Noah

Genesis 6:1-10 (NRSV) When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the LORD said, "My spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown. 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 had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, "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." But Noah found favor in the sight of the LORD. These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  There is a new film about to come out soon about Noah.  I'm rather surprised there hasn't been a huge Biblical movie epic about Noah already - one of the scope of The Ten Commandments.  (I'm not counting Steve Carrell's turn as a modern Noah, cartoon versions, or one of the TV epics that came out several years ago).  It's been since 1928 that the big screen saw the story of Noah and the flood come to life.  I imagine some of it is because Noah is such a story of huge scope, that filming it must be daunting. It's a story of such huge scope also for most Sunday School classes.  I would imagine that if you were to poll most Sunday school students (current and former) and ask them what the biggest and most famous story from the Bible would be, they would say Noah. (with maybe Moses coming in second). Noah has captured such imagination that searches have gone on for the ark to this day.  There is indeed big stuff to take hold of our minds in this story.  Added to the allure is the mention of the mysterious Nephilim and the wonder if they are somehow tied to the wickedness of humankind. Yet for all Noah's bigness, and our fascination with his story, it comes down to something small and almost easy to miss:  the evil done by humans grieved God to God's very heart and yet through one of those very humans, hope remained.  Over and over we see in the Hebrew Bible that God is a creative and active and involved God and wants more than anything to be in relationship with his creation.   It is hard for many to fathom that the story of Noah may just be that - a story.  But as we have seen other places, most often in Jesus' parables, sometimes the deepest truth comes through stories.  Our point is not to find the real ark or to dissect the mysterious parts of the story of Noah.  The point is to see God's truth coming through over and over again.  Our ways lead to death and despair and yet over and over God, who loves us and wants to be in relationship with us, reaches out through creative and active means to get our attention and to save us.  That God even will go so far as to make promises to us that we can count on - even when we can't keep our own promises. The truth of God is indeed more epic than anything our minds can create. Creative and loving God, you save us time and again and forgive us time and again.  We often get bogged down in the details of your actions, missing the heart of the truth - that you want to be in loving relationship with us.  Forgive us, and help us to turn always to you in prayer and faith so that we can see your reaching out to us, and so we can be aware of that relationship growing and flourishing. Amen.