THE PROMISE OF HEALING Part:1

I do not know anyone whose spirit are not improved by a rainbow. It does not seem to matter where you are: stuck in rush-hour traffic on a Friday afternoon or sitting on a screened porch watching the wind blow foam across a lake, the point is, that you are not expecting anything & a rainbow comes as it will, always unexpectantly. It is raining & your soul has fallen silent under the drumming on the roof. All plans are canceled. There is nothing to do but wait it out & so you sit there, sniffing all the things you cannot smell when they are dry: the street, the grass, the earth, even the dog, while you wait for the clouds to pass.

It is easy to lose track of time when it’s raining, since rain has a way of triggering memory & memories, whether good or bad, & have a way of taking us way back in time. The sky can seem very gray as the rain beats against the windows & then, as you look out the window, there it is, a perfect arch of color, a rainbow where & when you least expect it. So perfect, so calming. I know people who are otherwise unsuperstitious who still get quiet when they see a rainbow. They know it is just a trick the sun plays, the refraction of light in drops of water, but it sure does look like an omen or a blessing, doesn’t it? There is a reverence about a rainbow in the sky. It appears unexpectantly & brings with it a feeling of awe. It is beautiful & beyond human creation or control & transcends full human understanding.

God created the rainbow as a sign of the covenant He made with humankind to jog His memory as well as ours, that though in anger, He had willed destruction, (as told through the story of Noah & the ark found in the book of Genesis) & that by seeing the devastating destruction & brokenness He willed & vowed to never destroy again. He moved from destruction to protection, forming a Holy covenant with all humans, promising to bring peace & wholeness to us & to all of creation. In that covenant, God proclaimed Himself as the healer of all brokenness - grace freely given.

Most of us believe that God promised peace & wholeness to all of creation, right? There has to be times when we wonder where that peace & wholeness is now? God is true to His promises. His faithfulness is unending for it is shown consistently throughout the Bible. We know that don’t we? So, we can believe without a doubt that healing will come to us & to the world God created in Kairos time (in God’s time). We all know that especially right now, it does feel like our lives are full of brokenness: broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations, broken bodies through illnesses, accidents & aging & brokenness & warring in so many forms through violence like random shootings - (just 6 shooting deaths & one stabbing this week alone), the ultimate brokenness of the needless death of loved ones, etc. It can feel almost completely overwhelming at times, as we move into doubt, questioning, pain & hopelessness. Seriously, however can we live with all the brokenness that comes to us in our lives without becoming bitter, filled with fear, doubt, resentment, & hopelessness? Life can be very hard at times, a challenge to say the least.

As we seek to move out of the brokenness & into whole health, the fact is, albeit slowly, we can come to realize that on our own we cannot fully overcome the brokenness & darkness life sometimes brings. We need to draw on God’s faithful presence to bring healing & wholeness to us. We can live trusting that when we least expect it, God, the healer of all life, will come to us & bathe us in His peace & wholeness once again - be it through an unexpected rainbow that reminds us of God’s covenant with us & awakens our spirits or through the Holy Scripture as God speaks to us through His Holy Word, or through those Holy moments given to us through prayer & Holy worship & Communion that feeds our spirits as we rest & are renewed in His presence or as we are blessed to witness the love & goodness of others who devote their lives to selflessly helping others, drawing us ever closer as they reflect the goodness of God empowered by His Holy spirit, etc. Brokenness can & will only be healed by God the healer of all life, as He comes to us & shows us a sign, reminding us of His covenant promise for healing. Believing in His grace, healing will come as we return again & again to God’s faithful presence in our lives.

~Posted by Rev Kathryn Bindig, MDiv. MS; Pastoral Care Minister with assistance from Rich Muscatello; Director of Business Development & Strategy