Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Sermon on Oz

Sermon on Oz


(V.O.over witch writing in the sky sequence) Surrender Dorothy! The dreaded message in “The Wizard of Oz” turns out to be the key to happiness.

(O.C.) The magic word starts with an “S" like Sesame in “Open Sesame” but this magic word is a verb, an action word; a do something word: Surrender! But to whom do we surrender? It looks like to the wicked witch but it’s really to the world of Oz and the laws of that world. There is a loving designer behind the wizard. For the sake of this sermon, let’s call that designer behind the wizard the author, the “divinity that shapes the story, complain about that divinity how much we may for scaring us in the first place.”

(Over 4 frightened petitioners to Wizard) Dorothy and her gang are scared not only of the witch but of the author’s representative in Oz, the wizard. We later discover the wizard’s just a rumbling, bumbling human just like us who rarely does anything right (scene with balloon). But the magic of the author’s kingdom saves Dorothy every time (she clicks her heals 3x).

(Witches henchmen’s song) Back to Dorothy’s confrontation with the fearful witch. When Dorothy is actually face to face with the witch what happens? She is too frightened to save herself but not afraid to rescue the friend she loves, the burning scarecrow. By throwing water on the fire, she not only rescues her friend, she rids Oz of the evil one (witch melts and cries).

The witch was just a servant of the author like everyone else in this tale. But what’s its point? Time after time we are confronted by what we fear, something evil. But by confronting that fear, that evil, it melts if we trust in the author that everything will turn out for the best. Reserve judgement, take courage and climb your fearful mountain. And it will turn into a molehill.


Simply, Simon

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