Date: 15 May, 2002
Time: 06:02:23 PM
Messenger of Peace
Was God cleaning up the earth or was he cleaning up humanity? What poluted the earth was humankind. But worms, fish, birds, and etc., all of which humankind had been dominion over was destroyed except for what was on the Ark.
What does this text say about the dominion that God has given us and our misuse and abuse of power. We know that the end of the story is that God promises never to destroy the earth again by a flood.
But what is it that God wants? What is it that God desires? What was God speaking to those on the Ark during those 150 days? What did they hear from God? I don't know when I consider the action of Noah and his son when they came out of the Ark.
It seems to me that God's plan didn't work. Humanity was just a messed up as it was before the flood and look at our world today. Was God trying to point out to the critcal judgementalist like my self that He provide for those who will listen to Him in spite of the fact that they will sin in the future?
Was God tired of tredging along with the old sinful nature of humanity and decided to start over again with a hand full of folk; maybe just one family? What does this passage say about family anyway. Can we all live under one roof? What happens when God give us more room?
How many of us can life faithfully outside of the Ark? Are we safe outside of the Ark? What good came out of all of this?
Date: 26 May, 2002
Time: 08:34:09 PM
What Can I add to that God is the God of Second Chances, right? Unless, one wants to get prophetic... and correllate the Noah story to today... Last week was creation...Adam and Eve...then straight to Noah... What about Enoch-he walked with God and was taken... then you have Methusalah...Lamech....Noah... Noah walked with God and was spared with his family in the ark..(gentiles mostly here! Shem-jew ancestor) I think this passage related to Revelation...Pre tribulation Rapture correllates with Enoch and Tribulation-Flood but Trib saints and 144,000 jewish evangelists... safe in 'ark' of sorts...I think when you look at Ark and see gentiles and a jewish ancestor in the ark....this tells you Gentiles and jews will be saved in tribulation , if you dont take the mark... I hope this sparks some Pre Milennial, AMilennial Post Milennial Pre Tribulation, Mid Tribulation, Post Tribulation conversations here.... I may be CONSERVATIVE AND EVANGELICAL but when I watch the FOX NEWS, It's like reading the bible...and those names in mid east sound like O.T. names... Ladypreacher in OHIO
Date: 29 May, 2002
Time: 10:10:15 AM
I am going through a particularly difficult time dealing with a troubled congregation. Somehow, the imagined scene of all the poop to scoop and the comparison of the church to the ark has great revelance to what I am feeling. It is not just the discouragement of that scene, but also the hope for a rainbow that seems to be God's timely message for this point in time that I plainly experience in this passage. TN Mack
Date: 30 May, 2002
Time: 04:54:25 AM
TN Mack ... been there, done that ...
Wait a minute! I'm still there, still doing that!
With you all the way, Eric in KS
Date: 30 May, 2002
Time: 06:56:16 AM
I am working on Matthew and the call to obey. Here Noah clearly obeyed, although we're always told that he was laughed at. What does God want? How are we to obey? Lots of questions runnign around my brain.
rachel
Date: 30 May, 2002
Time: 08:27:38 AM
I'm working with the title "The Boat That Love Built" this week, concentrating on the Genesis text. My understanding of the Noah story is that even though humankind had messed up to the point where God needed to give the earth a new start, God still loved humankind enough to HOPE a fresh start would turn things around. HOPE and the LOVE that God still has for humankind is the reason we get second chances. After all, God continued to love the world God had created -- including the pesky humans who just couldn't (and still can't) get it right -- enough to send Jesus Christ to redeem us once and for all. That seems to me to be the ultimate "second chance" for humankind.
This is Eucharist Sunday for my congregations, so I'll be tying those second chances God has given us through Covenant to our own relationships with God and with others. Living in Covenant (or at least doing our best to do so) may be the best way to make use of the second chance God has given us.
StudentPastor in KS
Date: 30 May, 2002
Time: 09:07:26 AM
I like the idea of covenant in this passage, particularly as it relates to Baptism. We are celebrating both Eucharist and Baptism this Sunday. Lots of covenant images. This story is really about Baptism. the "8 saved through water" (ever notice how a baptismal font has 8 sides?) It is really about remnant theology... how God never wipes us out completely, even thought it often feels that way. God always spared a remnant. There was always a second chance.... a moment of Grace. Isn't that what Baptism is about anyway? The promise of God that once we are marked as His own, we will never be forgotten. Even in those moments when we sin and forget God, we are not forgotten. Nothing removes the mark of Baptism. Thats the nature of Grace: I didn't earn it, and nothing I can do will take it away. Rob
Date: 01 June, 2002
Time: 02:39:04 PM
Stop! Don't anyone preach on this passage without reading Bruggeman's commentary on Genesis, the Interpretation series. It is immensly helpful! Trust me, I'm a preacher ..
kbc in sc