Dough-Time

Some non-Zoom focused days over Christmas afforded me a unique opportunity. I’ll call them “dough-times”.

I grew up in a house where the smell of fresh bread often wafted about. My mother was a master. She mixed hymn singing with her bread making, and the results were heavenly, and worth every carbohydrate ingested.

So over Christmas, I dusted off Grace Wolgemuth’s Dill Bread recipe. And as I did, I created more than two loaves of bread. I uncovered the power of the Gospel. The potential of the Church. And the compelling call of every follower of Jesus.

Wow, that’s a lot in one dill bread recipe.

It all starts with ¼ of an ounce.

Yeast. Tiny, but alive. Impactful when initiated. Invisible in service.

The power to transform.

Jesus understood this, and while most of His references to yeast were warnings against evil, He also kneaded it into a description of the Kingdom.

Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough. (Matthew 13:33, NLT)

The Kingdom of God. Like yeast.

¼ of an ounce activated and everything changes. No majority needed. No herd immunity required.

¼ of an ounce unleashed and deployed.  Forever. For good.

¼ of an ounce. The Kingdom. Unconstrained.

¼ of an ounce into broken communities.

¼ of an ounce into suburban neighborhoods.

¼ of an ounce into juvenile detention centers.

¼ of an ounce into places of power.

¼ of an ounce into fractured homes.

¼ of an ounce into the enclaves of evil.

¼ of an ounce into recipes of hatred.

¼ of an ounce into the halls of Congress.

¼ of an ounce into the fight for justice.

¼ of an ounce on Main Street.

¼ of an ounce on Pennsylvania Avenue.

¼ of an ounce into the ghetto.

¼ of an ounce on the Upper East Side.

¼ of an ounce and the church becomes The Church.

Outnumbered, but never overwhelmed.

Only effective when active. Only impactful when in the mix.

Yeast. Now.

Yeast. Everywhere.

Invisible. Empowered.

¼ of an ounce in Bethlehem changed history and the trajectory of mankind.

…yeast on mission. The Kingdom deployed.

…till all the dough is impacted!