New Shocks from My Vegetable Consultant

 

I have enjoyed varieties of tea that I never considered before. Lipton Tea has always been the Wonder Bread of teas, heavily promoted, absent of flavor. I enjoyed tea in Canada because we had the Boston Tea Party and they didn't. I actually brought US coffee to my vicarage as a favor.

What really unsettled me was the emphasis on spices. I have some in the cupboard that still use Roman numerals for dates. "Must be used by MDMLVI." I have tossed them out after seeing waiting patiently in the Stygian darkness of the upper shelves.

The name withheld consultant gave me The Spice Cook Book, by Avanelle Day and Lillie Stuckey. The spices have their own biographies in alphabetical order, with illustrations. Allspice is first. I knew of it, never used it. Anise. Basil. Bay Leaf, etc. I knew a little, but only enough to ignore all of them except pepper.

https://nutritionfacts.org/

That link will start the reader on a fantastic list of short topics on nutrition. I have found it - and his books - a great source parallel to Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I have learned that spices are a great bonus for natural foods but also leverage to make those Creation benefits multiply.

For example, plant-based cooks will discover that the crucifers - kale, collards, broccoli, etc - lose some nutrition by being blanched (boiled). However, ground mustard seed brings out the nutrition seemingly lost by blanching. Nevertheless, using an avalanche of mustard will render the intended meal almost radioactive. I learned my lesson when even Charlie Sue refused to eat it.

Now I add a gentle amount of mustard to the crucifers, which are super-stars in nutrition.

I eat blueberries twice a day now, and Greger wrote that apples and blueberries increase their nutritional octane by a great deal. I am going to do that tomorrow, when I fill up on blueberries and apples. 

Old fashioned oatmeal makes a great breakfast or supper, so I add blueberries (and soon apples) to my evening oatmeal, plus cinnamon, and ground flax.

First Woman Bishop (Episcopal) in Southern Ohio

 

                 Kristin Uffelman White elected 10th bishop of Southern Ohio.

Three of the five candidates for bishop are women, so men had a small chance to be elected.

ELCA's Liz Eaton was elected bishop of one section of Ohio in 2006. She was elected Presiding Bishop of ELCA in 2013, but has been on a leave of absence since November of last year.

Luther Seminary, Twin Cities, ELCA

Cody Sanders

Biography

Cody J. Sanders (he/him) is an ordained Baptist minister (Alliance of Baptists and American Baptist Churches U.S.A.). He teaches in the areas of pastoral theology and spiritual care within congregational and community contexts, having taught on the adjunct faculties in this area in several other institutions, including Andover Newton Theological School and Chicago Theological Seminary.

Prior to joining the faculty of Luther Seminary, Sanders was pastor to Old Cambridge Baptist Church in Cambridge, MA, where he also served as American Baptist Chaplain to Harvard University, and Advisor for LGBTQ+ Affairs in the Office of Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sanders is a leader in the area of LGBTQIA+ spiritual care, writing and speaking frequently on the subject in churches and academic institutions. He is a practitioner of narrative theories of pastoral care and counseling, training clergy, students, and lay leaders in these skills of caregiving. His current research aims to build ministerial and congregational capacity to lead in cultivating caring communities amid climate collapse, political turmoil, technological acceleration, and the uncertainty of complex near-future scenarios for our life in the world.

Daily Luther Sermon Quote - Lent 2 - "She turns her eyes from all this unfriendly treatment of Christ; all this does not lead her astray, neither does she take it to heart, but she continues immediately and firmly to cling in her confidence to the good news she had heard and embraced concerning him, and never gives up. We must also do the same and learn firmly to cling to the Word..."

Complete Sermon Here - Reminiscere. Second Sunday in Lent. Matthew 15:21-28. The Faith of the Syrophoenician Woman

4. Now, what does the poor woman do? She turns her eyes from all this unfriendly treatment of Christ; all this does not lead her astray, neither does she take it to heart, but she continues immediately and firmly to cling in her confidence to the good news she had heard and embraced concerning him, and never gives up. We must also do the same and learn firmly to cling to the Word, even though God with all his creatures appears different than his Word teaches. But, oh, how painful it is to nature and reason, that this woman should strip herself of self and forsake all that she experienced, and cling alone to God’s bare Word, until she experienced the contrary. May God help us in time of need and of death to possess like courage and faith!

5. Secondly, since her cry and faith avail nothing, the disciples approach with their faith, and pray for her, and imagine they will surely be heard. But while they thought he should be more tenderhearted, he became only the more indifferent, as we see and think. For now he is silent no more nor leaves them in doubt; he declines their prayer and says: “I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This rebuff is still harder since not only our own person is rejected, but the only comfort that remains to us, namely, the comfort and prayers of pious and holy persons, are rejected. For our last resort, when we feel that God is ungracious or we are in need, is that we go to pious, spiritual persons and there seek counsel and help, and they are willing to help as love demands; and yet, that may amount to nothing, even they may not be heard and our condition becomes only worse.

6. Here one might upbraid Christ with all the words in which he promised to hear his saints, as Matthew 18:19: “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them.” Likewise, Mark 11:24: “All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them;” and many more like passages. What becomes of such promises in this woman’s case? Christ, however, promptly answers and says: Yes, it is true, I hear all prayers, but I gave these promises only to the house of Israel. What do you think? Is not that a thunderbolt that dashes both heart and faith into a thousand pieces, when one feels that God’s Word, upon which one trusts, was not spoken for him, but applies only to others? Here all saints and prayers must be speechless, yea, here the heart must let go of the Word, to which it would gladly hold, if it would consult its oven feelings.

7. But what does the poor woman do? She does not give up, she clings to the Word although it be torn out of her heart by force, is not turned away by this stern answer, still firmly believes his goodness is yet concealed in that answer, and still she will not pass judgment that Christ is or may be ungracious. That is persevering steadfastness.

8. Thirdly, she follows Christ into the house, as Mark 7:24-25 informs us, perseveres, falls down at his feet, and says: “Lord, help me!” There she received her last mortal blow, in that Christ said in her face, as the words tell, that she was a dog, and not worthy to partake of the children’s bread. What will she say to this! Here he presents her in a bad light, she is a condemned and an outcast person, who is not to be reckoned among God’s chosen ones.