I was asked for this recipe some time ago at church, and I’ve been meaning to post this recipe for a while, as requested, but every time I remembered, I didn’t have the recipe near at hand. And when I did have access to the recipe… well… I just forgot. But here it is. Of course, with it comes some reflection based on conversations, articles, thoughts over the last few weeks, few months, few years…
I don’t cook. I’ve never liked to cook, though I took four years of home economics in high school. When I was married, my husband did the cooking. He was a good cook. I cleaned up. It worked for us. Even though I have been both wife and mother, I’ve never quite considered myself a domestic person. I didn’t dream of being a mommy or having a family when I was growing up. I wanted to be a lawyer or actor or even a mechanical engineer (well, at least until I saw all the math requirements…). My first real job was working in a machine shop. I was even looking at becoming a heavy equipment operator. Most of my subsequent jobs have involved working in technical fields with men, particularly engineers. Forget cooking classes or handcrafts workshops, I’ve taken basic home appliance repair classes and computer repair/troubleshooting courses. Other than cars (which STILL baffle me) I’ve never had any fear of working on machines, large or small.
I’ve also never felt comfortable with women’s ministries. I never felt that I quite fit in. I didn’t fit the mold (in my mind). I was single when I had my daughter. When I did get married, I worked outside the home. When I got divorced and moved to Oakdale, I commuted daily between Oakdale and San Jose to work. I’d see women’s bible studies in the church bulletin but they were often in the morning. I’d go to women’s teas and they’d talk about family things that didn’t apply to me. There weren’t many conversations in these circles that made a single mom who worked outside the home, was mechanically inclined, and didn’t like to cook feel included.
Part of all the above could be attributed to my coming of age during the women’s movement of the late sixties and seventies. I wasn’t a radical feminist, but I bought into the feminist ideology. In my mind there was nothing that a man did that a woman couldn’t do (better). When I became a Christian, I understood the passages that referred to women’s roles in the church, but I wasn’t really good at submitting to them. I have to confess, the term “submission” would provoke a mild to strong reaction in me, depending on who was talking about it. We were supposed to be mutually submissive, were we not?
I thank God that He has been gracious and graceful in bringing me to see His design for my life, as a child of God, as a woman of God. It hasn’t been easy and I can’t say that I have accepted it readily, but like I said, God has been gracious.
And so we come to recent conversations and the title of this post. What the heck does coffee cake have to do with co-ed combat? It doesn’t other than while I was writing this, I received the latest article from Desiring God and it was titled, “Co-ed Combat and Cultural Cowardice.” John Piper speaks of how far removed we have come from the true natures that God instilled in man and woman. Men have abdicated their rightful roles as leaders and protectors, but rather than call them to task and hold them accountable for their action/inaction, women have stepped in and taken over. The results of these two wrongs have not been pretty.
I’m still learning my place as a woman in the Kingdom and the true liberation it creates. I’m learning about making God look good rather than me feel good. Conversations lead me to believe there are other women who want to do the same. So what do we strong, intelligent, capable women do with the gifts God has given us? How do our gifts/talents/inclinations fit and work in the greater church wherein we have been placed and this local church wherein we serve? What are the differences between what our culture tells us of the roles of women and how do they contrast/conflict with the roles that God designed and to which He calls us? What the heck do the terms egalitarian and complementarian mean? I’m ready to figure that out and am interested to know if other ladies might be likewise inclined and would like to begin meeting. You can respond to this post or email me, commuterqueen@hotmail.com. I don’t anticipate the group really starting until after the first of the year, but would like to talk with as many as are interested now to begin determining how we want this class to develop.
In the meantime, here’s the recipe. Hey, just because I don’t like to cook, doesn’t mean I don’t like to bake! 🙂
Great Escape Coffee Cake
cake:
1 cup margarine
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
topping:
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I use pecans)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 tsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. white sugar
cream margarine and sugar. beat in eggs. fold in sour cream and vanilla. add flour, baking powder and salt, beat until smooth. spoon half of mixture into greased bundt pan; sprinkle with half of topping. add remaining batter and cover with remaining topping. bake at 350 degree for 55-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. cool 15 minutes before removing from pan.
All Things Elda 