Samuel stood at the check in computer.  He looked around and noticed the trees and snowmen decorating the library.  "Do you celebrate Christmas?" He followed that quickly with, "I hope not!"
Samuel is an ebullient child who is Jewish.  "Samuel, I do celebrate Christmas, but I also celebrate Hanukkah, Ramadan and Dwali and I would be deeply saddened if I weren't able to share the joy of all of them."

What he was really saying to me was I hope you are part of my tribe.  It touched my heart.  I know that for children of faith backgrounds other than Christian The season of Advent and Christmas can overwhelm them and make them feel isolated.  Even for those of us who are Christian, Christmas in the commercialized way that it is celebrated, often overwhelms us, too.    Little Samuel's comment made me deeply joyful and sad at the same moment.  How often do we do something that draws a circle of exclusion, without intention or even awareness? 

This weekend I saw part of a movie on one of the "Christian" T.V. channel about the "war" on Christmas,  Indeed the movie mixed patriotism and advent ending with a pagent where a flag was carried into the manger.  It sent a chill up my spine.  If we wrap the baby Jesus in the American flag we draw a circle of exclusion, for all the other countries around the world.  We also draw a circle of exclusion for those Americans who are not Christian.

When I was a teenager, Glide Memorial United Methodist Church took the cross out of the Sanctuary.  It was a move that caused a firestorm of controversy in the denomination and since we were United Methodists it was a point of discussion around our dinner table.  .  The minister suggested that the congregation focus on life  and he viewed the cross as a symbol of death.  At the time Mother was outraged for her the cross as a symbol of eternal life and I totally concur, but I also know that it doesn't mean that to everyone.  It doesn't mean that to little Samuel, and because I understood that long ago, I stopped wearing the simple gold cross that my husband gave me shortly after we were married to school.    Now I think the reason to take the cross out of Glide's sanctuary might simply have been to keep from excluding people who would be put off by it.