Sermon Title: "God of Rainbows"
Date: March 1, 2009
Minister: Associate Minister Candidate Susan Bjork

Lesson:  Genesis 9:8-17

I’ve been thinking a lot about rainbows lately. 

In preparing for this candidacy weekend and this sermon, I went to the lectionary texts for this first Sunday in Lent and read the Genesis text we just read aloud.

It’s a piece of a very familiar story to many of us…Noah…the ark…the animals…the flood…the rainbow…

So I’ve had rainbows on the brain…

And as a result, I’ve also had Kermit the Frog’s voice (or Jim Henson’s voice, really) stuck in my head for awhile now.

How many of you remember the Muppet Movie…the first one, that is?

I’ll spare you my Kermit the Frog impression, but do you remember the opening scene where Kermit is sitting in the swamp, strumming on a banjo and singing, la dee da dee da dee dum….perhaps you remember the song…and perhaps you remember the lyrics in which he asks…

Why are there so many songs about rainbows

and what's on the other side?

Rainbows are visions, but only illusions,

And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it

I know they're wrong, wait and see.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection,

The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

In many cultures throughout history rainbows have had an awe-inspiring effect….Kermit wasn’t the first one to reflect on rainbows in a hopeful and thoughtful way and neither was Dorothy.

Ancient Israelite society may not have known the specifics about the physics involved in making rainbows…how sunlight is refracted and reflected off of raindrops in just the right way, so that the eye can perceive in more detail the colorful spectrum of sunlight…

…red…orange…yellow…green…blue…indigo…violet…

But Ancient Israelite society did have in its collective cultural memory this story of Noah and a rainbow set in the sky by God as a symbol.

The rainbow, for Ancient Israel, was not just a really cool natural phenomenon (though it certainly is that), but it was essentially a sign of hope, hope in God’s love, God’s commitment, and God’s promise.

The rainbow became a symbol of the covenant God made with God’s people to never again allow complete violence and total destruction to have the last word.

Essentially, the conclusion of the story of Noah and the Ark is a story about covenant.  And it is no accident that we are considering this story on the first Sunday of Lent.

Lent is traditionally considered a time of penitence, and I would flesh that out by saying that Lent is a time of introspection and reflection…a time to consider what it means to be both individuals of faith and communities of faith…and perhaps to reflect on where we have fallen short before and how we wish to strive to do better.

Those who compiled the Revised Common Lectionary wanted us to consider covenant during Lent and what it means to us to be in a covenantal relationship with God and all creation.  They also wanted us to consider what Jesus taught us through his life, ministry, death, and resurrection about covenantal relationship. 

As a result, more of these stories about covenant will show up during these forty days of Lent.

Covenant is a theme found all over the texts of our faith tradition, both in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament.  Each of these texts offers some new thoughts, some particular flavors to this idea of covenant.  Jesus himself spoke of a “new covenant” at the Last Supper.  He made a covenantal promise to his disciples that he would continue to be known in the breaking of the bread; that he would remain in relationship with them; even after the scandal of the cross, even after death, even after such suffering, isolation, betrayal, and desertion.

Thus, the reflective period of Lent invites us to consider this notion of covenant and what it means to us.

So let us ask the question, what does the rainbow really symbolize to us?  In other words, what is the covenantal promise that God makes to Noah and to all of God’s people, and what might this story have to teach us about our own relationships?

In the Noah story, God puts the rainbow in the sky as a reminder not to humans, but as a reminder to God to remember the covenant….

…interesting isn’t it, this notion that God might need a reminder?

Well, if God needs a reminder, then certainly, we do too!

In the Noah story, the rainbow becomes a symbol for divine restraint, a symbol of divine will for peace and prosperity, not violence and destruction…the desolation of the flood has passed and God’s desire to turn away from violence, begs the question: was God actually remorseful for the act of violence inflicted upon the earth?

Certainly, there is not an easy answer to that question…we cannot know the mind of God.

But God does make the decision to offer hope, peace, and the covenantal promise of continued creative, redemptive work in the world, rather than destruction.

No longer is the divine archer’s bow full of arrows waiting to be released, but it is empty of weapons and instead radiates light, color, beauty, and the promise of a better future.

The bow has been transformed from a symbol of warfare, wrath, and destruction into a symbol of peace and hope.

In presenting this “rainbow promise” to Noah, God wills to see the creative and loving potential of humanity.  God desires to give humanity an opportunity to succeed in carrying out God’s will in the world, knowing full well that humanity will probably mess up again…and we have…and we will. 

