As we saw last week, God flooded the earth with watery chaos – uncreating what had been cre- ated - and started over. The earth had become corrupt, but God still loved the world, especially that most frustrating of his creatures, humanity. So he saved one family, the family of Noah, and when the waters receded, God blessed them and told them to start over, which they did. They went out into a world of promise and promptly rediscovered every sin, every crime, every shameful act that humanity has imagined. Like the first man and woman before them, Noah’s de- scendants set out in arrogance to make themselves like God. “Come,” they said, “let us make bricks and build ourselves a tower. We can build it to the heavens and make ourselves a name,” and they began building. God sighed. With a gentle breath, he blew over them, and the congrega- tion of arrogance began speaking different languages. That was all it took. The slightest misun- derstanding, and suddenly people were filled with suspicion and distrust. They divided into fac- tions, excluded those who were different, learned to hate those they could not understand, and scattered throughout the world, each group seeking a place away from those barbarians who spoke those other languages. God shook his head. It didn’t matter what they did; he was still go- ing to love them. But he would have to find some other way to communicate that love to them, some way that they might understand. God decided to start again with just one man, one man to whom he would show himself more clearly, who could then be an example to others. The man he chose was named Abram.
Sermon Notes