How did the ice cream sundae get its name?
Various sites claim to have created this treat. But one of the most popular stories says it was created in Ithaca, New York.
On a hot Sunday in 1892, the pastor of the local Unitarian Church went to a parishioner’s drugstore after the services to discuss his sermon. The parishioner got two dishes of ice cream, a cherry on top of each, and then put cherry syrup on the ice cream.
It tasted delicious. What to call this new taste treat? The pastor suggested “Cherry Sunday” – a gesture towards the Lord’s Day.
From then on, the soda fountain at the drugstore featured “Cherry Sundays.”
The new discovery quickly caught on…and began to spread…and the flavors changed…as did the spelling of its name.
This miracle takes place in Joppa, (modern-day Jaffa), a port city about 35 miles northwest of Jerusalem. Many people have never heard this story – it is read at a Saturday morning Mass. Luke describes it this way:
“Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha…She was completely occupied with good deeds and almsgiving. Now during those days she fell sick and died, so after washing her, they laid her out in a room upstairs. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, ‘Please come to us without delay.’ So Peter got up and went with them.
“When he arrived, the took him to the room upstairs where all the widows came to him weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks that Dorcas had made while she was with them.
“Peter sent them all out and knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to her body and said, ‘Tabitha, rise up.’ She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and when he had called the holy ones and the widows, he presented her alive. This became known all over Joppa, and many came to believe in the Lord.” (Acts 9:36-42)
It is clear that the power at work is not Peter’s, but that of the Risen Lord. Note the closing line in today’s passage: “Many came to believe in the Lord”