Tuesday 9th February
08 Feb 2021
Good Morning,
Noah is a remarkable story. Can you imagine spending decades of your life building a ginormous boat, all because you felt God had told you to? At the end of the story, God makes a promise that He will never wipe out all living things but instead will offer us a fresh start and forgiveness. Ultimately, Christian’s believe we see that fulfilled in Jesus.
This assembly focuses on the value of forgiveness.
Once upon a time – a long, long time ago. The world was in a pretty bad state. People were mean and hurtful towards each other. They fought and killed and did all sorts of terrible things.
God became very sad at how his beautiful creation had become so broken and evil.
But not everyone and everything was bad. There was one person, a man called Noah, who loved God and who was the only person doing what was right.
One day, God spoke to Noah saying,
“I will wipe clean the whole earth and all the wickedness and violence in it. Make a boat big enough to hold all your family and animals of every kind!”
God directed him about how big he should make the boat. It would have been longer than four football pitches, wider than the length of a tennis court and taller than a four-story house! When it was done, they called it the Ark.
God told him to gather all his family, his sons and their wives and to get onto the boat, along with animals of every kind.
Now at this point I need some help… I need all of you to think of an animal in your heads, it could be any animal, and if I point at you, I need you to make the noise of that animal. Got it?
Well God gathered all the animals and led them towards the ark.
As Noah brought more and more of the animals into the ark things would have gotten pretty noisy!
Eventually all of the animals were aboard the ark.
The door of the ark was closed up tight, and then the rain started.
It rained for 40 days non-stop.
The rain kept coming down. In fact, it got heavier and heavier…
After 20 days there was no sign of stopping. In fact the rain was getting even heavier and starting to flood the earth!
The waters were getting higher and higher and the boat began to float over the flooded earth!
40 days of torrential rain! The waters had risen above the height of the mountains! And then…
The rain stopped.
Noah and his family, and all the animals were floating on top of the flood waters. The world as it had been was washed completely clean.
For 150 days they floated on an ocean so huge there was nothing else in sight. But God hadn’t forgotten Noah. During the next 150 days the water started to go down.
Down, down, down it went until the mountain tops were visible. One day the waters had gone down so much that the ark came to rest again on land. When the soggy land had dried out, God told Noah to go out of the boat with all his family and he released all the animals who went back out into the world and multiplied in number and Noah worshiped God.
God was pleased with Noah and so he made him a promise.
“I know that from time to time people will be bad and their thoughts will be evil, but I will never again wipe away all living beings or send a big flood. As a sign of this promise, I will put a rainbow in the sky. Every time you see it, it will be a reminder that I will never again destroy all living things with a flood.”
A lot of people think the story of Noah is all about things being destroyed. In fact it’s a story about fresh starts. God promises that even if we have been bad or thought terrible things, he won’t destroy everything again. He does however still give us a fresh start if we ask him. The story of Noah shows the importance of fresh starts. Even without a big flood, God can wash away any mistakes or bad things you have done and give you the opportunity to start again. He does this through Jesus who came many, many years after Noah. But that’s a story for another day. Next time you see a rainbow, remember God’s promise to you that he will always give you a fresh start.
By Luke Aylen
Dear God,
Thank you that you can wipe away those bad things.
Thank you that you can forgive.
Help me to forgive others.
Amen
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