“All Saints & Souls Days

Posted on October 28, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.


Today and tomorrow we honor and respect the unknown. “All saints” and “All souls” is actually a year round event during each Mass. But the Church offers  these two days. However, with our accumulating ages surrounding the end of this life into the unending after life our Church and ourselves seems to bring the unknown into a clearer focus. Or, does it? “What do you know for sure about this or that,” and Catholics will offer you a quick, readied and rehearsed response.

Because if you know what happens in that unknown than the “un” is taken away. “Unknown” becomes a silly non-word. We all seem to know the unknown. (just think about that before you go to sleep tonight.) This happens often in our religious understandings.

For centuries, our Church created limbo prompting worried parents to baptize infants left and right in the hospitals.  (The kid may die on the way home!) Nurses, doctors all quickly and silently watering down kids who may never make it to the Church’s formal sacrament.

Now?  Pufff! Limbo? Gone. Limbo is now only rightly used not as a place but a time of transition. Like a friend tells you who’s in between jobs, “I’m in limbo for awhile.”

We know about that usage but whatever happened to those who are still in that transitional after-life place? That place somewhere between or before purgatory with heaven on the top?

Which brings me to the notion of purgatory. Protestants rightly reject the notion of purgatory claiming that it claims that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not sufficient enough. A tad bit more time is needed some PLACE. (It’s like you die in Milwaukee and Madison is heaven so somewhere around Johnson Creek is a rest stop that can easily be called purgatory.) Does that help you?  Since purgatory is a Catholic Church doctrine, I leave it at that but I have my doubts. We use an earthy word like place as though heaven is a place. (that shows how dumb we are in our knowing.) And, I smile to myself when someone prays for the “poor souls in purgatory”… which makes absolutely no sense because those poor souls are on their way to Madison, I mean Heaven. They ain’t poor. Although we’ve had centuries of paid (note that word) offering indulgences to quicken one’s waiting time before Heaven. Still goes on today. (As a retired priest that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.)

A still unknown for me is when someone dies we piously say…we say, “Rest in Peace.” To impress others, it’s even said in Latin. What is the origin of being restlessness after death. (I leave that one to you.)

With heaven as the eternal prize rewarded to those who have merited themselves meritoriously in this life…the unknown is now clearly known. They skipped Johnson Creek on their freeway ride to Madison, I mean Heaven.

I said three wrong things a couple of sentences ago. I used the words “prize,” like a Crackerjack box, “reward,” like you’ve earned it…as in the more you suffer here the bigger the reward will be in over there in Madison, you know what I mean. The third mistaken word is “merit.” It’s a mistake for the same reason “reward” is.

If you sense a degree of cynicism, I believe it’s a healthy cynicism in spirituality.

The Catholic Church uses a very beautiful word for the word “unknown,” that word is mystery. Right after the consecration, among the powerful proclamations made during Mass is the phrase,” the mystery of faith.” It is almost redundant to say because mystery is a mystery onto itself and faith is certainly a mysterious gift given to us all. Try saying and praying it to yourself along with the priest. Slowly see the fancy folly our Church offers us. It is meant to be sincere and reflective.

What will happen when this extraordinary experience we call life is complete? To pretend to know it is to solve its mysteries, which is perhaps heretical in its own way. That would be like being Peter Falk or Angela Lansbury in their sixty minutes of sleuthing. We are not gods as much as we pretend to be about our unending end.

We know what we have done many years ago and we hope that this afternoon we may be a little better than we were this morning. The end of my talking is my known gratitude for this Mass and my hope to repeat it again and again. That much I do know.

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A Children’s Game Adults should Learn

Posted on September 30, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

It’s a children’s game played so very often when children are children and then we grow up and find ourselves still playing that child’s game, only now as adults we play it so very wrong. Never taught, it’s a totally intuitive game. There are no printed rules. However, it’s a game that contains all the wonders, wanderings, mysteries and anticipations of all our lives. 

