July/August 2007
FEATURES
A vision for growth at Granger Community
Church Riley B. Case travels through the genesis of a
megachurch.
Social justice through the eyes of Wesley Irv A. Brendlinger celebrates the rich heritage of active holiness.
Praying people bring God’s answers Margaret Therkelsen offers a candid look at crisis and comfort.
Contract and covenant: In search of American identity Richard John Neuhaus plumbs the depths of a national theology.
Evel Knievel’s leap of faith Steve Beard applauds the baptism of a daredevil.
COLUMNS
Editorial General Conference and specific questions
Next Generation The dangers of transparency
RENEW Women’s Network Retain the label—before it’s lost
The Great Commission In the home of an Imam
From the Heart There’s no place like home
DEPARTMENTS
News Analysis Women’s Division showcases radical speakers
News
Cuban Methodists thrive but feel effect of embargo
State of the Church report reveals hope and concern
United Methodists join in Sudan water mission project
I love The Wizard of Oz. Perhaps these memorable lyrics make you smile, too. "Somewhere over the rainbow way up high / There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby."
Dreams come true there and troubles "melt like lemon drops." The parting query of that song begs an answer. "Birds fly over the rainbow, why then, oh why can't I?" It's a reasonable question because I believe we were meant to fly over the rainbow with the One who made it.
The Oz film was first released in 1939 by MGM who bought the rights from L. Frank Baum. He started an Oz book series in 1900 and wrote one volume a year until he died in 1919. (Harry Potter has nothing on Oz.)
His works have all the marks of genius and speak nicely to what God has been putting on my heart lately. It is the story of everyman. After all, there are tornadoes in every life; F-5 events that propel us on journeys not of our own making. There is a yellow brick road-the only way home. There are faithful companions, like Toto. There is an enemy of our souls like the Wicked Witch of the West.
There are impotent pretenders that sit behind curtains pushing buttons and pulling levers to look powerful, but they are only a form of reality. There is the source of good-Glinda, in this case. There are ruby slippers that represent power beyond Dorothy's own. There is a scarecrow who wanted a brain, a tin man who needed a heart, and a cowardly lion who desired courage. Dorothy is the beloved and Auntie Em reminds us of the lovingkindness of home.
God offers us Home, too. It's where he is. There we find warmth in his arms. In Deuteronomy 1:8, Moses writes: "See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers."
The Israelites learned that truth the hard way. They stood at the Jordan River looking at the city of Jericho-the place that Joshua and Caleb said they could surely take with God at their side. The river was at flood stage and God was asking them to step off the hot desert sand into the rushing water. They had to go in and take possession of what they had already been given.
That's true of us and the Oz cast, too. The lion, tin man, scarecrow, and Dorothy already had what they longed for, but they needed to believe in order to possess it. Francis Frangipaine says that "the first stage of transformation is the awakening of hope." Hope comes in knowing that there is a place called Home. This place that was heard of in a lullaby is real and we can be there. Hope comes with the realization that God's ideas for us are stellar. We can know grace and courage if we will say yes to his initiative. We can have a heart like God's, the mind of Christ, and power beyond our own. But we must enter in order to possess.
We need several things for possession to occur. We must know the God of the land. He is other than us and goes before. We soon learn that we can choose to live out of the bigness of him or the smallness of ourselves. We also need to dispossess the pagan "nations" already there-those false beliefs that cause us to think we can't go home or could never know The Way. We need encouragement and we need God's words. "They are not just idle words for you-they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess" (Deuteronomy 32:47).
Transformation is just around the corner. In God, our real identity sparkles. We are "good and very good," his "treasured possession," "the apple of his eye," "white as snow," "dead to sin," "more than conquerors," "Holy Spirit temples," "forgiven and cleansed," "effective and productive," and "Christ's ambassadors." This is all true, but we must enter in order to possess what he has already given.
In his book, Run with the Horses, Eugene Peterson says: "There is an enormous gap between what we think we can do and what God calls us to do. Our ideas of what we can do or want to do are trivial; God's ideas for us are grand. It is not our feelings that determine our level of participation in life, nor our experience that qualifies us for what we will do and be. It is what God decides about us. God does not send us into the dangerous and exacting life of faith because we are qualified; He chooses us in order to qualify us for what He wants us to be and to do."
So, readers, are you on the yellow brick road toward Home? How has the God of the land gone before you? What pagan thinking needs to be dispossessed in your hearts before possession of all God has for you can occur? What troubles are not melting like lemon drops? How is God's Word encouraging you? Will you choose to live in the bigness of God or the smallness of yourself?
It's important, for you see, "there's no place like Home."
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