Davison's Doodle

Rainbow Justice

It’s not often that I get to hear my companion speak, preach, or lecture.  Being a clergy couple we are often going in different directions, but we find our way home.  Back on June 4, she offered a few words at an Interfaith Service that kicked off Gay Pride month here in Tulsa.  She doesn’t have a blog, though I encourage her to both blog and tweet, so I’ve printed her words and the video I shot.

A Rainbow of Justice
Rev. Dr. Lisa W Davison
Tulsa Interfaith Pride Service
June 4, 2015

Good evening!  It is great to look out at this wonderful diversity of faith traditions as we gather to celebrate national Gay Pride Month.  Thanks to Geoff for that humbling introduction and to members of the planning committee who invited me to speak this evening.

To paraphrase a line from Kermit the frog, “Why are there so many myths about rainbows and what they represent?”  For something that science describes as an optical illusion, rainbows have fascinated human beings throughout time.  Prior to modern science’s definition of a rainbow as the phenomenon of light being refracted and reflected in droplets of water(1), people in different cultures around the globe have provided their own explanations for the rainbows they witnessed.

Thanks to Russell Crowe and countless baby nurseries, many of us are familiar with the rainbow found at the end of the story about Noah and the Flood found in Genesis.  After the divinely ordered destruction of all that had the breath of life within it, except for a select group safely stowed in the ark, the rainbow is presented as a sign of the covenant that the God of Israel makes with all of creation never to destroy the earth again.  This multi-colored bow was a reminder of this promise not just for humans, but also for God.  Prior to the recording of this story in the Hebrew Bible, the Sumerian/Babylonian “Epic of Gilgamesh” told a similar tale about how some of the gods, tired of humanity, used a flood to destroy them.  At the end of the story, the goddess Ishtar places a rainbow in the sky as a barrier to prevent the gods from seeking to harm her human children again.

These Ancient Near Eastern Cultures were not the only ones to tell myths of explanation about rainbows.  The Greek goddess, Iris, was the messenger of the gods to humanity.  She created a bridge that would be used for traveling from the heavens to earth, a rainbow.  Her name in Greek, Iris, has a double-meaning of both rainbow and messenger(2).  We also recognize a connection with her name and vision, the iris of an eye.  According to a Japanese myth, this illusory combination of light and water is described as the “Floating Bridge of Heaven” that was traveled by the ancestors(3).  Similarly, in Celtic, Nordic, and Neo-pagan mythology, the rainbow represents unity and hope.

Within many Indigenous cultures of Australia and the Americas, rainbows are connected to creation and peace.  In some legends, it is the Rainbow Serpent who created the world and all that is within it, and the Serpent is often described as drinking water from the seas and spewing it as rain upon the earth, thus producing opportunities for rainbows.  According to several prophecies of Hopi, Cree, and other tribes, when humans forget how to live in harmony with the earth and each other, Warriors of the Rainbow will come and walk among us, teaching us the ancient values of Love, Unity, and Understanding.  Then humanity will experience an awakening and put aside our differences.  We will join together and move over the earth like a “great whirling rainbow” creating communities of justice for all, humans and all members of creation(4).

On the more secular side, we are all familiar with the Irish myth about leprechauns and rainbows.  According to this story, there is a pot of gold to be found at the end of a rainbow.  We see this image represented in advertising and other public spaces, especially around St. Patrick’s day.  This idea often entices people to embark on what is a greed-filled and impossible quest, since there is no “end” to the multi-colored illusion.  For rainbows are actually circles; we only see half of the rainbow due to our limited horizons.  Only in a plane, flying above the earth, is it possible to see the wholeness of the never ending rainbow.  Likewise, our bias and prejudice prevent us from seeing the wholeness of the human community.  Whatever the obstruction that keeps us from seeing the completeness of this rainbow, it also creates a tear in the circle of the human community so that we are unable to see each person as beloved and inherently of great worth.   Justice is the means by which we mend that circle.

