Two women were walking down the street of a large city. It was Christmastime and the storefront windows were all decked out for the holiday in an attempt to lure in the shoppers. The dress-store window featured a Christmas tree standing in the midst of several of the most beautiful dresses the store had for sale. The shoe-store window featured figurines of Santa Claus and his reindeer perfectly placed alongside several samplings of shoes. The candy-store featured a depiction of a snowy, wintry scene in which all kinds of candies — candy canes, fudge, milk chocolate, etc. — lay scattered.

Then the women came to the storefront window of a Christian bookstore that sold books, greeting cards, ornaments, and all other manner of do-dads. This window featured nothing but an elegantly simple nativity scene. No latest best-seller. No in-demand ornaments. No seasonal offerings. No marked-down or clearance items. Just the manger scene, complete with a baby Jesus right in the center. One of the women looked at the other and said, “Can you believe that? Now the church is trying to horn in on Christmas!”

A Christmas cartoon from some years ago showed Jesus hanging high on a cross. A ladder was leaned up against the cross, and Santa Claus was standing on one of the top rungs of the ladder. And what was Santa doing up there? He was whispering into Jesus’ ear, “It’s a pleasure doing business with you.” I don’t have to explain the meaning of that cartoon. We’ll all be living it right up until the 25th of this month, won’t we?