How Do You Make Bread?

 Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church 

 

 

 A warm welcome to each worshiper today. We celebrate you and offer you our friendship and love. We are a congregation of people who seek to grow spiritually, to become more like Christ in His compassion and acceptance of everyone while growing more aware of what it really means to be Christians today. 

As a Reconciling Congregation, EPUMC affirms the sacred worth of persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities and welcomes them into full participation in the fellowship, membership, ministries, and leadership of the congregation. 

   

943 Palmer Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12309 / 518-374-4306 epumc943@gmail.com / www.easternparkway.org 

Order of Worship 

September 4, 2022 

10:00 a.m. 

*You are invited to rise in body or spirit. 

  

Prelude Prelude J. S. Bach 

 
 

Greeting and Announcements 

 
 

Mission Statement: 

We are a faith community striving to be, to nurture, and to send forth disciples of Jesus Christ. 

  

Call to Worship: 

We come with praise 

for the wonderful works of God. 

Even before we speak, 

God knows us completely. 

The Holy One knows us and sustains us, 

even in our moments of confusion and doubt. 

Who can count the thoughts of God? 

They are more than all the sands of the desert. 

Like clay in the hand of the potter, 

we are shaped into vessels of divine will. 

We come with praise 

for the wonderful works of God. 

Deborah Sokolove 

  

*Hymn How Firm a Foundation #529 

              

Prayer of Confession: 

God of our lives, 

you search us and know us. 

We have refused to take up your cross, 

to bear the burdens that are ours to carry. 

We have not given up our attachments 

to possessions or to self. 

We have not counted the cost 

of walking into an unknown future with you. 

Help us turn away from evil, 

that we may walk with you once more. Amen. 

  

Assurance: 

The Holy One rejoices in our repentance, 

reshaping us into vessels of love and service. 

In the grace-filled love of Christ, we are forgiven. 

Thanks be to God. Amen. 

 
 

Scripture Reading Matthew 25:31-46 

The Judgment of the Nations 

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.” 

 
 

Sermon How Do You Make Bread? 

Today we’re at week 5/7 of Stump the Preacher 2022, sermons requested by you and preached by me. Today’s topic comes in a roundabout way from our friend Judy Lott, who gave me two cookbooks, and wondered if I could make something out of that. Well game on, Judy. 

The cookbook I spent some time with this week, courtesy of Judy, is called Aunt Susie’s 10-Minute Bible Recipes: Bringing God Into Your Life One Dish at a Time, and compiled by Susie Siegfried. Huh. This is the reason why I enjoy Stump the Preacher so much, I never know what you guys are going to hand me.  

Aunt Susie’s cookbook is simple. It’s a compilation of a bunch of dinner recipes, and she introduces each one with a scripture verse and a short devotional. One of Aunt Susie’s devotionals really jumped out at me, so I wanted to share it with you, before I prepare food in front of you while telling you about Jesus. First, your devotional: 

Amos 9:11—In that day I will raise up the Tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old. 

The first house my husband and I bought was a fairly new two-story home in Virginia Beach. We owned the home for only eight months, but during that time, it seemed that everything that could go wrong did. When we first moved in, the dishwasher caught fire the first time I used it. I then bought a portable dishwasher until the repairman could come, and the water came pouring out of it during the rinse cycle, flooding the kitchen. Then the clothes dryer burned up, ruining all the clothes inside. The television went kaput; the refrigerator took its last breath; and the washing machine kept filling up with water and ended up overflowing into the family room. Next our well went dry, and the water that we did have was coming from a leak in our dining room ceiling. We had to repair our fence three different times—first a storm blew it down, next a neighborhood boy ran a big cable spool through it, and finally it caught fire. At the same time, I had to take my husband to the emergency room two different times: once for an allergic reaction to shellfish and another time for a gallbladder attack. It may have been a blessing when my husband got his orders from the Navy that he was being reassigned. We were more than happy to move and begin again. 

