Take one more look in the crib before you pack up your manger scene

"...the Mediator between God and humanity, who transcends the knowledge and understanding of heavenly spirits and who reigns in heaven before the beginning of time, even he shunned to take an earthly kingdom... He did not wish to become a king; instead, he went freely to the cross. He fled the glory of exaltation offered to him. He chose instead the penalty of shameful death so that his followers might also learn to flee the applause of the world, to fear not its terrors, to value adversity for the sake of truth, and to decline prosperity fearfully."
Gregory the Great, The Book of Pastoral Rule I:3