Noah: living through crisis

Many years ago I had a print copy of the Bible set up in such a way that one could read a portion of the Hebrew Bible, a psalm, and a portion of the Christian Canon each day.  It was a wonderful practice, one that took me out of my favorite parts of the lectionary and encouraged engagement with the harder, more obscure parts of scripture.  This year I've begun again, although with a link to a Bible website this time, as I guess befits the year 2022.  

This morning's Hebrew Bible reading was from Genesis 7-9, Noah's time on the ark, in the storm, accompanied by his family and those creatures he'd managed to collect onto the ark before the storm broke.  As I read it I noticed that the sequence of events felt very familiar.  In our own lives, we may see the intimations of a crisis on the horizon, and only by the grace of God are we able to gather up those resources that will enable survival through the worst of it.  That crisis may be personal (a divorce, the loss of a job), or societal (the rise of fear, misinformation, and violence), or global (a life-threatening virus, over-heated oceans).  Whatever the case, the early signs are there, and may be heeded or not, as one is inclined.

Then the storm breaks - ready or not, all hell breaks loose and we are adrift, completely dependent on grace to make it through each day.  Our resources feel extremely limited - those few companions we feel we can trust, and hopefully a roof over our heads, food on the table, and health care as needed.  We get by as we can, unsure at times that the next day will even come, let alone be better than this one.

Eventually the rain does begin to let up, the clouds thin, the seas are a bit less violent, and an occasional ray of sun peeks through. Like the first few attempts of the raven and the dove, we send out tentative feelers into the world -- is it safe now?  Has the flood of emotion and turmoil receded? Is there finally some form of terra firma out there?  Our first few forays out of our safe space may not succeed - we're just not ready yet, or cannot find the right conditions to support our future flourishing.

And then, slowly, we find a patch of earth where we can land our vessel, and plant a few vines, and call this world "home" again.  The world will look very different on the other side of crisis.  Relationships will have changed, or disappeared; work will take new form; lives may be lost or irrevocably altered.  And yet... we will have found a way through, or, not so much found the way but have been carried through to the new world, a New World. 

Wherever you are, or I am, along the path of crisis and resolution, we at least have Noah as a model and reminder that crisis is part of the human experience,and that sooner or later the firm earth will reappear.