Frozen - Easter Sermon

“ A Time to Love”

            Through the season of Lent, my sermon series was based on Ecclesiastes:  a time for everything under the heavens.  Today is a time to Love.  What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!  What wondrous love is this That caused the Lord of bliss  To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,  Beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside His crown for my soul for my soul,  To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing;   Who is the great I AM,   While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing, And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;  I’ll sing His love for me,
And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on,

Disney really has this concept of giving one’s life for another all figured out.  From the Jungle Book to the newest Blockbuster success of Frozen, a character within the movie is willing to sacrifice his or her life out of love for another.  People make sacrifices all the time for one another.  A sibling might donate a kidney or bone marrow for the other.  A parent will go without to make sure the children have enough.  Some people go to great lengths to change cultural norms, such as the civil rights movement, and the labor movement.  People sacrifice their jobs in order to take a stand on what they consider just.  Sometimes just speaking out can turn the tide against you.  This very day, Christians are gathering in various parts of the world, taking great risk to gather in worship, taking great risk that they could be arrested or even killed for their faith.  This inner most being within us, deep within our soul, this love that we have for others, can compel us to sacrifice ourselves for those that we love, for those that we believe deserve better, for a God that calls us to share sacred love with the greater world. 

Now, if you are one of the handful of people in the world that have not yet seen the Disney movie Frozen, you need to borrow someone’s children or grandchildren and watch it.  In fact, I have two little girls that you can watch it with anytime you want.  I’ve only seen it about four times now, and I just can’t help but see the Easter story in it.  Just a quick summary:  there are two sisters, one sister was born with powers to make snow and ice.  The two sisters loved playing with each other until one day, the older sister accidently struck the younger sister with her powers.  In order to keep the younger sister safe, the parents keep the two girls apart.  The younger sister longs for days when they played together and never forgets the love she has for her. 

The day comes for the older sister to become Queen and the two sisters are finally united again.  The older sister keeps her distance but the younger sister does not know why.  She does not know that her older sister has these powers.  During the crowning ceremony, the older sisters powers let loose and she freezes the kingdom.  Out of desperation she runs away.  But the younger sister loves her too much to lose her again.  She goes to great lengths to find her sister and tries to convince her it will be alright.  The older sister is too frightened and again her power gets out of control and she blasts her younger sister with her powers.  This time it strikes her in the heart.  The younger sister begins to freeze, and eventually she will turn to ice and die.  The only way to break the powers is through an act of true love.  Now, because of the stereotype that true love must be between a man and a woman, she seeks out the man that she believes is her true love.  When this proves to be false, she does not know what to do, but desperately tries to find another man, a friend that she has made on her adventure to find her older sister.  As she is trying to seek him out, she realizes her older sister is in grave danger and is about to be killed.  She flings herself between her sister and the man that is trying to kill her and, in that very moment, turns to ice.  Her unconditional love for her sister becomes an act of sacrifice as she gives of herself to save the other.  

An act of true love is what it takes to break the powers of her frozen heart and in her death comes her new life.  She thaws and the sisters are finally able to be in relationship with each other.  Now, I just can’t help but think of this story as us humans, being the older sister.  We have this powers and sometimes they just get out of control.  We can do great harm with them as well as great good.  We struggle with how to use them, not wanting to cause harm but sometimes the harm happens.  We have the powers to travel into outer space, we have powers to create smart phones, we have powers to turn oil into gas so we can drive our cars, but we also have pollution and rampant disease and intense poverty, and war. 

Our God refuses to give up on us.  God is love, and the sacred love of God goes to any and all extremes to get our attention and let us know that no matter what, we should not be separated from God.  Our scriptures tell us that God spoke through prophets, that God spoke through priests, that God spoke through kings and queens, and that God spoke through God’s incarnational presence made known in the life of Jesus Christ.  Just like the younger sister refusing to give up on her sister, God too seeks us out to let us know that nothing should stand between us.  Even the lyrics to the song between the two sisters reflects how God calls out to us –

The younger sister shares: You don't have to protect me I'm not afraid Please don't shut me out again,   Please don't slam the door You don't have to keep your distance anymore
'Cause for the first time in forever, I finally understand For the first time in forever,
We can fix this hand in hand, We can head down this mountain together,
You don't have to live in fear, Cause for the first time in forever, I will be right here
And the older sister speaks of our human condition - : I know You mean well, but leave me be
Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free, Just stay away and you'll be safe from me
And the moment of truth is spoken by the younger sister – I can hear God saying this to us this very day: You've kind of set off an eternal winter... everywhere.  Or Global warming, or war, or a culture of consumerism and greed. 
And then the older sister, analyzing her reality - : Oh I'm such a fool, I can't be free! : No escape from the storm inside of me!  I can’t control the curse!
And then the younger sister – God speaking to us : We’ll reverse the storm you’ve made.   Don’t panic   We’ll make the sun shine bright.   We can face this thing together: And everything will be all right...
            The hope of the Easter story is that we humans have God on our side.  As a people of faith, we are called to live into the Resurrection story, the story that God sacrificed God’s very self out of no other reason than love.  A love so deep, a love so divine, a love that caused God to create us in the first place, a love that holds no limits and a love that when we listen and respond and face this world we live in hand in hand with God, we can stop the storms that surround us and we can make the light of God’s love shine bright.  If nothing else, Easter is story of hope, a story of hope that proclaims that with all the negative awful things of this world, God is at work, God brings forth hope, reconciliation, and resurrection by renewing life all around us.   

            The Good News is – we do not need a Disney movie to help us pretend that life can be a better place, that love will thaw a frozen heart.  We have the good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand, daily, in this world in which we live and we are called to be the body of the resurrected Christ as we seek ways in which we can use our God given powers in redeeming God’s creation.  Amen.