DEN Enews

For so many, December heralds a time of dreams of sugarplums, gaily wrapped presents and family near and far gathered with love. We Hope it can be for you but for many Hope is hard. Global and local issues of hunger, homelessness, and too many etceteras only bring despair for too many. Even the continued anxiety of our environmental Hopes are hard to dispel or hide under layers of cookies and wrapping paper.

“This is a season in which we ask ourselves challenging questions, including ones about our present world and our responsibilities as its inhabitants. While many may be conditioned to think of environmental concerns as totally separate from spiritual matters, God never meant to exclude the physical world from the process of redemption. As believers in resurrection, we get to reconsider what restoration could look like for a dying planet.

https://plantwithpurpose.org/stories/christmasrenewal/

Thoughts on Hope from Bishop Deon K Johnson:

We don’t often think of hope as courageous. It is too often portrayed as frail, feeble, or fleeting. But true hope is radical. It is an act of resistance. To hope when everything around us urges resignation is to stand with God against the gloom. God choosing to dwell among us—in the fragile form of Jesus—is a bold act of redemptive hope. Hope has transformed the world. It has toppled tyrants, dismantled empires, healed wounds, and reconciled enemies. Hope carries no sword, wields no armies, claims no throne—only the flickering flame of faith, lighting a path toward a better and brighter future. In this season of Advent, we are called to embrace the courage of hope. Not the kind that denies the darkness, but the kind that enters into it.”

We may not have been advertising it for a while, but a very dedicated group from DEN gather each Monday on zoom to meditate and pray for our world. They invite you to join them. The group meets Mondays at 7:00 AST, 7:30 NST; 6:00 EST and 4:00 MST.  The Rev. Barr Huether has been preparing an Advent journey which hopefully will be encouraging  and nourishing for everyone.

Barr looks forward to being with whomever is free and chooses to join the gathering. Please email Barr for the zoom link: [email protected]

Editor’s Note: Our Advent issues were meant to give our editors a restorative break but if you have been paying attention, you would know that Grandma is restored the most when writing and creating with her very own passion and joy.

Extras

Grandma is up to her elbows in Christmas preparations and won’t be sending out any proper articles until January. But Carole mentioned that if I ever wanted to share a little something, she could tuck it into the brief notes she hopes to send out now and then.

Grandma always likes to have a few crafts ready for when the grandbabies come to visit. A small table off in the corner lets those creative juices flow. The idea below isn’t ours — I found it on public pages online — but it’s something I already have the supplies for and thought others might enjoy too.

Egg Carton Ornaments
Grandma saves egg cartons for all sorts of things: lining the bottoms of new garden beds, starting seeds, or organizing little odds and ends that need more than four compartments. With a bit of glue and some paint (or markers), you can turn those cartons into the sweetest little Christmas ornaments. Have a look and see what you can create!

 Or you can use cardboard to make a lacing activity to create ornaments

Grandma’s Bits and Bites

Dry Mixture: You’ll need 10–15 cups of dry goodies. Use whatever you have on hand. Grandma likes to clean out the cupboards a bit for this!

Cheerios

Shreddies

Any small, unsweetened cereal

Mini Ritz

Cheese Bits

Cheese Nibs

Goldfish crackers

Cheez-Its

Pretzel sticks or small pretzels

Peanuts, almonds, pecans, or cashews

Bugles, Fritos, or corn chips

Wet Mixture: Melt 1 pound of butter or margarine and stir in:

A generous splash of Worcestershire sauce

Garlic powder

Onion powder

A pinch of seasoning salt

A shake of chili powder or smoked paprika

No need to fuss.  Grandma measures this part with her heart.

Putting It Together

Pour all your dry ingredients into a large roaster or oven-safe pan.

Drizzle the warm butter mixture over top and give everything a good stir.

Set the oven to 200°F and bake low and slow for 2 to 4 hours, stirring now and then.

When everything is crisp and fragrant, scoop into lunch bags and hand them out while they’re still warm.

Perfect for movie nights, after-sledding snacks, or spoiling visiting grandchildren.