WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:06.959 We've been in a uh movie series of late, and I hope you have enjoyed that. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:14.560 Sometimes I think you get a special treat that I like movies, and sometimes I feel like you get punished because I like movies. 00:00:15.279 --> 00:00:20.079 Hopefully, we'll just keep that a balance that goes all the while. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:23.199 But uh we've landed here on the last one. 00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:26.320 It's uh a film called Wicked for Good. 00:00:26.719 --> 00:00:38.000 Uh it they did, it was actually, well, there's a whole history of it, but this iteration was actually a single stage show that they put into two movies. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:44.719 Uh the first half got all the awards and accolades and all that, and the second half didn't get so many. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:49.280 So my goal was, oh, the the likely Academy Award nominations. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:53.359 Well, Wicked for Good didn't get as many nominations as the part one did. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:59.759 So uh I don't know if that bothers anybody, but I just wanted to acknowledge it because that is what happened. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:09.439 So it's called Wicked for Good, but you'll notice I wrote Wicked for Good with a question mark. 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:17.200 Because I feel like uh this is um some of the theme that the story is getting into. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:24.400 We live in such a polarized age where we'll even wrestle over what the definition of good is. 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:31.120 And uh so I feel like this story kind of dives into the complexity of that question. 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.239 So again, just some ramp up into this thing. 00:01:34.400 --> 00:01:36.480 Some of you know this, some of you don't. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:48.480 Uh, but the original Wizard of Oz story that Wicked is written from is uh, you know, an age-old story written back uh around 1900 by the author L. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:49.840 Frank Baum. 00:01:50.239 --> 00:02:02.719 He was looking to create a children's story, but it had, now everybody recognizes this, uh, a fair amount of political commentary amidst the story itself. 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:18.560 Uh there's a subtle message to the populace within the story uh that he felt, well, that people he felt like they were lacking brains, they were lacking heart, and they were lacking courage. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:20.719 Familiar to anyone? 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:24.240 You're seeing the ties that are going on there, right? 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:33.199 So they in the story, most of us I think know the story, they make this journey to Oz, looking for this thing that they lack. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:47.520 And what they ultimately come to find is the wizard is kind of just a fake, it's all a facade, and uh, maybe more interestingly, they already had all these things that they were looking for. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:56.240 And they didn't need to come to Oz this entity that they had given all this power to to find out that they had that. 00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:58.319 They had it all along. 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:05.840 So that's some of the sort of subplot that maybe you uh picked up in the original Wizard of Oz story. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:13.039 Now, the first film, which many of you remember, that commentary kind of gets lost. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:20.000 There's this focus on the technical wizardry of the movie, right? 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:33.039 The thing that was most eye-catching was how it starts in black and white, and then you remember it gets all colorized, and everybody goes, oh it was one of the earliest colorized films, right? 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:35.919 So this was something that was really, really magical. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:41.840 Uh, and it had uh this wondrous tale with these memorable characters. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:43.199 I pulled a picture. 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.360 See if you remember these folks right here. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:46.719 Do you remember them? 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:47.919 Yeah? 00:03:48.639 --> 00:03:50.560 Anyone getting wistful? 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:54.800 Ah, that's back when they made stories good. 00:03:55.360 --> 00:03:56.479 Ah, yes. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.120 With little uh Dorothy there, right? 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:04.400 And then we, of course, we can't forget this other character. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:07.199 Don't get scared. 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:10.000 James is looking at me, I'm looking at James. 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:13.759 Oh, oh, oh! Just a witch, it's an actress. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:14.960 Settle down. 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:15.759 I don't know. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.000 If you were like eight-year-old Darren, you were scared right now. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:22.639 I this this was the one for me. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:27.680 Like, you know, when you have those images of who's haunting your room, it was this one right here. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:32.959 I I'm not even sure I finished the film until I was, you know, in my 40s. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:37.279 Because I wasn't really, I didn't need to know what happened here. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:40.160 Uh, you know, you see her get the water on her, right? 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:41.680 And then I'm out, right? 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:44.720 And and and then I learned that was pretty much the end of the movie. 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:47.519 I read I I just had to hold out five more minutes. 00:04:47.680 --> 00:05:00.639 But uh in any case, what happens with the in the film version is that it kind of leans into this uh uh uh a contrast of female archetypes, right? 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:12.240 This this challenge or that we had with our cultures and our culture and our stories of women needing to choose, are you gonna be the witch or are you gonna be the innocent pure one? 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:14.720 And those were the choices. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:25.600 Uh and um with men largely in control of the stories that got written, uh, this is kind of how it played out for a long time, especially in early Hollywood. