Making My Daily Bread (Recipe Included!)

Written by Rev. Jenny Phillips

Minister for Environmental Stewardship and Advocacy 

for the PNW Conference of the United Methodist Church 

Reblogged from PNWUMC

“Give us this day our daily bread…” this is the line in the Lord’s Prayer that I most take for granted. In my household, when there is a bread shortage, it is because someone forgot to pick it up at the grocery store. But despite my access to bread, I’m going to attempt to bake my own for the season of Lent.

It is easy to forget that the gift of daily bread is dependent on sustainable agriculture, abundant water, and healthy people. It takes an ecosystem to make bread. I trust that the sun will shine and the rain (and irrigation waters) will fall on the wheat fields that provide grain. I have unabiding faith in the industrial bakeries that produce thousands of loaves each day, and in the interstate highway and local road systems that ensure fresh bread as well as ingredients like flour, yeast, salt and oil will be delivered regularly to the grocery stores near my house. I expect to have the money I need to buy this staple. And I don’t have any of the allergies or medical conditions that can make wheat bread dangerous.

With all of this in mind, I’m taking up the practice of breadmaking for the next forty days. My intention is for the process of sourcing ingredients, kneading them together, trusting in the miracle of fermentation, and sharing the results to bring me closer to the Creator who breathes life into the earth that nourishes and sustains us.

Most days I expect I’ll make a basic recipe for whole wheat buns that requires a few minutes of kneading in the evening, a long rise overnight, and 20 minutes in the oven in the morning. Voila–breakfast! But I also plan to experiment with gluten-free breads, in the hopes of developing options for gluten-free communion bread that tastes good even to wheat-eaters.

I’m looking forward to this commitment. For me, kneading creates space for quiet reflection. It is a way to pray with my hands. But I’m also nervous. The idea of making this sort of Lenten commitment feels like a luxury I can hardly afford. My life (probably like yours) is generally busy and complicated. I worry that there will be times when I can’t pull this breadmaking off, but I still want to try. So I’m going to attempt to translate my worry into a deeper appreciation for the challenges of those for whom daily bread is not a given. I’m hoping that if I promise myself some grace at the front end of this season, that will make it easier for me to give grace to others in whatever situations I might face over the next six+ weeks.

I’m planning to post updates on my process along with some theological reflection every so often. If you’d like to bake along with me, let’s be in touch to encourage one another and to share recipes and insights. My starting recipe is below. I like this one because it is flexible–even if you don’t get it exactly right, it still usually turns out okay. Not a bad metaphor for life.

Basic Bread for Lent

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ¼-½ teaspoon active dry yeast (I use less if I can let the bread rise for 4 hours or more, and more if I only have an hour or two)
• 2 cups flour (I use a mix of King Arthur white bread flour and locally-grown wheat flour. All-purpose flour works too. This particular recipe works best with at least 50% white or white whole wheat flour)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, stir one cup warm water with one tablespoon honey. (If you have an instant-read thermometer, go for around 110-degrees. If you don’t have one, just go for warm.)

Sprinkle the yeast over the honey water.

While yeast becomes active, measure the flour.

Stir the olive oil, salt, and half the flour into the honey-yeast water.

Work in the remaining flour with a spoon, and later, with your hands.

Add more flour as needed. The dough should feel soft, springy, and not too sticky.

Knead for several minutes.

Allow the dough to rise in a bowl covered with a towel, at least one hour or up to 12 hours. The longer the rise, the better the flavor.

Punch down the dough. Form rolls or a loaf. Let it rise again while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake rolls for about 20 minutes, a loaf for about 45 minutes. The top will be brown and the internal temperature will be around 200 degrees (but you don’t have to check it unless you’re fussy like that.)

Eat warm with lots of butter. Share with someone who is hungry for food and/or love.

Let Us Pray

By Deanna Matzen, guest blogger

I think it goes without saying that everyone is feeling powerless about the oil spill [I hate using that word as if someone was walking along and tripped, "oops I spilled some oil, let me just get a rag and clean that up"]...let's try that again.

I think it goes without saying that everyone is feeling powerless about the cataclysmic oil catastrophe - the unbelievably horrible, incredibly devastating destruction of God's green earth - in the Gulf of Mexico. That's better.

But as people of faith, we do have power. We have power when we join our voices together in advocacy and when we join our voices together with God in prayer.

