Sign up below to receive free worship resources in your inbox (1-2 per month):
Table of Contents
Focus Text: Genesis 9:8-17
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 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; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.
Overview
Focus Text: Genesis 9:8-17
God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations.”
Scripture Commentary & Pastoral Reflection by Rev. Dr. Jill Crainshaw, Wake Forest University Divinity School, Winston-Salem, NC
“When rain and sunlight conditions are right, a rainbow appears in the clouds. This has been the case in all times and places. In Genesis 9, the rainbow is also a warrior’s bow. This story invites listeners to see new meanings when rainbows are present in the skies: God intends good for all of God’s creation “for all future generations” (vs. 12) but will not war with humans to ensure that sin and evil give way to life and peace. Instead, God will remain in relationship with human communities, and God’s work to create anew will forevermore overcome any forces, including God’s own anger, that might destroy “all flesh..”
Personal Vignette by Kim Carlyle
“Our culture views Creation as ‘the environment.’ It is separate from us. It is ‘out there,’ ready to be used and abused as we please. This is a severe corruption of our spiritual relationship with Creation, and with God. I resolved personally to reconnect, to live more mindfully and spiritually, and less materialistically. My wife and I began our major life transition. Most of our precious possessions – our ‘stuff’ – went to charity. We went from two cars to one. A home energy audit led to conservation and efficiency. We gave up our careers for a simpler, more earth-friendly lifestyle.”
Key Fact
In 2013, we witnessed the largest single-year increase in 20 years of carbon pollution that causes climate change.[1]
[1] http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/09/231950.htm
Related Texts
God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together [God] called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:10
[God] raises up the poor from the dust; [God] lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them [God] has set the world.
I Samuel 2:8
The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for [the Lord] has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Psalm 24:1-2
[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers — all things have been created through him and for him.
Collossians 1:15-16
Scriptural Commentary on Genesis 9:8-17
For many years, scholars have debated the historicity and meaning of the memorable flood story in Genesis 6-9, often looking to similar stories in other ancient traditions for insights. Interpretations of the story abound.
What many scholars agree upon is that Genesis 6-9 is part of the Hebrew Bible’s narrative of creation’s beginnings. In Genesis 6-9, God establishes a covenant with “all living creatures,” a covenant that continues to unfold in Genesis in the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob, Leah and Rachel.
Striking about Genesis 9:8-17 are several images and phrases. The phrase “all flesh” appears five times in these verses, emphasizing that God’s covenant encompasses not only God’s human creatures but also any other creature that “creeps on the ground” (7:8). Another prominent term in the text is “covenant.” In this text, God initiates a promise never again to destroy the earth with water. God then utilizes a creation-generated reminder to Godself of the promise. Memorable about how the storyteller describes this covenant are both elements of it—that the promise relies on God’s agency as covenant-maker and covenant-keeper and that God appears to think God needs a reliable, naturally occurring reminder of the promise.
The image of the rainbow is also central to these verses in the Genesis flood story. When rain and sunlight conditions are right, a rainbow appears in the clouds. This has been the case in all times and places. In Genesis 9, the rainbow is also a warrior’s bow. This story invites listeners to see new meanings when rainbows are present in the skies: God intends good for all of God’s creation “for all future generations” (vs. 12) but will not war with humans to ensure that sin and evil give way to life and peace. Instead, God will remain in relationship with human communities, and God’s work to create anew will forevermore overcome any forces, including God’s own anger, that might destroy “all flesh.”
–Rev. Dr. Jill Crainshaw, Blackburn Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology, Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Pastoral Reflection on Genesis 9:8-17
On Shrove Tuesday, we feasted on pancakes, clearing our pantries in preparation for the fasting days ahead of us. On Ash Wednesday, we marked our foreheads with ashes for the journey. Our forty days of wilderness fasting has begun. Indeed, though our hearts and bodies are eager for spring warmth, we nevertheless point our feet down Lent’s weeks-long introspective liturgical path. We will watch, wait, and long for resurrection. The season of Lent is upon us.
Then, in the lectionary reading on the first Sunday in Lent, we are surprised by God’s light-drenched words from Genesis 9: “I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (vs. 13). As we begin this year’s Lenten journey underneath the cover of February’s winter-gray skies, Genesis paints onto our horizon a Crayola-colored bow of battle and covenant, and we are invited to consider anew what it means for God, creation, and human communities to be in harmony with one another.
