Promises, Promises (Part 1)

I began a sermon series last week that's looking at covenants in the Bible.  I talk about covenants quite a bit in a variety of settings and usually I get a "lights on" kind of look from folks when I explain the difference between a contract and a covenant.  Contracts are rooted in convenience and return on investment; covenants are founded on relationships and trust.  And when the trust is broken in a covenant, we learn what grace and forgiveness are all about by making the choice to not walk away and to work it out.

The lessons in the lectionary this year are about covenant and we get to move from God's Covenant with Noah and all of creation, to God's Covenant offered to the world on Easter.

But maybe promises and vows are things that we struggle with, and maybe you cringed a bit when I mentioned choosing to not walk away but working it out, because we're accustomed to the "Promises, Promises" mentality.  In the 80s there was a song by Naked Eyes that went something like, "All of your promises you knew you'd never keep; promises, promises, why do I believe?"  We're pretty much ruined when it comes to promises and trust because we've all be hurt more than once, maybe even more than once by the same person.  And on the flip side of the coin, we're pretty aware of how many times we have broken promises ourselves.

And you know that rhyme from when we were kids, if someone doubted our truthfulness, we'd say, "Cross my heart and hope to die."  Maybe add "stick a needle in my eye" if we wanted to really assure the other person of our honesty and trust worthiness.

But the foundation of any covenant is trust.  Plain and simple.  Whether we are in covenant with other people, or in covenant with God, trust is the cornerstone.

But there's another important piece in God's covenants and that piece is a word called "Hesed."  Hesed is a Hebrew word that means steadfast love, unending mercy, never ending loyalty. The cornerstone of trust cannot be crafted without the vital ingredient of "Hesed."  And any covenant that is made by or with God requires knowing about this word.

In Genesis 9:8-17 God promises Noah and all of creation, "Never again."  And what's so interesting to me about this particular covenant is that there's only one party bound by it, and that party is God.  There's nothing for humanity to do, no role for us to play, no vows for us to fulfill.  The only thing we have to do in this covenant is trust--have faith that when God says, "Never again."  It's a "never" that is solid.

I know, there was Hurricane Katrina and there was the Tsunami in South East Asia and, about one year ago, the tsunami here in Japan--but the "never" in Genesis 9 isn't about natural disaster or about floods; the "never" is connected vindication and punishment.  One scholar says that in the Noaic Covenant God, "turns from vindication to forgiveness, patience and steadfast love for creation and for humanity, despite the knowledge that the human heart may (will?) never change."

God says, "regardless of the inconsistency of the human heart, my mind is set.  Never again.  And to remind me, I will hang my bow in the clouds."  We see the word bow and think of a rainbow because of all the pictures and movies and nursery paintings, but one pastor suggests that " as a celestial memory aid, God promises to set in the gathering clouds his war bow, unstrung and pointing away from earth."

Stop and let that picture settle into your mind and heart for just a second.  The war bow of wrath is no longer directed at us, even though our hearts are as constant as a tray of Jello Jigglers.  If one song writer wants to know "Or am I too far gone to get back home?" when asking the "stranger man" to save him, the bow in the clouds reminds us that God has given a resounding "No!" in answer to that question.  Am I too far gone, am I too broken to be fixed, have I changed my mind and my heart one time too many?

God's Hesed says, "No!"  Hesed--steadfast love, unending mercy, never ending loyalty.  Hesed says, "No, you're not too far gone."

When we're at the end of our ropes, when we're at the end of our hope...when we look out the window and all we can see are gray days that go on and on and on and on....Hesed says to us, "It can't rain all the time."

But, let's talk about rainbows...because rainbows are awesome, right?  When we see rainbows we run and grab people so we can share the rainbow with them; we take pictures and post them on the social networking site of choice for other people to see; we ask later in the day, "Did you see the rainbow?"  And there's this innocent joy that radiates from us as we talk about "the rainbow." (You're thinking about it aren't you?  Either that or you're thinking about Kermit the Frog playing his banjo and singing "Rainbow Connection")

The cool thing about rainbows is that they pop up everywhere.  Sunlight breaks through a sprinkler's mist at the just the right angle--BAM there's your rainbow.  Sunlight comes through our windows at just the right time of day, and the glass cuts the ray of light in just the right way--BAM there's your rainbow (again!)  Even on the cover of a Pink Floyd album...

And that's just how Hesed works, if we give ourselves the eyes to see, it's everywhere; and usually, we'll get a reminder right when we need it the most and we have hope to carry on.