Every last Friday of November is known as the ominous, "Black Friday." A day when people in the hope of great savings, make haste to stores to buy presents for the Holidays, i.e. Christmas. The frenzy is palpable, as in yester year, people have pummeled and pushed one another to the ground to gain their prize. Black Friday, is indeed black, much like Black Plague, infecting millions every year as they seek to get the "Great Deal" of the year. This quest for presents, the zeal behind it, not entirely evil, but I have begun to question the motive. In a world where love is growing cold (Matthew 24:10-13), I find it ironic there is a mad dash to provide tangible proof of love and care for others with arguably the most easy way of faking love. Sociopaths and psychopaths, which are incapable of love, can fake it by giving gifts (usually with invisible strings attached). They can never replicate the forms of love such as affectionate touch, time spent, words of affirmation, and acts of service; because all of these go against their intrinsically selfish nature; no sociopath is going to spend their valuable time affirming other people, serving them, and touching another person physically unless it give them pleasure.
In my humble opinion, the Black Friday Frenzy is sustained by those who are guilty (either outright or deep in their soul) for neglecting their families while they spend most of their time all year fostering their own careers and spending very little time with their children. There is a whole generation of what I call the aftercare children who bounce between Grandma's house, their own house, and day care institutions; and the parents who are trying to provide a better life for them fiscally and with spectacles (vacations, Disneyland, events, and etc.) don't see their kids need them in an emotional way, by being present (presence), so instead these parents in their guilt make up for it with presents during Christmastime. Another group in Black Friday Frenzy are those who feel some hubris over getting that Flat Screen TV at an incredible deal, not minding that the TV is actually an older model without a serial number that can be found at Samsung, Sony, or any other company's website. Sure, there are those who brave the stores on Black Friday out of genuine affection, wanting to give to their family what all year they could not and to this group I say you are exempt from my critiques But in the end it is pretty obvious that the entire Black Friday Fiasco, which has now became Black Week, extending into Cyber Wednesday, is a gimmick by Capitalists convincing people they need possessions to show people they care and are loved. The last vestiges of the Industrial Revolution survive in Holiday Spending Spree, the only thing keeping an already tottering Global economy from collapsing overnight (although we shall see in New Year if dividends are strong, because many retailers have fallen, from JCPenny to Kmart and beyond).
Stuff has become the fluff of the holidays. The concept of gift giving, I wish came from tribute the Magi paid to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Matthew:7-12). The truth is that it is an ancient pagan constum from Romans to Medieval Monarchs. Originally, presents or tributes were only given to kings, emperors, and rulers; as means to bribing them to be lenient, compassionate, and to assuage any anger they held towards barons, knights, and other lower classes. Overtime this developed under Industrial Revolution and later Rockefeller, into a Capitalist concept of convincing people they need to express their love in tangible form of a gift. Retailers then rose to meet the demand at Holidays, and many of them will either remain or fall this year depending on the sales they make. It is a well oiled machine, and I can't help but wonder, is this the Wonder in "The Most Wonderful Time of Year,"? Cindy Lu Who asked the same question, and when confronted with antagonist of the entire operation, the Grinch, discovered in the end Christmas is not about packages, bags, boxes, or roast beast, but something much bigger. While Dr. Sues may not have been a Christian, and his Who Ville was based on Turkish town, the idea that Christmas is not simply commerce, and gift giving is Biblical. Christmas was started as holiday, a feast day to commemorate to Birth of Jesus Christ, God coming into world as baby, the Greatest Gift of All, Immanuel, God With Us. And He came for this purpose, to bear sins of the world and save those who believe in Him (John 6:40, Romans 5:6-11).
Perhaps you are wondering, "isn't this all good, why add more ammo to those making war on Christmas." While I do not endeavor to shame people who celebrate the questionable elements of Christmas, in their ignorance, I must say that the whole Season has been so commercialized, that it is losing its appeal. Before Halloween is even begun, Christmas Lights adorn the back shelves of local retailers, or even front as in case of Cracker Barrels. Retailers know they are manipulating the masses to think about buying for Christmas earlier each year, to get people to start Black Friday a month in advance, even now in September! And while many protest, and say, "can you believe they already have Christmas displays up?! Hmpf!" And yet that is extent of outrage, because slowly, but surely, the retailer worm their influence into the masses, convincing them they need to start shopping.
What is to be done? For those in tractor beam of retail industry, not much can be done. They will like most, buy love once a year, while putting it off the rest of year for 'noble' reasons such as income, career, college fund, good intentions, and etc. But for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, I urge you, consider this, Christmas is about Christ's First Coming, and His Birthday, though He always existed (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16), He was born in flesh as baby in Bethlehem (Luke 1, and Luke 2, Matthew 1). In same manner, I should say, when you celebrate a person's birthday do you only focus on when they were a baby? Nay, you celebrate their whole life. Since 33 A.D., Jesus is now 1984 years old, plus Infinite, because He always was (John 1:1-3), but we are counting since His Incarnation, when He came in flesh as baby. It then stands to reason that during season we should celebrating Christ and His life, the cross and empty tomb, and beyond: The Second Coming. We can take back Christmas, and make it about Christ. We can decorate to honor Him. with crosses, candelabras or menorahs to represent Light coming into world, and draw attention to Him, rather than the Norse Oiden, A.K.A., Santa Claus, and folklore of Germany. We can tell our children, "These presents aren't from Santa, but from the Savior Jesus Christ," because " He (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together," (Colossians 1:17), "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him," (Colossians 1:15-16), and "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made," (John 1:3), We can dial back on the presents (trying to prove our love), and pick meaningful ones, and while blessing each other remember the greatest gift is Jesus, and the Grace of Salvation He brestows to us (Philippaisn 3:9, Romans 5:6-8, Ephensians 2:8-9, Acts 15:10-11, and etc). We can make Christmas a Feast of Christ, to enjoy His presence as we spend time with Him, and our loved ones, and let the commercial empires roll as they have always have done, roll on by. Amen.
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