"Let it Go" on the Cross

The blessing of divinity school is that you can think of just about anything theologically…

And the curse of divinity school is that you can think of just about anything theologically… 

So, I haven’t watched Frozen, but I keep hearing the song “Let it Go” – and I read a blog about it that paints the song as an egotistical, self-involved, terrible song. Actually, I've read a couple of them, but those were not my thoughts the first time I heard it. I heard strength and empowerment... And after being invited to do a devotion for a meeting I decided to really get down to what else can be seen in "Let it Go." So, now I present "Let it Go" on the Cross:

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen.
A kingdom of isolation,
and it looks like I'm the Queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in;
Heaven knows I've tried

I wonder if Jesus thought any of this in the garden. Alone, praying, knowing what is to come. He always told his disciples to not tell anyone who he was, that his identity was and is a realization we have to come to ourselves through our own experience… and here he sits in the garden…  saying:

Don't let them in,
don't let them see
Be the good one you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel,
don't let them know
Well now they know

Struggling, always struggling. When the guards appear on the mountain and Jesus is sitting there knowing the time has come; this cup cannot be passed…

Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore

Not Jesus’ will, but God’s be done. The time has come…

Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care
what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on.
The cold never bothered me anyway

Ridiculed and sent to court – it didn’t matter what people were going to say because it was already in motion. The cross was imminent...

It's funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can't get to me at all

With his will completely turned over to God, it didn’t matter what anything else was. It didn’t matter what anyone else said. Some distance from everything – in solidarity with God – no longer asking for the cup to be passed… 

It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me,
I'm free!

“It is finished.”

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You'll never see me cry
Here I stand
And here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on

Truly one with God now – leaving the earthly world behind – the storms still raging on the earth, the ever-going struggle between belief and unbelief – Jesus, now one with the wind and sky, all of creation… 

My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never going back, the past is in the past

One with God – Coming back to earth to breathe the spirit on the disciples – breathing grace on the world, because the past is the past and we’re never going back… 

Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect one is gone
Here I stand
In the light of day
Let the storm rage on

The storm rages on, each and every day in the aftermath… but we rise in grace because the image of perfection is gone, in the light of day we stand - mistakes, scars and all, and now we can let it all go – give it to God. The storm will rage on… but… 

The cold never bothered me anyway!

Carrying a Prayer

The winds are blowing, carrying a prayer,
Come land on me, fresh clean air.
The times, they are changing,
The river keeps on raging.
Flow river flow.
Blow wind blow.


I wrote this last month, and I couldn't right now tell you what was going on at that moment, other than I felt the ground shifting beneath my feet as the world turned. There was something different that day in everything around me. Perhaps it is the uncertainty of life that got me, or the recognition that things are always changing, or, really, my sudden acceptance and willingness to face the changes head on. 

The moment where you remember that change isn't a bad thing and that we never stop changing, so why fear it when it is more obvious? 

Flow river flow. 
Blow wind blow. 

Blow me where I should be, flow to a new destination, carve pathways where there were none, and soar through the trees. Do not be content and stagnant, rotting in stale air. Breathe the breath of nature on the breeze, and feel the life of water in the stream. Embrace the sound and life present in both of these things. 

We don't see the current wearing away at the rock; we don't watch the wind move in the clear sky. 

But we can see the path, and we can see the remnants. 

The river is not the same from one moment to the next, always rounding objects and obstructions, and the wind blows through through the sky and all we see is the remnants of its power. 


I can't stop thinking about these few lines as life continues to change. 

Praise for the fortune had, and the fortune yet to come. 
Mourn with those mourn, and relish the experience as the lessons learned. 
Laugh and share lessons learned.

Feel the water and jump into its power, surrendering to the flow. 
Leap from the top and fly on air. 

Carrying a prayer.