so lay your plans by the sea

& when the tide comes in / just let them bleed 

/ & wash it out, wash it out

A sermon on the (not-so) strange account of Noah's ark:

Boy, this is a strange passage. Isn’t it? 

However, has there ever been a time when THIS wild passage seemed so darned, I don’t know, ordinary?

What I mean is, haven’t these last few years of Covid brought this passage a little too close for comfort? Hasn’t it?

After all, who hasn’t felt overwhelmed by the torrent of this rotten pandemic? Who hasn’t felt as if you were drowning in all the information, misinformation, procedures, and protests of this miserable virus? And who among us hasn’t felt flooded with grief, anger, confusion, fatigue, and fear as we tried to navigate these choppy waters of life in the time Covid?

All of us, I bet. 

No, if ever there was a time this passage made sense, it’s now. Unfortunately, today’s passage rings with an uncomfortable truth these days. Doesn’t it?

…But the unwelcome TRUTH is, we don’t even need to be that abstract. Do we? No, this passage is too ON the nose even without Covid. Isn’t it?

What I mean is, who hasn’t felt just as overwhelmed by something as common as our own health? Who hasn’t had a run-of-the-mill illness threaten to engulf our life? Or who hasn’t watched a loved one’s health deteriorate and felt the waters of it all go over our heads?

All of us, I bet.

But it doesn’t even need to be that far removed. Does it? No, this passage hits close to home even without life going off the rails!

I mean, who among us hasn’t ever felt totally out of place in our own skin? Who hasn’t ever walked into a crowded room and immediately felt, for no reason, that everyone was judging you? Who hasn’t had everything in life going just fine, and yet been utterly unable to feel just fine?

Shall I go on? 

No, I don’t need to, do I? That would just be rubbing salt in the wound. Wouldn’t it? No, we can ALL relate. Can’t we?

This strange passage has never been strange. Has it? On the contrary, it’s always depicted a universal FACT of existence. As unwelcome as that may be.

…And that’s why, despite the fact that it’s a bit morose to tell children about this great flood, it’s a good idea. 

Undoubtedly there’s something a little ill-advised about hanging mobiles of this incident above infant’s cribs. And yes, surely it lacks a certain prudence to introduce this story to budding Christians in Sunday school— their first years of Christian education! Nevertheless, it’s a good idea. 

It’s good to know this story early on because, first of all, Children aren’t as naive as we imagine. And secondly, it’s good to have this episode tucked away because it will help you make heads from tails of those disorienting moments of life no one is exempt from.

Most importantly, though, this passage is good to know because it doesn’t just describe this rough and tumble life. No, it discloses a promise behind it.

…When God goes to Noah, what does God tell Noah he will do? You can participate here. I’m referring to the first sentence in the second paragraph. “And God said to Noah,_____.” Go ahead.  “And God said to Noah, __________________.”

That’s right! “And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to MAKE an end…’” 

Now take a moment to actually hear that! “I have determined to MAKE an end.” MAKE an end?!? C’mon! That makes no sense! You DON’T make an end! Things come to an end!

Endings are, by nature, the conclusion of what has been made. Endings are the un-making of what has been made! You DON’T make an end! Endings happen. Endings undo what has been made! 

And yet, here in this strange story that’s never been strange, God, God, says God’s going to MAKE an end. MAKE an end.

…Now, you can make sense of this enigmatic statement by reading today's passage forward OR backward. For instance, keeping this sentiment in mind will help you understand what you’re hearing as you make your way through this passage. 

For our purposes, though, it will be more interesting, and expedient, to consider the end of this episode. Seeing what God makes at the end of it all will help us comprehend God’s meaning of this odd phrase.

At the very end, when it’s all said and done, God speaks to Noah once more. And with the ground still muddy, God makes an oath. God promises, “never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 

And to ratify this covenant, God hangs a rainbow. 

Henceforth, whenever God sees that bow up there in the clouds, God will remember this covenant. Every time God sees the rainbow, God will remember this promise to never again flood the earth. The symbol of the end of the flood is forever to remind God to never again let the creation have it!

…But did you catch that?!?! The rainbow itself is something MADE of an ending! The rainbow represents how God has made a promise out of the ending of that flood! 

In fact, that’s the best way to understand what God’s up to when God hangs the bow. Rainbows were thought to be the weapons of the gods. Here, though, God hangs all that up! 

From now on, seeing the bow put away once and for all will forever remind God that God’s done with all that business bringing things to an end! 

But it’s not just that God is done with all that. No, it’s more than that! It’s that God has resolved to make something out of that end!

The point ISN’T just that God put the divine kibosh on flooding. It’s that God has made something out of that fiat. It’s that the end of the flood was the beginning of creation NOW protected evermore by God’s divine constraint!

The conclusion to the flood was the beginning of all God’s FUTURE promises! The end to the flood was the making of every last one of God’s UNEQUIVOCAL assurances!

Yes, endings may be the end of the road for us. But they’re just the beginning for God! We might not be able to do anything with endings, but GOD can! In fact, they’re what God works with best!

And that means if you’re at the END of your rope today, you have everything GOD needs to get to work! If this week has been a flood for you, that just means you’re standing on the shoreline of all God’s promises! If everything I described at the top of this sermon hit a little too close to home, that just means you’re in striking distance of God’s MAKING something out of all your NOTHING! 

…But here’s the rub. And there’s always a rub. It’s only when you’re at your wit’s end that you stand at the beginning of GOD’S will FOR you! In other words, this is never pleasant. 

This work of God only ever looks, and feels, like an end for you and me. And we never come to those easily, or willingly. Do we?

The hard truth is, we only ever come to God’s comfort in the most uncomfortable way possible! No one ever slides into grace on a rainbow! But oh, believe me when I tell you that sign of your life coming to nothing is nothing but that glorious mark of God making something out of all your nothing!

And you first received that mark when God made something out of the flood of your BAPTISM! Now God saves with water! And in the waters of your baptism, you were sealed with this assurance! No longer will the floods destroy. NOW they will make alive!

And you were marked with the cross of Christ, to boot! 

When Christ let his life be drawn to the cross, he filled that ending with his eternal, everlasting, ever-new life! And when you were marked with that cross at your baptism, you were filled with this life of his that springs FROM his death! Christ has made the planks of his cross into the ark of your salvation.

And that’s Good News. Isn’t it? Because while the church may be vaulted to remind us this place is the ship our Lord has carried us into for our salvation, we’re about to be called out of here. Aren’t we?

And out there, the storms of life rage. Don’t they? But the promise you have is that you don’t go out there alone. No, the Lord goes with you! 

What’s more, the Lord has sealed YOU with his promise. Never again will flood destroy! Now the waters that overwhelm, because they do, will be nothing but the beginning of your NEW life in Christ! Because it is.

…We’re about to sing “How Firm a Foundation.” And they’ve taken out my favorite verse. You know, the one about the flood: “When through the deep waters / I call thee to go, / the rivers of sorrow / shall not overflow; / for I will be near thee, / thy troubles to bless, / and sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.”

Nonetheless, on account of this promise ratified by the rainbow AND sealed with Christ’s cross, you go from here on that firm foundation! Now those rivers of sorrow, fear, failure, anger, and what-have-you will not overflow! For your life is covered in all Christ’s promises! Now your ending really has all the makings of Christ’s new beginning! 

And so, let us sing of this life Christ’s Holy Spirit is right now making OUT of all our endings!

How Firm a Foundation, ELW 796