Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Paula’s prayer meeting 6/14/2023
The Heart Knows,
A HUNDRED OBJECTS CLOSE BY
Mira
I know a cure for
sadness:
Let your hands touch
something that
Makes your eyes
smile.
I bet there are a
hundred objects close by
That can do that.
Look at
Beauty’s gift to us—
Her power is so great
she enlivens
The earth, the sky,
our soul.
Beloved Is Where We Begin
If you would enter
into the wilderness,
do not begin
without a blessing.
Do not leave
without hearing
who you are:
Beloved,
named by the One
who has traveled this path
before you.
Do not go
without letting it echo
in your ears,
and if you find
it is hard
to let it into your heart,
do not despair.
That is what
this journey is for.
I cannot promise
this blessing will free you
from danger,
from fear,
from hunger
or thirst,
from the scorching
of sun
or the fall
of the night.
But I can tell you
that on this path
there will be help.
I can tell you
that on this way
there will be rest.
I can tell you
that you will know
the strange graces
that come to our aid
only on a road
such as this,
that fly to meet us
bearing comfort
and strength,
that come alongside us
for no other cause
than to lean themselves
toward our ear
and with their
curious insistence
whisper our name:
Beloved.
Beloved.
Beloved.
—Jan Richardson
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Sweet Potato Hoisin Glazed Korean Pancakes
This is a cross between a tortilla and a Korean Pancake. Instead of making a Korean pancake mix, I used tortillas as the base. I know it is an easy lazy way to go. But it works.
Green onions characteristic of Korean pancakes together with mashed cooked sweet potatoes comprised the filling. The Hoisin sauce gives this Korean pancake/tortilla its sweet spicy flavor that sparks one’s tastebuds. It glazes the tortilla inside and outside.
Crunchiness is achieved by using the air fryer or oven.
This is a great appetizer or dish with a salad. My Plant Based Pittsburgh group members loved it during our delightful potluck last night which featured healthy delicious dishes. See photos below.
Hoisin Glazed Sweet Potato Korean Pancakes
Ingredients:
- 2 1-2 cups cooked sweet potatoes, mashed
- 1 cup chopped green onions
- 10 small corn or flour tortillas
- 2 -3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce (store bought or homemade see recipe below)
Instructions:
Mix the sweet potatoes and green onions in a bowl. Set aside.
Spread Hoisin sauce on top of one side of a tortilla.
On half of the tortilla, place about 1 tablespoon of the sweet potatoes green onion mixture.
Then fold over the other half. Repeat with rest of the tortillas.
Air fry 400 for five minutes. Flip halfway.
Glaze the rest of the Hoisin sauce the top of tortilla. Air fry for 2 minutes more or till desired crispness.
Homemade Hoisin Sauce
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter or black bean paste
- 1 tablespoon molasses or brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1-2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 5-20 drops chinese hot sauce, habenero or jalepeno depends on your taste
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Whisk all the ingredients together. At first it does not appear to be mixing together, keep at it and whisk a bit longer.
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
pray share chat 6/7/2023 focus on patience
3. narrative
Patience
Friday, January 4, 2019
The New Testament shows history working in a way that is both evolutionary and positive. See, for example, Jesus’ many parables of the Kingdom, which lean heavily on the language of growth and development. He uses metaphors of the seed, the maturing ear of corn, weeds and wheat growing together, and yeast rising. His parables of the “Reign of God” are about finding, discovering, being surprised, changing roles and status. None of these notions are static; they are always about something new and good coming into being.
Why do I think this is so important? Frankly, because without it we become very impatient with ourselves and others. Humans and history both grow slowly. [1] We expect people to show up at our church doors fully transformed and holy before they can be welcomed in. But metanoeite, or change of consciousness, can only come with time. Patience is the very shape of love. Without it, religion is merely about enforcing laws and requirements. Without an evolutionary worldview, Christianity does not really understand, much less foster, growth or change. Nor does it know how to respect and support where history is heading.
Anything called “Good News” needs to reveal a universal pattern that can be relied upon, not just clannish or tribal patterns that might be true on occasion. This is probably why Christianity’s break with Judaism was inevitable, although never intended by either Jesus or Paul. Both Jesus and Paul were good Jews who thought they were reforming Judaism. By the early second century, Christians were already calling themselves “catholics” or “the universals.” At the front of their consciousness was a belief that God is leading all of history somewhere larger and broader and better for everyone. Christianity cannot be bound by ethnicity or nationality. This puts it in essential conflict with any group that wants to domesticate the message for its own “patriotic” purposes.
Without a universal story line that offers grace and caring for all of creation, Jesus is always kept small and seemingly inept. God’s care must be toward all creatures; otherwise, God ends up not being very caring at all, which makes things like water, trees, animals—and other peoples—seem accidental, trivial, or disposable. But grace is not a late arrival in history, an occasional add-on for a handful of humans. God’s grace and life did not just appear a couple thousand years ago when Jesus came, and his story was told through the Gospels. God’s grace cannot be a random solution doled out to the few and the virtuous—or it would hardly be grace at all! (See Ephesians 2:7-10 if you want the radical meaning of grace summed up in three succinct verses.)
What if we recovered the sense of God’s inherent grace (the Holy Spirit whom we called “Uncreated Grace”) as the primary generator of all life? We are, of course, in evolution all the time. To deny change and growth is to deny the obvious, yet humans seem good at that. The ride is the destination, and the goal is never clearly in sight. To stay on the ride, to trust the trajectory, to know it is moving, and moving somewhere always better, is just about the best way to describe religious faith.
References:
[1] See Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church (Baker Academic: 2016). This faith-filled historical study by a Mennonite scholar shows how the early church was much more patient and humble about growth and change than Christians tended to be in later centuries. The title says it all.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (Convergent Books: March 5, 2019), 96-98; and
“Introduction,” “Evolutionary Thinking,” Oneing, vol. 4, no. 2 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2016), 115-116.
4. Prayer
Dear God, thank You for blessing me with a new day. Thank You for allowing me to carry on Your will on this brand new morning. I ask that You continue to watch over me as I face whatever challenges may come my way today. Lord, give me patience for today, so that I may overcome any difficult tasks ahead. Nothing is impossible with You by my side, and I pray that Your Holy Spirit showers me with grace and patience to see the end of the day with my head held high. I lift up everything to You Lord. Amen.
5. Meditation