Going Buggy in Algonquin?

Dragonfly eating Mosquito...nice work!

God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed 
that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; 
you shall have them for food.
 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, 
and to everything that creeps on the earth, 
everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” 
And it was so. 
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed,
 it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:29-31

Some of you are aware that the past two summers I've led worship in Algonquin Provincial Park, part of what we hope is a reinvigorated ministry associated with Cathedral of the Trees. The United Church has sustained a weekly summer ministry in the park since the early 1950s but it had waned to the point of near-extinction. We're hoping that an emphasis on celebrating the goodness of Creation will provide a new focus and energy.

We've started musing about a theme for this year and I tossed out the idea of the sometimes unpleasant but absolutely vital reality of insects. The early summer in Algonquin serves up a bazillion mosquitoes, which can be crazy-making. Surely God got it wrong with mosquitoes?! They are more than an annoyance, they often carry diseases which can be deadly.

Yet most of us delight in dragonflies in all their sizes and they eat mosquitoes in abundance. Around the park there are a variety of songbirds and in the campgrounds there are woodpeckers, including the impressive crow-sized Pileated woodpecker. Guess what? They all eat insects,including mosquitoes, as do many species of fish. They are part of the web of creation, even though some of them may torment or even scare us.

One of the reasons it might be timely to have insects as a theme is that in many parts of the world they are in catastrophic decline. The use of insecticides over large tracts of agricultural land means that the little critters can run but they can't hide. We are most aware of the this with the "likable" insects such as butterflies and honey bees but the killers aren't discriminating. We have entered into a tipping point which is akin to the crisis Rachel Carson identified in the early 1960s. I can tell you from my Twitter feed that the chemical giants are still extolling the virtues of their products without any recognition of the possible harm.Canada is still dragging its regulatory feet on neonicotinoids, the pesticide linked to the decline of absolutely essential pollinators. 

Who knows what theme we will choose for our summer ministry in Algonquin, but it got me thinking. I would probably still curse the mosquitoes under my breath as we hike the trails of the park, but they are God's living, breathing creatures, just the same.