Today is the fifth Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace.  Today’s reading is the familiar “You are the light of the world” section from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5.  The question for us is how we shine the loving light of Christ in the world.   In context, Jesus is speaking to common folks, people who aren’t leaders, and it is astonishing that those are the people Jesus is challenging to be the light of the world.  No person is ungifted,  unqualified to be the light.  In Greek, the “you” in “You are the light of the world” is plural, implying that we can do much together as a unified community of faith.  As a fireworks display is made up of a variety of colors and displays, as a community of different people we can be the light together.  (NOTE: Because today is July 4, we are having only one service, and we are in the process of returning to in-person worship following the COVID pandemic.  NOTE:  The video begins with the Children’s Moment, but once it starts you can scroll back to the beginning of the service if you want.  The entire service is videoed.)