Encounters with the Holy: Noah and A Promise
Rev. Eugene N. Nelson, Jr.
The Community Church of Sebastopol
The First Sunday of Lent - March 1, 2009
Genesis 9: 8-17
A word from Charles Schulz and Peanuts: Lucy is on her hands and knees, banging her fist on the floor, in the midst of a temper tantrum. "YOU PROMISED ME A BIRTHDAY PARTY. NOW YOU SAY I CAN'T HAVE ONE. IT'S NOT FAIR! IT’S NOT FAIR!”
Her brother, Linus, observing all this, comes up to her and says, "You're not using the right strategy. The more you fuss, the worse off you'll be. Why not admit it was all your fault. Why not go up to Mom and say to her, 'I'm sorry, dear mother. I admit I've been bad, and you were right to cancel my party. From now on I'll try to be good.' That's much better than ranting and raving. All that does is prove her point."
Lucy thinks about this for a moment, then repeats, "I'm sorry, dear mother. I admit I've been bad, and you were right to cancel my party. From now on I shall try to be good." She turns and goes to find her mother. But after just a few steps she stops, turns back to Linus, then cries out, "I'D RATHER DIE!!!" For Lucy, admitting she might have been wrong, acknowledging that perhaps she might need to move in another direction, might need to consider a change in behavior, a new point of view, doesn't come easily. She's not alone, I just need to look in the mirror. But sometimes change happens.
A Fred Craddock story: "When I was teaching in Cincinnati, I met a lot of people I was glad to see, and a few I really didn't care to see again. One of them was a fellow in a local church. A grumpy sort , a very controlling man. That was the problem I had with him. I gave Bible studies and preached in his church lots of times. He was a layperson in the church and as I said, a very controlling man. He's one of those people who act like they're in the background - 'Well, I don't know, I don't know' - but they are really in charge. He controls his kids, controls his grandkids, controls the whole family, controls the church, but acts like - 'I don't know.' But he knows.
"One day I saw him coming. There was nowhere to go. So I shook hands with him and said, 'How're you doing?'
"He said, 'I'm doing all right.' He seemed different. I hardly recognized him. 'How's the church?' I asked.
" 'Better than we've ever been. God is at work in our church.'
"I had never heard him say anything like that. I had only heard him criticize. 'God is at work in your church? That's wonderful.'
"He said, 'We're in better shape spiritually and in every way than we've ever been in my memory.'
" 'Why that's just wonderful. Who is your minister?'
" 'We have a woman.' He never did give me her name, just said, 'We have a woman.'
"I said, 'You do?'
"He said, 'Yeah, I voted against her, and all my family voted against her, but we got outnumbered.'
" 'And...?'
"He said, 'I was wrong. I was wrong in my estimation of women ministers.' Then he looked at me and said, 'Fred, if I was wrong about her, I was probably wrong about a lot of other stuff.'
Says Craddock, "Isn't that great. He had met the Gospel, broke the pattern, and (unlike Lucy) now was making a new way."
Making a new way - going in a different direction. It happens. "I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood...This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature... I have set my bow in the clouds and it shall be a sign of the covenant. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember my everlasting covenant.”
Now, in Lent, we talk a lot about confession, repentance, turning in a new direction, which really is what repentance means, to turn. But did it ever occur to you that such language might even apply to God? Could that rainbow promise indicate a change in God's heart? The pre-flood world described in Genesis was pretty much a mess. The creation, lovingly pronounced "good" by its creator in Genesis 1, wasn't turning out so well. And by Genesis 6 we read that "the earth was corrupt in God's sight and filled with violence." Indeed the decay and violence were so profound, so permeating, so entrenched, that God decided to end it all and start all over. The story of God's anger, the blood, the destruction, death, is not great bedtime reading.
