³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Good morning

Historians and sociologists may well look back at the Lockdown of 2020, and track its progress through the stages of our virtual-remote-home bake-off.   Deprived of our favourite pubs, restaurants and cafes, we began to bake as never before. 

Flour, yeast and condensed milk took their turns in being rare commodities, and even our new currency - and social media was flooded with pictures of banana bread. 

Later, for the dedicated and skilled baker, sourdough bread became the next ‘new thing’. A ‘new thing’, it seems, which may have been around for six thousand years- and which, I confess, I have never thought much about, until recently.

It seems that the preparation of sourdough begins with a starter, a ‘pre-ferment’ developed over time through heat and cold, then a leaven, a period of proving, resulting in a richer, more flavoursome bread.

At this stage in the month, across the United Kingdom, schools would normally have been planning for their final weeks of term.  Even in our current patterns of work and school, we still have that ‘end of term mind-set’, and as restrictions ease, some kind of ‘end of lockdown’ mind-set too.  

Perhaps we too have found ourselves in a state of pre-ferment, a period of proving and preparation    which have stretched us and challenged us.   

Just as a baker wouldn’t dream of disposing of their carefully nurtured starter, similarly those challenging times can give us the kick-start to create deeper richer lives.  So let our time of pre-ferment encourage us to bring all that is valued and important and precious with us into our future, enriching who we are and all that we will do.

God of change and transformation, bless and cherish what we now are and strengthen and challenge what we will become, Amen.