Cricket Choruses

I am happy that fall has finally arrived for a number of reasons. Among them are not having to turn on the overhead fan every time I sit down at the computer, being able to open the blinds without worrying about the heat of the day encompassing the room, and not hearing the ever-singing crickets and katydids making their incessant noise in the grass and trees. It is only now that I can appreciate the sound of silence outside my window. I recently, however, got an entirely different perspective on cricket choruses.

One of the aspects I most enjoy about attending the Episcopal church now is that the theologians have simplified belief into two major tenets: creation and incarnation. All of the worship within the church tends to focus on these only. As a congregation, we do not worry so much about sin and everlasting punishment or the coming Armageddon. The hymns, creeds, and sermons are much more positive within the Episcopal church.

A recent example from our Bible study group reminded me of this great gift to us. We were reading Flannery O'Connor's famous short story, "Revelation," when we came to the concluding paragraph of the piece. It is where Mrs. Turpin has had the great revelation where she sees many souls ascending to heaven. The final paragraph states, "In the woods around her the invisible cricket choruses had struck up, but what she heard were the voices of the souls climbing upward into the starry field and shouting hallelujah." Our Bible study leader then played a cd where someone had intentionally recorded crickets singing on a warm Southern night but had slowed the speed considerably. I was amazed that the cricket choruses sounded like a well written symphony written in praise to God. Actually, the idea of a musical order of the universe has been inspirational in the history of the human mind for thousands of years. Pythagoras, a early Greek philosopher, even spoke of it. I am just now beginning to think of the implications of the idea.

I hope never again to complain about the sounds outside my window on a summer night and see them as annoying but will, instead, listen carefully the cricket choruses. Perhaps they are singing in praise to God.