By Pastor Leah Fintel Krotz, Trinity Lutheran Church, Bruning
We have a fantastic adult Sunday School class at Trinity, led by Karen Else and Lois Norder. It’s a time of learning and fellowship that stretches our minds, deepens our faith, and strengthens relationships.
And every once in a while, there’s the added bonus of something delicious to eat! A couple of weeks ago, Barb Lampe treated us once again to her delicious cinnamon rolls. The first time I had one, I told her that she had managed to do what I thought was impossible, which was make cinnamon rolls that were better than my Grandma Barth used to make!
Both of my grandmothers, Louise Barth and Adele Fintel, were excellent cooks and bakers, and Barb’s cinnamon rolls led me to some reminiscing about the treats they used to make. Both of them served outstanding pan-fried chicken. Grandma Barth used her well-seasoned cast-iron skillet until sometime in her nineties, when it just became too heavy for her lift anymore. Grandma Fintel’s chicken gravy was perfection over mashed potatoes. I know both of them had much practice from back in the days when you would go out to the yard each morning in the summer, butcher, pluck, and clean a chicken, and fry it up for the noon meal every day.
I am so blessed that I’ve inherited many of their recipes, and even Grandma Barth’s recipe box, with her hand-written notes and clippings from newspapers. There are recipes for the old German Christmas treats, such as Springerle and Lebkuchen on the Barth side, and the Peppernuts and Billy Goats that Grandma Fintel always made.
I would run out of time and space to recall all of the delicious meals my grandmas produced, day after day as they fed their large families and hired hands. Even after retiring from the farm, they continued to nourish their families and friends with homemade, from-scratch food. I don’t remember every meal, but I know they were good!
Thinking about this, I was reminded of a story I once heard about a guy who seldom, if ever, darkened the door of his church. He ran into his pastor one day, and the pastor said, “We’ve missed you. Why don’t you try coming back to church?” The man replied, “You know, I used to go all the time, and after all those years of sitting there, I can’t remember any of those sermons I listened to. So why go?”
The pastor replied, “Do you remember everything you ate for lunch and supper last month?” “No, of course not! Why?” the man answered. “Well,” said the pastor, “Those meals nourished you, even if you don’t remember them. And you don’t stop eating just because you can’t remember every meal you ever ate. Without daily nourishment you would die. It’s the same with God’s Word—you need to be fed and nourished regularly so that your faith doesn’t die.”
Something to think about!
“Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” ~John 6:35
