Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

May the enduring love of our Creator
fill us with gratitude and responsibility
for all we have been given.
Amen.

From "For Everything There is a Season: 75 Blessings for Daily Life," a wonderful resource filled with preparation, welcoming thoughts, prayers, Bible texts, reflections, ritual actions, and blessings for all the seasons of our lives. 

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Youth Resources coming soon!

Two new items for youth are on their way to the Resource Center:

   InSight: Harry Potter (15 minute DVD with guide for discussion) – InSight, the unique new series from Stephen Skelton (The Mayberry Bible Study, Gilligan's Island & the Seven Deadly Sins Bible Study, etc.) is focused on hot topics at the intersection of culture and Christianity. Engaging entertainment from a faith perspective, each entry in the series will equip you to reach youth, adults, and seekers by asking three relevant questions. In InSight: Harry Potter, you’ll discover the answers to:
   What does the author say? – Learn why Rowling said her belief in God inspired Harry Potter
   What does the story say? – Uncover Harry’s prophecy, ‘power’ of love, and title of ‘chosen one’
   What does the Bible say? – Find out which two Bible verses Rowling said summarize the series
   Complete with direct quotes from the author, an overview of major Christian imagery in the series and discussion questions in the guide, InSight : Harry Potter equips you to start a conversation with a cultural hot topic only to lead into a talk about the more important matters of the Christian faith.


   the me I want to be: becoming God’s best version of you: teen edition / John Ortberg with Scott Rubin – God’s best version of you is waiting. But first, John Ortberg has two very important questions:
   Are you REALLY LIVING = full of joy and peace, in harmony with God, others, self; curious, willing to learn and experience opportunities to grow toward the Best Version of yourself;
OR
   Are you DECAYING = lacking mental and emotional energy, feeling uneasy and not very content, too self-focused?
   Ortberg has some intriguing answers to those questions in this curriculum and will help youth guage spiritual health and deal with real issues faced as a teen in today’s world.  The five sessions, each planned for approx. 60 minutes in length, include: Discovering the Spirit; Renewing My Mind; Redeeming My Time; Deepening My Relationships; Transforming My Experiences. This curriculum kit contains: 1 softcover book; 1 participant's guide; 1 DVD with five video session and leader’s guide.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Gluten-free Gingerbread

As the season for building houses and stables and cottages with gingerbread approaches, please remember to be inclusive.  Many of our friends beside us in our churches have discovered a sensitivity to gluten.  I went searching and found the following recipe on the web, checked it with a doctor mom of a gluten-sensitive child, and it's safe!  Tried this recipe over the weekend... it's delicious!!!  We'll be using this recipe at our church's Advent workshop so that EVERYONE can partake.


 Gingerbread for Cookies & Houses (GFCF)

This is a sturdy, versatile dough that is just right for gingerbread cookies — either crispy or chewy — and for the walls and roof of your allergen-free, gluten-free, casein-free gingerbread house. The cookies are not super- sweet, so they work well for icing. (I used royal icing for the gingerbread house; many recipes can be found online.)

This recipe does freeze very well. Thaw in the fridge, then bring to room temp before rolling.

(12/13/09 Note: It’s getting harder to find amaranth flour. Today, I made the cookies, substituting 1⁄2 cup quinoa flour and 1⁄2 cup millet flour for the amaranth, and they turned out great. I also altered the amounts of sweet rice flour and brown rice flour. ALSO — Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice flour seems to be milled more finely than Arrowhead Mill’s. If you use Arrowhead Mill’s, expect your cookies to be a tad grittier.)


GFCF Gingerbread Cookies
Makes about 8 dozen medium-sized cutout cookies
•    1 cup amaranth flour

•    2 cups potato starch 
•    3 cups sweet rice flour 
•    3 cups brown rice flour 
•    2 Tbsp xanthan gum 
•    3 Tbsp baking powder
•    3 Tbsp potato flour (optional) 
•    2 Tbsp ground ginger (or more, if you like ‘em really gingery) 
•    1 Tbsp ground allspice 
•    1 Tbsp ground cinnamon 
•    1 1/2 tsp ground cloves 
•    3 cups powdered sugar 
•    2 cups dark brown sugar 
•    2 cups shortening 
•    1 cup eggs (depending on size, 4-5 eggs. Measure into a glass measuring cup.) 
•    1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp dark molasses (OR 1/3 cup blackstrap molasses) 
•    1 Tbsp salt
1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2.    In a large bowl, with a whisk, mix together the flours, starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, and
spices until well-combined. Set aside. 

