Month: April 2014

Tonight at our weekly Fusion Worship Gathering at FUMC Student Ministries we end our lenten series on the movie Frozen. For the last couple of weeks we have been using Frozen as a guide to let go and rejoice in the Lord’s presence as we approach Easter.

It really has been a lot of fun for me and hopefully everyone to see the Lent season through a Disney movie. We have been using Frozen because the story that is told through this movie is one that we are very familiar with and one that God wants to redeem. All of the characters in Frozen in some way fear something. Elsa and Anna get most of the audience’s attention throughout the movie, but let’s not forget what Hans, Kristof, Sven, and even Olaf fears and ultimately through this movie if we look carefully and intentionally we see the depths of God’s love and grace.

When I first watched Frozen I was reminded of my hope for the students at FUMC Student Ministries, but also of the hope for all teenagers everywhere.

When I first came to Cleburne as the Director of Student Ministries there was about a month where all I could think about was that after everything that teenagers go through they are looking for hope, for something to give them hope. As I was thinking about  this, I kept coming back to a thought.

That thought is best expressed in the hope that we have for our students at FUMC which is listed in our Mission Statement.

Our hope is that EVERY STUDENT would feel loved and accepted as Jesus loves and accepts all of us for who we are and where we are, but doesn’t leave us there.

I kept having that thought.

Total love and complete acceptance is what the cross is. That is why Jesus did what He did, because being apart from God is not acceptable to Him and will definitely not lead to an abundant life.

When Elsa confronts her fears and embraces love she unleashes the power of love on Arendale. When she does that the snow and ice thaw before everyone’s very eyes. I wonder if Sin is like ice and it freezes our hearts so much that we are separate from God . For many you may think that this visualization is helpful to understand the depths of what happened on the cross. I invite you to embrace this visualization and close your eyes and imagine the visual of sin being seen as ice and then in one moment in time that ice begins to melt and is lifted.

The world’s sins for all time are lifted from the world.

Then the scene begins to change drastically.

The sun comes out and shines brightly on fields of spring. See what I imagine when I think of this is a love that goes beyond anything we have ever thought of or imagine and furthermore I imagine a limitless field full of bluebonnets with the sun shining brightly upon it and all who are in this field feel the warmth of Christ’s embrace and love.

That’s what Easter is all about.

Amen.

How many people have cast the movie Noah or any movie for that matter aside and labeled it a disappointment because there were items that were different that shouldn’t be?

If you are like me then the answer is yes. I am a avid reader and there have been several times in my life that many of the books that I have read have been made into a TV Show or Movie. I can tell you that whenever it didn’t reign faithful to the book that I had read it upset me a bit, but this past week as I have seen review after review saying that Noah or any movie for that matters is a failure my view has been changed a bit.

Do we cast ourselves aside because of one thing that happened in our life?

You may say that is completely different, but no its not. Difference is not something to fear, but something to celebrate and certainly not something that deserves to be cast aside.

The truth of the gospel is that He doesn’t cast us aside…no matter what you do you are never a disappointment to Him.

Hear that.

You are NEVER a disappointment to God.

So, today celebrate the difference in this world because it is a reason to Praise God! May we all see as He sees, love as He loves and extend His grace as He has called us to.

Amen.

Focus on one thing.

A door.

For most of Elsa and Anna’s life they have spent it in the comfort of their own home. Elsa was limited to just her bedroom while Anna was giving the ability to walk anywhere in the palace, but there is limited amount of people in her life and the gates to the palace are always closed.

Think of the pain that this would cause a young child. We are designed to develop in relationships, to learn who we are and what we do by our interaction with others. Elsa and Anna are limited this opportunity. However they are coming from two totally different places with this.

A door.

To Elsa it is protection.

To Anna it is a prison.

Then comes Coronation Day and the doors are swung open and the gates are commanded to open as well, this would many emotions to both of them wouldn’t it? One would feel excitement while the anxiety.

It feels like because it literally has been forever.

For most of the Old Testament there is a narrative of God residing in a tent in the community of Israel and even when they build a temple in Jerusalem where they are worship, God is believed to be in Holy of Holies, which is a place that is separated from the rest of the temple by a massive curtain. To make matters even more separated only the High Priest of the Temple is permitted to entering the Holy of Holies.

What do you think this taught the people of Israel?

Maybe that God was separate from us?

Not involved?

Looking down on us?

I imagine this is the message that Anna felt many times when she approached Elsa’s door. The message of frozen is that we have made mistakes, and we all have our baggage, but…and this is a huge but.

They do not define you because during Lent we know that Easter comes and we know that the truth of Easter is that God gets involved, comes down from heaven, lives the life as a man named Jesus and dies on a cross for us because separation is not what God wants for our lives. He wants us to know that we are accepted. If you look closely at this movie you will see this same fear in them that is in us. That we are not accepted, not loved, and not worthy.

Rejoice in the Lord because that is not the case.

Jesus does accept you, love you, and died on the cross to define you as WORTHY. So fear not because God has commanded that gates be opened forevermore because He desires that all of creation know that He is involved, accepts us and loves us and wants to walk with us through the good times and the bad times. That’s the kind of God that we worship, a God that is all in for us and is completely invested in our lives.

So, know that you are loved, accepted and God is for YOU!