Heart of Gold Jewelers March Gallery Opening and Reception

Be there or be square. ;)
and be sure and visit all the other galleries in the area every First Friday. Lovely nosh, wine and beauty. North Lincoln is really coming alive with art: now we need more music north of Vine Street. Local musicians, do you hear us?
We love live local music.

God Is Alive, Magic Is Afoot

I heard this wonderful song - written by Leonard Cohen and sung by Buffy Sainte-Marie - on KZUM community-powered radio while making my Lenten "big breakfast" this morning(scrambled tofu with hot sauce, garlic pepper and turmeric, fried potatoes & piece of toast). I was awestruck at the humble power of Ms. Sainte-Marie's rendition, and I really liked the depiction of the Holy Trinity and the end of the video. For your lenten journey ~

Great News For Pie Lovers

Stauffer’s Cake & Pie Shoppe is opening a second location on March 1st, at N.48th and St. Paul in University Place, giving the beloved locally owned and owner-operated home-cookin’ eatery locations on both ends of 48th Street (the other is just south of S. 48th and Highway 2). It'll be open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturdays, with dinner hours likely coming at a later date, once the new locale gets well established.

If you are not already a customer/fan, please do pop in for some good plain Midwestern cooking featuring menu items such as Hot Beef Sandwich, Michigan Salad (spinach, walnuts, dried cherries and local cheese)or a cheeseburger with onion rings. Not to mention made-from-scratch pies with such exotica as gooseberry, chocolate peanut butter and raisin sour cream along with the usual blueberry apple cherry pumpkin. In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, Oh me, oh my, love that country pie.

And when you come in please say hello, I'll be working as a part-time host there six days a week, over the lunch rush! We expect a real warm welcome from north Lincoln. (That street corner has really needed a good mom'n pop diner, hasn't it?)

Icons and Orthodoxy Sunday

The idea that the Son of God was incarnate, born of a woman as all other humans are, that He lived, and breathed, and laughed and then even suffered and died, as do all humans ~ this idea was anathema to many people. Actually it still is today. Many Protestants and Roman Catholics and others view the Orthodox person bowing and venerating the icons, and think we are engaged in some form of idol-worship. But we worship only God, Father Son and Holy Spirit, but we use the medium of the icons to do so. And in the case of all the saints, angels and the Holy Theotokos, we do honor and respect, ask for prayers and blessing from them, but we do not idolize nor worship nor provide the relationship which is due to God alone. The best way I can explain it it to point out that you might have a picture of your deceased grandfather, or another deceased relative, in your home, and when you think of that departed beloved done, you might even give the picture a little kiss and have warm feelings welling up in your heart for that person, now gone to their reward. But you certainly are not worshipping them, or the glass and wood the picture is made of. Or even when you kiss a friend's cheek, or a child's forehead or even your spouse, you are loving and connecting with a living "icon" of the living God, who is not due worship but only respect and love, as the east Indians say, "Namaste" ~ basically meaning "I see the God in you, the divine in me sees the divine in you and gives it greetings".

The Sunday of Orthodoxy is the first Sunday of Great Lent. The rancorous iconoclastic controversy, which had raged on and off since 726AD, and in 843AD was finally laid to rest, and icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in Lent by the Empress Theodora. Ever since, this Sunday has been commemorated as the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." Today it is known as the Sunday of Orthodoxy, or simply Orthodoxy Sunday.

Almsgiving

The three cornerstones of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The giving of alms is an ancient, worldwide spiritual practice of giving, materially, to the poor and needy. In a broader sense, almsgivng may be said to include the pouring out of self to include the broader definition of brotherhood, family and inclusiveness. Give, and give of your talents, and be of good cheer! Thank God for all my gifts and blessings, and trials and difficulties.

Householders & the homeless, in mutual dependence, both reach the true Dhamma. - Buddha

Total willingness to give is the wish-granting gem for fulfilling the hopes of wandering beings. It is the sharpest weapon to sever the knot of stinginess.It leads to bodhisattva conduct that enhances self-confidence and courage,And is the basis for universal proclamation of your fame and repute. Realizing this, the wise rely, in a healthy manner, on the outstanding path of(being ever-willing) to offer completely their bodies, possessions, and positive potentials. The ever-vigilant lama has practiced like that.If you too would seek liberation, Please cultivate yourself in the same way. - Lama Tsong Khapa

Christ Jesus in Matthew 25:45 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)
Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me.

Christ Jesus in Luke 11:40-42

40Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make also that which is within?
41But yet that which remaineth, give alms; and behold, all things are clean unto you.
42But woe to you, Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue and every herb; and pass over judgment, and the charity of God. Now these things you ought to have done, and not to leave the other undone.