Who we are as a church - Sunday Sermon Review

September 8, 2013 - Sunday Sermon Review

1 John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked

Who are we as a church?

1) We are Evangelicals - To be a Christian is a choice of our will. It is a personal decision to choose God. Humanity has been separated from God through sin. Sin separates us from God. When we come to God in repentance and faith, our sin has been placed upon Jesus. Jesus died on the cross in order to make redemption for us possible. 
Sins ( the wrong that we do ) traps and enslaves. Jesus sets us free from all these things.
The choice to follow Jesus is a choice we make daily. The consequences of our choices echo throughout eternity. 
God has placed the freedom of the will within humanity. We have the freedom to choose good or evil. God will never remove the freedom of choice from humanity. 
Repent and believe the gospel. When our heart moves toward God and we choose to believe and accept Jesus as our Savior, we become saved. Nothing can ever separate us from our Savior. We choose Jesus for our whole life, we continue to keep choosing Him.
Bible reading and prayer are central to the Christian life.

2) We are Mennonites - The word "love" defines Mennonites. We are consumed by Jesus. We are fixated on living under God's love. As Mennonites we believe in non-violence. We are to love our enemies. We are not anti-war but we are pro love. We believe in separation of church and state. We believe that the government cannot dictate what we do in church. We live under God's love. Love is practical.

3) We are a Missions church - As Christians we believe that each one of us has been called and sent out - commanded by God to bring God's message of salvation to the ends of the world. All of us have been called to missions. Each of us can be effective through prayer. We need to be a people of prayer.


 Be active in sharing your faith. Be active in sharing what the Lord has done in your life!

Portzelky - A Mennonite New Years Tradition!

Happy New Year! With the arrival of New Year's Day come family traditions - maybe you have something special you do on New Years. As many of you who follow my blog and have read more of my posts will know, we are Mennonites. And as Mennonites we have traditional foods that we enjoy as part of our heritage. So growing up in my Mennonite family, my Mom always made Portzelky for New Year's Day, as also her Mother did before her. And now I carry on that tradition with my family - so today I made Portzelky for lunch. What is Portzelky? It is a deep fried treat that is very closely related to the apple fritters you can buy at most bake shops or even at a Tim Hortons except that these Portzelky have raisins in them and not apples as other fritters have.
Here is a picture of my New Years Day Portzelky!

My New Years Day Portzelky

 And here is a recipe for you in case you decide to try them!
Portzelky Recipe
2 cups warm milk
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 and 1/2 tablespoons instant yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil or melted butter
1 teaspoon salt
6 eggs, well beaten
6 cups flour ( more or less to make stiff batter )
2 pounds raisins  - I use about 2 cups but you can use more
Stir the yeast into lukewarm water. In large mixing bowl beat together the milk, sugar, oil or butter, salt and eggs. Add the yeast/water mixture and stir well. Stir in raisins and flour. Stir in a cup of flour at a time and stirring it in well with wooden spoon. Batter should be very stiff but still sticky. Set batter in warm place to rise about 45 minutes. Drop by tablespoons in hot oil in deep fat fryer. Fry on both sides till done - a medium golden brown. Cool on absorbant paper towel. Serve with granulated sugar to dip or coat with icing sugar. Enjoy!

My Roll Kuchen & Watermelon Pictures...

Psalm 34:1-3 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together.

Sometime ago I wrote a post titled Roll Kuchen &Watermelon and Healthy Eating - posted July 29, 2012. Well today I picked 2 ripe watermelons from my garden and I made some Roll Kuchen. Roll Kuchen and Watermelon is such a super delicious meal. I want to share a few pictures of the watermelon and the Roll Kuchen that I made. I shared the recipe in my earlier post.
Doesn't this look delicious??

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I also made some milk free Roll Kuchen since I am milk allergic. This is a picture of my milk free Roll Kuchen. They turned out very well too!

 Note: If anyone out there is interested in my milk free Roll Kucken recipe that I came up with today - I will gladly share it. Just leave a request for the recipe in the comment section.

Roll Kuchen & Watermelon and Healthy Eating....

Proverbs 3:5-6 says Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

There is really not a tastier treat than Mennonite Roll Kuchen with a slice of watermelon on the side.  Any one raised in a Mennonite family could tell you so. I am looking forward to having Roll Kuchen with the watermelon that are growing in my garden. I took the picture below a few days ago and it shows that the watermelons will still need a couple more weeks to mature and ripen. It has been a very warm and dry summer at my home here in southern Manitoba. Today the temperature is +35C ( that is about 95F) so the garden is feeling

the heat and lack of moisture today. 

But what are Roll Kuchen you ask? Roll Kuchen is a Mennonite food - deep fried sort of bread/cookie. It is made with heavy cream so it would be high in calories also. Some people would say it is not a healthy choice in one's diet but in my opinion, if you eat healthy regularly, you can enjoy special treats like this every now and then with no real health issues developing. That is my opinion. My Grandmother lived to be 95 years old and I know for a fact that she never worried about healthy eating at all. I believe the real issue is the chemicals that is in the foods we eat today. Chickens are mass produced in small enclosed areas and to keep them from contaminating one another, they are fed antibiotics in their daily feed rations. Cows are given hormones to increase milk production and farmers are growing mostly genetically modified grains and spraying the crops with all sorts of chemicals for diseases and to promote crop growth. These are the things that in my opinion are unhealthy. So in the old days, when my Grandmother was preparing food, they were eating fresh garden products and pork, chicken, eggs  and beef meat from animals that grew on their own farms and no chemicals and antibiotics or growth hormones were used. That was the real healthy way of eating.

