March 10 Recipe
Mixing, Rising, & WHUMP!
Luke 10:38-42
Big Idea: “WHUMP HAPPENS!” What happens when you get punched down? Do people punch you down? Sabbath rest is the medicine for that. How can we be 24/6 in a 24/7 world?
Ritual: Take a few minutes to re-connect. Share your highs and lows from the week.
Devotional: Read Luke 10:38-42 Martha has many tasks to do. What are tasks you have to or need to do each day / each week? Jesus said that “there is need of only one thing.” Mary chose to sit at Jesus feet to listen to him teach her – that is the one thing. How is it going with your daily devotions that you talked about on Feb. 24? Are you getting into a routine yet? Does having a recipe of specific time, good chair, Bible, and candle help?
Caring Conversation: (B&BB) Pg 41 “By mixing and kneading the gospel of Christ into our lives through the daily discipline of reading and reflection, a spiritual infrastructure is formed, slowly and invisibly, that helps us to ‘hold our shape,’ that is, maintain our identity as Christians regardless of exterior conditions.” Sabbath rest calls us to stop and “let it rise.” Worship allows us to rest. Daily devotions allows us to rest. What are other times you purposely stop to rest or play? (B&BB) Pg 64-65 The baker must make sure the yeast is distributed evenly through the dough. This requires punching the dough. Fr. Dom throws it down on the counter which makes a solid, whump! He says that we all need whumps in our lives to keep growing spiritually. Think about times you’ve been ‘Whumped’. How did you get punched down? Embarrassed? Sickness? Unemployment? Fight with a friend? Low grade on a test you really studied for? On Monday through Saturdays we get ‘whumped!’ Sunday is Sabbath rest, and we can let the Holy Spirit rise up to heal us all over again.
Service: Review what is happening in your prayer time for each other with your candle light – night light – God’s light! Prayer time for tonight is Lectio Divina.
Recipe – February 24
Plan to Bake and Grow Spiritually
John 6: 35, 46-59
Big Idea: Get your recipe, ingredients, tools and BAKE!
Ritual: Take a few minutes to connect. Share your highs and lows from the week.
Devotional: Read John 6:35, 46-59 Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Those who eat of me will live forever.” What does that mean to you? Think about this quote by Henri Nouwen: “The great paradox of our time is that many of us are busy and bored at the same time. While running from one event to the next, we wonder in our innermost selves if anything is really happening. While people keep pushing us in all directions, we doubt if anyone really cares.” (B&BB pg. 10) Are you ever busy and bored? Why do you think that is so? The word “companion” comes from the Latin cum pane: “with bread.” A companion is one with whom we share our bread. Who are your “companions?”
Caring Conversation: Mise en place = “put in place” Talk about your plan or routine for spiritual growth. What do you need to “put in place” for spiritual growth to happen?
- A quiet place where you are undisturbed, and a comfortable chair?
- A time that you are moving but can focus your mind towards God?
- Your Bible, a journal, cross, candle, music?
- When will you pray? When do you have energy?
- If your prayer life is like a diet of food, what are you eating now? How could that look different? (B&BB pg. 25-27)
Service: Your service to each other is prayer. You each have a candle. Decide what time you will each light your candle during the week and pray for the other person. (It can be at the different times, i.e. adult at 7 am, youth at 9 pm). Tonight pray a prayer of Examen (prayerfully examine your day). Think back through your day and name the places where God was present: friends, sunrise, food, etc. Pray a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s presence with your companion.
March 3 Recipe
Grinding Grain to Mix with Yeast of Life
Matthew 13:33
Big Idea: Holy Spirit YEAST! E Pluribus Unum! ‘From many one.’
Ritual: Take a few minutes to re-connect. Share your highs and lows from the week.
Devotional: Read Matthew 13:33 and talk about this parable. It describes a woman who puts her yeast in with flour to leaven her bread. “Three measures” is a little over one bushel = about 144 cups! This woman wanted to feed the whole village, not just her family. The kingdom of heaven is for everyone! On most days, are we ‘bread’ for many people or just ourselves?
