For some people, the Christmas season is a time for shopping, exchanging gifts and throwing a party.

For others, the holiday season has a deeper meaning. Christmas is a time of reflection on the greatest gift mankind ever received. Two members of Lawrence County's Christian community said the story of a baby born in a manger more than 2,000 years ago is still relevant today.

What's so special about Christmas?

"The sheer gift of Christ made man," said the Rev. Wayne Morris, associate pastor of St. Joseph and St. Lawrence Catholic churches. "That is the reason for the season altogether. God gave us His son and through His life, took upon Himself all our pain and suffering."

"The wonderful thing about Christ is that when Christ came, born of the Virgin Mary, He came as the son of God, but as the Savior to the world," said the Rev. Scott Mann, pastor of the First United Methodist Church of Burlington. "He came to set us free from our sins."

Mann said the birth of Christ represents the amazing love of God, that He would love mankind enough to send His only son into the world as the eventual sacrifice for man's sins.

"We were all born into sin when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden," Mann said. "From then, we all inherited the penalty of sin, and that is death. But He (Jesus Christ) was the price paid for our sins, and through Him we can have eternal life."

Eternal life, he said, started with a baby born in Bethlehem.

Miraculous birth

Mann said many people struggle with the idea of the virgin birth and the concept of Christ coming into the world as a child to be our savior. He said many things of God passes our own human understanding.

Both Mann and Morris pointed out that the events of the birth of Christ have tremendous significance.

Mann pointed out that when the wise men came to Judea and found Jesus with Mary and Joseph, they presented Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. These gifts were more than just nice gifts - they represented who He was. The wise men obviously recognized Him as more than a mere child and showed this in the gifts they gave Him.

"The gold was the gift for a king," Mann said. "The frankincense was a gift for a priest, a royal priest. The myrrh represents His death, burial and resurrection. These were very significant. Also, the wise men were thought to be from Persia, they were gentiles. The shepherds, whom He first appeared to, were Jews. This Savior not only touched Jews, but gentiles. He came to be a Savior to all."

Morris pointed out that His birth was announced to both wise men and shepherds because Christ came as a Savior to all people.

"Anyone who experiences God has to have their life changed," Morris said. "It doesn't matter if it was the lowly shepherd or the wise men - when one experiences God, life changes. Something happens in our life. It alters who we are."

Who was Mary?

"Mary was a woman very open to God," Morris said. "When the angel came to her, she said. 'be it unto me according to your word.' She did it according to God's word, even if she did not understand where to was going to take her."

Mann agreed that The Bible accounts of Mary show her to be righteous and humble, willing to follow God's will. She was a woman of outstanding moral character. These qualities of righteousness, humility and faith were the qualities for which she found favor in the eyes of God.

What about Joseph?

"Joseph was asked to step into an awkward situation," Mann said. "But he was willing to accept this awesome responsibility and become the earthly father figure for the son of God."

"The Bible said he was a righteous man. He was a man of faith open to God's will," Morris said of Joseph, the carpenter to whom Mary was espoused to marry.

Morris said he views Joseph as Mary's earthly protector - a man who was of a mind to put Mary "away quietly" rather than subject her to public scorn when he found her to be pregnant before they married.

Joseph's protectiveness extended even after Jesus was born, when, according to the Bible, he spirited Mary and the baby out of Judea to escape certain death at the hands of King Herrod.

Can present-day parents learn from Mary and Joseph? Morris said they can.

"They (Mary and Joseph) were open, loving and wanted to do what was good for Jesus," Morris said.

"They didn't have an easy life. But they were constantly trying to do what was right for Him. I think this has to be the model (for all parents) - that love, that caring and openness to God."

The greatest gift

What is the great lesson to be learned from the Christmas story?

"God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten son," Morris said. "That's the real meaning of Christmas. My hope is that people know the true love of God in their life and turn to Him and share that love with their brothers and sisters."