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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Today we are continuing in our Lenten series Christ in All Times.

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And last week we heard about Adam and this week we are continuing with Noah.

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And as I was thinking about this passage that we just heard from Genesis chapter 6,

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I couldn't help but think about this one painting that my brother has in his condo.

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And as you look at this painting, your eyes are immediately drawn into the center where you see a galleon that is sailing through stormy seas.

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Now if you don't know what a galleon is, just think of the black pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean.

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It's one of those massive multi-deck wooden ships with rows of cannons aimed off the sides and three towering masks that hoist up square sails.

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And this galleon sits at the very center of this painting and your eyes are immediately drawn to it.

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And as you continue looking at it, the stormy sea that it's sailing through starts to come to life.

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And you see the sea start to roar with its frothy white-capped waves crashing all around the ship.

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And I don't know how many of you have ever been out on the open ocean before.

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But when you are out on the open ocean, the water never really appears to be this nice blue color that we often see it depicted.

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But it's often very dark, either a deep blue or even black because of the vast depth of the ocean.

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You're reminded of that in this painting, of the perilous depths of darkness and death that rage below this galleon from which this ship protects from.

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Because if we today were standing on the deck of that ship, that galleon would be our safety, our protection and our hope as we sail over those treacherous seas.

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And as I was thinking about that painting, I couldn't help but wonder how Noah must have felt in that rinky-dink, creaky and stinky wooden ark that he had.

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But that was all he had. That was his home as he sailed over the flooding waters.

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And whether he wanted it to be or not, that ark was his safety, his protection and his hope.

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Because he knew the dangers that he faced. He had literally just witnessed death and destruction come when the fountains of the deep burst forth and the windows of the heaven opened up.

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He saw the flooding waters come and fill the entire earth, all the streets, every home, every building, every temple and cover every mountain.

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He witnessed all humanity, all living things destroyed in those very same wrathful waters.

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And all that Noah had was a promise from God in that rinky-dink, creaky and stinky ark.

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But Noah had a promise. A promise of a covenant that God would establish with Noah when the waters subsided.

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And that promise is what kept Noah safe. That promise was Noah's safety. It wasn't the instructions on how to build the ark, what wood to use or what provisions to bring along.

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Or even how to pitch the ark. But it was that promise of a covenant that kept Noah safe.

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That was his safety, his protection and his hope while he helplessly drifted on the flooded waters.

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And while he was doing that, that ark was his home. That was his home as he looked down at the waters and saw the perilous depths of darkness and death below him.

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But all the while, he had that promise to cling to and grasp onto for dear life.

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And eventually, God made good on his promise. The flood subsided and the ark was brought to safety to where he, his family and all the animals could safely walk out and onto dry land.

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And thankfully for us, God did bring Noah to safety and establish that covenant to where he promised to never ever flood the earth again.

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So we don't have to worry about worrying about a flood anymore because God established that covenant with Noah.

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But the story didn't stop there because sin, corruption and wickedness still persisted and as we know full well, even still persist to this day.

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But we, like Noah, also have a covenant. A watery promise that we get to hold and grasp onto and cling to for dear life.

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Because Christ himself, he entered into the wrathful waters of death and turned them into waters of life.

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He descended into the very depths of darkness and death and rose victoriously.

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And through this new watery covenant of baptism, we are joined to his death and his resurrection where we receive a flood of grace.

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These baptismal waters are deep and dark but not dangerous because Christ is ruling through them and ruling over them.

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It is our safety, our protection and our hope and it's also through these waters in which we are joined together as one in the body of Christ.

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And in which we are also brought into our home, Christ's ark, the church.

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And you can even see this depicted in the windows here at chapel. And now I have to give credit where credit's due because Dr. Schmidt is the one that pointed this out to me.

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But if you look out in the narthex, the very first window, you see the waters of creation in a spirit, the dove hovering over them.

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And just opposite to that window on the other side of the narthex is the waters of the new creation in which Christ enters into the baptismal waters.

