tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84623545760455388562024-03-13T04:21:30.748-07:00A Feast for the Soul: Reflections of a Clergy CookA blog about spirituality and food. Recipes and reflections to nourish body and soul.nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-47488513637974801972014-06-03T04:44:00.000-07:002014-06-19T15:03:45.381-07:00The Long Journey
You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of
Egypt. – Deuteronomy 10:19
I am beginning to understand the
ancient Israelites. Not long ago, I
preached a sermon series about the life and leadership of Moses. When it came time for the Israelites to cross
the wilderness, I knew that story well.
They grumbled. They complained. &nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-46552854340402912182014-05-30T06:29:00.002-07:002014-05-30T06:29:09.916-07:00Oil and Water
I tried to
replicate a salad dressing I once made from a recipe. I started with some basic ingredients, oil (vegetable)
and vinegar (apple cider). I added
peanut butter to create a vaguely Thai-ish taste, then rounded it out with a
pinch of salt and a bit of sugar. It turned
out pretty good – or at least my family was kind enough to say so.
Don’t ask me
for exact nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-76503873300389989392014-05-12T19:37:00.000-07:002014-05-12T19:37:44.315-07:00Who Cooks for You?
. . . all ate and were filled . . .
Luke 9:17
As
soon as I learned the mnemonic device for the call of the barred owl, I knew I
liked this bird. He must like me too
because nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-52475043370102087972014-04-07T23:00:00.000-07:002014-04-07T23:00:07.298-07:00Grace Through PizzaToday's post is by guest writer Jacob Fields, a candidate for ministry in the North Texas Conference. Enjoy!
Grace
through Pizza
Confession: I am a bit of a glutton. I really
like food. If something tastes good enough I often eat past the point where I
know I’m going to regret it. When it comes to food, most of the Methodists I
know are not very Wesleyan… myself nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-87092505537996927842014-02-15T04:50:00.000-08:002014-02-15T05:31:03.713-08:00Snow Sadness
I wish I could describe the lovely scene that lay outside my
window. The fluffy snow floated down
onto a landscape becoming increasingly white.
Sitting in my living room by the fire and watching the beauty unfold was
like residing in a story book for just a while.
The silence was marvelously calm. . . and then the calm was
spectacularly broken as we sledded down our nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-46993480137751617492014-02-14T11:01:00.000-08:002014-02-14T11:06:16.324-08:00Valentine’s Day
No one is sure about the original Saint Valentine. More than once saint with that name existed
in our history. The most talked about,
however, was a martyr – executed for officiating marriages which, in the third
century, were banned throughout the Roman Empire. February 14 was named by Pope Gelasius as the
day to honor St. Valentine in the 5th century, (also serving the nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-47793233488634899442014-01-11T06:15:00.001-08:002014-01-11T06:15:54.349-08:00Something Different
I praise you, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. Psalm 139:14
I was trying
to do something different. I made the
recipe to take to a friend who had had surgery.
It was around the Thanksgiving holiday and so I tried to steer clear of
turkey-related dinners, guessing that they might have had their fill. I nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-68560911987864723652013-12-27T20:21:00.000-08:002013-12-27T20:27:50.756-08:00History
Recently, I
had the opportunity to witness a Christmas of a different era. While family was visiting for the holidays,
we bundled up the kids and went on a trip to Stone Mountain. Though this park
is being built up into a major modern attraction, I am grateful that they hang
on to their pieces of educational history.
And while we enjoyed the Sing-Along Christmas Train – which nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-4448692603990729982013-12-22T18:14:00.000-08:002013-12-22T18:14:05.672-08:00Christmas Greetings from the Johnson-Piersons
Greetings!
Though we are coming close to the deadline, we wanted to write our holiday letter to you. In our usual effort to save a few trees, we are using electronic media, with the hopes of also reaching as many of our friends as possible. Thank you for being one of them and for reading this post!
What a year it has been! Every year brings new adventure and this one has
nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-5400737283256677062013-11-28T18:27:00.000-08:002013-11-28T18:27:45.977-08:00Giving Thanks I
give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and
I will glorify your name forever. Psalm
86:12
Today is Thanksgiving.
I hope you have had a great one.
We have spent the week with extended family, cooking, eating and giving
thanks.
Like the holiday itself, the practical benefits of gratitude
are well known, but seem to require nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-18302842864935035812013-11-24T19:02:00.002-08:002013-11-24T19:04:03.849-08:00Prepare
“The voice of one crying out in the
wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make
his paths straight.
Luke
3:4
The gravy
was lumpy and the beef hadnancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-6128030648325532902013-11-01T20:09:00.001-07:002013-11-01T20:09:29.441-07:00Reflections on All Hallows Eve and All Saints’ Day
Give me your
tired, your poor, your trick-or-treaters.
