Listening to Frozen in Advent

I’ve noticed that the radio is playing “Frozen” songs a lot this Christmas. They fit in with the “holiday music” that is more about winter wonderlands and sleigh rides than the impending birth of Christ.

But to instruct my children, and my readers, I have endeavored to learn Advent lessons from them … against all odds …

Let it Go

Let it Go is a song about the three things the Church calls us to in this penitential Advent Season: Prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The beginning of the song reminds us that our consumerist world isolates us in a technological trap that keeps others away:

“A kingdom of isolation / And it looks like I’m the Queen”

When we try to be “the good girl” or “the good guy” on our own terms, we become like the Pharisees, cut off from others:

“Don’t let them in / Don’t let them see / Be the good girl you always have to be.”

And so, the Church calls us to Advent fasting, to take our attachment to the world and:

“Let it go, let it go / Can’t hold it back anymore…. / Turn away and slam the door!”

In place of our attachment, we add more prayer and find that we can weather any storm ….

“Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway!”

… and our new perspective changes us:

“It’s funny how some distance / Makes everything seem small. / And the fears that once controlled me/ Can’t get to me at all!”

Elsa hears the voice of temptation call her to embrace a life of “No right, no wrong / No rules for me I’m free!” but she quickly answers to the voice of temptation:

“Let it go! Let it go!  …… the past is in the past! … I’ll rise like the break of dawn!”

Rising like the break of dawn is probably a reference to waking early for almsgiving.

The First Time In Forever

The First Time in Forever is a song emphasizing that, after the sobriety and restraint of the Advent fast, the Christmas celebration is all the greater.

“The window is open! So’s the door / I didn’t know they did that anymore! / Who knew we owned 8,000 salad plates? … For the first time in forever / There’ll be music, there’ll be light!”

This line tells us that the fasting of Advent, because of its intensity, seems to last forever, but when it finally ends on Dec. 25, we are at long last able to have a Christmas party, light Christmas lights and play Christmas music, making their joy fuller because we waited and didn’t jump the gun..

Love Is an Open Door

Love Is an Open Door is a song the bride, the Church, sings to the bridegroom, Christ. God’s love is in one sense an open door — as we see especially in this year of mercy.

Of course, the couple that is depicted in the song [SPOILER ALERT!] don’t actually end up together. But this, again, shows that human love is finite and fallible. Only Divine love lasts.

“We finish each other’s … sandwiches”

The song’s verses connect the works of mercy with the Advent call to almsgiving and prayer. To finish each others sandwiches is a call to share food with the needy, and …

“Our mental synchronization Can have but one explanation.”

… is a clear reference to prayer. The last is fasting:

“Say goodbye to the pain of the past. We don’t have to feel it anymore.”

In Advent, offering up those things that have caused you to attach yourself to the world allows you to move on from the worldly joy that ends in pain to spiritual joy that ends in happiness.

In Summer

Last but not least, “In Summer” is a song about how a relationship with Christ will allow us to withstand the awesome presence of God, who is an “all consuming fire.”

Like snowmen in summer, we can only approach God through the grace of Jesus Christ, who made God approachable to man in a whole new way on Christmas day.

 “Oh, the sky will be blue, and you guys’ll be there too”

… says the song, because in heaven, we will experience the joy of God the creator and the fellowship of the company of saints.

And not just in heaven. The lines:

“I’ll finally see a summer breeze blow away a winter storm / And find out what happens to solid water when it gets warm”

… recall the Pentecost Sequence:

“Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.”

But that brings up a whole different holiday’s take on the movie Frozen. Go here for that.