Some of you have seen the cartoon, a woodpecker doing his thing on the Ark!  There are may jokes about Noah and the Ark, many cartoons.  I have a friend who has planned for many years to build a replica of the Ark as a convention and entertainment center.  I hope he gets it done!

            As I begin this sermon I must tell you that I purloined much of the sermon material from James A. Cress, Ministerial Secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.  His column in the current Ministry Magazine is entitled, Don’t Miss the Boat. 

            That is also the title of the AHA! sermon help for today.  So I would say it is good advice — Don’t miss the boat!

            Is the story of Noah and the flood literal history?  Or is it a metaphor, like the many stories Jesus told?  The story of creation and the story of the flood as recounted in Genesis are taken by many to be literal, historical accounts, even as science and archaeology seem to posit some serious questions which can best be answered by metaphorical hermeneutics.

            My response to those who are adamant about one position or the other is, “What difference does it make?”
            Let me remind you of the story of the Native-American who began the story of his tribe’s history, “I will now tell you of our history.  I don’t know whether these things happened or not, but I know the story is true.”

            Our goal is to learn truth, not history.  And I know these stories are true!

            Before we get all misty-eyed about Noah and his family being the only human critters God perceived as worth saving, remember that not very long after the flood, Noah got tanked up on wine and passed out in front of his kids. 

            By the way, Lucille and I had a marvelous time at the San Diego retreat last weekend.  One of the interesting comments Dr. Webster made was that the “family values” folks who like to quote the Bible might consider the sex and marriage involvements of some of the Bible heroes,  men like Solomon, Abraham, Jacob, David and Noah!  O well, that’s not our topic today!

            This story is not an account of one great guy and his wife who were worth saving, while everyone else was flushed down the watery grave.  Rather, it is a lesson about human existence, faith and obedience.

            Which takes us to our Epistle for the day.  Paul reminds the Roman church, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”  Noah had faith.  But don’t forget that his faith was followed by obedience.  James 2:20 tells us that “faith without works is dead.”  We are saved by faith, but we are judged by our works.  “I was hungry, and you fed me.  I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.”
            That’s Jesus speaking!  And he is speaking to those who are saved because they fed and clothed and cared for “the least of these my brothers and sisters.”

            Let’s get back to the story of the flood.  How did things go so wrong in such a short time?  God created the world and all that is in it, and said it was “very good.”  Now, just a few generations later, he said it wasn’t worth saving, at least not without a thorough cleansing.

            That makes a big problem for me.  As a children’s story, Noah and the Ark makes a fascinating tale.  But what about God wiping out everyone and everything but Noah and his family, and the few animals he took into the boat?  Does that sound like a God of love and forgiveness?  The rainbow hardly makes up for that!

            And God gave Noah the reason for the holocaust as violence, corruption, depravity!  Well, God, if you think the pre-flood world was violent and corrupt, have you really taken a good look at the 21st-century world?

            Now, dear saints, whether you take this story as history, or as metaphor, there are some very significant lessons to learn:

            Remember, we’re all in the same boat!

            I have my troubles.  You have your troubles.  My troubles are more serious than your troubles . . . to me!  Your troubles are more serious than my troubles . . . to you!  If I could walk a mile in your moccasins I might see things differently.  But I can’t do that.  Nor can you in any way experience my life the way I do.  As born-again Christians, we must sympathize and empathize with each other.  But we are different.  There were both snails and cheetahs in the Ark!
            Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark!

            We are told that it had never rained.  Noah probably had no idea why he was to built that boat.  Those who watched him do it for sure had no idea.  No one knew what rain was!

            So when Jesus told us not to be anxious about tomorrow, he wasn’t condemning our making plans.  Someone said we should live as tho Jesus is coming today, and plan as tho Jesus will not return during our lifetime.

            The woodpecker may have to go . . .

            The picture of a woodpecker doing his thing on the Ark is humorous, but it is also a valuable lesson.  There are always a few cantankerous “birds” inclined to peck at the hull of whatever you do.  Learn the fine art of ignorance — ignore them!  Don’t stoop to their level.  Brother Cress warns us, “Never wrestle with a pig.  You cannot win and the pig enjoys the fight.”

            The Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals! 

            The amateurs had the advantage of God’s blueprints, of course.  If we are doing God’s work, in God’s way, we won’t go wrong.

             Build your future on high ground. 

            Shout from the mountain.  Focus on the Great Commission, don’t get bogged down with petty issues.  “Thinking leaders talk about ideas and observe people.  Reactionaries talk about people and observe ideas.”  If we are doing God’s work in God’s way, we can be sure that when the storm is over, there will be a rainbow awaiting for us.
            Stay fit.  Who knows when God will assign you a job to do! 

