Black Friday

I may be totally out of the loop, but this is the first year that I have heard the Friday after Thanksgiving so consistently referred to as Black Friday. Fortunately, it seems to be one of those miracles of the lectionary that Black Friday comes right before Christ the King Sunday.This Sunday was introduced into the Christian year in an encyclical by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as he entreated the world to live in such a way that we acknowledge Christ’s reign in all the earth. Scripture seems to suggest that idolatry is one of the root sins humanity struggles with, and I think that it is easy to allow other things to ‘reign’ in our lives. Black Friday is a reminder that consumerism has a pretty powerful and compelling reign in many of our lives. Perhaps Christ the King Sunday can be a reminder that Christ’s reign places consumerism and greed in their place and exposes them as fakes and frauds.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wait in line for 32 hours to see if they have any more Playstation 3s.