Thanksgiving Day Food 5

Deb hosts Thanksgiving Day Food 5 on the revgals site

1. Turkey: love it? hate it? self-basted? fry it or roast it? Tofu-turkey? Tell me more. (I’ve only had one roasted turkey come out totally delish so I’m fishing for your tips!)

Neither love nor hate, but I enjoy turkey: oven-roasted (not deep-fried), and on my plate a little light, a little dark, some nicely browned skin, lots of gravy.

2. Stuffing: bagged? homemade? sage? sausage? cornbread? oysters? nuts? Got any inspiration for me?

"Stuffing inside the turkey," "dressing outside in a separate dish." Half corn-meal intensive cornbread, half white bread. Onions, celery, maybe mushrooms. Not too heavy on sage or other seasonings.

3. Cranberries: When we celebrated Thanksgiving in Europe one year, our French friends thought we were nuts to choose a very sour berry and then load it with sugar. (Let alone the stuff that comes out of a can in a blob of gelatinous ooze!) What do you do with cranberries?

Either one of those cans dumped wholesale into a dish, or cranberries and oranges ground up with sugar added.

4. Potatoes: (Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew…) What’s your pleasure?

On T-Day, mashed with some lumps, and lots of gravy. Any other day, I'll l take my taters any old way. I love them!

5. Pie: I’m married to the Pie Man. Anything but coconut pie floats his boat. What do you make? (or buy?) Pumpkin? Pecan? Apple?

I enjoy most pies (especially love graham cracker crust), but for Thanksgiving, pumpkin / squash pie is best.

BONUS: A recipe that you’ve tried out and will make it to your table this year.

I've long enjoyed Bisquick Pumpkin Pie Squares and have taken them to countless Thanksgiving Feasts.

random 5 again

Karla hosts again for another ultra-random 5.

1. What's up? How are you?

Today I'm full of hope for the future.

2.If you were a Panda Bear that could speak O.k., even that is too random for me. You are moving to a new office. You can only take five books with you (pretend there is no thing such as kindle, nook, etc.). What would they be BESIDES teh Bible, which is already written on your hearts, yes?

1. Random pick of almost anything by Walter Brueggemann.
2. Dawn Without Darkness. I noticed there's now an amazon review (which I intend to do soon) by the photographer. Way back in the day I borrowed Dawn Without Darkness multiple times from the church library, and the pastor finally told me I could keep it.
3. Since it's best to play these fives quickly to keep them fun, would it be too too too theology geeky to include Book of Confessions and Book of Concord? This is my blog so that's my call, and I'll say it would be fine.
4. I'm also a big fan of Jürgen Moltmann, eternally, endlessly hoping for realized eschatology in our lifetime. I'll include one of his classics, The Church in the Power of the Spirit
5. I used to love the poetry and wisdom of Markings by Dag Hammarskjold, and need to reacquaint myself with it. I have a hardcover copy the head librarian let me take when the library where I worked way back in HS was "condemning" books.

3. If you had a superpower that could give you a five hour retreat, and you could go anywhere in the world to spend those five hours on retreat (because you have superpowers, ya’ know?), where would you go?

To an uncrowded beach on either coast of the USA, any island (Bali?) or any country anywhere, to luxuriate in the sand, ankle-splash in the water, dream underneath the sky, enjoy a picnic lunch. I love the desert, I heal and thrive in the desert, but my retreat needs to include water.

4. What piece of music, song, hymn, etc. are you diggin’ right now?

My blog about What is this Place?

5. Use the following words in a sentence (or two): Tangle, dribble, hook, Panda, shark, smile, worry, island.

With a loud smile, the Panda watched the polar bear dribble a ball (did you see that polar bear on YT or on TV?). Meanwhile, on the island pier, I tried to un-tangle my fishing line, but without real worry, as I had zero desire to hook a shark.

The Prophetic Imagination

The Prophetic Imagination on amazon

We need to quit imagining prophets as only foretellers or social / political protesters, because "Most of all, [prophets] understood the distinctive power of language, the capacity to speak in ways that evoke newness 'fresh from the word.'" Newness that springs from trustfully covenanting rather than frantically consuming. An alternative way of being that emerges from being satisfied with relative scarcity that's actually shalom-full "enough" for everyone in the community.

If this easily readable, "slim volume" has an ongoing theme, it's that only when we acknowledge people, possibilities, and opportunities are forever gone, and begin grieving their loss, will the paradoxical possibility of new life from death arise. In fact, in Yahweh's terms, history – newness that marks the end of uninterrupted forevers in the manner any imperial (political, economic, educational, religious) establishment measures and regulates time [chronos] – always begins with barrenness and bereavement. Read and trust the scriptural witness!

This is radical stuff about newness from the ground up, "life in the shape of death" in the final no to sin, exploitation, empire, consumerism from the Calvary cross that at dawn on the day of resurrection becomes yes to life! Just as in his later writings, in this vintage book Brueggemann reminds us we experience that newness in baptism, then relive it in the eucharist. The Prophetic Imagination is vintage Brueggemann, and it still doesn't get any better than this.

my amazon review: Classic Brueggemann