I remember as a young boy watching my mother kneading dough to make bread. It looked like it was hard work as she would push the dough into the table and then squeeze it together then roll it out and turn it over and do the same thing over and over. When she finally got through ‘beating it up’ she would grease her bread pans before putting the doe in them. The doe would have to sit in the pan for a few hours in order to rise. The pan was only half full of dough but after it had sat for a while it would be above the top of the pans. The thing that made it rise was leaven, I guess it was just a fermented substance. It caused bubbles in the bread dough and that made it lighter and better tasting. She had to keep a little of the leaven each time to be used to make bread the next time, it was called a ‘starter.’ When she made bread, she always saved enough dough to make Cinnamon rolls which we all loved. Something about homemade bread that smelled so good, writing about her making bread, brought back that wonderful smell to my smeller. When my wife and I were first married and for many years thereafter, she too, made homemade bread. Bread has never been so good as that made from scratch using a little leaven.
I have since learned that leaven can be made from several different substances. Chemical leavener (baking powder and baking soda) and biological leavens (yeasts and certain bacteria) raise the mixture by the formation of carbon dioxide gas, which is expanded by heat. Some of the earliest leavens were barm, a yeast of fermenting malt liquor, and sourdough, a portion was saved from a mass of dough as a starter for the next batch. I assume that my mother used the latter method and I remember some times she had to borrow or lend starter with neighbors.
Leaven has been used for the making of bread and other dough related products for centuries. It has also been used in a literary way nearly as long. The Old Testament has several references to leaven and in the New Testament the Lord made reference to it several times as well. When the Israelites left Egypt they left so fast they were unable to bring leaven and therefore had to eat unleavened bread in the wilderness. Later when their descendants celebrated holidays depicting Exodus events they were commanded to eat only unleavened bread. On other occasions they were commanded to celebrate certain events with leavened bread.
Paul, the Apostle, speaking to the Corinthians stated that: “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump.” (1 Cor. 5:6-8) Paul’s reference was suggesting to members that they become a new lump of leaven that would expand and grow the young church. Early members of the church wanted to hang onto parts of the Law of Moses. Paul was telling them to adopt the Gospel of Christ and put away the preparatory old law (old leaven) of the old testament. Christ also used the term, leaven, on several occasions specifically in Matthew where he used a parable to describe the growth of the Kingdom of God. “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” (Matt. 13:33) Meaning that His Kingdom would grow and expand rapidly from the inside, like leavened dough and eventually fill the whole earth.
Leaven is a term that can also be used to describe the influence that either a group or an individual might have on others. That influence could be either positive and/or negative. Then Jesus said unto them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees…How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? …the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” (Matt 16:6 & Luke 12) Negative leaven, such as hypocrisy, can be represented by any number of influences that can lead people down paths of destruction. Through strong personalities can leaven (grow) the use of, drugs, alcohol and gambling etc. Those who have been influenced in a negative way have to do as Paul said and ‘purge out therefore the old leaven’ (repent) that they may become a new lump with new leaven to grow in a positive direction.
Individuals as well as groups and organizations can be positive leaven, influencing the world. Gandhi said that; “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” There is a group that calls themselves “Leaven” (Limited Emergency Assistance Valley Ecumenical Network) They feel that part of the character of a community is defined by how it helps its most vulnerable citizens. People Helping People. The LEAVEN organization started as an idea of Father Robert Udulutsch, a local priest who saw a need for a network providing emergency assistance to the needy of the Fox Valley area since 1987, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is also such a leaven to the world providing goods and supplies all over the world where disasters have happened.
We should all strive to become positive, (a good lump of ) leaven in our society by helping to make good things to grow. May God bless us to be living leaven.