 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Friday, November 25, 2022 “Black Friday” Where did we get this term, anyway? The phrase, “Black Friday” was first used in quite different circumstances – on September, 1869, two investors, Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, caused a market crash by driving up the price of gold. They bought up as much gold as possible, sending the whole country into a panic and depressing the stock market 20 percent – foreign trade stopped and farmers saw a huge drop in corn and wheat value. .. But it was first used of the day after Thanksgiving in the journal, Factory Management and Maintenance on November, 1951. It referred to the practice of workers calling in sick on the day after Thanksgiving in order to have a four day weekend. Still later, in the late 1050’s, it was used by the Philadelphia police to refer to the chaos when visitors and tourists flooded the city for the annual Army-Navy football game held the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Police had to work extra long hours to control traffic and crowds, and stores tried to get visitors to shop by discounting prices, which added to the chaos. In the 1980’s retailers reinvented the “Black Friday” name to reflect the backstory of how accountants used different colored ink – red for losses, and black for positive earnings. So Black Friday became the day when retailers made enough money with holiday sales to turn a profit.The name stuck. So is it a good thing? Greed is always in style, and a day specifically dedicated to great prices on stuff we might want, but really don’t need, encourages it. It does seem strange that the very day after we thank God for what we already have, we Americans run out early in the morning and crowd the stores looking for those elusive deals. But a meme that appeared last night proclaimed: “If you are not content now, there is nothing you can buy this weekend to change that.” And greed is definitely one of those anti-virtues that Scripture deplores. Both the Old Testament and the New take for granted that greed is at the root of societal discontent and that they represent “the flesh” – the “world” form which we are urged to flee. Why? Because when we take more than we need, while there are others who have nothing, we perpetuate the idea that some of us are more deserving of food, shelter, even basic human kindness. We fall prey to the worldly idea that those of us who can earn more, should have more; those of us with greater ability deserve to have more than those who are of lesser ability; those of us with money are worth more than those who can’t earn as much for whatever reason. At least let us remember that before God, we all belong to God and to each other. I heard a beautiful 90 yr old woman tell me, last week, that in the old days, where she lived, “everybody was poor, but nobody was hungry or without a place to stay.” That’s not a bad way to live: grateful and generous.  Share Your Christmas Please take a yellow or blue “angel” (or more than one!), from the trees in various businesses in town, or from Debra Beal at church. Please choose someone in our age group: 10-12 year olds. Leave the angel attached to the bag when you bring it back to St Albans. We will set up the bags after church on December 11 label them, add hygiene items and whatever gifts we have already received. On Monday, December 12 and Tuesday, December 13, someone will deliver gifts that other people have purchased for our age group, doing shopping for items we have not received, and filling the bags.There is a signup sheet in the parish hall for anyone who is able to help. It is a lot of work and more than one person can easily manage. On Tuesday we will also have to take all the filled bags to the AG activities building and put them in order. This is fun. BUT it is not easy. We will need a few cars and trucks to get them over there, and a couple of people to get them in some kind of reasonable order so that can be easily and quickly located when a family’s name is called. Distribution days are all day Wednesday, December 14 and half a day on Thursday, December 15. PLEASE sign up for an hour or two on one of those days. It is a great time to visit with other Christians from the other Polk County and Bolivar churches who are involved – and it’s fun.     |
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