The message is a powerful one for the Lenten season of fasting. Indeed, what is the battle to which the rain-refracted bow refers? And what are we to make of God’s promises in these verses that God will never again send a deluge to destroy God’s creatures? After all, we know that raging waters have at too many times since the telling of this story brought death and wiped out human communities. We also know that God’s creation has not fared well under the care of God’s human creatures. Reports of global warming, dwindling natural resources, increasing extinctions of many kinds of animals and plants, and general over-consumption by countless human residents on planet earth testify to just how uncaring and not careful those of us created in God’s image have been toward and with God’s creation. Given these realities of human living, what are we to make of the covenant God announces in Genesis 9 between God and the earth?
A telling detail in the story offers prophetic insight as we wrestle with these questions. God makes the covenant in this story with “all flesh” (vss. 11, 15, 16, and 17), with “every living creature” (vs. 10). God makes God’s promise not only to human beings but also to every creature “on the face of the ground” (7:23). Unlike in other places in Scripture where human creatures are assigned responsibility as creation’s caretakers or are even given dominion over the earth, here in Genesis 9, all earth creatures—“all flesh”—are named beneficiaries of God’s promise of future and forever goodwill toward God’s creation.
Perhaps a call can be heard echoing from this ancient story across history’s watery and wilderness landscapes to contemporary faith communities. In Genesis 9, God wraps God’s bow around the clouds as a reminder to God: “When I bring my 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” (15a). God promises with these words something about who God is and what God will do from this time forward. God’s inclusivity in this ancient covenant is radical and all-encompassing. God enters into partnership with all flesh, and God places a colorful arc in the heavens to remind God to be patient when God’s human partners persist in being less than generous and hospitable toward their own kind much less toward all flesh.
So it is that we begin the season of Lent. That many traditions emphasize fasting during Lent is significant as we think about the meanings of this Genesis story. Some people can choose to fast during Lent. Fasting can be for some a spiritual discipline. Too many in our world, however, wrestle everyday with imposed fasts. Their tables are too empty because they do not have adequate access to food. The earth, too, faces a fast—a lack of care—imposed on it by people and communities who consume its gifts without making efforts to preserve or replenish those gifts. Human communities’ consumptive choices have strained the earth’s ability to be fruitful.
Words heard on Ash Wednesday from Isaiah 58 come to mind here: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” By choosing a Lenten fast that focuses on ending injustices done to the earth and its peoples, by choosing a fast that results in replenishing the earth, perhaps Lenten worshipers can join God in God’s promise to preserve life for all living creatures and for future generations. Then, to combat angry waters that flood and destroy, perhaps we and the earth we inhabit can become the vision imagined in Isaiah 58 and announced on Ash Wednesday: “. . . and you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail” (vs. 11).
–Rev. Dr. Jill Crainshaw, Blackburn Professor of Worship and Liturgical Theology, Wake Forest University School of Divinity
Worship Aids about Care of Creation
Responsive Reading
When we are blind to the mystery of our landscape,
And forget it is God’s handiwork;
When we are careless with its plants and animals,
And forget they are God’s creatures;
When we are unkind to those who work with us,
And forget they are God’s children;
When we are careless about our work,
And forget we are God’s co-workers;
When we mistreat the earth,
And forget we are God’s stewards;
God, forgive us.
Amen.
(from Robert B. Kruschwitz, A Creation Study Guide, The Center for Christian Ethics, Baylor University)
Prayer of Confession
Creator of the earth and all living things, maker of the sky and the air and the breath of life, God of all that is: we are your servant people, created out of the clay of the earth itself. We forget that we are your creatures and we play at being gods. We neglect the work of stewardship that you have provided for our occupation and our joy. We have used, abused, and abandoned those things that you have created for your delight. You have created a fragile world in a perfect and delicate balance. Thinking too much of our own importance we have upset the balance. We ask your forgiveness, Holy and Righteous God. We yearn to join with the mountains and valleys, the rocks and the birds of the wild ocean waters in singing your praises.Amen.
(from John Mark Ministries, ‘Environment Day Liturgies,’ http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1343.htm)
The Earth is the Lord’s
The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all that dwells therein.
We live in God’s world, we are not alone. We share this life with the heavens and the earth, with the waters and the land, with trees and grasses, with fish, birds, and animals, with creatures of every form, and with all our brothers and sisters.
Together we form strands in the web of creation woven and held together by God our creator.
Together with all creation we join in praising God.
Amen.
(from John Mark Ministries, ‘Environment Day Liturgies,’ http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/1343.htm)
We are a Part of Their Community
Creator God, you gave life to us and to the inhabitants of the earth. We are a part of their community, and they are a part of ours. And yet, in our human sin, we degrade this community.
