Words about Genesis 9:8-17

      The rainbow.  Remember it from the Bible? I seem to recall part of a camp song that goes something like “God promised us a rainbow…and He always keeps his word.”  Let’s see what’s behind God’s rainbow promise.

      Since God created all life, the animals were sacred.  Noah’s family built a ponderous boat to house representatives of all kinds of land animals.  The ark drifted on the rising waters, while the animals, closed inside, were protected from death.  Like the ark, our planet Earth is a closed, sacred container comprising rock, water and air.  Earth’s biological inhabitants are held here, while Earth orbits around the sun.

      So Noah’s ark symbolizes Earth, the sacred container of biological creation.  Noah’s family had taken care to build the ark to God’s specs and to make it seaworthy.  The story tells that Noah’s family fed and cared for the creatures God entrusted to him.   We can consider Noah’s family to be the example of how to be diligent in treating living creatures, including humanity. 

      Now let’s take a look at the covenant.  A covenant is a binding promise.  Covenants between two mortals are one matter.  The implication of a covenant with God and people is that the people had messed up, are mending their ways, and God is extending grace.  Shining through the covenant is God’s love for all living things. Humanity had made unwise choices, causing God to feel sorrow for having created humans in the first place.  God’s love is evident in her giving humanity another chance.  God’s action of grace is manifested in her not annihilating creation.  The surviving people were told to multiply, the animals would breed abundantly, and crops would grow.  To seal the covenant, God promised to keep her end of the covenant, with reminders at intervals from a rainbow.
          
      It’s entirely possible that people have been simply regarding God’s covenant with Noah as they read it literally in Scripture -- God’s one-sided promise to humanity.  People can easily feel absolved of responsibility for stewardship.  It’s critical that we look beyond God’s declaration, to realize that people need to take responsibility to care for biological creation, as well as for Earth.  Over the centuries, people have deluded themselves into believing they could do whatever they wanted to do to Creation, without repercussions. – That depleting water resources, over-heating the atmosphere, and neglecting thousands of people – would not be harmful in the long run.  In Genesis 1, and 9, people were told to multiply, and have dominion over all creation.  So, it’s hard to assume culpability for our poor treatment of creation – weren’t people merely doing what God said to do?

      God established the covenant through grace. Even if God required nothing of people in return, it behooves us to try to repair Earth, and provide upkeep for creation.  Think of this:  someone crafts a special gift for you. You know that it’s right to thank the giver.  You take good care of the gift.  Even pass it on down to your children. Consider that Earth is a very large, complex gift.  God gave it, lovingly, to all that inhabit it.  And God loves and cares for each creature.  So, should we not love Earth and God, and care for Earth’s inhabitants the best way possible?

      God set the creation-care covenant in motion. Generations beyond the time of the Hebrew Bible, we have the honor of choosing the path of faithful and effective stewardship. And should we lapse into forgetfulness, there will always be rainbows - which aren’t only for jogging God’s memory. Rainbows have two ends - one end is for God, and the other end of a rainbow can be a reminder for us. So what are we waiting for?

                                                                                           Susan Fast



Texts For Sunday Worship:
      From the Hebrew Bible         Genesis 9:8-17
      From the Epistles                  I Peter 3:18-22
      From the Gospels                 Mark 1:9-15