Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, `I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.

This part of the Gospel for this coming Sunday came to mind today as I read about a man walking into a Starbucks wearing a Jesus Christ T-Shirt, carrying a gun, and telling the people his name was “Merry Christmas”.

Ref: Starbucks ‘removed Christmas from their cups because they hate Jesus,’ Christian [sic] says in viral Facebook video.

Now, I’ve been heartened to see people posting things on Facebook like:

Let me get this straight; you’re upset because Starbucks is selling coffee in red cups without snowflakes and you call this a ‘war on Christmas’?

Let me tell you what a real war on Christmas looks like: it looks like hunger, poverty, homelessness, and bigotry. Now, leave those cups alone and fight those battles.

Yet I’m also reading Pew Reports about Millennials increasingly are driving growth of ‘nones’. I’m reading books about why Millennials are less interested in organized religion, but not necessarily any less spiritual.

No, the person carrying his gun into Starbucks wearing his Jesus Christ T-Shirt, is playing a big role in the war on Christmas. He is driving people away from Christ.

Christmas, the day that we celebrate the divine entering into human lives. The war on Christmas isn’t about what a cup looks like or the holiday greetings we share. It is about making God’s love manifest in our relations.

Then again, maybe Christmas is really about a common cup and a greeting we share. It is the cup of the Eucharist. It is the cup of human kindness.

So I will share a cup of kindness with those who a fighting hunger, poverty, homelessness, and bigotry, no matter what their faith system is or how they great anyone during the holidays.