FPC-Windows Ark

Genesis 9:8-16
God said to Noah... "I now establish my covenant with you and all your offspring to come... Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood... And this is the sign of the covenant... I have placed my bow in the clouds... When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears...; I will see it and remember the eternal covenant between me and every living being."

The symbols in this window depict two scenes from the Genesis Flood story: the Deluge and the first Covenant between God and Mankind. Dominating the window is the large Rainbow, connecting the realm of God, represented by the disc of the Sun above, with the realm of Mankind, represented by the clouds, rain, Ark, and the turbulent flood below. Immediately underneath the Rainbow appears the outline of a black war-bow, its curve following that of the lower edge of the Rainbow. This is the "bow" that God first places in the sky to show that his anger has subsided, whereupon it is transformed into the good omen of the Rainbow as the sign of the Covenant. There emerges between the Rainbow and the Ark the outline of a large humanlike figure--neck, shoulders, torso, and curved arms (the two black arcs on either side of the clouds of the Deluge, as if sustaining it); while above, the disc of the Sun is surmounted by another rainbow (with colors reversed), suggesting a nimbus around the head of God. Thus the entire world presents in the background an omnipotent God, author of both the judgment of Deluge and the blessing and promise of Covenant.