It has come down to this. . .

While walking down the aisles of a store a while ago, my wife and I waited upon an older couple talking as they were shopping.  They were not quiet.  The wife was drawing the attention of the husband to some ornaments she was looking at for their gay pride Christmas tree.  With a sigh, we let them pass by and went on looking while her comment stuck in our minds.  Has it really come down to this?

I suppose it was inevitable.  There are "Christmas" trees for just about everything from sports teams to leisure activities -- not to mention the pop character trees dedicated to favorite toys, TV shows, etc.  Most of it is rather benign but this elderly woman was not decorating a tree to an interest but a cause -- and one that was about as friendly to the real Christmas as a slap to the Baby in the manger.  While we can lament the commercialization of the holy day, the take over of the day by a political cause such as gay pride is over the top.

It is not that I do not understand.  Probably they have a grandchild who identifies as gay or perhaps some other letter of the alphabet of sexual desire and gender identity.  She just wants them to feel included when they come to grandma's house.  We all get it.  But really.  Has it come down to trans trees, to gay and bi trees, and to one or more versions of a non-binary tree?  Is this what inclusion looks like or is this something more?

You probably wish by now I had gone to a different store.  I guess I wish that I had as well.  In the end, you know where the world is when grandmas and grandpas are decorating gay pride trees in their condo in Florida or their room at the assisted living center.  It kind of makes me want to skip Christmas.  But that would fit into the agenda of pride tree homes.  Give up the Christ and keep the holiday and then turn it into whatever you want it to be so everyone can feel included.  Well, strangely enough, that is exactly the purpose of Christ's coming -- to include us sinners into family of God and into the promise of the Father.  But Jesus does not do this by pandering to us and our desires or feelings.  No, Jesus includes by taking on the sin of all so that we might be made righteous in Him.  Jesus may meet us in our sin but He certainly does not leave us there.  That should be the message of Christmas and that is the ultimate inclusion.  I am fairly sure that at some point in the lives of these grandparents they kind of knew that.  But now that is not what they think about as Christmas and that, my friends, is the problem.  It was not the Grinch who stole Christmas.  We stole it right out from under the Christ child.