Sermon Illustrations
Bronze Bust of Soccer Player Leaves Viewers Scratching Their Heads (and the Internet Abuzz)
For many of us, having a statue made in our likeness sounds like quite the honor—and quite the achievement. But for Portuguese soccer sensation Cristiano Ronaldo, the reality is not quite the stuff of which dreams are made.
Recently, an airport in Portugal's Madeira Islands was named for Ronaldo—but that wasn't what made it into international headlines (and the Twitterverse). The real story was the bronze bust that was fashioned in Ronaldo's likeness.
Even the Associated Press had to comment on it: "The bronze bust squashes the player's eyes close together, and the cheeky raised-eyebrow smile more resembles a leer."
Naturally, the Internet has exploded with memes and jokes, and comparisons have been drawn to another infamous statue, "Scary Lucy": "the life-size bronze statue of Lucille Ball that bared its teeth at park-goers for years in [Ball's hometown of] Celoron, New York."
The sculptor, at least officially, seems unaware that anything is wrong: "It's always a great honor to work on a project like that … I still haven't had the chance to personally talk to [Ronaldo], but I'll try to reach out to him to know his feedback."
Potential Preaching Angles: It may have taken the sculptor eight more days to finish the bust than it took for God to create world, but can we just breathe a huge sigh of relief at how carefully, creatively, "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Ps. 139:14) we are?