God’s Mission Matters Popular Culture Reflection The concept of cultural baggage found in media and everyday life The Good Witch of the West? Who remembers the Witch of the West? Remember how the by Sarah Leer, cheered when the house fell on her sister, the Wicked Witch of former Young Adult Volunteer to New Orleans, serving in the Katrina the East? Well, after seeing the musical Wicked (music and lyrics by Stephen relief effort from 2007-2008 Schwartz), I knew, as the subtitle promised, The Untold Story of the Witches of .

Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, who is later known as the , and her entire life’s story, from birth to schooling to her intersection with the characters from the 1939 film many know and love. Elphaba is a loving, caring (and green) girl who dreams of doing good while partnering with the all-powerful Wizard in Oz. Her good “The mission field can friend at boarding school is Galinda, who grows up to become Glinda, the . I know what you might be thinking: Glinda and The be like sitting down to Wicked Witch of the West were friends? Yes, best friends! I don’t want to give it away, but Galinda and Elphaba’s adventures as teenagers show the watch Wicked for the audience a whole new side of Oz. first time.” When you sit down in the theater to watch Elphaba’s story, you automatically are thinking of her as the Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 movie, but it is not until you see the musical that you know her story. Modern audiences have heard their entire lives that Elphaba is wicked, that she is no good, that her motivations are evil. Wicked makes us stop. Makes us take time to listen to the story of someone we have been told through American modern culture is evil or is no good. The mission field can be like sitting down to watch Wicked for the first time. You may assume that you know the people you are going to serve, or that you know the stories of the area, but it is not until you are there, immersed in the culture and its customs, that your education can begin.

Or we might be in the position of Elphaba, who is seen as an outsider by her classmates, from her green exterior to her wit and intelligence, and must fight to be accepted while remaining authentic. When we are invited to serve people of another culture, we may feel out of place or unaccepted, but we must remember that we are all children of God and that we serve each other, empowered through the accepting love and power of the grace of God. continued on the next page Our mission partners will look different from us, but the love and grace of God exists throughout those differences, bringing us together. We can learn something else from Elphaba and her experiences. Those we think are our greatest role models can disappoint us; those we think are completely different from us might wind up being our best friends. The mission field is full of possibilities as well as incorrect cultural assumptions that we face as soon as we enter it. Elphaba spent her life seen as a green girl who happened to have a big heart. I pray that the first thing we do is open our eyes to see and appreciate the hearts of our mission partners.