Huge, Wild, Medicinal Love

June 27, 2023

Beloved:

          I am eating the most perfectly sour key lime pie before 11 o’clock in the morning, wondering if other pastors have friends who sneak into the church building during Sunday morning service to drop off gifts like a slice of pie and a new book.  I’ve also gotten still-warm lemon blueberry scones, Derby pie (bourbon laced, chocolate nut pie), meatloaf, soup, and pasta — all homemade, all from the same delightful friend, all infused with kindness that squeezes my heart as much as it warms my belly.
          I don’t think pie is on the list of love languages, but it leaves me feeling crazy loved all the same.  Moreover it reminds me that I do not live and breathe and walk through this world alone.  In the wings of this present moment stands a whole tribe of people prepared to remind me I am loved:  hugely, wildly loved with the kind of love that treats most of this life’s grief and trouble like medicine treats an illness.  If I have the sense to remember and to reach for it, that is.
          The spiritual leap isn’t far, hardly a crack in the sidewalk.  We do not live and breathe and walk through this world alone, tribe of friends or no.  Not a sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing about it, Jesus says in Matthew 10, and then the more important part:  so do not be afraid; you are worth so much more than sparrows.  I have a tea towel with those words stitched on it, more than sparrows.  I should hang it by my bed, the first and last thing I see each day.  Anything that reminds me who and whose I most truly am.
          Along with you too, of course, and all the rest of us as well.  A flock of nearly eight billion now, known and loved from our first day to our last.  May we have the sense to remember and to reach for that love, crazy, huge and wild.

~ peace & prayers, 
pastor annette

          I sometimes tell people, “I watch TikTok so you don’t have to. . “ I tried and like this easy recipe that’s going around TikTok land. 

TikTok Spaghetti

• 1 pound of ground meat
• 1 onion, diced
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, etc. (whatever you like)
• 1 box of spaghetti pasta
• 1 24-oz jar marinara sauce
• 1 16-oz jar alfredo sauce
• 15 oz jar of queso cheese 
• Brown meat and onion together in a dutch oven until the meat is nearly finished, seasoning it with your heart (in whatever amount you like, in whatever amount seems right to you).
• Pour in the marinara and a ½ jar of water.
• Add dry pasta, making sure it is submerged in the liquid.
• Add Alfredo sauce and rinse the jar with another ½ jar of water, adding water to pot.
• Top with the queso and cover.  Cook on low for about 30 minutes, checking halfway thru to stir and separate pasta. 
• Remove when pasta is done and serve. 

Notes: 

• For seasoning I’ve started putting tomato powder in everything and love it, especially scrambled eggs.
• I added minced garlic and sliced mushrooms with meat and onions. Next time I will also add spinach.
• I traded 6 oz of shredded parmesan for the queso because it’s what I had and it sounded better to me.