by the Rev Steve Proudlove, vicar at St John’s, Menston

YOU’VE all heard of Noah’s ark and the flood.

Imagine the end months of waiting, watching the water levels. Especially the last couple of months when the ground is temptingly visible but still not quite ready for human footfall.

Imagine what it must have felt like emerging from the cool darkness of the ark, blinking in the sunshine, and feeling dry ground under your feet again. Visualise the orderly exit of the animals and birds, followed by their celebratory dancing in the new-dried dust.

Once you have pictured this, imagine stepping out into this new world, unsure of whether the time is right. See Noah, taking responsibility for the safety of his family and for all the living things of creation, ordering them back out of the ark. How would that have felt?

Imagine the emotional strain finally catching up with Noah as he surveys the land so recently destroyed, contemplating all the important tasks lying ahead.

I wonder whether Noah’s family left the ark dreading that each rain drop would signal the return of another wave of flooding, unsure whether this new world would support them and unsure of their place within it. They probably differed about their priorities: some wanting to get on with life, others stuck in grief for those they had lost, some planning flood defences just in case, whilst others ranging far and wide to make up for the time lost couped up in the ark.

Among all this, Noah finds space and time to worship God, and having done so receives the comfort and assurance he needs. But this assurance comes after he has worshipped. Noah’s piety is based on his being saved from disaster, not on some future promise of safety – that comes later.

As he and his family leave the safety and security, but also the captivity and restrictiveness, of the ark, Noah’s story parallels ours. There are the same feelings of hope and celebration mixed with anxiety and grief - the same exhaustion mixed with anticipation. There’s the same concern about a recurrence and uncertainty about how to live in a world where we feel like threat still stalks the shadows.

Noah’s is a story we can all find our place within and prayerfully reflect upon. Famously, the story ends with a rainbow: a sign of God’s protection, a sign of hope amidst all else that we might feel at the moment. It is to this hope and protection that we turn; this sign of God’s promise to us. We move into an undetermined phase of life, but we have a faithful God who will go with us, as he went with Noah.