Gen.6:11-22; 7:24; 8:14-19
Mt. 7:21-29

Years ago there was a cartoon character in one of the popular comic strips who always had a rain cloud over his head wherever he went. Have you ever had times when you like that? In fact just recently it seems that there have been floods and even tornadoes and other disasters, from wildfires to earthquakes being reported almost daily.

I couldn't help but think of that when I saw our scripture lessons for this morning--both of which were very much about rainy day disasters--there was the flood dealt with by Noah and family, and Jesus' story of the house on the rock--the house that, because it was built on the rock, survived when the rain fell and the floods came. When I read these scripture lessons this week, I couldn't help but think of all the "rainy day" disasters we have been experiencing in our world of late, and wonder--what does God tell us about how to cope with life, and understand what's happening to us -- when the rains come.

That's a question we all need to have our faith answer, do we not? For not only with weather caused disasters, and other natural disaster, but with man-made calamities, from war to terrorism, to even a struggling economy--"rainy days" do seem to be everywhere right now! So what does our faith have to say, to help us in the face of such times.

First, as we turn to our scripture readings, we want to ask, what is God's part in all of the rainy calamities. Indeed in the story of Noah and the flood, God is the cause, and God's punishment for a sinful world is the reason for that disaster. And yet we know that not only did God finally end the flood, and at least saved Noah and family, and two of every living creature, but also, if you'll recall, in Genesis the story continues and God sends a rainbow as a covenantal promise with the people never again to destroy the earth. So clearly that doesn't explain today's many calamities. Did God send them? Hardly, that rainbow tells us.

And then, something else we need to understand about the Noah story is that when Genesis was written, as is the case with much of the early parts of the Bible, the biblical writers of the time had a much smaller view of what consti-tuted the whole earth. After all there was no world-wide communication or transportation them. To them, the whole earth--all the earth that they knew, was just their region--a small part-- of what we know today as being "the world." On the other hand, we can understand their perspective--because very often, you and I get so wrapped up in our own little world of experiences, and the personal troubles or worries that we're carrying around at the moment, that often for us, too, that becomes our whole world. So in spite of CNN playing on our TV constantly in the background, yet our world of concern that we're dealing with seems very small--and can often seem flooded out.

So our world of our worries can seem hopeless if we just look at our own problems, our own world of troubles, and think that we have to solve them all by ourselves. If we look at the Noah story, however, one of the great gifts we see that God gives us to meet the sometimes flood-like challenges that happen to us, is the gift of each other. Noah had a family, and together, they built an ark, and together gathered all the animals. Certainly not an easy job at all--but Noah didn't have to do it all by himself. God had given him a family--and because he had faith, he was also open to the warning from God about what was to happen---so together, he and his family survived--as did the whole earth.

Is there not a message here for us, too, in the face of all the catastrophe's life throws at us. That God is not the one who causes our troubles, but rather is indeed the one who has given us a whole world full of people, along with the gift of love, and that if we'll just have faith, and open ourselves up enough, beyond our own little world of concerns, to learn to work together--we can rise above the floods. Oh, they'll still come--the floods--that's the world of nature we live in--a world that also, don't forget, very much gives us life and ever new life. And disasters are part of the natural renewing cycles of the earth, but because of God's gift of love, we do have help from God to rise above whatever flood comes our way.

One of the things I love about our church family here is how willingly so many of us in this community rally around in response to human need. All the ways in which we together respond to disasters around the world, is a sign of our faith that God's way is the way of love and always new life--not disaster and death. And when community members -- church folk we know, have troubles we rally around, too.
For example, and speaking of floods, Peggy and I will always be grateful for the group of guys from the church here who spent a couple of long days at the parsonage helping us deal with a severely flooded basement several months ago now. And in many other ways, I know others in our church family have often felt the love of this community giving them support them, when the rains came. That's one of the reasons why the church is critical--it becomes the Body of Christ-- a loving, present day body, reaching out, as is God's way, with love. For our faith opens our eyes beyond our own personal worries to a community of love that can greatly ease many of the worries we have to face.

But then once we've faced, and had some help with our own personal worries or floods, whatever they might be, our rainy day scriptures this morning have another lesson for us--that just as we have help from God and God's loving community beyond ourselves, called the Church, so too are we, as Christians, called to open our eyes with a caring, helping love for our world community. In the Bible it's interesting that while Genesis begins with a view of the world that is very small, by the time the Old Testament ends, the eyes of the people have been opened to have just as much care and concern for those who are not their own people, as they do for themselves. And their view of God has grown to a God concerned about them (like a tribal God), to our Loving universal God, concerned about all peoples. And then of course, as Jesus comes to us, he indeed calls us in many ways to get beyond our usual borders of concern, and begin to see how much we as a world community need to begin to think as one--to work together, and not just be focussed on ourselves, our own family, or just our own nation.

