Roots matter

I’ve never had any fascination with tracing my family history but I know plenty of people who have done a fantastic job of filling in the blanks and searching for long lost relatives. I’ve never even seen an episode of the seemingly popular ‘Who do you think you are?’ But I do understand the importance of roots and identity. Nicola has been working throughout the summer with someone from Adoption Services who has been helping her fill in the blanks. At 11, she may not voice them but she has some burning questions that need answers. She needs to understand where she has come from. She needs to grasp who she really is. She now has a photo of the hospital she was born in and the street her mum and dad lived in. She has some of the answers she needs.

I have absolutely no problem with this. I would feel the same. I would want to know. If there are gaps in our life story, it is natural to fill them with our own imaginings. There are things I should have asked my mum about before she died. I will never be able to have that conversation about why she chose to have me and how she really felt about my birth. I thought I had more time, I guess. Life story matters. Roots matter. So chapters like Genesis 5 matter. It just seems like a long list of weird names and improbable life spans to us, but it mattered. It showed the people of Israel where they came from, their origins (remember, Genesis means origin). There is a rhythm and repetition to it that you will feel if you read it aloud that will take you back to those generations of travelling peoples passing on their tradition and heritage around a campfire……

When A had lived for X years, he became the father of B. A lived after the birth of B for Y years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of A were X+Y years; and he died. Genesis 5

I don’t know why this selective genealogy is as it is. I don’t know why these people lived so long. But here are some points that stand out to me:-

• ‘in his likeness, according to his image’ v3  When God made humans, He made them in his image and when humans reproduce, they make their own children in their image – and that divine spark, that essence of God is passed on from generation to generation to all peoples. Everyone is made in the image of God. (remember ‘Namaste’)
• Enoch is different. Enoch ‘walked with God’ and did not die. Enoch broke the pattern and death did not overcome him. ‘He was no more, because God took him.’ Death does not have to be the end – surely this hints at what is to come later in the story….
• Noah is different.

Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the toil of our hands. Genesis 5:29

The wheels of the redemption of humankind have been set in motion. God has a plan to save humankind. This is the start of the salvation that has been working itself out throughout history and will continue to do so for all time.

• and by the way, the fact that Noah is Lamech’s son is significant, because Lamech was different too. At the end of the previous chapter, we hear how he had gone against God and taken two wives. He had killed a man and was boasting about it. And yet he is Noah’s father. The family line can be broken. Good can come out of bad. Salvation can come from the most unlikely of places.

Which brings us on to the Ark……