            Age need not be a deterrent to doing something significant for God and man.  Noah was apparently at least 500 years old when God called him to service!  (Genesis 5:32)

            I have quite a few years to go before I celebrate my 500th birthday.  But if I keep fit, maybe I’ll get there!

            Don’t rock the boat!

            Did I say that?  Well, you know it is a popular maxim.  And I suspect you also know I don’t believe it!

            What would this world be like if Galileo had not “rocked the boat”?  What would this world be like if Copernicus had not “rocked the boat”?  What would the church be like if Martin Luther had not “rocked the boat”?  What would this country be like if Martin Luther King Jr had not “rocked the boat”?

            I remind you that our UCC forbears “rocked the boat” in several ways — to oppose slavery, to support the Revolution, to bolster civil disobedience . . .

            Let’s take a look at the Gospel for today.  Jesus makes clear that our worship must be coupled with work.  These are  part of the concluding words of the Sermon on the Mount.   The parable of the houses built on rock or on sand echo the imagery of the flood,  and the theme of obeying.  Simply claiming to be a disciple is not enough.  “The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.”  Jesus made clear that feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, visiting the sick and imprisoned are the way we obey the Father.
            As the Ark was built by amateurs, so Jesus, looking for a few hearty souls to share in his ministry, walked right past the church.  He didn’t call the well-educated, “righteous” people to join him.  He called amateurs!  Next week we will read of his call to an IRS agent.  He called several fishermen. 

            Jesus had big plans for the world he had created.  So he turned to men who would in turn, turn the world upside down — er, rather, right-side up! 

            He turned to people, both men and women, who were open to change.  Just think how radically his followers had to change from the way they had always done things!

            I have noted the importance of being open to change, several times.  I try to practice what I preach.  Dr. Webster challenged me last weekend with several new theological concepts.

            The Sermon on the Mount has one predominant theme — God’s way is not the world’s way.  Jesus said, “You have heard . . . but I say . . .” and then he outlined his way, not so much in contrast to what they had heard, but as an expansion.  God’s way is much more demanding, much more commanding than the world’s way.  We are challenged to exceed in righteousness, to do more than required, to give from a completely different mind-set, to demonstrate to the world a way of life which will amaze them.

            The body of Christ, in the institutional sense of those words, seems to have become top-heavy in many church bodies.  I praise God that the UCC is congregationally oriented.  Jesus “taught as one who had real authority —quite unlike the teachers of religious law,” or we might say, those at the top of church hierarchies.
            Someone said that if Jesus were here today, looking for some modern-day disciples, he would likely walk right past the churches and head for the beach, or maybe even the tavern!

            I heard a preacher say that Jesus came to establish a Kingdom, and we’ve tried to give him a church.  Jesus said “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached . . .”  He taught us to pray “Thy kingdom come . . .”  So let’s think big.  We are only a tiny part of God’s Kingdom.  I must say that this congregation is one of which I am sure God is proud, but we are only a small community in the mighty Kingdom of God.  I do pray that we will continue to grow in size and in mission.

            God wants us to build our “house” (our congregation) on the rock, on Christ, the solid rock.  Please turn to number 340 in your hymnal and let’s sing one stanza of The Solid Rock.

            It is so important that we remember what Jesus said: “Not all people who sound religious are really godly.  They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven.”  (Matthew 7:21)

            Churches are full of people who are willing to say “Lord, Lord,” but are at the same time content to leave it at that.  Lip service must lead us to life service.  Jesus doesn’t think much of professional church-goers and do-gooders unless they church-go and do-good from the right motives.  Doing the “right thing” from the wrong motive, like coveting the applause of the crowd, or assuaging guilt, is an oxymoron.
            Noah obeyed God.  Those who built their houses on the rock obeyed.  Those who feed the hungry and minster to people in need, physically and spiritually, are obeying the Great Commission. 

            Simone Weil, the Jewish convert to Christianity, grasped the real meaning of her new faith, “Christ does not save all those who say to him, ‘Lord, Lord.’  But he saves all those who out of a pure heart give a piece of bread to a starving man, without thinking about him the least little bit.  And these, when he thanks them, reply: ‘Lord, when did we feed thee?’ . . .”
           
            Ms. Weil not only grasped the real meaning of her new faith, she articulated precisely what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount:  “when you give to someone, don’t tell your left hand what your right hand is doing.  Give your gifts in secret, and your Father, who knows all secrets, will reward you . . .”

            This, incidentally, is a case in point for understanding Bible truth, which in this case is obviosly a metaphor.   There is no way your left hand cannot “know” what your right hand is doing!  We need to study God’s word for truth to direct our lives, not for scientific or historical facts.  Those who get tangled up in the effort to verify facts, rather than to learn principles, make a mockery of Bible study.
           
