Movies are powerful communicators for good or bad. This week the airwaves were full of Christmas movies and stories intended for children that bring tears to adult eyes!

We are ending the year at Faith Fusion with lessons from Frozen. I have been surprised with some of the eye-openers from this movie. Who knew that Anna would be able to reverse every one of the four fallen natures in less than two hours! As I concluded last week, art mirrors life and provides its own opportunity to observe and learn.

One observation about people in general is we have a tendency for bias in our lives. We too easily fall into the trap of thinking that we are either too good or hopelessly bad. Either way it’s a problem. If you are on the far end of the spectrum with an overinflated ego you can trip yourself up because you don’t have a handle on reality. If growth starts with self-awareness, you’re already behind. On the other hand, if you are lost in the downward spiral of believing you are hopelessly bad there is no way up.

In the movie Frozen there is a wonderful song, Fixer Upper that we can learn a thing or two from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7MSW6flEn8

The reality is we are all a bit of a fixer upper! We are all in the process of perfecting our heart and character to become substantial embodiments of God’s love in the world (not apart from the world, but in the world.) To achieve perfection, or a better term might be spiritual maturity, we need to constantly learn and practice, taking the best from our experiences and the examples of others.

I love this song because it deals with the fact that no-one is perfect, but the love in our hearts enables us to look beyond others’ imperfections and give them the space and time to change on their own. The holidays bring everyone together and are a time of great happiness but also some familial fireworks!

The trolls in Frozen are like the wise relatives encouraging the young girl to be patient and just love Kristoff  for who he is, only to discover that she (like all of us) is a bit of a fixer upper too!

The song, Fixer Upper makes some interesting points:

1. “People make bad choices if they are mad or scared, or stressed. Throw a little love their way and you’ll bring out the best.”

The reality is that many of our bad choices were made in moments we found ourselves backed into a corner – not the best place to make decisions. But that’s how life often ends up.

The song goes on to offer a solution:

2. “We need each other to fix us up and round us out.”

The trolls acknowledge that we can’t change people but a little love and understanding can go a long way to giving others the space and power to change and grow.

How does that work? We have all been stressed or scared and mad. Sometimes that has resulted in our brokenness but is that the end of the story? I want to give you two examples of a solution: one practical and one more spiritual in nature.

A Kintsukuroi fix

In Japan there is a tradition known as Kintsukuroi or Golden Repair. I don’t know whether you have ever made pottery but along the way to the perfect pot there are many mishaps and breakages. In Japan when an artist accidentally breaks a precious pot instead of throwing it away, he repairs it. As an artist myself, or at least as a “wanna be” artist, I know how attached you can become to something you’re making. It represents too much beauty to you, to just throw away.

In the tradition of Kintsukuroi you take the broken portions and piece them back together again using lacquer resin mixed with powdered gold. What was once a cracked pot becomes an object of unique beauty.  The places that were broken are filled with gold. These pots are priceless because they are perfect in a new way. Every pot is different and every pot is uniquely valuable.

Sometimes, life breaks us, in a variety of painful ways. At that point, we often go into denial. We put all our energy into trying to disguise the cracks, instead of undergoing golden repair.

 “The world breaks everyone, and then some become strong at the broken places.” – Hemingway

Fixer Upper Philosophy – Finding strength in broken places

Success in life is finding the gold to fill-in the broken lines in our lives. The Book of Acts explores the human search for such gold. I don’t know if you are familiar with the Book of Acts or the letters of the New Testament. These passages are a great insight into the early church. Essentially, they were dealing with people’s poor behavior! – you know, the usual: failure to see from God’s viewpoint, not being satisfied with your life, wanting what others have and then just gossiping about everyone and everything. Sound familiar? St. Paul’s solution was to give everyone a new start through Baptism.

In Acts, Paul is visiting Ephesus in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey. He finds 12 believers living there and asks them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit?” They became bug eyed and asked, “What’s the Holy Spirit?” They obviously missed the memo.

