The following guest sermon was submitted by ULC Minister Kirk Haas. All ULC Ministers are invited to contribute their own sermons for consideration/publication. To submit a sermon, please email it to sermons@ulc.org.
The Thanksgiving leftovers will still be warm, the pumpkin pie still settling in our stomachs... time to shop?
This Friday, millions of Americans will set their alarms for an early-morning dash to snag the hottest Black Friday deals. For many, it’s the unofficial kickoff to the holiday season, wrung in by doorbuster deals on the latest electronics or other hot items.
Shopping is itself becoming a seasonal tradition. Loading the kids up and going to the store (or increasingly, scrolling through our devices like zombies while we shop "amazing deals" online) is becoming synonymous with the holidays… but should it be?
A day dedicated to stepping over your friends and neighbors just to get the last discounted air fryer sounds like a day manufactured to exploit our greed and avarice -- something the Bible explicitly condemns.
That begs the question: Should Christians be celebrating Black Friday at all?
The Greatest Story Ever Sold
Scripture doesn’t mince words when it comes to greed.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10) is an oft-quoted verse this time of year, but it’s not the only one.
Jesus himself warns, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15).
Black Friday, by design, invites us into a frenzy of rabid consumerism: slashed prices, limited stock, countdown clocks, the manufactured fear of missing out.
When we step back, it’s worth asking, does this annual shopping ritual draw us toward Christ… or away from Him?
The Hidden Cost: Workers Forced Away From Family
Beyond personal spiritual concerns, Black Friday also comes with a human cost. Every year, countless retail workers have their Thanksgiving cut short (or erased entirely) so stores can open earlier and earlier. Once upon a time, Black Friday was actually on Friday during business hours. Then stores started opening in the pre-dawn hours to serve eager shoppers. Then it moved to Thanksgiving itself.
Now, your favorite discounted items can also be delivered overnight.
While many families enjoy togetherness and rest, someone else is driving that delivery van, or ringing up discounted televisions after eating a rushed dinner in a break room.
Christians are called to love our neighbors, not benefit from systems that pressure them into sacrificing time with their own families. “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). These aren’t first responders or essential workers -- of whom some will have to work holidays to ensure society remains safe and civil -- they’re cashiers and shelf stockers.
If our holiday rituals depend on overworking others and needlessly depriving them of their own precious family time, are we truly living out that command?
When Giving Thanks Turns Into Getting More
There’s an uncomfortable irony at the heart of Black Friday's position on the calendar: it asks us to transition from gratitude to grasping. One minute, we’re thanking God for the blessings we have; the next, we’re battling strangers for discounted electronics. The contrast is sharp enough to give anyone spiritual whiplash.
For Christians, Thanksgiving is about humility, gratitude, and community. Black Friday flips that script. Its ethos isn’t “give thanks,” but “get more.”
So… Can Christians Celebrate Black Friday?
Christians can do many things -- but not everything is spiritually healthy. The Apostle Paul reminds us, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial” (1 Corinthians 10:23). Black Friday may be permissible, but is it beneficial to our souls? To our neighbors? To workers who want to be home with their families? To the gratitude we just spent a whole holiday cultivating?
When viewed through the lens of scripture and Christian ethics, it becomes hard to defend.
Ultimately, Black Friday isn’t just a day of shopping, it’s a ritual of rank consumerism that stands in stark contrast to the teachings of Jesus. It encourages greed, fuels unhealthy desire for possessions, and comes at the expense of retail workers who deserve rest and family time just as much as anyone else.
Christians are called to gratitude, compassion, and contentment.
Not doorbusters.
12 comments
-
Ipsissima: Leonora
Comment removed by user.
-
James Riggle-Johnson
Christmas is a corporate profit machine — that part isn’t new. But does that make Black Friday “unchristian”? I’m not so sure. It depends on what’s motivating people. Is it greed… or is it the desire to make their kids, friends, and families happy? Most people aren’t fighting over cheap TVs for their own self-worship — they’re trying to stretch their budgets and give the best gifts they can.
I don’t love the chaos that Black Friday brings, but I’ve been out there a few times myself hunting for a good deal. The way I see it, people can still honor what Christmas is supposed to be about — the birth of Christ — even if they’re also navigating the commercial circus wrapped around it.
-
John W
Can they? Sure, just as much as any other religious group. Now, how some do it as Christians is another matter all together with the pushing, shoving, cursing and fighting over material items to show how good of a gifter they are is incredibly ridiculous.
-
Rev. BH
Celebrate? Like go to church? Sing and dance? Throw a party? Huh? I'd suggest buying stuff instead.
-
Colleen McAllister
Can Christians celebrate Black Friday? Of course. Should they? Nope. Nor should any sane, adult human being. This day has nothing to do with religion or faith. It is a day of craziness, greed, and profit. Hardly worth celebrating.
-
Rev. Roe
If Black Friday bothers you don’t go there. STOP trying to change those who do not want chance. I am sure there are better things WE could be filling our minds with.
-
Nicholas J Page
Black Friday is just another way for retailers making you think you have a bargain and nothing to do with any religion
-
Rev. Miche'al Yosef Dixon
The term "Black Friday" originated in Philadelphia in the 1950s and 1960s when police used it to describe the chaotic day after Thanksgiving due to heavy traffic and crowds from holiday shopping and the annual Army-Navy football game. By the 1980s, retailers began promoting the name, changing its meaning from a day of strain to one of profit as their finances moved "into the black" from "the red". So, it's blatantly has absolutely nothing to do with religion but only your wallet. Which mine just got drained at Family Dollar store costing me $75 for a week grocery and leaving me $4 until my VA check on the first.
-
William E Muldrew
I say give it a rest people. Your getting ripped off they been marking the prices up since Halloween so you think you're getting a deal. Your really just paying the original price.
-
Religion as a Weapon is Wrong
Seriously? Black Friday is just a wild store experience that is not worth it. The traffic, the crowds, the "deals" that are mostly not deals. It has nothing to do with religion. If people enjoy it, more power to them.
-
Dane
Whether or not they can, it certainly has never stopped anyone.
It's my opinion that anyone who is strong in their Faith can Celebrate anything they want and it won't make any difference to their True Belief.
Whether that True Belief is based in actual Compassion and not finger-pointing and blame might be up for discussion, though.
Strength Heart and Wisdom to you..