FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Sermon by Dr. George Bryant
Wirth
September 7, 2003
Scripture: Genesis 6:5-22, 9:8-17; Luke 8:22-25
The
title for today’s sermon was triggered in my imagination last May as I read the
front-page articles in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the vision for a
new aquarium in our city. Earlier that
same month, our Session and staff had decided that the theme for this new
church year would be “Christ at the Center: the Hope of the World.” Then on May 28 and May 30, I saw the
headlines in the paper which read:
“DOWNTOWN ANCHOR PROMISED”
And
this, in part, is what the articles said:
The Georgia Aquarium that will open in 2005 is shaped like a modern Noah’s Ark, with a towering translucent bow lit from within that will stand as a new beacon of hope for downtown Atlanta.
The
$200 million aquarium is a gift to the city and state from Home Depot
co-founder Bernard Marcus …At the groundbreaking Thursday, Marcus portrayed the
aquarium as the needed anchor for efforts to revitalize downtown while
showcasing aquatic animals that live in threatened waters. ‘It looks like an ark and we built it around
the theme of the ark,’ a jubilant Marcus told hundreds of business and
political leaders assembled at the construction site … The aquarium will be
located on nine acres donated by the Coca-Cola Corporation next to Centennial
Olympic Park. Coke plans to move its
museum to the same property.
At the
groundbreaking ceremony, Marcus … implored the influential crowd to muster
their resources to turn this downtown neighborhood into a safe and inviting
place for people from all walks of life to return over and over again … Governor
Sonny Perdue suggested that the state may pay for road and signage improvements
in the area … and Mayor Shirley Franklin declared with enthusiasm ‘This is a
great day for Atlanta!’” (Articles
written by Tom Sabulis on May 28 and David Pendered on May 30).
I also noticed in one of the sidebars that the architectural firm of Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback and Associates is doing all of the design work. That firm is headed by an elder of this congregation, Roger Neuenschwander, and the lead architect, Gary Fowler, also belongs to our church family. In talking with Gary the other day, he affirmed the Marcus vision that this aquarium will help to revive downtown Atlanta with both an economic boom and an educational boost, especially for children who may never get to see the real ocean.
So
as you can tell, this story caught my attention last spring, and I have been
thinking about it ever since then, wondering how to say, how to convey that
there is actually a theology – a theological framework which surrounds and
sustains this new aquarium. Because, as
visionary and as generous as Bernie and Billi Marcus are, and as creative and
as competent as the architects and builders of this aquarium are known to be,
they did not invent this idea. For as
you are well aware, the original idea – the image of a ship of faith as a
beacon of hope – goes all the way back to the ancient story of Noah in the book
of Genesis.
I.
Now, some would say that this story is literally true and happened exactly as the text in the Hebrew Scriptures describes it. God was angry with the people on earth for their sin and rebellion and decided to destroy what He had created and then start all over again. So God chose Noah to build an ark and to gather his family and every living creature – two by two – on board, promising that when the great flood came, they would survive the storm. After 150 days and nights of wind and rain, floating on the water in the darkness, the Bible says that Noah opened a window of the ark. He sent out a raven and then a dove which finally returned with an olive leaf in its mouth as a clear sign that the waters had gone down and the land was dry (Genesis 8). The story concludes in Genesis 9 as God puts a rainbow in the sky to assure Noah and his family that “Never again would there be such a flood” of devastation, and that God would watch over every living thing from that time forward on into all future generations.
Well,
that’s the literal translation, which does present some complications when you
get right down to the details … such as how Noah and the seven members of his
family could have rounded up all the male and female pairs of every kind of
animal and creature on the earth … and even if they had pulled that one off,
how could all of them have fit into one big boat which was 450 feet long, 75
feet wide and 45 feet high … about the size of this sanctuary!
To
tell you the truth, I prefer the explanation of Dr. Walter Brueggemann from
Columbia Seminary, who wrote in his commentary on Genesis:
“We do not have before us history, that is a detailed account of what actually happened … Yet with equal firmness we must deny that this story is a myth … for such a perspective misses the claim of the text … This Genesis narrative is (instead) an Israelite statement about the covenant between God and creation … and God’s peculiar way of transforming the world.” (Interpretation, A Biblical Commentary on Genesis, by Dr. Walter Brueggemann, John Knox Press, 1982)
Which
leads us to the theology of the new aquarium, which I think affirms at least
three important realities that were written into that old, ancient, original
story and the first is this: The
creator of our world delights in diversity!
When
the authors of the Genesis account finally got around to putting the story down
in written form, they carefully described how God told Noah to bring pairs of
every creature on earth inside the ark:
Of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring
two of them into the ark to keep them alive … They shall be male and female …
birds according to their kinds, animals according to their kinds, creeping
things according to their kinds – two of every sort to keep them alive (Genesis 6:19-20).
