May 20, 2021

A little humor from The Onion this morning on the cusp of the cicada arrival. “In response to the brood’s reemergence after lying dormant since 2004, several area insects reportedly said, “Wow, hope you had a nice 17 years off,” to a group of periodical cicadas Tuesday, expressing annoyance over being forced during the prolonged absence to torment humans on their own. “You certainly look refreshed—that was some break, huh?” a local mosquito told the cicadas as it called over some ticks, wasps, fire ants, and brown recluse spiders that sources confirmed worked twice as hard to inflict fear and disease upon humans while the cicadas “took their sweet, sweet time doing God knows what” beneath the ground.”

People – at least in our culture – are generally uncomfortable with people who don’t “produce.” Maybe you are uncomfortable with yourself when you don’t produce, preferring the human doing version of yourself over the human being.

God seems uniformly unconcerned with human production. You know the famous verse: “Cease striving and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) Looks like you can actually take your sweet time doing God knows what, after all.

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 12 – BCP)