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johnhardinsawyer · 4 years ago

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More Than We Can Chew

John Sawyer

Bedford Presbyterian Church

11 / 8 / 20

John 6:1-15

2 Corinthians 8:1-7

“More Than We Can Chew”

(Pathways to Generosity – Part 2)

Recently, my wife came home, carrying a strange looking bowl. “Well,” she told me, “we’re officially living through the pandemic because we now have a sourdough starter.” That’s right. . . We now have a sourdough bread starter living in our kitchen. We’ve named her “Loretta.” And we are committed to keeping her alive. Now, I’ve baked a lot of bread, but I’ve never made bread with a “starter” – this bubbling concoction of naturally growing yeast that you have to feed every day. The starter grows and grows, all the time, so much so that you have to scoop off the excess or there would be too much. If you had the time and inclination, you could – if you wanted to – bake bread 24/7. Sourdough bread can be chewy – in a good way – but lots of sourdough bread? That’s a lot to chew on. If we actually baked that much bread, it would definitely be more than we could chew.

I’m wondering if the disciples in today’s story thought they had bitten off more than they could chew.

By the time this story appears in the gospel of John, Jesus has turned water into wine at Cana of Galilee, he has already made a name for himself by clearing out the Temple in Jerusalem with a whip of cords, he has made political enemies (along with a friend or two) with the ruling religious authorities, he has spent time talking with a woman from Samaria, showing his disciples that the good news is for both Jews and non-Jews, alike, he has healed a very sick man on the Sabbath Day in Jerusalem, and now, wherever he goes, crowds of people follow after him.

And now, when Jesus goes up a mountain and sits down with his disciples for a little rest, the crowds follow him there “because they [see] the signs he [is] doing for the sick.” (John 6:2) The people are so excited and needy that they have followed Jesus to a relatively remote place which does not have much access to food. . . I’ve been there. To this day, there is no Whole Foods, or Hannaford, or Market Basket, for miles.

When Jesus looks up and sees the large crowd coming toward him, he turns to his disciple and friend, Philip, and asks, nonchalantly, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” It was – and is – customary in the Middle East to provide hospitality for one’s guests, even if you do not have a lot of money. Philip and the other disciples do not have a lot of money. They have left their livelihoods to follow Jesus. And, in seeing that crowd of hungry people and hearing Jesus’ question, Philip gets the feeling that he and his friends have bitten off more than they could chew. Now, Jesus knows that these poor former fishermen do not have enough money to buy bread for everyone and nowhere to buy it if they could. The text tells us that “[Jesus] says this to test [Philip], for he himself knows what he is going to do.” (6:6)

One of the disciples, Andrew, comes forward and says, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.” (6:9)[1] Surely five loaves and two fish are not going to be enough for five thousand people – that’s something like 1/1,000 of a loaf of bread and 4/10,000 of a fish per person – not exactly enough to satiate anyone’s hunger. But somehow – miraculously – “[Jesus] distributes [the bread] to those who are seated; and also the fish – as much as the people want to eat.” (6:11)[2] The text even tells us that there are twelve baskets of leftovers – a lot to chew on.

I have always loved this story, which appears – in some shape or form – in all four of the gospels. There are thousands of hungry people. The disciples look out at the crowd, nervously and think they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. Who could possibly provide for a crowd like this? Suddenly – with impeccable timing – a boy emerges from the multitude, carrying his lunch. . . five loaves and two fish. Just so you know, today’s story from the Gospel of John is the only version of this story that includes this boy.

I’ve always wondered about the boy. Who is he? Why is he there? We do know that he is probably poor because he has bread made of barley – the cheap kind of bread not eaten by the wealthy. The Cub Scout in me years ago always admired the boy for coming prepared for the day with food to eat. I picture his mother who, like any good Jewish mother is concerned that her son isn’t eating enough, and packs his lunch with great care. It might be enough for a growing boy but not for 5,000 people. Do the disciples know the boy? Maybe, he is just a complete stranger. Perhaps he is even on his way to kindly offer some food to Jesus, who is probably hungry, himself.

