Welcome to Roseville Covenant Church!

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asians fled Vietnam and surrounding countries out of fear for their lives from political retribution. Many of them boarded boats in desperate attempts to cross the seas. Horrifically, tens of thousands died in the attempt to escape. The term given to these refugees was, "Boat People". Their story has been repeated in refugee crises such as Cuba, Haiti, Burma, Syria, and in millions of people displaced due to natural disasters and political oppression across decades. No one boards a raft in a treacherous attempt to cross an ocean if there weren't an imminent danger to stay in one's home. The stories of Boat People are stories of desperation and last resort.

Early in the Bible we read a story of the first "Boat People", another story of desperate crisis beginning with violence and oppression culminating in a dangerous journey: Noah's Ark and the Great Flood (Genesis 6:5-7:24). This passage has the potential to confound readers about the character of God (why would he allow such a disaster to happen?) but embedded in the story we actually get a look at the compassionate heart of God who does not give up on humanity, but preserves them through the very worst of what the world can assault us with. The book of Genesis is much more than a collection of curious prehistoric folk-tales, but a God's word to contemplate the destructiveness of violence and the faithfulness of God's grace. Let us listen well.