*** 2014 First United Church of Christ 1

Transcription

1 Rainbows, a sermon by the Rev. Abigail Henderson, preached at First United Church of Christ in Northfield, MN, on September 7, Genesis 6: 16-22; 9: 8-15 This morning we re launching into the cycle of the Narrative Lectionary. The Narrative Lectionary is a four-year Biblical reading plan that determines what we read on Sundays between September and May. The goal of the Narrative Lectionary is to convey the arc of the Biblical story from Creation through the early Church, drawing out the great themes of brokenness, promises, redemption, and hope--all of which are in evidence in today s reading. Will you pray with me? May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen. This past week--for sermon research purposes--i downloaded the 2014 film Noah. It s a Hollywood blockbuster loosely based on today s Scripture. Lest you think I wanted to take that age-old shortcut of watching the movie instead of reading the book, let me assure you: it would ve been much more efficient to just read the book. Noah is two-and-a-half hours long. I must confess I fast-forwarded through large parts of it, especially the hand-wringing scenes between Noah s sons and their love interests. After all, there was one specific part I really wanted to see. I wanted to see how the film depicted that famous rainbow, that covenant stretched across the sky, signifying a new relationship between God and Creation. *** 2014 First United Church of Christ 1

2 Well, the movie made me wait until literally the last two minutes. Noah gathers his bedraggled family and shares with them that God wants them to replenish the earth. The film declines to grapple with the question of how, exactly, Noah and his sons and daughters-in-law will accomplish this, which is fair enough. In any case, Noah passes on that message, and the sky above breaks out into not one, but two, three, four layers of computer-generated animated rainbow. It was an impressive visual, but I found myself longing for the elegant simplicity of a real rainbow, one made by clouds and water and sun. The rainbow, I thought, is the one part of the Noah story that shouldn t require special effects to render. At the heart of this fantastical tale is something very real and observable: the meteorological phenomenon that is the interaction of water droplets and light, resulting in spectrum of light appearing in the sky. But ancestors didn t know where these multicolored arcs came from; and so they created stories, myths, in an attempt to explain them. In Greek mythology, the rainbow is the pathway of Iris, a messenger between the gods and humanity. Indra, the Hindu god of thunder and war, uses the rainbow to shoot arrows of lightning. The Rainbow Serpent of Australian aboriginal mythology is the creator of all life, giving fertility through rain. And in Judeo-Christian mythology--our mythology--the rainbow is given by God as a promise that God will never again send a flood to destroy all the earth. Why was it important for God to do that? Why was it important for our ancestors to declare that God did that? Why is it still important to tell the story that way? If you ve grown up with the story of Noah s Ark, as most of us here have, then it s so easy to take the rainbow for granted, to see it as a forgone conclusion to the story. But our mythologies tell us something fundamental and even timeless about ourselves: our fears, our values, our hopes. Joseph Campbell, the scholar of comparative religion, wrote that myths are public dreams. What are we dreaming about and longing for when we see that rainbow? I remember a rainbow that had a profound effect on me. Admittedly, it wasn t a real rainbow, but a symbol--a small sticker on the door of Ms. Anderson s classroom. Ms. Anderson was my ninth grade English teacher, and that sticker was like a not-sosecret code First United Church of Christ 2

3 Everybody knew what that meant. It meant, she was a lesbian. I have no idea what it was like to be an out gay woman at an elite New England prep school in But I do know this: it was bold to have a rainbow sticker on your classroom door. In a highly traditional gendered environment, Ms. Anderson cut a different kind of figure. She had very short hair, never wore skirts, and lived offcampus. She was like a visitor from another planet, a planet that I found both intriguing and terrifying. I couldn t stop thinking about that rainbow sticker. I used to imagine dialogues between me and Ms. Anderson. Ms. Anderson, I d say, staying late in her classroom after the bell. Ms. Anderson, I think I might I think I might be gay. It was hard enough to express those words to myself, harder still to imagine Ms. Anderson s reaction. Would she gasp? Would she smile, knowingly, because it was terribly obvious? Would she have advice? I never managed to have a real conversation with Ms. Anderson. But I remember her. And I remember that rainbow sticker. This sounds crazy but I think I remember every rainbow sticker that I ever saw as a teenager. I m a grown-up now. A lot has changed between 1995 and today. But despite advances in marriage equality and legal protections, the world is still a broken place for many LGBT people. I read just this week that LGBT youth homelessness is on the rise. And transgender people are disproportionately victims of violence and discrimination. Even in places like Minneapolis and Northfield, Will and I are not always sure of our footing, our safety, or our welcome. In such a world, rainbows are still very much on my radar. I notice them on car bumpers, in business windows, on church signs. Now, a rainbow isn t a guarantee that everything s going to be perfect. But it s a sign, a message, a gesture. It conveys to me that I can relax a little. I can start to open up, without worry. I can trust that I will be received. It s not a feeling I always take for granted. That s why the rainbow is such a powerful image: it s bright; it s colorful; it stands out. And it conveys a very primal message about the promise of God s safe harbor, even when lost in a sea of destruction and brokenness First United Church of Christ 3

4 In a little while, you ll hear Holly, Mark, and David sing a 19th century African-American song with the following verse: When it looks like the sun wasn't going to shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the clouds. Holly shared with me a wonderful interview with the late Maya Angelou, who sang those words and said, "I've had so many rainbows in my clouds. I had a lot of clouds, but I had so many rainbows." Dr. Angelou said she carried these "rainbows" with her to speaking and teaching engagements. "I bring everyone who has ever been kind to me with me," she said. "Black, white, Asian, Spanish-speaking, Native American, gay, straight, everybody. I said, 'Come on with me. I'm going on the stage. Come with me. I need you now.'" This world is badly in need of rainbows: people willing to be boldly and unapologetically kind and affirming, to embody God s mercy in places where it is not taken for granted. The world is still so broken. It s broken in Ferguson, and towns like Ferguson; it s broken in the Holy Land and at the American-Mexican border, and in homes and schools where children are not safe. It was broken before the Great Flood, and broken after. But after the flood comes the promise. The difference the promise, the covenant, to do better. God s first instinct was to wipe the slate clean and give up, but she resisted; she promises that she will hereafter resist vengeance and cynicism. And so we, made in the image of God, have the opportunity to make that same promise. How has the promise of safe harbor been embodied in your life? For me, when I was fourteen years old, it was Ms. Anderson. And I can only hope that I can return the favor the universe. Everybody has clouds, some darker than others. May you also have rainbows. May you also be rainbows for others, light refracted through darkness, embodiments of God s merciful and life-giving love. May the same be said for this church. We are beginning a new program year together; we are in a period of discernment about the future; we are asking questions about how we are and how best to use our energy, our resources, and our faith. We are storytellers and mythmakers, continuing the narrative of God in the world First United Church of Christ 4

5 In the midst of these conversations, let us consider how this church can be a living promise; a safe harbor; a place where we covenant with God, and with each other, to choose hope. Again and again. Amen First United Church of Christ 5