So we're continuing today our series Wicked for Christmas and
and if there is one song that seems to define the Wicked
movies and the musical more than than any other, it would be the
song Defying Gravity. Once again.
You can sing praises to God. I'm not going to sing this song
to you today. Thankfully, Allison Bradbury's
here, she's going to sing it for us in a few minutes.
But before we get to the song, because the song today is going
to be the the end, the climax of the of the sermon rather than
something toward the beginning is just as an example.
But I want to talk about gravity because this metaphor of gravity
that's used in wicked is is a very powerful metaphor in our
spiritual lives as well. And without getting too far into
the scientific weeds, let's just talk about gravity at describe
it again. We don't need to worry about
general relativity and those kinds of things for these
purposes. We're going to talk about
gravity is a constant force that pulls everything to the largest
nearby mass. And the greater the mass of an
object, the more the pull, and the closer the object, the
stronger the pull. So, so that's what we're talking
about is, is a force that's impersonal.
Gravity doesn't care what we think, what we believe, what we
do. Gravity just pulls and, and, and
it's, it's constant. Gravity doesn't waiver.
There's not a point when suddenly we all just start
floating in the air because gravity forgot to work for it's
constant. It's always there and it always
pulls at that same rate. And to defy gravity requires a
constant counterforce. You have to work hard to defy
gravity. And that's where Elphaba found
herself. Elphaba defied gravity.
Now she did it literally with her broom.
And that was part of the metaphor too.
And I don't, I sometimes it, I don't want to destroy the story
by talking too much about the symbolism in the metaphors, but
we'll do a little bit of it here today.
So, so we get this visual. She's singing the song defying
gravity. She's literally defying gravity
on her broom. But the gravity that's really
significant in the story Wicked is the social gravity.
What's happening in Oz is that that the the great and powerful
Oz, who is neither great nor powerful, magically anyway, and
his his magical assistant, Madame Morrable, are are
engaging in a program that one might call ethnic cleansing
against the talking animals of Oz.
We know they're talking animals because the lion talk and and
the for whatever reason, Oz and Morrible and others find the
talking animals a threat. And so their goal is to get them
out of Oz or or cage them and control them and take away their
power of speech so they're easier to control.
And the folks in ounces are buying into it.
They're they're buying into the propaganda that says the animals
are a threat and have to be contained or have to be
controlled. And those that don't buy into it
are too intimidated by the, the police force and the the
military might of Oz and morrible.
And they don't want to stand up against it because they will
lose status. They will lose position.
They might find themselves imprisoned or expelled or
removed, losing all of the good things that come from being a
citizen of Oz. And so in in a climactic scene
in the center of the story, we have Alphaba and Glenda faced
with this choice. Do we?
Do we simply follow the pull of social gravity, get along to go
along? Or do we resist that pull and
see if we can defy the gravity and Alphaba resists, and she
doesn't? There's no half measures here
for Alphaba. She she goes all in on resisting
the gravitational pull that's happening there in ounces.
And she loses friends, she loses closer other close
relationships. She loses status, she loses
position. She loses every benefit that
came from being a citizen of Oz. And not just any citizen, but
born into a powerful family in ounces.
And she sacrifices all of that in order to escape that
gravitational pull that was that was drawing her in to a culture
and a way of doing life that she found to be repugnant.
One might call it sinful. That's Alphaba.
Now, you might call me crazy. Many people do.
You wouldn't be alone. There's a long line I cannot
hear Defying Gravity and watch the movie Wicked or Wicked for
good without thinking about The Godfather Part 3.
I know, I know, I'm just that sort of person, but bear with me
for a moment. I need that extra volume here.
Gary, I got a very quick clip from The Godfather Part 3 and
see if maybe I can trap you into my insanity here.
At this point in the sermon, we listened to Al Pacino as Michael
Corleone delivering his famous line from The Godfather Part 3.
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
Now back to the sermon. That's it.
Just when I thought this is Michael Corleone.
If you're not familiar with the Godfather movies, we will get a
brief history of the Godfather. Michael Corleone is is the
current Godfather. By the time The Godfather Part 3
comes along here, he's the head of a crime family, a Mafia
family, and he's been trying to get the family out of the crime
business. And he reaches a point in The
Godfather Part 3 where he says every time I try to get out,
they pull me right back in. Michael is trying to do what
Alphaba did and defy gravity to get out of the pull of the crime
family, of the world of of criminal activity and legitimize
all of his businesses and legitimize all of his family.