The game is called “Peek-a-Boo” and the rules are simple. The one caught closes the eyes and the surrounding children around that person hide. Sometimes in ordianry places, others in good hideouts. The child with closed eyes has to count to twenty, which to a child seems more like counting to one hundred, but then the child’s eyes are opened to the exciting mysteries of uncovering neighborhood kids supposedly secretively hiding when in fact they’re so nearby it’s laughably predictable.

Just to be seen is to be caught. To be caught means to be found out, revealed. Sometimes to be seen isn’t sufficient according to these precise child-created rules. A touch needs to occur. This significant twist to the game means that the touched youngster is now “it,” completed, done.  “You are it.” An abiding union between the wide eyed child and the once hidden child is now accomplished. It cannot be undone or changed. These strict child rules are sacredly binding. These rules must be carefully followed as only a child’s game can be played. Only a new round of the game can begin following again those strict rules.

Now, for the fun part. The adult version of the “Peek-a-Boo” game is sillyingly played again and again but is now called “Boo-a-Peek.” Leave it to adults to play a beautiful child’s game not only wrong but backwards. It’s certainly not fun for a child yet, yet adults appear to like it played that backward way. (I think it gives us more control over the game as though we can control a child’s game.)

With our wide open eyes we are constantly “Booing” our faith life looking for God; wondering where God is, wondering who God is, what does God mean to me?Looking for God, for whatever reason, is to allow God to be involved and active in our lives. 

Like the country song sings for the backward playing of this game, “Looking for love in all the wrong places…I spent a lifetime looking for you, Playing a fool’s game, hoping to win, And telling those sweet lies, Searchin’ their eyes, lookin’ for traces Of what I’m dreamin’ of, Hoping to find a friend and a lover, I’ll bless the day I discover, Another heart lookin’ for love…”

All this time it’s been selfishly about you looking for God, it’s been who is looking for whom when, all this time and with even more time to come…it’s really “whom is looking for who?” Stop “booing” backwards and play the real game of “Peek.” “Peek-a-boo.”

You can’t be “it” until you are caught. 

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Assumption of Mary

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Mary had dirty laundry. She got tired. She worried. She had days when she wondered whether she was doing any of this right.

She knew what it was like to be pregnant when she was young and frightened. She knew what it was like to give birth away from home. She knew the anxiety of losing a child in Jerusalem and the enormous relief of finding him again. And eventually, she knew something no mother ever wants to know: what it feels like to watch your child die.

Can this be the Mary we celebrate today? Not a statue nor a stained-glass window. A woman. A mother. A believer who had to faithfully live with questions.

We have a tendency to make Mary almost too perfect. We put her in blue robes. We surround her with angels. We place stars around her head. We call her “Queen of Heaven, Mother of God, Immaculate, Blessed among women.” And all of that is true. Even football’s last ditch effort abuses Elizabeth’s so-meaningful greeting. But we can wonder and ponder if, in making Mary so holy, we forget that she was also human.

The Bible tells us remarkably little about Mary’s life. And that gives us permission to use a little imagination.

What might this have been like? After all the hoopla of the resurrection, Did she ever sit alone and recall those early days in Bethlehem? About the night Jesus was born? About holding that tiny child in her arms? Did she ever remember him as a little boy? Perhaps she remembered Joseph teaching him how to work with wood. Did she recall Jesus asking questions—too many questions, as children do?

And she remembered the first time she realized: this child is not really mine to keep. That may have been one of the hardest lessons of Mary’s life. At Cana, Jesus says to her essentially, my hour has not yet come. Mary doesn’t argue. She turns to the servants and says: “Do whatever he tells you.” That may be one of the most beautiful things Mary ever says. She doesn’t say, “Do what I tell you.” She says, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Mary’s whole life becomes an exercise in letting go. Letting go of her plans. Letting go of Joseph’s expectations. Letting go of Bethlehem. Letting go of Jesus as a child. Letting go of him when he became a wandering preacher and we folks misunderstanding him. We don’t live this long without knowing, full well, what “letting go” means. 