Caring Conversation: Yeast is also called ‘leaven’ which comes from the word, ‘enliven’. The Yeast gives it’s life to the dough. Yeast is effective only when in the dough. Yeast is like the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit permeates our lives. The Good News of Jesus can permeate our lives. Does it live in your life every day or only on Sundays? Put your yeast packet into a bowl of warm water with some sugar and watch what happens. If it bubbles, the yeast is ‘active’ and good yeast. How is that like your faith life? Are you mixing the right yeast into your life; is it life-giving, sarcastic, playful, rude? Do you see God’s yeast in others actions: kindness, patience, and love? Talk about the yeast of your lives and other’s lives. (Make sure you are listening to each other and being AAA Christians (Available, Affirming, Authentic)!
Service: Your prayer type tonight is ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication). With your companion name in prayer what you adore about God, want to confess to God, what you give thanks to God for and what you want to ask of God. Remind each other of your prayer times and candles. Talk about how that went and what happened when you thought about the other person praying for you.
Lenten Resources for Sunday School Families
Bethany’s Lenten theme for 2010 is “Bread for the Journey.” We encourage you to try some baking experiences at home together that can enrich your faith journey. We hope the attached recipes will be fun for you.
We invite you, also, to use the booklet distributed in Sunday School, Magnify the Lord, which describes some ways to magnify (praise) the Lord during the 40 days of Lent. We hope the Scriptures, devotions, prayers and activities (crafts and easy recipes) will help provide some meaningful Lenten experiences for your family.
As you create some memorable faith experiences at home, we invite you to take some pictures (and perhaps write a short description or make a sample item) to share with other families at Bethany. We would like to set up a display table in Fellowship Hall and also share ideas on our website or in the Beacon! Your experience may inspire another family to find a new way to nurture faith at home. The more we share our stories of faith with each other, the stronger our faith community becomes! Please contact me if you are willing to share your stories and pictures!
Lenten Blessings!
Rit Vogel
303-639-4349
Pretzels: The Prayer Bread
It is said that pretzel-baking originated about 1500 years ago, when an Italian monk used the leftover scraps of bread dough for something a little more imaginative. He formed the scraps into dough-ropes which he twisted to resemble a person’s arms crossed in prayer, the traditional posture for prayer in those days. The brother monks approved the tidbits and began using them as rewards for children who learned their prayers — ’pretiola’ (“little prayers”). Monks also used the classic pretzel, with its interconnected sections, to help children understand the Christian Trinity of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Pretzels were thought to bring luck, prosperity, and spiritual wholeness to those who ate them.
These snacks today are still a reminder of Lent as a season of deep and frequent prayer. “Grant us, we pray, that we may always be reminded by the sight of these pretzels to pray to You with grateful hearts. Amen.”
Pretzel recipe:
1 tablespoon honey or sugar
1 ½ cups lukewarm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
coarse salt
1 egg, beaten
Add the honey to the water; sprinkle in the yeast and stir until totally dissolved. Add 1 tsp. salt. Stir in the flour, and knead the dough till smooth (about 7 minutes). Use a hand towel to cover the dough in the bowl, and wait for the dough to rise and double in size.
Punch down the dough and roll it out of the bowl. Cut the dough into pieces. Roll them into ropes and twist into pretzel shapes. Place the pretzels on lightly greased cookie sheets and brush them with the beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse salt. Using the same hand towel, cover the pretzels and wait for them to rise. Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.
Hot Cross Buns – a contemporary version
Hot Cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday. One story says that some 600 years ago, an English monk baked hot cross buns and gave them to the poor at Easter time. Cooks from then on have continued this season specialty. The cross, made of white icing, is a reminder of the greatest gift even given in human history: the life and death of God’s own Son.
