The Man Behind the Curtain

I love going to church…I always have…When I was a child, I especially loved going on Sunday nights… except for one Sunday a year. I don’t know when the tradition began but once a year The Wizard of Oz aired on Sunday nights! My parents would not budge by giving permission to skip church nor would they believe I was suffering from a rare tropical disease so it wasn’t until much later that I actually got to see this iconic movie. If you are not aware of this movie, let me give you a brief summary: tornado, house crashes in another world, girl talks to strangers who are looking for a brain, a heart and some courage. Must go to Emerald City to get said objects. On the way, meet a witch who has a shoe fetish and monkeys for pets. Arriving at the Emerald City, meet the “Wizard” via hologram on a curtain and a mic on high reverb. Girl’s doggie ruins the illusion by going behind the curtain seeing a simple man manipulating some levers followed by the words, “Don’t pay any attention to the man behind the curtain!” spoken by the man behind the curtain!! The travelers discover the things they sought they already had and always had…they just needed to know it. Oh, and then it all ends by the words, “There’s no place like home!” Whew! Of course, I missed some stuff in the middle but that is the gist!!

Simple movie? I don’t’ think so. The older I get the more I see that we treat church much like Dorothy did The Emerald City, Oz. A tornado hits our life and we need answers right away…so we go to a place that is suppose to magically fulfill all our desires and life will be great. We want to believe in an illusion! Many will follow a church or a pastor seeking what they need in their lives but when the church is revealed for what it is (a group of people seeking God together) they are disillusioned. When the pastor is revealed from behind the curtain to be just a man who is also seeking, many leave the church without the thing they really needed to “get!” You see the reality is that God has given each of us what we need to get by in this world…Where did I get that? Read II Peter 1: 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Did you see that? He has given us EVERYTHING we need through our knowledge of HIM…we already have it just as the tin man had a heart, the scarecrow had a brain and the lion had courage…they didn’t need to get it from another…God had given it.

The things you seek are not going to be found in a pastor…his role is to guide you through God’s word. It will not be found in the most up to date “worship” center but in the quietness of listening to His voice. It can’t be found in great worship songs if God’s spirit is not already within you. It will not be found in anyone other than God’s Holy Spirit, which dwells in you for they are all just “the man behind the curtain.”

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain but pay attention to the One who removed the veil from our eyes through the sacrifice of His Son so we can glimpse eternal glory! When you do that you will find “home.” Then when you wake up to this realization you will look at those around you and say, “You were there, and you, and you too!” For we are all in this journey together…that, my dear ones, is what the Church, the Bride of Christ is to be.