We usually know when we need to repair our homes, but we are more reluctant to repair our lives. Ask God to assist you when you go about repairing your life. Like a well-maintained home, we need to do a maintenance check on ourselves as well. 

Ok, so—clearly the author of that devotional is lucky to be alive, because I’ve never heard one single person share that many personal brushes with fire. But I have heard of one person—many people, in fact—having that many personal brushes with harm and destruction, in lots of forms. We don’t always take great care of our homes, our relationships, our souls, and our neighbors, and the greater consequence of this is a Church, a country, and a world in pain. Borrowing this “faith through cooking” idea that Aunt Susie taught me this week, this all tells me that if we want to have a finished product that nourishes us, we have to get the “recipe” right in the first place. 

I used the word “bread” in this sermon title, because the Gospels call Jesus the Bread of Life, and we, as folx who follow him, are tasked with creating the heart of Jesus within our own actions, and bringing the piece of him that dwells within us to the world. Extending this “cooking as theology” idea, we are all bakers of the bread of life. But I’m not as much of a bread baker, so I’m using a liberal definition of what constitutes “bread”, and instead preparing no bake chocolate cookies, because they have oats, and oats are in the bread family. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 

I paired this idea of cooking and theology with this morning’s scripture, which perhaps functions better as a recipe than any other passage of scripture, because in these verses Jesus tells us exactly what the finished product will look like if we did our job of following him, and what steps it takes to get there. I come back to these verses over and over, and I quoted them several times when I wrote my ordination paper last year. They’re the rock of my faith. But they’re not easy to follow.  

Let’s start with our base ingredient: compassion, represented here as oats. The complexities of this world often make us turn inward, and obsess with self-preservation. The first step in following Jesus is to turn away from that impulse, and instead toward our true human nature. We’re social animals. We don’t live alone in shells, we need friendship, family, a “tribe”. The people who love us the very most in this life teach us how to love everyone else, and the unconditional love we share in our closest relationships is the foundation of all of society. Us parents need to teach our children to love and care. Our intimate partners soften our hearts and teach us to hurt when the other is hurting. Jesus requires these of us. Without compassion, we’re nowhere. 

Our next ingredient is understanding, represented up here as milk. Understanding is what flows between us. We can’t be stingy with understanding, we need to pour out a huge cup of it, or these cookies will be dry and fall apart. We can’t love our neighbor, as Jesus commands us to, unless we hear, appreciate, and know one another. 

Then we move on to cocoa powder, which gives our cookies their taste. Let’s think of our cocoa powder as diversity. When we create a world where we can live unafraid as our authentic selves, and where we honor our neighbors for the beauty of their ages, races, skin colors, gender identities, sexualities, abilities, appearances, talents, and treasures, we create something rich to behold, that reflects the radiant image of God. When we can’t appreciate this beauty, we’re like that person who doesn’t like chocolate—that’s cold, and unnatural. Get with the program, friend. Chocolate—and the flavors we bring to life—make the world shine. 

This brings us to butter, the glue that holds us all together, and then sugar, the human tenderness that makes life worthwhile. We heat this all up and stir it together. 

We need these things—the ability to see and appreciate one another, the ability to hurt with and for one another, the ability to nurture and lift one another up, and the ability to communicate our differences and learn from them, in order to have any chance at being the kind of people who would behave with the heart of Christ. We need to teach these qualities to one another, hold one another accountable when we get it wrong, and search our hearts for what we lack. If we have these things, then we get the end result Jesus taught us to emulate: the person who recognizes hunger, thirst, nakedness, and loneliness in other people, and soothes those hurts with generosity and compassion. But even if we get those base ingredients right, we can still get a wrong balance of them, or burn this stuff, and mess up. Jesus brings us back to one essential truth that will tell you every time how your cookies will turn out: Jesus finds solidarity with those in the most pain and longing, those most disenfranchised by this world. How we treat our impoverished neighbors, our sick neighbors, our immigrant neighbors, our imprisoned neighbors, and our food insecure neighbors is exactly how we’re treating Jesus. In a country that slashes health benefits, welfare, and food stamps to line the pockets of the 1% and that builds a border wall and imprisons more people per capita than any other developed nation...I think it’s safe to say, we burned our cookies. How can we do better today, and tomorrow? 

