In the story of Noah, we hear and see the first time the word, "covenant" used in the Bible. In the prophecy of Jeremiah, he tells of the last covenant that will be given to us humans. The first covenant is given not just to Noah and humanity, but to every living thing and the world itself. The last one will be written on our hearts. In the story of the great flood, it is Noah who sacrifices and worships God that causes God to regret the action of flooding the world and so God makes the sign of the rainbow to remind Godself never to destroy the world again. Of course, the rainbow is a bow of an archer a weapon that is now turned upside down which can't be used to harm or destroy. Whether or not we believe in a flood that covered the whole world or just a portion, the story gives us assurance that God isn't in the world-ending business anymore. God literally hung up their weapon as a sign of peace to all life and a reminder not to do it again. On Friday night, we had a beautiful rainbow, some saw a double rainbow, after a brief and soaking rain. We see beauty, awe, and wonder. In this story, God sees a reminder that even when things go wrong, life is important and life is good, all life.
In this first covenant, God does not require anything of humans or any other life forms and even expands the diet of humans and possibly other animals. We are told all have eaten grass up to this point, but now, all moving things are given for us to eat. We are not told to not do evil or else. We are not given the 10 Commandments. We are told to be fertile and multiply, that is it. There was nothing to sign, for it wasn't a contract, it was God's verbal commitment to a relationship that has no end.
The covenant that God promises through Jeremiah is also very similar. God will write the laws upon our hearts so that all will know God. Again, this is God's initiative and God's doing. The ending of the Jeremiah is peculiar in that God tells us that if the sun and moon and seasons ever end, then God will forget this covenant. But this harkens to the first creation story and to the covenant of Noah that God won't destroy the world ever again so this covenant with the people of Israel, and we infer with all the world, will never be undone.
Between this first and last covenant, we have others given to us through the 10 Commandments and Moses and through Jesus and the cup of the new covenant. Covenants are made between humans like Jacob and his father-in-law at Mizpah, "the Lord watch between me and thee while we are apart." Covenants are based upon relationship, not just contracts that spell out the terms of finances and actions to be taken or acceptable, but a relationship of how to live together, how to be together, and maybe even, how to grow together.
Until this last covenant comes through and God's law and love is written on our hearts, let us strive to be in relationship with each other in ways that are healthy and good. Let us seek not to destroy, but to be fruitful, fertile so that all life may thrive and flourish. Let us seek the good for all, not just ourselves or our country, or those whom we think agree with us and have similar goals. Our church is a covenant church, in our sacraments, we baptize and promise to resist evil and share the good news, and we eat the bread and drink the cup in remembrance of Christ, who came to share the love of God in real and just ways. We, as humans, have the power to destroy, but we also have the power to heal, to forgive, and be generous. We, as the church, the body of Christ, live into the covenant, the old covenant, the new covenant, that all are related and we are to love each other, as Christ loves us, as God loves us, and as the Spirit moves through us. Amen
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