Readers Guide: “The Word for Today” Tuesday, September 11, 2012 Genesis 6 & 7 Tuesday, September 11th will be remembered by many of us as the day when our world changed forever. Hijacked airplanes crashed into the World Trade Towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, and in the fields of Pennsylvania while destined for our nation’s capital. The story of the great flood which begins with Genesis 6 proclaims to us that the whole world had become a place of evil. God saw that the wickedness of humankind was great and pervasive throughout the whole earth. Had the creation proclaimed in Genesis 1 & 2 ended in failure? What is God to do? In reality it is likely that at least two versions of the flood story have been merged together in our Bible story. On the one hand the story clearly proclaims that the wickedness of human beings is total. On the other hand the story proclaims that Noah was a righteous and blameless man. We should not be bothered by these contrasts – although it is good to notice them. Noticing this helps us to keep the Bible in a more proper perspective while making the Bible a more complex book. Regardless of this complexity the story we begin in Genesis 6 & 7 continues the themes begun with the second creation story and continuing with the stories of “Adam and Eve” and “Cain and Abel”. The story is of human rebellion which leads to death and of God who comes seeking humans to save. The story proclaims that God’s destruction, though it ought to be total, is mitigated by the sparing of Noah and his family. God provides a boat to travel over the destructive waters – a theme that will repeat itself throughout the story. God washes a filthy, sinful creation – another theme to remember. We are both fascinated and perhaps frightened by the story of the flood. The story proclaims the truth to us that we live in a world of evil – a world that deserves to be totally destroyed – and that God comes and will come to save. The flood story lays another foundation stone upon which the rest of the story will be built.