My vacation started with an early morning flight to Las Vegas. We picked up a car and drove Route 66 to Sedona, AZ. It was a long but very interesting day, and I was enjoying watching the clouds come across the mountains as I sat on the patio off our hotel room. There was a brief but loud storm. Then came the rainbow. And, then, another. A double rainbow was a marvelous start to my trip.
What I forget - and perhaps you do, too - is that the rainbow is there as a reminder. Sure, there is science behind it, but it didn’t start with science. It started with a promise. In the Genesis story it is not Noah who says, “I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature.” No, it is God who explained that this rainbow will be a new thing, a sign representing a promise that God was making right then, right after the flood God thought was necessary to cleanse the world.
When I need to remember something, I write it on my to-do list, on a post-it, or send myself an email. I don’t understand the theology behind God needing a reminder, but I do understand the feelings. There is fear that, given enough time, events, even enormous ones, lose their impact. History is full of phrases like Remember the Alamo, or Lest We Forget. God didn’t, no, God doesn’t want to forget the promise to never again send such devastation. We need a new rainbow, a sign that another devastation is over. Not a promise to maybe think or talk about it. And, not from God, but from those in a position to do something about guns. And, we need it now.
Marilyn
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