"Building an Ark"
A sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Preached at Pleasantville United Church of Christ, June 27, 2010
Genesis 6-9 (selected verses) & Romans 12:1-8

“And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. 
Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark,
and cover it inside and out with pitch…”
(Genesis 6:13-14)

This Sunday, and throughout the summer, we will be joining the children in the focus of their biblical studies.  Here at Pleasantville this summer’s church school is all about water.  Each week the kids will be learning about a different Bible story that features water, and we will be learning along with them.  By the time Vacation Bible School rolls around, at the beginning of August, our kids will be ready for their High Seas Expedition, which is the theme of this year’s VBS.  If you haven’t had a chance to see the boat that Mel and Betsy Gensamer constructed in Lentz Fellowship Hall for the summer focus on water, you really need to make a point of checking it out before you leave today.  If you’re nice, they might let you sit in it.

Today our children are learning about the story of Noah’s Ark.  Chances are good that almost all of them know something about the story already.  Even in these days when many people are not familiar with stories from the Bible, they can still identify the story of Noah and the Ark because images of this biblical story are widespread in our culture.  Babies’ nurseries, children’s toys, children’s clothing, children’s books, and even works of art familiar to many – all feature the story.  If you go downstairs to our Nursery here at Pleasantville you will see images from Noah’s Ark on the walls.  There’s something cute about the big boat and the animals marching in two-by-two.  So cute, in fact, that we have a clever song, and a wonderful mnemonic device, that helps children and adults remember some of the particulars of the story.

The Lord said to Noah I’m gonna’ build an arky arky,
Lord said to Noah I’m gonna’ build an arky arky…

I thought about breaking out our copy of Bill Cosby’s “Noah” routine again – which I personally love – but since it was Lucia’s baptism and all I decided it was best to try to maintain some sense of decorum.  I didn’t want Amelia’s family to get the impression that their grand-baby was being raised in the wrong kind of place.

So Noah’s Ark is a story that is really pretty familiar to many folks.  Little children tend to learn it – even if they don’t come from religious homes -- because there are so many images surrounding them that feature it.

But the question I have is: why?  Why do so many children’s products feature this story?  I mean, the whole animals processing in two-by-two thing is really cute and all.  But when you really start to think about the story – and children do by the way – it’s not really a cute story at all.

These are complicated stories filled with deep theological issues such as judgment and mercy, theodicy – a fancy word for our understanding of God’s role in human suffering, covenant and promise, and what it means to have sense enough to come out of the rain.

The story of the Great Flood begins in the sixth chapter of the book of Genesis and continues all the way into the tenth chapter (if you count what is called the “table of nations”).  Relatively speaking, the story of the great flood takes up a disproportionate amount of space in the book of Genesis relative to the other stories that appear in the first six chapters.  Those who have studied the book of Genesis know that there are actually two different creation stories in Genesis.  These two different stories are textual remnants of two different sources that have been woven together in these sacred texts.  The story of the great flood is really a third creation story because it “describes God’s un-creation and re-creation of the world.”[1]  After working so hard to create a world of blessing and peace, God decides that the human experiment has been a heart-breaking failure.  And the text from the sixth chapter of Genesis says:

The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.  And the Lord was sorry that he made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
(Genesis 6:5-6)

So God decides to start over, as says:

“I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created – people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them”
(Genesis 6:7)

The story could have ended right there – with a vast sweep of the Divine hand and a fresh start and maybe a change in the whole Adam Project DNA formula to prevent this same problem from happening in the future.

“But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.”
(Genesis 6:8)

The story of Noah’s Ark really turns on this one sentence:

“But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.”

Even though “the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth [6:5]…Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord [6:8].”  And as a result, God decides that God is not going to abandon the whole Adam Project after all, but instead God is going to start over – this time from a remnant population of humans and adults.

So God commands Noah to build an ark.  And God’s instructions are quite specific:

Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.  This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.  [In other words, 437 ft. x 73 ft. x 44 ft.]  Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks.

And once the Ark is built, the rains begin.

