Already Home

Last night we saw The Wizard of Oz in Norwich. I’ve seen the old film many times; I’d not seen the stage show.

The setting was modern, there were new songs, but the story’s the same –Dorothy leaves Kansas, arrives in Oz, follows the yellow brick road, meets Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, and defeats the Wicked Witch of the West. Scarecrow gets his brain, Tin Man his heart, Lion his courage.

When Dorothy’s about to return home they sing ‘Already Home’.

Home is a Place…

‘Every journey leads you back to where you start…’ ’Dorothy returns home to her farm in Kansas…  My friend Lenny’s been away on business this week. He’ll drive to Leeds, Cardiff, Birmingham… fly to Aberdeen. Then he returns home.

We’ve lived here for 37 years. When we’ve been on holiday it’s always good to get back to Lowestoft. When I was working at the end of the day it was good to come home. There’s no place like home.

Home is People…

Dorothy returned home to Uncle Henry, Aunt Em and the friendly farmhands. Yesterday I heard about Joe who’s in the army. Work takes him away from home; he might have go to Poland. Coming home for Joe is about his wife and young family.

What’s important about our home is not the bricks and walls, the plumbing and electric systems – although they’re useful. ‘Home’ is the family gatherings at Christmas, the friends who ‘pop in’. Home is people.

Home is Personal…

Dorothy sings ‘Home is a place in your heart’. Her three friends have been changed; now she’s changed. The unhappy, lonely girl who left home, returns confident, grateful, generous.

Home is where I reflect, seek Dorothy’s transformation, wrestle with life’s challenges: ’We have to finish to begin, We have to lose before we win.’

Home is where I encounter prayer, re-engage with my God, receive forgiveness, forgive myself, gain peace, strength and self-rediscovery. Home is the place in my heart.