Oh, Advent! My favorite liturgical season of the Church year! One of my favorite traditions for the season is the Jesse tree. Each day I take an ornament out of my Advent calendar to place on my Jesse tree. Each ornament has it’s own Bible verse to contemplate. The idea is to follow the Bible during Advent through salvation history to the birth of Jesus on Christmas day. The topic today: The power of one!
The Power of One
The first week of Scripture focuses on Genesis. On December 4 I read Genesis 6:5-8: Warning of the Flood. It says: When the Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved. So the Lord said: “I will wipe out from the earth the men whom I have created and not only the men, but also the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air, for I am sorry that I made them.” But Noah found favor with the Lord.
What stirred
The last line of the verse “but Noah found favor with the Lord,” stirred something in me. My immediate thought was, there is always someone righteous enough to redeem us – not perfect, just righteous. What a timely message! At a time when the world seems so dark, divided and irredeemable with no where to go but down, it’s important to remember the story of Noah. The one man in the world who found favor with the Lord.
Now you may be thinking, one man, redeeming power, no kidding, ever hear of Jesus? But there’s a difference between Jesus and Noah – Jesus was divine. He was, in fact, perfect. Noah was not and yet he was enough! He was righteous enough to redeem the world in his time.
I considered the contradiction of the “good” of God’s creation and the “evil” that would lead him to want to wipe it all out. God’s regret struck me. How could the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient God I know and love feel that way?
Subject to futility
I slowly began to understand as I continued to ponder throughout the day. It wasn’t a contradiction at all. You see, God created us flawed. We may not be perfect, but we’re still good! It’s ALL good. As a matter of fact, Romans 8:20-21 tells us “for creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Never once do we read in Genesis, or anywhere else in the Bible for that matter, that God created everything perfect! There’s always room for improvement, which is where we come in as God’s co-creators. God has given us an opportunity, as His co-creators, to participate in His creation. We have an opportunity to be His partners. Yes, He gave us free will, but He also gave us so much more than that.
Our God is an awesome God! The fact that He allows us the free will to choose – to make better or exploit, to love Him or leave Him is evidence of how much He truly loves us! Amen!
If you love something
How does the saying go? “if you love something set it free, if it comes back it was yours, if it doesn’t it never was.” Imagine that! Our God is not possessive or forceful. Does He desire a relationship? Does He desire cooperation and participation? Of course He does, but He won’t force it. So who loses when we don’t follow through? We do! Think of all the wonderful things God has created, and then think of the fact that He wants us to continue His work. Think of the fact that God is waiting for us to make His amazing creation even better! We’re called to continue evolving. Are we doing our part?
Hearing the call
The story of Noah gave me an entirely different outlook as I move forward on the journey. First, if God was currently planning to wipe out all of mankind, am I righteous enough, like Noah, to redeem the world? Could the world depend on me? I’m certainly not perfect, but do I have the little it takes to find favor with the Lord? Does He delight in me? How about you?
Second, as God’s co-creator, where do I belong? How do I respond to His call to co-create? Seems like a tall task, all of it, but remember “God requires fidelity, not perfection.” Remember the power of one! All we have to do is show up and God provides the rest.
After reading and pondering Genesis 6:5-8, I’m relieved and excited and hope you are too. I hope your Advent got off to a good start! God bless you!
Postscript
This won’t be the first time this ever happens to me and I’m sure it won’t be the last. You may have read something similar in some of my previous posts. I drafted this post over the weekend, about two days after I had read the Scripture verse. While all my thoughts and ideas in the draft were complete, I delayed posting. Why? Who knows, but I do know that I woke this morning with the intention of getting back here to post. It’s been a while!
I’ll share here Richard Rohr’s morning meditation, which left me flabbergasted. He goes way deeper than I do or ever could! Enjoy!
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