October 14th, 2011
Adapted from Hiedi Swanson’s recipe in Super Natural Cooking, a great cookbook I recently checked out from the library. This recipe is flexible. Great for leftover rice–I used a rice cooker which is my favorite gadget with a plug after the coffee maker and grinder. Use different vegetables, or different dairy products, or grains! Go nuts! (mmm you could add nuts, even, or dried fruit…)
Ingredients:
1 lb mushrooms (any kind)
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
5 cups of cooked rice (I used a combination of wild rice and brown rice)
1 cup of cottage cheese or ricotta
1.5 cups of yogurt or sour cream
2 eggs
1 head of kale
1 bunch of broccoli
some fresh thyme leaves
olive or grapeseed or other oil
s + p
1 cup grated gruyere or other swiss-y type cheese.
Sautee the mushrooms in two batches, leaving space around them so they brown. Transfer to a big bowl. Saute the onion till translucent, add it to the bowl. Saute the garlic for 1 minute then add the kale, season with s + p and saute till wilted slightly and bright green, transfer to the bowl. Saute the broccoli (season with s + p) until its just cooked but not too soft, add it to the bowl. Meanwhile, mix together the cottage cheese, yogurt and eggs, thyme leaves, and s + p to taste. Finally, mix the vegetables, rice and cheese/egg mixture together and spread in casserole dish (9 x 13 is good, but whatever you have is fine). Sprinkle the grated cheese on top, cover with foil, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Take off the foil and check on it after 20 more minutes–bake until the top is crusty brown.
We served it with Clare Sullivan’s beautiful homemade bread:
And frozen peas. Because who doesn’t love a nice little pile of peas with their casserole?
–Prepared by Rachel at St. Lydia’s on October 9
October 14th, 2011
For a regular family sized meal, try this for the beans and rice:
BEANS
Three cans of pinto beans, strained
Enough beer to cover the beans by 1/2 inch (around 2 cans or bottles — use a pale ale, pilsner, or blond lager)
2 cans of tomatoes with mild chillies (like Rotel)
1 large onion, chopped and clarified
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped and browned
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
(Add more of both or either too taste)
Put all in a stew pot, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. Use immersion blender or potato masher to smash some beans and create a thicker broth.
RICE
Cook enough brown rice for 4-5 people. When cooked, stir in:
– Juice of 2-3 limes
– 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
Serve with chips, yogurt and salsa to garnish.
–Prepared by Richard at St. Lydia’s on September 25
October 14th, 2011
by Richard Chess
My groaning serves as my bread.
My rising serves as my falling.
I have floated all year. I have
feasted and rested while the wind
fluttered the sleeves of the thin
and the moon lifted the faces
of the pale who sounded
their hollow O above my dream.
Now my trembling serves as my grooming:
I groom for an audience with you.
My listening serves as my calling,
my reply to you as my contrition:
Here am I. Here am I.
My turning serves as my awakening,
my turning of pages, of pages:
surely you will pass by, the shadow
of your wrath will glide
over the curled boy
without troubling his wakeful reading.
My searching serves as my roaring.
It pours forth as water, it cascades.
I bend inside my rebelling (my way
of knowing) and stand inside my pleading:
Lord, grant me this,
this cold yearning, this burning vow:
Let me live to serve.
Even as the green outside is slowing,
my standing serves as my going.
–Read at St. Lydia’s on October 9
October 14th, 2011
from The Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot
In my beginning is my end. In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.
Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires,
Old fire to ashes, and ashes to the earth
Which is already flesh, fur and faeces,
Bones of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.
Houses live and die: there is a time for building
And a time for living and for generation
And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane
And to shake the wainscot where the field-mouse trots
And to shake the tattered arras woven with a silent motto.
–Read at St. Lydia’s on October 2
October 14th, 2011
by Matthew Zapruder
Sometimes I am happy to be
here in this bright room
drifting through music made by others
looking down on the heads of the people passing
teaching each other that life is forgoing
I think everyone I can see is partially sad
because we will never be fully forgiven
this apartment building has seen so much moving through the city
well ordered troops
many proud careful mothers and fathers pushing carriages
many people holding hands or talking on their cell phones and crying
hundreds of girls each wearing a plastic tiara
carefully placed on her head by the mayor at the annual spring parade
this building with the ordinary green facade
no one will see as they wait for the storm to pass
their breath creating giant cloud forms
from my window I can see their heads
it makes me smile a little with love how much they look like moose in the zoo
how they stand very patiently close to one another
under the door of the sky
their memories gracefully blundering into the long cool forest
full of shadows
our life is the one we already have.
