Grandma Divines Famous Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

Daily Reading: Genesis 33; Luke 13

He also asked, “What else is the Kingdom of God like? It is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” (Luke 13:20-21)

Every time I read this passage I think about my Grandmother Divines Famous Overnight Cinnamon Rolls. We only make them once a year at most, usually around the holidays. They have to be some of the best cinnamon rolls I have ever eaten but they are very labor intensive to make so we can only afford a once a year commitment to producing them. They also probably add about 10,000 calorie's to our diet on the day we make them, which is not good for our physical health (but very very good for our spiritual health)!!

I think of Grandma Divines Famous Overnight Cinnamon Rolls because they are the only thing that I ever make that has yeast as an ingredient. Even though we have probably made her cinnamon rolls 20 times in the past 25 years I am still amazed each time we make them with the impact of a small packet of dried yeast. At each stage of the recipe we return to find whatever we have done doubled or tripled in size. 

When I read this illustration of Jesus I put myself into the Kingdom of God, which is where I hope we all want to be. I know that God’s Kingdom is missional, in that God is working to redeem all of creation. Into that mission movement of God I picture myself as a small grain of yeast and I realize that even as the most insignificant grain of yeast I can have cataclysmic impact on creation because I am faithful to do my job. What is my job? It is to live out my faith, authentically within the lives of people around me. All that yeast does is be yeast, but the yeast is pushed and pulled and kneaded together with all the other ingredients all of the other ingredients expand and grow. 

A while back, I read an article online about yeast (pretty boring life, huh). I found that yeast does three things in a recipe: it makes the dough rise, it strengthens the dough and it gives flavor to the dough. When we faithfully live out our lives as yeast and enter into the community around us we are growing the Kingdom, strengthening the Kingdom and adding flavor to the community!  What an awesome privilege for living a simple life of living as we are called to live.

Several years ago I made Grandma’s recipe only to not have the dough rise. I started trying to figure out what was wrong and I learned that yeast can actually go bad. I realized that this ruined yeast is like Christians who bifurcate their lives by putting out their sacred mask when they are with Christians and putting on their secular mask when at the golf course or at work. If I am going to be yeast that changes makes pliable dough I have to be yeast wherever I am.

Lord, give me the humility to be the yeast that is needed to change my culture and re-create my community for the Kingdom of God.  Amen.