Chasing Rainbows

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.

                              --1 John 4:7-12

On one of our recent damp days, a rainbow appeared over the road as I drove along. I noticed something that I have always seen but never really paid attention to—you never reach a rainbow; it always remains stubbornly in front of you, beyond reach. 

For some of us, that is kind of how we feel about life at the moment. We feel the things we want or need are out there, but stubbornly just beyond our grasp, no matter how hard we work for them or toward them. We see them. We know they are there. But we just can’t reach them. 

Within the church right now, some of those rainbows are steadier or growing attendance; a stable budget; an agreed upon vision for a congregation; or even a sense that all shall be well. We know what we want and what we need, but they remain elusive. 

Within the world right now, some of those rainbows are a sense of community where even people who strongly disagree with one another can still manage to co-exist; economic security in a rapidly changing context; a sense of belonging as various communities experience a rise while others begin to ebb; and other keys to a stable nation, world, and human fellowship. 

Something to consider is that those rainbow chases actually coincide and mutually support one another. The church could be stronger if it was seen as a source for meeting the world’s needs. The world could find its needs met if it perceived the church as a source for what is needed. 

The thing is that as we read the Gospel, we find that Jesus orchestrated just such an intersection. 

Jesus met the world with compassion, grace, and mercy, offering healing, feeding, and reclamation as the outcome. He drew a circle of followers around himself. The world was fuller for his presence within it. 

As the church claims this story, living into it, we find that the church reaches its strongest expressions of being the body of Christ. As we consider the communities in which we exist, we can listen to what is longed for, hoped for, or needed. Then, we can focus our ministries on meeting those needs in grace, mercy, compassion, embodying Jesus for all whom we meet. We can name the center and source for our communal existence. 

We can bring those elusive rainbows a little closer for everyone.