or “if you will confess your
sins I will heal your land.” This covenant is completely one-sided.
God acts unilaterally – God’s promise is not dependent on anything we must do.
You
may remember the PBS program about the book of Genesis several years ago, hosted
by Bill Moyers. One of the participants in that conversation was a
newspaper editor. Bill Moyers asked him what would be the headline for an
article that would tell the Noah story, and he responded with something like
“GOD DESTROYS WORLD.” But quickly, another panelist, Samuel Proctor, the
retired pastor of the
Many
ancient civilizations had stories about a great flood. There apparently
was widespread flooding at some point of early history, and archaeologists and
anthropologists have made some interesting findings related to a widespread
flood. But the Biblical account is not simply a rehash of what we might
find in early Babylonian literature, for example. What is different is
the meaning attached to the flood and what it tells us about the nature of
God. And what it tells us is that God is not in the business of
destruction, but God is in the business of redemption. The rainbow is a
sign that God gives second chances. It is a sign that God will not give
up on us. It is a sign of God’s grace and love, and a reminder that even
through the storms, God is there.
The
story is told about the country preacher who announced that his sermon the
following Sunday would be about Noah and the
The
story of Noah and the ark and the rainbow is not easy, not when we consider the
whole story. But in the end it is a story of hope. In the end, there is a covenant made with
Noah and more than that, with all the world.
God says, “I am making my covenant with you and your descendants after
you and with every living creature.” And
God doesn’t just say this one time. In
the passage that we read, God says five times that this covenant is between God
and all flesh, all the world.
God
will not destroy God’s creation. That is
the promise of the rainbow. But what
about us? Polluted waters, polluted air, depleted ozone, global warming, what
to do with nuclear waste, depletion of scarce resources – we have not taken
care of this earth as God intends. God will not destroy creation, but we
seem to be giving it a good shot.
There
is terrorism, war, and cycles of violence and retribution. We give minimal attention to pressing
problems such as hunger, AIDS, illiteracy, lack of healthcare, and lack of
economic justice. We spend billions and
billions and billions on weapons of destruction. God has promised not to destroy humanity, but
we seem to be working on it.
If
God cares for all of creation, and if God seeks the redemption of the world,
not its destruction, then maybe we ought to think about getting on God’s side.
Living
under the sign of the rainbow means living by God’s grace. It means
knowing that God is for us, not against us, and that even in the midst of the
storms of life, God is there and God is for us.
It means knowing that however much we might deserve it, God will not
bring destruction but seeks our welfare.
The
storms can come in many ways. Not only
the great global issues, but through personal storms. Storms of grief, storms of desperation,
storms of anxiety. Going through the breakup of a relationship, having a
child in trouble, caring for a loved one with serious illness. Many are facing economic storms. And all of this and more can come at any
time. The rainbow is a promise that in
the midst of these storms, God is with us and God is for us.
Princeton
Seminary professor Daniel Migliore and his wife Margaret do a lot of work with
inner-city kids in
There’s
something sad about that, but there’s something hopeful as well. In the
midst of daily life, in the midst of the difficulties and hardships of life,
there is grace. These children need a
rainbow in the greasy puddles of their everyday world.
A
couple of weeks ago I dropped off Zoe at the high school and when I headed
home, I saw a rainbow in the sky. Except
that is hadn’t been raining. And in fact
it was about 5 degrees outside. It was
one of those days when 5 degrees was welcome relief from the cold.
It
wasn’t a rainbow, but a sundog. Sundogs
form when light refracts through ice crystals in a cloud. I think sundogs are kind of cool. And if you think of God’s promise of the
rainbow, the promise of grace, sundogs can serve as a reminder for us. Whether it is in the frigid days of winter or
in oily puddles in the street or in the aftermath of a storm, we need that
rainbow promise. We need a reminder that
God is with us.
Our
New Testament scripture is the beginning of Jesus’ ministry from the book of
Mark. Jesus is baptized, goes in to the
wilderness where he is tempted by Satan, and then begins his public preaching
ministry in
Today
is the first Sunday of Lent. Lent began in the early church as a time of
preparation for new believers who would be baptized at Easter, and gradually developed
into a 40-day period of reflection, confession, and spiritual renewal.
A
while back, we put down new flooring in the kitchen, and it meant that we had
to pull the refrigerator and stove out of the room. It’s amazing what you can find when you move
appliances – loose change, maybe an important paper you’ve been looking for, or
some earrings perhaps, along with dirt and grime and some major-league dust
bunnies. We don’t move the stove and refrigerator very often, but when we
do, we need to do some cleaning, and we may find some things we’ve been looking
for.
It’s
kind of that way with Lent. It is a time to do look closely at ourselves,
maybe see some parts of our life we haven’t noticed, and to do some cleaning
up. And in the process, we may find some things we really need.
The
rainbow is a good place for us to begin this Lenten journey. We live
under God’s rainbow, with the promise of God’s love. Like those children
who saw rainbows in the oil-slick streets, what we need is the vision to see God’s
rainbow in the messiness of our lives and our world. These are uncertain
days for many, but even in times of worry and apprehension, God’s rainbow is
there.
Timothy
Haut is a pastor poet who speaks to the place we find ourselves, and our need
for rainbows.
The
leaden clouds
loom
in the western sky,
threatening
rain or snow again.
We
shudder in the shadows,
weary
of these Lenten lands,
unwilling
to face another storm.
Where
is our Noah,
with
firm hand and steady eye
to
sail us toward spring’s horizon?
You
are the ark,
O
Lord;
Your
arms our only safe place.
Carry
us through the tempest
to
morning’s dry land,
the
waking welcome
of
birdsong and green leaf,
and
the faint shimmer of hope’s rainbow
against
the looming clouds.
You
are our ark, O Lord. Amen.