Postings will be rare for a while.

I am on vacation and sabbatical from June 15 through September 14, 2015. Postings will be rare, but I will begin posting again shortly after September 14. You'll get to read about The Move from Hell and The Apartment from Hell, both of which businesses shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, the guilty, and those somewhere in between. In addition, you may hear about my sabbatical and vacation, assuming I actually get to enjoy some of each.

Beloveds, rest in God and take note of God's blessings.

Sermon Mark 4:26-34 14 June 2015 Proper 6, Year B

 God help me, I was going to preach something safe and comforting today. It’s my last Sunday with you after all. I could play it safe and say a lot of comforting things about how we just need to let God do what God does. All we have to do is plant the seeds. Or with the second parable, I could talk about how God takes a tiny mustard seed and makes a huge plant out of it. The Gospel stories for today can certainly be preached that way. We don’t even have to think of them as parables. We can make them safe by turning them into fables or allegories.

A fable about the mustard seed would interpret like this: Large things can grow from something very small indeed. An allegory would interpret the mustard seed like this: If your faith is small and you nurture it, it will do the same thing the mustard seed did. But parables, especially the parables Jesus tells, are neither safe nor easy. Parables are designed to have multiple interpretations, and multiple ways of twisting your brain around. Parables make you think, and oftener than not, disturb the status quo by making you think about things you’d rather not think about at all. Parables are intended to mess up our normal way of thinking, to be subversive in a variety of ways. And parables get inside our heads and cause us to think differently, to sometimes get us so frustrated we don’t know quite what to do about them. And if we’ll stay with them and keep thinking about them, parables can be life changing and we might be transformed before we know it. Maybe that’s just what Jesus had in mind. You think?

Now let me make it clear that there is nothing wrong with interpreting parables as allegories or fables. Interpreting them that way can say some really important things about what we believe about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God may not be easy to spot. The kingdom of God may appear really tiny but end up being large in influence or size or scope when we least expect it. And yet, if we treat these parables like parables, we might begin to look at then differently and we may not always be safe.

Suppose we focus on what a very odd thing a mustard seed really is. Some varieties of mustard seeds are used as spices, some are used as medicine, and some are used as food. But in general, in a field or garden, in Jesus’ time, they were considered weeds, and noxious weeds at that. Dangerous weeds, uncontrollable weeds that can choke out other plants and take over an entire area. In Jesus’ time, mustard would hardly ever be in someone’s garden. Instead it would grow unchecked in a fallow field, or in an open uncultivated area.

         

If you’re a lawn guy or gal, or a gardener or a farmer, select your least favorite weed. How about a weed that has to be controlled by law? Something that appears on the Nebraska Noxious Weed List: Salt Cedar, Purple Loosestrife, Knapweed, one of several varieties of Thistle, or even Knotweed. If you like the garden-variety stuff, there’s our mowers’ favorite: dandelions, or various other things that seem to grow stronger every time you mow them down.

         

Interesting, because that’s what Jesus is doing here. He’s comparing the kingdom of God to a noxious weed that is difficult and almost impossible to control. Now do you think that’s a comforting image? And what about those birds that take shelter in the mustard plant? Maybe what Jesus is talking about is those undesirable birds that showed up in an earlier parable at the beginning of chapter 4 of Mark’s Gospel. Remember those birds? They were the ones that ate up the seed the farmer scattered on the path. Do you think that’s a comforting image? Maybe what Jesus means is when the kingdom of God grows unchecked and really takes root, undesirable birds or perhaps even undesirable people show up. Maybe that’s one of the reasons we find unchecked growth uncomfortable or even threatening. We can’t control it or shape it to our image of what “nice” church should look like, or sound like, or be like.

         

So maybe that’s a part of what Jesus is doing with that obnoxious and noxious mustard seed this morning. Maybe that’s part of what Jesus is saying about the mustard that won’t go away and keeps on growing unchecked. Maybe part of what Jesus is asking us to hear is that annoying and noisy mustard seed and those birds and people that can’t be controlled.

Maybe what Jesus has in mind this morning instead of a nice little parable for public consumption, is a subversive, dangerous and risky plot to transform us and change the world. Are you up for that? AMEN.

The Rev. Nicolette Papanek

 ©2015

Why Make Salad Dressing?

Honestly, I don't know. Why make anything? You can buy almost anything now. Just stop by the local giant-sized retailer and they will have it there. I make things because I'm just stuffy enough to like my own stuff better. I also believe, in the words of one of my favorite contemporary folk songs, "There's only two things money can't buy. True love and homegrown tomatoes." Many people think John Denver wrote the song, but it was actually written by Guy Clark and I much prefer his version. Maybe that's part of my "purity thing" about needing to go back to the original source. Researching on wikipedia can be remarkably unreliable and so can just about anything else unless you can find the original in some form. Even then, research is a risky business. And so is salad dressing.