In pride, selfishness, possessiveness and ignorance, we have lived in greed, far in excess of our need. Forgive us, Lord, for we have not lived according to Your will. Your Word calls us to preserve creation’s fruitfulness, to practice “shalom,” and to serve and to keep creation. Help us, Lord, to be protectors, restorers, replenishers, healers, servants and lovers of Your creation. Help us to make the standard for our decisions a love for you, a love of our neighbor, and a love for all creation. Help us to care for your earth so it may continue to stand in praise to You and sustain Your creatures. Help us to love as You love, and to be obedient to You. We look to You, O God, for healing for your earth and ourselves. Thank You for the life You have given us in Jesus Christ, Who is in all things, before all things, and in whom all things hold together.
For it is in Christ’s Name that we pray these things, Amen.
(Adapted from Sister Earth, http://arb0rv1tae.typepad.com/sisterearth/2005/05/a_prayer_of_tha.html)
Lenten Responsive Reading
God, we come to you in confession. More than we seek you and your will, we seek our own comfort and advantage. We have allowed ourselves to become blinded to the needs of our brothers and sisters so that we can enjoy our privilege; we have similarly become blinded to the willful destruction of our environment as we use it to our benefit.
Disturb our peace, O God. Give us clear eyes to see the suffering around us on all sides and the courage to ask what you require of us. Allow us to see the degradation of our environment as a failure to be good stewards of your creation.
We confess that we protect our hearts from pain by judging those in need, although we have not walked life’s paths in their shoes.
Give us the true humility to know that we do not know the hearts of those we judge. Give us a glimpse of your love that sees us all as your beloved children, and your creation as a gift for your children.
And we confess that we would rather talk about what your teachings mean than be taught by the struggles of trying to live them.
God, help us to trust you enough to follow you into a life of loving. Give us brave companions for the journey into hope.
(by Sherry Castello,”98 Seeds Lenten/Easter Worship Packet,” http://seedspublishers.org/lentenconf.html)
Children's Sermon about Care of Creation
How to Love Our World
Theme: God loves His creation and we can love it also.
Object: Crystal to create a color spectrum or picture of the earth, a globe, etc.
Scripture: I am now setting up my covenant with you, with your descendants, and with every living being with you—with the birds, with the large animals, and with all the animals of the earth, leaving the ark with you. Genesis 9:9-10 CEB
Ask: Have you ever seen a rainbow? Do you know how a rainbow is created? Explain that when sunlight passes through raindrops (each like a tiny prism), a rainbow is created in the sky. That is why you see a rainbow after a storm. Show your prism to illustrate.
Explain: When God created the world, He said it was good. But when humans did harm to their own lives and to the world, the world was destroyed by a flood. Do you remember the story of Noah and the ark? When the flood ended, God placed the rainbow in the sky to represent a promise to His creation that He will not destroy it with a flood again. God cares about the world He created and that includes you and me!
Ask: Have you learned things in school about caring for the earth (environment)? Let them give examples. You may add to their examples with: growing food, planting trees, not wasting food and water, walking more and driving less, using less electricity, recycling, cleaning up litter.
Explain: God loves the earth that He made. We should also love the earth.
Challenge the children to begin doing one thing that shows their love for the earth.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for our world. Help us to love it as much as You love it. Help us to find ways to care for the earth and one another. Amen.
(by Rose Gurkin, Program Associate – Administration)
Suggested Hymns about Care of Creation
All Things Bright and Beautiful
Presbyterian Hymnal 267
Moravian Book of Worship 467
African Methodist Episcopal Hymnal 434
For the Beauty of the Earth
Baptist Hymnal 44
Moravian Book of Worship 538
African Methodist Episcopal Hymnal 578
Christian Methodist Episcopal Hymnal 20
I Sing the Almighty Power of God
United Methodist Hymnal 152
Mountain Brook with Rushing Waters
Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ) 690
Praise to the Lord Almighty
Baptist Hymnal 14
Lutheran Worship 444
Moravian Book of Worship 530
African Methodist Episcopal 3
Christian Methodist Episcopal 8
This Is My Father’s World
Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ) 59
Baptist Hymnal 43
Presbyterian Hymnal 293
Moravian Book of Worship 456
African Methodist Episcopal Hymnal 47
Christian Methodist Episcopal Hymnal 34
Touch the Earth Lightly
Chalice Hymnal (Disciples of Christ) 569
Moravian Book of Worship 655
Quotes about Care of Creation
The environment is everything that isn’t me.
Albert Einstein
We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
David Brower
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.
Mahatma Gandhi
The Earth is not dying – it is being killed. And the people who are killing it have names and addresses.
