The document is a prayer asking God to gather people into God's loving embrace and pour God's wise and holy Spirit upon them so they can become faithful servants. It acknowledges God seeks people in places of ignorance and despair. The prayer ends with "Amen."

1. A Prayer For The People of God
Merciful God,
your desire to bring us into your commonwealth
is so great that you seek us
in the places of our ignorance,
and the forgotten corners where we hide in despair.
Gather us into your loving embrace,
and pour upon us your wise and holy Spirit,
so that we may become faithful servants
in whom you rejoice with all the company of heaven.
Amen.

5. 2 Sam 11-12, Psalm 51
David WASN’T the VICTIM

6. In the spring, at the time when kings
go off to war, David sent Joab out
with the king’s men and the whole
Israelite army. They destroyed the
Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.
But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 11:1

7. One evening David got up from his
bed and walked around on the roof
of the palace. From the roof he saw
a woman bathing. The woman
was very beautiful, and David sent
someone to find out about her.
The man said, “She is Bathsheba,
the daughter of Eliam and the
wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
2 Samuel 11:2-3

8. Then David sent messengers to get her.
She came to him, and he slept with her.
(Now she was purifying herself
from her monthly uncleanness.)
Then she went back home.
The woman conceived
and sent word to David,
saying, “I am pregnant.”
2 Samuel 11:4-5

9. So David sent this word to Joab: “Send
me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent
him to David. When Uriah came to him,
David asked him how Joab was,
how the soldiers were and how the war
was going. Then David said to Uriah,
“Go down to your house and wash your
feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a
gift from the king was sent after him.
2 Samuel 11:6-8

10. But Uriah slept at the entrance
to the palace with all his master’s
servants and did not go down
to his house. David was told,
“Uriah did not go home.”
So he asked Uriah,
“Haven’t you just come
from a military campaign?
Why didn’t you go home?”
2 Samuel 11:9-10

11. Uriah said to David, “The ark and
Israel and Judah are staying in tents,
and my commander Joab and my
lord’s men are camped in the open
country. How could I go to my house
to eat and drink and to lie with
my wife? As surely as you live,
I will not do such a thing!”
2 Samuel 11:11

12. Then David said to him, “Stay here
one more day, and tomorrow I will send
you back.” So Uriah remained
in Jerusalem that day and the next.
At David’s invitation, he ate and drank
with him, and David made him drunk.
But in the evening Uriah went out to
sleep on his mat among his master’s
servants; he did not go home.
2 Samuel 11:12-13

13. In the morning David wrote a
letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front
where the fighting is fiercest. Then
withdraw from him so he will be
struck down and die.” So while Joab
had the city under siege, he put Uriah
at a place where he knew the strongest
defenders were...(and) Uriah died.
2 Samuel 11:14-17

14. 2 Sam 11-12, Psalm 51
David WASN’T the VICTIM

15. Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
PSALM 51:1-3

16. Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother
conceived me. Yet you desired
faithfulness even in the womb; you
taught me wisdom in that secret place.
PSALM 51:4-6

17. Cleanse me with hyssop,
and I will be clean; wash me,
and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have
crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
PSALM 51:7-9

18. Create in me a pure heart,
O God, and renew a
steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit,
to sustain me.
PSALM 51:10-12

19. You do not delight in sacrifice,
or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure
in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
PSALM 51:16-17

20. 2 Sam 11-12, Psalm 51
David WASN’T the VICTIM

21. 1. LET’S NOT VICTIM-BLAME BATHSHEEBA
There’s no evidence to justify it, not even nakedness
let’s TRY to AGREE on SOME things…

22. WHAT were you WEARING? (Ohio U)

23. “Rape has nothing to do with what
a woman is wearing…Society
minimizes the effects rape has
on those who survive it…but rape
has the same effects on a victim
as torture: intense degradation,
inability to trust, constant fear,
psychological problems, anger,
feelings of guilt and shame…”
ISABEL APAWO PHIRI

24. 1. LET’S NOT VICTIM-BLAME BATHSHEEBA
There’s no evidence to justify it, not even nakedness
2. LET’S NOT OVER-DEFEND/JUSTIFY DAVID
Scripture gives us the good, the bad, and the ugly…
let’s TRY to AGREE on SOME things…

25. 1. LET’S NOT VICTIM-BLAME BATHSHEEBA
There’s no evidence to justify it, not even nakedness
2. LET’S NOT OVER-DEFEND/JUSTIFY DAVID
Scripture gives us the good, the bad, and the ugly
3. LET’S LEARN THE VALUE OF REPENTANCE
Taking responsibility, not defending/minimizing
let’s TRY to AGREE on SOME things…

26. 4. LET’S SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER
Prophetic boldness isn’t intoxicated into silence
by proximity to power, nor is it willingly hypocritical
in calling out “the other guy’s” faults while ignoring
“our guy’s” faults as “not that bad,” nor is it willing
to allow victims to suffer the ongoing injustice
of silence or turning a blind eye…
let’s TRY to AGREE on SOME things…

27. 2 Sam 11-12, Psalm 51
David WASN’T the VICTIM

28. Benediction
Merciful God, your desire to bring us into
your commonwealth is so great that you
seek us in the places of our ignorance,
and the forgotten corners where we hide in despair.
Gather us into your loving embrace,
and pour upon us your wise and holy Spirit,
so that we may become faithful servants
in whom you rejoice with all the company of heaven.
Amen.