·         never again—God’s majestic words about covenant encircles not only humankind, but all living things and the earth itself.   God says, “Never again” (v 11).    Floods will happen—death and destruction will still shock life, but not due to God’s punishment.  From this covenant emerges a new relationship with a new commitment to creation: never again.  God has changed, according to Brueggemann; God now values creation and stands for it.[1]

·         rainbow—Pushing the “never again” stance further, George Mendenhal sees the (rain)bow as the sign of this shift within the divine.  “Bow” has a history of warfare, violence, death, and retaliation.  But with this covenant, God is no longer in pursuit of an enemy.  The rainbow is undrawn and hangs on the mantle of the clouds.[2]

·         nib—Covenant functions as an equivalent to promise; God is obligated, unilaterally and unconditionally.  God initiates and establishes the covenant, and remembering it becomes exclusively a divine responsibility . . . it will never need to be renewed; it stands forever, regardless of what people do.[3]

·         What seismic events in your lifetime has led to better laws?  New resolve?  An improvement in the human community?

·         What promise/s made by someone else has proved to be reliable?  How has such reliability impacted the way you live?

·         What role does remembering play in this passage?  How does the knowledge that God remembers impact us? 

·         block #1—Note the pet peeve that Israel has with God throughout their covenantal history with God: the forgetfulness of God; how faulty is God’s memory?  Does God has amnesia?  Divine Alzheimer’s? 

·         block #2—Pastoral shift with this same fear: people wonder if they are forgotten—hospital and nursing home residents, those in imprison, etc.  Draw from your own experience stories of loneliness and abandonment.

·         block #3—Shift—during flood the whole creation enters a dark tunnel of being forgotten by God.  Site other stories, biblical narratives that hold such forgetfulness and hopelessness up.  [Job 14:13, for instance.]

·         block #4—God New of the gospel: God remembers!  God’s memory was the only thing that didn’t get water-logged.  It is the remembering of God that givens us hope and makes new life possible.