Friday, November 26, 2010

Black Friday

The joyous holiday season officially begins today, “Black Friday.” Festive Christmas carol melodies can be heard on 99.1. Christmas decorations are going up. Little twinkling lights adorn homes in neighborhoods. Santa Claus has set up shop in people’s front yards; reindeers graze alongside. Parking lots have become battle zones where people aim for spots at full ramming speed. Elbows will be flying as shoppers rush to get that last can’t live without it item. Tempers will flare in the check-out lines as people full out their credit cards piling debt on debt. Ah, the holiday season begins.

On this Black Friday, the Daily Office Gospel is taken from Luke and it is the Palm Sunday scene. It may seem out of place today, but I think the Daily Office puts perspective on the day. Luke writes:

As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.” (Lk. 19: 36-40).


As you start your holiday activities, as you battle the parking lots, the tempers, and the attitudes, remember Jesus who rode the donkey into Jerusalem to shouts of “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” You’ll hear the last part of that phrase again in just four short weeks.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

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