"Grab Bag: Me and You, Noah" Genesis 9: 8-17; Isaiah 54: 6-10

This week we flip Bill Cosby's Noah's comment "me and you, Lord" that he utters when the rains start to fall.  Instead, we think about how God says, "Me and you, Noah."  IN fact, God says, "Me and you, humanity!" 

  1.  Not sure if the following illustration from the TV show Archie Bunker will make it to the sermon, but I found it fascinating, particularly since we have a baptism Sunday.

After returning from church one Sunday afternoon, Edith's recount of the service prompts Archie to ask when their grandson, Joey, will finally be baptized. Edith reminds Archie that he knows how Mike feels about such a thing; however, when Mike and Gloria bring Baby Joey over that day for Archie and Edith to babysit, Archie immediately launches into the subject. Mike and Gloria won't hear of it. Archie tries to persuade them that Joey will be denied entrance into heaven with him and Edith, and then suggests that Joey will be safe from his "own kind" throwing rocks at him if he "has religion." Archie affirms this by admitting that he threw many a rock when he was a kid.





Laughing him off, Mike and Gloria leave. Archie then tries to persuade Edith to assist him in having Joey baptized at Edith's church, on the sly. Edith will not consider such a thing, however, and Archie goes as far as to try to trick her into taking a walk in the park, with the intention of stopping by the church on the way. In the midst of their argument, the telephone rings, and Edith tries to give directions to their house for a clothing pick-up to the driver on the other end. While Edith is in the midst of her explanation, Archie takes advantage of her distraction and grabs an old sweater from the charitable donation pile, and also Joey, who is sleeping on the porch in his baby carriage. By the time Edith makes the discovery that they have left, it's too late.





Once at the church, Archie is dismayed to find out that the Reverend Felcher is not available to perform the baptism, but rather the ethnic Reverend Chong. After a series of politically incorrect gaffes on Archie's part, Reverend Chong assures Archie that he is perfectly capable of giving Joey a Christian baptism, but that he (Reverend Chong) is beginning to sense that Joey's parents are against the idea. After lying to the minister initially, Archie finally offers him a bribe, which the minister refuses.





Daunted once again in his efforts, Archie stops the stroller on his way out beside a station of holy water, before leaving the church. He proceeds to pray, opening a dialogue to God with the line, "A. Bunker here" and asking God not to forsake Joey just because "his old man's a dopey atheist." Archie then lifts Joey from the stroller and sprinkles water on his head, adding, "I hope that took Lord, 'cause they're gonna kill me when I get home." http://www.tv.com/shows/all-in-the-family/joeys-baptism-38238/recap/

  2.  Was the world more evil in Noah's time than we are now?

  3.  Having seen the photos and news stories from Hurricane Katrina, I don't think we can ever put the flood story back into the realm of sweet, little children's stories.  Flooding would have been devastating.

  4. The story suggests that God changes God's mind about how to deal with humanity.  Are we ok with the idea that God can change God's mind?  Or is that just our human perspective of how God is at work?

  5.  God remembers (8:1).  Walter Brueggemann notes that "the gospel of this God is that he remembers. the only thing the waters of chaos and death do not cut through (though they cut through everything else) is the commitment of God creation." This "remembering is an act of gracious engagement...an act of committed compassion."  Brueggemann, Interpretation:  Genesis, 85.

  6.  As we reflect on the flood, the devastation of Hurricane Katrina should be a constant reminder that even as we "water down" the Noah story for kids, we are still talking about total devastation, not a some sweet story in the Children's Bible.

  7. The Isaiah passage references the Noah story for the Israelites who are in exile.  They are asked to remember and trust that the God who remembered Noah will remember them.

  8.  I have an image of being on the ark and wondering if it will ever stop raining (in the Bill Cosby routine, Cosby has an interchange in which God says it will rain fro 400 years, to which Noah replies, "just stop up the sewers and you need to have it rain for 40 days and 40 nights!); will life ever be the same; will they ever see dry land;   a sense of hopelessness surely overwhelmed the ark. Imagine when the bird returns after not finding any dry land.  Sick of being wet; sick of being cooped up; wondering if there is any hope.  Into that moment, God remembers and rescues.