And finally, letting go of him at the cross. Perhaps that is part of what the Assumption means. Mary spent her whole life learning how to place herself in God’s hands. And at the end of her earthly life, God completes her journey.

The Assumption is not a reward God gives Mary because she behaved perfectly. It is God’s declaration about what human life is ultimately meant for. Mary’s body matters. Her humanity matters. Her tears matter. Her ordinary life matters. Her motherhood matters. Her suffering matters. And therefore, our humanity matters.

We sometimes think holiness means escaping our humanity. Mary teaches us the opposite. Holiness means allowing God to enter our humanity. Mary was not holy because she never experienced difficulty. She was holy because she kept saying “yes” to God in the midst of difficulties.

Think about her first “yes.” It was not spoken by a woman who knew how everything would turn out. Mary did not have a five-year plan from God. She had a promise. She had questions. She had faith. And she had enough courage to say “yes.”

Years later, standing beneath the cross, she must have wondered what that “yes” had cost her. Imagine the mother of Jesus looking at her son hanging on a cross. There is no angel explaining it. No voice from heaven saying, “Don’t worry, Mary. This will all make sense in three days.” She has to stand there. And watch. That is faith at its most difficult.

Faith isn’t always understanding what God is doing. Sometimes faith is staying there when you don’t understand. Mary stayed. Many of us know what it means to stay. We stay beside a hospital bed. We stay beside someone with dementia. We stay beside a child who’s made terrible choices. People stay with a marriage in spite of… We stay when the future isn’t what we expected. We stay when prayer seems to accomplish nothing.

Mary understands that kind of faith. She doesn’t lecture us about it. She  stands beside us. That may be why Catholics feel so comfortable talking to Mary. We don’t need to explain everything to her. She already knows. She knows what it is to be uncertain, to lose someone, what it is to wonder why God appears to be taking so many naps.

The Church says something astonishing: This woman—this particular human being with a particular human body and a particular human story—is taken into the glory of God. The Assumption tells us that Christianity does not end with our souls floating somewhere in the clouds. God wants the whole person. Body and soul. Memory and personality. Laughter and tears. The person we have been and the person God is calling us to be. Mary’s Assumption is therefore not just about Mary. It is about our destiny.

God does not throw away anything that is genuinely human. Not our love, suffering, memories, failures, even our aging bodies. God takes what we are and, by grace, makes it more than we could ever make it ourselves.

Perhaps we should take Mary down from the pedestal for awhile. Let’s imagine her sitting at the kitchen table. Tired. Thinking. Remembering. Maybe smiling at something Jesus did when he was a boy. Maybe wondering about the things she never completely understood. Maybe missing Joseph. Maybe missing Jesus. Maybe a broad silent smile at some memory that only a mother remembers and treasures. 

Then let us imagine God saying to her: “Mary, you have carried my Son. Now let me carry you.” That is the Assumption. That’s God’s promise to every one of us. One day, someday after all our questioning and struggles, after all our loving and losing, after all those successful efforts and learned failures, after all our attempts toward fidelity – God will carry us home.

Mary got there first. And she turns around and says to us: “Come along. Don’t be afraid.”

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“Being Fired, The Car Crash”

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

You wake up in the morning as you have every morning for the past 24 months and prepare for another day at the job you’ve grown to appreciate and love.  Your fellow employees are easy to get to know and you found your way around the company’s unique language and managerial styles.  (I never heard of “dashboards” or “parking lot” until one meeting and I still don’t know what they’re talking about but it seems very serious.)

Well, how about company’s acronyms like ADC, SNF and ADL’s?

