Hello,
For the last week there has been a four story yellow rubber ducky
floating in the river alongside the Pittsburgh skyline. It is not an oversized practical
joke. It is “art”. I was listening to the public radio
station out of Pittsburgh the day the ducky was to paddle in Pittsburgh’s
river, and they were interviewing the “artist”. He is from a Scandinavian country, and his duckies have been
landing alongside skylines throughout the world. Pittsburgh has the distinction of being the first plopping
place in the United States for this piece of artwork. The artist in telling the artistic meaning of this towering
ducky said that he believes that the rubber ducky is an international symbol of
the joy of life. “Remember the
bath times you had as a child,” he said, “and how much fun it was to share your
tub time with a rubber duck.” All
around the world, he said, the same thing happens. Children sit in their bathtubs, playing with their rubber
ducky, and the burdens of life get lost in the bubbles and splashes.
I can resonate with this “artist”, because as I sit in my hot tub, I am
always joined by two rubber duckies that my son gave to me as a hot tub
present. As I sit in my hot tub I
watch them spin around, dancing atop the whirling water. They “swim” wherever the jets
propel them, and they don’t care where their dance takes place. To watch them is enlightening. It is a visual reminder of the
wonderful gift of life, a gift that can be overshadowed by responsibilities,
job and bosses, life’s daily struggle, and tragedy. So, between gazing at the stars or the sunset, I splash my
rubber duckies trying to steer them. I take them under the water and wonder where they will
surface. I turn them right side up
when they are swimming up side down.
And when I do these things a childhood delight sinks into my soul, and
in some small way I become aware of the wonder and blessing of life…the wonder
and blessing that daily comes my way that often I am not able to see…..the
wonder and blessing of every breath of which not even one do I deserve… “Rubber
ducky, you’re the one. You make
tubby time so much fun…”
But there are times, real times, when a rubber ducky floating in your
life falls short of addressing the pain and suffering in one’s heart, and the
burden that one carries on their shoulders. Throwing a rubber duck into your tub at those times of life
works as well as saying, “Oh, it will all be okay.” or “Don’t worry. Be happy.” A rubber ducky might be able to cut through the gloom of
daily life, but when life crumbles the power of a rubber ducky evaporates and
it becomes what it really is…a bunch of rubber.
It is at times like this that my eyes catch another symbol that often is
set four or more stories high – a cross – not just any cross, of course, but
the cross of Christ. The sight of
the cross takes me back to a Golgotha hill on which Jesus suffered and died,
taking with him to death every thing that tries to push us through the shredder
of life: our failures, our blunders, our shortcomings, our evil deeds, and the judgment of others. It fills my ears with a yell that spans
all time and space, “It is finished.”
It sends me back to a baptismal font when Jesus staked his claim on me
when I was “sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ
forever.” It clears out the junk
of my life and I see the banner that Jesus has strung across my life, “I have
called you by name. You are mine.”
A rubber ducky may be a universal symbol of joy. The cross is a universal symbol of hope….hope
that springs eternal from a Golgotha hill and an Easter garden tomb… “Lift high
the cross. The love of Christ
proclaim!”
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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