Resurrection Buns!

Being that I work in an industry that doesn't exactly slow down for major Christian holidays (the show must go on, right?), I'm working a double shift as a house manager at the theatre today. So, in lieu of attending any sort of Easter brunch, I decided to bring the celebration with me and baked two dozen resurrection buns for my staff!

What's a resurrection bun, you ask?

One part metaphor and one part yummy sweetness, it's basically the most delicious way to celebrate the risen Lord!


Here's how you make 'em:


1. Take the "body" of a marshmallow and "annoint it with oil and spices" (dip it in a mixture of melted butter and cinnamon).

So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.
John 19:40


2. Bury the "body" in a flattened biscuit (I prefer grands jumbo buttermilk biscuits... they stretch out and wrap around the marshmallows best)

And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.
Mark 15:46a


3. Seal the tomb (press together the edges of the biscuit so that the marshmallow is sealed tightly inside). For good measure, I also like to "annoint" the sealed tomb.

And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
Mark 15:46b


4. Bake according the the instructions on the biscuit can. While you bake, the marshmallow will "rise" and melt inside the biscuit. until...


5. You bite into the cooled biscuit and BEHOLD!! The tomb is empty.

And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
Luke 24:2-3



He is Risen

He is Risen, INDEED!

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Good Friday

For the past 38 days, my church in Seattle has kept a prayer room open. For every hour of Lent, at least one person has committed to pray in that room. Sometimes groups came together, sometimes families, but for the past 928 hours (and for the few that still remain until Easter), at least one person has been in that room, praying for our church, community, nation, and world.

Today, from 1 to 2pm, I spent my hour in the prayer room. From the moment I opened the door, I was met with a sense of God's presence. A sign on the wall told me to remove my shoes before ascending the staircase into the small attic loft where I would spend the next sixty minutes. At the top of the stairs, I found bibles, journals, prayer books, soft rugs, candles, a prayer bench, and a comfy chair-- all different aids to prayer. But the thing about the room that immediately struck me was its walls, on which the people of my church had written out scripture and prayers with colorful markers.

What stood out most to me about this display was the vulnerability it revealed. On our "wailing wall," my congregation held little back. People wrote down their hurts, their worries, their loneliness, their anger, their fears. And in reading and praying over the walls of that room, I, for the first time in a while, stopped feeling so alone in my own pain, fears, and worries.

This must be what Good Friday is about. In so many of the prayers I read today, there was a sense of pain and frustration at the sheer injustice of the world. I can only imagine that the followers of Jesus must have felt the same way when they saw the most innocent and loving man they knew put to death for a charge he was never guilty of. And I can imagine that's what Jesus felt when he cried out in agony "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

But that is the beauty of the cross, that we who follow Christ serve a God who knows what it is to suffer, a God who took pain and injustice and brokenness upon himself for our sake.

Theologian John Stott puts it this way: "I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the Cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it."

Of course, the real beauty of this season comes Sunday, when we see that He is risen, and that our trials, our pain, our suffering, we can leave crucified as we walk towards a new, resurrected life in Christ.

But today we mourn for our broken world, and we place our pain upon the cross, where Christ hangs, grieving with us.

I'm Moving!

Well, my blog is.

After much thought and the recent acquisition of a phone that can post pictures and videos to the web super quick and easy, I've decided to make the switch to Tumblr.

You can now find all of my hopes, dreams, and other general sap posted for all the world to see at http://gowestgirl.tumblr.com/ Do bookmark it. And visit often. I hope to post more this year.

But just in case you're in the mood for some vintage Sarah, this blog will stay up and running for now.

Farewell, blogger. It's been real.

Living the Dream

Over the course of the past two and a half weeks, I have had a lot of time, maybe too much time, to reflect on my life in Seattle. Being back home I've seen a lot of old friends and acuquaintances who, now that we've all been out of school for a few years, have either settled into "real jobs" with 9-5 workdays, medical benefits, and two-day weekends, or have happily taken on domesticity, marriage, and even kids. Though it's been nice to reconnect with people, every visit has brought up insecurities, fears, doubts, even shame, about my own employment and relationship statuses. I've shed a lot of tears this break, struggling with how different my life looks from the lives of the people I grew up with and the people I graduated with two and a half years ago.

I've done this my whole life. I am the queen of making myself feel bad about my life because it doesn't compare to someone else's. But in the past few days, it's finally started to occur to me just how blessed, even spoiled, I am.

A friend of mine posted this quote from The Wonder Years to his Tumbleblog last week and it's gotten me thinking.