We do not know very many details, but what matters here is that the boy brings what he has and offers all of it to Jesus. And then, something miraculous happens. Some might say that Jesus literally multiplies the loaves and fish. Some might say that there were people in the crowd who had actually brought food but only shared it when they saw more food coming around. There really aren’t enough details in the story to figure out how it all happened – and I don’t think we need to dwell on the “how” for too long.

Again, we do not know very many details, but there are a couple of little details, here, that I have missed over the years in reading this story – maybe you missed them, too. The first detail is that Jesus takes the bread and “gives thanks.” In the original language, the word used here is the word that we use to talk about the Lord’s Supper, eucharist – to give thanks or return thanks,[3] which is something that we do when we celebrate communion together. Another detail that I have missed before is that this whole thing happens around the time of the Passover – the Jewish festival of thanksgiving that celebrates the liberation of God’s people from Egypt. The author of this gospel account is implying that what Jesus is doing, here, is, somehow, a liberating act. One last little detail that I have missed, but want to point out is that Jesus distributes the food, himself. He doesn’t delegate this job to others like he does in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.[4] No, here, Jesus serves the people, himself. And the people eat and are satisfied.

You know, one of the things that has always amazed me about Jesus is that there always seems to be. You would think that as much as Jesus loves and gives and serves, that he might run out. Yes, right after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus goes off by himself, in search of some solitude. But then, he is always right back in the thick of things, giving more and more of himself away. No regular person could do that. No one person could do that, except Jesus.

Not one person among us is able to do all of what Jesus did, but this is why the church is not one person. We are a whole body of people, connected to one another by the power of the Holy Spirit. In and through the church – the Body of Christ – Jesus takes what meager gifts we might be able to offer on our own and multiplies them in miraculous ways.

Why do people give their gifts to God? In so many ways, it all comes down to multiplication – the ways that God literally multiplies what we give through the Body of Christ. I have never been on a mission trip by myself. I have never served a potluck supper by myself. I have never run an internet livestream in a pandemic by myself. I have never even led a congregation by myself. Other people – Elders, Deacons, church members and friends – are always there, offering their gifts. This church thing, this faith thing, this giving thing is something that God does with us and through us, together. We all are part of it in what and how we give, but our gifts combine to become more than the sum of their parts. Our gifts are multiplied, like so many loaves and fishes.

No matter what trials may come our way, what pandemics may arise, and no matter who wins or loses elections, we, as the church, are more, when we work together, and serve together, and give together, and love together, and even worship together (even when we have to worship apart from one another) because it is God who connects us and strengthens us and – in the end – blesses us. This blessing that we receive – this holy blessing – is a gift that never runs out. It only grows, because God is always feeding it.

It should be noted that, after the feeding of the 5,000, sometime the next day, the same crowd of people that Jesus serves comes looking for him, again. And they are hungry, again. But this time, instead of feeding them actual bread, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (6:35) The crowd doesn’t really understand Jesus’ words, here, but he is saying that the abundant life and grace and healing and wholeness that he offers is far more substantial than the bread that will satisfy you for a day but leave you hungry for more, the next. Jesus is liberating these people from their day-to-day fears of scarcity and human hunger, and is offering them something more – something true and good and loving. . . something that lasts, something that multiplies and grows far larger than we could possibly imagine.

I’ll close with this –

When I was in college, I joined a church – the church in which I had spent a very formative part of my childhood and youth. When Stewardship Season came around, I was excited to make a financial pledge to the church. I filled out my pledge card. I was going to contribute $25 a week. It seemed like a manageable amount, to me. I remember handing my pledge card to a lovely man named Bruce Bishop, who worked at the church. Bruce accepted the card with humble gratitude. I don’t know if he looked at that amount or not, but I do remember that, after spending money on movies and compact discs and eating out and all of the things that college students spent money on at the time, my financial commitment to the church turned out to be more than I could chew. And I felt bad. I still do.

Thankfully, the grace of God is far greater than our past mistakes. Thankfully, God’s grace assures us that we can always begin again. Thankfully, God’s grace is a living thing that God feeds in us every day. Jesus takes the love of God – which God offers, freely and in good faith – and multiplies it in each of us. And Jesus takes what we offer, freely and in good faith, and multiplies it, too.