Frozen bread dough (1 loaf)
¼ cup currants or raisins
1 egg white, slightly beaten
1 cup powdered sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
Thaw bread dough. Add currants or raisins to dough. Roll into rectangle about 9 x 15 inches and cut 10 to 15 buns with a 2 ½-inch biscuit cutter. Place buns on greased baking sheet. Let rise until doubled, about 1 ½ hours.
With scissors, cut a shallow cross shape in the top of each bun. Brush each top with slightly beaten egg white. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees) 12-15 minutes, until golden. Place buns on cooling rack.
Mix vanilla with powdered sugar to icing consistency. Spoon icing into paper cone or plastic baggie which has a small tip cut off. Fill the cut crosses with icing while buns are still slightly warm.
Jesus Is Risen Rolls
To help children understand the meaning of Christ’s empty tomb, make this fun and tasty treat.
1 can refrigerated bread-stick dough
large marshmallows
spray margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Knead and press each breadstick into a flat circle. Place a marshmallow in the center of the circle and pinch the dough around the marshmallow. Roll the marshmallow-filled rolls into round balls. Spray the rolls with margarine. Combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the rolls with the mixture. Place the rolls on a baking sheet with the pinched edges down. Bake the rolls at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, until brown. Cool on a wire rack.
While the rolls bake, tell the Easter story. Then enjoy a tasty Easter treat as you celebrate that Christ’s tomb was empty, just as these rolls are empty.
Recipe – March 10
Mixing, Rising, & WHUMP! Luke 10:38-42
Big Idea: “WHUMP HAPPENS!” What happens when you get punched down? Do people punch you down? Sabbath rest is the medicine for that. How can we be 24/6 in a 24/7 world?
Ritual: Take a few minutes to re-connect. Share your highs and lows from the week.
Devotional: Read Luke 10:38-42 Martha has many tasks to do. What are tasks you have to or need to do each day / each week? Jesus said that “there is need of only one thing.” Mary chose to sit at Jesus feet to listen to him teach her – that is the one thing. How is it going with your daily devotions that you talked about on Feb. 24? Are you getting into a routine yet? Does having a recipe of specific time, good chair, Bible, and candle help?
Caring Conversation: (B&BB) Pg 41 “By mixing and kneading the gospel of Christ into our lives through the daily discipline of reading and reflection, a spiritual infrastructure is formed, slowly and invisibly, that helps us to ‘hold our shape,’ that is, maintain our identity as Christians regardless of exterior conditions.” Sabbath rest calls us to stop and “let it rise.” Worship allows us to rest. Daily devotions allows us to rest. What are other times you purposely stop to rest or play? (B&BB) Pg 64-65 The baker must make sure the yeast is distributed evenly through the dough. This requires punching the dough. Fr. Dom throws it down on the counter which makes a solid, whump! He says that we all need whumps in our lives to keep growing spiritually. Think about times you’ve been ‘Whumped’. How did you get punched down? Embarrasssed? Sickness? Unemployment? Fight with a friend? Low grade on a test you really studied for? On Monday through Saturdays we get ‘whumped!’ Sunday is Sabbath rest, and we can let the Holy Spirit rise up to heal us all over again.
Service: Review what is happening in your prayer time for each other with your candle light – night light – God’s light! Prayer time for tonight is Lectio Divina.
Psalm 51
Psalm 51 is a Psalm of disorientation. We are all sinners in God’s sight. How have you ‘sinned against God’ and ‘done what is evil’ in God’s sight? Think about this question as you read one or all of the versions of Psalm 51 provided below.
Definitions from Walter Brueggeman, The Message of the Psalms, and Spirituality of the Psalms.
ELW
Psalm 51
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your | steadfast love;
in your great compassion blot out | my offenses.
2Wash me through and through | from my wickedness,
and cleanse me | from my sin.
3For I know | my offenses,
and my sin is ev- | er before me.
4Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil | in your sight;
so you are justified when you speak and right | in your judgment.
