Sermon: Luke 24:36-49

Read Emily’s latest sermon, “We Can’t Sing That in Church,” at her blog, Sit and Eat.

Spell To Be Said Upon Departure

by Jane Hirshfield

What had come here to do
having finished,
shelves of the water lie flat.

Copper the leaves of the doorsill,
yellow and falling.
Scarlet the bird that is singing.

Vanished the labor, here walls are.
Completed the asking.
Loosing the birds there is water.

Having eaten the pears.
Having eaten
the black figs, the white figs. Eaten the apples.

Table be strewn.
Table be strewn with stems,
table with peelings of grapefruit and pleasure.

Table be strewn with pleasure,
what was here to be done having finished.

–Read at St. Lydia’s on May 1

A Settlement

by Mary Oliver

Look, it’s spring. And last year’s loose dust has turned
into this soft willingness. The wind-flowers have come
up trembling, slowly the brackens are up-lifting their
curvaceous and pale bodies. The thrushes have come
home, none less than filled with mystery, sorrow,
happiness, music, ambition.

And I am walking out into all of this with nowhere to
go and no task undertaken but to turn the pages of
this beautiful world over and over, in the world of my mind.

* * *
Therefore, dark past,
I’m about to do it.
I’m about to forgive you

for everything.

–Read at the St. Lydia’s Easter Vigil

An excerpt from The Wasteland

by T. S. Eliot

I. The Burial of the Dead

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar kine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
“They called me the hyacinth girl.”
–Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Oed’ und leer das Meer.

–Read on Good Friday at the St. Lydia’s Labyrinth Service in Union Square

You might also enjoy taking a look at this hypertext version, which includes links all the references Eliot made in the above excerpt, as well as the full text of the poem.

Spinach and Feta Orzo

Spinach with Orzo and Feta
Total Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Source: Everyday Food

Ingredients
1/2 pound orzo
1 pound chopped trimmed spinach
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions
1.      In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook orzo according to package instructions.
2.      Stir in spinach until wilted. Drain.
3.      In a large bowl, toss hot spinach and pasta with mint, crumbled feta cheese, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Season with coarse salt and ground pepper.

–Prepared by Heather at St. Lydia’s on April 10
More detailed directions for cooking this at St. Lydia’s are here in the form of a Google Doc.

Sermon: Luke 24:13-35

Read Emily’s latest sermon, “He Shows Up,” on her blog, Sit and Eat.

Sermon: Mark 16:1-8

Read Emily’s latest sermon, “Twilight Lives,” preached at the Easter Vigil on April 28, on her blog, Sit and Eat.

Palm Sunday

See more photos of our Palm Sunday service on our Picasa page.

It Was Like This: You Were Happy

By Jane Hirshfield

It was like this:
you were happy, then you were sad,
then happy again, then not.

It went on.
You were innocent or you were guilty.
Actions were taken, or not.

At times you spoke, at other times you were silent.
Mostly, it seems you were silent—what could you say?

Now it is almost over.

Like a lover, your life bends down and kisses your life.

It does this not in forgiveness—
between you, there is nothing to forgive—
but with the simple nod of a baker at the moment
he sees the bread is finished with transformation.

Eating, too, is a thing now only for others.

It doesn’t matter what they will make of you
or your days: they will be wrong,
they will miss the wrong woman, miss the wrong man,
all the stories they tell will be tales of their own invention.

Your story was this: you were happy, then you were sad,
you slept, you awakened.
Sometimes you ate roasted chestnuts, sometimes persimmons.

–Read at St. Lydia’s on April 17

Sweet Potato Kugel and Passover-Inspired Accoutrements

Last Sunday we celebrated Palm Sunday, and following what is becoming a St. Lydia’s tradition, we had a meal inspired by the foods of the traditional Passover seder in order to remind us of our history and connect us with both our Jewish ancestors and our living Jewish brothers and sisters.   Here is a description of our menu, followed by a recipe for Sweet Potato Kugel.

Kugel:  These casseroles are a cultural tradition more than a religious one, but many people eat kugel for Jewish holidays, and they can be made from noodles, matzo, cheese, or various other vegetables.  Abstaining from leavened bread on passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt, when tradition holds that the Jewish people had to make such haste that they could not wait for their bread to rise.  The “bread of affliction” is a reminder of both the slavery Jewish people endured, and the freedom they experienced when they fled.  Thus, our kugel was made of sweet potato.

Bietzah: Roasted eggs are served as a reminder of the hagigah, temple sacrifices that were offered as part of ritual life in the Temple before it was destroyed.  Eggs were the traditional food of mourners, so the egg is a mournful reminder of the loss of the Temple.  It is also a symbol of the circle of life, and a reminder that even when there is great destruction, there is always new life present as well.

Maror: We ate a bitter herb salad, with mixed greens, “frisée” and horseradish dressing.  Maror is the Hebrew word for the herbs that are eaten as a reminder of the bitterness of the slavery that Jewish people endured in Egypt.

Charoset: This mixture of chopped nuts, fruit and honey is eaten as a symbol of the mortar used by Jewish slaves to build the storehouses of Egypt.  There is also an association with fertility, since mishradic tradition holds that Jewish women would go out and seduce their husbands under the apple trees, in defiance of attempts by the Egyptians to stem reproduction by separating Jewish men and women.  Some recipes also call for dates and honey, which are also mentioned in the Song of Songs, a book redolent with images of sexuality and fruitful love.

Karpas: Parsley (a reminder of spring and new life) is dipped into a bowl of salt water to represent the tears shed by Jewish slaves in Egypt.

Z’roa: A roasted lamb shank bone is set out on the plate to call to mind the traditional Passover lamb sacrifice that was offered in the Temple while it still stood and then roasted and eaten at home as part of the seder meal. The bone is not eaten, and can also be substituted by a roasted beet for vegetarians (which we should remember for next year).

Sweet Potato Kugel
24 small servings (or 12 large)

(NOTE: All spice measurements can and should be varied to match your taste.)

5 lbs. sweet potatoes (about 8 cups)
2 apples (something sweet and crisp – no mushy macs!)
5 eggs
1 cup golden raisins (You could also use dates. Just chop them and skip the soaking.)
½ cup orange juice (or the juice of one orange)
½ cup walnuts, crushed to small pieces
½ cup pecans, crushed to small pieces
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
butter for greasing

1) Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9×12 cake pan with butter. (I like the flavor this adds, but you can use cooking spray or line your pan with parchment paper.)

2) In a small bowl, soak the raisins in orange juice, adding water so the raisins are covered. (You can speed up the plumping by microwaving for 30-45 seconds.)

3) Peel the sweet potatoes. Using a grater blade on a food processor or a box grater, grate them. Put the grated sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl.

4) Beat the eggs. (The fluffier they are, the fluffier your kugel.) Mix into sweet potatoes.

5) Grate the apples, add to the sweet tater & egg mixture.

6) Stir in the salt and spices.

7) Add the raisins and soaking liquids. Stir.

8) Pour/scoop mixture into your cake pan, smoothing flat.

9) Sprinkle with crushed pecans and walnuts, pressing them a little into the kugel.

10) Bake 45 minutes or so, until the edges are a little browned and the top gets golden. Let it cool a bit, then cut into 24 pieces, but know that everyone will probably want more than one.

–Prepared by Richard with lots of help at St. Lydia’s on April 17