It’s a hard story; a terrifying scenario.  And the scriptures take pains to be sure we see it:

The flood continued forty days on the earth; and the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth.  The waters swelled and increased greatly on the earth; and the ark floated on the face of the waters.  The waters swelled so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered; the waters swelled above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep.  And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, domestic animals, wild animals, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all human beings; everything on dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.  He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, human beings and animals and creeping things and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth.  Only Noah was left, and those that were with him in the ark.  And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days.  (Genesis 8:17-24)

One of my favorite children’s books about Noah and the ark is by the author and illustrator, Peter Spier.  There are no words in the book, only illustrations -- friendly illustrations really and filled with imaginative possibility for children because all they have to do is look at the pictures to see what’s happening.  It’s the only book about Noah that I’ve seen that includes small details which show that not everybody made it into the boat.  And even if these details are not explicitly pointed out, they usually do not go unnoticed by children.  Because children have been given the heart of God, and as a result they are always concerned that every child, every friend, every grandparent, every kangaroo, every kitten and every bunny make it into the boat.  But the story of Noah’s ark plunges us quickly into the dark and chaotic waters of reality, where we cannot help but know that not everybody makes it into the boat.

In my experience the deeper we get into studying the stories from the Bible, the more complex they become; the more layers of truth they reveal.  We could spend weeks on the story of Noah and the Great Flood.  But for today, I want to focus your attention to one aspect of the story: the Ark.

When you come right down to it, the Ark is pretty important.  I mean, it was God’s idea and all, and Noah built it -- and he had the good sense to listen to God when God said, “Get in it!” and bring with you two of everything.  But if it weren’t for that floating zoological barge, the whole breathing-animal experiment would have come to a speedy conclusion.  Yep, the Ark was a pretty important piece of equipment.  And as a result, the Ark has long been a symbol of salvation.  It’s a symbol of safe passage in the midst of chaos and danger.  Whether we are speaking of the waters of the Great Flood or the terrifying waves of the 2004 Indian-Ocean tsunami – a ship that floats is a pretty important piece of real estate.

Ships that float are an important symbolic image in the history of the Church as well.  We know of the metaphor of the Church as a ship as early as the fourth century.  But I’m sure that, with the stories of Jesus and his disciples on the Sea of Galilee, and earlier references to the Ark of salvation, I expect that the comparison was made even earlier.  To this day we still call the body of a church “the nave,” a term deriving from the Latin word navis meaning, a ‘ship.’  It’s possible that the word “nave” was suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting ceiling.

If you haven’t had a chance to enter the new Sanctuary under construction, it’s worth the trip.  Also worth the trip is the view of the ceiling.  It’s a vaulting ceiling of exposed wooden beams.  With a few slight alterations, it would make a very fine keel for a rather large ship.  Until recently, it hadn’t occurred to me that we are, in many ways, building an ark.

I make the comparison not to draw the conclusion that we are in the ark and everybody else is out of the ark and, therefore, in a really bad situation.  I make the comparison because the Church is a vessel that can carry us safely through the waters of chaos.  The Church – with all its foibles and all its frailties – really can be an agent of salvation in the world, if it is of sound construction.

And there is one thing more that I found interesting in the comparison between the Church and the Ark.  Hebrew scholars tell us that, “the word for the Ark that saved the future from the Flood, is also the word for ‘word.’”[2]  We enter the Ark of Salvation.  We enter the Nave of the Church.  We enter the Word of God as we seek to find our way.  We enter the Body of Christ, the Word made flesh, the Word of God that comes to dwell with us, full of grace and truth. 

Noah had to enter the Ark in order to save himself, his family and all that remained of creation.  He did more than admire the problem.  He did more than wonder at why it was raining and how long it would continue.  He listened to the Word of God and took shelter in it.  It was the safe vessel that bore him to a new reality.

It’s a wonderful connection to make – the Ark and the Word that saves us from the rising waters of the flood.  It’s a good thing to remember as we look up and see the keel of the ship in which we all take voyage.  It’s a blessed thing to consider on this day when we celebrate the sacrament of Baptism.

So “all aboard!” everybody; it’s a ship of salvation.  Some might say we’re a ship of fools.  But the journey is grand!  Amen.