蜜芽传媒

Good Morning.

What better way to celebrate a festival, than with a cake. The simnel cake is first recorded in Britain during the mediaeval era. Originally linked with Mothering Sunday, it later became more commonly associated with Easter. It鈥檚 a rich cake, full of dried fruit, though perhaps not as heavy as its Christmas counterpart, and is usually covered not with icing, but marzipan. On top of the cake eleven marzipan balls are arranged evenly around the edges, sometimes with a larger one at the centre. These represent the eleven apostles who remained loyal to Jesus after the twelfth, Judas, had betrayed him. That larger, central ball, stands for Christ himself.

Arranging eleven balls evenly around a circle is, at least to me, much harder than twelve. With a dozen they can be placed first at the four points of the compass, and then leaving the relatively simple task of placing two further ones into each of the four quarters. Eleven takes much more effort to distribute evenly. Hence, I鈥檓 minded to place a full twelve around the perimeter, and then remove one, leaving a gap. Not only would that be easier in practice, but it would remind me that we cannot simply remove those people who have hurt or betrayed us, and with whom we no longer wish to be reminded of our connection, from out of the picture.

And so I pray:

Lord Jesus, your love for Judas held firm in spite of his betrayal. Help me to hold a space in my heart for those who have done me wrong, and never to seek to erase them from my life鈥檚 story. Amen.