Noah's Ark (1846), by the American folk painter Edward Hicks
Editor’s note: At our last Christianity 101 class with deacon Jonathan Beck, we read the story in Genesis about the Flood, the second reading for the Great Easter Vigil coming up on Saturday, April 16. At the end of class, our cathedral dean, Leander S. Harding, shared his poem below. Hearing it made me aware of the parts of his sermons that sink me into contemplation as poetry. As Deacon Jonathan said, the Great Easter Vigil is the Church’s great masterwork. It is our epic poem that draws us in and carries us through God’s work in salvation through Christ.
- Brynna Carpenter-Nardone
Noah and Christ
During the Easter Vigil we hear the story of Noah and the Flood.
The world had become wicked and God determined to begin again
and wipe it clean. He bade Noah take with him into the ark
the only life that would survive. And Noah took all the green things
and the animals both clean and unclean and his wife and children.
The rain came and the Flood rose
obliterating everyone and everything.
Only what was in the ark would come forth
and live. The rain has come again,
bloody rain from the cross of Christ, washing everything.
There is nothing that can survive that deluge
and live again save only
what this new Noah takes with him into the ark of his tomb.
Oh Lord, gather us, your spouse, your children,
your most unclean animals, into the ark of your death
that we may be saved from the Flood and come forth with you
into the new world of your resurrection.
Only thus shall we live.
