There is a humorous story about a church having an outdoor nativity pageant using live animals. It was quite a feat, because the church was located in the very heart of downtown in a large metropolitan area. The evening of the pageant everybody was busy making preparations. The donkey that was to be used in the pageant wandered off and trotted down the street. He caused quite a commotion. Finally he entered a nearby bar. Obviously, one of the customers was startled when he saw a donkey come into the bar. The customer pushed his glass aside and decided he had had enough. The bartender, seeing that he was startled, tried to calm him by saying, "Oh, don't let that donkey bother you. He belongs to the Methodist Church up the street." Thinking about that, the man decided it was time to leave.

Well, there are some donkeys in the Methodist Church, in the Presbyterian Church, in the Baptist Church and there are donkeys inside and outside the church. In fact all of us act like donkeys at one time or another. But when Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem of Judea, all of us donkeys were raised to a new level. God has come down. Humanity has been lifted up.