Over the next few weeks the Narrative Lectionary takes us through a tour of stories about God’s promises and times when God was with people in times of distress.  This week we visit with Noah and the boat full of animals and the bow in the sky.  Since the entirety of  this story takes up several chapters in Genesis (partly because there appear to be two versions of it melded together in the text) we only have a piece of it suggested for reading this week.  That piece, well really 2 pieces that bookend the story, can be read here.

When planning music for this Sunday I was tempted to sing this.  But as our Sunday School does not start until NEXT week the number of children to lead the congregation in getting fully involved would be limited:

And I saw in the Narrative Lectionary FB group that folks were tempted to use this bit of classic comedy (I do love Bill Cosby):

I have not seen, and do not plan to see, the recent movie NOAH, but I suspect there will be more than one church service which references it this week.

Several years ago I read Jack Miles’ book God: A Biography, a great way of exploring the character of God as we meet him/her/it in Scripture.  I remember Miles suggesting that because of monotheism the Judeo-Christian God is both Creator and Destroyer (sadly I no longer have my copy so can’t look up the exact citation) and that this polarity is seen most clearly in the story of the flood.

God has created and has looked at creation and called it GOOD.  But then things have not gone so well.  And God, it seems, is just like all of us at times when things don’t go quite according to hope.  Time to start again.  But not from scratch.  There is something that needs to be saved, the hope is still there.  So is one of the themes to preach the idea of the need for a (sort of) clean slate, a new start, a reboot?

OR is the theme the need to preserve something for the new start to happen?  And I would note that ALL animals are saved.  Not just the “useful” or “nice” or “good” animals — ALL of them.  Is there an eco-theology thread to this story?  Or a reminder that even when everything appears to be going down the drain there is something worth redeeming?

Then there is the other end of the story….

In the series of covenants we find in Scripture we have the well known ones: Abraham, Moses, the New Covenant in Christ.  But we also have the covenant with Noah.  In all the romance of singing about what lies somewhere over the rainbow or the imagery of the rainbow as a sign of inclusivity or the science of bending light through prisms have we lost the fact that the rainbow is a sign of the promise?

After the destruction, after the angry God wiping the slate clean, we have the God who says “won’t do that again”.  Which is a little creepy when you think of it.  Sort of like the repentant abuser…  Is God saying the flood was a mistake?

God promises that the next time things don’t go according to plan God will find a different response, and the sign of the promise is a rainbow, a sign that we see many times through our lives.   Given where the NL is taking us over the next few weeks is this the theme to preach about?  The promise, the covenant, the hope for the ongoing future.

At the same time I remember discussions in the 1980’s around Nuclear Weapons where we pointed out that God promises never to destroy the earth directly–but says nothing about us being allowed to do it on our own.  So maybe the rainbow also has a eco-theology side to it as we live out the covenant?

In some ways I wonder why this story was such a part of my Sunday School memories.  Because in some ways God does not come off so well in it.  But then there is the promise.  There is the reminder that God is with us for the long haul.  It is a story with many angles for preaching.  Which one will bend you?

And can someone answer Kermit’s musical question–why ARE there so many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?

14 thoughts on “Narrative Lectionary Leanings: The Promise in the Sky Edition”

  1. I’ve preached this story a bazillion times … well, maybe not a bazillion, but several. This year, partly because of a counseling situation, it really bothers me, because (pardon the blasphemy while I work this out) this is what it sounds like:

    God creates people, who aren’t perfect. Some of them behave very badly, as humans will. Angered, God sends the flood. The people climb onto the roofs of their houses, they climb to higher ground, they hoist their children up into trees. In the end, they all drown, one by one. The last ones to die have to watch the agonies of the rest, including their loved ones, and there’s nothing they can do to save them.God says, “I’m sorry I did that, but you pushed me too far. I promise I won’t do it ever again. Here’s something pretty.”

    I’m so glad for a safe place to say such things!

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  3. Gord, welcome to the Narrative Lectionary! I’m starting a year where I’ll be preaching RCL to a UCC congregation at the same time I’m teaching a NL Bible Study to Presbyterians. Very confusing. I’m grateful to our NL team for all help being offered.

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  5. So many ideas! This will be our first week in the NL. It is also two weeks to the referendum for Scotland. It’s a topic I have not touched with the congregation all year, trying to maintain neutrality. But the symbolism of hope for the future gives me hope…. so I think that’s maybe going to get explored a little.
    It is also the village community day, so will have visitors in the congregation as we dedicate the whole days events… anther thread to explore… About community especially and acceptance, as many of these folks have no church connection at all…..

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  6. The piece that catches my attention this time is Gen 6:6 – God was grieved in God’s heart (I’m going to expand the beginning readings a bit – I think the NL starts at an awkward spot). I’m still thinking this through, so bear with me.

    There’s tension between God who created and called all things good and seeing that goodness so distorted that God is driven to consider destroying it. I think perhaps ‘greived’ is not strong enough – this summer we’ve preached on God’s hesed – how far do you have to push God until that unconditional, unending love is driven to the point of the flood?

    Another thought – what had Noah done that he “found favor in the sight of God” (J) or was ‘righteous, blameless in his generation” (P)?

    “Found favor in the sight of God” makes me think of Paul’s summary of Abraham in Romans 4:3 – Abraham believed in God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Was it just that Noah, alone of his generation, would listen to God?

    And that “blameless in his generation” – Noah’s generation didn’t set the bar very high if things has gotten so bad that God wanted a mulligan!

    I’m trying to make sure when I tell these stories of the ‘heroes of faith’ to not but them on this pedestal, but to honor the flesh and blood humanness they had – with all their shortcomings and failings, God still chose them, God had a part for them to play in the story of salvation.

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  7. Our “Harvest 1” team (working on the first six weeks of fall) has decided on the theme “Leaving Home To Come Home” for the season. So I’ll be doing something throughout the six weeks to get at the idea that our “home” in God (or in the Body, or in spirit, or something) is often somewhere other than our comfort zone. I’m not 100% (or, let’s be honest, even 1%) sure how that’ll play out in the Noah story just yet, though I am enjoying the Buechner quote about the Church as the Ark:
    “In one as in the other, just about everything imaginable is aboard, the clean and the unclean both. They are all piled in together helter-skelter, the predators and the prey, the wild and the tame, the sleek and beautiful ones and the ones that are ugly as sin. There are sly young foxes and impossible old cows. There are the catty and the piggish and the peacock-proud. There are hawks and there are doves. Some are wise as owls, some silly as geese; some meek as lambs and others fire-breathing dragons. There are times when they all cackle and grunt and roar and sing together, and there are times when you could hear a pin drop. Most of them have no clear idea just where they’re supposed to be heading or how they’re supposed to get there or what they’ll find if and when they finally do, but they figure the people in charge must know and in the meanwhile sit back on their haunches and try to enjoy the ride.”
    (from Whistling in the Dark)

    We are introducing our new “statement of identity and purpose” (what might be called a vision or mission statement in some places) this week, and starting the new seasonal structure, and generally have a LOT of newness and change going on. Part of our statement is about ensuring there is “room at the table for all to be fed”…and I think Buechner’s take on the Ark says something about that–that we’re all in this together, and though it might not be our first choice for homeyness, that’s exactly what makes a real home.

    Or something.

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  8. You know I have to be honest. THere are days/weeks when reading the news makes me wonder if maybe it would be worth letting God free of the Rainbow promise and call another mulligan…..

    I think that may be how I start the sermon.

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