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October 1, 2026
Morning Meditation
Reading: Genesis 6:5-22
God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit[c] high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”
Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Meditation by Glenn Beamer
This week the K-5 formation kids will extend their understanding of God’s creation and our stewardship of it via Genesis depiction of Noah’s ark. If we read the scripture literally, several of the children will pick up on its absurdity – Noah is six hundred years old, the ark is approximately 450 feet long & miraculously accommodates two of all living creatures including birds. In the sixth chapter God directs Noah to take two of every species. In the seventh chapter, Noah goes overboard (sorry) and loads up seven of every living creature.
There are two stereotypical ways of explaining Noah’s ark to children – one is to argue that everyone on earth was bad except Noah, who would be spared the collective punishment God decreed. The other is to depict Genesis chapters 6 through 9 as some sort of Biblical Poseidon Adventure in which the industrious Noah and his sons were equivalent to Shelley Winters climbing the upside-down Christmas tree and Gene Hackman swimming through flooded corridors.
Fortunately, the folks at SHINE curriculum have thought through this dilemma. Instead of focusing on the rapacious collective sloth and evil transgression, Noah’s story is an illustration of our call to earthly stewardship. Noah recognizes a coming calamity and ensures that all the beautiful constituents of God’s creation are preserved through the calamity. With this interpretation, our Redeemer children can connect with the Genesis story of earth’s creation and God’s care for the garden of Eden.
Our modern translation of God’s wrath and Noah’s ark has the unintended effect of making children wonder whether they would have deserved to be saved – very few people were. As a church we can shortcut to the New Testament and assure children that Jesus came not to condemn them but save them. But this response misses the point. The legends of Adam and Eve and Noah’s ark reflect God’s on-going care for creation and our ability to learn how to sustain that creation.
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