Sermon: The Divine passion

            May the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts be now and

            always acceptable in your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer.

Last Sunday, I subjected you to a somewhat dense exposition of classical Trinitarian theology by means of the Quicunque Vult or so-called Athanasian Creed appointed for Trinity Sunday in the Prayer Book, and I was grateful for the lively response that provoked.  Today, I also want to speak about the doctrine of God, but my approach could not be more different than last Sunday's. I want to use as my basis, the Old Testament Lesson from the Genesis Flood narratives. 

I remember attending with great profit some years ago a series of lectures in Birmingham by Professor Walter Hollenweger, best known for his monumental study of Pentecostalism. One lecture was entitled something like ‘An exploration of theologically responsible syncretism'.  He demonstrated how the Judeo-Christian tradition was adept at adapting and incorporating elements of common Ancient Near Eastern religions or Graeco-Roman philosophy into its own scriptural and philosophical traditions. One example he gave was the Genesis Flood stories which without doubt draw on older flood myths emanating from Babylon.  For Hollenweger, such borrowing was natural; the issue was how the material was re-shaped and refined, in this case to demonstrate strong convictions about the nature of Israel's God.  His lecture went on argue that we need in our day to make such theologically responsible connections with other Faiths and ideologies.  He was a Professor of mission, and so you can see how such exploration was central to his concerns. So what does the Flood narrative, this particular example of a ‘theologically responsible syncretism', say about the nature of God.

Today's Old Testament lesson is a gem. It is set at the end of the great Flood. God had decided to destroy all living things because of humanity's sin; only righteous Noah, his wife and family, and an ark full of animals, birds and reptiles were spared. For 40 days the torrential rain fell upon the earth, and all was destroyed. This morning's narrative begins with the exit from the ark, and Noah's responsive and grateful offering of sacrifice.  This, for the writers of Genesis was like a new creation, a new start, and it is absolutely significant that the first things that new humanity, represented by Noah does, is to worship: the offering of sacrifice, a sweet smelling odour to the Lord. And then we get the first insight.

In short God, ‘changes his mind'. 

When the Lord smelt the pleasing odour, the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever destroy every living creature as I have done.

Now if we were writing a pure doctrine of God, this kind of language, of God's ‘heart' and, as it were, of God ‘changing his mind', would be impossible. Surely God is God; God is not a mere human being; his will is absolute and determined.  And yet, the biblical tradition retains and I would want to make a plea for the retention of such daring metaphors as God ‘changing his mind'.  I say that because the Judeo-Christian tradition has a dynamic concept of God. A God who is not aloof, miles up there or out there, but a God intimately and personally involved with his creation, and therefore exercising a remarkable freedom in relationship.  A God is gives a second chance, a new start. And therefore a God who is ever hopeful. For despite the fact that ‘the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth', God is hopeful that I, we, we in terms of the human race, will chose what is right, a God who struggles with us, and who is responsive to prayer, and who calls us to will with him what is true and good.  So, a change of mind:  ‘I will never again destroy every living creature..' and then, positively therefore, I will provide for the necessities of life:

            As long as the earth endures,

            seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night,

will never cease.

And remember, this ‘change of mind' was in response to worship. It's just a reminder how important is what we do today. For worship restrains human inclinations to evil as we expose ourselves to the goodness and holiness of God, and God is pleased with sweet-smelling spiritual sacrifices; but also, worship, even by the few, even by this remnant of the new creation, restrains, I believe, divine judgment, for God accepts our worship, is pleased by it and he is the hopeful, responsive God.

The second insight: God's passion for life.  God blesses Noah and his offspring. The command, first given in Eden to fill the earth is reiterated. Indeed, humanity's power is enhanced; in Eden, only the plants were given for food; now even the things that themselves have the breath of life, the animals and all moving things, are given for food. I give you everything -  Genesis 9, verse 3, is one of the most startling statements of Scripture. But, note the prohibitions:

            a prohibition on eating flesh with its life, that is, its blood;

            a retribution on animals taking a human life;

            a prohibition on murder, on the taking of human life.