This is big stuff for us to chew on in this Stewardship Season – perhaps more than we can chew. But God is always wanting to reveal more and more grace in our lives and in the life of the world. May we be open to that grace – vessels of that grace – to and for one another.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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[1] Peterson, Eugene. The Message – Numbered Edition. Colorado Springs: NAV Press, Inc., 2005. John 6:9. p. 1465.

[2] Paraphrased, JHS.

[3] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979) 328.

[4] Matthew 14:19, Mark 6:41, and Luke 9:16.

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kadobeclothing · 5 years ago

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Our Editors Share Their New Daily Routines While Social Distancing

7:10 AMMy alarm goes off at 7:10 a.m., which gives me enough time to check my phone (a bad habit I have no concrete plans to change) and stretch in bed before getting up to shower and get ready for the day.Since we’re working from home, I’ve decided to forgo makeup, but absolutely refuse to give up wearing “normal” clothes. I also refuse to give up my 10-minute, screen-free coffee ritual! It’s a joke amongst my friends that I’d rather have coffee than most things, and it’s not too far from the truth.8:58 AMThe thing about not having to commute is that the time just passes, and continues to pass, and suddenly it’s 8:58 a.m., and I’ve got to grab my laptop and hop on Zoom for our 9 a.m. meeting. I do a quick pre-video scan to make sure that I’ve got coffee, clothes, and a clear video background before I hit “join meeting.” 9:00 AMMy partner is not working due to COVID-19, so he makes breakfast and lunch while I work. I eat at my desk around 10 a.m., anything from yogurt and granola to breakfast tacos.I’ve started factoring stretch breaks into my work from home routine, which is something I’ll implement when we get back to whatever our new normal looks like. Around 1:30 p.m., I eat lunch.The workday passes pretty quickly, but I know it’s time to wrap up the day when I get the notification to post our end-of-day IG post. Often, that notification rolls around and includes a Slack message to my coworker: “How the HELL is the day over already!?”5:00 PMStretch and move time! Once I’ve wrapped for the day, I stand up, close my laptop, and have a big stretch. From there, I decide whether I want to hop on an IG live yoga class (Modo Yoga LA has been a BLESSING). I’m trying to commit to some sort of body movement every day, whether it’s yoga for an hour, a walk around the neighborhood, or a bike ride.6:00 PMI try to do a nice thing for my house every day since I’m really having to hunker down here. If I’m not reorganizing a section of my house or Swiffering the floor, I’ll use this time to call my parents or FaceTime a friend.I’m extremely extroverted, so this time has been hard for me. I’ve cried to my boyfriend at least twice a week, wondering when things will return to normal, what normal looks like, and how we move forward from all of this. All of my group texts have been more active, thank goodness, so that’s a great distraction and helps me to feel like I’m still in touch with everyone.7:30 PMDinner, baking, maybe both if I’m really feeling it. I love to cook—I’m one of five kids and we always, always had family dinner together every night growing up, so food is a big part of my life. I enjoy taking the time to make dinner and really think about what I want to eat. It’s a great way to nourish our bodies and, in my case, my mind.9:00 PMWe usually eat by 9 p.m., at the latest, but sometimes it runs over. If time allows, I’ll bake a bit too! For starters (bread joke), I’m making sourdough like everyone and their mother right now. It’s a rewarding process!10:00 PMI’ve watched more TV in the past three weeks than I have in my whole life. I wish I was using this time to be more productive (reading? journaling?), but nobody’s perfect. Plus, who can resist Tiger King? We binged it in two days.Anyways, this time before lights out is spent watching TV, maybe reading, and getting ready for bed. It’s just some R&R time before crawling into bed to start it all over again the next day. Source link

source https://www.kadobeclothing.store/our-editors-share-their-new-daily-routines-while-social-distancing/

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miamibeerscene · 7 years ago

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Solera Brewing: American Brewers Explore an Old World Brewing Style

December 19, 2017

Solera brewing is a beer-making process that dates back hundreds of years. In the last decade or so, it’s a method a number of American brewers hungry for experimentation, complexity and speed are beginning to explore.

