MessagesofLove_HotFromTheOven

Welcome to The Salvation Army USA Eastern Territory Women's Ministries Website

Women’s Ministries Programs

Theme:

“Messages of Love”

Hot from the Oven

Carole Short

Fellowship—March 2008

Decorations

Put pictures of food on the walls around the room. These could be taken from cooking magazines. Use boxes of cake mix, along with small cooking utensils, on colorful table napkins for centerpieces. At the end of the program these items could be given as door prizes.

Give–Aways

Provide goodie bags for the women containing coupons for food, recipes, sample cooking ingredients or supplies. You may be able to get samples from local vendors.

Program Ideas

Demonstration

Ask three or four women to demonstrate how to prepare their favorite recipe. To insure variety choose a number of different categories: appetizers, main dishes, desserts, salads. Depending on the item being demonstrated and the size of the group, the food may need to be cooked in advance in large enough quantities to serve as refreshments at the end of the program. Print copies of the recipes for distribution to the women.

Cook–Off

Ahead of time decide on the category for a cook–off. Some suggestions are chili, spaghetti, cookies, cakes, pies. Ask the women to prepare their families’ favorite recipe at home and bring it to the program for judging. Invite individuals not connected with

your group to serve as the judges.

Cooking School

Arrange for your group to attend a cooking school. Check to see if there is a Taste Of Home Cooking School demonstration in your area. This is a ticketed event, open to the public, sponsored by the Taste of Home magazine. For more information visit their website at www.tasteofhomeschools.com.

Games

Name That Spice

Blindfold the players who must identify various spices by their smell. Make some of the spices easy to recognize to build confidence, while others should be more difficult. The player giving the most correct answers wins a set of spices.

Name That Tool

All the women can participate in this game. Display a tray of 10 to 12 different cooking tools or utensils. Include some unusual ones. Allow the women to guess the names of each item as it is held up. Remove the tray from the room and ask them to list as many of the items as they can remember along with its use. Give a point for the name of the item and an additional point for its correct use, subtracting wrong guesses from the correct

answers. High score wins.

Devotions

The Best Bread

Read John 6: 32–35

In every community across our land, there is a certain fervor and excitement surrounding the judging held at the local, county or state fair. Every farmer wants to know who has the biggest, juiciest, most purely yellow ears of corn. All 4–H Club members hope against all hope that their pig is the biggest, plumpest and best groomed. The ranchers watch closely to see which of the steers wins the coveted blue ribbon.

Of course, the food department can’t be outdone. Whether it‘s Mason jars of pickled eggs, home–canned green tomatoes, jellies, jams, candies or the most treasured baked pies and cakes, there is no keener competition than that among the ladies who strive to be named best by the prestigious panel of judges.

Often commercial companies, such as Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines or Pillsbury join in the hunt for the best in baked breads. It is not enough to have bread that satisfies the hunger of empty stomachs; it must also taste good. We all want to eat the best bread. We want it hot, fresh out of the oven, soft and light. It must be so good that it needs no help from butter or spreads of any kind. It must make our mouths water, our tongues slither around inside our mouths, our eyes close, and our heads move from side to side while our vocal chords involuntarily produce superb testimonies of utter delight. When these things happen, we know that we have found the best bread.

Jesus spoke of that quality of bread in our Scripture reading, referring to Himself. The implication is that there are other breads which might tide us over a rough spot or get us through a time of spiritual hunger. Perhaps it’s the breads of poetry, of Christian books, of sacred music, or even God’s Word. It could be the witness and fellowship of other Christian brothers and sisters. All of these breads can bring some varying degrees of satisfaction, but they are not the best bread. Jesus leaves no doubt that He alone is the best bread, when he declares, “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:48).

If we want to have a rich, satisfying spiritual experience, we must have fellowship with Jesus Himself. As we pursue that deeper relationship, we will hunger and thirst for righteousness. We will taste and see that the Lord is good. We will relish every moment. He will be sweeter as the days go by, and our effort will be rewarded without reservation. This is possible for each of us, because Jesus is the best bread—the Bread of Life.