This summer I was asked to teach the kids at my church about David and Goliath and the modern example of Sojourner Truth, who confronted the giants of slavery and oppression head on. We'll then apply their lessons of faith to the giant environmental problems of today. Just as David confronted the seemingly undefeatable giant, Goliath, because he had a little experience and a lot of faith in God, we can confront the environmental destruction in the Gulf of Mexico, fueled by our faith.

As part of my church's adult education, I taught a class on environmental stewardship, during which the Gulf oil catastrophe began. The class taught about Christian values for why we should care about the environment, connected those values to scripture and, since scripture doesn't really talk about how we should deal with things like oil catastrophes, connected those values to actions. Our last week on action culminated with a time for prayer for the Gulf. While we have not seen those prayers answered yet - specifically to end the leak (or geyser) - we wait in hopeful anticipation and continue to pray for miracles.

Currently, I'm taking a class on praying for the world and I was asked to bring in some prayers for the environment this coming Sunday. I thought I would share them with you since I know it's so easy to get stuck in our own attempt to find words for this devastation. The wonderful thing about this class is that we're being taught that our prayers need not be long and wordy. We can pray simple scriptures and they will have a profound impact in the world and in our soul. Below are some of those prayers and where there is usually a blank to fill in, I've inserted the nouns for you. I hope they help to bring you some peace in this midst of your sorrow. Let us pray...

Lord God,

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done

in the Gulf of Mexico.

Matthew 6:10

Gracious Lord,

Lead BP and TransOcean not into temptation,

but deliver them from the evil one.

Matthew 6:13

In the name of Jesus I proclaim that the Gulf of Mexico is good.
Hover over the Gulf of Mexico,
bring it new life and create it anew
that we may delight and rejoice in it.
Isaiah 65:17-18

Thank you, Lord, that the fields produce abundant harvest.
Bless the Gulf of Mexico with Sabbath and Jubilee
that your creation may be redeemed.
Leviticus 25:8

Thank you, Lord, for claiming the Gulf of Mexico as your own.
Psalm 24

Lord, help BP and TransOcean to serve and worship only you,
not the god of greed and recklessness.
Exodus 20:1-2

Merciful God,

The Gulf of Mexico groans in eager anticipation
of your redemption.
Bring your glorious freedom!

Show us your hope for the Gulf of Mexico
and help us to wait patiently.
Romans 8:18-25

Jesus, all things were created in and through you.
Through your blood, shed on the cross,

hold together the Gulf of Mexico and the affected communities,

and reconcile the Gulf of Mexico in heaven and earth,
bring peace in the Gulf of Mexico

that in everything you might have supremacy.
Colossians 1:15-20

Jesus, bring the river of life to the Gulf of Mexico
that it may be healed.
Take away the curses upon the Gulf
and restore the Gulf with blessing.
Bring the Gulf of Mexico and the affected communities
under your throne.
Revelation 22:1-3

AMEN!

Coming Clean

By Deanna Matzen

As Lent wraps up, I feel the deep need to come clean. I have not stuck to my Lenten practice of prayer as closely as I had hoped. I have failed to pray every day. Usually my environmental prayer life lasts a day or two after I blog and then I get swept up in my life and all the other needs of prayer immediately around me. I have friends going through very hard times right now - divorce, cancer on top of unemployment, no health insurance, and expecting a baby. Personally, we have been finishing up a bathroom remodel and then I had wrist surgery. It seems that all my energy is focused on just surviving right now. Over the last two days, I've become emotionally unraveled and unable to give anyone grace. It is in moments like these that I realize how much I need prayer more than anything else.

My first mistake in beginning this Lenten journey of environmental prayer was not setting a specific time to pray every day. My second mistake was perhaps setting a prayer schedule when I should have just sat in the creator's presence and let the Spirit guide me. The other realization I just made writing this blog post is that I perhaps do not pray for the environment because I'm completely disconnected from it.

One of my best moments of prayer came when I was standing in the rain waiting for the bus because I couldn't drive yet after my wrist surgery. It was the week of giving thanks for creation. I was thanking God for the rain because even though it was unenjoyable standing by the busy road in the rain, I knew that we needed the snow pack for the summer. I was also anxiously praying that the bus would arrive soon and at the moment the bus emerged over the hill I prayed emphatically, "Thank you, Jesus!" And then I stopped myself. I thank Jesus for a lot of things. Maybe too many things that it becomes trite. Did Jesus really bring the bus at that moment. Probably not because if he had, it would have come a lot sooner, in my opinion! But that didn't mean that I didn't owe Jesus a debt of gratitude. I was immediately grateful in a new and profound way.

