About thirty years ago, my mother discovered bread machines. It was a happy discovery for her – she was so thrilled with hers that she bought one for each of her six children as a way of sharing the joy. We promptly named ours “R2-D2” (Artoo-Detoo) for obvious reasons.
Mom also instructed us in the liturgy of the machine. There was a recipe for chocolate chip bread in the accompanying recipe booklet which instructed you to wait until the machine gave out a number of beeps after the second mixing, your cue to put in the chocolate chips. I don’t think Mom ever actually made the chocolate chip bread, but every time the machine uttered its programmed beeps, she would crow, “TIME TO PUT IN THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS!” Yes, just like that in all caps. Soon, we were all saying it in a very liturgical manner:
“Beep beep beep beep beep”
“TIME TO PUT IN THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS!”
We enjoyed our bread making robot and tried a lot of the recipes (probably even the chocolate chip bread because why not?). But the day came when one little loaf was not enough to feed our growing army of boys. I learned how to make five loaves of whole wheat bread at a time and we retired our beeping friend to the storeroom in the basement where it sat uncomplainingly while gathering dust.
We ran out of bread recently and I haven’t had time to make any. Today, my husband remembered R2-D2 and brought it back to a place of usefulness. It had not forgotten how to bake a tolerably good loaf of bread, and when the beeps started in, I blurted out “TIME TO PUT IN THE CHOCOLATE CHIPS!”
Ah, bread is good; liturgy is good.
“The Lord be with you.”
“And also with you.”
Beep, beep, beep beep, beep
DELETE!
Lynniebeemuseoday 