Clergy Clatter

June 1, 2020

Well. It turns out that old dogs can learn new tricks. If there is one positive thing that has come out of this dreadful virus, it is that I have tried my hand at cooking – and enjoyed it. As most of you know, I have eaten all of my meals “out.” I have my favorite haunts. I figure out what I want to eat and visit my favorite restaurant that offers that particular thing. I know that sounds ridiculous to people who enjoy cooking for themselves, but it has worked for me. That is, until this pandemic closed ALL of my favorite restaurants. Oh, I know. I can call in an order and go pick it up and bring it home. But it’s not the same.

I tried the “to go thing” for about two weeks. It might work for Chinese, but it doesn’t work for a wonderful dinner with great sauces and a beautiful presentation, dumped into a box. What goes in, has to come out. And some of the delicious meals that I pulled out of to-go boxes left me anything but hungry.

So I donned my mask and braved a trip to Food Lion. I had forgotten the old adage about not going to the grocery store when you are hungry. After dropping a few hundred dollars, I went home with a freezer full of TV dinners, a few bags of canned vegetables, some salad fixings, and a lot of deserts. Most of the TV dinners are in the freezer waiting for a power failure so I have an excuse to throw them away. My trip to the store was during the height of the shortages. I had planned on some nice steaks and chops, and stuff I knew I liked. I discovered that I’d better take what I could get and figure it out when I got home – ground beef, sausages, sauerkraut, etc. The first couple of meals were horrible, but then I discovered Greek salad dressing. You can pour it on anything, and it becomes tasty. Each meal got a little better, bolstered by salads that contained everything but the kitchen sink.

The one thing that seems beyond me is fish. I love fish. So I bought some frozen Cod filets from Britain. I figured the way the Brits like their fish and chips, I couldn’t go wrong. Wrong! Those things are their revenge for the Boston Tea Party. I’m going to have to work on this fish thing.

But as late afternoon rolls around, I find myself enjoying planning what I’ll fix. I’ve pledged to add something new to every meal. I’ve found that I have a passion for sautéed celery on almost everything. Whoever heard?

I mention all of this as we move into trying to get our church opened for worship. It’s going to be different. It’s going to take some experimenting, just like our video services and my cooking. But with a little creativity, and some noble experiments, some neat things can happen. The important thing is that we pull together, stay together, and work together to find a way to get back into our house. We have our worshipping community. Now it needs its home back.

Amen.

Richard+