Psalm 29 Genesis 6:13-22; 7: 17-18; 8: 1-2; 9:12-13
Is there something trustworthy? Is there something, or someone, we can trust absolutely ? It is a question asked and addressed early in the Bible, immediately after the creation narrative. The story of Noah and the ark is one of the most familiar and least understood in the Bible, says Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann.
Everybody focuses on the most interesting part of the story—the ark and all those animals, two by two—but that, Brueggeman says, is not the most important part, nor is Noah the main character. God is, and the point is not life inside the ark for forty days but something important and new and stunning going on in the heart of God.
At the time this story was first told, God’s people were in a situation of tremendous loss, stress, and helplessness. The Babylonians had defeated their army, leveled Jerusalem, and carried them off into captivity, into exile, a time when everything that was known, stable, and reliable vanished overnight. I am here, God says. No matter what is happening all around, no matter what is changing, count on me, remember the promise.
In this sermon , I contend that the threat of chaos comes in many forms: any time we step outside our comfort zone—a new job, going to college, any new venture—and, of course, the threat of death, the death of dear ones, friends, the threat of our own death. The story of Noah and the ark and the rainbow is an invitation to trust God absolutely and utterly.
Dr. Willy L Mafuta, Ph.D, Th.D
Senior Pastor,
Hopewell United Methodist Church, Hopewell, NJ 08525
www.hopewellmethodist.org
Adjunct Professor
World Christianity, Public Religion, Theology and Culture
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton, NJ 08542