3.    In another large bowl, cream together the powdered and brown sugars, shortening, eggs, molasses and salt. 
4.    To the sugar mixture, add flour mixture, about 2 cups at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon. Once the flour mixture is mostly incorporated, knead the dough in the bowl, slowly punching the dough down in the middle and folding the sides of the dough into the middle. Or, put the dough on a non-stick surface (like a silicone mat or a marble slab), and knead it on there. Incorporate all the flour mixture until you have a stiff dough.
5.    If the dough is too dry, and will not hold all of the flour, add a Tbsp of water at a time until it will gather into a ball. Resist adding water if at all possible. The dough works best if it is not very moist.
6.    If you refrigerate or freeze the dough, bring to room temp before rolling. For the most uniform cookies, and definitely for the large sections required for gingerbread houses, roll the dough right onto a large piece of foil or parchment, then pick up the sheet and transfer to the cookie sheet. Working with about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll the dough 1/4′′ thick.  From this dough, either cut sections for your gingerbread house from a template, or use cookie cutters.
7.    Greasing the pan is not necessary, but I favor using nonstick foil. For best results, use insulated pans. (Hint: for your own insulated pans, take two regular jelly roll pans, and between them, add a layer of heavy duty aluminum foil that has been wrinkled, then partially smoothed out. This will create an air gap between the two pans.)
8.    If you roll your cookies to 1/4′′ thickness and bake on insulated pans as suggested, baking time is 19 minutes. If your cookies are thinner, and/or you’re using thinner pans, bake time will be shorter. When done, the corners of your cookies will just start to brown, and the middles will no longer feel spongy. Also, you can bake for 16-17 minutes to produce a softer, chewier cookie (this is not recommended for gingerbread houses, though).

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Shepherd's Speedy Snacks

Christmas Extras: Faith Filled Ideas for Celebrating Christmas by Jan Kershner is one of the new books at the Resource Center, and it's filled with lots of fun and easy projects for the Advent season.  The projects each have an objective, supply list, time needed, preparation steps, and even what to say and ask the children as they work on the project.

I'm on the team designing the Advent workshop at my church:  Preparing the Way at Providence.  Like most Advent workshop events, there will be stations for creating Advent wreaths and Chrismons, a corner for stories to be read, tables of fair trade wares, and yummy refreshments.  But what I was looking for was a fresh approach to 'getting the word out' about the event.  That's when I read Christmas Extras and came across Shepherd's Speedy Goodies on page 22.  Perfect!

I started off at the computer, developing a topper for the bag that would contain what I renamed 'Shepherd's Speedy Snacks'.  On one side of the topper were details about Preparing the Way at Providence.  On the other side (after the topper is folded) is the 'what to say' section from the project as shown on page 22... a story about the shepherds leaving on a journey to see the baby Jesus.  I also included the ingredients of the 'Snacks'.  Four of these toppers fit on a page, and were printed onto cardstock, cut to size and folded in half.  On to the mixing!



For the 'Speedy Snacks', I mixed Cheerios, pistachios, and dried cranberries: nutritious and festive in color.  I measured out 1/3 cup per bag and sealed it shut.  The topper was then stapled on and that was all there was to it!  The youth will help assemble these bags of 'Snacks', making quick work of the process.

These tasty little marketing tools will be handed out during our post-worship fellowship time... a tasty snack, a quick story, and an invitation to the Advent workshop. 

Check out Christmas Extras for some Sunday School fun, for Children's Church lessons, or maybe some surprising inspiration!

PS - Easter Extras: Faith Filled Ideas for Easter Week is available, too!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

New Resource: Canon and Creed

New resources arrive almost daily at the Resource Center!  One such resource is this offering in the newest phase of the Interpretation commentary series: Canon and Creed by Robert W. Jenson.

    In this challenging work, Jenson posits that for the sake of its integrity through history, the church must always remember that canon needs creed and creed needs canon and that the church must govern its discourse and practice by their joint import. But how does the church understand and protect the relation between its Scripture and its creedal formulations? No one is more qualified to address that question than Jenson, who shows how canon and creed work together and interact and who argues that neither is sufficient to guide Christian faith without the help of the other.
    This book will enable contemporary interpreters and teachers, pastors, and laity to attend to the questions and understand the tensions that are always present as the church seeks to hold canon and creed together.

  "…In this short book, Jenson renews our sense of shock that Scripture, creed, and theology could ever have become separated in the modern church. What is more, he teaches us how to reweave them, both by precept and by example," commented R. Kendall Soulen, Professor Systematic Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary.

Additions to this Interpretation series will focus on the Bible's most enduring passages and most vital themes, bringing to these topics the insight and faithful wisdom that are longtime Interpretation hallmarks.  Planned titles include: The Ten Commandments, Eschatology, Violence in the Bible, Sacraments, Miracles, Women in the Bible, and many more.  Check out the first in this series from the Resource Center!