This week’s eNewsletter Feature
was written by Jim Teague,
FPCE director of communications.
Dear friends –
As a wedding present, my wife and I received a pizza stone and a recipe book on how to make homemade pizza. The friend who gave it to us was a former roommate of mine and was well acquainted with my love of pizza. (We all need good friends who really know us, right?)
For the next year or two, every Thursday night was Pizza Night for Linda and me. Each week I would try a different crust recipe. My wife, who is by far and away the better cook, was responsible for the internal ingredients and toppings. We were (and are) a great team!
Whether it was calzones, thin crust, mini pizzas or the occasional Chicago-style deep dish (my favorite), I threw myself into the mixing and kneading, the stretching and punching, trying to time my preparation so that it was ready just in time for my wife to walk in the door, make the sauce, and have the oven properly preheated.
Each Thursday morning, I would get my flour, yeast, salt, and spices all lined up and ready so I could mix them all together and time the rise just right. There was only one thing that would have made me more successful as a pizza dough maker: A time machine.
It would never fail that I would arrive home later than planned Thursday afternoon, throw the ingredients together, look at the recipe and then the clock and realize I was never going to have enough time to properly let the dough rest and rise as it should.
More than a few times our plans for a nice full and fluffy dough turned into yet another week of thin crust.
This week, Rev. Amanda Golbek will be preaching from Matthew 13. In verse 33, Jesus tells his disciples “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
I am what you might call “selectively patient.” I really do have patience for some things. For instance, our family has a habit of calling one another on our birthdays and saying, “a gift is on the way.” We have grace for one another’s failures to hit the exact day (we call it having “extended birthdays”). Not only does it take the stress off trying to manage life to perfection, but it also means that we send truly thoughtful gifts to one another.
On the other hand, I will gladly pay the extra shipping charge to get a new gadget or creative tool sooner rather than later (fortunately, I married well, and Linda has taught me that saving on shipping means more money for gadgets).
In Chapter 13 of Matthew, Jesus shares several parables about the kingdom of God and how something small can make a huge difference, if we only give it time.
We’re in a season here at First Pres where patience is in great necessity, right? As we wait for the process of finding an interim senior pastor (and, after that, a new permanent senior pastor), it might help if we think of this as a time of letting the yeast rise. Think of how deliciously wonderful it will be if we allow the proper time to be taken for it all to turn out right.
On other analogy: Let’s think of prayer for this process as the heat and humidity being applied to the dough. As we pray, asking God to guide and bless the interim pastor search committee through this process AND asking him to open the heart of the proper selection to coming here, let’s envision the perfect, crispy outside and tender, fluffy inside of a wonderful deep-dish crust (or whatever your favorite might be).
I’m looking forward to joining you this Sunday at 10 a.m. as we praise and celebrate the great goodness of our amazing God!
Grace and peace!
Jim Teague
FPCE director of communications