About this time of the year here in Seattle people start to look askance any time that you mention zucchini – it seems to proliferate wherever you look. This year it is a little late but it is still there. For most people it is a little overwhelming but as far as I am concerned you cannot get too much of it. Everyone seemed to enjoy my chocolate zucchini muffins so much (we actually had them for dessert on Sunday) that I thought I would share another of my favourite zucchini recipes. I call these granola muffins because I make them in huge batches and freeze them.
When Tom & I travel I can grab a few for those early morning plane trips on which one no longer gets breakfast. If you are on a tight budget this is a great way to save a little money. I estimate that making the muffins they probably cost about 20 cents each – if you bought them at the airport they would cost anything from $1 – $2 each and I don’t think that the bought ones are nearly as good. When I travel on my own I often throw in some extras for breakfast because I hate sitting in a restaurant on my own particularly in the early morning. They are also great for when unexpected guests arrive – I always think that a cup of tea is not complete without something to eat with it. Enjoy!
MMMMM—– Recipe via Meal-Master ™ v8.06 by AccuChef ™ www.AccuChef.com
Title: Oatmeal, Zucchini & Cranberry Muffins
Categories: Muffins
Yield: 45 Servings
2 c wheat flour
4 c rolled oats
4 t cinnamon
4 c grated zucchini, or 2 c zucchini & 2 c carrot
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 t baking soda
4 t baking powder
1 c Pumpkin Seeds, or sunflower seeds
1 c cranberries, dried
1 c pecans, chopped
1 c applesauce
1 c yoghurt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
2 Bananas, overripe mashed
2 c All Purpose Flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin cups Into a large bowl,
sift together the flour, oatmeal, sugar, baking soda, baking powder,
cinnamon. Stir in the zucchini, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, pecans,
and applesauce. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs,
yogurt, and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture, stirring
the batter until just combined. Spoon the batter into greased cups.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes for mini muffins and 25 to 30 minutes for
regular muffins or until springy to the touch. Let muffins cool in tins
and turn them onto a wire rack.
Per Serving: 190 Cal (37% from Fat, 9% from Protein, 54% from Carb); 4
g Protein; 8 g Tot Fat; 1 g Sat Fat; 3 g Mono Fat; 27 g Carb; 3 g Fiber;
11 g Sugar; 59 mg Calcium; 1 mg Iron; 118 mg Sodium; 22 mg Cholesterol;
AccuPoints = 3.9
—–
I have just started to prepare the programme for our upcoming Celtic retreat on Camano Island August 9th. This is one of my favourite events of the year. I particularly enjoy getting ready for it as it makes it possible for me to reflect on my own life and is often also a time for learning from God and enriching my faith. I thought that you might enjoy this prayer that I wrote last year for the Eucharistic service that we ended with.
(Adapted from Psalm 72:1-10, & Amos 5:24)
God let your justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry
Please help those of us who are rich to be honest and fair just like you, our God.
May we who have such abundance be honest and fair with all your people, especially the poor.
Let peace and justice rule every mountain and fairness flow as a river that never runs dry.
God let your justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry
May we your people defend the poor, rescue the homeless, and crush everyone who hurts them.
May we be as helpful as rain that refreshes the ground, to those who are treated unjustly.
Let the wholeness and fairness of your kingdom live forever like the sun and the moon.
God let your justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry
Because you our God rescue the homeless and have pity on those who hurt
May we who are rich stand up for the poor and let peace abound until the moon fades to nothing.
Let God’s kingdom of justice and fairness reach from sea to sea, across all the earth.
God let your justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry
Today is Ascension Day – the day on which we commemorate Jesus ascension into heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God. For me this day is closely associated with Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit which we celebrate next week. Here is a liturgy I wrote recently that focuses on this, though I must confess most of the credit must go to our St Alban’s rector John Leech whose sermon last week I have drawn on heavily.
God whose glory fills our world
God whose life is closer than breath
God whose love is stronger than death
God, this God of life and love
Has sent an advocate to save us
Jesus Christ the righteous, now at the right hand of God
Not to condemn but to bring full life
Not to accuse but to redeem
Not to reject but to draw close
God, this God of life and love
Has sent an advocate to save us
Jesus Christ the righteous, now at the right hand of God
God who hears the cry of our seeking souls
God who sees the pain of our suffering bodies
God who feels the loss of our grieving spirits
God, this God of life and love
Has sent an advocate to be with us forever
The Spirit of truth abides with us eternally
Before us to teach and lead,
Within us to comfort and heal,
Around us to shield and protect,
God, this God of life and love
Has sent an advocate to be with us forever
The Spirit of truth abides with us eternally
Well we are now into the second full week of Lent and if you are anything like me then I suspect that the busyness of life and the tyranny of the urgent that your Lenten practices are slipping into the background. With our conference The New Conspirators, just over a week away and with the launching of Tom’s new book The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time, as well as trying to get the spring garden planted (yes my front porch is beginning to look like a tropical rainforest), my life is more than busy. Here is a Lenten prayer that I recite each morning to help me focus
We are broken people,
Separated from God, isolated from each other, disconnected from God’s world
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life
Our bond with God is broken
We have hidden ourselves from the all loving, all caring, all embracing one
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life
Our bond with each other is broken
We are indifferent to the cries of dying children, the pain of the oppressed, the lonliness of the widow
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life
Our bond with God’s earth is broken
We have destroyed and polluted what we should have preserved, we have not been good stewards of creation
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life
The bonds withing ourselves are broken,
Our spirits are scarred and distorted by selfcentredness, green, violence and the worship of consumer clutter
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life
God in your mercy come to us,
Forgive our sins, heal our bodies, redeem our lives
Lead us to repentance that we may pass from death to eternal life.