He sees again the corruption, the degradation, the destructive
forces that are pulling him back into this, and he wants to get
out, but he keeps getting pulled back.
Elphaba defied gravity. Michael Corleone was pulled back
in, and there's a very simple reason for that, is that Michael
Corleone was not as committed as Alphaba.
Alphaba was all in. Alphaba was willing and able to
sacrifice everything to be free of that pull on her life.
Michael Corleone. He wanted to be free of all of
the negatives that he saw and being a criminal boss family,
but he wanted to hold on to all of the perks and benefits and
privileges. He wanted to get out, but he
didn't want to lose the wealth that he gained while he was in.
He wanted to get out, but he didn't want to lose the power
and influence. He wanted to get out, but he
didn't want to lose the status and the perks.
Michael Corleone's story is a powerful testimony to the
complete ineffectiveness of Half Measures.
He wanted it, but he didn't. He wanted to be free, but he
didn't want to let go. You hear a lot about half
measures in the world of addiction and recovery.
One of the most famous lines and Alcoholics Anonymous and other
recovery programs 12 step programs is half measures
availed us nothing you can't get out.
You can't escape gravity with half measures.
You have to be committed. You have to be willing to let go
of everything That's what it takes to defy gravity.
Imagine if we'd, and just to clarify, any mis, you know,
potential misunderstanding. I do believe we went to the
moon, all right, Not just just saying what if we tried to go to
the moon with a tether on the spaceship?
We don't want to lose content. We want to be able to reel it
back in. We don't want to risk losing
them entirely. You know, we want to, we want to
make sure we can reel it. They would never.
You can't. You can't get to the moon
tethered to the Earth to defy gravity.
You have to be willing to let go and risk everything.
And if you're not willing to risk everything, you just get
pulled back into that mass and the life of faith and, and, and
the spiritual life. There is a, there is a very real
sense that the sinful systems and cultures and practices in
this world have a strong gravitational pull.
It's difficult to escape them. There was a young man I knew
that is currently bald, grew up in Gallia County and went to my
school. It was me case you were
wondering, One of those strong gravitational pulls in my life,
particularly as a young man was I had, for whatever reason,
partly nature, partly nurture, I think had a very high respect
for authority and and a very high respect for following the
rules. I wanted to be praised and
approved of by people in authority.
And I learned very early on the best way to do that is follow
all the rules. And, and I don't remember the
specifics of this, but I remember one point.
I think it was in high school, maybe I think it was maybe older
junior high, but I think it was high school and I was walking
into English class. You think Blevins, you said you
don't remember specifics. I remember that part.
I don't remember what the topic was.
I don't remember any of the other people involved, but I
remember my principal seemed to appear out of nowhere, backed me
up against the wall, looked me in the face, and demanded that I
snitch on someone. I don't remember who I was being
asked to snitch on. I don't remember what was being
done. It probably wasn't anything
serious. I caved instantly.
Instantly. I gave this guy up.
I do remember it was a guy. I don't remember what he did I
gave you. I didn't even blink an eye.
Like, yes, Sir, this was his. It was him.
That kind of gravitational pull there was, there was, it's like,
you know, it's like trying me trying to dunk a basketball.
It wasn't going to happen. There's no defying gravity
there. Just got pulled, pulled down and
to snitch them because of this pull that these values have on
me. I can still feel those kind of
pulls, although I don't think I'd snitch anymore.
I don't think I would well if it was really bad, you know see I
struggle with this. These pulls are out there and,
and, and, and, you know, telling on someone for doing some minor
thing in high school is not a, not a huge deal in the grand
scheme of things. But there are lots of other
forces in our culture, forces of, of, of racism, forces of
other types of bigotry and bias. There are forces of greed.
There are forces of, of lust of, of drug addiction, forces of the
that, that create generational poverty and chew people up and
spit them out. There are all kinds of forces
that that pull at us in the world around us that can be
incredibly difficult to to escape and can only be.
We can only escape them if we're willing to have a sustained
effort in the opposite direction and a willingness to let go and
sacrifice all the perks that come with it.
You, you, you can't get free of a chemical addiction or any
other kind of addiction while trying to hold on to the good
feeling that you get when you're using your drug.
You can't be free of social pressure to reject or isolate or
or or shun a person in the community or a group in the
community or a person or group in the school or at work.
You can't do that without being willing to sacrifice the perks
that come along with getting along and going along.
We have to be willing to let go if we want to follow into the
Kingdom of God. And that's that's the challenge
here is that's what Jesus asks us to do.