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:37.199 Uh now we've spent some time now kind of deconstructing that and recognizing that there's many, many ways to be a female in our world and not just these two. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:46.160 And so women watching our stories and our films have more options for models to kind of uh help define themselves. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:50.319 And this is in general, we think, a positive thing. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:06:06.959 Uh in fact, I might argue that the next job we have is to figure out how to help the men live in this new reality where women are able to make some choices, even if those choices land on those two polarities or archetypes. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:18.240 We still want to figure out how we teach men, to still have the values that they honor in a way that creates space for that evolution of how we see women. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.439 But that's a whole other sermon. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:25.439 And it's 1048 already. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:33.279 So finally, we get to Wicked the Book, right? 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:38.319 The book that the play was built on, that the movie uh was made from. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:47.439 Uh, first of all, I want to point out it is a story that was released in 1993, right? 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:54.959 So this is a relatively old story, you know, and I just think it's worth mentioning how long ago it was. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:03.199 Uh, the author Gregory McGuire decides to play with that archetype uh uh contrast. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:13.360 He's doing that deconstruction work a little bit of helping uh develop more sort of models for what a woman can be. 00:07:13.519 --> 00:07:21.040 And the way he does this is he asks the question why is the wicked witch wicked? 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:24.000 How'd she end up in this place? 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:27.600 So here's how he tackles this question. 00:07:27.759 --> 00:07:38.240 First, he creates a world in which the qualifications for being socially affirmed or accepted are really, really narrow. 00:07:38.639 --> 00:07:38.879 Right? 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.399 I put up some contrasts up here that you can look at. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:49.519 Yeah, so in this world in Oz, what we come to realize is that being beautiful is good. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:07:53.680 Less beautiful, less good. 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:55.040 Right? 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:56.560 And the same with powerful. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:07:59.040 Being powerful is good in Oz. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:04.160 Being less powerful is less good in Oz. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:06.720 All right, it's sort of making sense. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:10.240 We sort of wrestle with some of these in our own society today. 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:20.879 Uh, in this kind of world where they're trying to uh um maybe do uh some keep people in certain places and certain understandings. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:29.120 The socially cooperative person is good, and the less cooperative person less good, right? 00:08:29.279 --> 00:08:30.879 This is how it is in Oz. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:32.879 Here's an interesting one in the story. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:35.360 Remember, it is kind of a magical story. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.679 Humans are good, but animals are not good. 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:49.840 If you've seen the movie, you'll see that the animals actually were kind of evolved until we started putting them in cages and boxes and they move backwards in that evolution. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.440 Then finally, wizards are good. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:55.759 They get to run Oz. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.279 Witches, not so good. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:04.799 You know, and maybe that has to do with the fact that this particular witch actually had some powers. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:07.200 Well, the wizard did not. 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:07.840 I don't know. 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:10.159 Maybe that was that maybe that was part of it. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:23.679 But hopefully you're getting a sense of this is the world uh that Maguire creates in order to start asking this question of why the wicked witch is as wicked as she is. 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:39.840 Uh, and uh, so you'll see some of these contrasts, again, similar a little bit to what we have in our own world, other than the humans and animals and wizards and witches, other, you know, but the other stuff, uh, at the same time, the contrasts are much more strong in a story, right? 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:41.840 It's a it's a story after all. 00:09:42.159 --> 00:09:53.360 Finally, we have Alphaba, the name that Maguire gives to this wicked witch, who evidently didn't have a name before that, right? 00:09:53.519 --> 00:09:58.159 And I think I even got a picture of the initial Alphabet that was on stage. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:00.480 Any Adenaman Zell fans? 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:03.120 All right. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:07.840 If you're not an Adenaman Zell fan, you are wrong. 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:09.759 All right. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:17.200 She has uh um, what do they say, created, I think, three different roles on Broadway that are like landmark roles. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:19.679 So she is playing Alphabet over here. 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:21.120 You can see her in the green. 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:23.360 Uh you get Christian Chennewith on the right. 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:25.360 She plays Glinda the Good Witch. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.200 Anybody get to see that on? 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.240 I'm sure you saw the the stage show, right? 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:32.480 What is wrong with you people? 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.120 We're gonna do a field trip. 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:36.240 Holy smoke. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:39.679 All right, you we are gonna go see the we see stuff. 00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:44.080 What's a this is a really, really good show, and actually some really good voices. 