He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts ... and exalted those of low degree. (Luke 1:51-52)

You might say there are three aspects of the Christmas season, three levels to the meaning of Christmas. Most Americans are familiar with the first two and largely unaware of the third.

We are all familiar with the first aspect of Christmas, the commercialism. It is everywhere around us, an unrelenting cacophony of hype and hoopla which begins before the Thanksgiving dishes are done and doesn't end until Christmas Eve.

"What am I going to get? What did so-and-so get us last year ... We don't want to give them too much or too little this year."

At this first level Christmas is for buying things, or more particular, for buying now and paying later. Christmas is about business…