Grandness and humility. Glory and simplicity. That's what the true Christmas Story is all about. God's grandness and our humility. Divine glory and human simplicity.

Think about the story and its contrasts. Here is a decree from an emperor alongside a simple man from Nazareth, with his wife-to-be, obeying its demands. Here is a direct shoot from the family tree of the great King David alongside the reality of no room in the inn.

Here are heavenly angels bringing the first announcement of the birth of the divine child, but to meager shepherds, keeping lonely watch on a cold and desolate hillside. Here is the proclamation of the Savior, Christ the King, and yet here is only a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Here are wise men following a glorious star and ending up in only a humble stable. Here is the “Savior from God” held and nursed by his young unwed mother in a homeless shelter for refugees.

What a story! And what preposterous faith it proclaims! Could anything be more unlikely? But this is precisely what the gospel says — The glory of the eternal and almighty God is unveiled in this simple child and these simple surroundings.

Grandness and humility. Glory and simplicity.

And here's the clincher. This paradoxical contrast between grandness and humility, between glory and simplicity, is not only the way to understand the ancient Christmas story. It is also the precise truth about our lives right here and right now.

What happened in history on that first Christmas night so long ago continuously happens to us over and over again. God constantly appears with his grandness even in the midst of our most humble circumstances. God continually shows up with his glory in the midst of our most simple day-to-day routines.

It happens when He is in the middle of our marriages and families and all our human relationships. It happens in our moments of quiet devotion, meditation and prayer. It happens when we are His Church gathered for worship, communion, fellowship, and service to His world.

Sometimes it's easy to get these wrong, to get these mixed up. Sometimes we try to make it our grandness and His humility, our glory and His simplicity. What a mistake! And our lives usually look and feel pretty awful at these times.

That's why it's so good to return to the manger, to return to the story, to return to the truth. That's why Christmas is so important, and that's why it's so important to see Christmas for what it actually is: God gloriously coming to rescue His humble world from sin.

It's so humbly grand!

It's so gloriously simple!

So, one more time: “Merry Christmas!” And all God's people say, “Amen!”

Kollmeyer is senior pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Fayetteville.

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