Hello,
Sunday evening I
arrived back from a four day stay in New York City. My youngest son gave
his master’s degree piano recital, and my whole family made the trip to the
“Big Apple” to hear him twinkle the ivories. The recital was on Thursday
evening, so that left us with several days of seeing the sights and wandering
around the city together.
I’ve been to NYC
a couple of times since my son has moved there, but with every trip I am still
surprised at the hustle and bustle of the streets, the chorus of languages that
fill one’s ears, the clock that never strikes twelve, the undertaking of making
order out of the chaos, and the endless variety of stores and shops that seem
to have enough business to stay open despite the huge rent payments they must
be making.
Saturday morning
we strolled down to Times’ Square to see if we could get some theater
tickets. Even in the day, Time Square is a like a shimmering sequined
dress. Big Screen advertisements that covered the first 6 stories of a
building scroll from each direction of the compass. Billboards, larger
yet, bring movie characters to your face as if they were the Giant and you were
Jack of beanstalk fame. People filling the streets like ants to
sugar. Music playing, pictures being taken, tourists with necks crooked
and eyes wide open. Time Square is a sensory overload locale that
magnifies the energy, diversity, and drive of life in the United States.
Even to sit on a bench there has a way of both fuelling one up and exhausting
one out.
Interestingly
enough, in the middle of Time Square is a large bronze statue. The fact
that there is a statue there is not the thing that I find interesting.
What I find interesting is who the statue is. It is a statue of Father
Duffy, a Roman Catholic priest who served as an army chaplain in the early 20th
century and who completed his ministry in a parish not too far from Time
Square. Amid the swarms of people, above the din of the noise, surrounded
by the screens and billboards stands the stately statue of a Roman Catholic
priest.
I don’t
know how many other people noticed him, but whether they noticed him or not….he
was there. I don’t know how many people knew his story (I didn’t)…but he
was there. I don’t know if at night the glitz around him blinded others
to his unlit presence….but he was there. There, in the magnified
microcosm of what this world has to offer in life stands, and always stands,
one who was ordained to reach the world with everything that life with God has
to offer.
Maybe it is no accident
that he stands there unlit, witnessing to the fragile power of everything that
was lit around him and to the power of God that is its own light. Maybe
it is no accident that he stands there silent, witnessing to the fragile peace
that the words that the world speaks give us and the concrete peace that comes
with the promises of God. Maybe it is no accident that he stands there
oblivious to fashion and fad, witnessing to the gusty winds of this world that
can pull us off course and the shepherding care of a Good Shepherd who stays
the course. . Maybe it is no accident that he is made of metal that
withstands the weather, the collisions, the vibrations….witnessing to the
frailty of the commitments that humans make to one another and the resiliency
of God’s commitment to humans.
Ever find yourself feeling like Father Duffy…unlit,
silent, out of step, battered and bruised by the world? Ever feel like you’re not making much
of a difference in helping people see what life with God has to offer against
the thunder of what the world is offering?
You might be doing more than you think….just
like that Time Square statue of Father Duffy.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,(ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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