June 24, 2004
John Baptist
So far, the cicadas have spared our town. They were here six years ago, and if the thirteen-year cycle be true for us, they won’t be back for a while. They’ll just lurk.
They come to mind not only because they’ve been in the news of late, but because today’s John Baptist’s birthday. If he ate locusts, well… ? Whatever. It’s really not so much what he ate and what he wore, but what he did and what he would and wouldn’t put up with.
You’ll not catch us churchers eating bugs — unless, maybe, if they’re chocolate-covered — but neither will you catch us much sporting WWJBD bumper stickers. Anyhow, we’ve got a prayer about him that says, “Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth’s sake… ” (BCP pp 190 & 241).
It’s of the cicadas’ nature to lurk, not ours, at least while we’ve still got a prayer.