At the end of this post, I reported that I have to preach at the Murdoch Center this Sunday. I am serving at the chapel this academic year for my M.Div field education requirment. I’ve been struggling to figure out how to preach to people with whom I have a hard time understanding. How do I speak in ways that they can hear? How can I speak my words in their words when their grammar is still arcane? Well, here’s what I got. My first draft made some moves that my supervisor thought too difficult, so I had to cut the stuff that I found most interesting—like making Noah’s boat a figuration of Jesus, and then linking this boat/Jesus to the salvation that we tast and see in the body of Christ. If anyone has any suggestions, please post them—I need all the help I can get. Note: the text includes dialogue for a dramatic re-telling of the story, and a puppet show (FYI: ‘Grandpa’ is the name of one of the puppets).
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Title: Noah’s boat
Scripture: Gen. 8:18-19.
Date: October 16, 2005
In the midst of the storms of life, God gives us places of safety. That’s the story of Noah. As the world all around Noah and his family headed toward destruction, God provided a safe place for Noah and his family to live: the Ark. Do ya’ll know that story? Do you remember what happened?
Well, this is what happened…
(Noah wandering about on stage, minding his own business. ‘God’ hidden from sight, speaking from a microphone)
God: Noah!
Noah: What was that?! Where did that voice come from?
God: Noah, this is God. I have something to say to you.
Noah: God!! My goodness! I better listen to this.
God: I have something very important to tell you, so listen carefully. I want to protect you and your family from all the evil in this world. So, I am going to wash away all the evil and the bad people with a flood of water. But I want to keep you safe from the flood. So, I want you to build a boat just the way I tell you. Even though people will laugh at you for building a boat when it’s sunny, when there doesn’t appear to be any chance of rain, I want you to keep on building. Trust me. I know what I am doing.
Noah: Ok God. I will trust you and build this boat. Thank you providing a plan for my safety, for giving me and my family a safe place during the flood. But do you think you could tell me a little bit more? Like how long the flood will last, and how long we’ll be on the boat?
God: Good questions, Noah. You and your family will stay in the boat for about 8 months. Then I will bring you to dry land where you and your family can live together in peace and safety. …Oh, I forgot to mention something. I want you to take two of every kind of animal along with you. The boat will also be a safe place for them during the flood too.
Noah: Two of every kind of animal!! That’s a lot, God. This is going to be one big boat to fit all of us—people and animals. And animals are sorta smelly. That’s going to be a long time to feed and live with smelly animals.
God: Yes, Noah. It will be a long time. And animals do get smelly. But it is for your own good. You will need animals after the flood for food and companions. So, they need to be kept safe from the flood also. The boat will be a safe place for you, your family, and the animals during the flood.
Noah: God, thank you for caring about me and my family’s safety. I will go and start building this boat right away so it will be ready for the coming floods.
(Noah leaves the stage in a hurry, ready to get to work).
So Noah goes and works really hard on building this boat. And when he finishes it, he gathers two of every kind of animal, and gets on the boat with his family. What sort of animals do you think he took with him? (wait for responses from congregation).
That’s right. Noah gathered all those animals on his boat. Now that’s one crowded boat! It must have been really uncomfortable to be on that boat with all those smelly animals. But do you remember why he had to take all those animals on the boat? What did we just hear God tell Noah? (wait for responses from congregation).
That’s right. Noah had to take all those animals with him in order to keep them safe. And so Noah and his family could have animals as food and companions after the flood, in the new dry land.
(start sound effects of rain and thunder).
Now let’s think about what happens during a flood. A flood is what would happen here at the Murdoch center if it kept on raining. It’s starting to rain a lot a couple weeks ago. Well, what if it just kept on raining? Raining everyday. What if there was never a break from the rain. When you woke up in the morning it was already raining. When you went to sleep at night, you could hear the raindrops on your window, and on the roof. All day long nothing but rain. And hard rain too. You know those huge rain drops that come down real hard? You go outside for a few minutes and you’re totally soaked. After a few months of non-stop rain, what do you think the Murdoch center would look like? Well, with all that rain, I bet it would be safe to say that this whole place would be under water, completely covered in that rainwater. All that water would keep on getting higher and higher, and finally reach so high that it would cover the rooftops. So, if we got into a helicopter and looked down from the sky at the Murdoch center, all we would be able to see is water, oceans of water as far as the eye could see. And that’s a flood. That’s the sort of thing that happened back in Noah’s time.
(stop sound effects).
But like we heard God tell Noah earlier, God keeps Noah safe from the flood—the flood waters don’t wipe out all of the life. Even though the world looks sad and scary sometimes, God does not give up on his people. Even though Noah saw dark clouds and huge waves outside, God kept him and his family safe. The boat was a place of safety. They all stayed dry inside. This story teaches us about a God who always gives us hope and joy, and ways to go on. God protects Noah, gives him a safe place—and not just Noah by himself, but also his family and lots and lots of animals.
