NOAH Movie—Now Playing
March 31, 2014 By 2 Comments

NOAH Movie—Now Playing

I haven’t seen the much talked about Noah movie—yet. But I plan to and then I will make comments on it. I usually avoid pre-hype about a movie because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But I do have some thoughts that will guide how I view the movie.

The story of Noah is not actually a story about Noah. Would it surprise you to learn that in the Biblical text, Noah never utters a word? He is a speechless character. In a sense, Noah is a foil that helps us understand God.  The main character is God and something deeply significant is being revealed about God.

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A Rainbow in the Clouds: Sign of God’s Covenant
February 18, 2014 By Leave a Comment

A Rainbow in the Clouds: Sign of God’s Covenant

God emerges from the Flood in Genesis 9 offering covenant with a beautiful picture in the sky. “When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant” (Genesis 9:16, NRSV). The God whose heart was moving away from his creation is now moving toward it. Five times the narrator presents a God who says, “Never again.”

I’ve said those words plenty of times to God. As a young teen, I beat a path to the altar of the local Nazarene church. I think I owe them for carpet. Each time I’d promise God never to do again the thing I promised last time never to do again. I became eloquent in my promises. Each “never again” had to be equal to or better than the last one. Certainly God was recording these. I promised to read my Bible every day, and to pray. I promised to witness to Dickie Bennett. I promised to stop thinking sexually about girls. I promised to study harder and make an A in algebra. I promised to treat my sisters kinder.

All eloquent promises. All eloquently broken.

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