–Read at St. Lydia’s on September 25
October 13th, 2011
Read Emily’s latest sermon, “Manna and Magic,” on her blog, Sit and Eat.
October 4th, 2011
During the month of October as the Church of the Redeemer undergoes assessment, St. Lydia’s will worship in the homes of congregants who live in the neighborhood. Write stlydias@stlydias.org to find out where we are!
Dear Lydians,
Expect the Unexpected: News from the Diocese
We moved to Redeemer with the knowledge that the building presented significant physical challenges, which were in the midst of being assessed by the Diocese of Long Island. In a letter from the Diocese in August, the Diocese communicated that they were planning an “existing conditions report” of the building.
I received a phone call from Canon John Betit to inform me that the Trustees of the Diocese, having recently met and reviewed an initial assessment of the Redeemer that was done earlier in the summer, have become very concerned about the safety of the building. They have decided that after this Sunday, October 2, we will need to suspend worshipping in the building until the existing conditions report is completed.
I should know soon when the report will be scheduled. After learning the results of the report, we will know much more about how things will progress. The report may tell us that the building is structurally sound and that we may safely worship there as we work with the Diocese to address the leaks in the roof. It is also possible that the building will be found to have structural damage that the Diocese may not be equipped to address at this time. We may be back in the building in a number of weeks, a number of months, or we may find that Redeemer is not a tenable home for us.
God Is With Us in the Wilderness: Digesting the News
This news presents us with both opportunity and challenge. The Trustees are doing exactly what they are tasked to do: ensuring the safety of all those people who worship in the buildings of the Diocese. I am grateful that they are taking the worrisome condition of the building seriously, and join them in placing our congregations’ physical safety above all else. At the same time, the challenge of this moment is very real. Our new space at Redeemer offered us a physical layout that supported the movement of our liturgy, much needed office and storage space, and, most importantly, a place that we were just beginning to feel was home. It is daunting to think about embarking on yet another time of transition.
The bible is full of stories about God asking God’s people to move. The people of Israel wander in the wilderness for forty years. Jonah is called to Nineveh whether he likes it or not. Joseph and Mary set out on a journey to be registered, and Jesus calls his disciples to leave everything and follow him. We are a people on the move, and even as we long for a place to call home, we know God travels with us wherever we go. The church is not a place, but a people.
Pitching Our Tent: Options as we Move Forward
There are some options in front of us in terms of what happens next. We had some wonderful, intimate house church services in the month of August, and could take this opportunity to pitch our tent at different congregants’ apartments in Brooklyn, deepening our understanding and connection to the neighborhood. Also keeping us present and connected to our new neighborhood, there’s a possibility I’m exploring for a cheap loft space rental that I’m pursuing a few blocks away from Redeemer. You might know of other rental possibilities or creative space sharing options we might pursue. Finally, both the Diocese and the Synod have spoken of Brooklyn churches where we might worship, and I’ve already received a generous and gracious offer of hospitality from a nearby priest. I seek the wisdom of the community in weighing these choices.
All Shall Be Well
We will have a place to gather each Sunday night. We are surrounded by people who love and support us. We will keep being the church. And though this time may not look like what you or I might have imagined, it offers us incredible opportunity to be bold and creative in the midst of all that’s unfolding. Let’s sit in the not-knowing and see what God is up to.
Please keep our siblings at Church of the Redeemer in your prayers.
That’s what I have to tell you today, my nomads. Rachel and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. A recurring theme in our many discussions over the last little while has been how blessed and grateful we feel to be traveling with all of you on this journey. We have both experienced a surprising sense of calm and curiosity amidst all of this that has reinforced our faith that the Holy Spirit is moving, however swiftly and surprisingly, in the work we are all doing together. And we know that whatever comes next, it will continue to be a gift and a blessing to share this work with all of you.
Love,
Emily
October 3rd, 2011
Read Emily’s latest sermon, “Water We Can Drink,” on her blog, Sit and Eat.
October 1st, 2011
Read Emily’s latest sermon, “A People on the Move,” at her blog, Sit and Eat.
October 1st, 2011
Read Emily’s latest sermon, “Living Between the Seas,” at her blog, Sit and Eat.
