FAITHFUL NOAH
Noah’s Ark is a much-loved children’s toy found in homes and pre-school playgroups. The large colourful boat with its cargo of animals has a lasting appeal for us all.
I have two Arks. The first is a tiny pewter Ark which opens like a Russian Doll, revealing its treasures: two monkeys on the roof, two magnificent giraffes at the bow and the aft of the ship, two elephants, two lions, two hippos – and deep in the hold, two sinister crocodiles.
My second larger Ark comes from Mexico, in brightly painted pottery, crammed full of animals in pairs. It miraculously survived my daughter’s flight home from Mexico.
But there is one difference between my two Arks. The Mexican Ark has Noah (very much in charge) and his family as well as the animals; the pewter one doesn’t. The Mexican Ark conveys the religious tradition, the pewter Ark a more secular view.
So, the question is: do people nowadays know the Bible story of Noah’s Ark and the Flood, as would previous generations? How are we meant to understand the story of the Flood as told in the book Genesis in the Old Testament?
Was Noah a prophet who read God’s mind? Was Noah just a bit odd, a catastrophist, someone to scoff at? Was Noah a proto-eco-warier, set on saving the natural world? Or was he an ordinary man who tried his best in a catastrophe?
Certainly, Noah had a sense of human failings and God’s displeasure. And that God might unleash an all-consuming retribution like a flood. His clumsy oversized boat-building project turns out to be ideal for saving his family and the earth’s creatures.
From the Bible to medieval Mystery Plays, to Benjamin Britten’s children’s opera Noyes Fludde, the story of Noah’s has an enduring appeal. Because, at heart, Noah and the Flood is a faith story, a myth which, far from being untrue, conveys profound truths about life’s most complex questions.
Genesis, the book of beginnings, is a series of faith stories. Unlike Adam and Eve whose disobedience betrayed the creation of Eden, Noah’s faithfulness restores God’s faith in his creation.
For Genesis the origins of humanity lie in a covenant, a binding relationship between God and individuals. The story of Noah conveys the truth that not only God’s Chosen People but all humanity, and all living things are embraced by God in a covenant relationship. The dove and the olive branch and the Rainbow provide us with symbols of peace, reconciliation, and human wellbeing – for those of traditional faith, and for those who say they have no religion.
When God commands Noah to enter the Ark, he announces making a covenant with him. Which is fulfilled after Noah leaves the Ark. God’s covenant includes not only Noah and his descendants, but all the animals Noah gathers who leave the Ark to sustain creation. Noah and God’s creatures are commanded to go forth and multiply. The object of the covenant is God’s promise never to bring a flood again over all the earth. The Rainbow becomes the divine symbol of divine preservation of life.
The story of Noah was familiar to Jesus and the first Christians. Its meaning was not difficult for the Christian Church to absorb. Our Epistle this morning likens Christian Baptism to Noah who, in former times. was saved through water, while now, God waits patiently for us to seek salvation in a new way of living. Mark’s Gospel portrays Jesus in the waters of the Jordan River as God’s beloved Son, the embodiment of God’s promise for all humankind.
However, we should be wary, lest the Ark conveys a picture of God’s saved, riding the oceans of wickedness and unbelief: a kind of, ‘will your anchor hold in the storms of life?’ idea of the Church – which excludes the so-called un-saved – rather than the inclusive Ark we seek to be in the 21st century.
During Lent our readings from the Hebrew Bible provide us with a series of faith stories: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah. We perhaps need to pay more attention to the wisdom of the ancient past, alongside our Lent courses based on the Christian scriptures.
Is the story of Noah parable for today? In recent times we have experienced a lot of rain and flooding across Britain. Threatening homes and agriculture. In Lincolnshire we have coastal erosion and the threat of rising sea levels flooding the fenlands. Climate change is a danger in plain sight. The River Trent on the western boundary of our diocese is named from a Celtic word meaning ‘trespasser’ pointing to its habit of flooding. But for the Ice Age the Trent would have flowed through the Lincoln Gap just below our cathedral.
As David Attenborough’s Planet Earth series powerfully warn, human activity, human carelessness and greed have consequences. We need to wake up to these realities for the sake of now, and for our grandchildren.
The story of Noah is a reminder of the fundamental relationship between God, humanity, and creation. It is a trinity of trust. It is an expectation of perseverance and faith. And is for everyone. At the start of Lent, we step aboard the Ark with Noah on our voyage of faith.
Rt Rev Dr Nigel Peyton – Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Lincoln