Fallen Cupcakes

Well, today is John Calvin's 500th birthday! I've already wrote about why we should be celbrating his birthday this year (see Happy 500th Birthday, John Calvin on June 8). Today, instead of explaining why to celebrate his birthday, this is how to do it.

Perhaps start with reading one of his prayer (found at http://homepage.mac.com/shanerosenthal/reformationink/jcprayers.htm). Perhaps read from one of his works.

The highlight of our celebration today was making and eating some chocolate cupcakes in his honor. Here's the recipe (for 12 cupcakes):







1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate (we used Lindt chocolate, since it was a Swiss brand)
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream

1. Microwave the butter chocolate an cocoa together. Whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with liners. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
3. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a large bow. Slowly whisk in the sugar until combined. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture.
4. Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the batter, then stir in. Stir in the sour cream. Sift the remaining flour mixture over the batter and stir until completely incorporated.
5. Fill the cupcake liners with a rounded ice-cream scoop full of batter. Bake until a toothpick placed in center of cupcake comes out clean, 18-22 minutes.
6. Let cupcakes cool in pan for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Remove and let cool for 1 hour before frosting them.

Frosting:

1 tablespoons half-and-half.
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 1/4 sticks butter, softened and cut into small cubes
1 1/4 cups confectioner sugar
1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder.

combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix with a handheld electric mixer until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl to get all ingredients mixed thoroughly.


Why cupcakes? Why not? John Hesselink, a Dutch Reformed Theologian at Western Theological Seminary in Holland Michigan delivered a paper entitled, John Calvin: The Theologian of Sweetness." In his paper, Hesselink shows the overwhelming occurence of the work "sweetness" when referring to God and God's presence in our lives. This is the kinder and gentler Calvin that we sadly don't hear about. His paper shows Calvin's emphasis on the goodness and grace of God who desires to fill the hearts of his people with joy and love by their knowing and tasting the sweetness of God and his provisions. Hence the cupcakes.

Yet that is not the whole story. You see, I made the cupcakes this morning, waiting for my daughter to be home to make the frosting and decorate. We had a great time doing it. There they were, beautiful cupcakes on a cooling rack, looking so perfect.



After dinner, I announced it was time to have cupcakes. My daughter, excited goes to the kitchen to get our beautiful creations. Then we hear a thud and know what happened. She dropped them. We consoled her and praised her for wanting to bring the cupcakes out. We pick the cupcakes up, still with some frosting on them, cleaned up the frosting stuck to the floor and went and had some delicious cupcakes, singing "Happy Birthday" to a picture of Calvin before devouring them.

Then I realized how perfect it was: fallen cupcakes. That's what we are (according to Calvin). God's creation, created so beautifully and with such delight and joy by God. But then we fell, destroying the original beauty. Yet God did not just throw us into the trash because we fell to the floor. God fixed the frosting, put new sprinkles on us and enjoyed us nonetheless.

Okay, it's not a perfect analogy, but this little event did remind me of why I like Calvin so much and perhaps understood God's providence in having me make fallen cupcakes today.

Happy Birthday, John, this imperfect yet delicious cupcake is for you!

Tour de France 2009

I got addicted to the Tour de France several years ago, when Lance Armstrong was in his prime. The Outdoor Life Network (now Versus) did an excellent job of covering it, with Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin providing amazing commentary as the bikers sped through France. Each stage of the race takes hours to complete, but Ligget and Sherwin seemed to know how to bring out the drama, even through the mundane portions. They also helped out novice viewers like me to understand the subtle but complex strategy behind the race.

For those who don't know, the race is basically a three week bicycle tour through France, but what a tour. It goes through the burning hot summer countryside of Southern France, over the tallest mountains of the Pyranees and then, if that's not enough, over the taller mountains of the French Alps. Since he semi-retired three years ago, Lance Armstrong has been running marathons, and as you watch him, you know that this is just another training day for him.

The Tour de France seems to me to be the ultimate endurance event in all sports, without questions. It seems like running a marathon a day for three weeks, with the course going over the steepest inclines you can imagine.

