wort

Wednesday July 23^rd, Matthew 13: 33 He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." I sometimes brew a batch of beer while I write these meditations.  In the kitchen I cook up the grains, boil the wort, add some hops to counter the sweetness with some bitterness and then cool it down before I add the yeast.  The yeast comes in a foil pouch with nutriment and some yeast cells in a small packet inside.  I often brake open the inside packet the night before so the yeast and the nutriment can mix and grow.  By the time I us it, the packet of yeast looks like it is ready to explode.  The yeast has come in contact with the nutriment and is working and growing.  After mixing it in the cooled wort, it will start working even more using the sugar in the beer wort as nutriment.  By the next day the water in the airlock will just be bubbling away and if you look in the glass jug, it will almost seem to be alive with movement.   The Kingdom of heaven is like the yeast in a batch of beer, a little bit is added, and before you know it the whole batch comes alive and is transformed into something new.  After a little clarifying and maturing, this something new is also very refreshing.  Sometimes we humans like to try to skip the clarifying and maturing part.  Yeast in wort is just not the same as beer.  The clarifying and maturing is where the faith community comes in. The result is refreshing and often brings celebration