LITURGY FOR LENT
Leader: God all loving and all caring,
We come before you with hesitant steps and uncertain motives
All: Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin
Leader: We want to sweep out the corners where sin has accumulated
And uncover the places where we have strayed from your truth
All: Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin
Leader: We ask for courage to open our eyes and unstop our ears
That we may be aware of all that distracts us from a whole hearted commitment to Christ
All: Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin
Leader: We want to see ourselves as you do and live our lives as you intended
Expose in us the empty and barren places where we have not allowed you to enter
All: Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin
Leader: Reveal to us our half-hearted struggles
Where we have been indifferent to the pain and suffering of others
All: Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin
Leader: Create in us a clean heart O God and put a right Spirit within us
Nurture the faint stirrings of new life where your spirit has taken root and begun to grow
All: Our hearts are parched from wandering in a desert of sin
Leader: We long for your healing light to transform us, for you alone can make us whole
In your mercy shine upon us O God and make our path clear before us
Ps 103
Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17
Matt 4:1-11
Reflect on the gospel and spend some time thinking about those things that vie for your attention and distract you from a whole-hearted commitment to Christ. Think particularly of ways you discriminate against others who are part of God’s international community
· Because of race, class, gender or colour
· Because of culture, disabilities or body type·
Because of intellect or educational differences
Write down your areas of struggle on a piece of paper. If you have a wooden cross available nail or tape your distractions to the cross. Alternatively you may like to place them in a fireplace or a bowl and set them alight. Discuss how you could use this Lenten season to bring reconciliation and healing in these places
Leader: God you are good and upright and you instruct sinners in your ways
Show us how to break down the barriers separating us from each other,
All: Lead us through the wilderness sin has created to find new life
Leader: Forgive us for the times we have abandoned the poor, the disabled and the homeless,
Teach us to live by the law of love in unity, peace and concord
All: Lead us through the wilderness sin has created to find new life
Leader: Forgive us for the ways we exclude people of different race, culture or gender
Guide us that we may come to mutual understanding and care,
All: Lead us through the wilderness sin has created to find new life
Leader: Draw us into your community to embrace those with whom we need to be reconciled
Grant that all who seek to heal divisions between peoples may have hope
All: Lead us through the wilderness sin has created to find new life
Leader: Show us your ways, O Lord <
Teach us your paths and guide us towards your truth
For you are God our Saviour and our hope is in you
O God of peace and love,
You came in Jesus as our peace,
And broke down the dividing walls
Be with us as we count the cost of our responsibilities
To our neighbours near and far (Akuila Yabaki, Fiji)
Amen
Liturgy for Epiphany
Leader: Today we enter the tragedy of our world. We are weighed down by the heartbreaking deaths of millions of infants from hunger and disease. We grieve with those who carry the burden or AIDS and share the sufferings of those who are oppressed. We want to reach out with the love and compassion of a God who cares deeply for all who suffer and are in pain
All: Let us share God’s pain for our broken world
Leader: God we thank you for those who have responded to your call to be loving and compassionate towards the poor, the vulnerable and those at the margins. We remember those who have left families and homes and loved ones to become messengers of hope to a world in need.
All: May God’s love fill us and reach out through us to our needy world
(Silence)
Leader: Have mercy on us son of the living God
Healer of lepers
Feeder of the hungry
Releaser of the oppressed
Bringer of wholeness
Eternal God, loving and compassionate
Have mercy upon us
Psalm 72
Deuteronomy 15: 1-11
Mark 12: 28-34
1 John 3:16-23
Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen
Leader: God you have drawn us into community with the poor, the needy the homeless and the abandoned. Let us respond with love and compassion to their needs
All: Let us share God’s love with our needy world
Leader: Open our eyes to see those who suffer the chains of injustice and strengthen us to reach out to do whatever we can to untie the cords of their yoke
All: Let us share God’s love with our needy world
Leader: Open our ears to hear the cries of those who are oppressed and help us to use our gifts and our talents to bring them into your freedom
All: Let us share God’s love with our needy world
Leader: Open our hearts to those who are hungry and grant us generous hearts so that we might share abundantly out of your bounty
All: Let us share God’s love with our needy world
Leader: Open our lives to provide for the poor, the wanderer and the naked and enable us to reach out with your love and compassion towards all
All: Let us share God’s love with our needy world.
