Favorites of 2007

Excuse me while I indulge myself in a little year end blog review, with links to my favorite posts for each month.

January
January was a month for lists, including one with books on theology suitable for the lay person. Favorite post? The coyote one, hands down.

February
It was children’s poetry month, with lots and lots of participation from other bloggers. I also wrote a little about what propitation means. But my favorite post during February was one of the Saturday’s Old Photo posts.

 

March
This is the month I moved over here to the new blog. It was also the Irish themed month, and that was a whole lot of fun. During March, I worked hard on a couple of posts on redemption: What Does It Mean? and From What Are Sinners Delivered? Still, my favorite post was one I wrote on the spur of the moment after an incident in the supermarket, Doing Our Job.

April
During April, I was still in my William Cowper, William Wilberforce and John Newton phase, so this month’s favorites are a couple of Sunday’s Hymn posts that included a bit on the life or William Cowper: There Is A Fountain and God Moves In A Mysterious Way.

May
In May I started the series from Hebrews 1 called Seven Statements About the Son, and those posts are undoubtedly that month’s most substantive post, but my favorite post has to be the one on Mike the Headless Chicken.

June
I graduated the youngest and finished up the Seven Statements about the Son posts with Seated at God’s Right Hand.

 

July
July was the month for justification. You’ll find

•  A quiz on justification, with answers here, here, here, and here.
  
• Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience in our Justification
  

August
I didn’t have all that much to say in August because I was making jam, canning peaches, harvesting the garden and painting the deck. I did manage to put together a quiz on the biblical and historical doctrine of the Trinity along with answers.

September
Let’s see. I posted instructions for canning peaches, and started posting the Theological Term of the Week with a post on the perspicuity of scripture.

October
I continued on with the theological terms posts and put together a biographical sketch of Jan Hus.

 

November

November was a  month of thanksgiving and I managed to post thankful thoughts every day until I went on a two week holiday. 

December
This month my biggest undertaking was hosting the Recipe Round Up, but my very favorite posts were the ones with scripture about Christ and light. 

Sunday's Hymn: God's Eternality

It seems fitting during this time of the year, when we are especially conscious of the passing of time, to reflect at little on the eternality of God and what it means for us. This hymn from Isaac Watts considers God’s relationship to time, how different it is from our own relationship to time, and how God’s eternal nature is crucial to our security in Him.

 

It is also a favorite hymn of one of my favorite blog readers. 

Our God, Our Help in Ages Past

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men:”
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.

The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in following years.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

Like flowery fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flowers beneath the mower’s hand
Lie withering ere ‘tis night.

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home. (Listen, courtesy of Center for Church Music)

More on God’s attribute of eternality:

• God’s eternality

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• Holy Lord God! I Love Thy Truth at joythruChrist
• The Collect for the Sunday after Christmas-Day at Magic Statistics
• Another Year is Dawning at The Happy Wonderer
• Lord’s Day 52, 2007 at The Thirsty Theologian
  
• Mighty God, While Angel’s Bless Thee at Hiraeth
• For Thy Mercy and Thy Grace at Seasoning of the Heart
• Great God, We Sing Your Mighty Hand at Whatever Things…
• Update: What Wondrous Love is This at Cathy’s Grace Notes
  

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list.

Raspberry Coffee Cake

While we’re on the subject of recipes from Taste of Home magazine, I’m sharing this recipe for a rolled sweet bread that I made a couple of weeks ago. I tore this recipe out of an issue of Taste of Home several years ago, but tried it for the first time this Christmas. It was fairly easy to do, looked very pretty, and passed the taste test, too.

 

Bread

• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
• 1/2 cup warm sour cream (110° to 115°)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam

Glaze

• 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, salt and egg. Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough.
   
2. Turn onto a floured surface; knead 20 times or until smooth. (I do steps 1 and 2 with my stand mixer with dough hook, which makes bread making so easy.)
   
3. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/4 hours. 
   
4. While dough rises, mix filling: In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, egg, sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth; set aside.
5. When dough is doubled, punch it down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half.
6. Roll each piece into a 12-in. x 8-in. rectangle.
7. Spread filling to within 1/2 in. of edges. Spoon jam lengthwise over half of the filling.
8. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with the long side with the jam. Pinch seams to seal; tuck ends under.
9. Place loaves seam side down on a greased baking sheet. With a sharp knife, cut shallow slashes across the top of each.
   
10. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.
11. Bake at 375° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack.
    
12. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm coffee cakes.

Yield: 2 loaves (10 slices each)

 

Next time I make it,  I’m going to shape it like the coffee cake in this video. (This video also demonstrates pinching and turning the ends under on a rolled loaf, and drizzling glaze over your warm coffee cake.)