April 15, 2006
(The Great Vigil of Easter)

The Great Flood

  by The Rev. Canon Linda Yeager, Canon Deacon

(See The Lectionary Page for Easter Vigil readings)

The following meditation was part of the Easter Vigil service:

The waters surround us and despair dwells in our hearts. Life overwhelms us and we feel hopeless. Sickness, financial problems, addictions, family discord, natural disasters, man-made disasters, poor decisions, war, injustice, false accusations, loneliness, guilt, regret—the waters are deep and we are in danger of drowning. We understand how Noah must have felt. When will the rain stop; when will the floodwaters recede? And then what? How do we start all over? Where do we find the strength to go on? To have hope? To forgive? To care again?

What better and braver symbol is there at the end of catastrophe than a rainbow, its captivating colors peeking through the clouds? But where is the rainbow and from where does it come? Where is it when we need it? How do we manufacture it? Remember that, in fact, Noah didn’t produce the rainbow; God set the bow in the clouds as a sign of the covenant, as a sign of hope. The rainbow is still there as a sign of hope. God’s promises shone for Noah, as they shine for us. And the promises always offer the same reward: love. The promises are about love, about God’s love that is the source of our hope, our strength, our response to life’s grief.

God’s promise means that we are never alone. Even when the dove returns without finding a place to roost, even when the waters fail to recede, even when we are afloat and lost, we have the gift of the rainbow, of God’s unfailing, unequivocal love. But we have to seek the rainbow, seek it when the clouds are still hovering. We can’t produce it ourselves. God provides the love that gives us hope. And the rainbow never fades; it is there, in the clouds.