Two Reflections on Shopping Friday

The shopping frenzy identified with the Friday after Thanksgiving is commonly known as Black Friday.  In today's Verse and Voice, Sojourners: Faith in Action for Social Justice, invites us to step back and ponder  about our shopping practices. 

verse of the day
No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. - Matthew 6:24

voice of the day
The way you buy has a lot to do with the way you worship and who you worship and what you worship. -William T. Cavanaugh

prayer of the day
May our worship of you, O God, guide the use of our wealth. May we resist the temptations of consumerism and form our desires according to your will. Amen

Steve Garnaas-Holmes: Beyond a One-Day Offer
Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes in his blog Unfolding Light invites us to go to a different place on this day. Here is the reflection for today in his blog Unfolding Light.

You may seek a place in this day of acquisitive frenzy
but it will not be home.
There is room for you in a Blacker Friday,
a day of more profound darkness and brighter stars,
of shorter lists and deeper desires,
where there is something not checked off the list,
something you are still waiting for,
something you can’t buy but can only be given,
which, if it is for you, is for everybody,
not a one-day offer but an eternal promise,
waiting for you, not disappearing off shelves
but gestating, ripening toward you from the future,
from the heart of God, from within us all.

See full reflection entitled Blacker Friday