Getting Ready for Action

June 3, 2025

Beloved:
          Yesterday felt like real summer to me as I cleaned house and worked in my yard.  I got sweaty and dirty as I scoured my bathrooms and planted perennials.  I dragged hoses from bed to bed, splashing myself and the dog but drying out fast in the sunny air.  By bedtime I was scrubbed clean and tired as a kid pretending he isn’t, then slept that deep, dreamless, delicious sleep that sometimes follows a day of good work.
          It’s no castle, for sure, but this little house does serve as a kind of citadel for me – a safe place from which to keep watch and view the landscape – a landscape that includes my tiny yard but also the larger world with all the calamity and wonder therein.  Forest fires burn, wars rage and genocide by famine is justified.  People are killed seeking food, according to the news, while government officials deny any such thing.  If not for my porch swing, my flowers and my dog, my head truly would never stop spinning.  But this quiet, peaceful beauty centers me and enables me to breathe and pray and be reminded that there is nothing new in this world, not since one brother picked up a weapon to destroy the other, for no better reason than jealousy.
          Human suffering is ghastly, and painful even for those observing from a distance.  As followers of Jesus we are not free to ignore or deny such evil.  We are allowed to care for ourselves in order to care for others, to draw strength from our own rest and prayers and meditation, so we are ready when our faith and courage is called into action.  The victimized and suffering people of this world need people on their side who speak clearly and act boldly in defense of the truth of their humanity and the justice with which they must be treated.  We may well be afraid, but we can still speak and act, trembling as we go.  Suffering people need us too much for us to sit still when it comes time to move.  Gratefully, I’ve landed among the best and bravest kind of community, with whom I am far less timid than I might be.  
          As summer really gets going, I pray we will find our place in the work to which we are called.  ~ peace & prayers, pastor annette

          A few folks asked for the corn cake recipe from last week’s Wednesday Night Supper.  Here it is.

​Recipe ~ Sweet Corn Cake 
Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ⅓ cup masa harina
• ¼ cup water
• 1 ½ cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
• ⅓ cup white sugar
• ¼ cup cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (I used sour cream and a little extra water)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Beat butter in a medium bowl until creamy.  Add masa harina and water and beat until well mixed.
• Process thawed corn in a food processor, but leave it chunky.  Stir into butter mixture.
• Mix sugar, cornmeal, cream, salt, and baking powder in a separate bowl.  Add to masa harina mixture and stir to combine.
• Pour batter into an ungreased 8x8-inch baking pan.  Smooth batter and cover with aluminum foil.  Place the pan into a 9x13-inch baking dish that is filled a third of the way up the side of the baking pan with water.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes.
• Allow it to cool for 10 minutes.  Use an ice cream scoop for easy removal from the pan.

Notes:

• Gluten-free 
• This makes an 8x8 serving dish.  Even doubled, it makes for a very shallow cake in a 9x13.  Next time I am going to triple the ingredients.