Now as we have already said, if this story is taken literally, that roundup of creatures would have been a tall order, much more difficult than herding cats! A New Yorker magazine cartoon pictures a long line of animals waiting to climb into the ark and one zebra says to another, “I hope he doesn’t invite us on board alphabetically.” Another cartoon shows Noah on deck, looking at his wife and asking the question, “Should we put the termites in a metal box?”
Literally,
I don’t think it happened that way. But
symbolically, those ancient authors were trying to say that each and every creature
was of great value to the creator. All
these years later, we know through scientific research and our own observation
that no two creatures, no two people for that matter, have ever been exactly
the same. We are all uniquely made and
God delights in that diversity.
So
it will be in the new aquarium, as described in the paper last spring: more
than 50,000 aquatic and exotic creatures collected from about 500 species
across this planet, including some that live in threatened waters and are in
danger of becoming extinct.
That’s
diversity with a capital “D”! And
hopefully it will remind us as we visit the new aquarium that God not only
wants us to enjoy the diversity of creation, but also to treasure and take care
of each and every one of His creatures, great and small, and to be better
caretakers of the environment which has been entrusted to all of us.
That’s
what the words of the hymn we just sang really mean:
“All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.”
(Cecil Frances Alexander,
1848)
And
God expects us to be good stewards of all those amazing gifts – good stewards
of the diversity in creation which is all around us.
II.
Now
that leads to a second theological dimension which is connected to this new
aquarium: God loves the entire human family. The articles in the paper last May estimate that more than 2
million people from all across Atlanta, this nation and the rest of the world,
will visit this massive ark of wood and stone and glass and water every
year. The parking deck will have 1,800
spaces for cars and additional places for buses to park. Moreover, a reception center is planned that
will accommodate sit-down dinners for 1,200 and can handle functions for 12,000
to 15,000 guests. That is a big ark,
with enough room, it seems, for everyone!
Just
so, in the story about the flood. When
it was finally over, did you hear the promise God made to Noah? Behold, I establish my covenant with you
and your descendants … and all future generations … that never again shall all
flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, never again shall there be a flood
to destroy the earth … And so I set my rainbow in the clouds as a sign of this
everlasting covenant with all the people of the earth (Genesis 9:9017 –
paraphrased).
Please
stay with me for a moment, because we are moving into deeper theological water
now. In the original story, only Noah
and his family were saved from that flood.
But when it was finally over, when the disaster of that deluge was
finally done, God made the promise to bless and to love Noah’s descendants and
all future generations – in other words, everyone.
As
Christians, we believe that is consistent with the revelation of Jesus Christ,
who came into this world preaching a gospel of love, not just for those who
were Jews as He was, but for all of God’s people on earth.
Where
we get ourselves into trouble today, just as it has been in the past, is when
we Christians or people of different faith traditions exclude others from the
circle of God’s love. Most of the time,
we don’t mean to do it. But when we
give the impression that some of us really are God’s children while others are
orphans, that some of us belong to God’s family but others do not, that some of
us are in and others have been left out – when that happens, we have lost sight
of God’s kingdom on earth and crossed over the line from inclusion to
exclusion.
Remember
– it was Carl Sandburg who said that the ugliest word in the English language
is “exclusive.” And Jesus of Nazareth,
speaking in Aramaic, which was His native tongue, made it clear that God wants
us to reach out and embrace everyone: Judge not, lest you be judged said
Jesus (Matthew 7:1), and as you seek to love God with all your heart, soul
and mind, you shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37, 39).
Bernie
Marcus caught that same vision at the groundbreaking last May and he said it
well: “This new aquarium will appeal to
– will welcome people from all walks of life.”
And in God’s kingdom on earth, that is the bottom line.
So
what are the theological lessons we can learn from this old, old story in
Genesis and from our new aquarium here in Atlanta? First, God the Creator delights in diversity. Moreover, God our Father loves every member
of His family on earth, including you and me.
And finally, God our Redeemer has promised that He will never give up
on humanity.
How
do we know that is so? The Bible says
that when the flood was gone, God hung a rainbow in the sky to assure those
ancient people and all of us ever since that we do not travel this journey
through life alone. In the good times
and in the hard times, when the sky is blue or when the storms strike, God has
promised to come alongside us, to help us and to guide us toward hope on the
horizon.
And
if we as Christians should ever think that our boat is about to sink, Jesus
Christ Himself through the presence of His Holy Spirit, will draw near to us
just as He did to those disciples on the Sea of Galilee, and speak the words we
so desperately need to hear: “Be not
afraid!”
I
believe those were the words Noah heard as he trusted God to keep that ark
afloat a long, long time ago. Those are
the words we all need to hear as we approach this second anniversary of
September 11 - “Be not afraid!” And I think those are the same words – words
of courage and conviction, words of hope and of vision – that surround and
sustain the ark that is being built in downtown Atlanta today.
So
let us pray that it will be good for our city and a blessing to all who
come. And that my friends, as best I
can determine, is the theology of the new aquarium.
In
the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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