Driving to work you take your time because traffic on this road has a reputation.  Swerve here and pause there is your daily mantra during this 12 mile drive.  Five things roam around your mind that need to be accomplished today while driving.  You smile to yourself because four of them are a cinch and the fifth will take a simple phone call.  You’ve been charged to lead the meetings of seasoned employees who look at you with a doubt in their eyes but you’ve prepared for them and get to the business of those dashboards and parking lots on your large screen TV Excel sheet.  (So many colors and listed items, I wish I was in one of those parking lots right about now.)

You pull into the parking lot (it’s an actual parking lot) and proceed to remove your coat and grab a cup of coffee that you were told in orientation is free for employees.  “It’s a nice perk,” you’ve said to yourself every day for the past two years.

“That meeting’s been cancelled,” your co-worker tells you passing by, “but the director wants to see you.”  “Great,” you reply wondering which dashboard is no longer to be a dashboard.

Smiling, you enter his office and exchange the pleasantries of the day and the pending weather changes.  You’re not married so there are no children to include in this introductory conversation.  He tells you, “It’s just business and that nothing personal should be taken away from this conversation.”  You wonder if that statement was meant for him or for you.  Your car’s just been crashed so you withhold an opinion until the evening and a somber glass of wine.

Blaming questions about yourself follow, all of them dismissed by him.  His eyes look down which in a murder trial would be a deadly sign of guilt but now it’s just the three of you; yourself, your director and your free cup of coffee.  On reflection you remember there’s a fourth presence – those five items that need to be accomplished today.  You recall the company’s philosophy of “excellence and accomplishments” from the slick video and those four energetic speakers during your orientation day.

The driver side of your car has just been hit by some guy.  The airbag wants to expand but that would mean tears which you refuse to release in front of him.  The news on the car radio continues to play as if life continues which, indeed, it has not.  The time of shock of the car’s impact doesn’t match the time on your ticking watch.  His words caused your driver’s door dent which may have totaled your car but you will not know until an estimate is made.

He says it’s effective “right now” and you find it amusing holding half a cup of coffee and wondering who will do those five things that drove you out of bed and into your car and safely to the parking lot (the real one) that morning and will this final half cup of coffee be deducted from your final paycheck?  He extends his hand to you and you wonder if this suave is sincere or if he can quickly end this and receive his next appointment.  You lift yourself out of your damaged driver’s seat wondering where you found the strength.

You smile back to him with the one taught to you in kindergarten that thanked the teacher for showing you that “a” stands for apple but today “a” stands for another word you will say to yourself often walking to your damaged car in the parking lot (the real one).

24 months did not accumulate too much so the box you carry is light but your mind is heavy with the “What if….” questions that contain no answers.  You drive from the parking lot (the real one) and carefully proceed back home, 7 1/2 hours subtracted from the expected day.  A small part of you is eternally happy that he did not say, “This hurts me more than it does you.”  (Thankfully, guns are not allowed in the building.)  The impact of your driver door dent increases and the pain of separating yourself from the other car slowly increases.   Before the imaginary police arrive you think to yourself, “Who will do those five things that I needed to do today and have them done in “excellence and accomplishment?”

There’s got to be a better way… in “excellence and accomplishment.”

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The Musical Misogyny of Rock ‘n Roll

Posted on August 29, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

1967, Neil Diamond’s look upon women, “Girl, you’ll be a woman soon, please come take my hand girl, soon you’ll need a man.” (Sing that your daughter before bed.)

One year later, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, “Young girl get out of my mind. My love for you is way out of line better run, girl… With all the charms of a woman, you’ve kept the secret of your youth, you let me to believe you’re old enough to give me love and now it hurts to know the truth… You’re just a baby in disguise and though you know it’s wrong to be alone with me that come on look is in your eyes.”

Gary is the one who gets hurt, never mind the mind of a “young girl.”

