God's Covenant with Creation

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Dover NJ
Grace Episcopal Church, Madison NJ
March 1, 2009

Year B: The First Sunday in Lent
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-9
(1 Peter 3:18-22)
Mark 1:9-15


God’s Covenant with Creation


Well, we’re already five days into this holy season of Lent. I wonder how’s your Lent going so far? I don’t know what Ash Wednesday was like here at St. John’s but at Grace Church in Madison attendance was up noticeably from Ash Wednesday last year. Could have been because of the good weather, but I think in these difficult and frightening times many of us are turning back to basics. In these difficult and frightening times many of us are turning back to God.


And Lent is a perfect time to turn back to God, isn’t it? During these forty days the church offers us an extraordinary opportunity to allow God back into our lives; during Lent the church offers us an extraordinary opportunity to repent. But, as I preached at Grace on Ash Wednesday, we need to remember there are two parts of repentance.


First, we need to examine our consciences and apologize to God and to one another for things we have done that we shouldn’t have done – and the things that we should have done but didn’t do.


But, that’s just the beginning. Repentance doesn’t stop there. The second part of repentance is to allow God to change our hearts so that we can become the kind of people that God dreams that we can be – the kind of people that God knows we really are.


If you’re sitting there thinking something like “How in the world am I supposed to do that?” or “That sounds like a lot of work, and I don’t really have the time” or “Repentance sounds kind of scary,” well, you’re right.


Repentance – looking into our hearts and confessing our sins to God and one another is not an easy or painless thing to do.


Repentance – allowing God to change our hearts so that we can be the people God intends us to be is not an easy thing to do.


What’s easy is to just give up and throw in the towel, right?


I’m not going to ask for a show of hands but I wonder how many of us have managed to stick with our Lenten sacrifice? How many of us have battled temptation and lost?
I

don’t know what you’ve “given up” or “taken on” for Lent. But, the odds are that we’ve already faltered and given into temptation. Maybe we ate that delicious piece of chocolate that was just sitting there in the kitchen, so chocolaty, so tempting. Or maybe we decided to take something on for Lent – like a few minutes of prayer each day, getting a better night’s sleep, giving a little more to the church or a local charity – and yet we seem just not to have gotten around to it.


There’s another possibility. Maybe we haven’t gotten around to making some kind of sacrifice or taking something on for Lent and now we’re feeling a little guilty and thinking that it’s too late for us.


Maybe I’m being too pessimistic. Maybe it’s so far so good for us – we have strong will power and have managed to stick with our Lenten sacrifices. We’ve actually taken on what we said we would take on. Yet, there is anxiety because we know from previous experience that we may very well falter in a moment of weakness any day now.


Of course, there’s another possibility. Maybe because we’ve failed in previous Lents, this year we haven’t gotten around to making some kind of sacrifice or taking something on for Lent and now we’re feeling a little guilty and thinking that it’s too late for us.


Well, wherever we are in terms of our faith – no matter what kind of Lent we are having – today’s lessons offer us some very good news.


Our Old Testament lesson gives us the finale of the very familiar story of Noah, the flood and the ark. Whenever this story comes up I always think how strange it is that we often think of it as well-suited for children. I guess it must be because of the animals. But when you really reflect on events in this story, on one level it’s terrifying. What could be more frightening than the idea that God gets so fed up with the sinfulness of world and then floods it?


But this story is also terrifying on a more personal level. The story of the flood is terrifying because of its central truth – as most of us have learned the hard way, our misdeeds can bring great destruction to us and to those around us.


But, maybe the flood story becomes less terrifying when we look at it from the perspective of the people who first wrote it down. They knew perfectly well that our misdeeds can bring great destruction, but they didn’t experience God as wrathful and punishing. They didn’t experience God as the kind of God who would mercilessly kill millions of lives.


Instead, the people who wrote down the flood story experienced God as a God of love and mercy. They experienced God as a God of covenant, not just with human beings but with the whole creation – with (in the words of Genesis) “the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal on earth…”


The people who wrote down the story of the flood understood that covenant between God and creation was made on God’s initiative. There was no negotiation. And if you read the text, there wasn’t even anything that we had to do in return to keep to maintain this agreement, to keep this covenant. God gives us this covenant out of pure love for creation.


And the people who first wrote down the story of the flood understood that God keeps promises and the covenant will last forever. As God says in this passage, “I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.”


This covenant with Noah and all of creation is very good news for us. No matter what – even when we stumble, when we sin, when do what we shouldn’t do or don’t do what we should do, when we don’t stick with our Lenten sacrifices, when we don’t even bother to make a Lenten sacrifices – no matter what – God still loves what God has made and the covenant between God and creation is still in effect.


Speaking of covenants still in effect, let’s move on to the story of Jesus’ baptism in today’s gospel. Since this is Mark’s version, it is typically straight to the point. Mark begins his gospel, begins his story of Jesus’ life and ministry, right here with the baptism in the River Jordan.


It’s here that Jesus hears the voice of God the Father and realizes who he really is – the beloved of God. The bond between God the Father and the Son is an unbreakable bond.


And the bond that is made between God and us in baptism is also an unbreakable bond. In the words of the prayer book, “The bond which God establishes in Baptism is indissoluble.”


And, as if to make that point, right after the baptism Mark gives us the account of Jesus’ forty days of temptation in the wilderness.


Since Jesus faced real-life temptations during those forty days – as well as before and after, I’m sure – God knows precisely what it’s like for us to face temptations in our lives – not in an abstract or spiritual way, but as a flesh and blood human being.


Of course, unlike Jesus, we all too often give into temptation. We all have room for improvement in that department – and with God’s help we can improve.
But, when we inevitably stumble and fall we know that God’s covenant with us remains as strong as ever. We know that no matter what we do or don’t do, God’s love for us remains as strong as ever.


So, Lent is now well underway. We have been given this great gift from God and the Church to look inside ourselves and to say we’re sorry for the things we shouldn’t have done as well as the things we should have done but didn’t. We have this opportunity to allow God to change our hearts so that we can become the kind of people that God dreams that we can be – the kind of people that God knows we really are.


And when we stumble, when we miss the mark, when we sin, we know that God has made an unbreakable covenant with us. We know that God has made an indissoluble bond with us.


And that is very good news.


Amen.