CICADIAN RHYTHM
June 2004

The cicadas are coming. And with all the fanfare of a major media event or the arrival of a super celebrity. You can purchase cicada T-shirts, cassette recordings of cicada choruses, and 8 by 10 glossies. You can join a cicada chat room, learn cicada origami, attend cicada events and dine on gourmet bugs and cicada cocktails. You can even learn to speak in Cicadian. Aren't you glad this plague of locusts happens only every seventeen years?

There are certain rhythms to life, cycles of nature, circadian patterns to our daily existence. They help provide balance to our living. The writer of Ecclesiastes says that "for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven." Change is necessary to life, for if you are not busy growing and adapting, you are dying. Elizabeth Kubler Ross called death the final stage of growth.

Change, activity, work, growth are healthy for individuals and for institutions. Organizations and organisms that don't change or adapt to their environment stagnate and perish. But too much activity and uncontrollable growth are not healthy either. One must find the proper balance in life.

There are two times each year that are called "solstice." Literally it means the sun stands still. The sun seems to rise and set in the same place for a few days around December 21 and June 21, the shortest and longest days of the year. These perceived pauses on the sun's journey reminded the ancient peoples of the need for balance in their lives, the need to stop occasionally to get one's spiritual bearings, and to recognize that there is more to life than daily activity that has no meaning. As part of our rhythm of living we need those times of worship, self-reflection, prayer and solitude before we begin the cycle again.

In our congregational life together we have a great deal of vitality and enthusiasm and much interest in accomplishing our shared mission. It is good to see this energy. It is wonderful to witness the great diversity of our people who bring so many different gifts to our common life. This past year has been dizzying and dazzling, and in the fall we will once again channel our creative energy in new directions.

But summer is coming and it is time to change our rhythm. It is time for rest and renewal, a time to listen to inner voices of the Spirit, a time to see the grandeur of God, and to stand in awe of the mystery of life.

I hope that you have a wonderful summer and that you enjoy what God gives you, whether they be joys or challenges, rewards or opportunities for growth in another direction. May this be for you and your loved ones a time of healing and renewal, a time of grace and blessing.

Dr. Harry L. Serio