Advertisement

Commentary: Focus on black lives, not Black Friday

Share

This is the season of Advent, a time when we pause and recognize the darkness in our world, and there is a lot. This year, we are forced to look at the dark places of our society and the ugly racism that lives there.

We can no longer deny the unjust justice system in our country. We can’t sit with our eyes shut and our ears plugged in our affluent Orange County, where 2% to 3% of the population is black, and act like we don’t have a race issue.

Advent is not the time to rush to the stores for the Black Friday deals that now last eight days (since when did Friday start on Thursday and continue on for another week?). Advent is a time for looking deeply, seriously, prayerfully at the darkness and searching, waiting, longing for the light.

Advertisement

So let’s get real and talk about the ugly blemish in our society. Let’s bring to light white privilege and ask ourselves why we defend it. (Why do we make baby Jesus white in nearly all of our nativity scenes? And why, oh why, have we given our holiday over to a white old man with a beard whose main objective is to get us to buy things? )

The truth is ugly and it forces us to be uncomfortable, and God knows we don’t want that at Christmas. But Jesus wasn’t born to give us sales. Jesus was born into the ugliness, in the darkness, in the mess of the world, and that is exactly where we need him. It is why we need him now.

We have forgotten to care for the least of these and instead, the least of these are being killed by the gun-wielding powers that be. And instead of righting the wrongs, we let them off the hook and call protesters crazy.

Well, Jesus was a protester against injustice. His whole life represents a protest against the status quo. He too was murdered, and we pray it wasn’t in vain. But how many lives have to be lost before we take to the streets and say no more? No more! Black lives matter. They matter to God and they better matter to God’s people.

So instead of devoting ourselves to the ever-present Black Friday sales, let’s dedicate ourselves to black lives. Black lives matter. We wait for the light. Until then, we shine a little ourselves.

THE REV. SARAH HALVERSON is the pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa.

Advertisement