The creative, efficient Solera system of mixed fermentation has been in use since it first was devised by Portuguese sherry producers in the late 1700s. Now it also is being used for making port, whiskey (think Glenfiddich 15-Year-Old Solera), brandy, balsamic vinegar, and, more recently, American craft beer.

Will Meyers got the idea about a modified solera brewing system after talking to a winemaker. (Credit: Cambridge Brewing)

The Solera system, also called “fractional blending,” was first used in a U.S. craft brewery in 2003 at Cambridge Brewing, the brainchild of renowned Head Brewer Will Meyers. Meyers ironically got the idea during a conversation over a beer with a friend who was the owner and winemaker at Sutton Cellars vineyard.

Meyers describes his classic approach by relating it to the original sherry system but is using it for beer (parentheses added): “essentially a number of casks that contain identical liquids of consecutive ages. In the case of sherry (or beer), a quantity of the style is drawn off at intervals throughout the year, and the cask is refreshed with a slightly younger wine (or other liquid) of the same style. The younger wine (or beer) will gradually take on the character of the older wine (or beer), and after several months, the wine (or beer) in the cask becomes virtually indistinguishable from what it was before.”

(READ: The Evolving Role of Women’s Contributions to Beer)

Aged Qualities in a Fraction of the Time

For sour beer, a single stage system now is used by most Solera breweries and has been found to be an excellent way to continuously make the beer more quickly than conventional barrel aging, with greater depth, and with a wild culture mixture that slowly evolves over time. The tapped beer is replaced by the house base beer which is brewed separately and moved to the Solera.

Basically, the untapped part of the Solera cask acts as a jump starter, like the sourdough bread starter that many families have used and passed around. (We called our sourdough starter Herman.)

Jason Kahler, the brewmaster and co-owner of Solera Brewing in Parkdale, Oregon, tells us, “My intention was to have a constant flow of complexly layered, acid-forward beers without the long wait. Initially, I was thinking of the mixed cultures residing in the barrels. It was more of a way to keep bacteria and yeast alive in barrels that I wanted to duplicate, but quickly realized that not only was this a simple way to feed and keep the critters active, but also produce a beer that had some aged qualities that could be achieved in a fraction of the time.”

(READ: Understanding the Three-Tier System: Its Impacts on U.S. Craft Beer and You)

Boston Beer uses a Solera process to make their Kosmic Mother Funk (KMF) series. Jennifer Glanville, the brewer at Boston Beer, has three 130 barrel foeders used for making the various KMF beers, with the one for their Grand Cru aging at least 24 months before tapping. Glanville asserts that, “The process gives a different depth of flavor than with blending.”

Nathan Zeender, the head brewer at Right Proper Brewing in Washington, DC, notes that, “We are able to get the finished beer much more quickly. The beer also continues to evolve and develop its own character.”

Classic Solera Brewed Beers

Records show that a Solera-type brewing process has been used in the past for brewing beer, but not for many years. One such beer was the classic, but sadly no longer made, Gale’s Prize Old Ale. Another is the famous Burton Ale from the Ballantine Brewery. The oldest Solera beer barrel still in use is a 200+ years old Walloon Old Ale barrel, first used in 1806. The cask is owned and has been maintained by the Gedda Family in Sweden and is tapped once every two years.

Since Cambridge’s then-innovative system for brewing beer, quite a number of other breweries have developed their own distinctive Solera system, with variations to fit each of their unique needs. These range from widely-distributed craft breweries such as New Belgium to extremely small enterprises like Duncan’s Abbey with only four souring barrels.

(READ: 12 Beers of Christmas)

Meyers created his very traditional Solera brewing system in the low-ceilinged dirt basement of the brewery’s refurbished 125-year-old mill. He is dogmatic about keeping it traditional and “remaining true to the Solera spirit.” Their Solera has grown to 15 former Bordeaux and Burgundy wine barrels of about 60 gallons each with the addition of five barrels in 2008 and another five in 2015.

Essentially now Cambridge has a Solera and two nurseries called criaderas. Each year, the Solera is tapped only once to make their Cerise Cassée, a sour ale made with tart cherries. The Solera, usually tapped in the late autumn, produces about 200-250 gallons of Cerise Cassée. Meyers hopes that the increased Criadera size will allow a limited bottled release.

