Of the core elements of Christian theology, the heart of it all is this: that God saw it fit to join us in this mess.
Theologians would later fixate on how messy this mess is and why that matters. Among other things, of course.
From the beginning, however, this idea of divine participation in the human condition was animating and inspired many of our beloved hymns, poetry, and and spiritual writing.
Today, “the Christmas spirit” and stories of sacrifice and giving provide the bulk of our soundtrack for the season. These are also fitting, of course.
Still, the image with the most resonance is that God would join us. Something unexpected and genuinely new.