Let's Be Clear ...

Let's be clear:

1) the earth and its life-forms were not created in 7 24-hour days - it's a great story, a poem, a metaphor, a song and a dance, but it's not science; it's faith, and a good faith at that.

2) There never was an ark, though the ancient world seems to remember a cataclysmic flood in the eastern Mediterranean region. The story is an ancient writer's reflection on God decision to create a most befuddling critter. Or what we might call "buyer's remorse."

3) Neither fish nor whale swallowed Jonah - he was swallowed by his own hatred of Israel's enemy and his refusal to contemplate the fullness of God's love. It's Hebrew Theater at its story-telling best.

4) Virgin birth? Heck, lots of heroes, rulers and saviors, in the ancient world were born of a virgin. It's a device, a metaphor, to underscore God's hand in such things. But literal? Believe it if you want. But hold it lightly.

Enough for the day ...

A Brave Man, a Brave Woman

A brave man, a brave woman.

To leave behind old ideas.

Old places and solid habits.

To set the face toward other places.

‘Tis only a fool who believes that 

Yesterday holds the answers.

And a greater fool who believes

That a new day is easy to achieve.

God said to Abram and Sarai:

May I have a few moments of your time?

They should have said, No!

They should have turned around.

And run away.

Like Jonah did a few years later.

But we all know how it turned out for Jonah.

Perhaps Abram and Sarai suspected the same.

Or maybe there were just too naive.

And what’s wrong with that?

Naiveté gets us into trouble, for sure.

But it also is the grease of greatness.

Too naive to see the trouble ahead.

The naive says, Let’s do it.

The Surprising Text

The Text never ceases to surprise me … the richness of the modest … the little throw-away phrase that would otherwise escape my attention.

God commands Noah to build and ark and take within it every creature, “to keep them alive.”

I think also of how the little story of Jonah ends: “and also many animals” as God expresses her concern about Ninevah.

As I ponder these little words, I think of the Polar Bear, the Peregrine Falcon, the Elephant and the Rhino, the Gorilla and the Lynx, Butterflies and Frogs – “many animals” … “keep them alive.”

After the Ark and the Flood, comes the Tower of Babel – made of hard brick and built to bring fame and recognition. Within these two stories, a contrast: Noah feeding the animals, up close and personal, and the powerful men of Shinar building a tower to make a name for themselves.

Whatever our take of things might be, the Text, in just a few little throw-away verses, gives a high priority to the Animal Kingdom. After all, the Text reminds us that we named all the animals, and to name something is to claim responsibility for it.

It’s said that the Devil is in the details. Maybe it’s not the Devil, maybe it’s God!