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The Rev. Frank Logue
As Long as the Earth Remains Note: This sermon began with a clip from the movie “Evan Almighty” in which the title character is first followed by pairs of wild animals and then encounters God telling him to build the ark. The scene itself is comic. No matter what time period in which we set it, the idea of God sending animals to a man two by two in order to be loaded on to a giant ship just comes across as far fetched. Try to think of the story in modern times as the movie “Evan Almighty” does so well and it is a test of faith to say the least. But the story is no less preposterous just because we imagine it taking place way back in the mists of time. Noah comes across as a unique man. And God’s task for him is certainly one of a kind. Then when we come to our Old Testament reading for this morning and the rainbow is given as a sign that God will never again bring a flood that will wipe all life off the earth, it starts to sound more like myth than history. How are we to understand a story like the one of Noah? As myth, fine. As history, maybe. Probably. Especially given the historical and cultural evidence on a great flood. But what could any of this have to do with our daily lives? When we look a little deeper, we find much in the story that is too common to be myth. This starts with God’s assessment of creation, which he finds to be flawed. Genesis tells us how God wanted to wipe out all life because of the wickedness of humans. We are told in chapter six, Now the Lord observed the extent of the people’s wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will completely wipe out this human race that I have created. Yes, and I will destroy all the animals and birds, too. I am sorry I ever made them.” (6:5-7) Ever have regrets? Wonder if God does? Genesis tells us that there was a time when God regretted the whole project of creation because all the thoughts of people were “consistently and totally evil.” But hold the presses. There is one more thing to report. There is one bright spot in the creation. The very next verse of chapter six tell us, But Noah found favor with the Lord…. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with him. (Genesis 6:8-9) Next comes God’s call to Noah. Then Noah and his sons build the ark. The flood comes and covers over the whole earth. Then in chapter eight, after the flood waters have receded God says, “I will never again curse the earth, destroying all living things, even though people’s thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood. As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.” Notice that all life was being wiped out because of humankind’s wickedness. Then after the flood, God with eyes wide open to the evil humans are capable of, promises never again to curse the earth, or destroy all living things. The round of the seasons will always continue. Then in the next chapter, we get our reading for this morning in which the rainbow becomes a sign for all creation that flood waters will never again wipe out all creation. And as God had promised in the earlier chapter that as long as the earth remains, there will be “springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night” we see then that it is not just that we are free from floods, but that God will never again wipe out all life on earth. Notice that the rainbow is not a sign just for the people of Israel, or even just for humans. The rainbow is to be a sign of the covenant “between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.” The rainbow is for all the whole earth and every living creature on the earth. Humans may be filled with evil thoughts, but God will never again threaten all life on earth because of that wickedness. To use the language of theology, we are talking about general revelation. General revelation are the things God hard wired into creation so that everyone anywhere knows them. Everyone knows of rainbows. The word then about how rainbows came to be and what rainbows signify is specific revelation. Specific revelation is not written into the world for all to see, but is revealed to a few, even if the few numbers in the billions, its not a revelation to everyone. This specific revelation goes on to say, “As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.” This shows that the very order of nature is a sign from God. God tells us in this story that we can count on the round of the seasons. God is and will be faithful. Therefore we can count on the sun to rise and spring to follow winter. These seem like small things, but I have found that the idea is life changing. How many times does one find him or herself in winter? The cause will vary. The issue might be the death of a loved one, or the end of a marriage, or a tragic accident, or something else. But the truth is that the winter comes to our lives. It can happen. When one finds that winter comes, it would seem that there is no reason left for hope. How could God allow my Father or brother to die, or my marriage to end, or my best friend to get pancreatic cancer, or any one of a thousand things? How could this happen? We want to consider a world in which God prevents any harm. And yet we teach our children when they are young to look both ways before crossing the street. When they get older we teach them not to drink and drive. We teach any number of a million things knowing that the chances and changes of this life can bring harm. Then when harm comes we seem surprised. Yet, there is a part of me who, while not understanding God’s ways, can see why this is so. I am a parent and I guess I could do all in my power to protect my daughter. I could prevent her driving, or traveling, or swimming, or whatever I think it would take to do everything humanly possible to prevent her from harm. I could do this. But I don’t. I love my daughter deeply and yet I encourage her to live in a world of choices in which her decisions can be deadly. I could make sure she doesn’t drive. But I help her to buy a car. I could try to keep her locked away safe and sound. But I don’t think it would be love to trap my daughter at home, as free from harm as I could arrange. Instead, I encourage her to venture out into a dangerous world. I do this knowing that the world of choices that have some risks is a wonderful world of possibilities. I wish for her this world of possibility. So, in my own finite way, I do something like God. God could protect us, but in so doing would lock us away from all choices, both good and bad. To have free will is to have the chance to do ourselves and others harm. And when harm comes to us and those we love, we can enter into what feels like winter, in which the world can come to feel cold, and empty, and lacking the warmth of God’s presence. If you follow the metaphor I am using, anytime in which God seems to be absent, or not behaving in the way we want God to act, is a wintertime. But in these times we need to see the promise of a better world which God gave to Noah after the flood. God said, “As long as the earth remains, there will be springtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night.” This is, in fact, our experience. When an otherwise healthy tree sheds its leaves for winter, we don’t break out the chainsaw. And, in areas that get snow, we see the bare branches of trees standing out against a backdrop of snow, and we do not suppose the trees are dead. We know that winter has come but spring will come again. We have the sure and certain hope that comes from experience that has taught us spring doesn’t last forever. This is part of the general revelation common to all humans. Added to this is the specific revelation from scripture that we Christians have as a source of additional hope. In scripture we are taught that this general revelation of how spring always follows winter is also true in the winter experiences of our lives. God may feel absent at times. We may enter times when we question who God is and how God acts. But even in the winter of our despair, we have the specific revelation of God found in Jesus, the Christ, teaching us that we are never alone. God is always with us and spring is always coming. Therefore our hope is not in vain. The story of Noah may seem like a stretch. It’s hard enough to imagine the animals coming two by two, but I am sure God could pull that off. I have more trouble imagining Noah and his family building the ark while all around ridicule the project. It must have felt like winter. Everything they knew before God’s call was gone. There standing in the eyes of others was as good as dead. Everyone thought the whole family was crazy. The only reason I believe the story of Noah and the ark is that I see the truth it teaches in my life each and every year. God told Noah that as long as the earth remains, season will follow season. I see this in the world around me. Then metaphorically, I see the same thing all the time in myself and others. When it seems that winter has come, I find that spring can be counted on. We humans may, in fact, have lots of evil in our hearts. We may think wicked thoughts. We may do bad things. And yet, I find that God is faithful. The world may seem dark, but then the sun rises. The world may seem cold, but then spring comes once more. We can take these things for granted, dismissing this general revelation of God as nothing more than coincidence. Or we can latch on to the specific revelation in the teaching of the Bible and see that God is faithful and will be with us in and through all that we face in this life and beyond. Amen.
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