Beers Made Using “Aging and Time”

Brewing with a Solera system is more an art than a science. The barrels in the system used for blending age at different rates depending on elements such as the aggressiveness of the cultures in the barrels or foeders, weather, temperature and other factors. Those cultures and the wort they are working with can be modified over time by changing the malt profile, re-inoculating or changing the culture mix, modifying the fermentation and temperatures, determining when time is ripe to draw from the foeders, and how these various factors work together in blending a final product, all of which only comes from experience.

“All batches are related to one another and the latest is related to the first.” Chase Healey, American Solera

Two relatively new breweries have Solera in their name, American Solera in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Solera Brewing in Parkdale, Oregon. Both are among numerous breweries using modifications of the traditional Solera system to make sour ales.

Chase Healey, the brewer and owner of American Solera, says he is simply using “aging and time” to make their beers. He likes that, “All batches are related to one another and the latest is related to the first.”

Each Solera batch is aged for four to six months and then drawn down by one-half to two-thirds and fills 20-30 barrels. Healey checks to see what is available for mixing or blending such as peaches, berries or grapes and sometimes dry hops the resulting barrels. Refilling the Solera with his base farmhouse beer he describes as “pulling and replenishing.”

Solera Brewery is Built on Experimentation

Solera Brewery has a spectacular view of Mt. Hood towering over its back patio. Brewmaster Kahler relates that, “One of the things that attracted me to this technique was all the years I’ve spent brewing in other breweries the same damn beers day in and day out. I’m not sure I could ever do that kind of brewing again. Experimentation has always been the goal of this brewery. I think many of our customers understand our philosophy.”

(READ: A Sour Pickle in American Brewering: Can Brewers Better Define this Style?)

At present, Solera Brewery has 25 barrels stacked two high using chocks. Kahler’s goal is “not to duplicate but to create.” He artfully relates that, “The wort that’s used to replace what has been drawn out is dictated by the remaining beer in the barrel. Does it need the acidity cut? Does it need more acid, color, or body?”

Kahler describes the draw on each barrel, saying, “The barrel will tell you. I’ve had barrels that were in their first generation for three or four years, while others as little as three months. It also depends greatly on what you plan to do with the beer. Are you blending with it or serving it straight?”

“Consistently Delicious … Not Consistently the Same”

Zeender, like many others, started with Solera brewing as a homebrewer. When Zeender set up the Right Proper brewery he was able to acquire three 38-barrel foeders. Two of the foeders are used for souring and one for other beers.

“The original mixed fermentation culture was derived from two saison yeasts, two types of Brettanomyces yeasts, and a Lactobacillus strain,” Zeender says. “Brettanomyces is the focus, and it develops over time from months to years.”

Zeender’s two primary mixed fermentation beers are made in their own foeders. One is the flavorful Baron Corvo, a Rustic biere de garde, while the other is the White Bicycles Rustic Witbier. Both also are bases for other beers such as an aged farmhouse ale and a foeder beer on cherries.

(READ: Should We Wait in Line for Beer?)

The Solera beers, Zeender notes, are “consistently delicious but not consistently the same.”

Other brewers using modified Solera systems agree that their beers vary some due to the evolving yeasts, changing weather, and a host of other factors. Often customers truly enjoy checking the small variability of each handcrafted version.

How frequently Zeender’s foeders are tapped depends on demand but usually every four to six weeks. About one-half to two-thirds of the beer is removed on average and refilled from a base beer brewed in stainless steel tanks before being subjected to the alchemy of the mixed fermentation colony residing in the oak foeders.

Solera Method at Duncan’s Abbey and Fermentery Form

Two small Solera breweries have interesting wrinkles with their system. Duncan’s Abbey is a local brewery in an 1890s building in Tarrytown, New York, at the New York end of the Tappan Zee Bridge. It has a mere four souring barrels, stored in the building’s old stone cellar, which are used for the Solera. Owner and Brewer Justin DiNino believes, “People are looking for originality and these are unique.”