By now it should be no secret to all of us how vital it is that we begin to think globally, and to reach out to one another, in that global community, to meet the very floods and rainy days that are just on the horizon of our future for this planet God has given us. Yes from global warming, to a disappearing ozone layer, to the energy crisis--the call of our day to begin to think globally, instead of selfishly or narrowly--that call is increasingly clear.

For far too long as a nation, I believe, our focus has been on what politicians came to call our national interest--instead of recognizing how our own peace, security and future depend on what's int he best interest of all peoples on earth. We're entering a political season where I hope, as we choose leaders for the next few years, all of us will take care to ask not just what candidates will do the best job for my personal interests, but who will indeed lead us in ways that can bring our global family together to save the future for all of us. If a candidate for national leadership does not have as much concern for people half a world away, as they do for you and me--then they don't really have the best interests of you and me at heart. For even our own self-interest depends on what's best for the world.

In Jesus' parable of the house on the rock-- the rock on which we ought to build our house-- indeed then our lives-- was the rock of his word. And what is at the core of Jesus word for all of us? That a.) God is with us and for us, not against us, and b.) God expects us to love God and our neighbor at least as much as ourselves--above all else.
So are we loving our neighbor as ourselves, when we build destructive weapons, and use them against those who don't agree with us?
Are loving God and our neighbor ourselves, when we ruin the earth God gave us with our pollution and waste?
Are loving God and our neighbor ourselves, when live in big comfortable houses, while just down the street others of God's children have to live in the street?

We're all in this together, brothers and sisters in Christ--and we need to keep that focus, not just for personal rainy days, but those rainy days that flood our whole earth, too--of which we are a part.

And in the end, don't you see, if we will have the faith to love God and our neighbor as ourselves, there's one final clear message our lessons for today tell us, and that is that in spite of the rainy days that are a natural part of our world, God has made the world in such a way that new life will always come following what ever personal flood we might have to face for the moment. For God is about the business of working always to bring us new life. So even as the rains fall, if we have faith, we will not only open our eyes with love to our world family to better deal with the floods we face, but also because of our loving God we know that new life will always lie ahead. A rainbow will be there in our future--that we know, and so can face the floods we must with hope.

And oh how we need that message today, do we not. For far too often, ours is a very pessimistic, everyone-for-themselves kind of era. So you and I need to be about the business of spreading that message of hope--a message our world needs desperately.

Larry Carter, the president of a Christian College, not long ago wrote about how far too many people--even young people-- seem to be without hope today. As an example, he talked about his recent experience as a little league coach. Although he remembered his own little league coach, forty years earlier inspiring young little leaguers with the possibility that they might become big leaguers some day--a thought that led his own little league team to several successful seasons; yet, years later, when he became a coach, and tried to inspire his young team with the same vision, it didn't work. Carter said, "I brought all the kids together at the beginning of the season to give them a pep talk--the same one my coach had given me. I asked my team the same question. 'How many of you dream to one day play in the Major Leagues?' When my own coach years before had asked that question, every hand shot up. But now, asking it of these kids, not one hand was raised. Not one kid believed he could do it. You could see it in their eyes. I was speechless. The rest of my [planned pep] talk, he said, was meaningless, so I said, 'Really? Nobody? Well go get your gloves and let's throw.' "

Says Carter now about that incident, "I thought about that day for a long time. What had happened in the 25 years since I was a kid? What had happened to steal their dreams? What had convinced them they'd never be more than what they were? [Carter, Larry "Stolen Dreams", as quoted in Perfect Illustrations, Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House, pp.134-5]
What has happened to our world, to steal the hopes of our children? And if it is so, just for a group of little leaguers in a comfortable suburb, how much more so must it be for those faced with today's often overwhelming rainy days. So our task, brothers and sisters of the Christian family is clear. In every way we can we need to spread the word of the importance of a global vision of love-- the importance loving God and our neighbor as ourselves, and the message that while we're about that loving work God is always working, too, in loving ways for us-- to bring new life for us, after every flood.

Our world needs hope today. Thank God, as Christians we know a way that can provide just that. Hope ---even in the rain. Amen.