Week One
November 28, 2022
Restoration
Genesis 8:1–19
God did not forget Noah and all the animals in the ark, and sent a mighty wind over the earth so that the waters began to subside. The springs of the Deep and the windows in the heavens were closed up. The rain from the heavens stopped. The water covering the earth gradually dropped, until at the end of 150 days it was gone. Genesis 8:1-3
The crisis is over. God has not forgotten us. In this third Advent season beyond the squealing of the brakes in March 2020, we can begin to imagine what is next. It is obscured, for sure. The flood waters still hide what will be discovered later — but at least the rain has stopped.
I am fascinated by this story in Genesis, the story of Noah and the flood. It follows the tragedy in the garden, then the tragedy of Cain and Abel. In fact, as the story opens, we read, “YHWH was sorry that humankind had been created on the earth; it pained God’s heart.” When God created humans, the Holy One crowned them with the pronouncement, “...and it was very good.” What happened?
This passage in Genesis reaches back for the beautiful Hebrew word present in the first chapter, “ruah.” It can be translated: breath, wind, or spirit. It is the source of creation, what God breathed into the first human to bring life. Right here, after the world has been destroyed, God once again breathes upon the earth and the direction shifts from devastation toward restoration.
That’s what hope looks like to me. Appearing as a tiny shift, perhaps unnoticed by most, but appearing even so. Hope is like the wind when it shifts direction bringing a change in the weather. Hope is like holy breath. Hope is water receding. Hope is the life that survived against all the odds, waiting to be discovered.
We are in the first week of Advent. The darkness of the womb strongly embraces us. We are too early to catch the first light of the birth canal. Still, hope comes to the fore. May God bring hope like a fresh wind in this season.
Rev. Charla Gwartney
Adjunct Faculty, Century for Ministry and Lay Training
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