The gratitude poured out earnestly, "Thank you, Jesus, for the creativity that brought us the gift of public transportation. It affords us an opportunity to help the environment by not driving and it gives people who can't afford a car an opportunity to get around the city more quickly. Thank you, Jesus!" It was a profound moment and I am so glad for it. Yet, it continues to be a struggle to make time for environmental prayer.

This week, I'm scheduled to pray for God's people to engage in action, advocacy, and acknowledgment of the planet's needs. Perhaps I should pray for people to spend more time outside so that the needs become relevant to their immediate world. However the Spirit moves you this week, please join me in praying.

Justice Everywhere

By Deanna Matzen

This week I plan on praying for justice for all of creation and all of God's people. There are those who do not believe that creation is worthy of receiving justice in its own right. Yet, there are many who live out the truth that human/social justice is inextricably linked to environmental justice.

As Jessie Dye often says, if you were to take a map highlighting all of the places where violence is taking place and overlay it with a map highlighting all of the places where the environment is degraded and suffering, you would see a nearly perfect overlay of the two maps.

I don't know about you, but I don't pray for enough justice in those places. I do not pray enough for wrongs to be set right. For people and creatures to be considered as valuable enough to protect in all circumstances.

As Martin Luther King Jr once said:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Please join me this week in praying for justice everywhere from the Sahara Desert to the Pacific Islands, from the Andes Mountains to the Arctic Sea. I think this is going to be another good week to "Pray the Environmental News" and ask for God's will to be birthed on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give Thanks in All Circumstances

By Deanna Matzen

I am recovering from wrist surgery this week, so must keep this short. This week for my Lenten prayers, I will be giving thanks to God as we are commanded to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

This verse has meant much to me over the last few years as I have struggled with many personal circumstances that seemed to stand in contrast to the good and loving God I worship. It has not really been until this last year that I have been able to give thanks to God in all circumstances, which I clearly demarcate from giving thanks for all circumstances, at least for now (I reserve the right to change my theology in the future).

What I have discovered is that like the tulips, daffodils, and crocuses emerging from the ground in the spring, life always emerges out of places that seemed full of death and darkness. That is the power and truth of the Gospel. So this week, let us give thanks to God for the gifts of creation, no matter the circumstances, having faith that God alone can and will bring life out of death.

A Lenten Call to Worship

Leader- The ice is breaking up, the shad are running, Spring tantalizes.

People- There is a sense of a big ship reversing course, and economy circling around itself, a politics dying and rebirthing.

Leader- We wonder whether to be happy or sad, to grieve or rejoice, to be bothered or enchanted.

People- Lent lengthens our bewilderment, bewitching as it bothers.

Leader- Today, O God, turn us around toward joy.

All- Set our faces on hope. Bother us with possibility. Amen.


Unison Prayer

Let the ice break up in us, O God, in our spirits and our homes, our vexations and our bewilderments, our nation and our globe. Make us frugalistas, people who know how to make really good use of trouble, people on whom nothing is wasted. Amen.

Prayer provided by Donna Schaper

Photo by Peter Brake

Consider the Lilies

By Deanna Matzen

My prayer theme for the last week was confessing sins seen in the local and world-wide environmental news. I confessed on behalf of humanity the sins that we have committed against God and all of creation from the Exxon Valdez oil spill to Chernobyl to dying water resources to how we treat animals, to name a few.

The most challenging aspects of prayer this last week were making time and not becoming overwhelmed by the state of the world (environmental news can be such a downer). Yet there were times when, by the end of confessing, I found myself thanking God. This surprised me, yet it is the exact place where hope is found. I thanked God for the renewal of animal life in the Chernobyl "exclusion zone" and the creativity of people seeking to solve our environmental problems. It is a reminder that when all seems bleak and hopeless, God is creating life. Sometimes we just have to look and wait patiently for that life.

