There should have been a thousand arks
from a thousand lands bumping into each other
as the water rose and the waves broke
there might have been a thousand saved in a thousand lands
but only one
amidst scorn and laugher
listened
only one
silenced the thousands of voices
speaking to it
only one built
only one
sailed
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One of the stories in the Bible which has inspired, comforted and confounded me the most is the story of Noah and the Ark.
Inspired…what can a man do with the help of God against the violence of the world? Everything. He can slay the beast. He can begin anew. He can cleanse his culture. He can tear down and rebuild the world as it is known. Inspired by the heroic actions of this man Noah in the face of scorn and laughter. Inspired that he could overcome so many obstacles and still be a man of faith. Inspired that each of us, likewise may endure in our violent and hate filled times.
Comforted by Hope…when all seems lost. Hope when odds seem insurmountable. Hope when it appears that you and I, and sometimes just me, are the only ones who see “it” and are willing to do something about it. Hope, not just in the rainbows and lollipops everywhere, but in the ability for human beings, created in the image of God to reproduce that image in hearts, homes and habitats.
Confounded…doubly…how could He let all those others drown? and how could he be the only one to try?
First He…God. It is troubling that He would drown all those people. All the questions which faith engenders and doubt raises seem to roost in this story. Why? How? Really? Really? Myth or History? Are myth and history ever truly separate realities? Did God change? Did His love have to mature? Does violence beget violence even in God? A confounding, cautionary tale. What is history for one generation is myth to the next and propaganda to the third.
Second he…Noah. I’m not so confounded by Noah, but by his contemporaries. How did they miss the signs and not hear the call. Perhaps I should not be. A simple evaluation of the days of my short sojourn on earth reveals that little has changed.
Confounded, inspired or hope filled, there should have been a thousand arks from a thousand lands just for the people alone, with thousands more for the other creatures.
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There should have been a thousand arks, but then there would have been no flood. There would have been no flood because there would have been no need for a flood. There would have been no need for a flood for the same reason that God has promised to never destroy the wolrd by water again. He has promised to never destroy the world by water again because there is no need. There is no need because each heart is offered an internal ark.
The Eternal Ark
(An olive branch. A sprig of hope
A Host)
One
Only One
To each one
Sail
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