Yeast
“The most exciting event in my day used to be watching cinnamon buns rise in the oven,” said Barb. At the time she was living in the remote northern woods of Ontario, a part of the Canadian Shield. Newly married, she was often lonely because her husband was away much of the time surveying for mining companies.
I, too, used to watch yeast rise. I would dissolve a spoonful of sugar in half a cup of warm water, sprinkle a teaspoonful of dried yeast on the top and watch the magic. Gradually the bubbles would form, swell, join each other and rise till the cup would be full to overflowing with bulging, beige-coloured, foamy froth. Yeast’s growth is fascinating and its aroma tantalizing. It lives, grows, reproduces and breathes.
What is yeast anyway? Why does it pique my curiosity? I know it’s not a plant, and it is not an animal either. I really do not know what it is, but it’s a lot like me: it thrives when it’s warm, hydrated and fed something sweet.
Foccacia bread seasoned with herbs, garlic and mozzarella cheese; sticky, spicy, sweet smelling cinnamon buns; crispy thin pizza crust; crusty, chewy French stick… mmmm… delicious. Miraculously, yeast expands and converts a whole batch of powdery flour into delicious, spongy bread. It transforms the necessity of eating into pleasure.
Bread making cannot be hurried. It takes time for the yeast to absorb the moisture, ingest the sugar, swell and produce the gas bubbles that make dry, chewy grains delectable. That’s why the Israelites didn’t use yeast when they escaped from Egypt. That final night of slavery, called the Passover, they ate with their cloaks on and tucked into their belts, ready to leave quickly at a moment’s notice. No time for the bread dough to rise. Forget the yeast. They were ready to flee, be free and begin a new life.
Yeast permeates through bread as spirit permeates through heart, mind and soul. “Beware the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod,” warned Jesus. Hypocrisy, judgmentalism, petty rules, accusations and evil poison us. Loving what God loves – goodness, mercy, kindness, and justice nourish and gladden us.
Jesus also said, “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.”
As the yeast absorbs goodness from warmth, water and sweetness, then gives back that goodness to the grains around it, so we can absorb the goodness God provides by His Spirit and let it spread throughout our lives. I notice the beautiful aroma of peace, joy, contentedness, forgiveness, understanding, fair-dealing, and hospitality from others around me, and realize that my own life and well-being are affected.
As John Donne said, “No man is an island.”
by Andrea Kidd
