There's No Place Like Home

First Baptist Church of Rolla enjoys our connections with internationals and we try to give them a taste of life in America.  Someone came up with the idea that we ought to show them a classic film – one that had stood the test of time.  We decided to show them The Wizard of Oz. 

I thought that was an interesting idea and wondered how they might receive it.  I have all these memories of this film, first as a child and then as a parent watching the film with my children.  I was always in a hurry to leave Kansas and get to Oz.  I don’t know if that says as much about the state as it does my love for fantasy, but I did love the change from black and white to color, and I couldn’t wait until the Munchkins emerged from their hiding place and the wicked witch made her appearance in a plume of red smoke. 

The internationals seemed to enjoy the movie, and I realized that the film hooks all kinds of images and feelings for us.  As children we have our share of fears in the dark – witches and graveyards and flying monkeys, to say nothing about lions and tigers and bears (Oh my!).  In the movie Dorothy and her friends go to the Wizard to solve their problems, and eventually they discover the Wizard is a fraud, using smoke and mirrors to create his own brand of fear.  He can’t really give a brain, nor grant a heart, or inspire courage – of course, each of the characters receive those things on their journey the way we do, by learning and gaining compassion and realizing that courage only comes in the midst of fear.  The ineptitude of the Wizard is exposed when it comes to Dorothy – his bungling attempt to get her back to Kansas ends with stranding her in Oz.  That’s okay, for it turns out that she has always had the ability to return to Kansas, once she could click her heels and voice the lesson of the film, “There’s no place like home.”  A few of the internationals voiced that phrase several times – they were homesick.  One international said, “No, I’d rather be here.” 

That was Friday evening – on Saturday morning I spent some time in Revelation 4 & 5.  The scene there reminded me of Oz but with significant differences.  Angelic creatures that might in some other setting be frightening voiced their praise of God.  Creation bowed before the heavenly throne, and though I imagine smoke rose, it was not smoke and mirrors.  The power and might of God was not a fraud, and God created a reverent kind of fear wrapped up in the gratitude of a thankful, redeemed humanity.  “Worthy is the Lamb” the multitude of heaven cried out, making it clear that Jesus had accomplished what no one else could do:  through His blood He gave us a new heart, a different way of thinking, and the confidence and courage that He has overcome all that we fear. 

Best of all, He has a better place waiting for us than Kansas or Oz.  There's no place like the home God has for us.