When this is done heating, you combine the liquid ingredients with the solid ones, and just let them cool. To connect this in the cheesiest way possible to our Wesleyan theology, these cookies gel to perfection much like we do. Right now, much like these cookies, we aren’t a finished product. The end result is still unwritten, so if we’re looking at our baking sheet and we don’t like what we see, smell, and taste, we have time to change that. Going back to Aunt Susie’s devotional, what do we need to maintain better, in our home, in our family, in our lives? We’re often prone to think our sufferings and shortcomings are all about us and don’t affect other people, but the truth is that we all get baked from the same dough. If you put even a little salt in here, these cookies are gonna come out nasty. We need to purify ourselves, and keep a good eye on the stove, to prevent the social imbalances and injustices that grieve Jesus. Otherwise, we have quite the kitchen mess to clean up. Lucky for us, Jesus loves to pass out towels. 

Some of us aren’t great cooks, burn most of our food, and depend on Door Dash for dinner way more than we should. No judgment, that’s why it’s so important that those of us who have the gifting Jesus needs to see in order to be good cooks help those who are lacking. On our own, we’re trashing our kitchens and starting fires. But together, we’re a delicious delicacy, and we feed the world. 

Amen. 

 

Hey, here’s that recipe: 

Ingredients You’ll Need for This Recipe 

• Sugar 

• Butter 

• Milk 

• Unsweetened cocoa powder 

• Vanilla 

• Quick oats 

• Peanut butter 

How to Make No Bake Cookies 

First line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or just spread a long sheet of the parchment onto the counter), or have 29 cupcake liners set out. 

Then in a 2.5 – 3 quart saucepan combine sugar, butter, cocoa powder and milk. 

Set saucepan over medium heat (I like to use the largest burner on the stove) and begin whisking. Cook and whisk frequently until it reaches a boil, then once it reaches a full boil stop stirring and let it boil for 1 minute. 

Remove the mixture from heat then immediately add in vanilla, peanut butter and oatmeal. And stir to blend well. 

Drop mixture onto prepared parchment dropping 2 Tbsp at a time (a medium cookie scoop works well here or just use two large spoons). 

Let cookies set then enjoy! If you want to speed up setting transfer to refrigerator. Store the cookies at room temp in an airtight container. 

 

 
 

*Hymn Guide My Feet #2208, vv. 1, 2, 6 

 
 

Offering Little Prelude Cesar Franck 

 
 

Offertory  

 

*Doxology #94 

*Prayer of dedication             

  

Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s Prayer 

 

We are broken vessels, O God. You have watched us. You have called to us. You have blessed us and yet we have chosen our own flawed ways. Throughout the ages you have sent your prophets to help us return to you. Some people heeded your call and turned again to lives of love and witness. But others chose not to listen. Please help us to tune our ears and our hearts to you, O God. Help us to seek peace and justice rather than greed and complacency. As we have gathered here this morning to listen to your word, to sing praise, to offer our prayers, help us to remember that you hold us dearly in your hands. You cherish our lives and listen to our cries. You respond to our needs. Enable us to place our trust in you totally, that we may faithfully serve you all of our days. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN. 

 

Our Father, Mother, Creator God, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. 

 
 

The Lord’s Supper 

 
 

*Hymn O God of Every Nation #435, vv. 1, 4 

 
 

Benediction 

 
Postlude I’m Gonna Sing/Ain’t-a that Good News Larry Shackley 

 
 

Staff 

Natalie Bowerman Pastor 

Betsy Lehmann Music Director 

Joe White Custodian 

Cassandra Brown Nursery Attendant