As you know, this summer we’ve been having a sermon series on our vision statement. Each Sunday we’ve been focussing on a particular part of the vision. So I am so happy to announce that we have reached my favourite part! Today we’re going to talk about what it means to shine with the light of Jesus. It’s such a beautiful, hope filled and vibrant expression of faith. I am so glad that our community articulated this vision: that we are called to be a people who visibly radiate the love of God, so that all who come into relationship with us can see the love of God among us.

When I was a little girl, my parents took my brother and sisters and I to a circus that had traveled here from Asia. I remember it being an absolutely breathtaking experience. There were acts and exhibits that ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. The exhibit of Chinese culture was sublime: beautiful dresses, delicate fans, and delightfully scary dragons that marched and danced through crowds of people. The ridiculous was well represented in the form of several motorcyclists riding around inside a huge mesh ball that was rolled around the arena by the sheer momentum of the motorbikes.

Well, if there was ever a story in the Old Testament about an abuse of power and how it brings a man down, it’s the story we hear today about David and Bathsheba. David has been blessed by God, and has received power, and prestige, and authority as King of Israel. But, like so many people who get a taste of absolute authority, David falls becomes spellbound by the power his authority gives him, and abuses this power by having a man killed so that he can take his wife as his own. It’s a story as old and clichéd as any – think of 1998, when it seemed that the only thing covered in the news at the time was the scandal involving Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Years later, even Clinton was to remark that he engaged in the affair “just because I could”. He was a powerful man, and he could take what he wanted. There is something about power that can corrupt even the most upright of people, and David is the perfect example. In our reading today we hear about how David is not only humbled, but also punished by God for his sins and the abuse of power that God has given him.

 Last year, one of Quinn’s dearest friends and I were walking around Home Depot. It was the end of the summer and all of the seasonal summer things were on sale. Now, one of the things that Quinn enjoys most in the summer is grilling meat on the BBQ. Up until the end of last summer, we had a tiny ramshackle BBQ that could barely hold a pork chop. The lid had fallen off, and so we attached it to the base with a bobby pin so that we could actually lift the lid and leave it open without lighting our arms on fire. I’m sure our neighbours would linger at the kitchen windows with phone in hand, poised to call 911 anytime they noticed Quinn leave the back door and head to the grill.