Do You Want to Build A Snowman?

Elsa had an amazing power, a gift really. She had the power to create snow and ice right from her fingertips. But after an accident, her parents overreact, maybe just a little, and instruct her to hide her gift, to cover it up, and to isolate herself so that nobody knows. And poor Elsa does just that. She hides in her room, alone, and scared. Scared that her gift is not really a gift, but a curse. Scared that she won’t be able to control it and that by it she will hurt those she loves most. She decides that hiding her gift, and hiding herself is the best for everyone.

That’s when we hear Anna, who doesn’t know what is going on, asking her sister to build a snowman.

"Do you wanna build a snowman?
Come on lets go and play
I never see you anymore
Come out the door
It's like you've gone away-
We used to be best buddies
And now we're not
I wish you would tell me why!"

To which Elsa tells her to go away. But little Anna she comes back, day after day, with new invitations. But Elsa slips further and further into isolation, working hard to hide who she is, even though it becomes harder and harder with every passing year. Instead of learning to control her gift, Elsa’s gift controls her.

That is a lot like the problem that was happening with the early Christians in Corinth.The Holy Spirit had given them amazing gifts, but their gifts had begun to control them. Some people who were truly gifted were just looking at others, and thinking “Man, I wish I had that gift.” They were taking all their effort to hide the things they were given: like their ability to go out and share the gospel; their gift of telling the truth even when it was hard to hear; and their gift to teach others what it meant to be like Christ.  They began to chase after the things that were more flashy: Speaking in tongues, healing people just by touching them, and performing miracles.What were the most valuable gifts were being hidden. As they hid those gifts, people were getting hurt. Their hearts were being frozen and life in the church had become a competition. A power struggle.The whole life of the church was being destroyed... like what snow does in the summer.

Don’t we all know someone who has been told that their gift is a curse? Maybe it has even been towards us. I asked my friends on facebook if they had ever hidden a gift, and within minutes,  a friend told me this:

 

"A spiritual gift of mine that I always was embarrassed about and hate is my loudness. Yes, it is a spiritual gift....It's called "Holy Laughter" ...there are still a few people who are "haters", but for the most part, my laugh can be heard clear across a store, and I have had cashiers and random people tell me that they're having a bad day, and that my laughter came to them at just the right moment and brought them joy…

...and now I do public speaking about addiction and recovery ...I never get complaints that people "can’t hear" me. LOLOLOL.

I’m sure each of us in this room could think of something that makes us unique, some comments from haters, some time when we thought it would be better to hide that gift, and in hiding the gift we may have hid ourselves. We start thinking of our gift as a curse. We start thinking of others’ gifts as the only ones worth anything. We forget that we are wonderfully made to be a part of something bigger than each of us.

Paul did his best to turn things around, to remind the Corinthians not to hide their gifts. He reminded them to not to try to be like everyone else, not to envy others, not to isolate themselves and their gifts from everyone else. He asked them instead to use their gifts for the good of everyone.

Because what makes you you- your quirks, you idiosyncrasies, your abilities, your gifts- are not just a power for you. They are a gift to the whole body. And they work best when they are shared.

When Elsa finally figures this out...when she stops isolating herself and when she starts using her gifts with others in mind...we find summer...and life...comes back. We find everyone is enjoying her gift, rather than scared of it.

So the question for each of us is:

What is it that make you you, that you have been hiding?

Is it a gift you could give to the church...to God? Perhaps it is your experience through a hard time like a divorce, or losing a child, or being in debt. Maybe God wants to use that part of you that has been broken to help someone else. Perhaps it is something you can do. Maybe you make friends easily or can tell hard truths in a way people can hear them. Maybe you have a gift to see the world as God does, to have compassion for all people, or hope for the future, or joy in the midst of struggle. 

Whatever gift it is, God is knocking on your locked door, and he is inviting you...like little Anna inviting Elsa..to come out of your hiding. He is asking, "Do you want to build a snowman? Do you want use your gift for my kingdom?"