But what is justice?  We spend a lot of time and energy working against injustice as embodied in issues of poverty, discrimination, access to healthcare, etc.  But, what does justice look like?  That is a much harder question.  Is Justice a system of laws and the consequences for breaking those laws?  Is it about getting what one deserves or being declared in the right?  Perhaps the words of former President Jimmy Carter are a good beginning point:  “In the final analysis, true justice is not a matter of courts and law books, but of a commitment in each of us to liberty and mutual respect.”(5)

As we know all too well, justice does not come easily.  Humans are resistant to share power out of an unfounded fear that in doing so, our own lives will be diminished.  Throughout history, cries of the disenfranchised, oppressed, and most vulnerable members of society have gone unheard, or more accurately unheeded.  Lives have been lost in the struggle over the simple idea of treating each person with respect and dignity.  Despite the great many successes toward inclusion we have witnessed, especially in the past year, we await a decision from SCOTUS and we know there is much more to do, it could be tempting to lose hope and decide to just give-up trying.  To  fall prey to the all-too-easy excuses of not enough time or money and the defeatist attitude of I’m only one person, what difference can I make?  During these times of frustration and despair, Marian Wright Edelman challenges us to be “flea(s) against injustice” with the reminder that “enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation.”(6)

Our theme for this evening and this year, “Let Justice Roll,” is drawn from ancient words attributed to a prophet speaking in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the 8^th century BCE.  Amos railed against the injustices of the people and spoke boldly about how they used religious rituals to camouflage their mistreatment of the least of these in their community.  The prophet proclaimed that the Divine had no need of sacrifices and detested the noise of their liturgies.  Rather what the Holy desired, no demanded, was to “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).  Commenting on this text, the great Jewish philosopher, Abraham Heschel defines justice as a “mode of action”.  Just like water can carve even what seems to be solid earth, to make a way where before there was none, justice requires human action to breakdown oppressive structures and systems and to create a road to a future marked by equality for all.  This is not the exclusive claim held by those who consider the Book of Amos to be scripture.  In the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, “All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.”(7)

Justice.  Rainbow.  These two images are not often put side-by-side, though they are clearly connected in choosing the rainbow flag as a symbol for the LGBTQ Pride movement.  I see yet another possible connection.

When mighty, rushing waters splash against rocks and other obstacles in their way, a mist is created and light can be refracted and reflected through those water droplets.  If we look closely we can see rainbows, illusory though they may be, the possibility exists.

As the waters of justice smooth the dangerous sharp edges of hatred and violence, resulting in the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Hate Crime and anti-bullying laws, we catch a glimpse of a rainbow of protection that prevents those who seek to harm members of the LGBTQ community in the name of god and religion.

As the waters of justice broaden narrow pathways of prejudice removing obstacles to marriage equality, we glimpse a rainbow bridge that spans the distances between persons separated by politics, religion, race, ethnicity, or culture.

As the waters of justice break down the seemingly indestructible rock of human hardheartedness, resulting in mandates for non-discrimination against LGBTQ persons in work/housing/health care/etc., we glimpse a full-circle rainbow of creation that reminds us of the unity of the whole human family and gives us hope to do the work that lies ahead as we struggle to create a world of equality for everyone.

So indeed “Let Justice Roll” and let it reshape the hearts of people and the landscapes of societies here and around the globe, bending them toward a place where all people are able to become who they are created to be and experience the wholeness that is Shalom.  Let us commit ourselves once more to being agents of change working together so that what may seem like an illusion can become the reality of a Rainbow of Justice.

May it be so.

Notes

1) http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/rainbow/?ar_a=1

2) http://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Iris.html

3) http://www.colours-of-the-rainbow.com/legends.html

4) http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/warriors-rainbow-prophecy-001577

5) Jimmy Carter, “Proclamation 4565 – Law Day” (4/25/78)

6) Marian Wright Edelman, The Measure of our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours.  (Boston:  Beacon Press, May, 2013), p 60.

7) Robert Thurman, “The Dalai Lama on China, hatred, and optimism” Mother Jones (Nov/Dec 1997), 30.