Sermons for the Month
"This Contract Is Un-Breakable"
DATE: March 5th, 2006
SERVICE: First Sunday in Lent
TEXT: Genesis 9:8-17“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
I wish I could just blurt this out. I can't, but I will describe what I will not quote directly. Have you ever passed a bill board while driving that gave you whiplash because of the second look you took? (I imagine that's the dream response for all advertisers.) Well, that happened to me as I drove to Cleveland last week. It was an advertisement for a new cell phone company - I guess. And, it used a slang expression that is quite common; however I cannot bring myself to say it in day-to-day interaction, let alone in church. But, the idea it expresses is so helpful for today, so …. There were bold black letters on a white back ground proclaiming, "We don't have contracts because we don't _____." That final word starts with "s", as in snake, and rhymes with luck. "We don't have contracts because we don't ______." The message was, I guess, that this company is so fair, so reliable that there is no need for a contract that will force people to continue using their services when they no longer wish to do so. The idea, of course, is that while the customers may be pleased on day one with the competitor, by day 291 they'll be saying, "This _______", (word that starts with "s" and rhymes with luck, with another "s" on the end.) and want out. But, the contract keeps them in. I guess that's one way to look at a contract - as a means of guaranteeing that something negative continues - like paying for poor phone service. But, what if there was a contract that did just the opposite? What if there was a contract that guaranteed that positive behavior by one party would continue no matter what the other party did? What if a phone company had a contract that clearly stated that no matter how many times you lost your phone they would replace in for free or even if you went over the allotted number of minutes every single month you would never have to pay an extra dime? In fact, what if such a contract was created precisely because the company knew you would lose your phone repeatedly and talk too much, and they wanted to give you a break. Impossible, you say, it could never happen. Well, perhaps it could never happen in the world of cell phones, but it can happen, in has happened in the realm of people's relationship with God. Take a good, long look at today's reading from Genesis - just such a contract was made between God and all creation, especially people. It's called the Noahic Covenant. We all know the story of the great flood, how God sent rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights to blot out every living thing in a world that was corrupt and where the thoughts of human hearts were only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5) But, a man named Noah, and his family, were found to be righteous, so God spared them along with representatives of every creature on the earth. We can all retell the story of Noah's Ark that floated on the flood waters until the day it struck dry land. But, we may not recall the interesting details of what happens next. When Noah and the Ark community finally ventured out the first thing he did was build an altar and offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord. The Bible tells us that when the Lord smelled the pleasing odor of the sacrifice, God said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of human kind, (now listen to this) for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth…." (Genesis 8:21) Did you catch that? God resolves to never again destroy every living thing because, basically, it's a futile effort. No matter how many times the earth's slate is wiped clean, the problem will remain if one person exists. So, what is needed is not a new earth, but a renewed humanity. (Which is where Jesus come in, but we'll talk about that more as Lent progresses.) But, God's resolve does not end there. Not only does God disavow world-wide destruction, but God also makes a contract with the world that guarantees positive behavior by one party - God - no matter what the other party - people - does. In other words, God is the one who will act lovingly no matter what. There are no conditions on this contract, which also is called a covenant. This is not a situation of "if you do this, then I'll do that". Instead, the blessings of God - specifically of a flood-free world - will come simply because God said so. And, the sign of the promise is a rainbow - but interestingly enough, the rainbow is not intended to remind people of the covenant, instead it is for God's benefit. God said that the rainbow would cause him to remember his covenant with humanity. So, if we were to sum this all up we would say that in spite of us, God's love prevails, and life goes on. I used that phrase in my Ash Wednesday sermon, reminding us that no matter what we dig up as we look deep into ourselves the message is that "life goes on" - a life of forgiveness, a life guided by the Holy Spirit, a life of second chances and new beginnings. Once again this week I found myself captivated by the "This I Believe" essay on NPR. I've quoted these essays at least twice before now. This week's was written by a 16-year-old named Josh Rittenberg and the title was, "Tomorrow Will Be a Better Day." He begins by telling how he overhead his parents talking about his future, but it wasn't the usual concerns about college and costs and careers. Instead, his father was upset about the world his generation is turning over, a world he fears has a dark and difficult future, if it has any future at all. As this young man listened to his father's worries about pandemics and an energy crisis and nuclear destructions, he too began to worry. But, then, he began to look at some old family photos. Let me now read to you a portion of his essay: "There was a picture of my grandfather in his Citadel uniform. He was a member of the class of 1942, the war class. Next to his picture were photos of my great-grandparents, Ellis Island immigrants. Seeing those pictures made me feel a lot better. I believe tomorrow will be better than today - that the world my generation grows into is going to get better, no worse. Those pictures helped me understand why. I considered some of the awful things my grandparents and great-grandparents had seen in their lifetimes: two world wars, killer flu, segregation, a nuclear bomb. But they saw other things too, better things: the end of two world wars, the polio vaccine, passage of the civil rights laws. The even saw the Red Sox win the World Series twice. I believe my generation will see better things too - that we will witness the time when AIDS is cured and cancer is defeated; when the Middle East will find peace and Africa grain, and the Cubs will win the World Series - probably only once. I will see things as inconceivable to me today as a moon shot was to my grandfather when he was 16, or the Internet to my father when he was 16. Ever since I was a little kid, whenever I've had a lousy day, my dad would put his arm around me and promise me that 'tomorrow will be a better day'. I challenged my father once, 'How do you know that?' He said, 'I just do.' I believed him. My great-grandparents believed that, and my grandparents, and so do I. As I listened to my Dad talking that night, so worried about what the future holds for me and my generation, I wanted to put my arm around him, and tell him what he always told me: 'Don't worry Dad, tomorrow will be a better day.' This I believe." I shared that with you not only because it is a moving reflection from a young person, but also because it reflects God's message to the people of Noah's time that comes down through the ages to this moment. Unlike that phone company, God believes in contacts. And, he makes one with us that guarantees his love for we who would break the contract, if we had any part in it. But we don't. That's the beauty of it. So, life goes on … tomorrow is a better day...because we are secure God's love. This I believe.
AMEN