Seven Ways of Looking at a Rainbow
Rev. Ted Tollefson
©September 7, 2008 @ UU Society of River Falls

1.  The experience of looking at rainbows often fills us with awe, wonder, delight, surprise.  Rainbows  arise from a seemingly impossible conjunction of sunshine and rain.   In my life, rainbows have often marked a transition from one stage of life to another.

2. For Biblical religion (Genesis 9. 1-18), rainbows  signify a new covenant between Jehovah (Daddy Thunder, Fire on the Mountain) and his people.   His promise to not destroy the earth utterly in a fit of rage signifies how absolute power can and should be limited by compassion and justice. 

3. The East African story "The Rainbow" by Eleanor B. Heady (retold by Trygve Aarsheim)  reveals another side of the rainbow.  Like thundering Jehovah,  Mkunga Mbura is unpredictable.  His people can live without him (drought) and can't live with him full-time (floods). The rainbow cloak that  Mkunga Mbura leaves behind reminds us of the Beauty Way (see #1).  Through deep, heart-felt experiences of Beauty,  we "take our place in the family of things" (Mary Oliver, "Wild Geese").

4.  Some Asian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism), project a rainbow on the human body in the form
of rainbow-colored Chakras, or centers of energy/consciousness.  Through spiritual practice, yogis learn to climb
the "Jacob's Ladder" of their own nervous system, unifying our basic instincts (chakras 1 - 3 )  with our higher
nature (chakras 4 - 7).   By placing the divine within the human body, the science of yoga avoids some of the pitfalls
of Biblical and African religions which often place the divine outside and beyond what is human and natural.

5. Many Unitarian Universalists  see in the 7 colors of the rainbow (and 7 notes of a major scale) a reminder of
our 7 Ethical Principles:

RED = Respect all beings    ORANGE = Offer fair & kind treatment for all   YELLOW = Yearn to learn   GREEN = Grow in spirit & mind  BLUE = Believe in my ideas and act on them INDIGO = Insist on peace, freedom and justice VIOLET= Value the web of life

6. Many Unitarian Universalists see in the rainbow a confirmation of the work of English Unitarian Isaac Newton:  the scientific method helps us understand  rainbows as a precise and predictable manifestation of electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye.   So too the forms of electromagnetic radiation below red  (infrared, x rays, gamma rays) and above violet (ultraviolet, radar, radio waves...) suggest  how our 5 senses detect only a tiny part of the full spectrum of experience.

7.  Unitarian Universalists who are  makers of peace and justice,  see in the rainbow an affirmation that
all colors of humanity  and all versions of love between consenting adults are beautiful, natural and of "inherent
worth and dignity".   This Rainbow calls us to enlarge the margins of liberty, justice and tolerance.

Resources: 

The Book of Genesis, chapter 9, verses 1 - 18.
"The Rainbow Path of Unitarian Universalism", Rev. Laurie Bushbaum (adapted).
The Inner Reaches of Outer Space, Joseph Campbell.
Yoga, Immortality and Freedom, Mircea Eliade.
The Rainbow Book by F. Lanier Graham.   
The Rainbow, Eleanor B. Heady
The Seven Keys to Colour Healing by Roland Hunt.

Blessed are the peace-makers