Risen
I think I must have been hungry when I started writing this today. All I could think about was bread.
Eventually, I found myself sitting with this tiny parable from Jesus:
“He told them still another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.’” (Matthew 13:33)
That parable seems a little dough-y on first read.
Often, when I read these old Jesus parables, my first response to them is a little bland.
This one is so short and ordinary.
Yeast? A giant bag of flour? Dough?
That’s it??? That’s the kingdom of heaven?
But look closer.
Jesus is teaching through the ordinary. Through the quiet, humble labor of a woman making bread.
This is a story of co-creation.
The kingdom only becomes bread after someone gets their humble hands messy and works the living yeast through the flour of life.
The kingdom requires the kneading, patience, work, co-creation, warmth, and time.
And just a little bit of yeast — maybe that’s hope, love, kindness, joy, peace, sacred connection — can turn a giant amount of flour into warm, fragrant, nourishing bread.
The sacramental meal.
The body of Christ.
When I think about YOU and your involvement in BETWEEN, this parable feels so relevant. I hope BETWEEN can be a little bit of yeast in your life. Helping you to rise with warmth and nourishment for the people around you.
And I hope that you can show up for others as that same leavening agent.
I wrote this short little poem as my way of praying for you today…
WE ARE HOLY YEAST
The alivening happens like bread
We yeast and percolate each other
Bubbling awake through encounter
Alchemically invigorating our souls
To rise and become the promised meal
Heavy, dense go the lonely loaves
Unleavened in their unrealized state
Sitting unknown on the dusty shelf
Without the beautiful barm of you
I could never be the soft, warm me I know
Our countertop is a beautiful disaster
Hands and faces covered in the flour
That became a warm, nourishing eternity
Feel free to text me back with anything I can be holding in prayer for you. The space between us is sacred. Now go, with God’s love, and create the church, BETWEEN.
