This year we saw the annual frenzied shopping of Black Friday expanded and extended. One woman cited in the paper complained about how the store openings on Thursday ruined her Thanksgiving. She blamed the stores. Really? What kept her from staying home and celebrating Thanksgiving the way she wanted to? Did someone come and tie her up and throw her in the trunk of a car and dump her at Walmart and force her to shop?
Then, there was Leslie Skrodski and her daughters Taylor and Laura. Leslie was happy with the 5:00 a.m. store openings. They headed to WestShore Plaza early in the morning avoiding the midnight rush. Twenty-seven year old Laura Skrodski reported, “We got a spot right out front and all of the big specials were still available. I was kind of glad I got to sleep in.” [Tampa Bay Times, 11/24/12, “Stores open Thursday, diluting traditional Black Friday swarms,” Susan Thurston and Laura C. Morel]
Sleep in. That’s an excuse I hear from many for not coming to church on Sunday. “It’s my only morning to sleep in.” Just what is “sleeping in”? Church is at 10:30. To someone who regularly gets up at 6 a.m., isn’t 9:00 sleeping in? Personally, I like Laura Skrodski’s definition of sleeping in. She was at WestShore at 5:00 a.m. and she calls that sleeping in. So, I say, go ahead and sleep in and you should have no trouble making it to church at 10:30. Sweet dreams!
Lakewood United Church of Christ 