Promise Time

Our reading from Genesis is one that everyone knows. In fact most of us learned it in Vacation Bible School or Sunday school. It is a story that seems to be just right for children. It talks about animals and boats, water and storms, and good and bad; all the characteristics of a good children’s story. That may not be much out of line. Many scholars consider this story to be based on one that the Israelites did tell to their children. It is also interesting to note that many of the cultures around the Middle East had stories about a flood. Some of those stories were about their understanding of how the world was made. For the Israelites water represented chaos as several of their creation accounts and the psalms show. The flood story might actually be talking about a second creation, or at least, a new beginning. But that is not the point of this section of the flood narrative that we have read. What is surprising about this account is that, it seems, God is having second thoughts about destroying the evil world and promises to never again do so. Then, even more amazing, God tells Noah, his sons, and us that God will remember his promise. Then, amazingly, we hear God tell us that he will put the bow in the sky not to remind creation of this promise but to remind himself. 

Now, remembrance can be a tricky thing. As we get older it gets more difficult to remember things and when we do it often takes longer to recall a memory. Memories can and do change. Memories are not always good. It depends on what is remembered and who is doing the remembering. We would prefer to have people remember the good things that we have done, not the bad. We would prefer to remember good times and not sad or troubled times. Peter was thinking about this story as he wrote the passage we read from his first letter today. While this passage is one of the most difficult to understand in the New Testament he is reminding us that God remembered his promise, sent his Son, and has now given us a way to have the good things of our lives remembered and the bad forgotten. 

The question is, “What will your life look like if only the good is remembered?” Will it be full of activity or an empty slate? We know that we do not always do those things that God desires as well as doing those things that God despises. That is what Lent is about. We are called to reflect on our life and question ourselves and our actions and strive to do more of those things that God will remember. That is where the discipline of Lent comes in – prayer, fasting, and works of love. They are not something to fill in the empty spots of our lives or to make us look better in the eyes of God. These works are to remind ourselves of God’s promise and, out of great thankfulness for it, commit ourselves to a more robust life of sharing God’s promise with others by sharing the gifts we have received from God.