I’m a Christmas Unicorn

Christmas Unicorn hose of us raised in the Church, at least, have heard the story multiple times each December for every December of our lives. For evidence that the store is tired is easily found at many Christmas services: it seems every year ministers try, in near desperation, to make the story new and shocking, as it must have been to first-time listeners. They explain what it was like when they (or, more often, their wives) were nine months pregnant. They attempt to evoke the scents and noises of a barn. They emphasize, ad nauseum, that the God of the cosmos became a vulnerable infant.

And congregations yawn.

Baby Jesus may fail to impress, but unicorns… Ah. Unicorns are magical, mysterious, mythical, brilliant in the most glitter-infused sense. They are extremely wild, a symbol of purity and grace. Some have believed that the horn of such a creature can render poisoned water potable and heal sickness. In The Chronicles of Narnia, unicorns are among the most noble and honorable creatures, known for their fierce loyalty to Aslan, their wisdom, and their strength in battle . In Harry Potter, unicorn blood can keep alive those on the brink of death. In short: the unicorn is a symbol of whatever is most good and life-giving.

I think this is the freshest incarnation I have ever known. God becoming human has become familiar, even overly-familiar, yet the incarnation of a unicorn, the human embodiment of purity, grace, wildness, one who brings living water and heals the sick…

Highlighted throughout the majority of the song is the repetition:

I’m the Christmas Unicorn,
You’re the Christmas Unicorn, too
It’s alright; I love you!

The good news of the incarnation that we often forget, the message of the Christmas season that we wish would last throughout the year: it’s not that Jesus was born, lived, died, and lived again. It’s that Jesus was born, lived, died, and continues to live through the spirit, through the church, through each of us. Jesus is the first Christmas Unicorn, but you’re the Christmas unicorn, too.