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Rainbow Day

I caught sight of it as I crossed the Albert Bridge across the Lagan, leaving Belfast city centre on the way home after a fractious meeting on the issue of Human Rights… (When are they anything other than fractious?) But anyway, I saw that one end of it was resting on the Titanic Quarter (the old Harland and Wolff shipyard which has now been zoned for major gentrification, for those not in the know) and I looked across to see where the other end fell… And there it was, resting on Parliament Buildings at Stormont! God must have been having a laugh with me, as I am sceptical as to either of these entities being all that some hope for them…

But, as is always the case, when I drove on and my point of view changed, the ends of the rainbow seemingly retreated… This time towards north Down, just like most of the Protestant middle classes in their pursuit of the pot of gold…

But the proverbial pot of gold, even if it were to be found via a programme for government emanating from Stormont, or from inward investment into the Titanic Quarter (a name which always inspires hope in me!) is not the source or ground of our hope…

Genesis asserts that God put the rainbow in the sky as a promise of his faithfulness.

Science tells us that rainbows are the product of billions of insignificant droplets of water, each reflecting and refracting the light of the sun in their own particular way… Together producing an effect of dazzling beauty.

Both understandings are compatible, because God most clearly reveals his faithfulness through different people reflecting and refracting the light of his love in different ways to create a thing of beauty even in the wake of the worst of possible disasters.

Another blog which started out life as a comment in response to a piece by Glenn Jordan on Noah and the Ark in Mockingbird's Leap
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