World Day of Prayer
J’ville Council of Churches May, 2003
Just the first four lines from one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems: "Hope" is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all –
Imagine this with me… Wolf Blitzer introduces the story. “We now go live to Huntsville, Alabama, to talk to one of the former POW’s in the War with Iraq.” The camera makes a quick cut to a young man sitting on his living room couch with his mother on his right and his father on his left. All three people have large yellow ducks on their heads.
Wolf says, “I imagine it’s great to be home.” He does not mention the ducks. “Yes,” says the young soldier. He leans over and squeezes his mother’s hand. The duck on his head shifts slightly to maintain its balance. The interview continues as the soldier speaks of being held captive, being questioned, and of his eventual release. Stock footage of the soldier’s release is shown on half of the screen. Two of three MP’s leading him into Bethesda Hospital have large yellow ducks on their heads.
After a commercial break, Wolf introduces a female sailor who’s being honored by President Bush for her heroism under fire. The camera pans across the crowd and we see that many in the audience have large yellow ducks on their heads. The young lady being honored has a large yellow duck on her head and the duck ducks as the President lifts the medal over the girl’s cap to place the medallion around her neck. The camera pans to show that the President is also wearing a duck. …it has tinges of red and white and blue in its feathers but it’s still a large yellow duck.
A child has been lost in North Carolina. An NBC camera zeros in on the face of a grieving mother. She tells of her hopes to have her little boy returned alive. It’s a close camera shot.. only her duck’s webbed feet are seen on the screen.
The strange part of this evening’s news is not that every other person seems to have large yellow ducks on their heads… it’s that no one mentions them. Not Wolf, not Brokow, not Rather. And some of these ducks are even imbedded.
If you saw that scenario unfold some night on the news, you’d be astounded. Yet is has…throughout the Iraq War… throughout every hurricane and flood story… throughout every tale of school shootings. ..throughout every tragedy our nation has suffered.
People’s faith…a very large yellow duck.. has sat atop our newscasts nearly every evening, yet it’s never mentioned. When the victim dies and Fox Network has some time to fill, they’ll broadcast the memorial service.. but no one mentions the duck. No one mentions the huge outpouring …the outright demonstration of faith that fills the throats of the American people.
My favorite story from the Iraq war. In the south.. a young African American female soldier had been rescued. A friend of the family.. a burly-looking white man.. heard the news while driving his 18-wheeler on the Interstate. He called the family and told them he was coming.. the networks showed the sight of a semi-trailer worming its way down a crowded neighborhood street with the driver blowing his horn. The man jumped from his cab, brushed away the camera crew and said, “I’m not the story here!”.. ran up to the door of the girls’ family, grabbed the girl’s mother and held her in the air, shouting, “Praise God! Thank you, Jesus!” .. they hugged, they kissed, and he left ..blowing his horn. The reporter commented on how strange it was to see a semi in that neighborhood. No one mentioned the duck. No.. I am not a media basher. I applaud the media. I thank God for an objective media and overlook its sensationalism as the price we pay for round the clock information.
But I must stop and wonder how faith can be such a huge part of so many lives yet it is almost totally ignored in the coverage of the events of our lives. I have never heard so many testimonies as I have in the days since Sept 11 of 2002. The media do not superimpose a black box over the duck..they don’t censor the duck… but isn’t strange they never mention it?
It reminds me of my trip to the Rockies. I once went with a group of adventurers to the Continental Divide near Lyons, Colorado. For a day we rode on horseback..then…too steep and horses stopped… hiked.. “Bean in your ears”.. hadn’t seen a soul for 18 ours.. got to the very top…spit on one side.. Atlantic-Pacific.. met to hikers coming from the other direction.. They stepped aside to let us pass. .. We said nothing.. they said nothing.. I was a farm boy and I was flabberghasted!.. Wanted to shout “Hey! Do you see what just happened here?” They had no horses! It must have been days since they’d seen anyone. It reminded me of…well, of a big yellow duck. No one seems to mention the most obvious.
Please don’t get frightened. I am not being political. When it comes to faith I don’t trust either side. I don’t want Pat Robertson filtering my news and I don’t want the local school superintendent teaching children how to pray.
I’m simply wondering, why does the duck scare us so? Faith…prayer.. it’s everywhere… it’s integral to our being like nothing else …
Several theories… It’s a conspiracy in the pinko-communist Democrat anti-duck media.. No. The media may be sensational and commercial but I think they can be trusted further than I can throw a government spokesman. Theory two: Our nation’s faith is so obvious and pervasive that it needs no mention. Sorry, but I don’t quite swallow that one either. A duck is a duck and if it keeps showing up, we really ought to discuss it. So I hereby submit theory Number Three: We simply don’t how to talk about it. I mean, what do you say about a big yellow duck? How can you honestly describe your relationship with God? What do you say about something that keeps showing up in the story of so many lives? How can you report or measure or summarize something so powerful… so world changing and so very vital as faith?
It would be the obvious tact to speak at the World Day of Prayer about how our wayward nation is heading headlong into damnation and if we don’t immediately fall to our knees then we’ll go out into the parking lot tonight and find that God has exploded our SUV’s and turned our laptaps to silly putty.
But I’m not going to say that. We lead the world in several categories. We chew the most bubble gum of any nation on earth, we consume the most Root Beer, and according to a recent poll of travel writers, we have the world’s softest toilet paper. Let me add one more superlative to that list. We are the world’s most self-critical nation. Not even the French and Germans can bash us like we can bash us.
Let me tell you something… that’s a healthy trait but it’s not always comfortable and it’s not always true.
I’m not going to quote you church attendance or what the latest USA Today poll says about the average American’s prayer habits. I’ll simply point out what you already know: We pray…. A lot… Friend from London often visits… “All you people talk about is God!” We believe…. A lot. We fear and tremble but we try very hard to trust in God.
When wars rage. . . When we fear for the judgment of our leaders. . .When terrorism squeezes us into second-guessing what two years ago were everyday occurrences. When we are afraid for our nation…perhaps that’s enough. Perhaps God understands that which He cannot totally approve. Perhaps God looks upon us not as perfect children but as the little boy, the little girl who truly wants to do better when the broken milk glass is found on the kitchen floor.
Perhaps we should stop slapping ourselves around and praise God that in spite of everything we bring upon ourselves, we are so very blessed. Perhaps we should look around and realize that only a loving God could bless us with freedom, with enough prosperity to solve our problems if we would only do so, with love and with salvation.
Yes, there are things to do. Yes we fail miserably at doing them. But ….but… the duck still sits there. No one knows how to discuss it. It embarrasses Wolf Blitzer. It befuddles Ted Turner. I have my own personal theory that Rather and Brokow have ducks of their own but that’s just speculation. And if no one discusses the duck…well, who cares? If John Wesley, if John Calvin, if Martin Luther could only begin to fathom the mind of God, what chance does Ted Koppel have?
Our fear has increased. Our faith has not wavered. Our doubts have grown, but the fervency of our prayers has outgrown even our uncertainties.
That is not cock-eyed optimism. It’s faith. I believe it. I hope you do.
Let’s let the duck alone and don’t worry if no one seems to mention him. It really doesn’t matter as long as we know he’s there.
"Hope" is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – ……………. Be Blessed.
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