Iris

On our chapel frontage grows at least one Iris, the tender stalk of which has not yet been battered by the wintry July we have so far enjoyed. The name comes from a Greek word meaning rainbow, as well as the cognomen of a classical goddess, for whom the rainbow was her preferred mode of transportation. She has little of her own mythology, but seems to have been a messenger for the other, better known members of the pantheon. The rainbow still bears messages for the human race. In Britain and the West, it bespeaks human pride; in the Bible, it highlights God’s mercy and grace.

“The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:16

Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. Ezekiel 1:28 (both NKJV)