Black Friday/Good Friday

The adverts are awash telling us it’s Black Friday at the end of this week. Everywhere I look on the internet there are deals to be had, all pressurising me to buy a product on Friday and save probably at least a quarter on last week’s price!

Apparently Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving in the United States and signals the first day of the Christmas shopping period.  It’s become the day when shops have the biggest footfall and takings of the year, traditionally pushing them from being in the red, to being in the black.  Hence, its name.

I’m conscious of the Sydney Carter hymn we sing to an old American Shaker tune, The Lord of the Dance.  One line goes: I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black. Yet we call it Good Friday.

At the heart of the Christian story the death of Jesus speaks to us of a dreadful day, full of so much injustice and pain, yet one on which love triumphed over hate, light over darkness and goodness over evil.  None of this came about through brutal power but through self-sacrificing love. 

As we approach and prepare for the season of gift giving, maybe even taking advantage of a Black Friday bargain or two, let’s pause and find our greatest inspiration in the message of Good Friday and the greatest gift ever given, of Jesus, who in love, gave us his all.