Back to 1967 and Gary and the Boys, “ Woman, oh, woman have you got cheating on your mind… Something’s wrong between us that your laughter cannot hide and you’re afraid to let your eyes meet mine…I’ve seen the way men look at you when they think I don’t see, and it hurts to have them think that you’re that kind… But it’s knowing that you’re looking back that’s really killing me..” (Wonderful couple communication.)

All the above were big hit songs reflecting a culture or projecting to a culture?

Speaking of marriage, this from 1962.  “Hey! Little girl, comb your hair, fix your make up, soon he will open the door. Don’t think because there’s a ring on your finger you needn’t try anymore.  Day after day there are girls at the office and men will always be men, don’t send him off with your hair still in curlers, you may not see him again. He’s almost here. Hey! Little girl, better wear something pretty, something you’d wear to the city and dim all the lights. pour the wine, start the music, time to get ready. Time to get ready for love.” (Big hit song about a happy, honest relationship.)

Not to be out done here’s a big hit song from Glen Campbell. “She looks in the mirror and stares at the wrinkles that weren’t there yesterday. She picks up her apron and in little girl-fashion as something comes to her mind, slowly remembering dancing her girlhood and all the boys she had waiting in line. 

Oh, such are the dreams of the everyday housewife you see everywhere any time of the day, an every day housewife who gave up the good life for me.” (Personal Development score? -F.)

Dusty Springfield sang this in 1964 as though she’s a dog instead of a woman. “ wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’.  Plannin’ and dreaming each night of his charms that won’t get you into his arms, so if you’re looking to find love, you can share, all you gotta do is hold him and kiss him and love him and show him that you care.

Clean cut singers Steve Lawrence and Donny Osmond sang this for us. “Go away little girl, go away little girl, I’m not supposed to be alone with you. I know that your lips are sweet, but our lips must never meet, I’m dating somebody else I must be true.” (how many sins can you commit in a 2:30 song?)

A Quick List of still more lovely women perceptions:

Led Zeppelin — “Whole Lotta Love” (1969/1970)

“You need coolin’, baby” The woman is largely viewed through the lens of male sexual desire.

Led Zeppelin — “Black Dog” (1971)

“The way you move”

Her physical movement becomes the center of attention. Personality is nice. But have you seen her walk?

Rod Stewart — “Hot Legs” (1977)

The title tells us almost everything. The woman has become a body part. No résumé required.

The Rolling Stones — “Some Girls” (1978) Women are divided into stereotypical categories based on nationality, sexuality and behavior.

The Beatles — “Run for Your Life” (1965) “I’d rather see you dead, little girl”

Jealousy isn’t merely jealousy here. The woman is treated as something the man possesses. If I can’t have you, nobody will.

The Rolling Stones — “Under My Thumb” (1966)

“The girl who once had me down” The entire premise is that the woman has finally been brought under the man’s control. She used to be independent. Fortunately, I’ve fixed that.

The Rolling Stones — “Stupid Girl” (1966)

The woman’s behavior becomes an occasion for outright contempt. And apparently, intelligence wasn’t required for the job.

We hum them, sing along with them on the radio (or retro radio) complete with great orchestrations, harmonies, back up singers and fancy guitar solos to break up those misogynistic verses. 

Drawn your own insights and conclusions…

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The Bearable Cross

Posted on August 27, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Scriptures reports that faith is not always comfortable. Prophet Jeremiah admits that God’s call can feel like a burden, yet he cannot keep silent so scolds God. St. Paul tells us not to be conformed to the world, but to allow God to transform our minds. And Jesus gives us the best advice of all: “Take up your cross and follow me.”

We adorn ourselves with crosses more than bearing and living it. It hangs on the rear view mirror so we can drive 50 in a 35 limit zone. It’s burned on all parts of body parts to proclaim something or another about our beliefs, or more likely a fashionable statement. 

Don’t forget that Jesus doubted God to bear his cross but silently admits to its purpose and meaning.

