The Recipe

 

The Recipe

One of the treasures that my wife came across recently when organizing a kitchen drawer was a “Recipe Book” that she received from our daughter Elizabeth in 1993.  The cookbook was a Mother’s Day project of Mrs. Kestley’s kindergarten class that year.  We enjoyed reading through it again.  Here’s a sampling of the entries, and a few associated reflections:

Lipton Soup by Nicole

• Put water in a pan
• Set the timer for 10 minutes; when it boils put stuff in
• Put timer on for 10 more minutes
• Then it is done

I appreciate Nicole’s straightforward approach.  She has broken these instructions down to their simplest form.  Sometimes we make our relationship with God so difficult.  With God, we can fall into the trap of thinking that it is a matter of praying the right prayer, with the exact, precise words.  Or, with belonging to the obviously most important or most popular church.  But it really comes down to a  focus of spending time with Him, to experience the moment, trusting that in the end the best of things await.

Jello with Pears by Jeff

• Take peach Jello.
• Drop in pears in a bowl.
• Put in refrigerator for 1 day.
• Then you eat it.

Jeff understands the heart of relationship.  Neither is at its best alone.  As St Paul says to us: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8  It is one of the most amazing realities revealed to us in Scripture.  God knew exactly how creation of us in His own image would play out.  Think of all of the turmoil and mistakes, not to mention the very real pain of seeing those you love choose to not love in return.  And yet God created us; we were worth it to Him.  And when we messed it all up God redeemed us; we were worth it to Him.  God loved us – not that He loved us anyway, although that in itself would be amazing.  But, that God loves us through it all.  God loves us because that is the nature of love – it exists in, for, and with the beloved.  God is relationship, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so God craves relationship.  He invites us to share in His nature, in His very relationship of being. 

Macaroni by Greg

• Gotta put the noodles in a pan.
• Put them on the oven for 2 minutes
• Then put cheese in; stir it up
• Put it on the table and eat it.

One of God’s most generous actions was to create us with free will.  We can be a selfish or as loving as we choose to be.  And our individual and shared histories have revealed the truth in that.  Free will reveals God’s own heart to us.  Love is only love when it is freely offered and freely received.  God, like Greg, was willing to put humanity in and stir it up.  That is how much He loves us – enough to be confident that one day we will discover, appreciate, and desire to freely and fully return His love, and we willingly offer our hearts on the table, alongside the bread and the wine - the body and the blood.  Take and eat.       

Brownies by Amanda

• Put in chocolate and nuts
• Mix it up and put in oven for 2 minutes at 5 degrees
• Take out of oven
• Put more nuts on the top

I have long understood chocolate to be one of the most important food groups.  And, it is the one area of my life that I am truly ambidextrous; I like all kinds of chocolate.  And I don’t believe that there is really too much of a truly good thing.  If there is a too much, then you have settled on the wrong thing, no-matter how appealing it seemed at first.  I can tell that Amanda understands this point well.  If stirring in the nuts was a good thing, then be generous and put more on top before you consider it finished.  Whatever you choose to do in response to God’s offer of relationship to you, be generous right up to the end.     

Bacon by Matthew

• You have to buy some stuff at the store.  Then you fry it on the oven for anytime.  That is everything.

We should listen to the wisdom of Matthew.  Most people soon discover that to be truly happy that they need something other than themselves.  Oh, we all start out incredibly self-centered, even though we are totally dependent on others.  One of our quickest-developing senses is our sense of entitlement.  Although this cookbook from Mrs. Kestley’s kindergarten class is full of sentiments of how much all these children love their mothers, it takes a bit more maturity for that love to deepen.  Love is more meaningful when it is more than appreciation for all that the other does for us.  Love ripens when we desire what is truly best for the other, simply for the sake of the other.  That is everything.    

Fruit Salad by Elizabeth

You need: Pineapple, grapes, cherries, marshmallows.  Mix them together.  Then you make the stuff that goes with it and mix it all up.  Then you squish up marshmallows and stir it all around with rice.   Put that with the fruit and mix it up.  That’s it. 

It seems strange to arrive at the awareness that your relationship with God can never be experienced as “God and me”.  There was a reason that, when asked about the most important law, Jesus answered that the one answer was in essence, two answers.  “But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: “Teacher, which is great commandment in the Law?”  And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40  Jesus showed us that these are really not two commandments, but that they are eternally joined.  Love does not have different degrees, or different purposes.  Love, to be love, just is.  Love is like a good fruit salad – everyone is mixed in.  That’s it.

His Peace <><

Deacon Dan