"When you’re a little kid, you’re a little bit of everything. Artist, scientist, athlete, scholar… Sometimes it seems like growing up is the process of giving those things up. One by one. I guess we all have one thing we regret giving up. One thing we really miss that we gave up because we were too lazy or, we couldn’t stick it out or, because we were afraid."

Here's the thing. I am living the dream. No, I don't have steady employment. Or a normal work schedule. Or a weekend off until March 12 and 13 (who wants to go skiing??). And, yes. I am on food stamps and live on an 800 dollar a month budget. But I don't have student loans. Or car payments. Or credit card debt. Or any mouths but my own to feed.

And because of those blessings, I haven't had to give up what I love yet. I'm not making much, but I am getting paid to work in theater. I act. I direct. I create. I play. I teach kids, teenagers, and grown-ups to be creative and discover imaginary worlds everywhere. My schedule is crazy and confusing... and I'm still not sure how to fit a social life into it... but when all is said and done.. I believe in what I am doing. And I would regret walking away from it right now. I know that someday I might need to get a "real job" at a bank, or a corporation, or a school. But for now, God continues to open doors, and I am so grateful to keep at this crazy life of mine.

So, at the start of this new year, I'm turning the page. I'm done whining about my employment status. I am blessed. And if you hear me say otherwise, call me out on it.

As for complaints about my relationship status. I can't make any promises. But that's a post for another day. My girl Flannery O'Connor put it best: "A good man is hard to find."

Happy New Year, Friends!

Resolve.

I’m sitting in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport at 5:30 AM. Starbucks isn’t open yet and I can’t find an internet hotspot anywhere. I've just gotten some of the worst sleep of my life, tossing and turning through a red eye flight. And strangely, for the first time in a very long while.. I can actually focus on some of the thoughts that have been bubbling in my head lately.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

I turn 25 next month. I don't have a steady job. I'm beyond single (and a half dozen of my best friends are getting married this year). My family and friends are strewn across the country. A quarter-life crisis seems like a completely reasonable turn for my life to take, right?

The truth is, I miss JMU. I miss being on the same page with all of my friends and not feeling inadequate because I didn't move to the big city they moved to or because I didn't go the traditional route with my career or because I haven't met "the one." I miss constant socialization. Salsa nights. Dhall dinners. Football games. And honestly, I miss studying. The library. Having books to read (even if I never finished most of them) and, better yet, papers to write (because I'm a dork like that).

But I'm not in college anymore. So I need to figure out how to rejoice in the life I have now.

So, since the new year is almost upon us, I've written up a list of resolutions. I have discovered this year that for me to reach my creative potential, I need structure, goals, and planning. I hope this is a start.

-Start every day by reading a psalm aloud.

-Set some "office hours" every week in which I get out of my bed, walk across the street to my neighborhood coffee shop, and write lesson plans, answer e-mails, read, and journal.

-Hit snooze 5 times instead of 10 (baby steps.)

-Read one new book a month. I will stop checking out multiple books at once, starting them all and never finishing them. I will read one book at a time. And when I am done, I'll write about it.

-Discover more music. Write about it.

-See more movies. Write about them.

-Blog weekly. Journal daily.

-Initiate at least one intentional coffee date/brunch/happy hour a week.

-Get people together more. Plan some social events.

-Cook one new recipe a month. Preferably with/for friends. I've only busted my crockpot out once since moving to my house. That is not ok.

-Stop letting facebook/twitter suck away my life. I will only log on once a day for no more than 15 minutes a day. Period.

-Stop watching trash tv. Friday Night Lights is obviously the exception. (but it's no trash, anyway).

-Join a gym.

-Do more Yoga.

-Hold all goals & resolutions with open hands. Give God room to change my plans.

Dear Santa

Now that I've purchased myself Mumford and Sons "Sigh No More" as an early Christmas / music to listen to on my cross-country flight present, all I really want for Christmas is a man who plays banjo.

Seriously. Make this magic happen, big guy.

I Believe.

Love,
Sarah

p.s. I've included video evidence here just in case you need any more convincing.

FaLaLaLaLa!

Every Christmas, instead of Christmas cards, I send out a mix CD of Christmas music. Starting in November, I hunt my personal arsenal of carols and search the internet for new and exciting holiday tunes that will make my friends and family feel merry and bright without driving them to the brink of insanity.

Up until this year, only a limited few have had access to the coveted annual mix. But this year, thanks to the wonders of the world wide web, my Christmas Mix is available to all!

Just click the link below, enter the password HoHoHo (capitalization does count), and download your very own copy!

The 2010 Christmas Mix