I was strongly tempted to shout this from my front stoop. We have somewhere between 10 and 15 costumed
visitors at our house on your average Halloween night. Not too bad, but I could do with more. A few kids came trucked in from other
neighborhoods. Bring it on. &nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-73167130742368950182013-06-30T17:31:00.000-07:002013-06-30T17:31:09.975-07:00Heroes and Villains
It is not what goes into the mouth
that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ Matthew
15:11
As a writer who
concentrates on food and all its implications for our spiritual lives, it was
impossible for me not to be interested in the recent story about Paula Deen. For the sake of full disclosure, I don’t call
myself a fan. I have never bought one nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-21294391083364092702013-06-24T08:42:00.002-07:002013-06-24T08:42:47.508-07:00At the Beach
On Friday, June 21, a devotional I wrote was published in The Upper Room devotional guide (click here to read it). I was also invited to write a post for their blog, which I thought I would also share with you. If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will already know most of this information. But some stories are worth telling more than once! I am deeply grateful nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-55414038210465448022013-06-22T11:39:00.000-07:002013-06-22T11:39:29.665-07:00Getting Back to the Garden
You cause the grass to grow for the
cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth.
Psalm 104:14
&nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-90827106736022642222013-05-28T18:54:00.001-07:002013-05-28T18:54:15.864-07:00Travel Cooking
It was just a few days after our celebration of Jesus’ journey
from cross to garden, from death to life that we began a journey of our
own. Maybe that’s just a fancy way of
saying that spring break came right after Easter this year, but after celebrating
the resurrection, we seemed all the more ready to embark on a new
adventure. This time, to central
Florida.
Our family nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-41632215932153231702013-05-27T19:10:00.001-07:002013-05-27T19:10:30.892-07:00Still Here
As I type these words, I feel as if I am whispering into a
cave, long abandoned. “Is anyone still
here?”
My schedule, both wonderfully busy and terribly full,
becomes such that my blog has often had to sit on the sidelines. I don’t have the heart to give it up
entirely, so I pick up the laptop on my vacation while I’m planning my next
meal and enjoying some time to reflect. &nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-54144917122595696272013-03-20T19:10:00.000-07:002013-03-20T19:10:28.173-07:00Pope
You would
have thought it was the Super Bowl or maybe the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,
the way it was covered in the news.
Anchors sat on tall directors chairs strategically positioned in front
of a picturesque location in St Peter’s Square.
Religious experts from many traditions were interviewed to speculate on
who the new pope might be, then on what his character might contain nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-18438484714559132013-02-23T08:38:00.001-08:002013-02-23T08:38:39.808-08:00Beginning Lent
We are just over a week into Lent;
the holy season of preparation through which we make ourselves ready for the
celebration of Easter. Ten days have
passed since we put ashes on our head.
Probably just as many have past that I have broken my Lenten fast in one
way or another.
Lent is meant to be a somber season. We remember Jesus’ humanity as we fully
experience our own.&nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-86050444827086186902013-02-06T17:07:00.000-08:002013-02-06T17:09:59.715-08:00Pairings
I like to put different things together. It doesn’t
always work. Mexican food is great,
not only because of my cilantro addiction or my reverence for pico de
gallo. Everthing about what is
traditionally known as Mexican food can be mixed together and still be
great! Most food pairings aren’t so easy,
though. When it comes to wine and food,
there are even nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-75164345278767095982013-01-26T09:04:00.000-08:002013-01-26T09:04:00.106-08:00Strength
You will eat the fruit
of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. Psalm 128:2
I’ve been cooking a lot since the new year, but not out of Bass Family and Friends. As a part of my new year’s nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-34087989669727334902012-12-11T12:47:00.000-08:002012-12-11T12:47:50.848-08:00Where Will You Spend Christmas?
Where will you spend
Christmas? I have been asking myself
this question, though there is no doubt about my location on the big day. On Christmas Eve, I will be right here in
town leading two worship services.
(I invite you to join us.) On Christmas morning, my husband and I will
join our children in opening presents, singing carols (I hope), and enjoying a
nice leisurelynancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-59916660144448734722012-12-10T16:46:00.000-08:002012-12-10T16:46:15.474-08:00My Christmas Wish
My
Christmas wish is for everything holy, but I keep getting stuck in the everyday. Each year, when Advent rolls around, I long
to celebrate it with those sacred, awe-filled moments, but my schedule instead
contains endless lists of planning and busyness. Holiday banquets and fast food seem to be the
seasonal fare. A quiet dinner made with
family and eaten together seems too nancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-16583729021659553562012-09-30T15:52:00.000-07:002012-09-30T15:52:31.357-07:00What Really HelpsThe words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Proverbs 12:18
Sometimes help
is better shown than said.
When we try
to help with our voice, it can be a good thing.
It can also be the opposite. Because
of my profession, I spend a lot of time in committee meetings, gatherings and
other conversations. I have noticed thatnancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8462354576045538856.post-7006788129331040102012-09-24T10:34:00.003-07:002012-09-24T10:34:49.642-07:00Birthday
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
Psalm
139:16
I had a
birthday last week. I celebrated with
friends and family by eating, singing and hiking. My name was included on anancy.johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10564254379043746425noreply@blogger.com0