Granddaddy’s Cornbread by Theodore Somes

by the Rev. Theodore Somes

June 5, 2024

“Anyone who tills the land will have plenty of bread, but one who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.” Proverbs 28:19

My grandaddy was born and raised in rural Alabama. Born during the depression, he maintained a mindset of frugality and simplicity. Most of the food he ate was from his own land, harvested by his own hands. But I could be sure when visiting that there would be one thing: cornbread. My granddaddy used to say that “no meal is complete without cornbread.” And without a doubt, he would have cornbread at every meal. It would sit out on a plate to be consumed throughout the day. As soon as the plate would empty, another loaf would be made. Meals never went incomplete, because there was always cornbread.

To my granddaddy, I could’ve made the most spectacular meal, but it wouldn’t have been complete without cornbread – it wouldn’t have been a meal. Likewise, we sometimes pursue the things that make us incomplete – we end up wasting our time, our energy and our sanity working towards things that don’t fulfill or complete us. We end up in spiritual poverty because we lack what God wants us to have in plenty. Our lives are incomplete without the pursuit of Godly things – the things that sustain us and make us complete.

As you make this simple bread, I invite you to consider what it means to be fulfilled spiritually. How do you pursue those fulfilling things in service of our neighbors, in relationships with our friends, and in the context of this church? Like cornbread makes a meal, these are the things that make us complete.

Grandaddy’s Cornbread

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Pour 2 tablespoons of oil in a ceramic baking dish. Heat the oil in the dish in the oven as you mix the bread ingredients.

Mix together:

1 cup cornmeal mix

3/4 – 1 cup milk

1 egg

Pour the mixture into the dish of heated oil. Return to the oven and bake about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy plain, with butter, or with some jam for a treat.