When I was in kindergarten, I stole my first bite of communion bread. I didn't understand what the meal meant, but I craved it deeply. Twenty years later, I can't say I understand it any more, but I'm prepared to spend my whole life giving into the cravings that began at five years old.
Read MoreI am grateful that the church sets aside a bit of time each year to grieve and to process death. In just a few days we will sing boldly, oh death where is your sting. But for today, I grieve. Because death still hurts right now.
Read MoreThrough this Lenten series, I'm realizing my own difficulty fulfilling commitments or allowing others to depend on me. But part of realizing our own dependence on God is realizing the importance of interdependent community.
Read MoreToday's guest post comes from another dear friend named Lindsay, though not that same Lindsay as last week. She shares the importance of Jesus embodied metaphor for the kingdom of God and the ways it teaches us to work, wait, witness, and wonder.
Read MoreI realized last week how often I use the excuse of "I'm too busy" to avoid doing things I just don't want to do. Fasting is meant to strip away the tasks that we use to fill our time and excuse ourselves from the things we don't want to do. But Isaiah 58 tells us that if our fasting doesn't then lead us to see and address the needs of the oppressed around us, then we are doing it seriously wrong.
Read MoreSpelt is one of the oldest varieties of wheat, nearly 9,000 years old! It's low gluten content has caused it to rise in popularity over the past few years, but while it has great flavor it is a bit trickier to bake with. It requires extra stretching and folding to build sufficient strength in the dough.
Read MoreGuest writer Lyndsey Medford shares her difficulty accepting the problems of an ingredient that holds so much cultural identity. But in learning to bake as a spiritual discipline, she is learning to accept her interdependence with something as minute as a microorganism. Cultivating humility and patience, sourdough teaches the qualities Jesus possessed in his very bones.
Read MoreIn the last moments before Jesus died, He commanded his followers to continue showing radical love. He looked Judas in the face, right before Judas would betray him, to remind him of Jesus' deep love. This love didn't save Jesus' from being betrayed, but it is the legacy He commanded his followers to continue in. In the last moments before the yeasts die, they have the option of leaving behind a beautiful, open loaf, or a dense sticky one. When a baker creates the right environment, they choose the route of beauty.
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