This sermon was preached for the First Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2021 for an online joint service of St. Andrew's and St. Michael's. The texts for this sermon are: Genesis 9:8-17 , 1 Peter 3:18-22 , Mark 1:9-15 , and Psalm 25:1-9 . We start this Lent with the story of Noah. Out of all the Old Testament stories, this is probably one you’re most familiar with – maybe the one you best remember from Sunday School. There are many things this ancient tale can be to us – children’s story with lots of animals and pretty colors, a reminder of the hope at the end of every disaster. I want to suggest that it can also be a parable for Lent, a warning for the best and worst ways we can approach our own spiritual growth in these next forty days. On the seventh day of creation, God rested in the knowledge that it was good, that it was very good. But something happened to humankind in the intervening generations of old. And God saw with horror that the wickedness of humankind was great