The Music of Luke

Well, today is the start of my weekend. Did I ever tell you that I get Friday's off? It's one of those preacher things, I suppose. Our church considers Sunday to be a work day for me, so my weekends are Friday and Saturday. It's a bit different and it took some getting used to, but now it's kind of neat to be able to spend Fridays running errands for Cindy and taking care of various needs around the house.

This morning I took my birthday money and went shopping. Those of you who know me well are already cringing, because I detest shopping. Today I made the mistake of not having in mind what I wanted before I left. Big no-no. I ended up in the crowd of folks who were taking a 3-day weekend to go "door-busting". Did I mention I don't do crowds, either? I found lots of things I needed (socks, pants, shirts), but only a few in my size and EVERYTHING had been thoroughly examined by the early birds and was completely jumbled. Because I have a limited budget I couldn't decide what to purchase. Even though the prices will surely triple again after the holidays, I suppose I'll wait until the rush is over (by the way, why is it that a $15 dollar shirt costs $45 after the calendar flips? doesn't that fly in the face of supply and demand, or am I the only one who notices that kind of thing?). The other thing that irked me more than a little was that if I used a store credit card, I could get an additional 10-20% discount per item. I don't want more debt, I just want more socks, for crying out loud! I thought we were celebrating God's love for us, not our love for "stuff". OK, you can relax now, the rant is over. Do you understand now why I don't like shopping?

One of the things that I actually am enjoying about this Christmas season is my daily Bible reading. The book of Luke has 24 chapters, and our pastor has challenged us to read one chapter per day leading up to our Christmas Eve service. God's Holy Spirit has been revealing new things to me each day, and over the past couple of weeks I have read several familiar passages in an entirely different light. One of the things that really strikes me is Jesus' relationship with the Samaritan people. You see, to Jesus' Hebrew contemporaries, the people from Samaria were illegitimate, unclean, untouchable, second (some would say "no") class. Yet Jesus loved them, healed them and used them in powerful illustrations to teach God's love, mercy and grace. As a follower of Christ, I've noted that point and, with God's help, resolve to apply it to my own life.

Can you hear the music today?