A Rainbow in the Time of COVID-19

I saw a rainbow yesterday. An arc of compassion covering our drowning world. A bow with no arrow. A bow symbolizing peace. The only arrows I see in our quiver (as I quiver) are the children. The rainbow (and our children) are a sign of hope for a world gone wrong.

This virus takes our breath away. The pandemic sweeps through our world like a baptism or a flood, like Noah’s flood. We can’t breathe. Like a flood, the virus does not discriminate, but in our days, the poor die first. The vulnerable, the elderly, and those suffering from the pre-existing conditions of racist oppression are the ones to die first. The wealthy and powerful have fancy arks of their own--secluded mansions with no signs of life, but plentiful access to testing kits, healthcare, and ventilators.

The virus does not care if you are rich or poor, but the poor die first. We cannot breathe. We cannot breathe. “I can’t breathe!” Eric Garner’s last words ring out like an echo through our nation’s history. We are a nation who refuses to see that Black Lives Matter. We profit from prisons, and put children in cages. We are a nation who swims in greed for profit, and then blame the gay.

Why, O Lord, do the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper?

Noah was a righteous man, but only for his time. He obediently saved himself with a bit of an F-you! to the rest of the evil world. But, who are the righteous of our day? Because unlike Noah, Abraham argued against God’s plan for destruction, “Far be it from You to do such a thing!” And Moses pleaded with God after the golden calf, “Have mercy on them, or else blot me out of your book.” On the night of his crucifixion, Jesus prayed, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

O Lord our God, far be it from you to do such a thing. We challenge this divine decree. Have mercy on us, O God. Give us our sight, for we know not what we do.

This virus doesn’t have to be a flood for us to know that we cannot breathe. The rainbow is a sign of hope for a world gone wrong. This is a flood, or perhaps, this is our baptism. When it is over, we will take our first breath, look to the sky, and listen (perhaps, we will finally listen), so that our children may know: 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Isaiah 61:1-2)