I’m not sure if they heard it mentioned at church or if I slipped it into the conversation, but the kids are wondering about Holy Week. Not the stories – they have those down pat. But the terminology. I heard them discussing it the other day and they are a little confused. They seem to think that “holy” means “ancient.” Long ago and far away and all that jazz. Which makes Holy Week into History Week or something. I think that we’ve got some discussions ahead this coming week.
I’ve been mulling over how to do that. Thinking through synonyms for holy. Blessed. Special. Shiny. Good. Good in a God way.
Examples might help. Maybe this will be the way to go. Right now, on Sunday night with my little ones finally in bed, I’m finding that my own head and heart are full. Holy Week maybe be ahead, but I’m feeling that a Holy Week is behind me, too. This past week has been filled with beautiful holy moments. I think that I’ll write some of them out here and when the kids clamber into bed with me in the morning, I hope I can be awake enough to share these thoughts with them, too.
This week, we’re visiting my parents in Ottawa. It’s been almost three years since we’ve been here – and before that, this was home for Spouse and me for most of a decade. Return is a blessing, even if it is just a visit. Three generations at the kitchen table is a blessing. As are late-night stories with Grandpa when Beangirl can’t sleep. And midweek church suppers. And lunch at the diner with old friends. (I think that poutine can count as a blessing, too – don’t you?) Watching my kids learn again about walking in snowpants. Watching the light come in through my parents’ kitchen window. All these regular moments have been shining for me this week. I’ve been feeling grateful, and that feels holy.
One morning earlier in the week, we went to the woods to feed the chickadees. It was a bright and snowy morning, and I loved watching my kids walk through the same woods where I walked as a kid. They clutched sunflower seeds in their hands, and kept their eyes high in the trees, watching for flight. And I loved watching my parents watching my kids. There was blessing there, too. Something beautiful and holy about feeling the connection between yesterday and today and everything soaked in late winter light.
Maybe sometimes holy is the collision of ancient and modern. The witness of saints and bright hope for tomorrow. Not quite nostalgia and not quite tradition, but something about our sense of calling in the moment and in a larger context of history. I’m not sure that I can explain that to the kids, but it’s something I’ve been wondering about. If God is outside of time and yet we are bound by human chronology and it is in time that we encounter God, then maybe holiness can be about past and future at the same time.
I had a glimpse of that maybe in the form of a cookbook this week, when I found my copy of Moosewood Restaurant Cooks for a Crowd shoved to the back of a bookshelf. Before I got married, I lived in the Blob, an intentional Christian community in downtown Ottawa. We shared meals and chores and our angst about life decisions. We relied on prayer and cheap vegetables and inspiration from frugal cookbooks.In the latter category, I especially liked the Moosewood cookbooks with their yummy vegetarian ideas. Later, when I was married and the Spouse and I were first experimenting with hospitality in our own home, one of our Blob friends gave me my own copy of the Moosewood book. It’s filled with great ideas and good advice for crowd cooking. One of my favourites is Groundnut Stew – and I’ve included that recipe further down the page. It’s a great one for church dinners – just be sure to check for nut allergies before making it. I’ve added peppers to this recipe and omitted okra. Be flexible – use what you like. You’ll eat well if you cook the things you like.
When I pulled the book off the shelf and read this recipe, I remembered our table moments at the Blob, and I hoped for more table moments to come. I’m grateful that our faith has space for this kind of practice at the centre of our community life. The gospel accounts of Jesus eating with friends are invitations to us to meet with Jesus at our tables and to become disciples of his table hospitality. We’ll be telling the story of the Last Supper around my parents’ table this week, and perhaps I can find a way in that conversation of sharing some of these thoughts with the kids. But at very least, they will know that the table is surrounded by people who love them, who have loved them and who will love them wherever the future may take them.
Groundnut Stew – serves 24
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
Onions, chopped – 2 lbs
vegetable oil
cayenne – 1 tsp
garlic, minced – 6 cloves
cabbage, chopped – 2 lbs, 12 oz
sweet potatoes, peeled, cubed – 4 lbs, 8 oz
tomato juice – 5 cups
apple juice 3 cups
salt – 1 tbsp
ginger root, grated – 2 tbsp
tomatoes, fresh, chopped – 1 lb 8 oz
sweet peppers, chopped – 8
peanut butter – 2 ½ cups
How to:
Sweat onions in a large pan for five minutes, then add garlic and cayenne.
Add cabbage and sweet potatoes and cook until the colour is bright.
Mix in the juices, salt, ginger and tomatoes. Cover the pan, bring to the boil and then cook at a reduced heat until the potatoes are tender.
Add peanut butter. If the stew is too thick, add more juice or water. Serve with chopped peanuts, cilantro, hardboiled eggs, banana, etc.
Gather a crowd to eat and wonder together. And remember us all in your prayers this and every Holy Week.