For the coming week, I've decided to change my prayer schedule because of some bleak news at Earth Ministry. The economic downturn has hit close to home for our organization. Last year's donations were down at a time when our work is expanding and thriving. Even though we anticipated a tough fundraising year in 2009, we were hopeful until this week. Over the course of the last two days, we learned that we lost a grant from a trusted foundation and failed to procure a new foundation grant that we were counting on to fund Washington Interfaith Power & Light, our newest project. Combined with falling donations from our members, this is very disheartening and the staff are worried. So I am calling our friends and supporters to pray for us this week that hope may be restored and God may bring life to our places of fear and concern.

The phrase that kept coming to mind yesterday was, "Consider the lilies". In Luke 12:27, Jesus says:

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well."

The staff and board of Earth Ministry need to trust God and to seek the Father's kingdom. But we need your prayer support to help us do just that. Here is how I will be praying this week, I hope you will join your voice with mine:

• Pray for the peace that passes all understanding for the staff and board, espeically LeeAnne who bears the burden of our operating budget and the tough choices that have to be made.
  


• Pray that the staff would have discernment on where to focus our work in the midst of more requests than we can honor.
  


• Pray that the staff would find balance between work and the rest of our lives.
  


• Pray for God's financial provision - for the storehouses of heaven to be opened.
  


• Pray that God would remove the barriers from the foundations who are wowed by our work but keep turning us down for grants.
  


• Ask God what you can do to support Earth Ministry this year. If you're not a member, please pray about making a financial contribution to support this important work that speaks to your heart, soul, and passions. If you are a member, pray about increasing your gift or about how you could raise funds for Earth Ministry. It could be as simple as a bake sale or if you're good at crafts, sell some at a bazaar and donate a portion of the proceeds, or give a gift membership for someone who loves the environment or climb a mountain and get people to sponsor you. With God creativity is endless! The staff and board can not do this work alone, we need you.
  
  

The demand for Earth Ministry's presence and resources increases every year, but our budget doesn't. Please, pray for us. It's going to be a tough year.

Cry for One

By Deanna Matzen

As you may recall, for the last week I have focused my Lenten practice of praying for the environment on praising God for the wonders of creation or praising God's character using nature images. On the praying front, I have to say that the more you praise God, the easier it gets and that's very encouraging and fun. On the practicing front, it's really hard to make time to pray. I've been very tired lately because of a busy home life as we're in the middle of a bathroom makeover and friends going through tough times. But when I make the time it is fruitful.

One of the exercises that was most enjoyable was from the book, Praying with St. Francis, which asked us to write our own Canticle. If you recall, St. Francis wrote Canticle of Brother Sun. Mine does not compare, but I encourage you all to try it if you feel the desire to express your gratitude to God for creation.

This coming week I'm focusing on prayers of confession. In a serendipitous event this morning, I was listening to NPR and the local station's environment reporter was interviewing a photo journalist who is in town to discuss her new book on the Exxon Valdez oil spill. She told the story of one of the photos in her book of a native woman crying. The native woman had asked the journalist if she had seen the dead animals. The journalist nodded. The woman then told how one day she was cleaning a beach and saw a little starfish covered in oil and started crying and couldn't stop until a friend came over and hugged her and said, "Cry for one, and try to save the rest."

It is not uncommon to feel great grief over environmental destruction. That is why I want to spend these weeks praying to God about the environment and lamenting those who have suffered at the hand of environmental sin. I want to confess the ways we've sinned against this world and ask God to forgive us. I want to confess my unforgiveness of environmental destroyers so that I may live in freedom and have the energy to keep trying to save the rest.

To help me focus this week, I decided to "Pray the News." I'm going to take time every day to read environmental news websites and then confess the sins of humanity that I see in those stories and ask God to forgive us all. If you want to engage in praying the news with me, here are some websites to get you started:

• Sightline Daily - news from the North & West coasts


• Grist.org - national environmental news with a little humor


• Environmental News Network


• Environmental News Service


• World Environment News

I hope you will join with me in evoking the power of God to help us all.

We Are The Carriers of Gifts

By Mikaila Gawryn
Outreach Associate

I begin facing North. In this time of Lent I hope to draw closer to God in a number of ways. The first is by practicing a Body Prayer in the mornings. Although a body prayer is not the traditional Lenten practice, I am looking forward to the opportunity to focus on my faith in a new way. I'd like to share two of my reflections on this practice so far.

