Frozen

My family and I just left the movie theater, where our church was well represented: FBC’ers made up about one-third of the audience of the early evening showing of the 3-D version of Disney’s newest film. It was a real treat.

I urge you to take in Frozen this holiday season. Without a doubt it is an absolutely delightful and family-friendly flick. The music is dramatic and spectacular, the visual images colorful and captivating, and the story line compelling and timeless. You’ll be drawn into the somewhat complicated but totally endearing relationship between sisters Elsa and Anna — who are princesses, but with a different twist — via fantastic animation.

Years ago I studied Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Snow Queen” when I was searching for some vivid sermon illustrations to describe the problem of sin. About midway through tonight’s movie, I realized that some of Andersen’s themes had made it into Disney’s film. You will want to talk about these themes with your children or grandchildren. Frozen is a terrific supply of meaningful conversation fodder.

Love between siblings that trumps self-interest. Fear that must be conquered. Battles that can’t be waged alone. The prison of a stone-cold heart: “No escape from the storm inside of me” is admitted by Elsa in one of her songs.

The nature of true love. In one of his more serious moments, Olaf the snowman explains that real love is “putting someone else’s needs before yours.” Sounds like Christian grace to me.

But here’s the movie’s billion-dollar line, in my opinion. It first comes from the lips of a troll, mind you, and alone is well worth the price of admission: “Only an act of love can melt a frozen heart.”

Now that’s good stuff, friends. Ezekiel the prophet recorded God’s unstoppable promise like this (36:26): “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and give you a heart of flesh.”

Ah, that’s right! We came into this world with rebellious hearts that were desperately wicked and icy cold. Impenetrable by gospel truth. We were frozen in a blinding blizzard of sin, even to the point of death. What we needed … was an act of love.

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.