Lord let us remember that Jesus’ epiphany as Son of God reaches across time and space. As we gather may we embrace God’s call to come and see, come and follow, go and tell. May we remember that we are called to show your love to others so that they too may know you as son of God and experience the hope that your message brings.
Come and see
The light of God has come into our world
To proclaim God’s justice and love
It has overcome the darkness and brought new life
Come and follow
Christ our king has redeemed our world
He draws us into a loving family
From every tribe and family and culture
Go and tell
The Spirit has equipped us for service
To love our neighbours as we do ourselves
To bring God’s salvation to the ends of the earth
Come and see, come and follow, go and tell
In God’s Son the nations of the earth will put their hope
The glory of the Lord shine upon you, and scatter the darkness from before your path,
that you may ever walk in his light and live in God’s kingdom as bearers of light
Amen
On Saturday we set up our Advent wreath on the dinning room table. It is something we do every every year at this season.
Four bright red candles nestle in a bed of greenery around a central white candle. At breakfast each morning we light the appropriate candles, symbolic of the fact that Christ is our light in the darkness of the world. During the first week of Advent only one candle is lit. Then a fresh candle is lit each week until on Christmas Day all the candles are set alight to welcome Christ. Their brightness shines over our breakfast table throughout the twelve days of Christmas. As the candles burn brightly, we read the daily scriptures from the Revised Common Lectionary, focusing on our anticipation of the coming of Christmas and our celebration of Christ’s birth.
At this busy season of the year this short ritual helps me refocus my energy beyond the consumer culture to my faith. It brings tremendous refreshment and renewal to my spirit. In fact I now like to do most of my Christmas shopping before the beginning of Advent so that it does not interfere with my time of reflection and renewal.
Advent Liturgy
O Emmanuel we wait for your light,
In hope all the peoples of the earth wait,
(Silence)
We watch and wait, expecting new light to shine as the season of joy approaches
We wait in anticipation for God’s light to penetrate the darkness and radiate within us
We watch and wait and prepare our hearts for the promised coming of Emmanuel – God with us, God for us, God in us
We wait with repentant hearts to prepare the way of the Lord
We watch and wait for the coming of the One who broke down the barriers separating us from God, from each other and from God’s creation
We wait in hope for our Redeemer, to bring God’s love into our broken world
We watch and wait to be transformed by God’s holiness so that we might serve in God’s kingdom as bearers of light and guide others to the Light
We wait expectantly for God’s Saviour to come and dwell in our midst
We await and celebrate the coming of God’s Kingdom with its promise of shalom, of wholeness, of reconciliation and abundance for all.
We wait for the fulfillment of God’s covenant, for God’s Kingdom to come in its fullness
Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and will become God’s people
And the glory of God’s Kingdom will be revealed and all people will see it together
We wait expectantly attentive to all the signs of Christ’s coming.
Into our world of darkness, into our places of strife
Into our troubles and weaknesses, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Come to lead the captives from their prisons, and the oppressed into freedom
Come to bring peace in the midst of war, Come Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Come to provide abundance in the midst of hunger, and life in the barren desert
Come to offer comfort in the presence of mourning, Come Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Come to those who are in need, and to those who are sick,
Come to those who are in despair, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Into our joys and celebrations, into our homes and loved ones
Into our work and our achievements, Come, Lord
Come down, come in, come among us and awaken us to your presence
Read daily scriptures from Revised Common Lectionary
After each scripture say together:
We wait in anticipation and hope for your coming O Christ
Light a candle as a reminder of those you pray for who need to see the presence of Christ more fully realized in their lives
Lord may we be attentive to all the signs of your coming
May we bring glimpses of peace in a world at war
And the offer of freedom for those who are oppressed.
May we see generous giving in the midst of hunger
And plant splashes of green in a sea of pollution.
May we be bringers of healing to those who are sick
And offer hope to those who are in despair.
O Christ we long for your coming. Hasten that day when those who seek you in every nation will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south and sit at table in Your Kingdom. Hasten the day when your Kingdom will come in all its glory and suffering and pain and sickness and oppression and death will be overcome forever. Hasten the day when we will be resurrected as a great multicultural family and live in peace, harmony, joy and love together in your kingdom.
Calm us to wait for the gift of Christ;
Cleanse us to prepare the way for Christ;
Teach us to contemplate the wonder of Christ;
Touch us to know the presence of Christ;
Anoint us to bear the life of Christ
AMEN
This is an Advent Posts for the Johannine Advent Blog project hosted by Brother Maynard. Participating bloggers are:
- Brother Maynard
- Lainie Petersen
- Peggy Brown
- Sonja
- Adam Copeland
- John the Shepherd
- Rob Robinson
- Christine Sine
- Lori Bjerkander
- Julie Clawson
- Cindy Bryan
- Robin Dugall
- Lyn Hallewell
- J. Michael Matkin
- Eric G.
- (Formerly Emerging) Grace
- Matt Stone
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