            Speaking of Bible study, let me urge you to join us on Wednesday evenings as we consider questions of Bible truth.  Jim serves as our leader, and he invites you to consider questions . . . and hope for answers!  (Note the picture on the bulletin)

            Let me share an old cowboy story.  A group of friends in an El Paso saloon were playing Question and Answer.  One fellow would ask a question.  If someone could answer it, the questioner had to buy a round of drinks.  If nobody could answer it, each had to buy him a drink — provided he could answer the question!

            One merrymaker propounded this interrogatory:  “How is it that a prarie dog can dig a hole 50 feet deep and leave no dirt on the ground?”

            When they all gave up, he said triumphantly, “He don’t leave no dirt on the outside because he starts at the bottom.”

            After a period of silence, someone asked, “But how does he get to the bottom to start digging?”

            “Ah,” he said, “that’s your question.  You answer it!”

            So much for a corny joke!  I do sincerely recommend our Bible Study to you all, where we read God’s word, discuss what God was doing and saying back then, and what God is doing and saying today.  You will be stimulated to consider questions of life and living, whether or not we find answers on which we all agree!

            “After Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught as one who had real authority . . .”

            The Sermon on the Mount account, as told by Matthew, is the most famous and familiar collection of the sayings of Jesus.  Gene Brice imagines himself as a new convert to Christianity.
            “What do I need to know to live a faithful Christian life?”  Brice suggests that Matthew, when writing his Gospel, put himself in the place of a new concert to Christianity, and wrote a “manual for new members and old ones as well.”  He reminds us that the purpose of this Gospel is to instruct, to teach.

            According to Matthew, those who followed Jesus up the mountainside were there to learn.  They weren’t there because their parents made them get up and go to church!  They weren’t there to look pious.  They weren’t there to meet and visit friends.  They weren’t there to be entertained.  They weren’t there because they had no place else to go.

            This young rabbi was making a name for himself with teachings that were not “the way they had always believed,” not the way their pastors had always taught them.

            Today I invite you to join me at the feet of Matthew, really at the feet of Jesus!  Marcus Borg wrote a book, “Reading the Bible Again, for the First Time.”  Can we this morning hear the story of the Flood, and the story of the Sermon on the Mount, again for “first time”?  Can we read the “manual for new members and old ones as well” again for the first time? 

            Well, I realize we can’t actually do any of that “for the first time.”  But we can reread the Sermon on the Mount and re-hear the story of the Flood with minds and hearts open to the Holy Spirit.  They are recorded in the Bible as lessons for us to learn.   If I learned anything last weekend, it is that there is so much to learn, new ideas to consider.
            “Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.  Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse, because it is built on rock.”

            That’s it, my friends, the lesson God taught Noah — and the world for all time — Salvation comes to those who have faith, and who obey; the lesson Jesus taught his followers, and us — Salvation comes to those who are willing to learn “but I say to you . . .” truths that Jesus articulated on the mountainside. 

            That means we must be salty in a bland world, lights in a dark world.  That means we must treat others as we would like to be treated.  That means we will pray for our enemies, do good to those who do us wrong.  That means we will reflect the life and the love of Jesus in our lives.

            If we do all that, we will be like the man who built his house on a rock.  The rock is Jesus.  Please take the insert in your bulletin and join me in one stanza of “We’ll Build on the Rock.”

            Let us now sit quietly, and think about these things as we meditate and pray. 

            Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a time to remember those who died in any of our many wars.  Whether they died because they believed in the values we believe, or because they believed in the values of the South, or the values of England, or the values of some dictator, or even the values of some other religion, men and women have stood for what they believed, even to the point of sacrificing their lives.

            Let us honor people who have the courage to stand up for what they see as truth and right.

            It is said that in 1862, Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison’s Landing in Virginia.  The Confederate Army was on the other side of a narrow strip of land.

            During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay wounded on the field. 

            Not knowing whether it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the captain crawled thru the gunfire to reach the stricken soldier.  When he reached his own lines, he discovered it was a Confederate soldier . . . and he was dead!
            The captain lit a lantern, and suddenly went numb with shock.  It was his own son.  The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out, and had enlisted in the Confederate Army.

            The heartbroken captain/father asked permission to give his son a military burial.  He asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge.  The request was denied, but out of respect for him they did say he could have one musician, a bugler.  The bugler played a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth’s uniform.

            The melody we now know as “Taps” was born.

(Play Taps)

            I agree with Winston Churchill, who said United States has the worst government in the world . . . except for all the others!

            This country has welcomed refugees and immigrants.  One was a Jewish boy, Israel Berin, known to us as Irving Berlin.  He died in 1989, at age 101.  He left us many songs.  Please join me in singing God Bless America.