I’ve had a lot of time on my hands while recovering from kidney cancer surgery. Vicki and I have watched a lot of World Cup soccer – too many, to be quite honest, because I’m not really a big soccer fan – and a wide assortment of Netflix movies. It’s also been an opportunity to catch up on some reading.
My favorite book has been “The Cardinal Sings for Me.” It’s a collection of devotionals by Dick Lucco, a longtime pastor and conference superintendent in the Covenant Church. The devotionals were written from March 2020 through May 2021 for the congregation he was serving, Northwest Covenant in Mount Prospect, Illinois, during the height of the COVID-19, global pandemic.
While some of the devotionals were written to help his congregation deal with the confinements of the pandemic, many of his writings were deeply personal. Dick was simultaneously dealing with the ups and downs of his own battle with prostate cancer, which he eventually succumbed to. He passed away on May 17, 2022, just one day shy of his 71st birthday.
His writings are humorous and sad, touching and deeply spiritual. He often makes light of his cancer treatment. But he’s also brutally honest about his “bad days,” writing in one devotional, “there are days – and this is one of them for me – when I can’t seem to get out of a ditch of discouragement and despair.” But it’s in those dark moments, however, that Dick says God changes his attitude to a spirit of gratitude.
That’s where the title of the book comes in. Dick was fascinated with the cardinal. The striking, vivid red of the male cardinal, though never mentioned in the Bible, is widely seen as a symbol of hope and God’s presence. In his book, Dick quotes Emily Dickinson: “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.” Dick writes in his book there “were and are times when I desperately need hope to perch in my soul.”
I suspect that during the lockdown of the pandemic Dick spent many days staring out the window at this beautiful bird that is plentiful in the midwest. While other birds fly south for the winter – and you could say when our health and other life challenges head south – the devoted cardinal remains rooted in the dark, gray days of the midwest winter. It’s also probably no coincidence that in the Catholic Church a cardinal is a high-ranking bishop or priest.
Dick carried a miniature cardinal in his pocket and collected cardinal trinkets. It should also be noted the native of St. Louis was a big fan of the major-league baseball Cardinals. He was known to proudly wear a Cardinals baseball cap while living many years in the Chicago area, a staunch Cubs town.
I resonate with Dick’s writings. Although I am currently cleared of cancer, I too have had many fear-filled nights when my arduous and painful road to recovery from Kidney cancer surgery has seemed hopeless. It is in those moments, however, when I cry out to God, that He gives me just enough hope and peace to fall back asleep.
Perhaps I’ll one day write a book about my experience with kidney cancer. Anyone who knows me well is aware I’m a loyal, longtime fan of University of Washington athletics. In the Bible, the color purple represents royal, majesty and divine authority. The Siberian Husky is a magnificent animal.
Not to make light of Dick’s writings, but perhaps mine will be called “The Husky Barks for Me.”
Leave a comment