Forming Faith Blog

Noah and the Ark (Genesis 6, 8, and 9)

Posted on September 7 2026 by Gregory Rawn

In the beginning, God created an ordered world from the primordial chaos, and now God allows that chaos to flood the world, clearing away human evil. But in Noah, God’s love and promises endure, no matter what.

Image of a stormy sea, a watery chaos like Noah encountered in this story.
Photo by Johannes Plenio
About the Story

The Narrative Lectionary and our study this year begin in Genesis. Genesis is the first book in the Bible; in fact, the name literally means “beginning.” Genesis begins with the creation of the world, which God declares good. But the goodness of the world did not last long. From the beginning, people did not put their trust in God, and so selfishness, violence, and injustice entered the world. The relationships people were created to have with God and with one another were broken. Violence erupted among humans. This wickedness caused God such grief that God decided to flood the earth. 

God did not destroy everything, though. God provided a way for Noah, his family, and every kind of animal to be saved. Through them, creation began again. This is the first in a series of efforts that God made to restore the world to the relationship that God intended for creation. It did not, however, solve the problem of human brokenness and sin. In spite of Noah’s obedience to God’s command to build the ark, in spite of the cleansing of the flood, sin endured. The inclination of the human heart after the flood was still toward selfishness and violence, but God promised never again to address that problem through the destruction of the earth by flood. 

God made the promise visible in the rainbow hung in the sky. Instead of destruction, God will work in another way. God will work through a particular family and, as that family grows, through the nation they become. The blessing, though, will not stop there. God will become flesh and be born into this family so that all nations and all of creation will be redeemed and restored. This is the grand story that will unfold as we embark on our journey through the Bible this year. (Adapted from Living the Word: Small Groups)

Context Insights

Here are a few insights from our background resource, Living the Word: Contexts & Connections.

  • Culture/Religion: The ancient Hebrews, along with the majority of ancient Near Eastern cultures, did not believe that God had created the world ex nihilo (“out of nothing”). Instead, they saw creation as order being brought out of chaos. This chaos is represented by the waters seen in Genesis 1:1-3. The continuing existence of creation did not mean that chaos was obliterated, only contained. The cosmic order created by God is threatened by human violence (see Genesis 6:5, 13), which causes God to allow the waters of chaos to return.
  • Literature/Genre: Rather than seeing God’s actions in Genesis 6–9 as “destruction,” it is more accurate to view the flood as a trend of “non-order —> order —> disorder.” God has been continuously holding back the waters of chaos since Genesis 1. The continued disobedience and violence of humanity threatens creation as the man and woman eat the fruit and hide from God (Genesis 3:1-13), Cain kills Abel (Genesis 4:8-16), and more “wickedness of humankind” (Genesis 6:5). Chaos almost overwhelms the created order due to human wickedness.
  • Authorial Intention/Occassion: Beyond Israel’s exile, the ancient world was regularly threatened with overwhelming chaos by flood, famine, war, disease, or any number of other natural disasters. The authors of this story show that God is ultimately in control of chaos and that the promises of God are not void.
Connections and Suggestions

We have Narrative Lectionary resources for 2026-2027 for all age groups. Here are a few activity summaries you can use. The full activity descriptions and much more are available in the product noted. 

  • Kids: Gather a variety of household and craft items, painter’s or masking tape, and a tub or large bowl filled with water. Challenge students to create their own floating ark with the provided supplies. Students can work individually or in small groups. When students are finished, put their arks into the water to see if they float or sink. (From Living the Word: Kids (PK-2nd))
  • Youth: Provide enough pieces of colored paper so each youth can have several. The pieces can be of any size that youth can write on. Choose colors that can be combined to make a rainbow. Discuss with the youth the various ways we can worship God, including worshipping through art. Challenge youth to write words of praise that come to mind from the Bible reading. When they are finished, have them combine their papers to make a rainbow, either on a wall with tape or on the ground or a table. (From Living the Word: Youth)
  • Intergenerational education: Invite participants to stand as they are able and take turns naming parts of God’s creation to thank God for. When a participant names something in creation, all participants will act it out, ending by thanking God for what was named. You can choose to open this up to everything in creation or limit the prayer activity to the Noah story with animals (and people). (From Living the Word: Cross+Gen Education)
Daily Bible Readings

Throughout both the Narrative Lectionary year (roughly September through May) and the summer, we have created a daily Bible lectionary that corresponds with the Narrative Lectionary readings. These readings are used throughout our NL products, and you can subscribe to them digitally through our Daily Readings Calendar.

DateDayLectionTitle
9/13/2026SundayGenesis 6:5-22; 8:6-12; 9:8-17Noah and the Ark
9/14/2026MondayGenesis 9:18-29Noah and Family after the Ark
9/15/2026TuesdayPsalm 93A Song of God’s Strength
9/16/2026WednesdayPsalm 104:1-9Praise for God’s Wonderful Work
9/17/2026ThursdayPsalm 104:24-35God’s Wonderful Work Continued
9/18/2026FridayGenesis 11:1-9The Tower of Babel
9/19/2026SaturdayGenesis 11:26-32Abram and His Family
9/20/2026SundayGenesis 12:1-9God Calls Abram
Previous Posts

This is our blog’s third go-around in the Narrative Lectionary, Year 1. Here are some previous posts on this particular passage if you are interested:

I hope you find this all useful! If you have any questions or feedback on this blog post (or anything else), comment on this post below or on Facebook, or send me a message.

In Christ,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

Order Faith Formation Resources

Do you still need resources for your 2026-2027 faith formation programming? Order program-year curriculum resources for the Narrative Lectionary (Year 1, 2026-2027), Revised Common Lectionary (Years A & B, 2026-2027), or Key Bible Stories (non-lectionary, PK-2nd, 3rd-6th).

New RCL faith-at-home resource!

I’m excited to announce a new product series for Spirit & Truth Publishing: Taking Faith Home. Taking Faith Home is a set of weekly devotional resources (often distributed as worship bulletin inserts) that follows the Revised Common Lectionary. We offer it as a Church Year (Dec. 2026 to Nov. 2027) and a Program Year (Sept. 2026 to May 2027). You can also purchase by quarter, such as Summer and Fall. Learn more here and read a review!

VBS, Events, Retreats, and More!

Are you looking for resources for topical Sunday school, family/intergenerational events, retreats, and more?

Learning Together can help! This series of affordable, five-lesson units on a variety of topics can be downloaded immediately, use basic supplies you probably already have, and are so easy to use that you can hand the leader’s guide out that day (though that’s not recommended)!

Like all of our faith formation resources, Learning Together is effective, theologically sound, and inclusive. The current topics are:

+ Paul’s Adventures (NEW!), Celebrations, Created to Care, God’s Gift of Water, Heroes of the Bible, The I AM Statements of Jesus (free!), Travelers (Immigrants and Refugees), Do Justice, Celebrations, Women of the Old Testament, and Bible 101

Building Faith has recommended two of our units as VBS curriculum: Paul’s Adventures (reviewed in 2026) and Celebrations (reviewed in 2025)!

You can also read outside reviews on both our Do Justice and Created to Care units.

Our Resources

At Spirit & Truth Publishing, we might have exactly what you are looking for:

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