Afternoon Tea

"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."
-- Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

I can't agree more fully with Henry James! Our family has spent many an afternoon delighting over tea -- from intimate teas at home to elegant affairs at the Waldorf. We unwind as well as celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, recitals with tea, sandwiches, cakes, and scones with Devonshire cream! Afternoon tea necessitates the slowing of time. It evokes the joys of companionship, of unhurried conversation, of beauty and elegance, and of much-needed relaxation. Oh, the joy and necessity of Afternoon Tea!

Life is Beautiful

Photography by A. Monaco

Just by living, we know that life can be hard and at times filled with great disappointments, pain and sorrow. The Bible does not offer a cure to our painful existence in so many words. We do not find a methodology on how to avoid or alleviate pain and suffering. Neither do we find a philosophy or even a conclusive understanding of why we suffer. In Scripture, we do however find a God who offers Himself to broken humanity throughout history, culminating in the gift of God the Son who entered our world, taking upon himself all the worst ugliness this world has to offer and changed forever what it means to live in the midst of that ugliness (paraphrasing Professor Stuntz). Life is beautiful and hopeful because God has entered into every nook and cranny of our lives. Scripture presents to us life for what it is, and a loving God on whom we could cling to in life's journey.

You Will Call, and I Will Answer

I was alerted to this very raw and honest interview with William Stuntz, well-loved Harvard professor of criminal law, who suffered from chronic pain and cancer, by one of his students. But before I give you the link to the interview, I would like to share a portion of the testimonry he gave at Park Street Church, Boston.

This is an excerpt of his testimony as recorded by Timothy Dalrymple of Patheos.

First, he said, God redeems, working through the curses of our lives to bring about blessing. "I may never know precisely what form that redemption takes, and that's fine with me. It's enough to know that I do not, and we do not, suffer pointlessly. Our God delights in taking the worst things in life and using them to produce the best things in life." This is essential to God's identity, and "it's an incomparably large gift."

Second, God restores, returning to us a portion of the dignity our afflictions have stolen from us. The sights and smells of cancer, he said, were foul. Sometimes it felt "as though the clothes I was wearing were soaked in sewage. Long before it kills, cancer steals the dignity and the beauty from life. It is as though tumors inside me were attacking whatever small pieces of good and decency that were in me." Yet the thief of cancer, the destroyer of suffering, does not have the last word. God entered into the pain and ugliness of our condition, and this changes everything. "It's part of this world's deep magic that when the One Man, who is so supremely beautiful that his existence defines beauty—when that one man took on himself all the worst ugliness this world has to offer, he changed forever what it means to live in the midst of that ugliness, to live in the midst of pain and loss and hardship. My disease may be ugly . . . But I am not, and thanks be to God for that. I no longer need to wear those foul clothes that cancer spun for me. God the Son gave me cleaner clothes to wear, clothes I did not buy and do not deserve. He elevates all he touches, and he has touched ultimate suffering and he has also touched me." This too is an incomparably great gift.

Third, God remembers, holding us in his heart even in the worst of our sufferings. "Memory for God is not a matter of recall; it's about a love so passionate and powerful that it overwhelms all it touches." God "remembers each one of us in our worst moments the way the Prodigal's Father remembered his lost son, the way a lover remembers a long-lost beloved." [He then] cited what had become a favorite passage from the Bible:

You will call, and I will answer. You will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sins (Job 14:15-16).

His voice began to break as he read those words. Think, he said, about the second sentence. "God not only forgives my many and awful sins. He longs for me, and he longs for you too. And he will not rest until he has us secure in his hold."

He concluded: "Standing with us in the midst of those curses is the God who longs to redeem and restore and remember and wrap you in his arms. And if there is one thing I have learned in the midst of cancer and chronic pain, it is this: God is larger and stronger and more powerful than the worst disease."

Professor Stuntz is now with our Lord Jesus who had entered into his pain and the ugliness of his condition; he is now with the God who longed for him. He died March 15, 2011. Here's the link to the interview.

Chicken Cacciatore

My daughter asked for my tried and true chicken cacciatore recipe. The sauce is rather flavorful with a touch of capers, lemon zest, white wine and vinegar. Here below is the recipe.

CHICKEN CACCIATORE
Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teasp salt
¼ teasp ground pepper
3 lbs chicken parts, rinsed and dried
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
2 medium shallots, finely chopped
2 medium green bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into ½ inch dice
1 14 ½ ounce can whole peeled Italian plum tomatoes, crushed, with juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
8 ounces mushrooms, preferably short-stem, wiped clean with a damp paper towel, trimmed, and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
½ cup pitted oil-cured black olives
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces in the mixture, shaking off excess flour.
3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Cook chicken in batches, about 5 minutes per batch, turning until pieces are browned evenly. Transfer the browned chicken to a medium bowl and reserve until ready to use.
4. Reduce heat to low and add the garlic, shallots, bell peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, and mushrooms. Then add the wine, vinegar, and basil, and cover. Stirring occasionally, cook vegetables for about 15 minutes or until just tender. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the olives, capers, lemon zest, and reserved chicken.
5. Transfer the mixture to a 3 to 4-quart baking dish and bake, covered, for 1 hour or until chicken juices run clear when chicken is pierced in thickest part.