This sermon written and delivered by Sonya Brown

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Did you ever read or hear about an ornamental crystal ball starting a house fire in Wisconsin? Apparently, the sunlight was streaming through the house window and hit the uncovered crystal ball which then emitted a stronger ray resulting in a couch catching fire. No wonder the Delton Fire Department in Wisconsin put out a warning the following March “to keep items like ‘crystals, mirrors, glass ornaments and even bottles’ out of direct sunlight and away from flammable things. ‘These items can act just like a magnifying glass and focus sunlight so that the energy, which would normally be spread out over a wide area, is delivered to a much smaller point.’

I walked around my home after this to make sure I didn’t have any crystals, mirrors, glass ornaments or bottles sitting in the direct sun which could potentially cause a fire. Here I thought I only had candles or open flames to worry about.

Reflective light can be helpful if it’s used properly. A mirror can help brighten a room if it’s in the right place. Crystals can reflect a ray of colorful light if properly placed as well.

There is a small town in Norway which is nestled between two mountains. Because of this, it sits in a shadow for half of the year from October to March. In 2013, the town set up three large mirrors on top of the mountain to reflect light from the sundown to the town square during these darker months.

That’s pretty crazy how strong reflective light can be! 

If you have ever stayed in a basement, even if there’s windows, it’s still pretty dark. Our home basement we called the catacombs was pretty dark even with six decent size windows. We had to strategically place lights and reflective objects to make the rooms brighter and not so sad looking. It was helpful to have light reflect and brighten our home. There are certain times of the year that the sunlight would shine perfectly through the windows in the morning and evening making the rooms bright, warm, and welcoming. I enjoyed sitting by the window during that time of day. 

Let’s explore how God’s love reaches the world — through us. Like a mirror, we’re called to reflect God’s love to the world around us. We don’t always do that, so we’ll explore what keeps us from reflecting God’s love to our world. And we’ll see how Jesus shows us what a faithful reflection of God’s love looks like.

Are we people of God who reflect God’s love, grace, and hope to other people around us?

Join us…

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