When I was coming to work yesterday I saw a rainbow, and it filled me with hope. I’m a Bible nerd; there is no way to deny it. I look at the world through a biblical lens much of the time, and whenever I see a rainbow, I think about God’s promises. In the story of Noah (Genesis 6-9), the rainbow is a sign of the covenant between God and humanity for a very specific purpose, but I’ve come to see the rainbow as a symbol of all God’s promises.
When I saw this rainbow yesterday, I thought about the covenant God made through Jesus to redeem all things to the fullness of their being, restoring all things to how they were in the beginning and all people to how we were at the first, bringing unity to a world that feels so divided. How were things in the beginning? Good. God created all things good. How were all people created? The Hebrew translation says we were “exceedingly good” and made in the “image of God”. That’s you and me; we’re exceedingly good and we are the face of God.
When I saw the rainbow yesterday, I felt that unity through God’s promise, through the covenant that the apostle Paul wrote about, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3.28) This does not remove our differences, but instead it promises that in Christ Jesus all our differences become the source of love and unity, not strife and division.
When I saw the rainbow yesterday, I felt the hope that we are called to have at all times. This hope is not about a chance for a heavenly home on some distant day, but it is a hope for today, for right now. It is a hope of new life in the midst of what feels like death. It is a hope for the overwhelming, unashamed love of God when all feels unlovable. It is light, full and true and enlightening, in the midst of darkness. We present the resurrection to each other, witnessing to each other the power of God’s love.
So even in these rainy, grey days, I look to the sky and I see hope, I see a faithful God who keeps promises. I see love and unity. On the darkest day, I look around and see a world full of rainbows.
St. Augustine's Chapel 