One thing that has been afforded to me in this fellowship year is time. Time to peel garlic while the sun set in Tanzania. Time to learn how to cook. Time to bake bread. Time to break bread.
I learned how to make bagels last week. We were surprisingly busy. We went to the Galilee one last time. We went to Nablus (Shekem) and saw Jacob's Well. We went to Mount Gerazim and met some good (actual) Samaritans We went to Jerusalem to play volleyball. When we were home in Beit Jala/Al Doha, I was working on Sunday's sermon, or my next quarterly report, or our itinerary for Germany, or last weekend's two interviews with churches in the Moorhead area. When I wasn't doing any of that, I was baking. Last week I learned how to make scones. This week I learned how to make bagels.
We called them Benjamin Button Bagels because they were so wrinkly.
Final outcome: delicious!
The sermon this week was based on the Acts 9 story of Peter raising Tabitha from the dead. I used Wendell Berry's manifesto known as "The Mad Farmer Liberation Front", particularly his line to "Practice Resurrection." I couldn't help but see a connection between practicing resurrection and baking bread (or bagels!). Bread baking is inefficient these days. It is not ready made. It takes time. You have to get your hands dirty. You have to wait for the dough to rise. Baking bread in a world of store bought stuff is a practice in resurrection. It's also delicious.
Since this was our last Sunday in Jerusalem, I wanted to bake the communion bread. So. I did. Last night, after moving out of Bethlehem and onto the Mount of Olives, I went to the Stone House and made communion bread with Susanne. We used the recipe from Luther Seminary, but I swear ours tastes better. Even more, Susanne has an imprint that Christians from the Middle East often use and so our bread was not only tasty but also very handsome.
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