Stroll through Scripture for Sunday September 13, 2026

Based on Genesis 6:5–22; 8:6–12; 9:8–17

We move into a new cycle in the Narrative Lectionary. This cycle starts with the story of the flood. It stretches out over three chapters to give us the highlight of the story. There’s a lot to this story, and the story raises a ton of questions.

I’m grateful that we are looking at this story as fully as we are. Too often it seems that we gloss over the story or have a Precious Moments figurine version of the story.

It’s important to keep in mind that Genesis 1–11 is the pre-history section of the Bible. We call it myth. Myth is a sacred story that expresses a truth without it having to be literally true. Essentially Genesis 1–11 was an ancient people’s attempt to explore the human condition and our relationship with God. Genesis 1–11 is not about science or literal history. You can think of these chapters as people asking the core question — how did we get to this point?

This is important to keep in mind as we read any of the stories of Genesis 1–11. Because if we try to read the flood account from a literal basis, we end up with loads of problems or something like the Ark Encounter in Kentucky which cost approximately $100 million to construct. The literal reading of Scripture ends up being problematic because it demands answers and certainty. Faith isn’t about certainty.

As for the story, it starts with God seeing the wickedness of humans being great in the earth. It was so…