An audio version of this sermon is available for download here. (24.3 Megabyte mp3)

Genesis 6:9-22, 7:24, 8:14-19
Matthew 7:21-29

If I asked you to tell me about good times in the past, what would come to your mind? Maybe a time that you spent with family or good friends. Maybe a time with your children or a special pet. How about if I asked you about a time that wasn’t so good? That memory is just as vivid as that of the good time, isn’t it? These memories live deep within us – coming to the surface sometimes when we least expect them.

Memories are important to us as human beings. They help us to know where we have been, what we have done, how we have grown and changed through the years. They help us to make meaning of our lives and our relationships. They help us to know what our deeply held values are. Memories are important.

The members and friends of this congregation know how important memories are. Just last week many of you gathered to celebrate the 156th anniversary of the founding of First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco (now fondly known as Old First). It was a pioneering spirit that lead to the founding of the first protestant church in San Francisco, and I see this spirit here in this place now. By looking back every year at the history of this church, you are able to maintain the important value of being leaders in sharing God’s abundant love with the wider community.

It is this deep value that led the congregation in the past to found the Larkin Street Youth Services to help children and youth who were homeless or living on the streets. It is that same value that drew you together as a community to found the Covenant Network to work for just standards of ordination that do not judge candidates by their sexuality but rather by their gifts for ministry.

Memories of great works in the past inspire us to expect that even greater things can come from the future. Memories of hard times in the past warn us away from making the same mistakes again. Memories are important for shaping our lives.

General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic knew the importance of memories too. Following the long, sad years of the Civil War, Gen Logan knew that the people needed a day to mark the end of the war as well as to honor the deaths of the brave Union soldiers killed during it. And so he instituted a Day of Remembrance, which was first observed on May 30, 1868. The tombs of the soldiers killed were decorated and family members and communities gathered to honor their sacrifice.

This day became known as Memorial Day and following WWI it was expanded to honor all soldiers who had died in war or military action. Tomorrow, for the 137th time, our country will pause and officially honor those men and women who have died in service of this country. The memories of these people inspire us to hold dear the freedom, rights, and privileges that we have as citizens of the United States of America. The memories also warn us away from getting entangled too quickly in war. For in our remembrance of these men and women we remember that war always comes with a high price: that of human lives.

Memories are important. Throughout human history, memories have had the dual role of inspiring and warning those who hold them. This is as true for the Hebrew people of the Bible as it is for us today. The Hebrew people repeatedly told stories of their ancestors’ journey with God – they passed the stories on from one generation to the next. They did so to remind themselves of where they had come from. They did so to remind themselves that God was watching out for them. One such story is the one we heard read this morning about Noah and the flood that God sent.

A pastor friend of mine once remarked that she couldn’t understand why so many people use this story as the theme for their children’s bedrooms. While the ark with all sorts of animals and the rainbow that comes at the end are all visually appealing, the underlying story isn’t all that bright. When we look closely at this story, it is very violent. All of creation is wiped out except for Noah, his family, and two of every animal and plant. We tend to focus on those kept alive, but have you ever stopped to think about the thousands of human, plant, and animal lives that were ended by the rising waters? Taking that into account, I can understand why my friend doesn’t want to put the ark and animals up in her children’s rooms.

But, in spite of the violence that this story infers, it was important to the Hebrew people. By telling and retelling this story they were able to be inspired as well as warned. The story helped them to remember who God is and in so doing they were able to understand more about who they were. They were also repeating the story so that they could learn from the warnings inherent it.

The story of the flood is not unique to the Hebrew tradition. It is a story that appears in every Ancient Near Eastern culture. Since this area was mainly desert land, water was of utmost importance for survival. This great need for water for daily life gave water great power over the people’s lives. Because of this, all the gods of the Ancient Near East were said to have control over the sea and water.

The stories in the Hebrew Bible fit this pattern. In the creation stories, God is shown controlling the water simply by speaking a few words. God speaks and the watery void splits and creates the heavens above and the watery earth below. Again God speaks and the water on the earth parts leaving dry land for more creation to live on. The chaos of water conforms to God’s desires.

Again in our story for this morning, God is shown to have control over water. After giving Noah the instructions for building the ark, God says, “For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life….” This story reminded the Hebrew people that the God of their ancestors was in control – not only of all living things that had breath, but even over the water, the great chaos, that seemed to have ultimate control over everyone’s life. Their God was the God who controlled all of creation – the one who had given their ancestors life and who had given them life.

Not only did their God create all that is; their God also chose to make a covenant with all of creation at the very point when it was turning away from its creator. In our story this morning, God says that all of creation is corrupt because of violence. And yet, God says to Noah, “But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you….” God had the power to just throw the towel in on the whole of creation. God had given creation a chance and it had been a big disappointment. God could have just walked away and said, “No thank you. I do not need the headache!” Instead God chose to make a covenant – to rebuild creation from a faithful core.

This story reminded the Hebrew people, as it reminds us today, that God is a loving God who chose to establish a covenant with creation. God chose not to walk away even in the face of corruption and violence. This memory helps us to know that God is faithful and will not desert us.

But why did God choose Noah? The story tells us that Noah was a righteous man who walked with God. We aren’t given a list of things that Noah did to show God that he was righteous. We aren’t told that Noah worshipped and prayed every day. We aren’t told that he went to all of his neighbors telling them about his God and urging them to follow this God too. We are told that Noah walked with God.