Now, of course, we read these texts in the light of our Christian history. So, I don't think, for example, that this is about avoiding eating black pudding - I rather enjoy it!

What it is about is the absolute sanctity of life, arising from a conviction that humanity is made in God's image:

            Whoever sheds the blood of a human,

            by a human shall that person's blood be shed:

            for in his own image

            God made humankind.

Now Christian ethics is a complicated business; we may well conclude that Christianly, talking the wider ethical tradition into account, we should not impose capital punishment, the death penalty for murder. The crucial point is the witness to the utter sanctity of life, which the law must protect; and therefore, how we as a society, honour that divine passion. There is a beautifully crafted prayer by the late Archbishop Robert Runcie that goes:

            Eternal Father, source of light and life, whose love extends to all people,

            all creatures, all things; grant us that reverence for life which becomes

those who believe in you; lest we despise it, degrade it, or come callously to destroy it. Rather let us save it, secure it and sanctify it after the example of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A current example is the recent comments by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow on abortion. There is no doubt, and here I am entirely with the Archbishop, that the laxity of the present abortion laws in Britain is a scandal. But I sense that the intelligent pressing of the need to witness to and protect, as fully as possible, the sanctity of life, is more likely to influence the debate for good and lead to a positive change in legislation, than, for example, threats of excommunication, which seem to be about power and simply provoke prejudice, in the context of another scandal of our present society, that we provide so little corporate support for often vulnerable teenagers and young women.  This is a tragedy of rank individualism in our society, whereas Genesis witnesses to human connectedness.

Oh, that we could recover this divine passion for the sanctity of all life, human and animal, in the context of the care of the environment, which enables life to flourish.

Genesis 9 gives a strong vision of human dignity and utter worth, for it sees in all humanity, the image of God.

And the third insight is God's faithfulness.  God is pro-active or pre-venient in establishing his covenant with Noah and with all creation. It comes back to this promise that never again will God destroy the earth by flood.  But there is a delightful visual aid.  The rainbow is used as a sign that God will be faithful to his promises. Now when I see a rainbow - and there is a wonderful human instinct always to point out to other people when one appears - I remember God's promise.  I also remember Revelation 4: that around the throne of God there is a rainbow - which speaks of God's faithfulness in time and for eternity. But thing I love about Genesis 9, is that the rainbow is both for our benefit and God's benefit:

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh...When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember....

And this also part of the doctrine of God. Daringly, the writers of Genesis suggest that sometimes God may need to be reminded about his own promises. Is this blasphemy? No, no more than it is part of being in covenant with God, that in prayer and through Scripture, God invites us to remind him of what he has promised.  Indeed, in Isaiah, the People of God are exhorted to ‘give God no rest until he has established righteousness'; it was the persistence of the widow pleading with the unjust judge in the parable of Jesus, that led him to say that we should pray always and never lose heart, until God grants justice.

God changing his mind; God's passion for the sanctity of life; God's faithfulness to his own promises.  And behind all this is the utter conviction that God is love.  Yes, to return to last Sunday, God is Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance; yes, the Glory of the Persons of the Trinity is co-equal, the Majesty co-eternal; yes, the Persons are uncreate, infinite, eternal, almighty. But, in with and through all that, the bottom line is God is Love: the holy and undivided love of Father, Son and Spirit, the hopeful God who calls us into covenant relationship, who takes us so seriously that we learn that we can use daring metaphors to change his mind and to remind him of what he has promised:

            God is Love: and though with blindness

            Sin afflicts the souls of men,

            God's eternal loving-kindness

            Holds and guides them even then.

            Sin and death and hell shall never

            O'er us final triumph gain;

            God is Love, so Love for ever

            O'er the universe must reign.