When A Cup Is Just A Cup

Perhaps you’ve seen the news that Christians are in an uproar over the lack of Christmas decorations on the new Starbucks coffee cups. Perhaps you’re one who was offended that they chose to lose the symbolic Christmas icons on their cups. But I have to say, sometimes a cup is just a cup.

Let’s think about this for a minute. Some well-meaning Christians are upset that a secular business is not acting like a Christian business. Why is it that this upsets us? Should we expect any different? Why is this cup so important? Sure the Magi in the New Testament followed a star to find Jesus. Sure it was a cup that Jesus passed around at his last supper with his disciples but why are we combining the star and the cup? Why is this cup so important?

To be totally honest…it’s not! This cup has no significance at all. This cup holds coffee. It holds strong, dark, potent coffee! Christians, no matter how well-meaning, should not be angered over this decision. It’s a simple marketing ploy and some of you have fallen right into it.  In the New Testament, Jesus promises that his presence is found not in a red holiday cup, but in a cup at the Sacrament of Communion.
It’s here, in this cup that we find the presence of Christ. It’s in the cup of wine and the loaf of bread that we see the blood and body of our risen Lord Jesus.

So why are we so confounded critical of a business that doesn’t want to use a tree on their cup? It wasn’t an evergreen tree that held our Savior on Good Friday. It was a tree in the form of a cross. The tree wasn’t green and filled with life. Rather it was dead, cut, and splintered. It was a tree that was hard. The tree was ugly. It was used for torture not joy. This is the tree that defines our lives as followers of Jesus.

Whether Starbucks wants to use a solid red cup or one covered with Christmas trees shouldn’t matter much at all. As Christians, our lives should demonstrate the meaning of Christmas regardless of what’s on our coffee cups. As followers of Jesus who carry the presence of Christ where we live, work and play, people should look to our words and actions to see the real meaning of this holy-day season. So perhaps we can be more concerned with how our lives reflect the tree of the cross than an evergreen on a red cup. Perhaps we should focus on living the called life everywhere we go instead of criticizing someone for a decision to change their method of distribution.

This Christmas wear the meaning of the season in your words and actions. Let others see the true light of Christmas not on your tree but in how Christ’s tree has illuminated your life. This Christmas may you know the meaning of the season is found in Jesus’ cup of righteousness poured out for all who believe. It’s not about a cup of coffee. Sometimes a cup is just a cup.