Today is traditionally known as Black Friday, the day many gorge themselves on shopping to match the gorging the day before. The phrase, however, was not first used regarding shopping but in a 1951 publication, Factory Management and Maintenance, because factory workers called in sick to get a four-day weekend.
It took on its current usage in the 1980s because of the profits stores enjoyed as the shopping frenzy for Christmas began. At that point stores began offering Black Friday specials to lure more shoppers, some stores opening at midnight to get the maximum number out.
As we approach Advent, the period of expectation before Christmas, we know that the Season is about more than shopping. There are so many ways to give and share the real meaning of Christmas, including our time in caring for those who need our help, both human and non-human.
Prayer for the Day
During this season of longer nights, open our eyes to your light,
Help us to look through the windows of your majesty
So we may see your grace in the world around us.
Bring us a new vision of your world, full of possibilities.
May we always work for the coming of your kingdom
Where none will be hungry, thirsty, or naked.
In the name of the One who came to show us the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Aliveness, he will teach, is a gift available to all by God's grace. It flows not from taking, but giving, not from fear but from faith, not from conflict but from reconciliation, not from domination but from service.
- Brian McLaren, American religious writer
One of the most important things you can do on this earth is to let people know they are not alone.
- Sharon L. Alder, therapist and writer
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food,
A feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow,
Of well-aged wines strained clear.
The Lord will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples,
The sheet that is spread over all nations; the Lord will swallow up death forever.
Then the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces… for the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 25: 6-8