Yeast

Been working on our traditional Christmas morning Potica. I bake a bread product with yeast once a year. Every Christmas finds me trying to make the equivalents from an American packet of yeast to a British one, figure out how to translate an old-fashioned recipe direction for dissolving the yeast first in warm water into using the new fast-acting yeast which just gets mixed in. 

Then there is the temperature in my home. Baltic at the best of times. So on this one day of the year I need to throw caution to the wind, push the ON button on the heat and enjoy the warmth.

Got started a bit late today and so, well into the evening, I am still waiting for the wreath-shaped potica’s to rise the second time, now filled with the yummy ground walnut mixture. I’ve got pans of boiling water in the oven with the two potica’s, hoping they will do the trick. 

I don’t plan to stay up all night waiting, so at some point I will just call time, turn on the oven and go for it, hoping that this will be a good year for it.

Funnily enough, Jesus mentioned yeast a few times as he taught his disciples. He described the Kingdom of heaven as being like yeast, which, when worked into the dough, caused the bread to rise.

He also said that the Kingdom of heaven is within you when Jesus is Lord of your life, so the hope – no, the expectation – is that as you work through the ‘dough’ of your life, that ‘yeast’ will touch every aspect of your life and affect it for the better.

I don’t know how far we can carry this analogy, but today I think that I failed to have the liquid warm enough when I added the yeast to it, and that has slowed down the action (and I wondered for awhile if it would prevent it from working at all). If we don’t keep the flame of love for Jesus fanned and burning brightly in our hearts, the yeast of the Kingdom may not be very effective.

Despite the hectic nature of the season, take time to fan the flame of love for Jesus in your heart, so that as you socialise and worship and celebrate this year, the Kingdom of heaven will affect all those with whom you party.

Glorious

The changing colours at this time of year are stunning. As I sat praying in the conservatory this morning, I was looking out at an acer which is just on the cusp of change. 

Jesus told us to abide in him because he is the root, he is the source of life in us. The leaves of the trees need to ‘abide’ in order to continue taking their nourishment from the roots of the trees. But of course the physical life cycle of leaves decrees that they change colour, die back, and fall off. 

Just before they drop, the leaves are more glorious than at the beginning of the cycle. 

Sometimes Christian leaders can look glorious, but if they are not remaining in Jesus, abiding in his love, they will eventually drop away. 

Sometimes we other Christians can look pretty good too, doing all the right things, saying all the right things, showing the gifts God has blessed us with, and as long as we remain in Jesus, connected to the source, we will indeed continue to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into the area in which we live. If we stop living close to Jesus, inspired and filled with his Spirit, we, too, will drop away.

The Christian life is organic. It’s not about head knowledge alone, but about combining the head knowledge which affirms our faith with the heart knowledge received through experiences in the presence of God. 

Jesus never did anything off his own bat. He only did what he saw his father in heaven doing. He lived close to his father in heaven. He abided in him, filled with the Holy Spirit. 

He said we will do more than he did if we abide in him, if we pray in his name. 

We don’t want to look glorious. We want Him to look glorious.