Sermon for June 3, 2008

Text: Genesis 6:9 - 8:19, the Flood

“On that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened.”

I think those are the most terrifying words of the entire Bible. I really do. They petrify me more than the lake of fire or any of the beasts of Daniel and Revelation. Water, to me, is the most destructive of all the forces of nature. Fire, to be sure, can be devastating, but when fire engulfs a forest, it is extinguished with water. Water cuts through solid rock. And two years ago, on vacation, I witnessed first hand what happens when the fountains of the deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens are opened.

We were in North Carolina on vacation with friends and on day three of our vacation the heavens opened and the rains began. It rained hard all day long. We were stuck indoors, looking out onto an ocean that appeared to be writhing in pain. The waves grew increasingly higher and the foam languished on the beach. Tropical Storm Ernesto was well on his way.

As night approached the water was literally hitting the house horizontally in great sheets. The slapping sound was deafening, the transformer on the telephone pole outside was shooting sparks, there was a pinging from every room of the house and Matt and I scurried around to place pots, pans, buckets under every leak. But it wasn’t just the rain any longer, the great fountains of the deep had burst and the sea was now meeting the sky, cresting the beach and invading the houses. And there we sat, the smell of seawater permeating every crevice, with fear and trepidation waiting for the water to subside.

The next day as we ventured out, the beach took on a whole new landscape. Cars on the street were covered in sand, siding and roofs were missing; pieces of peoples’ lives were scattered on the beach.

In hindsight, it was no Noah’s Ark scenario, no lives were lost, property damage was at a minimum, it had lasted for only a few hours, but it was scary nonetheless. So, I can’t imagine what it was like for Noah. Or for the people of the earth, huddled hopelessly against the storm.

According to the scientists and historians the story of the great flood is grounded in fact. About 12,000 years ago with the end of the ice age, great sheets of ice sprawled over the northern hemisphere began to melt. Over the course of about 5,000 years the Mediterranean sea swelled and the water pushed northward until finally forced through the Bosphorus with more force than Niagara Falls, entire villages and towns were flooded, lives were lost, great devastation came upon the land and no creature was spared.

This was the reality of the people of Noah’s time. But with no worldview larger than the land upon which they lived; with no scientific way of evaluating the circumstances, they were left to ponder the meaning of such destruction for themselves.

The previous three verses of chapter 6 in Genesis tell us that prior to the great flood there were giants in the land, people created by God of substantial size and strength. Genesis tells us that they began to intermarry. Were they really giants or were they Philistines or some other race of people much larger than the Hebrews; the Hebrew people being rather short of stature? It doesn’t make much difference because in their estimation this was a sin worthy of God’s wrath. On those few verses hinges the statement that “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth.”

It’s silly isn’t it, to think that the intermarrying of one race to another in Biblical times would result in the annihilation of all of creation, human, plant, mineral and animal? It’s ridiculous to think that God is so vindictive as to wipe out the entire race, save one family, because human women were bearing children to the sons of God.

It’s preposterous to think that a storm was sent to wipe away evil.

It’s incredulous to contemplate that a hurricane was sent to Miami as a warning from God against wasteful living.

It’s impossible to fathom that God would send another hurricane, the likes of which had never been seen to wipe away the evil of poverty and laziness on the Gulf Coast.

We can hardly imagine a government that won’t allow the movement of aid and relief to a people who have survived a horrific storm until they promise to support a corrupt regime.

Only a lunatic would claim that AIDS is God’s punishment against homosexuals.

Only a nation in the grips of fear sees war as the only answer to the problem of terrorism.

It seems that despite our wisdom and the advances of science and the technological age in which we live, that our worldview has not advanced much past the thinking of Noah’s day.

Obviously the flood skipped a crevice where evil was hiding. Evil certainly seems to have survived the flood. Evil continues to be perpetuated in a world that blames the victim, that encourages violence because of differences in race, creed, gender or lifestyle. Evil rages when human need is ignored and creation is raped for the pleasure of a few. Evil is domesticated when resources are hoarded and worship happens at the altar of the self.

What do you suppose God is going to do NOW about the problem of the wickedness of humankind?

(silence)

What is God going to do about the problem of evil?

The same thing God did all those years ago.

Water.

In this pitcher is the most destructive AND life-giving force on the planet. This water cuts through your soul, destroying all that is vile and evil in humanity. With the word of God, as it is splashed upon your brow this water drowns you, takes away your life. Pushed under this water you can no longer breathe. In this water you have died with Christ. You are no more.

Not the “you” that would perpetuate evil. Not the “you” that would ignore human suffering. Not the “you” that would bow to the altar of the self before bowing at the altar of God. That “you” is dead; dead to sin, dead to wickedness. The skies opened up and the storm against sin was unleashed in the waters of baptism.

In this water you come alive. Just as Noah’s ark rested on a barren Mt. Ararat, and creation was birthed anew, so too are you birthed anew out of the waters of baptism.

In the name of the Father.

In the name of the Son.

In the name of the Holy Spirit.

You are a new creation.

The water has washed away all sin and now brings you to new birth as a new creature.

God opened the fountains of the deep and with all the forces of a great waterfall, has cleansed you. You.

Our story ends this morning with Noah and his family and the animals disembarking from the ark into a world full of muck and mire, a world in need of care.

We awake each morning and wash our faces, tracing again the spot that marks us as children of the heavenly father, heirs with Christ, workers in the Kingdom of God. Then we leave our homes and walk out into a world full of muck and mire. A world in need of care. A world turned upside down by storms and fraught with human wickedness.

This is where we start, in the water. Where do you propose we go from here?

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