In conversations, we definitely misuse the meaning of the cross. We always speak of it as a negative… “Oh, poor dear, look at the cross she has to carry.” Sad to hear it and even sadder to believe that misstatement. When in fact, and in faith, the cross does include pain and suffering, but it also more strongly includes and envelopes hope, the ultimate love of sacrifice and the new life of resurrection. All experienced by Jesus. The depth found in the cross is all of life; every part.

Jesus is not asking us to enjoy suffering. And it is not on his list of bodily accessories. He asks us to remain faithful in the midst of it. Our crosses become places where love, patience, courage, and trust continue to grow. And the meaning of the cross also contains and brings its share of hope, love and peace.

The cross of Jesus teaches us something important: we can’t control everything, as though we foolishly thought we could. In the midst and beauty of the cross we choose – how we respond, how we love, and how faithfully we trust God’s guidance and presence in our lives. That includes both gratitude and grief. 

We can prayerfully and powerfully ask, “Lord, how can I carry this cross, complete with life’s rewards and risks? Never lived by myself but together with you?”

The Christian life is not about avoiding difficulty. It is all about discovering that we never carry a cross by ourselves. God, especially through the Holy Spirit and her seven life gifts, gives that cross a full meaning. 

So don’t wear it, live it. I could be wrong, but I think it’s called the “Body of Christ.”

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Podcast Episode: Faith And Film Reflections

Posted on August 23, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

Pip: Soulful Muse — where a celibate priest writes marriage sermons and The Wizard of Oz turns out to be a graduate-level theology seminar. Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS. has been busy.

Mara: He has. This episode moves through two territories: what commitment actually asks of us, and what a Kansas girl with ruby slippers can teach us about grace, courage, and the search for God.

Pip: Let's start with the marriage piece.

—

Marriage Engagement, Written by a Single Guy

Pip: The title alone earns attention — a single man writing about marriage engagement. The question the post is quietly asking is: what does an outsider's perspective actually reveal about commitment that insiders might overlook?

Mara: The post links back to a marriage engagement sermon, and the framing is direct: "There's no place like home." Wait — that's the next segment. The marriage piece stands on its own as a reflection on what two people are really promising each other.

Pip: Which is a lot, delivered by someone with no skin in the game — and maybe that's exactly why it lands.

Mara: Distance can clarify. The post treats commitment not as a legal fact but as a daily renewable choice. That's the upshot: engagement isn't a finish line, it's the beginning of the asking.

—

Dorothy, Grace, and the Road We're Already On

Pip: The Wizard of Oz reflection opens with a disclaimer — "simple, silly children's story" — and then immediately dismantles it. The real question the post is asking: what if every symbol in that film is a map of the spiritual life?

Mara: The post is direct about it. After walking through Dorothy's longing, the Yellow Brick Road, and each companion, it lands here: "God loved us before we ever thought about loving God."

Pip: That's the ruby slippers argument — and it's a good one. You already have what you're searching for; grace isn't a reward, it's the condition you started in.

Mara: Each character carries a specific theological weight. The Scarecrow thinks he lacks intelligence but keeps demonstrating wisdom. The post says, "Grace awakens what God has already planted within us." The Tin Man believes he needs a heart before he can love, yet he cares, worries, and risks himself the entire journey.

Pip: And the Lion is probably the sharpest one: courage isn't the absence of fear. The post notes the apostles were afraid, the saints were afraid — "I'm afraid, but I'm going anyway."

Mara: Then there's the Wizard himself — exposed as a man behind a curtain. The post names that pattern plainly: money, celebrity, technology, status. Anything we ask to do what only God can do is, by definition, an idol.

Pip: The Wicked Witch gets her theological due too — evil is real, the post doesn't soften that, but it refuses to give evil the final word.

Mara: And the closing argument is community. "We need one another. The Christian life isn't a lonely, solitary trip down one road that's colored yellow." Dorothy never makes the journey alone, and neither do we.

