"I Have Set My Bow in the Clouds"

 In order to see the rainbow you have to be facing the storm.

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

(Genesis 9:1-17)

The First Sunday of Lent this year comes with a splash of color. “I have set my bow in the clouds.” It is the rainbow, that miracle of physics that happens when light is scattered by water droplets, diversifying according to wavelength, literally bouncing the white light off of the back of each little droplet and sending it back our direction transformed.

For Noah, it is offered as a sign of divine regret. God seems to lament the destruction wrought, and promises it will never happen again. The bow in the clouds is there to remind God (who needs reminding, apparently) of the sacred covenant between all living things and their Creator. 

It’s fitting that, in order to see a rainbow, you have to be facing the storm. Technically speaking, the light source has to be behind you, and the water droplets in front of you. Light shines into the rain, and the rain receives it. Then, thousands … millions of individual droplets take that light and change it, reflect it, and offer it back to us.

As we stand, facing the storm ahead, we know that there is light behind us because we can see that bow in the clouds. The hope, the promise, the assurance of the Spirit - it all comes when we face the storm. 

You may be facing a storm right now. If so, face it! And look for the rainbow. 

You may know someone who is facing a storm right now. If so, shine your light into their storm with words of encouragement and gestures of love and support. Create a rainbow for them.

It is an apt metaphor, because at one time or another each and every one of us has experienced a storm of one kind or another. Charles Tindley’s well known him, “Stand By Me,” names it so powerfully.

When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.

When the world is tossing me like a ship upon the sea,

Thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me.

This year Lent begins with a splash of color, God’s promise in the midst of the storm. A promise that God is there with and for us, cares for us, and will be with us through it all. 

In order to see the rainbow you have to be facing the storm.