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:47.600 So this is the original uh uh version, right? 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:51.120 And and this is the name, alphabet, that he gives to this woman. 00:10:51.279 --> 00:11:02.639 We learn that her greenish skin color in Oz is accepted, but not necessarily appreciated or honored in any way, right? 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:09.840 She's in many ways kind of shunned by society, given harsher treatment in society. 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:10.720 All right. 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:21.679 Um, this is partly why we picked uh that scripture from 1 Samuel, uh, uh where the Lord says to Samuel, do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:30.159 Here's the key phrase: For the Lord does not see as mortals see, they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:37.039 A simple little message from the Old Testament that still rings true and is lived out here in wicked for good. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:56.960 But in Maguire's story, he maps out how for Alphaba, her life is a little bit oppressed, or a lot of bit oppressed, even by her own family, with her father blaming her for her his uh other daughters, her Alphabet sister's uh ailment that she has. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:03.360 Uh but despite all of this, she ends up in this privileged school where she's able to find herself. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:15.279 And not only is she able to kind of find herself, but she starts realizing this calling to social justice, this calling to undermine the oppression that uh Oz has. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:30.480 Uh and so moving quickly through the story, Elphaba gets her chance to go visit the uh wizard, just like Dorothy and uh the scarecrow and the tin man and the and the lion get to. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:38.559 Uh, and uh her hope is to be able to undermine, get help undermining some of these oppressive societal roles. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:54.799 She has especially concerns about her professor who was a goat, and uh, but he was moving into this oppressive situation, being caged up and becoming less and less the goat that he was created to be. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:02.480 Ultimately, Alphaba learns, just like Dorothy learned, that the wizard isn't what he says he is. 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:12.240 In fact, any power he has seems to be used just to appease the people and to keep them all at bay. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:28.399 She also learns that he is actually kind of invested in this oppressive world because it keeps everybody in the structure uh in place with him at the top. 00:13:29.039 --> 00:13:29.360 Right? 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:33.120 So that wizard he doesn't really want to take any of that down. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:45.200 This comes as an awakening for Alphaba, just in the same way that Dorothy and her friends get this awakening uh that uh um really the wizard is just a fake. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:47.679 There's nothing up there. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:14:00.080 So I'm gonna save the ending for right now because I want to take a jump into the Christian themes that I found that were uh living and breathing through this. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:03.120 I know some of you are like, why is he talking about a movie? 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:04.480 He keeps talking about a movie. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:09.039 I'm here on a Sunday morning and it's 1055. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:13.919 Shouldn't he be talking about Christianity here somewhere along the line? 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:15.600 Yes, here it is. 00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:17.039 Sop it up. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:21.759 First, that heart for the poor and oppressed. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:24.639 Hopefully you were making those connections. 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:29.440 It wasn't that difficult to see what's being done there. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:37.279 The fact that uh she's being oppressed for her skin color, well, we've been wrestling with that as a species forever. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.679 We've been wrestling with it as a country since we've been a country. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:50.399 So hopefully you're seeing that uh that connection as it's uh uh being made to our own life right now. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:15:01.679 Um if you are not concerned for the poor and oppressed, then you're probably not being a scripturally correct Christian. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:06.480 If you're reading your Bible, there is no way around that mandate. 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:12.960 We are supposed to be in the favor of the poor and in favor of the oppressed. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:14.320 It's just in there. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:27.679 Interesting that you could argue that for Alphaba, the trait that gets her oppressed, her skin color, right, it is what opens the door for her empathy to everyone else. 00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.399 Because she gets to feel that oppression. 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:39.120 She knows the pain, she knows the disappointment, she knows the injustice of that, and that's what opens that up inside of her. 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:52.159 We might ask ourselves how it's often our own weakness or our own uh less accepted traits, our vulnerabilities that lead us to do our good work for others. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:16:05.600 It's that peace that opens up a window into empathy and allows us to see the divine in all of us and be committed to the justice being served for all of God's children. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:21.840 And given this too, hopefully we can see how tragic tragic it is when we try to hide or even condemn those unique traits that God has given us, given us to help us understand the world, help us to understand ourselves and others. 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:34.559 Finally, a second Christian theme, and this is the one that plays out uh with the the film uh Wicked for Good Part 2. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.480 The Value for Sacrifice. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:43.679 This is when I spoil the film. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:46.960 Uh I think I got one more pick, don't I? 00:16:47.200 --> 00:16:49.200 I might be able to show that up there. 00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.159 Yeah, okay. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:51.840 Oh, I didn't get close enough. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:58.080 So this is the newest version of Glinda and Alphabah, right? 