Open to the Spirit
Today’s word: Rainbow
suddenly a memory flashed into awareness. Of the prism my father gave me one year for my birthday, how I loved the way when I put it in the window. How hanging by its thread, it caught the sun and splattered rainbows all over the walls, the furniture, everything touched by that rainbow. I have always loved rainbows, but even more since a week later I learned upon researching prisms in the encyclopedia how light was refracted into the spectrum, how this slice of colour we see is only a visible to the human eye fraction of the colour.
By that time I knew already, as Shel Silverstein said in a poem once, that “all the colours I am inside have not been invented yet” was true of all of us, anywhere, whoever we are. These are only the colours we see, but let us not forget that there are more gradations on either side of this small range, whose beauty exists beyond imagining. For that reason I still believe in the rainbow flag as a symbol of welcoming diversity. Sexual yes, but to be truly inclusive, let’s welcome all other kinds. Why limit hope of compassion and awakened awareness to only one oppression, when we are still plagued with so many. Let the rainbow be not just a song about a longing for somewhere other than where we are, such as Dorothy sings in the Wizard of Oz. Let it be a sign that calls us to action. After the rains that wash our ignorance away, may the rainbow continue to appear.
) A rainbow plays a part in most world religions. In ancient Norse myths and in Japanese tradition rainbows were bridges to a divine world. In the Hebrew Scriptures the rainbow after the great flood of Noah was a divine promise of hope in the future for all living creatures. In Navaho tradition, the rainbow is the path of the holy spirits, and is frequently depicted in sacred sandpaintings. So, when you think about it, a rainbow is a perfect symbol of hope in these troubled times when we face social isolation due to the Corona Virus.
A few weeks ago rainbows were seen here in my community in many windows, expecially those where children lived. I asked 3 of the kids from my church to make a sign, saying “Hope, L’espoir”. The far surpassed my vision and a beautiful hand painted rainbow on a large white piece of plywood now beside the church surrounded by a circle of rainbow stones painted by their Sunday School teacher. It is indeed a sign of hope, especially on Sunday when I ring the church bell. I had another idea when some children from my congregation had birthdays. We put on rainbow shirts, rang the doorbell, and sang Happy Birthday. I even made a sign, “Singing Rainbows”. Since that first outing we have done this a number of times.
April was poetry month, and one of my favourites is called “Walking rainbows” by Anne Weems. I chose it once as a theme for a summer camp where I was chaplain. I cherish the memories and the T-shirt. May it become an inspiration for you.
WALKING RAINBOWS
A rainbow colours sent to calm our souls.
It is a talk with God a mysterious, miraculous conversation with God heart to heart, the very heart of God saying to our hearts Remember I am your God.
Be my walking rainbows so that the whole world will know to whom you belong for I am the God who keeps promises and I have not forgotten our covenant. is not just a symphony of
One word, four voices - and as always, we turn it over to you: “How can we become walking rainbows for our world, even in a time of pandemic?
Rev. Mead Baldwin pastors the Waterville & North Hatley pastoral charge; Rabbi Boris Dolin leads the Dorshei-emet community in Montreal; Rev. Lee Ann Hogle ministers to the Ayer’s Cliff, Magog & Georgeville United Churches; Rev. Carole Martignacco, Unitarian Universalist is retired from ministry with Uuestrie and now resides in St. Andrews by-the-sea NB, but keeps one foot in the Townships by continuing with this column.