Background: This is the version of the Christmas story that was made famous by Charlie Brown’s Christmas.  It still seems profoundly simple.  (check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn10FF-FQfs and listen again).  There isn’t any editorializing or prophesy.  There isn’t any putting it into context or explaining.  Somehow that makes it more important.  Read it again.  Read it out loud.  Listen to Linus.

Focus Verse Luke 2:7  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

This young brave girl, the confused but faithful Joseph, the long road riding pregnant to the little town, the concerned lost couple relegated to delivering this precious child in a manger with animals around.  The story would be profound even if it was about any child, every child.  But this is God himself coming to be with us.  Perhaps this is why Luke kept it straightforward.  Read it again and remember it was written for you.