Today’s reflection from the Visual Commentary on Scripture ponders the relationship between the three artworks focused on the rainbow covenant symbol that has been the core theme for this week. You’ll find the material here, including an audio commentary. Their reflection takes us to some fairly deep places. At the end of this week my own thoughts have been revolving around the question of what our relationship with God is like today, and therefore what “covenant” with God might look like today.
In thinking about that, some verses from Psalm 22: 27-30 came across my radar:
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; all the families of nations shall bow before God. For dominion belongs to the Lord, who rules over the nations. Indeed, all who sleep in the earth shall bow down in worship; all who go down to the dust, though they be dead, shall kneel before the Lord. Their descendants shall serve the Lord, whom they shall proclaim to generations to come. They shall proclaim God’s deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying to them, “The Lord has acted!”
This is a remarkably expansive vision of that covenant relationship – all those who have come before, those living, and those to come, somehow in relationship with God. A foreshadowing of the idea of the communion of saints, perhaps. Even though the language here is loaded with human monarchial imagery, for me the positive is an approach to God that says “we put ourselves into your hands, and live with a sense of your authority”. However we understand God, that seems an important stance to take as we seek to discern ways of faithful, active living in the present day.
As you reflect on the rainbow images, and your own sense of relationship with God, here is some wonderful music to listen to. It’s a setting of the Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy upon us) in a setting by the Spanish composer, Victoria (1548-1611), sung by the choir Tenebrae.
Place of Wondering 