One of my favorite things during the holiday season is the peacefulness of Christmas lights. I think that lights have a lot more to do with the Christmas story than we usually think about. For example, in our story of the three wise men, they couldn’t have found Jesus without looking upon a star in the sky that God had specifically placed before them.
I am in the St. Luke’s youth group and every year we go on a mission trip called Youth Force. One year during worship, our speaker gave us a chant to which we would turn to one another and shout, “Get your shine on. Get your shine on. Get your shine on. Are you gonna do it?” The other person shouts enthusiastically in response, “Yeah I’m gonna do it!”
When I think of the inn keeper who offered Mary and Joseph a small place in the stable, I cannot help but connect it back to the parable of The Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25. The Good Samaritan takes the injured Jew to an inn keeper, telling him “Take care of him and I will pay you what is needed when I return.” Frankly, the inn keeper didn’t have to do anything for the Jew or Samaritan. He could have left the Jew to die, however it is inferred that the inn keeper did what was asked of him. I once heard it said by Pastor Levi Lusko, “I don’t think Jesus was telling us to be the Good Samaritan. Jesus is the Good Samaritan who picks up the broken. I think Jesus wants us to be like the inn keeper, being the light for whoever Jesus brings our way.” I believe the inn keeper who offered Mary and Joseph a place in the stable allowed himself to be strategically placed by God, to be a light in the midst of darkness.
What I think we should focus on, in this strange year of 2020, is trying not to bring up what we believe how people should be or act. But instead, be a light to all who come our way.
So, get your shine on! Are you gonna do it?
– Erika Manning, St. Luke’s Youth
