The sermon this Sunday is on Genesis 6:1-8. That’s the lead-in to the story of the Flood of Noah. It won’t surprise anyone who knows me to discover that I believe in the literal interpretation of the flood.
On the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there’s a lot of reflection on the web about the meaning of the attacks and subsequent events (see NRO and Instapundit’s September 11th posts for good starting points). I did not even think about preaching a 9/11-relevant sermon this Sunday- that’s not really how I operate. But this one sure will be. God sent the flood because violence filled the earth.
In Victor Davis Hanson’s National Review article in the 9/15/03 issue, he says that recent events (the France heat wave, the Northeast blackout, suicide bombings) should remind us that only with our constant diligence can civilization be maintained. Genesis 6-8 counters with the idea that it is only by God’s grace that civilization is possible at all, and only by His providence and preservation that we don’t all slit each other’s throats. It’s still a good article and analyzes the situation well from a merely earthly perspective, but without the element of God’s sovereignty taken into account, it is a perspective that will lead only to despair.