Do you really need xantham gum in your dressing? How about polysorbate 60? Or any of the other tasty ingredients such as potassium sorbate and EDTA? Never mind the salt.

Herewith are some of my favorite salad dressings. I am posting them because once I make them for people they always ask me for the recipes. And, it also gives me an opportunity to climb on my soap box about making food from scratch. Do I do this all the time? Of course not. But I do eat very little prepared food and hardly ever darken the door of a fast food place. I love food and eating though, and there isn't much I won't try. I trust I am not a food snob. People like different things and eat different ways. I love that and am always willing to try something new. And just to prove that, although I think traditional southern-style Pimento Cheese leaves a lot to be desired, I recently had some smoked Gouda pimento cheese that was very good.

The Recipes

Measurements are approximate. Feel free to add salt if you are not watching your sodium intake. Adjust recipes to your own taste. I dunk a lettuce leaf in the dressing as one good way to see how it will taste on your salad. Other people like to dip in a finger. You choose.

"T" means tablespoon. "t" means teaspoon. This is for those who don't cook much. Every discipline has it's own language devotees have to learn.

Miso Tahini Dressing

Combine:

¼ cup tahini

1 T white Miso

1 T lemon juice

Freshly ground pepper

Mix with a spoon until smooth paste

Add warm water gradually – about ¼ cup or more

May need to add more warm water once it has been refrigerated, as it will thicken.

Miso Dressing

Mix together until smooth:

¼ cup rice vinegar

3 T white Miso

Gradually whisk in:

½ cup olive oil

1 T sesame seeds

¼ t sesame oil

¼ t sugar

Pinch cayenne pepper

Lemony Yogurt Dressing

Combine:

½ cup plain or Greek yogurt

2 T olive oil

2 T lemon juice

½ t grated lemon zest

½ t Dijon mustard

Cayenne pepper to taste

Carrot-Ginger Dressing

Place all ingredients except oil in blender or food processor and process until finely chopped.

4 medium carrot, peeled and roughly chopped

1 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly diced

1 shallot sliced

3 to 6 T rice vinegar

1 T sesame oil

1 t soy sauce

3 T white Miso

1 ½ T honey

When well combined, slowly add ¼ cup olive oil.

May be thinned with water.

Sherry-Shallot Vinaigrette

Soaking the shallot in vinegar gives it a nice pickled flavor.

For a tarter flavor, let the shallot soak for a couple of hours.

1 large shallot, thinly sliced

1 ½ T sherry vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

¼ cup olive oil

In a small bowl, toss the shallot with the vinegar, and pepper. Let stand 15 minutes, the whisk in the oil.

Sorta-Caesar Dressing

½ cup mayonnaise

2 oil-packed anchovies

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 T capers, drained

1 T lemon juice

1 T water

1 t Dijon mustard

2 T freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Freshly ground pepper

In a food processor, combine the mayonnaise, anchovies, garlic, capers, lemon juice, water and mustard and process until smooth.

Add the cheese and pulse to blend. Mix in pepper to taste.

Honey Mustard Dressing

1/3 cup honey

3 T Dijon or country Dijon Mustard

¼ cup rice or white wine vinegar

1/8 cup olive oil

Freshly ground back pepper to taste

Whisk together the honey, mustard, and vinegar. Slowly whisk in the oil, then add black pepper.

Creamy Dill Dressing

¼ cup finely chopped fresh dill, or more to taste

1 t Dijon mustard

¼ cup rice or white wine vinegar

6-8 T mayonnaise

2 T olive oil

Freshly ground white or black pepper

Whisk together the mustard, vinegar, and olive oil. Add mayonnaise and dill. Then add pepper to taste.

Pomegranate Dressing

¼ cup pomegranate molasses (sometimes Whole Foods has this in the honey & molasses section, it’s also generally available at Middle Eastern markets)

½ cup rice vinegar

3 T Dijon mustard

¼ cup olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together the molasses, vinegar, and mustard. Gradually add in the olive oil. Add pepper to taste.

Viennese Red Wine Vinegar Dressing

(Great on summer tomatoes)

6 medium tomatoes (Early Girls are great for this)

1 T olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 T water

2 t sugar

Freshly ground pepper

½ t mild prepared mustard or ground mustard

¼ t sweet Hungarian paprika

2 t chopped parsley

Slice tomatoes. Put in a shallow serving bowl. In separate receptacle, mix together oil, vinegar, water, sugar, pepper, mustard, and paprika.

Pour over tomatoes. The Austrians would chill their tomatoes about ½ an hour prior to serving, but since I’m only half Austrian I prefer mine room temperature. Either way, let the tomatoes sit for about 30 minutes. Just before serving sprinkle on the fresh parsley. If you don’t have fresh parsley, I’d recommend leaving it off. Dried parsley just doesn’t bring the tomatoes to life the way the fresh parsley does.