The Tour de France reflects both the best and worst that sports has to offer. The best it has to offer is the sheer enormous test it demands of the human body, mind and spirit. It takes someone totally trained in all three areas to achieve success. I'm glad there are things like the Tour, because it inspires the best in people.

Sometimes, we don't want to make life challenging for ourselves, our children, our parishioners or anybody else, lest we think we push them too much. Yet it is these challenges that push our limits that show us who we are, and what we can achieve. I find myself guilty of letting people off easy. I don't demand enough as a pastor and teacher. I want to be pastoral, caring, loving, empathetic. Yet a challenge, a demand pushes people to grow better than anything else.

The Tour de France for me is a reminder that life is about pushing ourselves to our limits, going beyond what we even dream we are capable of. That is what God does with us time and again.

The dark side of the Tour is the other side of the coin. The competition in the Tour is so fierce, the demand to climb mountains in superhuman time has made cycling into the sport with the most flagrant and widespread doping scandals. The Tour has been marred for the past few years with doping scandals. The worst is when American Floyd Landis had to give up his victory crown in the Tour when they found testosterone in his blood.

Theologically, this scandal, along with all other doping scandals throughout sports is one of the primary examples of idolatry in our age. The ancient Hebrews knew all about idolatry. They made the golden calf, Ba'al when Moses was gone too long and their God seemed distant. They worshipped Ba'al only to find out that a golden image is not alive, it is not God. It did not save them - it only made them guilty of breaking their covenant with the real, living God.

These cyclists, like other athletes are much like these idols. More and more is expected of them. They are expected to be demi-gods, superhumans. They pressure must be enormous. Fans invest so much of themselves into these idols. Of course, if they are pushed too far, these idols just can't deliver. They are human, and limited to what they can do.

How hard it is to admit your are a human being with limitations! We want to push ourselves in so many ways to do more, to be more than we can possibly be. Yet time and again, we get knocked down off our pedestals, like the golden calf. The demi-god becomes the lowest of the low with one small positive test for performance enhancing drugs.

There is a balance to be achieved in sports, as in life. Pushing oursevles, challenging ourselves is healthy. But knowing our limitations is also healthy. It reminds me of the first road race I ran. Despite the warnings all the books gave me about starting the race too fast, I did it anyway. How cool it was to pass all those people. I felt on top of the world! Then I started to cramp in my side, and my legs started to feel heavy, and all those other people just passed my by like as if I were going backwards.

The good runner knows that you compete against yourself, not against others. You know your limitations, you stay within your limits, and, when the time is right, you push yourself a bit beyond. Your personal best is all you care about. Now, as I run road races, I'm just happy enought not to finish last. Actually, I don't think I would mind that, either.

Anyway, don't let the doping push you away. Watch the Tour if you get a chance, especially as they go through the Alps. It is incredible.

Driving in Texas

This blog took a break last week while we were in Texas visiting family. The week included a six hour drive from the Hill Country to the Fort Worth area. The relative giving directions pointed us away from I-35, the route Google Maps suggested, and towards going up route 16.

Route 16, for the most part, is a two lane road. I knew this and worried, thinking we'll never get to Fort Worth on this tiny road. My fears subsided when I realized that, since towns are few and far between, the speed limit is 70 miles per hour for most of the trip. I thought, if this road went through Massachusetts, we'd be lucky to get 50 miles per hour.

One thing that impressed me with the trip is how good and courteous Texas drivers are. On route 16, if a car comes up behind, looking to pass, it is common courtesy to pull into the bread down lane (which is pretty wide) and let the car pass. That way there is no one getting upset for miles while driving behind a RV going 45.

The freeways are the same. When traffic has to merge, cars "zip" with respect for one another, taking turns. There are no cars trying to get ahead of the rest, which usually causes backups anyway.

The freeways going through the cities are magnificent to watch. It is common to see two highways going over another highway, in what looks like a roller coaster ride. It actually does look beautiful.

