Hi everyone
I spoke to them and they shared with me their sermon which I cannot retell better than them, so will use their words. One of the sermons today was about Luke 14, the central message that we needed to put the Lord’s ministry first and still treat our neighbours with respect. The message I got from her pure words was-what is that you need to do to let go off in your life that will allow you to take up your cross and follow the Lord. After reading my rectors reply below, why not see my post on Christan art in my blog to try and bolster you through the colder months- https://www.racheltestimony.com/2025/09/some-of-my-favourite-christian-art.html
My church leaders words on Frozen/Jesus
Jesus walking amongst a large crowd and then those who had been following him he turned and delivered his message. That would have stopped them in their tracks not because it was comforting but because it was confronting. Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. What are you talking about Jesus? But we know that Jesus often loves a good parable or using hyperbole, radical language. He isn't saying that we should literally hate our families or walk to our death for him. Even though in some countries some Christians literally are put to death for their faith. No, this is about priority.
In the Hebrew translation, a much broader term of loving less or prioritising is used. However, this does not water down the extremity of Jesus’ instruction. Jesus is using hyperbole to say that our love for him must be supreme to all other loves. Even love for family and self should pale in comparison. When he speaks about our love for our families or loving our families less than our love for him, he speaks to times when we are in positions of compromise. When loyalty to family or our own desire competes with loyalty to him
I
wonder if you’ve watched the children’s Disney film, Frozen? During my
training to be a priest, all of the younger students in the theological
college community kept singing the song ‘Let it go, let it go, let it
go’ from the film, Frozen. In some senses those words “Let it go” tell
you all you need to know – let go of the things we hold tight but which
stop us from loving God and neighbour or get in the way of us deepening
in love. I knew that it was Elsa, the main character in Frozen who sings
this song, but I didn’t know any more. So one day when we didn’t have
too many essays to write, a few of us decided to sit down and watch
Frozen, which is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale
“The Snow Queen”.
Elsa has powers over ice and snow but she
doesn’t have proper control over them so they get her in trouble when
she uses them in anger and fear and she flees – living a simple life
alone much more happily – except she has left many people living in
permanent winter and she doesn’t realise it. When Elsa is told that she
has killed her sister by freezing her heart something reaches Elsa’s
heart and she hugs her frozen sister who slowly thaws and survives. Elsa
realises that love is the key to controlling her powers and she ends
the winter and there is reconciliation between Elsa and her sister and
between Elsa and the people. God isn’t mentioned directly but Hans
Christian Andersen was a Christian and the theme of love’s strength and
of sacrifice, of giving up that which we identify with really closely,
or being ready to let go of it is crucial.
It is a daily choice to carry our cross faithfully, trusting that his grace will sustain us. So, with Jesus's words to us from our gospel reading, how might we respond today? We might want to examine ourselves honestly asking whether Jesus is first in our lives. Whether there are areas such as relationships, ambitions or habits that we are holding back from him. We might want to spend time in prayer asking God to reveal anything that competes with our devotion to him.
See this Frozen song at the theatre for a reminder-
