In the reading for 12/30 in Watch for the Light, Phillip Yancey talks about the the discontinuity between the Christmas we celebrate and commemorate in art and on cards and what the gospel says. Jesus was not born in into a calm bucolic world. He was born into poverty, if not illegitmate at least of questionable parenthood, and grew up in a small backwater time. Who could have predicted that as Mary said rulers would fall as a result. This quote struck me, “As I read the birth stories about Jesus I cannot help but conclude that thought the world may be tilted toward the rich and powerful, God is tilted toward the underdog.”