Brothers and sisters,
A few weeks ago, I went up to Charlottesville, VA with some friends in order to go apple-picking. We’d planned the trip for months, talking about how the four of us wanted to do something that felt quintessentially “fall”, if that makes sense. And we had a wonderful time! We ended up picking a literal bushel of apples, meaning I came home with a lot of apples. Fujis, Granny Smiths, Staymans, and Winesaps—all of them freshly picked, all of them delicious. Now I had a quandary: what to do with ¼ bushel of apples?
I started out by making a batch of apple freezer jam using some of the Granny Smiths and the Staymans. That jam has been delicious layered between pancakes on Saturday mornings. The Fujis and Winesaps have made their way to the office with me as afternoon snacks. But the main thing I wanted to make was a fresh apple cake, specifically the fresh apple cake my mother used to make.
So, I texted Dad and asked him if he could find the recipe anywhere in Mom’s old cookbooks or recipe cards. And he delivered, though not the way either of us was expecting. He texted me five pictures of five different recipes from Mom’s cookbooks and said, “It was one of these, but I don’t remember which one.” Each of these, by the way, was drawn from either the Methodist or Baptist cookbooks from various churches in Mom’s hometown, Ahoskie. I looked over the recipes. Some were more helpful than others—one suggested I bake the cake, “in a warm oven till done”—but I chose one to bake, and set to it. And you know what? I picked the right one! My kitchen smelled like Mom’s kitchen. The cake looked like hers. And, most importantly, it tasted just right!
When I was telling Dad about my cake, he asked me which recipe I’d used and how I’d known to pick that particular one. So, I said, “Well, there was one picture where the page looked like it had wrinkled from being wet. Mom didn’t always dry her hands that well after she washed them, so I figured that water damage was from her. Also, that recipe called for a 325° oven and Mom always used to say fresh apple cakes take forever to cook. This was also the only recipe that called for nuts and Mom loved desserts with nuts in them. Finally, I saw where the recipe called for cinnamon and nutmeg, but I remember Mom always saying she didn’t like nutmeg so any recipe that called for it, she’d sub in cinnamon. So, you know, that made it obvious.” Dad just laughed and said, “Oh, is that all? You two really did know each other well, huh?”
We celebrated All Saints Sunday this past Sunday. We talked about all the ways those who came before us have shaped us and shaped our faith. But there are a lot of different ways folks shape us, aren’t there? And even when it’s not explicitly faith-related, they can shape how we see the world, can’t they? It’s a gift to be able to live together as a church family and be shaped by such a cloud of witnesses, to be able to encounter challenges and draw on the faith and ideas of others to meet those challenges. Who are the folks in your life who have shaped you as a person and as a Christian? What are the things you still do that they taught you? Can how can that memory provide you with comfort?
Grace and peace,
Pastor Ben