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And these two windows that stand opposite one another connect us with the church throughout all time which all finds its source in the baptismal covenant of grace that flows out from the victorious resurrected Christ.

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And there we see that river of life, that baptismal river which finds its source in Christ flow out from him and into every single other window.

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And it's on these waters that people from all nations, tribes and tongues are saved and in which all of us are joined together as one in Christ.

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And it's on these waters as well that the church that we find ourselves a part of floats and carries us to safety into the new creation.

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And during this life we're going to have our own storms that we face, our own messy lives are filled with treacherous waters and white capped waves.

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Yet here in this church, Christ's ark, we find our safety, our protection and our hope as he carries us safely into the new creation where there will be no more sin, wickedness or corruption.

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At the beginning of this sermon, I told you about this painting that my brother has hanging up in his condo.

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How at the very center of it is this galleon that sails through rough and stormy seas.

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But this is not the only ship that is featured in this painting.

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In fact, there's many other ships that are featured in here ranging from different sizes and shapes.

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There's other galleons and there's even small dinghies and everything in between each of these boats sailing through the stormy seas.

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And all of them are designed to hold people, to be their safety, protection and hope as they sail across the sea.

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But these boats in this painting are actually not isolated to themselves. They are not sailing alone.

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But if you actually look closely at the boats, they're all united.

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If you look closely, they all fly the same banner.

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They are one fleet.

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They are one fleet, sailing for the same purpose and united under the same banner.

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And if one of these boats were to find themselves in danger, the entire fleet would rally around to help because they are one fleet.

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And I think that is a powerful image for Christ's church.

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Because in a few months, 64 days to be exact, many of us are going to be called out as pastors, as deaconesses or as vicars to serve in Christ's church.

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Whether that be in a large, galleon-sized church or a small church or somewhere in between, we are all going to be called out to serve.

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Somewhere across the nation or perhaps even the world.

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But each of these churches are not isolated to themselves.

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As church workers, you are not isolated to yourselves because we as the church are all united under Christ, under that same baptismal covenant of grace.

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We are all united in him no matter the size, no matter the location.

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Our churches all fly the same banner. Christ's.

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Because we are one fleet, sailing for the same purpose, under the same banner.

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And so when one church finds itself struggling, the fleet unites to help.

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And you've probably seen this happen.

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In situations of vacancies, pastors, despite their already full schedule, will go and serve and preach to those people who need to hear God's word.

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In financial strains, churches will band together and financially help and support one another, and facilities are shared between churches.

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Because we are one fleet, sailing for the same purpose, all united in Christ.

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And that is the blessing that we get to have as being a part of Christ's church.

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Because we have each other to rely on. To not only continue carrying out his mission and mutually supporting one another, but also bringing new people into this baptismal covenant of grace and bringing them into the church.

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The safety and protection of the church.

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And sometimes, life as part of the church and as church workers, as pastors, deaconesses, or vicars, might be hard. It will be hard.

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Our churches that we are called to may struggle and it may feel like we are doing everything in our power to keep our heads barely above water.

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We'll have members leave, either to other churches or perhaps just leave the church altogether.

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Pastors and other church workers will continue retiring and churches will close and the culture around us may become increasingly against us.

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Yet despite all of that, Christ has given us a promise that he will carry and preserve his church on the baptismal covenant of grace that flows out from him.

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And because of that, nothing can prevail against Christ or his church. No philosophies, empty deceits, or human traditions, elemental spirits, princes, authorities, not even the gates of hell can prevail over Christ and his church.

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Because Christ himself keeps it afloat, guides it, and steers it.

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He does all of that while it feels like we are sailing over the perilous depths of darkness and death.

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And looking back at Noah, he did not have a fleet along with him to sail over the flooded earth.

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But he had a promise. A promise to hold and cling to and because of that, God guided and protected him in the ark.

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And we, like Noah, we also have that promise that we can hold and grasp and cling to for dear life.

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But unlike Noah, we have an entire fleet. We have each other as we journey through this life together as the church.

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In which we are all united in Christ, who is our safety, our protection, and our hope. Amen.