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These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them." Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.

And the waters swelled on the earth for one hundred fifty days.

In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. Then God said to Noah, "Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh-- birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth-- so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." So Noah went out with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. And every animal, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out of the ark by families.

I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."

For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. [Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.]

Jesus said. "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-- and great was its fall!"

Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Psalm 46 which we have prayed this morning is a Psalm that breathes confidence. It is filled with assurance and radiates hope. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

What sureness, what trust is in those words! This confidence is built into the very structure of the Psalm itself. At the 10:00 Eucharist, we are used to singing a refrain in the Psalm every 2 or 3 verses. Almost always, that refrain is just a single verse chosen from the Psalm by some musical editor.

But in today's Psalm the refrain we've prayed is actually a refrain in the text of the Psalm itself. If you look in your bulletins, you'll see that verses 4, 8 and 12 are missing -- but actually they aren't missing. They refrain we sang (said) after verses 3, 7 and 1 are verses 4, 8, and 12 of this Psalm. We've prayed them where they actually occur in the text of the Psalm as it is in the Prayer Book. This refrain of confident assurance repeats every three verses in this psalm -- a sign of how central this affirmation is to the Psalmist's thought - The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

The verses between the 3 repetitions of the refrain show how strong this confidence is even in the face of challenges and threats. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble -

so the prayer begins. Trust is there, to be sure, but we hear also of trouble: a shaking earth, toppling mountains; raging waters. I can't but think of the earthquake and cyclone that have devastated China and Burma. Catastrophes come on this earth, without doubt. Still, God's people pray in confidence:

God is our refuge and strength*
a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, *
and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea;

Though its waters rage and foam, *
and though the mountains tremble at its tumult.

The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

In the second section of the Psalm, the mood shifts. Joy comes to join confidence. We pray of the gladness of the city of God, of delight in the holy habitation of the Most High. Why such joy? Because God is in the midst of her. God lives in the midst of God's people - and that gives them joy. I think, too, that it gives joy to God. I believe that God delights to dwell in the midst of the people. God's presence among God's people is a source of joy to both God and the people. So even when the nations make much ado, when their enemies bluster and threaten, God's people are confident, knowing that God will help them at the break of day. They know the place where God dwells among them shall not be overthrown. Their joy and assurance remain strong.

The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

In the final section we come to the most famous words of this Psalm:

"Be still, then, and know that I am God.
These are known as a call to prayer - and rightly so. This is a call to be in stillness before the presence of God.; to wait in quiet on the One who does awesome things on earth, the One who will be exalted among the nations; and be exalted in the earth; the Source of life, hope, protection and joy. Before this God's people are to be still. Indeed, they can be still, for they have assurance of God's love and protection. God's people do not need to be fretful and fearful. The earth may shake, the seas may rage, the mountains may topple. Yet they can be still; confident in the presence of our God. . . The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

What does this Psalm of confidence have to say to us today? A clue is to be found in the ancient tradition in which the biblical Jerusalem is identified with the Church. We are the city of God, the dwelling place of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. Along with our Hebrew ancestors in faith, we can pray with confidence: The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

For us at Grace-St. Paul's, that is a good thing today. Last night we really began to say good-bye to one another. It was for me a time of joy and sorrow, full of love and also bittersweet. I will miss you and you gave me to understand that you might just miss Susy and me as well. Two people who have served as your priests for a long time will no longer be with you. Susy and I will leave a congregation we have grown to love deeply.

Now compared to the stuff Psalm 46 speaks of -- a moving earth, raging seas, toppling mountains, threatening nations - the coming end of our time together is not that big a deal. But it does matter to us. So today it is good that we be reminded of the confidence we can have in our God as our small corner of the earth shakes a little bit. We can live with out fear. We can trust in the God who dwells in our midst. We can be still and know that God is God.

That we all may know this more deeply, please join me now in praying this wonderfully faithful, hopeful confident Psalm again - and lets put that Refrain in the places where it belongs.

God is our refuge and strength, *

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, *
and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea;

Though its waters rage and foam

and though the mountains tremble at its tumult.

The LORD of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, * the holy habitation of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her; she shall not be overthrown; *
God shall help her at the break of day.

The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are shaken; *
God has spoken, and the earth shall melt away.

The LORD of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our stronghold

Come now and look on the works of the Lord;*
what awesome things God has done on earth.

It is the Lord who makes war to cease in all the world; *
who breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the shields with fire.

"Be still, then, and know that I am God; *
I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth."

The LORD of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.