Go back sometime don't have time.
We already read a whole lot of scripture today to read all of
the Sermon on the Mount. But that's what Jesus is talking
about and the Sermon on the Mount of all of these social
pressures. And Jesus is saying so far
you've been engaging in half measures.
You want to condemn murder, but you want to live in anger and
resentment toward the people around you.
You want to condemn adultery, but you want to live in lust
toward the people around you. You want to You want to condemn
greed, but you want to accumulate as much money and as
much wealth as you can. You want to condemn pride and
vanity, but you want to do all of your religious displays in
public so you get praised for them.
You say if you want to live in the Kingdom of God, you said you
got to be willing to sacrifice everything that this world has
to offer. You might not be asked to give
everything up. Literally.
Some people are and some people do.
We call them martyrs. Not everyone is asked to make
that extremist sacrifice, but everyone is asked to hold it all
loosely so that it doesn't pull us back in.
That's what it takes to defy gravity.
Here's the good news. Jesus is the OG defier of
gravity. My attempt at relevant language
trying to be trendy here. Probably about eight years too
late on the OG thing, but there you go.
I'm better than last week. So Jesus, the OG defier of
gravity, I mean, he literally did it.
He walked on water. You can't do that without
literally defying gravity. But all the pressure put on him
to get along, to go along, to condemn the people that the,
that the religious folks said, we've got to condemn them.
To reject the folks that the religious folks said we got to
reject them. To pursue the wealth and the
status and the position that the people around him said we need
those things if we want to survive to pursue the, the
pressure to pursue a violent attitude toward Rome or, or a,
a, a conciliatory cooperative attitude toward Rome.
And Jesus said, no thank you. I choose neither.
And Jesus, it cost him his life. He gave up friends, he gave up
status, he gave up position, he gave up good reputation, he gave
up wealth. He gave up all of these things
in order to share the love and hope and power of God with this
world. And the message that comes out
of his life is completely counterintuitive that that the
slave who got executed on the Roman cross actually won the
victory over the Roman Empire. He gave up everything and he
calls us to do the same. That's what he meant when he
said deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me.
Half measures won't do it. The good news is because Jesus
did it, because Jesus came here to live as one of us in this
earth and he defied gravity even at the cost of his own life.
God gave him his life back and we can join him in doing that.
He says take my hand, follow me, pick up your cross, follow me.
I'll show you how to defy gravity.
You can be different. You can live without falling to
the pressure. You know, one of the proofs that
the slave who was crucified by the Roman Emperor and by the
Roman Empire 1 is that 400 years later that slave was more
powerful and had more influence in the Roman Empire than the
Emperor did. And the emperor converted to
Christianity and became a follower of Jesus.
We can defy gravity. We don't have to give into the
socials of pressures around us, no matter what those social
pressures are. We don't have to live in the
same state of, of complicity or or or or cooperation with or
ignoring or getting along to go along.
We don't have to do any of those things because Jesus didn't, and
because he gives us that capacity through the Holy Spirit
to live in that sustained effort and sustained force that we can
break free from those kinds of poles as well.
We can be Alphaba instead of Michael Corleone.
We don't have to always get pulled back in.
We can defy gravity. Now Allison's going to come up
and sing the song. This is song I I never did
actually confirm how this is going to work.
I'm ignorant. All right, let's we can all
agree on that. I can get I get an name in here.
I'm ignorant. I asked Allison if she could
sing defying gravity. I've heard the song more than
one occasion. Allison pointed out it's
actually a duet. And I said, oh, how will that
work? And she said I'll figure it out.
I don't know how this is going to work, but she's going to sing
it and, and, and it's going to be great.
And we can we can celebrate with with Elphaba and Allison here.
You ready? At this point in the sermon,
Allison Bradbury sang Defying Gravity.
She did a beautiful job with the song and I wish I could include
it here, but for licensing reasons, I can't include it on
this platform. If you would like to hear
Allison singing, check out the same sermon on YouTube.
Just search for CRSNB sermons and click on the Defying Gravity
sermon. Please be aware though that I
don't have good tech for recording live musical
performances, so the audio quality is not nearly as good on
the recording as Allison was live.
You can also find Cynthia Revo's version on YouTube and all major
music platforms. Now back to the sermon.
Wow, that's it, that's it. We can, we can sing that well,
we Can't Sing that not like that, but we can live it.
We can join Alpha, we can join in this this amazing thing that
Jesus has given us and defy gravity and and let no one pull
us down in Jesus name, Amen. Amen.