Grandpa: Chaplain Isaac, chaplain Isaac!
Isaac: Hey, I’m preaching over here, Grandpa. This is my first time and I don’t need any interruptions.
Grandpa: Sorry, Isaac. But did you say animals? That God saved Noah and lots and lots of animals?
Isaac: I sure did Grandpa. Why are you so interested in the animals? I was just saying that God saved Noah and a bunch of animals from the flood.
Grandpa: Well, Isaac. I just came from the State Fair and saw lots of animals. I got to pet some of them. They were really fun. But I also noticed that they were always eating and kinda smelly. So, I am wondering how God saved lots of animals and Noah from the flood.
Isaac: That’s a great question, Grandpa. I was just saying that God saved Noah and his family and a bunch of animals by telling Noah to build a really big boat. This boat is bigger than you could imagine, bigger than this Chapel. It was big enough to fit two of every kind of animal. This was the way God saved his creation from the worldwide flood. The boat was a safe place for Noah, his family, and the animals to wait out the flood. They waited on that boat until all the water dried up, then they got out and started their life again.
Grandpa: But Isaac, I saw some of those animals at the Fair and I know how much they need to eat and how smelly they can get. Why did God want Noah and his family to be locked up in a boat with smelly, hungry animals? That seems like it’s a bit of a hassle.
Isaac: Grandpa, that’s another great question. God did that for their own good, so they could have a good life and enjoy God’s good creation after the water dried up.
Grandpa: So I can do stuff like go to the State Fair and pet the animals, right?
Isaac: Yes! Exactly. And, so you can have food to eat—don’t forget about those hamburgers you love to eat! Those are cows, kept safe from the flood by God’s gracious care for your dinner. And we have these animals for our food because Noah listened to God, and trusted God, and put up with all those smelly animals on that boat for over 8 months!
Grandpa: That’s great! I am sure glad for all the animals. Sorry for interrupting. You better get back to your sermon.
Isaac: All right Grandpa. Take care now.
I am glad Grandpa stopped by to share about his visit with the animals at the State Fair. I am sure lots of you are excited about the Fair too. What are some of the animals you are excited about seeing at the Fair? If some of you went last year, what did you see? (wait for responses from congregation).
Now, when you get to see those animals at the Fair this year, remember that they are God’s gift to us, God’s special gifts that God kept safe with Noah on the boat. When we see animals we should remember the story of Noah and think to ourselves, “Hey, I can enjoy these animals because God saved them from the flood for me, because God loves and cares for me!”
We have animals to enjoy because God kept Noah and his family safe. After all the rain stopped, and the floodwaters dried up, God guided the boat to dry land and opened up the doors. God kept his loved ones safe from harm, safe from the floods, safe from oceans of waters that covered the whole earth. God would not allow all that water to drown Noah and his family. God made a plan to keep his loved ones safe. God comes to our rescue, that’s the hopeful message we hear from the story of Noah.
In this story we learn about a God who loves and cares for the well-being of his people—people like Noah and his family, and people like you and me. Because we are God’s people too, just like Noah. And the plans of this loving God are so good, and offer so much life, that we should want to help God make safe places for people. Just like Noah helped God by building the boat, we should want to help God by doing good things with our hands. And this work is good work because it’s God’s work. It’s joyful work, work that brings life.
So, how do you think we can be like Noah? I mean, are there ways we can learn God’s good plans to make safe places for others, and help God makes these plans real, part of the world we experience everyday? There must be tons of ways. Like working in kitchens where you can make good food for people. I know some of you work in kitchens, helping to feed people. And how about cleaning? Some of you work hard to make places clean for people. Or some might help make birthday cards, and take them to people on their birthdays. And others of you might help someone make their bed when they aren’t able to on their own. All these things that we can do everyday are ways that we can be like Noah and help God make safe places, happy places where people can feel loved by God. What are some other ways that you do this? Or ways you see that others help make people know that God loves and cares for them? (wait for responses from congregation).
Those are all good ways that we can be like Noah. When we do these things for others we are God’s helpers. We are part of God’s good plan to make this world a safe place for people, to show them that God loves all of us so much and wants to keep us safe. Even though the world around us looks and feels like those cold, dark floodwaters, we know that God loves us and makes plans for our safety. That’s what we learn from the story of Noah. We learn how to trust God like Noah did. So, just like Noah built the boat like God asked him, we can go and make safe places so they can know that God loves and cares about them.
Now, let’s end with a litany. I am going to need your help here. Every time you hear me say “we know that…”, we all with say together, “God will keep us safe.” Let’s try it once to make sure we all got it.
