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| photo by Mikey G Ottawa / flickr |
to make
something
out of the mud
and mess
of the flood."
--Will Willimon
Today we begin that long journey of Lent. For seven weeks we
will plod along.
Thinking about the One who first took that journey to the
Cross. Thinking about once upon a time when we said yes--and meant it with all
our hearts. But then...life happened.
Disappointments...
Joys...
Pains...
Laughter...
Sinning...
Confessing...
Sinning...
Confessing...
Enemies...
Friends...
Defeats.
Victories...
Love...
Peace...
Grace...
Grace...
Grace...
The Genesis text for today is that old story of Noah and the
ark. And the rain that came and came and came. And after forty days a dove flew
back with an olive branch in her mouth. And Noah and his rag-tag family slowly,
tentatively stepped out on dry land.
And so the old Negro Spiritual is right on target:
“God put a rainbow in the sky,
a rainbow in the
sky,
a rainbow in the
sky.
It looked like the
sun
wasn’t gonna
shine anymore,
God put a rainbow
in the sky!”
And so on this first Sunday of our Lenten journey it’s
rainbow time. It’s hopeful time. It’s faith time. One of my favorite books is
William Armstrong’s Through Troubled Waters. One day he and his wife had three
little children and were happy with their lives. His wife went to the Doctor
with a sharp pain. She never came back. And young Armstrong was left not only with his own
terrible grief, but trying to comfort three children who missed their Mama
night after night. So the book is his story of how the flood came and washed so
much of his family’s life away. But he tells how slowly, so slowly he thought it would never be any better—the
water slowly, ever so slowly went down and his own particular dove came with an
olive branch in her little hand—and life went on. And so his book’s title, Through
Troubled Waters.
His family discovered, like Noah that God really does put a
rainbow in our lives. Overarching it all—and that covers a whole lot of
territory—there is this rainbow.
And as I begin my Lenten journey—I hope I can remember the
rainbow, not only for these seven weeks but also in the days that follow.
“When God shut Noah
in the prayerful
hour,
God put a rainbow
in the sky.
the sun grew dim,
and the day was
dark.
God put a
rainbow in the sky.” |
| --flickr --Roger Lovette / rogerlovette.blogspot.com |
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