Beloved Epiphany friends–

On Sunday, you’ll hear all about preparation from the children’s point of view, but I expect you’re not surprised that one of the ways we have exercised patience has revolved around the notion of preparation. For a while, when it was too risky to go out and go shopping, some folks had groceries delivered. Or they had a neighbor who was able to go shopping pick things up for them and drop it off at the front door. Or they ordered take-out – restaurants were quick to shift to this new way of serving, offering curbside pickup or delivery via UberEats or GrubHub. And there was always Papa John’s or Domino’s.

Others used the pandemic as an excuse to get back to “real” cooking, rather than simply microwaving, and still others exercised their baking skills. 

All of this requires preparation, of course. There is the picking of the recipe, the determination if the supplies in the house would suffice or if something had to be gotten from the market. There is the timing element: if I started that recipe at 4, would it be ready when my hungry family were expecting dinner, or did I need to start it at 3? For the bakers, especially if they were making bread, there was a definite feel of chemistry experiments where perfecting the variables that contribute to a good bake were essential.

When I started to be a serious cook – and believe it or not, I am a very serious cook – I learned the art of “mis en place.” In professional kitchens, the phrase is used to describe the organizing and arranging of the work space, ingredients and equipment before beginning to cook. It translates directly from French as ”to put in place.” 

A classic example of things going awry when you don’t prepare is that moment when you discover that the melted chocolate you require will need a good twenty minutes to cool sufficiently to add to the souffle base. Another is even simpler: when you find out that the one last ingredient you need is NOT in the pantry as you expected, and it’s a special thing, and the gourmet store that carries it is closed, since it’s ten o’oclock at night. Don’t ask me how I know about that one…

But mis en place is actually pretty straightforward. Read the recipe from start to finish. Prepare your workspace so you’ve got room to do the various steps. A sink full of dirty dishes is not your friend. Get out all the equipment and ingredients you need. If something needs to be measured out, measure it out. If something needs to be chopped, chop it. Get everything ready BEFORE you start cooking, and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to follow your recipe.

In the pandemic times, when some ingredients were hard to find or when we didn’t want to make more than one trip to the grocery per week, it was a challenge. And without that preparatory mis en place reading of the recipe, we would find it impossible to make the thing we wanted to cook. So even if we were used to slapdash, play it fast and loose cooking, we learned the gift that is preparation. Knowing that we had what was necessary to carry out the task.

I know plenty of folks who are absolute artists at throwing things together without a plan. My brother-in-law is famous for going shopping for Christmas presents on Christmas Eve, an annual expedition with his dad and his brothers. But last year, as he was completing treatment for cancer, that was not an option. He needed to actually plan, especially given his weakness after the grueling regiment of surgery, chemo and radiation. He couldn’t do it all in one day. He had to prioritize to get things done. He learned the gift that preparation can be.

For most of us, our preparations in this season revolve around travel and gifts and meals and such. That’s all well and good. Perhaps we can take the gift of preparation we learned in the days of isolation, the gift that helped temper our impatience, and apply it differently to our hearts and our souls. 

Perhaps we can remember how setting ourselves at a series of tasks in good order can look when we are examining our own hearts. What corners of our souls need a wipe-down before we start inviting friends over for cookies? What toxic sludge of bitterness needs to be released and washed away? What petty annoyances leave a sour taste in our mouths when we say bad things about someone else? How many reps of flexing of our hope muscles, believing that God is worthy of our full trust, do we need to do? And moments of silent prayer in the midst of the work. And gentle words when the first instinct is to say something sarcastic…

Consider what your mis en place might be in the time of waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ. 

One great and loving option might be to sign on for our Angel Tree, to give a gift of joy to someone in need who might otherwise not receive Christmas gifts. 

In any case, write out your recipe. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is once you start in.

Be blessed and be a blessing,

Mary+

P.S. – One element you might consider for your Advent mis en place is Centering Prayer. Laurel M will be leading a Centering Prayer group in the chapel on Wednesdays in Advent at 7 pm. All are invited to come to a place of stillness and prayer. Questions? Reach out here.