Isaac: When the world around us feels scary and full of evil, we know that…
All: God will keep us safe.
Isaac: When things in the world feel like they are too much for us to handle on our own, we know that…
All: God will keep us safe.
Isaac: When other people make us afraid or angry, we can trust that God will take care of it because we know that…
All: God will keep us safe.
Isaac: When we make mistakes and it seems like there is no way to make things better again, we can trust the grace of God because we know that…
All: God will keep us safe.
Prayer: God, thank you for showing us that you take care of us, that you give us places of safety where we can feel your love. God, we are grateful that you watch over us like you did Noah and his family. We ask you to keep us safe the rest of this day and the rest of this week. And we also ask that you would show us all the ways we can help you make other people know that you care for them. God, thank you for letting us help you in making safe places for people. Amen.
2 responses so far ↓
1 anon // Oct 16, 2005 at 5:15 pm
It looks like this comment comes too late. It looks like you already preached your sermon. I check out your site every once in a while, so I didn’t read this in time. But I did have some thoughts. Better late then never, I guess. So here goes. I get how you needed to preach in a foreign place. And how you needed to listen real hard for ways to communicate a simple message—not simplistic, but clear and without words you’re used to using. So, that makes it hard to figure out how to read a passage of Scripture and try to make the message clear to the audience. For struggling with all that, I commend you. But what struck me was how you didn’t talk much about how the Flood is about judgment. It’s a story about how God gets so fed up with people so he kills them all. It is a hard story, a story that shows us a side of God that we don’t like to see. And that aspect of the text really didn’t show up in your message at all! I understand how you need to make the message clear, and understandable—but isn’t there also something to be said for proclaiming the text faithfully even if the audience isn’t able to understand it? I remember Jesus (and God in Ezekiel or Isaiah, I can’t remember right now) says something about preaching a message of judgment and hope where the hearers “hear but can’t understand”—and that’s just what is suppossed to happen. Your message sounds like you are trying to edit out all the tough parts in order to make the people feel good about themselves, all warm and fuzzy. Doesn’t fidelity to the text require you to preach the message of judgment in that Genesis passage? Thanks for your vulnerability in posting this sermon. I hope I didn’t exploit it. There are just questions I have. Peace.
2 isaac // Oct 19, 2005 at 4:57 am
Anon, thanks for the thoughtful engagement. Your comment is the sort of thing that makes it seem like it’s worthwhile to post on this blog. I post in hopes that someone will want to converse about stuff. So thanks. I have to admit that I struggled with figuring out how to be faithful to the text, and think seriously about how my audience will hear my words—so as to hear the Word. I think there is a tension there. I’m caught between fidelity to the passage and fidelity to the proclamation of the word—that the word my be received as “good news.” That’s the dynamic push/pull that makes preaching a spiritual discipline for me. I have to cultivate contemplative ears and eyes: ears for the congregation and eyes for the scripture.
It sounds like you are down with all that. I think we can locate the difference, or a possible difference between us, in your use of “hearing but not understanding.” I don’t know if I want to adopt that as a guide to preaching in the church. Those passages sound more like what prophets are all about. Don’t get me wrong; I think we need prophets in the church. But I don’t think that the prophetic should be normative for preaching. When I think about preaching, I think about the church task of discernment of the word. Preaching is that moment in the life of the church when the people gather around the Word and struggle to hear how the gospel speaks new life in the midst. In my tradition, preaching is an invitation to a conversation, a holy conversation called ‘discernment of the word.’ It is the gathered people who have the last say about whether or not the gospel was proclaimed. And it’s especially the weak voice who must be heard in that process of discernment, not the loud voice at the pulpit.
All that to say, I take very seriously who I am talking to when I preach. Maybe more attentiveness than you are comfortably with. In my careful study of those to whom I was going to preach, I thought, “hey, these folks are the blessed ones of Matt. 5, or better, Lk. 6.” These folks are those poor and mournful and meek! And the kingdom of God is theirs. I used Lk. 6 as my framework in which to locate them and figure out what sort of message is appropriate to them. And I found them falling into the category of Lk.6:20-22, not in 6:24-26. I think Jesus would tell them that they are among the ‘blessed’ not among those who need to hear the ‘woes.’ That’s why I read the passage as giving them a message of hope and security: God wants to provide places of safety for them. Now, this is not to say that they don’t need judgement too, that somehow they are above reproach. It’s just that I don’t know any of them well enough to see how a message of judgment might be ‘good news.’ I am not saying that can’t happen. It’s more that I am just not in a position yet to hear that, not at the moment at least.
So, I guess I don’t think that the flood story in Genesis requires me to preach a message of judgment. I think it can speak the good news of abundant life for those who are the blessed.
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