Just a quote: beauty

“A loss of commitment to beauty may be the clearest sign we have that we have lost our way to God.”

Joan Chittister: Illuminated Life, Monastic Wisdom for Seekers of God, p26

Technorati Tags: beauty+faith, art, beauty

Welcome, Dodici’s!

Just before U.S. Thanksgiving, Washington (Washington, Iowa, that is) received an early Christmas gift: cafe dodici (our town square’s award-winning european restaurant) opened dodici’s next door. It’s a wonderful place, full of surprises.

There are cozy nooks for coffee and a newspaper. There are gift-ready coffees, teas, wines, cooking utensils and accessories. There are delicious lunch-time soups and sandwiches. There are hand-made Amana chocolates. Click on these photos to see them up close.

And I, especially, owe dodici’s a word of thanks. They’ve displayed a great number of my own wood-turnings: bowls, peppermills, pens, bottle-stoppers. As a result, the wonderful Washingtonians who showed up to support dodici’s also brought considerable benefit to me!

So thanks, friends at dodici’s: It’s so elegant. Well done, once again!

And thanks, friends of Washington County: You have been generous and kind! Once again.

Hope to see you there for coffee. On me.

Technorati Tags: dodicis, cafe+dodici, Iowa+restaurants, Iowa+City, Fairfield+IA, Mt+Pleasant+IA, woodturning

Christmas Readings

Christmastime at last! Here’s the unforgettable story, along with the complementary Bible readings from the Hebrew Bible, the Psalms, and the Letters.

Luke 2
The Birth of Jesus
About that time . . .

How rich are you?

Want a stunning reality check? Click on the Global Rich List box here or in the right sidebar.  You’ll be amazed.

You’ll find yourself at a safe non-profit site where there’s a box to enter a number – your approximate income – with no ID of who you are or anything of the kind (lie about it a few times if you want to experiment). Then you’ll see how your income ranks in comparison to that of people in the rest of the world.

You’ll also see a graph – like this:

And your position will be marked in red, with a big “YOU” over it.

Now here’s why I encourage you to do this: I think we tend to assume most people are about like us. But I’m betting you’ll be astonished.

Jesus once said it was harder for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich person to enter heaven. Who’s he talking about?

I’d love to read your comment. What does it suggest to you?

Technorati Tags: wealth, income, world+income, global+poverty, how+rich+are+you, foreign+aid, richest, Global+Rich+List, poorest

Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room

Excellent writing of Brian McLaren about the link between God-in-our-hearts and hope-for-our-world. Click its title to see the whole piece in situ. Or read the excerpt here. But be encouraged!

Brian McLaren: The Politics of Joy

. . . Earlier this week, I was speaking to a group of Methodist ministers and we sang the Christmas carol “Joy to the World.” Two moments in the song took my breath away.

The first came . . .