Image by Дарья Яковлева from Pixabay

By April Yamasaki

During these days of staying at home, I’ve been experimenting with a new recipe for homemade pizza dough. With my first effort, my husband declared that it was the best pizza crust I’d ever made, better than any take-out pizza, maybe the best pizza he’d ever eaten. The bottom of the crust was just the right amount of crispy, the dough soft and flavorful, and he had topped the pizza with a uniquely delicious combination of chicken, olives, pineapple, my homemade sunflower pesto sauce, and lots of mozzarella cheese.

We both enjoyed it so much that we made pizza three Saturdays in a row with the same pizza dough recipe and different toppings. It was so easy and delicious, and besides, I had been looking for something special to mark the weekend. With spending so much time at home, the days had started to blend together, but Saturday quickly became pizza day to mark the end of the week.

A friend of mine suggests that the reason so many have turned to baking during these days is that we’re feeling powerless against the novel coronavirus pandemic and looking for a sense of control. In the face of unpredictable circumstances and not knowing how best to respond, we’re looking for the perfect recipe—for a series of predictable steps that lead to predictably good results, not only in pizza and other baked goods, but in life. Faced with a virus that has robbed us of so many lives, we’re looking for warmth and comfort food. Even in the summer’s heat, I don’t mind turning on the oven. I’m sure the pizza will be perfect.

I start the dough on Friday since it needs to rise in the fridge overnight. Then on Saturday I spread the risen dough in the pan, although on my first try it won’t take shape and  springs back like a doughy pillow. I gently try again, but when it still refuses to spread to the edges of the pan, I let it rest a few minutes. Then I gently press and keep pressing the dough until it fills the pan, and we can add our toppings.

As I rest and work the dough, it occurs to me that perhaps the opposite of feeling powerless doesn’t have to be feeling in control. Instead of forcing things, what if I could take a break and rest for some moments? What if I patiently worked with my circumstances and with the opportunities available even within the restrictions?

When I was first called into pastoral ministry, I faced a number of questions about leadership and power. As a new lead pastor I most often answered by talking about power with others instead of power over others. As pastor and congregation, as men and women working together in the church, we had power with one another—to respect one another, to exercise our gifts, to build one another up, to be empowered by God to be the church together.

“Work out your salvation in fear and trembling,” says Philippians 2:12. In other words, live out your faith even when you may feel restricted and powerless. “For it is God who is at work in you,” Philippians 2:13 continues. In other words, it is God who empowers you. Not to seize control or even to feel in control, not to wield power over others or in whatever circumstances you face, but to be empowered by God as the verse concludes, “to will and to work” for God’s good pleasure.

April Yamasaki is an ordained minister with twenty-five years of pastoral ministry experience, and the author of Four Gifts: Seeking Self-care for Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength; Sacred Pauses: Spiritual Practices for Personal Renewal; and other books on Christian living. She currently serves as resident author with Valley CrossWay Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and often speaks in churches and other settings. For more information, see AprilYamasaki.com and WhenYouWorkfortheChurch.com.