Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for today’s meditation is Genesis 9:8

Genesis 9:8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹ "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." ¹² And 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 cloud, 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."

When was the last time you spotted a rainbow? What is it about rainbows that make us stop and look at them? People even point them out to others just to make sure they get a chance to see it. We get real excited when we see a full rainbow and ecstatic when we are lucky enough to see the elusive double rainbow. Why do we get so excited when we see a rainbow, after all it’s just "an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere ." Maybe, just maybe we get excited because of the possibility that the myth might just be true. You know the one. The one where little men in green coats have stored all the money they earned mending shoes in a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Folklore has it if you catch one he grants you three wishes in exchange for his release. I suppose that could be one reason we get excited. Maybe it is also that we dream of something better at the other end of the rainbow. That brings to mind the famous song Judy Garland sang in the Wizard of Oz, "Somewhere over the Rainbow." She sings of a place where dreams come true. In this place troubles melt like lemon drops. She sees birds flying over the rainbow, so why can’t she fly over the rainbow to get to this magical place. These are all nice stories and fairy tales but the truth is we have somehow lost the true meaning of the rainbow. Whether it is by fairy tale, storytelling, or activist groups who use it as their symbol for gay pride we have lost the true meaning of the rainbow. I believe it is time to reclaim the rainbow and its true meaning.

Let’s begin with how the rainbow came about. Turn to page 5 in your pew bible. Genesis 6:5 "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶ And the LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. ⁷ So the LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them." ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD." God is sorry that He made man? God found His creation, man, to be wicked and man was corrupting God’s earth. We continue with verse 9 on page 5 of your pew bible. Genesis 6:9 "Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰ And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹² And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. ¹³ And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴ Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch."

God chose one man and his family to repopulate the earth. Noah found favor with God. He walked with God. It was God’s favor that chose Noah. It was the relationship with God that made Noah favorable, not Noah himself. God instructs Noah to build this huge ark with rooms in it. And Noah does it. He is consumed with building his ark. Can you imagine the ribbing he took from his neighbors? Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters came. Noah, his wife, Ham, Shem, and Japheth along with their wives went into the ark. They also took with them a multitude of animals. It rained for forty days and forty nights and the earth was flooded for 150 days. After another 150 days the ark came to rest on the Mountains of Ararat. Finally, after spending more than a year in the ark God commanded Noah to leave the ark because the earth was dry. Let’s read Noah’s response to God. Turn to page 6, Genesis 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹ And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. ²² While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease." God promised never to wipe out everything on the earth again. That is an amazing promise! No matter how bad things get here on earth we know God will not wipe everything out. But this promise in His heart wasn’t good enough. God goes one step further and makes the promise a covenant with Himself, Noah, all his offspring, and every living creature on the earth. God binds himself with this covenant. God has command over everything, He made the earth and has the power to wipe it out and start over. That kind of sounds like the saying some mothers threaten their naughty kids with. I made you; I can take you out and make another. But God binds His power for you and me. He willingly binds His power. Now that is amazing. God, the almighty, has willingly limited His own power. Now, that is love. He loves you so much that He removed the option to start over. He is going to work with you to the end and He will never give up on you. The rainbow is His reminder of the covenant. Notice in chapter 9 verse 14 & 15 on page 7, "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." This is God’s reminder to Himself not to destroy us because of our sinfulness and wickedness. Do you think the rainbow should just be a part of a story, a myth, or a movement? The rainbow is God reminding himself of His promise to us. I think our natural awe of the rainbow is very appropriate. In years past children were taught to say the Lord’s Prayer when they saw a rainbow. I had never heard of that but what an appropriate thing to do. When He is reminding himself we are praising him, very appropriate.

Even though He promises not to wipe you out, you are still sinful. He is going to work with you until the end. That is where His plan for your redemption comes in. Instead of wiping you out He sent His only Son to be the one to be wiped out on the cross. In so doing He wiped out all your sins. We are just a spec in this world; yet, God loves you so much that He put a rainbow colored wristband in the sky to remind Himself. He loves you so much that He makes you righteous and holy through the body and blood of His only Son. He loves you so much that He forgives your sins every time you repent and ask for forgiveness, over and over and over again. God doesn’t see your sins, He sees His Son, Jesus, and Jesus reminds God to have mercy on you.

So, the next time you see a rainbow what will you think about? Will you think of leprechauns, songs, stories, or movements? I hope not. I hope you don’t think of earthly things but instead I hope you pause. I hope you remember the love God has for you. I hope you take a moment to praise your almighty God by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Dorothy was looking for greener grass on the other side of the rainbow. There is greener grass on the other side for Christians. It is an eternity spent in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is a reason you get excited when you see a rainbow. God put His covenant in your heart, and that is exciting. Reclaim God’s rainbow.

Amen.