But I need to say, in all honesty, that I cannot take this story literally. I simply cannot conceive of a God of unconditional love overcoming violence with the use of even more brutal violence. But having said that I can't take it literally, I do take it seriously. I think we need to pay special attention to the Genesis insistence that the kind of social world we create, the kind of lives we live, determine our direction and yes, our fate. In the words of preaching professor, Ronald Allen, "If we create a social world of love and justice and mutual support and abundance for all, that kind of world will support itself for an unimaginable long time. But if we create a world of violence - with exploitation and manipulation and injustice and denying opportunities to others, then we will create a world that will destroy itself. If we make a world of chaos, we will ourselves become chaotic." We won't need any help from God. So it is not surprising that Genesis would speak of a catastrophic flood. Because for ancient people, who lived in what was often a dry and barren land, a flood was a terrifying sign of uncontrollable chaos.
Which brings me back to God and the rainbow. Why are there so many songs about rainbows? Well, consider what God is saying in this new, post-flood covenant with Noah, and as I said, with all living creatures. God is renouncing violence and destruction. "Never again," says God. Now is this because humanity has reformed itself? Is it because we are now caring for the earth, pursuing justice and equality throughout the world and turning away from violence? Right! And if you believe that, I've got some swamp land... Actually, one could argue, glancing through newspapers today, those that are left, that we really haven't made much progress since pre-flood days.
No, and here is what is really amazing about this text, what Genesis argues is not that there has been a change in humanity - in humanity’s heart - but there has, in fact, been a change in the divine heart. God has decided that redemptive violence redeems nothing. God is the one who remembers with love and forgiveness even in the midst of chaos. If humanity will not turn away from its downward cycle of violence, then God will do so unilaterally. In the text, we are given a new and distinct insight into the character of God. Says preaching professor, David Lose, "Along with power, justice, patience and love, the ancient Hebrews also perceived that God was inherently self-giving, willing to enter into a relationship that put limits on even God's power and prerogatives." It’s as if God is saying, "Out of my love for creation, there are some things I simply will not do. I could do them, but I won't." God is proposing nothing less than a new path, a new direction, in God's relationship with humanity - a direction marked by forgiveness, reconciliation, patience and steadfast love. We see a God invested in our fate, a God willing to accept even suffering and pain if that's what it takes to keep hope and love alive. God's fortunes are now bound up with our fortunes, subject to the hope and disappointment, joy and grief that attend all relationships. Quite an extraordinary promise contained in that rainbow!
And also an invitation. “I’ve heard it too many times to ignore it, it’s something that I’m s’posed to be. Someday we’ll find it, the rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers, and me.” Something that I’m s’posed to be.
One day a young mother was taking her son out for a walk and they saw a rainbow. The four-year-old boy looked up in wonder and said, “Mommy, can we take that home and put it in our house?” Well, his awestruck question inspired his mother to write a poem – “A Rainbow in My House”. She took her son’s question literally, imagining what it would be like to have a rainbow in the house, on their walls, emanating from the windows and doors, coming out of the chimney. The house was transformed. It could not contain the glory of the rainbow and its colors.
And how about us? I mean I have been talking about an extraordinary change in God’s heart. What about the possibility of an equally extraordinary change in our own hearts? Can we, who have received the promise, now show forth the glory and hope of the rainbow in all that we say and do? What would it mean for a Christian community to put God’s rainbow in our house? Says Jane Ferguson, a UCC minister, “What a wonderful promise for the body of Christ. Taken seriously and intentionally, it would profoundly change a faith community. Not into a utopia, but into a place where people were willing to let their hearts be remade in the image of God’s heart; a place where people would let their hearts be broken open with grief over their own hard-heartedness and the hard-heartedness of the world and its chaos. And when their hearts were broken open, the people would be moved to partner with their Creator through patient, forgiving, loving and prophetic action for the renewal of all creation.” Can we who have tasted God’s love and mercy now dare to look upon the world and each other with love and mercy? Can our hearts change? You might say that’s the other side of this rainbow promise. Love, reconciliation, and forgiveness spilling forth from hearts broken open by God’s love and wonderfully now coloring our lives, our church, our world.
The poet understood that it isn’t enough just to read about God’s rainbow. Can we also take it with us and put it in our homes and our hearts? For someday we are going to find it, that rainbow connection, “the lovers, the dreamers and me.”