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Food for Thought & Body

Never let a good crisis go to waste, part 3 of 4:

Winston Churchill is credited with having said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” though the phrase cannot be found in his recorded speeches, personal notes, or his books. Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel did say it in 2008.[i]

It seems to me that that is exactly our call as Christians living in the weeks following Easter, not only this year, but every year. For Easter, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, created a crisis for the first disciples. What did they do with this new reality? We, as we live in the midst of staying in our homes, get more devotional readings from our pastor because of our current crisis – and thus more opportunities to read some of the many resurrection sightings of Jesus in the Bible. Here, then is reading 3 of 4 of those sightings. Read, reflect, and live your own crisis well.

-Pastor Steph

Today’s story is a great one – Jesus has risen from the dead, and what does he do first? He cooks breakfast! Well, first he helps the disciples catch a miraculous number of fish, then Jesus fries them up for a tasty morning treat. Because Jesus knew that the disciples needed to get on with their lives, and needed to continue to receive nourishment, both physical and spiritual. The physical nourishment came from the fish. The spiritual nourishment was the reminder that Jesus lives, and that Jesus would be there with them. Jesus remains with us too, feeding us with exactly what we need, at just the moment we need it.

John 21:1-14 Common English Bible (CEB)

21 Later, Jesus himself appeared again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. This is how it happened: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter told them, “I’m going fishing.”

They said, “We’ll go with you.” They set out in a boat, but throughout the night they caught nothing. 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus.

5 Jesus called to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”

They answered him, “No.”

6 He said, “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”

So they did, and there were so many fish that they couldn’t haul in the net. 7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around himself (for he was naked) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they weren’t far from shore, only about one hundred yards.

9 When they landed, they saw a fire there, with fish on it, and some bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you’ve just caught.” 11 Simon Peter got up and pulled the net to shore. It was full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three of them. Yet the net hadn’t torn, even with so many fish. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples could bring themselves to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Recipe:

If Jesus could cook for the disciples, I figured I’d share one of my favorite church-recipes. Here is how Christine Keddy makes her Chicken Soup!

This recipe works best in a crockpot but could also be made on the stove. The key is that the chicken cooks for a very very long time at a not too high temperature -and becomes extremely soft and tender.

One package Bell and Evans boneless chicken breasts One large container of organic chicken stock One package of pre-chopped celery and onions

1/2 bag of baby carrots chopped

Thyme and rosemary two season half teaspoon each

Salt and pepper to taste

The beautiful thing about this recipe is that all of this can be thrown into the crockpot at the same time and basically left to cook all day (which is great because I usually leave it to cook the day that I am helping to set up for the Holly Fair). As it cooks slowly on medium temperature the chicken will fall apart so you don’t even need to cut it when you put it into the crockpot. Just Put the whole chicken breasts, cover them with the chicken stock, add the vegetables and seasoning and leave it. You may want to check on it periodically and add more liquid if it is needed. The other trick is that I cook the noodles separately and add them in as I serve the soup this way they don’t suck up all the liquid and broth. It really is the easiest thing to make :-)

[i] Alan Rudnick. https://christiancitizen.us/churches-never-waste-a-coronavirus-crisis/. Accessed 4/7/2020.

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