00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:02.639 And uh hopefully you're uh um I we should zoom in a little bit more. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:16.720 I think it would be appropriate to mention, especially giving these themes, that in this case they uh cast an African American Alphaba, hopefully helping to resonate with that social justice theme. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.039 I well, I'd like to think that's why they did it. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:21.440 But I'm gonna spoil the film a little bit. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:27.519 Alphabet, she looks to unite the masses to try to deconstruct the oppression. 00:17:27.759 --> 00:17:31.359 She's gonna try and make some good, right? 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:47.359 And what that she ultimately realizes is that the masses have a little bit of difficulty dealing with, I guess we would say, the nuances of life. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:58.720 Often we people, we humans, we want to put things in their boxes, but this is good and this is bad. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:00.000 Right? 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:03.440 And Alpha realizes this is going to be true. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:09.680 They are not going to be able to uh help her to do this social justice work. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:14.799 I'm gonna remind you once more, this is a 30-year-old story. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:17.039 A 30-year-old story. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:38.400 And I know some of you are like, well, that's not very old, but it's important for us to recognize this is before cell phones, this is before social media, all these advancements that we have that have made it maybe even more difficult for the masses to understand good versus bad. 00:18:39.519 --> 00:18:44.000 Thirty years ago, he's anticipating that this is going to be a problem. 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:56.240 And uh some of us would say, uh, so when I say uh that we have trouble recognizing good versus bad, we should be willing to admit we know something about that. 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:07.119 But Elphaba, she soon realizes that despite her heart for others, despite her heart for justice, she won't be able to get the people to follow her. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.559 They are not going to follow her to create that justice. 00:19:10.720 --> 00:19:12.240 In fact, it's the opposite. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:27.599 It will be the fear and hatred that they have for her that enables them to follow her friend, the good witch, Glinda, and to do the right thing. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:35.519 It's a complex kind of twisting thing there, but Glinda and Alphaba have become very, very tight. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:47.359 They are both recognizing the good that needs to be done, but they're also recognizing, at least Alphaba recognizes, that they're not gonna let her do it. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:52.640 That their hate, their fear isn't gonna allow them to follow. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:20:07.359 But if she can carry their hate in their fear and take it on her shoulders, then Glinda can be the one, because she trusts her to do the right thing, to do the good. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:22.960 So Alphaba, she allows the people to see her, I will say, ended, so I'm not fully spoiling anything, trusting that the good will it leaves Glinda will be used appropriately. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:33.759 She allows herself to die in a way that carries their fear and their hate, leaving a halo of trust around Glinda. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:42.559 Hopefully, you can hear the Christ-like references that are being made here. 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:55.839 She takes on the inadequacies, she takes on the sins of the people, knowing that this is what will open up their heads, this is what will open up their hearts. 00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:02.319 Can you see why we're focused on Philippians 2 this morning? 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:15.200 In this passage, I hear the world is the world is the world, is the world is the world, is the world is the world. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:16.880 It is what it is. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:20.160 But we need to be like Christ. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:28.000 It's a beautiful, beautiful place, but it is a broken place as well. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:32.079 A place of of human imperfection. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:38.160 In that reality, we are called to be like Christ. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:46.000 But in this really specific way, at least in Philippians, it's through our humility. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:59.519 For Paul, this meant an emptying of himself, an emptying of his divinity in order to be like us, in order to be human, to make that connection with. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.480 Us. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:13.519 It wasn't a show of power, but it was to be a model, a model of the pathway to life, to a blessed life, not just for us, but for all. 00:22:14.240 --> 00:22:20.880 And it's a pathway that is grounded in humility and sacrifice for others. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:28.880 In the case of Christ and of Alphabet, to a certain extent, it meant the sacrifice of their lives. 00:22:29.119 --> 00:22:31.680 They had to give up their life. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:36.319 I don't believe that that's what we are being called to in the same way. 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:39.039 We aren't being asked to give up our life. 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:54.319 I think what he's likely speaking of here, Paul in this case, is the death of our hubris, the death of our arrogance, the death of our desire to be Jesus or to be God. 00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:01.759 This isn't a good place for us Christians, this place of arrogance and hubris. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:16.559 We are as imperfect as others, charmed by the world's temptations, just like anyone else, sometimes even rationalizing less good actions, telling ourselves that it's God's will. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:24.559 The story of Wicked, the Wizard of Oz of Christ, is here to tell us. 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:30.880 Maybe it's in this humility that we can come to know God better. 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:42.960 Maybe it's in this humility that we can come to understand the challenges and nuances of being a human better. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:50.160 Maybe it's in this humility that we can come to know the good better. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:52.640 Amen.