—

Pip: Two very different starting points — a wedding homily, a children's film — and both arrive at the same place: you're not as lost as you think, and you're not walking alone.

Mara: More from Soulful Muse next time. Keep the slippers on.

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Marriage Engagement, Written by a Single Guy

Posted on August 23, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.
A “Marriage Engagement” Sermon
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Posted on August 23, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

How did you meet your significant other?

I met him at an animal shelter… Instant attraction… I had him spaded so he could be a priest and declawed… We had a wonderful 12 year relationship.

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A Highly Academic and vaguely familiar Theological Reflection on The Wizard of Oz

Posted on August 20, 2026 by Rev. Joe Jagodensky, SDS.

At first glance, the movie, The Wizard of Oz seems like a simple, silly children’s story complete with song and dance: a Kansas girl gets tornadoed away to a strange land, meets super unusual companions, defeats a wicked witch with mere water, and eventually finds her way home…where she actually never left. 

But beneath the flying monkeys, little people singing away and ruby slippers is a surprisingly rich faith-filled story.

Dorothy: The longing for home, Judy Garland

Dorothy (Judy Garland) begins with a profound human desire: “There’s no place like home.”

Home represents more than Kansas. It represents belonging, security, identity, and love. Dorothy believes she must go somewhere else to discover what she is looking for. Yet after all her adventures, she discovers that what she most deeply desired was already connected to where she began.

That sounds remarkably Christian.

We spend much of our lives searching:

  • Where do I belong?
  • What will make me happy?
  • What will make my life meaningful?
  • Where is God?

And Christianity keeps telling us that we don’t have to travel to some distant Emerald City to find God.God is already present. Sometimes the spiritual journey isn’t about discovering something completely new. It is about recognizing what has been present all along.

The Yellow Brick Road: The journey of faith

Dorothy follows the Yellow Brick Road because she has been told that it will lead her to the Wizard. That sounds a lot like the life of faith. We rarely receive a complete map. We receive enough light for the next step. The road has distractions, dangers, wrong turns, frightening creatures, and unexpected companions. Dorothy doesn’t know exactly where the road will take her. Neither do we. Faith does not mean knowing everything in advance. Faith means continuing to walk. (And if you’re Robert Frost, how about exploring “the road not taken?”)

There is something very religious about that. We make our pilgrimage through life trusting that God is somehow accompanying us even when the road becomes swerving and crooked and makes no sense. 

The Scarecrow: “If I only had a brain”, Ray Bolger

The Scarecrow is convinced he lacks intelligence.

Yet throughout the journey, he repeatedly demonstrates good judgment, creativity, and common sense. He already possesses what he thinks he needs. How often do we do the same thing?

We tell ourselves:

“If only I were smarter…”
“If only I were more successful…”

“If only I had a new husband…”
“If only I were younger…”
“If only I had more money…”

“If only I found a different retirement home…”
“If only I were more talented…”

And God may be looking at us and saying, “You already have more than you realize.” The Christian understanding of grace is important here. Grace doesn’t necessarily give us something entirely foreign to ourselves. Grace awakens what God has already planted within us. (Repeat)

The Tin Man: The desire for a heart, Jack Haley

The Tin Man believes he needs a heart before he can love. But notice what he does along the journey. He cares. He worries about Dorothy. He shows compassion. He risks himself for his friends. In other words, he already has a heart. Again, the irony is beautiful. We sometimes think we need to become worthy of love before we can love others. Christianity reverses that logic. God loves us first. And because we are loved, we can learn to love. The Tin Man also reminds us that having a heart means becoming vulnerable. Love always makes us vulnerable because we can be hurt. But without vulnerability, there is no genuine love.

The Cowardly Lion: Courage isn’t the absence of fear Bert Lahr

The Lion wants courage. Yet he repeatedly acts courageously while being afraid.

