Free love
"The God of the Christmas story (and the rest of the Gospels) doesn't relate to us on the basis of any theory, but on the basis of unconditional love and welcome. That act of free love towards the entire human race changed things - even for those who didn't and don't share all the beliefs and doctrines of Christianity. And for those who do share those convictions, loving God and one another is a defiance of all programs and principles designed to preserve only the well-being of people like us.
"All of us, Christians most definitely included, have problems living up to this. But that's one reason why we tell this story repeatedly, the story of the 'unprincipled' God who values what others don't notice, who relates to people we'd all rather forget, whose appeal is to everyone because He has made everyone capable of loving response. At least once a year we all - Christians or non-Christians - need to hear again that permission to be free from principles so that we can ask the question about specific human lives and destinies, about the unacceptable cost of programs and systems when they are only about me and people like me.
"And when that question is asked, says [Swiss theologian] Karl Barth in his sermon, what begins to come through is 'the eternal light that requires neither fuel nor candlestick.'" Reference
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