Sunday, December 23, 2018

...throwing open heaven's door

Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice!
Now ye hear of endless bliss: Jesus Christ was born for this.
He has opened heaven’s door, and we are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this, Christ was born for this!
---Medieval Latin caril, 14th cent.

In their masterful score for the movie Frozen, the writing team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez penned a line that sticks in my head, and in my heart. The context was a blossoming romance, but the line applied to all kinds of interactions before the movie was finished. It is, simply, genius:
            Love is an open door.

If I ever talked with the Lopez duo, I believe I might ask them if they are fans of medieval Latin carols. I’d ask, because this carol, from as early as the 14th century, really contains the message on the lips of so many little ones (and bigger ones) after Frozen became a world-wide sensation. In this carol, we hear the good news—Jesus was born to fling open heaven’s door. Jesus did it then, over two thousand years ago, and Jesus continues to do it today—throwing open heaven’s door, leaving it wide open (Jesus…were you born in a barn???)…almost as if just anyone could go walking in.

Like he was born for this, this kind of endless bliss. Like, like love is an open door.


No comments:

Post a Comment