DiNino also believes in brewing using only local ingredients including hops from Tarrytown and the nearby area. More intriguing is his local yeast. Natural wild yeasts, that vary each year, are captured in the spring and fall in two half barrels placed outside the brewery. After fermenting to a desirable alcohol level, depending on how active the yeasts are, these barrels are tapped by one-third to one-half and are racked and the Solera refilled. The results tend to be fruity early and evolve to more acidic toward the end. If the yeasts dry the ale fully, DiNino may set aside a barrel for blending as part of their Flanders-style Rockefeller Red Ale.

(READ: Brewery Rescues Ugly Fruit from Landfills)

Fermentery Form’s Ethan Tripp experiments with a variation of Solera brewing. (Credit: Fermentery Form)

Philadelphia’s new Fermentery Form brewery opened this past July and with a different twist. Leaving the wort production to a contract brewery with spare capacity, they are a barrel-only brewery. According to Lead Fermentationist and jack-of-all-trades Ethan Tripp, like Zeender a former homebrewer, focusing solely on fermentation both saves a major expense and gives the brewery more flexibility and more time to experiment. The house mixed fermentation culture is about 10 years old dating back to those homebrewing adventures and the focus of he and his partners on balanced sour brews and barrel aging. Many of their beers are variations of farmhouse ales.

The brewery acquired 56 very old red, white and dessert wine oak casks in various states of disrepair and unusable for wine anymore. Essentially, Tripp, the jack-of-all-trades, added being a cooper to his other duties. The 56 barrels are arranged in two stacks with about 10-12 on each bottom and a similar amount on a second tier.

Tripp says there are about 20 Solera barrels on the bottom of the two stacks, a small variation from the classic Solera idea. They are filled from the second tier barrels as is traditionally done.

Only a few of the barrels have been tapped and refilled thus far, each time drawing about one-half to two-thirds of the contents and refilling from the second tier.

(READ: Explore 75+ Craft Beer Styles)

The Future of Solera Brewing?

The original American sour beer, New Belgium’s La Folie, first was made 20 years ago in their wooden foeders which, until three years ago, used a modified Solera system of partly emptying and refilling according to then Head Brewer Peter Bouckaert. The current forest of foeders has grown to 65 foeders ranging in size from a bit over 20 barrels to almost 190 barrels.

Two have been especially helpful in blending of their sour brews, the light lagers from foeder Oscar and the dark lagers from foeder Felix. Over these 17 years, there were various experimental changes such as using different malts and fermentation temperatures. The forest of foeders is in the care of Lauren Limbach, the Wood Cellar Director & Blender at New Belgium, who says, “My job is to keep the foeders happy.”

Peter Bouckaert, former head brewer at New Belgium Brewing. (CraftBeer.com)

(READ: The History of the American Pale Ale)

Three years ago Limbach and her colleagues made a momentous discovery. They found that the benefit of brewing a relatively consistent beer using the modified Solera system could be achieved by completely emptying the foeder rather than a partial drawdown and refill. The cultures in the foeders evolved, reaching a steady state where the culture mixtures now reside in the wood and can regenerate themselves after being emptied. Essentially, the wood has developed a life of its own.

As Limbach describes it, “Over the years, we saw opportunities to improve overall flavor profile and found solutions to do so. This happened with years of testing and step by step working towards a new process. These foeders have had our cultures in them, penetrating the wood over many, many years … (this system) seems to be successful in our very specific need.” Ninety percent of the beer now is emptied for use and the remaining 10 percent is drained to minimize brewing maintenance issues. The foeders are then refilled within 12 hours and “within a week it has started reproducing.” Limbach proudly reports: “This absolutely works.”

The Solera process for brewing has been around for at least 200 years. For at least one brewery, it has evolved over time and perhaps others may able to follow the New Belgium lead. If not, the tried and true system still has numerous benefits and produces excellent beers.

The Brews Brothers

The Brews Brothers journalism team has focused on craft beers since shortly after the first shots were fired early in the ‘craft beer revolution.’ Publications and writings include American Brewer; Mid-Atlantic Brewing News; the Gazette Newspapers where we wrote monthly craft beer columns for 23 years for the metropolitan Washington, DC area; and Beerhistory.com. We also give lectures and host beer tastings. Steve likes classical music, the gym, walking my dog Barley on the C&O Canal and beercations. Arnie enjoys jazz, drinking craft beer and beercations.