"God put a rainbow in the clouds ..."

Last week in school collective worship we explored having the courage to tackle injustice in the world. We reflected on how injustice simply means unfairness but perhaps it is unfairness that’s magnified and has a big impact on people’s lives. Sadly of course there are lots of things that are wrong or unfair in the world today, and in truth as much as we like to look back on the halcyon days of yore, the world has always been rife with injustice.

The easy option of course would be for us to think, ‘that’s not our problem, or there’s nothing we can do’, particularly when people far away are treated badly. I mean, what can we do about the hundreds of desperate people who die in the oceans in search of a safer place to live? What can we do about the illegal trafficking of people or the appalling treatment of asylum seekers? But we are all children of God so wherever there is injustice, wherever people are being treated badly, wherever people are hurting, we all have a responsibility to speak out.

Of course, it takes courage to speak out, to challenge injustice and make a difference. But I encouraged the children saying, “we all have that spark of courage within us and we can all make a difference, however big or small that is”.

I decided that there are others far better placed than me to speak into this issue so told them about one of my heroes and shared a video of her. That hero is the American Civil Rights champion, poet, singer, actress and writer Maya Angelou. You can see the video for yourself on YouTube:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0nYXFletWH4

I am so struck by the words of the 19^th Century African American song she sings:

“When it look like the sun wasn’t going shine anymore, God put a rainbow in the cloud.”

God put a rainbow in the cloud! Just think, this is a song of those in slavery. And Angelou said that in whatever she did, she brought everybody who had ever been kind to her, with her because, she said, then “I don’t ever feel I have no help”.

“Be prepared to be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud and be a blessing to somebody” says Maya Angelou. Being a blessing to somebody is to me the most simple form of what it is to stand up to injustice – being one of the people that is there to help.

It has made me think about how willing I am to be that rainbow, to be that blessing? And what does it mean? Perhaps it is about doing my best to reduce waste and care for the planet so those in poorer countries don’t face climate injustice. Perhaps it is standing with people in the community who are struggling. Perhaps it is about being willing to put my neck on the line and speak out against injustice in the church!

There are so many ways in the day to day to tackle injustice and whilst these things may seem small, they are actually massive because these are the things that really start to make the world a fairer place, and these are the things that are so Christ centred. He who always put his neck on the line to speak out for others.

I’m so glad I used Maya Angelou as my inspiration last week, her words have given me much to think about and I hope they do the same for others too. May we each be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud and may our church community here in Shaw & Crompton and Thornham be a blessing to those we serve.

With every blessing.

Fr Paul