I first learned this prayer at Holden Village when Earth Ministry staff and members gathered for a week of reflection and learning this past summer. Our Executive Director LeeAnne Beres and Outreach Associate Beth Anderson led a session called "Movement and Prayer" and introduced a number of ways to physically "speak" the prayers of our hearts. The prayer I enjoyed the most mixed words with movement, and included powerful images of engaging with the earth.

The prayer involves facing each of the four cardinal directions (North, South, East and West), and at each direction bending to the earth and in turn lifting my face to the sky. With each direction I speak the following words:

"Now I face the North, bending to gather up the wisdom
and the gifts of the earth,and [standing] offer them to the heavens. [After I let my arms fall to my side, I raise them again saying:] And now I open myself up to the heavens, and I gather all the gifts and the wisdom of the heavens and [stooping low to the ground] I offer them for the fruitfulness of the earth."

Repeating this process in each of the four directions reminds me that as a human being I am simply a carrier of gifts. I can perceive, although only in limited ways, great gifts of God, and I have the opportunity to carry and offer them for the fruitfulness of the earth. I also have the ability to learn from this creation, and can carry the wisdom I gain from it back to the Creator, offering it in praise.

This prayer also gives me the chance to practice receiving, and then letting go of the gifts I am given. It reminds me that holding onto a gift too tightly or for too long can make me depend upon that gift instead of God, the one who gives it. In a year where loss seems all around us I am thankful for the daily opportunity to practice holding gifts lightly and trusting in God's continued provision in a time of change.

As I continue to practice my body prayer throughout Lent I will share more reflections. Perhaps you pray in physical ways too, if so, feel free to share them with us here. If not perhaps Lent is a good time to learn more about engaging your faith physically. Blessings to you on this Lenten journey!

Mikaila

photos of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company

Pray Without Ceasing

By Deanna Matzen, Operations Manager

For Lent, I chose something different from last year. You may recall that in 2008 I chose to give up driving to work. It was a very action-oriented choice though some of the benefits were more time to pray while walking and enjoying nature during my alternative commute. This year I decided to do something more physically passive, but spiritually active. I am going to commit to pray for the environment every day.

I am a big fan of prayer and am involved in prayer ministry at my church. But what I rarely pray for is the environment or the faith-based environmental movement. I firmly believe that as activists, we so often forget about one of our most powerful tools - prayer. I hope that many of you will join me on this journey of prayer.

To make praying for the environment a little easier for myself and for anyone wanting to join me, I have developed a prayer "map." Modeled after a tool I learned in a Lutheran Sunday School growing up, it will aid us in having a balanced prayer life. The mnemonic device is ACTS - adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Here is my weekly prayer schedule, I hope you will follow along with me:

• Feb 25 – Adoration: Praise for God for the aesthetic beauty of creation and use nature images as metaphors for the character of God
• March 4 – Confession: Confessing on behalf of yourself and God’s people how we have sinned against the earth
• March 11 – Thanksgiving: Thank God for being forgiven of our sins and all the ways God provides through creation
• March 18 – Supplication: Pray for Earth Ministry’s work, operations, staff, and board
• March 25 – Supplication: Pray for justice for creation and people
• April 1 – Supplication: Pray for God's people to engage in action, advocacy, and acknowledgment of the world's needs
• April 8 (Holy Week) –Praise & Thanksgiving for the redemption of all creation & for signs of hope

I will also use a few books on prayer to help me through these weeks: Praying with St. Francis, Praying with Julian of Norwich, and The Celtic Book of Daily Prayer, to start.

As of yesterday, I have already begun making time to praise God for creation and using nature images to reflect God's character. The hardest part is staying focused and making the time. But the time I have spent has been sweet. Praising God is hard to do. It doesn't come naturally, so the easiest way I've found to praise God is through song. I attend a church that sings a lot of contemporary Christian music. Here are two of the songs I have been singing, inspired by the Psalms (another great place to find praise for creation and the Creator):

I praise Your Name among the nations
I praise Your Name with all my heart
I join my voice with all creation
Giving You praise for Who You are

And the rocks will not cry out before me
I will ever sing Your praise
Blessings You have poured out on me
Everything, Lord, You gave everything and more

*******

Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens
Your faithfulness stretches to the skies
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains
Your justice flows like the ocean’s tide

I will lift my voice to worship You, my King
I will find my strength in the shadow of Your Wings

Amen