They call it Black Friday. It is the day that the Christmas season actually begins. Never mind that the stores have been playing Christmas music for two weeks leading up to it. Never mind that the stores have been decorated for a month before it. Because it is on this day, that shoppers turn out in forms unheard of to mere mortals. Women line up outside store fronts early in the morning and sometimes through the night for the doors to open like Star Wars fans awaiting the next George Lucas prequel. Disney World has seen no line like Wal-Mart has standing in front of it on this chilly day of Fall. People push and shove and fight and quarrel all in order to get the best deal on or first opportunity for purchase of each season’s “have to have it” new toy. And we keep doing it, year after year after year—at least some of us do anyway.
There are some of us who choose not to go out on this day though. They are those of us for whom Black Friday need not be so depressingly named. Because it us who have the battle wounds and past experience to keep us from venturing out on this first day of Christmas season. Some call us men. Our wives call us boys. Either way, call us what you will, we choose not to play the game. For us, we would rather pay double the price than stand in quadruple the line. We would rather convince our children that what they really want is the same toy that is easily available. We choose to eat leftovers, watch Television, throw the football—anything but go out. We choose to let the Christmas season come to us instead of spending our Friday chasing after it. If we wanted to see a fight we would go to a hockey game, not Target.
Still there is something profound about these courageous women (and some men) who choose to brave this first day of Christmas unjoy and unpeace. They do so not because they enjoy standing in lines and fighting for parking spaces. They do it because something bigger than those things compels them to do so. Be it their love for their children or just their love of a good deal, these Christmas warriors journey into the darkness and come out on the other side yes beaten, yes torn but still alive.
And it is these warriors that bring to mind our third character in the Christmas story. His name is Joseph. He was the original Black Friday warrior of Christmas. Christmas did not start out so cheery for him. His introduction to it was a pregnant fiancée with whom he knew one thing for certain—that he was not the father of her child. Like most men on this kind of Black Friday, his first reaction was to stay inside. Who would blame him for not wanting to venture out into this chaotic Christmas carol? Yet, his story does not end here. It could have…but it doesn’t. In faith this Christmas hero lays his insecurity and doubt on the line to take on the Christmas madness. He comes out on the other side beaten, torn but alive. And the reason we know his name today is because he chose to do. This guy was no average Joe.
Think about his Black Friday introduction into the Christmas season as you read these words:
“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child.” (Matthew 1:18, NIV)
Question:
*How would you have handled this Black Friday introduction to Christmas?
*Would you have ventured out in faith or stayed back in doubt?
*What challenge are you facing this Christmas season?
*How can you “BRING IT” to the manger and find faith in the midst of the madness?
David Rhodes
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