Walking home from work one day, I watched an art class focusing its attention on The Mother Church—evidently a favorite Boston subject for aspiring artists. It was fascinating to see the various renditions. One woman was using all her brightest pastels; her church had orange arches, green windows, and a yellow dome rising into a purple sky. Another student was doing a meticulous line drawing of every architectural detail.
But it was a young man's watercolor that really caught my eye. He was not actually focusing on the edifice at all but was painting what he could see in the sky above the Church. He had spotted three rainbow arches straddling the clouds in the bright wind-swept sky. The young artist's picture reminded me of some lines by Mary Baker Eddy in her poem that became a well-known hymn: "'Twas Love whose finger traced aloud / A bow of promise on the cloud." Poems, p. 7
In the Bible a rainbow is said to have shown to Noah God's promise and presence. See Gen. 9:12-17 Throughout the Scriptures we read of how God's presence was felt in many vivid ways. In the wilderness, Jacob was made aware of the presence of God as he slept on a pillow of stones. See Gen. 28:1-5, 10-22 He dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending, and he heard the promise that the land he was lying on would be his inheritance. So sure was he that God was with him that he declared, "This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." Jacob then took the stones he had slept on and made them into a pillar. In a sense, you might say that he had gained a glimpse of Church—a feeling of the structure and substance of God's presence with him.