But back to my Roll Kuchen, I want to share the recipe here with those of you who read my blog, and maybe, just maybe someday you will have a chance to enjoy some delicious Roll Kuchen with a slice of watermelon on the side. It is my hope that you will get the chance.

This is my Mom's recipe for Roll Kuchen.

SisterSparrow's Mom's Roll Kuchen

Put 1 egg ( unbeaten)  into a 1 cup measuring cup. Now fill the cup with heavy cream. Pour this into large mixing bowl. Repeat the process 1 more time. ( Put egg into the cup, pour it full of cream). Now add 1 extra egg to into the egg/cream mixture, Also add 1/4 cup of milk and 1 tsp of salt. Beat together well. Now add flour, mixing in a cup of flour at a time until you have a medium dough that is not sticky.  Turn out onto well floured table mixing in a little more flour as you prepare to roll it out the same as you would for a pie. Cut the dough into squares and put a small slit in each square that you cut. Preheat your deep fat fryer to 350-375F. Please be very careful with the hot deep fat fryer so as to not injure yourself. Gently place the cut Kuchen into the deep fat fryer, turning the Kuchen over once while frying. Fry till a nice light golden brown. Serve immediately with a slice of watermelon and ENJOY!

Note: Now that I am allergic to milk, I will not be able to have this recipe but I am going to try to figure out a recipe using alternatives to milk and cream so I can also enjoy this special summer treat.

My Mom - Woman of Faith!

Recently in the news Ann Romney ( the wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney) was  criticized for having made the choice to be a stay- at - home mom to raise their family. She was criticized to have never worked a day in her life. Wow! I am glad that many many people came to her defense including Michelle Obama and the President himself. Raising children is not an easy task - it takes very much love, and patience, and the giving up of one's own desires for the good of the family.
So with that I want to turn my thoughts over to my own Mom who did this very thing - she has been a stay at home Mom and together with my Dad lovingly raised me and my 5 sisters.
Jeremiah 29:11 -

 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

The LORD has plans for each of us and now that my Mom is in her eighties we can look back and get a picture of some of what that was.
Before my Mom and Dad met, my Mom's parents decided to move from Manitoba to Paraguay along with many other Mennonite families. The Mennonites were seeking to find a place of peace where they would be able to raise their families.So in preparation for the journey to Paraguay( thinking never to return to Canada) my Mom, a young lady,  had to get rid of her possessions which included her "hope chest". A "hope chest" was dishes and things girls would start to collect as young teenagers which they would then hope to use once they would marry the man of their dreams. She recalls the agony of leaving it behind. Then my Mom, her parents and siblings along with a couple of thousand other Mennonites  boarded the ship to sail to Paraguay.  Sailing there took approximately a month and as she recalls she was sick most of the time sailing. As it turned out though, life was not as promising in Paraguay as they all had hoped and they headed back to Canada within six months and back in Canada my Mom met my Dad. God had it all planned.

                                        This is a picture of my parents as a very young couple.                                  

My Mom was a very hard working person not only keeping the house, cooking with a wood stove in the early days, doing laundry with the old washing machine and no dryer, she was always helping Dad on the farm however she could. She was always by his side in a supporting role whether it was with farmwork - fixing the combine, running the baler, milking cows, but even more importantly she supported Dad in his work as a preacher. Always with him at his side whenever or however she was needed. As I think about my Mom, I remember the loving care she gave to me as a little girl. She would come to help me say my prayers each night. I would kneel in bed to pray and she would kneel  beside the bed as I prayed. Then she would tuck me in so I would get a good sleep.  If at any time in the night I woke up, and couldn't sleep, I would call " MOM" and she would be right there. She would read a Bible story to me regardless of what time in the night it was, then she would tuck me in again and she would say -" I'll stay right here with you until you fall asleep" and she did too. It didn't matter if it took half an hour or an hour for her little girl to fall asleep, she stayed there by my bed to bring security and comfort.  She was selfless and loving through and through. This also showed up in her giving spirit to the neighbors. She is a truly generous and caring person.
My Mom's faith has grown strong over the years. She has been a great example to us to see her reading her Bible and other Scriptural literature. Being sure of  one's salvation and that we be ready to meet the LORD at any time is something that she stresses consistantly. Since Dad's passing, she has blossomed in showing her love for the LORD even more.
When my Dad became ill with cancer, she again stood strong with him going to appointment after appointment  with him and caring for him. The last six months of Dad's battle with cancer were spent in the hospital. Mom would go to the hospital in the morning and stay there with Dad the entire day, come home in the evening and the next day do it all over again. It seemed Dad had peace when he was so sick, just to know she was there with him and know she would be there with him the whole way through.

Heavenly Father, You have given me a wonderful Mother...Thank-you , Amen