The last few days I've seen a red coffee cup pop up in my newsfeed. I refused to click on the posts, but just by glancing at the titles I could easily figure out that some Christians were angry at Starbucks for declaring a "war on Christmas" by omitting snowflakes or other holiday themed pictures and instead going with a simple red and green cup for the season. The rants kept coming and I kept scrolling.
This morning the controversy made it onto my favorite morning news talk show. The network shared the information I had already gathered from the brief post titles I had already seen . In addition I learned that people are boycotting the company because of this issue. Instead of not giving Starbucks their business, some people have decided to protest in another way.
For those of you who have never been to Starbucks, this is how it works. You wait in line to order your favorite treat. The cashier will take your order and ask for a name to go with the order. Your name is then written on your cup and you move to the other end of the counter to wait for the barista to make your drink. When it is ready, the barista will call out the name that is written on the cup. Some people have decided when asked for a name they will give, "Merry Christmas" as the name, thus forcing the barista to say, "Merry Christmas" when the drink is complete. The network shared a montage of photos people posted with "Merry Christmas" written on the cups.
Seriously?!?! Can someone please explain to me how this passive aggressive behavior shares Christ's love and the true meaning of Christmas? As Christians we feel that a company that never claimed to be Christian, as far as I know, using a red and green cup for the holiday season is cause for uproar?
I am all for taking a stand for Christian beliefs. I am a Christian. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and I believe that I am called to share His love. However, I'm not seeing the love in this scenario.
As I watched the news this morning and saw how some people were responding to this, I was wondering how we could turn this into a positive and share Christ's love with others. Then I had an idea!! I remembered seeing a picture a sweet man from our church in Georgia posted of empty shelves at MUST Ministries.
Must Ministries supports those in need in their local area. Our church in Georgia supports this ministry in many ways. Here is a link if you would like to learn more about MUST. http://www.mustministries.org/
What if we don't boycott the green and red cup or pick on the barista who is just doing his or her job, but made a donation to our favorite charity when we get our caffeine fix? So, for those of you who are still reading, here is my Coffee Cup Round Up Challenge.
1. Purchase or make your favorite hot treat.
I went to Starbucks for this occasion which is a rare treat for me.
This is my cup of choice. I'm not a fan of drinking my coffee out of paper or styrofoam.
This is my favorite to-go cup, as I'm not even a fan of my coffee in metal. This is ceramic.
2. Figure out how much you paid for that cup of goodness.
This is my receipt from Starbucks, but it could easily be the amount you pay for your coffee at the grocery store each week. I buy a bag of coffee for use at home each week and it costs about $6-$7.
3. Take that total and round it up to the nearest dollar amount. Then make a donation in that dollar amount to your favorite charity. I chose MUST Ministries, as that particular ministry had been on my mind since I saw the empty shelf picture.
In my case my coffee purchase was $5.25, so I rounded my donation up to $6.00.
4. Take a picture of yourself with your beverage. Post the picture, your round up amount and the organization to which you will be making your donation in the comments of my FB post. I'm pretty particular about who I accept friend requests from, so my friend list isn't very long, but I would love to see each of you donate to a worthy cause and spread a little Christmas love!!
For His Glory.
Jody
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