5Indeed, I was born | steeped in wickedness,
a sinner from my | mother’s womb.
6Indeed, you delight in truth | deep within me,
and would have me know wisdom | deep within.
7Remove my sins with hyssop, and I | shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be pur- | er than snow.
8Let me hear | joy and gladness;
that the body you have broken | may rejoice.
9Hide your face | from my sins,
and blot out | all my wickedness.
10Create in me a clean | heart, O God,
and renew a right spir- | it within me.
11Cast me not away | from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spir- | it from me.
12Restore to me the joy of | your salvation
and sustain me with your boun- | tiful Spirit.
13Let me teach your ways | to offenders,
and sinners shall be re- | stored to you.
14Rescue me from bloodshed, O God of | my salvation,
and my tongue shall sing | of your righteousness.
15O Lord, o- | pen my lips,
and my mouth shall pro- | claim your praise.
16For you take no delight in sacrifice, or | I would give it.
You are not pleased | with burnt offering.
17The sacrifice of God is a | troubled spirit;
a troubled and broken heart, O God, you will | not despise.
18Favor Zion with | your good pleasure;
build up the walls | of Jerusalem.
19Then you will delight in the appointed sacrifices, in burnt | and whole offerings;
then young bulls shall be offered up- | on your altar.
NRSV
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
1Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
5Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
6You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
11Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
13Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
15O LORD, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19then you will delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Message
1-3Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I’ve been;
my sins are staring me down.
4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.
7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don’t look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don’t throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I’ll let loose with your praise.
16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.
18-19 Make Zion the place you delight in,
repair Jerusalem’s broken-down walls.
Then you’ll get real worship from us,
acts of worship small and large,
Including all the bulls
they can heave onto your altar!
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
Learn more about The Message.
Lent 2010 – Bread for the Journey
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35 These are words to chew on and digest and hunger for, all the days of our lives. But during Lent this year, we hope you will reflect on how Jesus is our Bread for the Journey. Check out all the amazing ways you can experience Jesus as bread beginning Feb 17, with Ash Wednesday!
Lenten Retreat: February 25-27: Join us at St. Malo’s Retreat Center as we study several texts: Christ in Culture, Richard Niebuhr, The Good Book, Peter Gomes and Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom. These will help us understand the lenses through which we read scripture and encounter the world.
Wednesday Midweek Worship: At noon we’ll have worship with a brief sermon. Wednesday nights find us in the sanctuary, 6:30 – 7:15 pm, for Taize. This time will be reflective and quiet with songs to center our minds on Jesus, ‘the bread of life.’
Labyrinth: Wednesdays in Lent offers you a chance to walk a labyrinth. The Christian labyrinth became popular during the Middle Ages as a means to go on a ‘pilgrimage.’ Contemplative, intentional, steady steps take one to the center so to pause before the Lord. This is holy ground!
h2o Devos: Each day, stop to reflect on Bread for the Journey with Pastor Ron’s daily devotionals. Check them out at h2odevos.blogspot.com. With the songs of Peter Mayer and creativity of Pr Ron, you won’t be disappointed.
What kind of bread are you? Father Dominic, in Bake and be Blessed, says that each one of us are a ‘bread type.’ Look for recipe cards and a devotional booklet to help you determine if you are rye or banana nut! Then go, and be bread for the world!
Confirmation students and mentors: will mutually benefit from conversations during the weeks of Lent. Thanks to AAA adults for walking the walk and talking the talk with our youth. If your conversation finishes early, head to the kitchen for some pretzel baking!
Stretch and Pray: Offered each Wednesday night after worship with Michelle Stone Kraus leading us in that vital connection of body and spirit! It’s easy and fun. Try it out!
Lenten Mentoring: The Lenten Mentor/Companion Orientation document is available for you to review and share with others: Welcome to Lenten Mentor
Children’s Lenten Resources: Click on the link to check out the great recipes to try with your kids at home!