U. Utah Phillips
Vignette about Care of Creation
Reconnecting
I have always been an environmentalist. My earliest recollections include a deep concern for nature and for other animals. But as a human animal I was strongly influenced by my own environment – a consumer culture in an economic system that requires constant expansion and extraction of resources. So conditioned by cultural programming, I set my passion aside and sought my fortune in the world. I soon realized that the pursuit of the American Dream is an ecological nightmare, and that my livelihood was contrary to my spiritual energy.
This realization became quite clear one late November evening as I was stopped at a railroad crossing near an electrical power plant. For twenty-five minutes I watched as a stream of coal-laden hoppers made their way to the facility. Held captive by this ongoing flow of fossil carbon, I recalled topics of recent newspaper articles: complaints about soot from the plant, mercury levels of the fish in the nearby lake, and air pollutants measured in tons! I reflected on my complicity, as an energy consumer, in the degradation of Creation.
When the train passed, I continued home, driving through a park already dressed up the holidays. Garish displays of colored lights adorned every tree and every bush. Any open space was filled with free-standing light images depicting Santa Claus in every conceivable scenario – on a chimney, with sleigh and reindeer, even in a helicopter! – always with a bagful of toys.
I wondered first, what is the electricity cost and how might the poor be served for the same expense? Then, how much pollution is generated by holiday season power usage? And finally, is this the true spirit of the holidays?
I reflected on the many “disconnects” in our society: the disconnect of the religious and spiritual from our festivals and celebrations; the disconnect of personal actions, consumption, and energy use from their consequences – pollution, deforestation, species extinction, global warming, and even war; and the disconnect of modern humans from the natural world – God’s Creation.
Our culture views Creation as “the environment.” It is separate from us. It is “out there,” ready to be used and abused as we please. This is a severe corruption of our spiritual relationship with Creation, and with God.
I resolved personally to reconnect, to live more mindfully and spiritually, and less materialistically. My wife and I began our major life transition. Most of our precious possessions – our “stuff” – went to charity. We went from two cars to one. A home energy audit led to conservation and efficiency. We gave up our careers for a simpler, more earth-friendly lifestyle.
We now live in a much smaller house. We grow our own food. Our water supply is a mountain spring. The sun provides hot water, electricity, and winter heating. We are in tune with the natural world and the seasons. And we have time for activism. Our activism is among people of faith.
In the past, people of faith have led the way to significant cultural transformations – abolishing slavery, expanding voting rights, and upholding civil rights. Once they become aware and inspired, faith communities will lead the way to another cultural transformation – a spiritual reconnecting of humans to Creation, as both dependents and caretakers of this marvelous gift.
By Kim Carlyle. Kim and his wife, Susan, live near Barnardsville, NC
Contacts & Resources for Care of Creation
www.ncipl.org
North Carolina Interfaith Power and Light, an interfaith program of the NC Council of Churches, works with faith communities across the state to address the causes and consequences of global climate change through education and public policy advocacy.
www.ncconservationnetwork.org
North Carolina Conservation Network is a statewide network of over 120 environmental, community and environmental justice organizations focused on protecting North Carolina ’s environment and public health.
www.epa.gov
The Environmental Protection Agency is the governmental agency that leads the nation’s environmental science, research, education and assessment efforts.
www.globalresponse.org
Global Response, an organization that works with indigenous peoples and grassroots organizations, works to empower people of all ages, cultures, and nationalities to protect the environment by creating partnerships for effective citizen action.
www.earthsharenc.org
Earth Share of North Carolina is a federation of environmental non-profits working to keep our state’s rivers clean and our communities healthy – and to foster ecotourism for a strong North Carolina economy.
Facts and Reflection about Care of Creation
- In 2013, we witnessed the largest single-year increase in 20 years of carbon pollution that causes climate change.[1]
- By 2025, as much as two-thirds of the world’s population could be living under water-stressed conditions where water becomes an impediment to health, peace, and socio-economic development.[2]
- Americans throw away 40 billion soft drink cans and bottles each year.[3]
- 84% of a typical household’s waste can be recycled.[4]
- The typical American home uses approximately 300 gallons of water each day.[5]
- In 2012 around 7 million people died – one in eight of total global deaths – as a result of air pollution exposure.[6]
[1] http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/09/231950.htm
[2] http://www.state.gov/e/oes/water/
[3] http://www.statisticbrain.com/environmental-recycling-statistics/
[4] http://www.statisticbrain.com/environmental-recycling-statistics/
[5] http://www.statisticbrain.com/environmental-recycling-statistics/
[6] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2014/air-pollution/en/