Later, after God had given him the incredible news of the impending flood with instructions for building the ark, we learn that Noah did all that God commanded him. He didn’t ask questions. He didn’t try to bargain with God saying that God’s reaction was too harsh. He didn’t initiate a study to examine the possibility of the flood actually occurring. He simply did as God commanded him to do.

This is what walking with God looks like. Noah received instructions to build an ark and to gather two of every living thing and he did exactly that. Because of his faithfulness, God was able to use Noah to make a fresh start with creation. Noah’s relationship with God provided a channel through which God could start afresh.

The tellers of this story hoped to inspire the listeners to trust in God’s faithfulness shown in the covenant God made with Noah. The tellers also hoped to inspire the listeners to walk with God in righteousness as Noah did – by obeying God’s commandments. And the tellers hoped to warn the listeners about the dangers of being corrupted by violence. This story shows that all of creation is susceptible to this corruption and warns against allowing violence to spread throughout our lives corrupting the goodness of God’s creative acts in us

We continue to benefit from these collective memories today. When we hear this story we, like the ancient listeners, can be inspired to trust in God’s abundant goodness shown in God’s covenant faithfulness. And we can be inspired by Noah’s example of walking with God. But, as we noted, the story of Noah doesn’t give us many pointers for how we might walk similarly with God. It leaves out all the details of what Noah’s life was like that made him acceptable in God’s eyes.

For help in this area we can turn to our New Testament passage for today. It comes at the end of Matthew’s telling of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus strives to teach his disciples about the way of life he is calling them to. He gives them inspirational advice: be the salt of the earth; be the light of the world. He gives them practical advice: on what role that the law and the prophets should play in their daily lives; on cultural problems such as murder, wrath, adultery, and divorce. Jesus also gives guidelines for how to be his disciples: love your enemies, give alms, pray, fast, serve only God, and do not judge.

This is a sermon that was intended to instruct the disciples; it wasn’t really meant for a larger audience. But the crowds who had taken to following Jesus around followed him right up the mountain as he searched for a place to talk with his disciples. They followed and they listened. Jesus did not send away the crowds even though they were not his intended audience. He didn’t do that because they were the people to whom his disciples were meant to go after Jesus had left them to continue the work that Jesus had begun.

Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount constitute the heart of the Great Commission that Jesus gives at the end of Matthew’s gospel to go into all the world and make disciples and baptize them. Jesus is teaching his disciples how they should live and what, in turn, they should teach others. His sermon supplies the contents of the mission to be proclaimed to the world by the community, and the guiding principle by which the community is to measure its own works.

As Jesus wraps up his teaching in the Sermon, he looks forward to the Last Judgment. This is where our reading this morning begins. We pick up the story at what may seem a shocking section. Jesus is saying that not everyone who calls on him by saying, “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. He goes on to explain that those people may have even done good works – prophesying, casting out demons, and doing mighty works all in Jesus’ name. Doesn’t this give you pause? Isn’t this what we’ve been called to do? If we read this passage by itself, it seems to tell us that calling on Jesus’ name and doing good works in his name are not part of being his disciple and entering the kingdom of heaven.

But this admonition follows on chapters of examples of how true disciples are to act and what their faith should consist of. Jesus is warning that merely doing things in his name does not make them the will of his Father, our God. These people who will be turned away, are going through the motions without having their hearts committed to God. They are simply following a list of do’s and don’t’s and expecting that they will reap the benefit from that. As we remember, this is exactly what the Noah story lacked – a list of things that Noah did to make him favorable in God’s sight.

Being a disciple of Christ is not about checking things off on a list. It is about being in right relationship to God. When we are, then we will be able to do God’s will of loving our enemies, giving alms, praying, fasting, serving only God, and not judging. Then we will be able to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. It’s about putting God first and letting our whole self give glory to God.

When we do that, we will be like the wise person who built the house on the rock instead of the sand. When we have God as our center, when we walk with God as Noah did, then when the flood comes – when hard times wash over us – our house will continue to stand. God will provide for us and will not walk away from us. With God’s help we will weather the storm and continue in our walk with God.

By ending his Sermon with these two stories of admonition, Jesus is warning all listeners that they must do more than just hear what he has said – they must act on it as well. We must be changed by what Jesus has said. His words are meant to inspire us to walk with God so that our prayer and acts of faith will be pleasing to God. When we do this, we will be counted as righteous in God’s sight.

These stories – of Noah, and of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount – as well as others from the Bible and our own lives, remind us of who God is and who God calls us to be. We need to remind ourselves and be reminded by others of where we, and our ancestors in faith, have been so that we can gain insight on where we will go. By retelling memories, both good and bad, we will grow in our understanding of who God has made us to be and how we are to walk with God.

Think of each Sunday as a sort of Decoration Day, or Day of Remembrance – a day to honor those who have gone before us in faith. A day to lift up their faithful acts so that we can be inspired to do even greater things. A day to learn from their lives; to heed warnings against losing sight of God’s call on our lives. When we listen to these warnings we will be able to resist the temptation to simply make checklists of things we think we ought to do to be righteous. Instead, we will be sure to maintain a right relationship with God so that God can use us as channels to do great things.

Each Sunday, as well as every day in between, we should stop and remember who God is and who God made us to be. Then we will be able to say, as Bob Hope sang so many times to troops around the globe, “Thanks for the memories.”