Paul is perplexed. “Well, how were you baptized then?” They replied, “We received John’s baptism.” All of sudden, things fall into place and Paul realizes what they are missing. They need a little Golden Repair.

He explained to these young Christians that John’s was the water Baptism of repentance, in preparation for the Messiah to come but because Jesus came they could receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or God’s love- now that’s pure gold!

The amazing thing about Kintsukuroi pottery is there is no attempt to hide the broken pieces, rather the repair is illuminated – it’s made into a thing of beauty because something of value fills the gaps.  The cracks and empty places are BEAUTIFULLY filled.

This essential truth is brought out in the Fixer Upper song from Frozen which reminds us that the gold in our Golden Repair is true love.  You can’t put something broken together again unless you fill the cracks.

The trolls sing, “We need each other to fix us up and round us out.” God’s love doesn’t always come as a spiritual experience or a flash from East to West. Often it comes through a family member or friend.

 “The only thing that can fix a fixer upper is true love.”

“We are not saying you can change him because people don’t really change. Love is a force that is powerful and strange.”

You can’t “change” someone but God’s love in another’s life through you can fill the cracks and round them out so to speak. Over time love can fill the broken places and fix our flaws.

Who is God to you?

This is why it makes a difference who we believe God to be. If we believe in a God of judgment we will be so afraid of making mistakes that we won’t even move, let alone grow!

We need to let God’s love in and so we have to reevaluate our understanding of who God is. I’d like to invite you to our seminar on Saturday January 10^th with Gerry Servito who will explore the heart of God. A big topic!

Our understanding as Unificationists is that God isn’t some almighty, disembodied, distant God but rather our ultimate parent. Why is that concept a game changer?

Parents are valuable because, ideally, they are the people who help you discover your value because of their unconditional love for you. You don’t earn their love. They will always love you, no matter what. You have to earn their respect, but you always have their love.

God as our ultimate parent wants us to know our value and that is why the Messiah comes to help people with imperfect parents know that no matter what, you have infinite value.  I am reminded of the words from “Oh Holy Night.”

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.”

The only way to know our worth and repair this world is to be able to receive God’s parental love. Rev Moon spoke to this when he said:

“The reason for wars is that men, women, you and I exist. There are wars between husband and wife, and wars among brothers. But the parental mind has no enemy. Therefore, the essence of God is parental love.” – Sun Myung Moon

We are not each other’s parent – but we have to have that quality of heart that believes in the other person – that is what salvation is about.

Providing the Golden Repair for others’ lives

Anna, in Frozen, wasn’t Elsa’s parent but she continued to believe in Elsa no matter what – she saw beyond the screaming pain. She realized that Elsa was broken and needed a little Golden Repair. She was willing to sacrifice herself to give this to her sister. She was ready to share the parental quality of love that has no room for an enemy.

It’s why the trolls admonish us to be patient with one another. Parental love creates the space to grow – it believes in you when you can’t believe in yourself. That’s why the trolls thought it a force “powerful” and “strange.”

Anna’s unconditional love opened Elsa up to new possibilities. Elsa saw how Anna’s act of true love not only liberated Anna, but also set her free. Elsa realized that she could control her power and use it for good. It gave her a new lease on life.

Try using this force in the work place and see the difference it can make. At first people won’t recognize it or if they do, they won’t really believe in it. Nevertheless, over time you will impact everyone around you. People will see you as the person who never puts other people down and they will value you for that. They’ll notice that everyone likes you because you first learned to like and appreciate everyone else.

As we approach the New Year we have a new, not to be wasted, opportunity to change and grow. It doesn’t matter if you are six or 60

The point of a new year is not that we simply roll over into a new year but have a new heart. Do we want to just be the same or do we want something new for ourselves?

The writer, T.S, Elliot said:

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a new beginning.” 

 Make 2015 a year that counts!