Saturday, November 30, 2024

Wicked

It’s a few days after Thanksgiving and my thoughts have dramatically turned towards the Christmas season. The center of the season is remembrance of the little child born that day in Bethlehem and the soul-saving significance of the event. That alone brings cause to celebrate. I think of holiday music. Advent brings Handel’s “Messiah,” Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” and all the yearly Christmas Carols that are yet to be played on my radio. Thanksgiving and all vestiges of the fall season quickly deconstructed and in its place a nativity scene and shades of gold and green have emerged. My Christmas tree is up and this weekend after church I will be at a local greenhouse making evergreen arrangements to decorate my house. The smell is always amazing!

Several waxed amaryllis’s bulbs have been patiently waiting for their moment to make the scene. My menu for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve is official and my shopping list about to go on the refrigerator door. I am trying to remove some fat from the menu this year due to my recent gall bladder flare-up. What can I subsititute for pâté de campagne or Bûche de Noël? Or, perhaps I will make them and only have a small portion.There will definitely be healthy choices on the menu at Chez Christian Housewife’s House this year. 

The one thing I am not thinking of integrating into my Christmas experience is the movie Wicked. It saddens me to think that the movie has been the top entry at the box-office since its’ debut. What does it say about our society that a movie such as Wicked would be released to the market just before one of the world’s biggest religious celebrations? Furthermore, what does it mean that so many people are flocking to see it?

Wicked and Christmas had a connection from the beginning of time. Those coming out in droves and “innocently” taking in some “light entertainment” would do well to examine the connection. In Revelation 12 verses 1-5 says:

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

As a Christian Housewife desperately seeking to hold onto my teenage daughter I made the wrong decision to take her on her birthday to see the Broadway Show Wicked. Although my daughter was attending Bible study and at a point where she was considering seeking baptism I chose to appease her growing worldly curiosity by taking her to that show. There were repercussions because what we take into our eyes and ears, gets into our hearts.

Why is it that the most wicked things presented to us have the best musical scores? When Wicked first hit the Broadway stage it was taunted as a virtuoso musical experience. Not many singers could hit the kind of notes required to play the part of the Wicked Witch of the West in this musical. Sort of reminds me of the stories about the devil being a fantastic violinist!

However, these worldly experiences seduce us all and leave us a little less on the righteous path. Maybe I am like those characters who think they can have a violin competition with the devil and think they can win. In the meantime, the price of loss is one’s soul, that is not worth a gamble.Truth be told,  I can not play that well either.

The story of Wicked is a prequel to the “Wizard of Oz” which is part of a book series written by Frank Baum and made into a movie in the 1940’s. The direction that our world is going is obvious if only we take some time for a deeper look. Everything that was once bad is being called good. Our language reflects that, our television and movies reflect it too. Whereas the past showed many a happy ending now, the ending is usually depressing, and lacking in positive values. The villain is often what the story is about and the good guys motives are questioned or else he is presented as bumbling and inept. This is straight out of the Bible and it’s not right. Isaiah 5:20- Woe to them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Wow, this pretty much sums up every tv show that I sampled on Netflix this week. I either shut it off in 5 minutes or I see the direction that the show is heading and won’t tune in for the second episode. Sad isn’t it? I have learned and I have grown. The things of God are beautiful, the things of this world lead us on a dark path. It is always a choice. 

Thessalonians 2:8- and then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.


No comments:

Post a Comment