"Lions and tigers and bears, _____!" If you could fill in the blank immediately, then you have been impacted by culture. On further thought, if you could fill in the blank and your mind went to Dorothy and her companions walking along a yellow brick road toward Oz, you have some context for that cultural expression. If the conclusion of that statement causes you think about your favorite scenes, smile at the thought of munchkins, hum one of the tracks or have fond memories of seasons of life when you enjoyed watching the film, then you are part of the generation that has been impacted by The Wizard of Oz.

Many of us grew up with this movie. We know the songs, we know the story and we know the characters. We have seen poor high school versions of this movie and a brave interpretation of the story by Michael Jackson. Because this story is so ingrained in our pop culture, there was a place for someone to come along and use that story to tell a fuller story. That is exactly what happened with Wicked.

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In case you haven't seen the play, which I highly recommend, let me give you a quick synopsis: Wicked is a more complete story of what is going on in Oz during the time of Dorothy. The movie is Dorothy's story, and the play is the unfolding drama between the two witches, Galinda the Good Witch of the North and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. All by itself, Wicked is a compelling play with great characters and music; but what makes Wicked amazing is that it so incredibly clever.

Wicked tells the story by weaving in and out of The Wizard of Oz. Wicked's characters reference familiar people, places and scenes. It is as if you get to walk through Oz and occasionally cross the yellow brick road, just missing Dorothy and her entourage. During the entire play you have Ah, ha! moments as you put all the pieces together. I found it to be a great evening of fun and incredibly refreshing. As I was driving home, I realized how much more I would have enjoyed this play if I had rented The Wizard of Oz beforehand and re-familiarized myself with the original story. There was so much I missed, and if I weren't so cheap I would have done that.

The day after I saw the production, I ran into one of the students I work with who saw Wicked several weeks before. We began to share our favorite parts, comments about the amazing music, the great characters, etc.; but as our conversation continued for a few more minutes, I realized she was not impressed at all with how clever the play was and how amazing the intertwining of the two stories was. The more I thought about it, I realized it is because The Wizard of Oz is not part of her cultural story. She might have seen the movie once or parts of it here and there, but without the cultural context, she missed the best component of the play.

Without The Wizard of Oz, Wicked still would be entertaining. However, Wicked is only clever and engaging because it has been built on a cultural phenomenon. Creative people love building on current cultural stories to create even more compelling stories. This pattern is true in the church, as well. We continually are exploring ways to communicate the gospel that are unique and compelling. Through thousands of years and millions of stories, Christians have been finding new ways to tell this story. For many, there is a deep culture that has had touch points with the gospel. There have been songs sung, books written and movies made that portray the gospel story with a fresh angle and fresh characters. Like the play Wicked, these characters and stories just cross in front of and behind the hero of the story along the yellow brick road. Stories as renowned as Les Miserables to recent films such as The Book of Eli have attempted similar things with the gospel. These stories are built on the expectation that our culture knows or is at least familiar with the original story. To fully enjoy and even be impacted by these stories, we need to know something about the Bible, about grace and forgiveness and about Jesus the Christ.