2 Kings 5:1-14 page 1

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Not so many years ago you could guarantee that on Christmas afternoon 'The Wizard Of Oz' would be shown on British TV. A heart-warming family film.

Not really. It was a film with a message. All the supernatural activities of the wizard are shown up to be the frantic mechanical workings of a scientist behind the scenes. There is no supernatural, only science, says the film.

As such it belonged to its time, a time when science and reason were supposed to provide all the explanations that life needs - something we still encounter to a large extent today where people like Richard Dawkins, who is learned about science but ignorant about faith, make sweeping and unjustified statements.

But if the concluding message of 'The Wizard Of Oz' is not friendly to faith or the Gospel, there is a line in it earlier that is profoundly stimulating for our mission today. You'll recall when Dorothy and Toto first arrive in their strange new land, Dorothy says to Toto, "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto."

Today, we're not 'in Kansas' anymore. We're not the familiar world we grew up in, it's all quite strange. Sometimes we don't want to believe that, and I preached some sermons back in the autumn about the fact that we have to adjust the style of our mission to our new reality. But eventually you encounter so many lions, scarecrows, tin men and wicked witches that you can't deny it anymore, and you have to get on with Christian faith and mission in this new unfamiliar culture.

When you're not in Kansas anymore, you feel a certain spiritual pressure. If you were used to your values holding sway in the world you knew but you now find other approaches dominating, you are faced with big questions. Was your way right after all? Should you compromise with the beliefs that now prevail? Indeed, should you not simply wave the white flag and fall in with the new rulers?

I imagine questions like these facing God's chosen people in 2 Kings 5. The Arameans have raided some of their land and even young girls have been taken captive and made into slaves. One such young girl is taken into the household of Naaman, the army commander. He worships the Syrian god Rimmon, the god of storm and thunder. This young girl, like Dorothy, isn't in Kansas anymore. What is she to do?

And if we're not in Kansas anymore too, what are we to do? Can we live true and faithful spiritual lives in these changed circumstances? Does our God still reign, or were our critics and opponents right all along?

Where does the story of Naaman's healing in 2 Kings 5 take us on such important questions? We'll explore the issues by thinking about the principal characters in the story: the girl, Naaman and Elisha.

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Copyright © David D Faulkner, 2006 except where other sources are attributed or noted as inspiration.