Scripture Lesson

From the Book of Genesis, Chapter 9:

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ⁹‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. ¹¹I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ ¹²God 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: ¹³I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, ¹⁵I 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. ¹⁶When 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.’ ¹⁷God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’

"Rainbow Days"

A Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Jean Niven Lenk

at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

As many of you know, my husband Peter is a woodworker and cabinetmaker. A few years ago, when we were looking for a new home in this area, he particularly wanted a “project” – a house which needed some work on which he could put his unique imprint.

Well, Peter got the house he wanted, and for the last three and a half years, our house has been in a continual state of renovation. He recently transformed our old den into beautiful suite for my Dad, who moved in with us just before Christmas. That necessitated moving our big old hulking TV from the old den and finding a temporary place for it, until Peter finishes the front parlor, which is his current project. That temporary TV place has ended up being the large doorway leading from our dining room to the living room. Every time we walk between those two rooms, we have to maneuver around that big old hulking TV that’s in the way.

And here’s the sad part: we’ve gotten used to it. That TV in the doorway no longer feels out of place but has become a normal part of our furnishings. Maybe you’ve had the same experience.

Have any of you ever moved to a new home, and made a list of all the things that you must repair or remodel as soon as possible because the sight of them is intolerable? And five years later, you still have the same “to do” list, but the things don’t bother you anymore? Psychologists who deal with the study of perception refer to this phenomenon as “habituation.” The idea is that when a new object or stimulus is first introduced into our environment, we are intensely aware of it, but the awareness fades over time. So, for instance, when we first begin to wear a new ring, we feel it on our finger constantly. But after a while, we don’t even notice that it’s there.¹

This phenomenon of habituation can happen in our spiritual lives, too. We become so used to the beauty of God’s creation that we no longer notice what a wonder it is. We become so used to our children that we no longer see them as gifts from God. We become so used to our beloved that we no longer recognize that the love we share is a blessing from God. Spiritual habituation.

And maybe what we need to shake us back into awareness is a great big dazzling sign from God to remind us of God’s presence and blessings and gifts. Throughout the scriptures, God sends big signs to remind people that God is around. Moses gets a burning bush. The ancient Hebrews get a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In last week’s scripture, Jacob gets a stairway to heaven.

And in this morning’s scripture lesson from Genesis, Noah gets a spectacular rainbow. Noah is a righteous man in an unrighteous world. And so, God tells him to build an ark for his family and every kind of animal on earth. God then sends the rain, for forty days and forty nights, and the earth and all its inhabitants are destroyed -- except the ones on the ark.

After the rain stops and the waters recedes, God makes a covenant with Noah and every living creature: never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” As a sign of that everlasting covenant, God sets a rainbow in the clouds. And every time Noah sees a rainbow in the sky, he knows he is not alone but that God is with him. Every time Noah sees a rainbow he is brought back into an awareness of God’s presence and blessings and gifts.

It’s hard to miss a rainbow. And when Noah sees one, he must feel that God is very close. We can have Rainbow Days, too, when God’s presence breaks through and overwhelms us with joy, meaning, and goodness. Rainbow Days are precious gifts; some of us have experienced them when our children were born, or when we married our beloved. Some of us have had Rainbow Days sitting in a circle of women on retreat, or in this sanctuary singing a particular hymn. On Rainbow Days, God’s presence is so tangible we can almost touch it; God feels close when we pray, and our hearts are filled with love and compassion for others. On Rainbow Days, the veil that separates heaven and earth is almost transparent, something the ancient Celts called a “thin place.”

I know when I am having a Rainbow Day, my heart is bursting with love and goodwill. I am gentle and loving and compassionate with the people around me. I am friendly and considerate with clerks and cashiers and waitresses. I am a courteous driver. Wouldn’t it be great if every day were a Rainbow Day? But they aren’t.

Instead, most of our life is made up of ordinary days. On ordinary days, God’s presence isn’t center stage; sometimes we don’t feel it at all. On ordinary days, we’re so used to God’s creation that we fail to notice a beautiful sunset. We’re so accustomed to our loved ones that we take them for granted. We’re so used to the blessings of our life that we don’t think much at all about them or their source. And when don’t spend a lot of time thinking about God, our faith life goes into maintenance mode.

When we become spiritually habituated, it is hard to feel the joy and abundant life God envisions for each of us. There are warning signs when we are running on spiritual autopilot: we do things like yell at our kids, worry too much about little things, get jealous of others, use deception to get out of trouble, and pass judgment on people. I don’t like the person I am on ordinary days.

And I start wondering – why can’t every day be a Rainbow Day? Why can’t we experience big reminders of God’s presence every day?

Maybe it’s because God wants us to learn to see God in the ordinary rather than always waiting for the extraordinary. God takes away the props so that we can begin to grow true devotion that is strong enough to carry us even when unaided by emotions. Maybe God wants us to pay attention.

One of the things I’ve learned as a parent is it’s a lot easier to get my children’s attention when I speak in a low voice rather than yell. On ordinary days, God is lowering God’s voice so we will learn to stop, and look more closely, and pay attention. Author William Barry writes, “Whether we are aware of it or not, at every moment of our existence we are encountering God…. who is trying to catch our attention, trying to draw us into a reciprocal conscious relationship.”² Ordinary days aren’t ordinary after all but are full of ‘rainbow moments” which help us to develop wonder-filled eyes and praising tongues, and they open us up to a new season of spiritual growth, in which we cultivate an awareness of God.

My colleague Danny sees rainbow moments in every day. But it wasn’t always that way. He will tell you that for 28 years, all he did was knock people down and hurt them. He used drugs, used people, and ended up in prison. It wasn’t until he accepted Christ into his heart that he changed. His life was transformed, and his world became filled with peace, love and joy rather than anger, hatred and violence. Danny has been out of prison for many years now, and he is the chaplain at the Plymouth County House of Correction. He lives every day in awe and wonder of God’s goodness and grace. For Danny, every day is full of rainbow moments.

Do you experience rainbow moments? Are you refreshed daily by God’s presence?

I’d like you to take a moment and think about your morning so far today; walk through in your mind your last few hours and ask where was God present and at work in each scene? Start with the moment you opened your eyes; whether you recognized it or not, God was present, waking you up, giving you a mini-resurrection. What were your first thoughts? What do you think God wanted to say to you in that moment?

Then review each scene from the past few hours, as you greeted your family, ate breakfast, got ready to come here to church. How might God have been speaking to you through those scenes? God may have spoken to you through the words of another person or the lines of the newspaper or the therapy of laughter. What can you learn from your morning so far to guide you the rest of today – and every day?

I invite you to do this exercise for about five minutes at the end of every day. Find something to be thankful for every day. Find a moment in each day in which you knew God was present. When you stop, and look more closely, and pay attention, you will find that God speaks to you even in ordinary days.

My prayer for you is that by paying attention, you will become more aware of God in your life, that you will experience Rainbow Days, as well as rainbow moments in every day. My prayer is that your eyes will be open to God’s wonder, your heart will be open to God’s gifts, and you will live in gratitude for all of God’s blessings every day. Amen.

¹This sermon is inspired by John Ortberg, “Chapter 2: Where’s Waldo” in God Is Closer Than You Think (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), p. 36ff.
²William Barry, Finding God in All Things (Notre Dame, IN: Ave Maria Press, 1991), pp. 14-15.