But this time, forgiveness and a remembrance of the covenant will be God’s response, not wrath.

This “God of Rainbows” who is presented to us in this story is a God who desires relationship with all creation.  This “God of Rainbows” is a God who blesses creation, who promises grace and mercy, and who invites us to respond to God’s call to relationship.

This “God of Rainbows” promises to never again allow the flood waters of our fears, isolation, and suffering to over take us.  Even when the rains begin to fall and the flood waters begin to rise; even as we enter into the unknown wilderness during this Lenten season; the rainbow of God’s promise is always on the horizon…God’s promise to meet us in the midst of our pain and suffering; in the midst of our wandering; with love, mercy, and grace.

And once again, even in the darkness of the storm, God issues an invitation to us…an invitation to join in this covenantal relationship with God.

God has promised to hold up the divine side of the covenant and I suspect God desires for us to strive to live into this covenantal invitation and endeavor to hold up our end of the relationship as well.

Arguably, it is God’s covenantal promise and invitation into covenantal relationship which makes possible other covenantal relationships.  And arguably, God is the very binding agent that holds together all covenantal relationships.

And there are many covenantal relationships in our lives.  Baptism, for example, is the symbolic act which recognizes our willingness to endeavor to respond to God’s covenantal invitation and to enter into covenantal relationship with God and with the Church Universal.  Marriage also involves covenantal promises.  Ordination also involves covenantal promises.  Church membership also involves covenantal promises.

And as you consider today whether to call me as your new Associate Minister; you are considering entering into a new covenantal relationship within this faith community.

Thus, it seems appropriate that we are talking about covenant today.

So the question then, is what characterizes a covenantal relationship?  What does this covenantal community we seek look like?  What kind of relationship does God invite us into and what kind of relationships does God encourage us to enter into with each other and with all of creation?

First, I would argue that covenant is deeper than contract.  The notion of covenant implies a relationship that is deeper and more substantial than “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.”  Covenant is more than compensation given in exchange for goods or services. 

Even if some contractual elements are involved in a covenantal relationship, they must be grounded in the covenantal relationship that God has invited us into.  Our covenantal relationships must take seriously the fact that God’s love flows in and through creation.

When we take God’s covenantal promise to all creation seriously, then our perspective from within any covenantal relationship shifts from “what can I get out of this?” to “what can I offer?” and “How can we best work together to further God’s work in the world?”

I would argue that when we take God’s covenantal promise to all creation seriously, then our covenantal relationships should be characterized by responsibility, accountability, ethical action, ethical reflection, honesty, transparency, integrity, trust in each other, fidelity towards one another, faith in God, attention to our collective mission and vision, a desire to value all people just as they are including their unique gifts and abilities, a striving for peace and justice, and humility in our daily walk with God and each other.

Whew!  It’s a tall order isn’t it?  Covenantal relationships involve a long list of ideals which we deeply hope for and strive for and sometimes fall short on as we stumble in our own human responses…and I’ve probably missed some of the characteristics of covenant.

The good news is God invites us to be up to the challenge.  God puts a covenantal promise before us, a goal to strive for, complete with a rainbow reminder, and supports us in making our own covenantal connections with one another.  God’s relationship with us makes our relationships with each other possible and God invites us to live in reflection of the Divine Love we have been given.

And when we fall short, when we stumble, when we get lost in the wilderness (which we will because we are human), God is there to help us get back on our feet and back on our path as God offers us a rainbow of forgiveness, not a flood of condemnation. 

And as a result, God helps us forgive each other and helps us to renew our covenants with one another, calling us to accountability, but also giving us another chance.  This is part of what it means to live in covenantal community with one another.

Jesus knew this; Jesus lived in a covenantal way.  He called people to accountability, inviting them to consider the “least of these,” encouraging them to take off their blinders and see the needs of the people around them, teaching them of God’s love and grace for all.  And Jesus too invited his disciples to drink of the new covenant, speaking not of condemnation even when denial and betrayal were just around the corner, but instead speaking of love…and forgiveness…and relationship.

So as we enter into this season of Lent, this season of wandering in the wilderness, let us look to the horizon, through the haze of wind and rain, looking for a glimpse of sunlight, in search of the rainbow promise of a God who calls us out of the flood of isolation and into covenant community with God’s Self and with each other.  Where do we hear this call?  How will we strive to live up to the opportunity set before us?

Amen.