Why all this travel talk? Well I have thought over the years that you can learn much about people, individually and as a culture, by the way they drive. Somehow, the trappings of "niceness" disappear in the car. I once heard an expert on this subject say that, since you cannot see the face of the other person, since you cannot make normal human contact, something more primal often comes to the surface. Think of it: if you bump into someone on the street or at the office, the first thing to come out of your mouth is "sorry!" It's almost automatic. Not so on the road. Somehow, more of who we are, in all its ugly truth, comes out on the road.

No doubt, Texas is a completely different culture from Massachusetts. Teenagers still refer to their elders as "sir" or "ma'am." A huge percentage goes to church regularly. Families matter, and family rituals matter. Parents have time for kids. Values are passed down.

These might sound like vague generalizations, and I certainly know that Texas does have its share of problems, including problem families and agressive, mean people. Yet I think about this drive through Texas and then think about our drive home from Logan airport, back to Quincy. It was the 4th of July. A minivan and a suv were in front of us. The minivan, in front stopped as a light turned yellow. The suv in back slammed its breaks. The driver blaired her horn. You could see road rage all over the driver - just because the car in front of her obeyed the law.

Driving does say a lot about a culture. Perhaps Texas can teach us a few things. Slow down, you don't have to rush to everything. Take it easy. Enjoy the things that matter in life. Be kind in the most ordinary things you do. Even if you cannot see the face of the person in front of you, he or she is a human being and deserves the love and respect that all humans should have. Perhaps they had a really bad day, maybe a tragic one - who knows?

One thing I do know, life is much better when people are courteous and obey the law on the road and during the rest of our lives.

Christian Liberty

Being the 4th of July weekend, I preached a sermon this morning entitled "What Is Freedom?" I thought of the idea a while ago, but since then I had an occasions to help me think more deeply about the whole idea of freedom, both as a Christian and as an American.

The occasion was the annual Barth Seminar for Pastors, which I attended last month. Each year, about 15 pastors get together to discuss the theology of Karl Barth. We take a passage from his Church Dogmatics, a monumental work of theology, and try to understand it. This year, however, since we are celebrating the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, we chose an earlier work of Barth, which amounts to his lectures on John Calvin.

The particular passage was on "Christian Liberty." Oddly enough, the whole passage was about the Church's relationship with the State: what is the Christian's obligation to the government? It doesn't sound much like freedom, but then I got a deeper lesson.

The leader helped us understand this by outlining two types of freedom: negative freedom and positive freedom. Negative freedom is to be free to do anything you want, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. It is freedom from being restricted to do things. It is freedom "from something." This sounds like a typically American understanding of freedom.

Positive freedom was harder for me to understand. The way it was explained to me was "the freedom to fulfill your potential." It is a freedom "towards something." As I see it, positive freedom is the freedom to love, the freedom to be responsible toward our fellow human beings.

I noted this morning that freedom begins with God. The very essence of God is love, and that, in love, God created humans in his image. That means, at the depth of our being is this potential to love as God loves. The grace-filled freedom that Christ gives us through the power of the Holy Spirit is the freedom to love our neighbors as our selves.

Positive freedom is the freedom that Christ can give us to overcome the "powers and prinicipalities" that enslave us - the forces in our world that seem to overwhelm our lives and lead us to give away our freedom. It is a very subtle thing, but these forces have a way to deceive us and to make us give away our freedom. These forces may be marketers, convincing us that we are lesser people without what they have to sell. They may be family and friends, exerting peer/family pressure over us. They may be all the things we are addicted to (alcohol, drugs, shopping, sex, sports - you name it!).

All of these forces seem to have a deceptive way of telling us that, although we have given power over to them, we are in control, and looking after our best interests. They compel us to be self-centered, self-indulgent people.

Ironically, people most possessed by these powers and principalities are usually those who think they are free, doing what they please.

Christ can have the power to free us from these delusions, and to lead us to true freedom: the freedom to fulfill our potential, the potential to love in the way that Christ loved.

During the weekend we celebrate freedom, let us remember Paul's words to the Galatians, "For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."