That may be one of the most Christian insights in the entire movie. We sometimes imagine a courageous person as someone who feels no fear. But Christian courage is different.

Courage is doing what is right even when we are afraid.

The apostles were afraid. The saints were afraid. Mary must have been afraid.

 with anguish, Jesus asks the cup to pass. Fear does not necessarily mean that faith has failed. Sometimes faith simply means saying: “I’m afraid, but I’m going anyway.”

The Wizard: Beware of false gods, Frank Morgan

And then there is the Wizard. Dorothy and her friends believe he possesses extraordinary power. They imagine that he has the answers to everything.

Eventually they discover the truth: The Wizard is not what he appears to be.

He is a little man behind a curtain manipulating appearances. There is an obvious spiritual lesson here. We create our own “wizards.”

Money. Success. Politics. Celebrity. Youth. Technology. Power. Status.

We imagine that these things will save us. We put our confidence in them and discover eventually that they cannot give us what they promised.

The Bible has a word for that:

idolatry.

An idol isn’t necessarily a statue. An idol is anything we ask to do for us what only God can do.

The Wicked Witch: Evil is real, but it doesn’t have the final word, Margret Hamilton

The Witch represents genuine evil. She wants Dorothy’s destruction because Dorothy possesses something she desires. But evil ultimately fails. The Witch’s power is frightening, but temporary. Christianity doesn’t deny the existence of evil. It simply refuses to believe that evil gets the last word. The Christian story moves toward resurrection. The darkness is real.

But the darkness is not final.

The Ruby Slippers: What Dorothy needed was with her all along

Perhaps the most theological symbol in the movie is Dorothy’s ruby slippers.

She possesses the means of returning home almost from the beginning, but she doesn’t understand their significance. She has been searching everywhere for what she already possesses. That is a powerful image of grace.

We can spend years searching for God, only to discover that God has been searching for us. We can spend years trying to earn God’s love, only to discover that God loved us before we ever thought about loving God. We can spend years trying to become worthy, only to discover that God’s grace was never a reward for being worthy.

And perhaps the greatest theological lesson

Dorothy (Judy Garland) doesn’t make the journey alone.

She has the Scarecrow, Ray Bolger; The Tin Man, Jack Haley; The Lion, Bert Lahr; The Wizard, Frank Morgan; The Witch, Margret Hamilton. 

Even the known,strange and frightening experiences are all part of her journey.

That is another profoundly Christian idea:

We need one another. The Christian life isn’t a lonely, solitary trip down one road that’s colored yellow. We need friends who compensate for our ever present weaknesses. 

When we lack courage (Bert Lahr), someone lends us courage. 

When we don’t know what to do (Ray Bolger), someone helps us think. 

When our hearts have become hard (Jack Haley), someone reminds us how to love. 

Wizards (Frank Morgan) abound through every inch of our lives – magical formulas to stop this or than for $19.99, televangelists whose eye makeup melts at the sound of a ringing telephone, the adage “it’s too good to be true,” how often we fail to heed it. 

The Margret Hamiltons’within our lives remains within our entire lives but we decide the length of our arm. When we lose our way, someone walks beside us.

That’s community. That’s friendship. That’s Church. That’s the Body of Christ.

That’s why The Wizard of Oz speaks to adults long far more than when we watched as children. 

We grow older and discover that we’re still Dorothy (Judy Garland). We’re still walking as best as we can. We’re still looking for home. We’re still tempted by wizards (Frank Morgan). We’re still frightened by witches (Margaret Hamilton).

We’re still convinced we don’t have enough brains (Ray Bolger), enough heart (Jack Haley), or enough courage (Bert Lahr). 

And perhaps God keeps whispering:

You have more than you think. You are loved more than you know. You are not walking alone. And there is no place like home.

Those ruby slippers? We’ve been wearing them since Baptism. Home is not merely a place, it is the place. Placing ourselves in God’s merciful and grace filled hands. Welcome home. 

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