Those Two Confusing Fridays

Every year during Holy Week, one of my friends who knows a bit about church but attends less frequently than I do will say something about my “Black Friday” sermon. Of course, I have to remind them that I don’t have a Black Friday sermon. I don’t think I’ve ever preached on Black Friday. I may have a Good Friday sermon, but that is an entirely different event. The confusion makes sense, though. We call the day when we remember the crucifixion and death of our Lord “Good Friday,” and we call the day when we get great discounts on a bunch of stuff “Black Friday.” It seems backward. 

There are some different explanations for how Black Friday got its name. Maybe it has to do with workers calling in sick to give themselves a four day weekend. Maybe it refers to the massive crowds that flood the late November shopping scene. Whatever the case, Black Friday is the unofficial starting point of the Christmas shopping season. Excellent prices encourage consumers to come out in droves to get everything they have been convinced they need. 

We might not give a lot of thought to Black Friday, but it is an important cultural event—or at least an important marker of where our society is now. Consumption is an essential part of our society. We need to have more stuff. We need to buy gifts for other people, so they can have more stuff, trusting that they will give us stuff in return. Our houses fill up with things we will never use because we have a culturally developed obsession with buying stuff.

Of course, some economists will tell you that this is important. Our system depends on growth. We can’t abide stagnation, and equal distribution of resources is a welcome side effect. The goal of the economy is growth. This growth is dependent upon people spending money. The more money people spend, the more growth we have achieved. As a result, the economy is dependent upon the Christmas shopping season. Economists watch the final quarter of the calendar year with special attention. A good Christmas season is a good sign for the economic health of our country. If we don’t buy enough gifts, the country has to start worrying about what that means for the future.

This is part of why stores will offer such great deals to start the season. Of course, they will still make a profit from everything they sell, but they may give up higher markups for the sake of getting people in the store. If the entire inventory flies off the shelf at discounted prices, that is better than holding on to a bunch of unsold goods at higher prices. Some keep the markup high,misleading customers about the recommended sales prices. Others may take advantage of poorly informed consumers by selling poorer quality inventory items to try to clear them off the shelves. Whatever the case, stores do well on Black Friday, and they benefit further from a healthy economy. They want Black Friday to be a successful day for their temporary and long-term well-being. Black Friday is a holiday for massive corporations more so than for the consumers. The people and their money are not the guests; they are the meal served to the market every year.

But is this really what we want? Do we want Christmas to be a commercial holiday that gets stretched backward to consume Advent and even Thanksgiving? Do we want the celebration of the birth of our Lord to be a question of economic health and the wealth of massive corporations? We may still practice Advent as a season. We may still celebrate Christmas Eve with family. But the practices we have built around gift giving are now overlaid with economic considerations. We cannot escape the economic dependence on our addiction to consumerism, even as we look forward to the birth of Christ. We certainly can’t have a Thanksgiving free from the bombardment of advertisements for Black Friday. In fact, many companies are providing sales well before Black Friday. It isn’t just the day after Thanksgiving. It is the entire month now. The day we slow down to be grateful for everything we have has been completely consumed by the drive to buy more. Thanksgiving is haunted by the anxiety-ridden and voracious specter of the market. Buy earlier. Buy more. Keep buying, so that the economy stays (or gets) healthy.

Martin Luther’s understanding of what a “god” is refers to whatever one looks to as the source of good things. This doesn’t necessarily mean that one worships Ra or Horus. One might look to things like money, a good job, a car, or a lucky charm as their source of good. In this sense, we are all guilty of some kind of idolatry. Almost all of us idolize ourselves at some point. Many of us idolize other people or things. Isaiah 44:9-20 mocks the futility of idols. Idols aren’t real. They are made by humans. They can’t do anything good for us. They are mere illusions. One could say something similar about economics. While it is certain that God desires that resources should be distributed in a life-giving way, and economies can accomplish that to an extent, it is also true that markets are man-made. Giving up hard earned money because we are compelled by our culture to buy on Black Friday for the sake of the economy is modern idol worship. When compulsion to buy replaces thanksgiving and the goodwill and joy of the holiday season, we are laying our resources at the altar of something other than God.

There is something horrifyingly empty about this holiday. We fill our lives with stuff, but there is little substance to it. We buy because we are afraid of what will happen if we don’t. It’s hard to not see greed underlying the whole frenzy. Sometimes greed manifests as fear of not having. Sometimes it manifests as simply wanting more when we already have enough. Whatever the case, greed is active in the spirit of Black Friday. But where is faith?

Good Friday, a long journey away as we begin the new Church year this coming Sunday, is a Friday of faith. At the cross, we see the outpouring of God’s love, given to us freely, so that everyone has enough. Part of the appeal of having things is the material disparity, possessing what others do not, but this isn’t how God treats us at the cross. At the cross, God gives everyone exactly what they need—no more, no less.

Though there are deep religious pillars supporting our culture, we are also secular in many ways. These two Fridays stand opposite each other in this regard. With one, the busy consumers give life to the economy, one of the greatest idols of the secular world. With the other one, our dying God gives life to us, humans who feebly struggle and are unable to give life to ourselves. We may consider ourselves a Christian country, but look at how many more will honor Black Friday than Good Friday. If we acknowledge the frantic but unspoken idolatry of Black Friday, we may see that the names are actually quite fitting. One of these takes our money and leaves us empty. The other asks nothing of us and bestows God’s grace upon us.