Defying Gravity (Chester UMC)

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.