hymns at home – a mighty fortress is our God

In an effort to stay productive and continue to be doing ministry during the quarantine, I’ve started recording hymns on our terrace. This is the first one:

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Quarantine Kitchen 01

Seeing as we, like so many, are currently indoors, I am making up for time that I wasn’t able to bake in the last couple of months.

One of my favourite things to bake is bread. The trouble here in Warsaw, though, is that I cannot seem to find plain old dry yeast. The shopping frenzies have resulted in the normally plentiful compressed yeast being sold out everywhere.

That hasn’t stopped me, though, because I also really enjoy making soda bread. This time, I took my normal recipe (from River Cottage) and added a chopped up Granny Smith apple and about 100g of really sharp cheddar that I cut into cubes. Topping it off with a further 50g of grated cheddar resulted in small pools of cheese on top. It was perfect.

That being said, yeast bread is still my jam. The pandemonium has driven me to finally making my first sourdough starter. Because I’m me, I had some whole grain rye flour in the cupboard so, again, I took some advice from the fine folks at the River Cottage and made that bubbly jar above. I can’t wait to see how this turns out later this week.

Finally, I just finished making this lemon drizzle cake from Her Majesty, Mary Berry. It was a big hit every time I made it in Liverpool and it’s nice to still be able to make it here. If you don’t have any self-raising flour, just add an extra teaspoon of baking powder for a total of 3 teaspoons.

a liturgy for family worship if your church is closed

Our sending church in America just announced that they are cancelling worship for the very first time. Our church here in Warsaw has moved online for the next two weeks. Everyone is concerned, borders are closed. Schools, museums, libraries… all closed.

Because worship has moved online, we won’t be singing together but we can still sing. So if you want a guide for worshipping with your family at home, here is a brief liturgy to start. Use this alongside a sermon livestream or recording.

The liturgy

Adoration

Read: Psalm 46

Sing: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Confession

Pray: Ask God to remind you again of what he has done in saving you. Confess that you have forgotten that even the current health crisis is within his control. Remember that we depend on our Father for everything.

Thanksgiving

Share what you are thankful for together as a family. Though the circumstances are scary and discouraging, this is a good time to spend with our children that we otherwise wouldn’t have.

Supplication

Sing: In Christ Alone

Pray: Ask for God’s continued provision. Ask for his will to be done and for his name to be glorified because he is our greatest good (Romans 8:18-30)

A heads up

My website is all sorts of a mess now as I work on migrating it to a new CMS. I’m hoping that everything will be sorted out in the next couple of days while COVID-19 means ministry work is quiet for a bit.

The COVID-19 news is personal now

COVID-19 has officially affected my life, and that of many American ex-pats. Some of you may know about my dad’s health emergency earlier this year. President Trump has banned travel to 🇺🇸 from the EU for 30 days. Now, if a new emergency happens in the next 30 days, I won’t be able to go home to be with family.

While my dad is doing a lot better, he is still waiting for one more surgery and that could happen within that timeframe.

I was not prepared for this to be a thing. Museums, libraries and cinemas here in Poland have also been closed down until the 25th. Fortunately, there seems to be a much more balanced response to the news here. There’s still toilet paper in the shops.

A few of the resources that I’ve found helpful have been:

This post from The Wee Flea as it’s clear about the bad news and the good news. Plus, some additional links to help.
This video and this video from Ali Abdaal, a doctor in Cambridge.

I’ve been doing some work on my family’s missions website and I have to say, I kind of like the new blocks editor in WordPress. Also, if you’re so inclined, go check it out.

Nothing like having the real honour and privilege of introducing my eldest to Kraftwerk.

We got back from a trip to Kraków yesterday. Managed to do some painting while we were there.

Fake Suede 002 comes out tomorrow! If you’re interested, sign up [here](https://danalcantara.me/fake-suede/)!

a huge LEGO exhibition

Yesterday, we decided that it was worth braving the cold and the rain to make the bus journey to the PGE Narodowy. It’s Poland’s national stadium and for the last couple of months, it has been home to a huge LEGO exhibition.

Some of the events that we’ve tried to go to here in Warsaw have been… well, let’s just say that they were talked up a bit more than they could really make happen. This event, however, was crazy. I mostly took little videos of the event, but my wife took a bunch of photos.

This was one of the few things that had something for everyone in our family. My wife is a new convert to the wonders of LEGO while the kids and I have always been obsessed.