“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-13). A Rainbow can only be seen when light shines through the water droplets of the rain and the clouds. We can’t see a rainbow on a completely clear day, nor can we see it while we are caught in the middle of a storm. But when the clouds have begun to break but are still very much present, that is when we can see the rainbow. God did not choose the rainbow as a token of the covenant that He made with Noah and with every living creature for perpetual generations merely because the Earth had been flooded by a forty-day rainstorm. That was an important element, but God also chose the rainbow because it is a powerful symbol of the covenant of repentance and forgiveness that each of us enters into with God. Whether we consider baptism, or the sacrament, or even the tears we shed as we feel Godly sorrow for the sins we have committed, repentance is immersed in watery imagery. It makes sense. When we are in the throes of sinful rebellion, it is like we are caught in the midst of a violent storm. But if we find a way to anchor ourselves to the Rock of our Redeemer and manage to weather the storm, then that storm can bring with it the cleansing waters of redemption. And at the moment that we have truly repented and the clouds start to break, that is when the glorious light of God’s forgiveness shines through the waters of repentance. All has not yet been made right. The sky is still darkened with storm clouds. There are still things in our lives that have not yet been fixed. But in His mercy God gives us a token of the Covenant that He has made with us. Soon we will behold more and more of His glory as the sky grows clearer and clearer, but there is a special moment right at that precipice between the bitterness of remorse and the joy of forgiveness, when the tears are still falling thick but the light shines through them and instead of a pure, unbroken white light we get to see a burst of colors and the beauty of God’s love is revealed in our moment of deepest anguish in a way that is hard to recapture when the sky is clear and the sun is shining and all is right with the world. I am so grateful for the waters of repentance and the light of forgiveness and the token of the full spectrum of God’s love and I hope that all of us will set aside our reluctance to repent in anticipation of seeing once more the glorious rainbow that awaits us on the other side of the storm.
