BIZ BUZZ

Rock Shop

WHAT’S UP WITH NEIGHBORHOOD BUSINESSES

Harkensback, a new Bishop Arts District shop from local creatives, opened recently in the Bishop Arts District. The shop took the space on Bishop Avenue at West Seventh previously occupied by Simply Austin Furniture store. Julie McCullough , a fashion designer who heads up Folksie and The Pin Show, opened the shop with partners Mike Arreaga and Marisa Dukowitz. It’s “inspired by the grandeur of West Texas, the tranquility of Tulum, Mexico and the iconoclastic style of Stevie Nicks” and offers jewelry and apparel by local designers as well as a stones and crystals bar.

Cheese Exporters

Dallas Grilled Cheese Co. is expanding to a 2,500-squarefoot space in Mockingbird Station, on Central Expressway at Mockingbird Lane. They’re taking the space formerly occupied by Smashburger . The restaurant was a runaway hit when it opened in the Bishop Arts District in January 2015.

Books In Peril

The Oak Cliff location of Lucky Dog Books could close if it doesn’t come up with some cash to fund back rent, taxes and other costs. “We have run into a lot of ups and downs in getting the bookstore to this point, and we cannot wait any longer to ask for help to raise the money necessary to get caught up on the obligations that all of our own funds have not been able to meet,” owner John Tilton writes on Go Fund Me. “These include mostly back rent and property taxes. And an amount for working capital going forward to let more readers know about the wonders of this bookstore and to act as a contingency fund for the unexpected.” In addition to the fundraising campaign, Lucky Dog Books is holding a “staying or going sale ” at all of its locations, the proceeds of which will go toward keeping the Oak Cliff store open. They’re offering 30 percent off all merchandise “until our situation in Oak Cliff is resolved one way or the other.”

Ace Of Face

Two childhood friends who grew up in Oak Cliff recently launched a line of shaving products. Evan Palmer and Julian Palafox grew up together in Kessler Park. Palafox became a barber who mastered the craft of straightedge shaving, and Palmer moved to California and learned business. Now they’ve established Kessler Shaving Co., a line of three shaving products: A pre-shave oil, a shave gel and a post-shave balm.

Bishop Dunne Catholic School

Contact: Charleen Doan at 214.339.6561 ext. 4020 or admission@bdcs.org

A co-educational, college preparatory school serving students in grades 6-12. We provide a strong faith and valuebased education with high academic standards, encouraging all students to achieve their full potential. Our curriculum emphasizes individualized attention, and is constantly at the forefront of technology integration through the use of laptops, ebooks, and our Online Education Program. Additionally, we provide a full range of extracurricular activities ranging from athletics, to the arts, to clubs and service organizations.

• Technology Enhanced Classrooms

• Reading/Writing Workshop Model

• STEM Lab, Art, Music & Library Time

• Spanish, PE and Recess Daily

• Low Student-to-Teacher Ratio

• Innovative Partnerships

• After School Care & Enrichment Programs

By BRENT MCDOUGAL

It is dark

Worship

BAPTIST

CLIFF TEMPLE BAPTIST CHURCH / 125 Sunset Ave. / 214.942.8601

Serving Oak Cliff since 1898 / CliffTemple.org / English and Spanish

9 am Contemporary Worship / 10 am Sunday School / 11 am Traditional

ROYAL LANE BAPTIST CHURCH / 6707 Royal Lane / 214.361.2809

Christian Education 9:45 a.m. / Worship Service 10:55 a.m.

Pastor - Rev. Dr. Michael L. Gregg / www.royallane.org

Disciples Of Christ

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel

10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

Episcopal

ST. AUGUSTINE’S /1302 W. Kiest Blvd / staugustinesoakcliff.org

A diverse, liturgical church with deep roots in Oak Cliff and in the ancient faith / Holy Eucharist with Hymns Sunday 10:15 am

Methodist

GRACE UMC / Diverse, Inclusive, Missional Sunday School for all ages, 9:30 am / Worship, 10:50 am 4105 Junius St. / 214.824.2533 / graceumcdallas.org

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

KESSLER COMMUNITY CHURCH / 2100 Leander Dr. at Hampton Rd.

“Your Hometown Church Near the Heart of the City.” 10:30 am Contemporary Service / kesslercommunitychurch.com

I’d never experienced total darkness before the night that 15 of us, three adults and 12 youth, stayed in a cave. We entered Alabama’s Desoto Caverns in the daylight with headlamps and sleeping bags. After viewing stalactites, stalagmites and strange insects, our guide prepped us for the night ahead. It’s going to be dark, he said. Really dark.

I’ll never forget, however, just how eerily dark it was when we extinguished the last light. You could put your hand an inch from your face and see nothing. Someone whispered, “O my God it is dark.”

It wasn’t profanity; it was a prayer. What a long night that was with no light.

When the sun descended in the ancient world, it was completely dark. The ambient light of bedside lamps and cell phones makes it hard to imagine nightfall in the world of Jesus, where people couldn’t see anything at all.

Into that world Isaiah the prophet announced that the people walking in darkness had seen a great light (Isaiah 9:2-7). The Hebrew word for darkness means more than the absence of light. It means, “O my God, it is dark.” A heavy cloud of gloom, a deep obscurity, had fallen on the people. They felt oppressed and lost.

America feels like that to many people right now. Gloom, argument and disruption create fear for the future. It feels like we’re groping in the dark, waiting for daylight.

When the light dawned, Isaiah proclaimed, joy would give way to despair. The yoke of oppression would be broken, the heavy burden on people’s shoulders removed. Every war boot and bloodstained piece of clothing would be fuel for the fire.

But wait: The light would take on flesh. That’s the Christmas story, for those who believe. A child would be born. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

(John 1:4-5)

Still, there is much darkness.

Frederick Buechner wrote, “We can’t see light itself. We can see only what light lights up, like the little circle of night where the candle flickers — a sheen of mahogany, a wineglass, a face leaning toward us out of the shadows. When Jesus says that he is the Light of the

World, maybe something like that is part of what he is saying. He himself is beyond our seeing, but in the darkness where we stand, we see, thanks to him, something of the path that stretches out … even when we can hardly believe that it goes anywhere worth going or that we have what it takes to go there, something of whoever it is that every once in a while seems to lean toward us out of the shadows.”

Winter’s light feels different from that of the summer. It doesn’t comfort or warm us, but still it shines. We wait in winter’s light and remember: spring is coming.

Brent McDougal is pastor of Cliff Temple Baptist Church. The Worship section is a regular feature underwritten by Advocate Publishing and by the neighborhood business people and churches listed on these pages. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.