ELCA church colleges and universities and seminaries

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has 28 colleges and universities. At the churchwide assembly the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities leaders were recognized and Waldorf University, Forest City, Iowa, was welcomed back into full membership. Valparaiso (Ind.) University was included as an associate member. Rebecca Ehretsman, president of Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, to delivered a governance report. Wartburg’s governance requires the churchwide assembly to act as its college corporation. The leaders of the seven ELCA seminaries were also recognized.

ELCA Civic Life and Faith

The ELCA at the Churchwide Assembly in Phoenix this week is discussing the adoption of a new Social Statement "Civic Life and Faith." It includes the topics of God's acts for the well being of all, God's calling for us all to have a robust engagement in society in the midst of our differences, politics, the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment to the Constitution, and pastors' and congregations' relationship to civic issues. 

 

FEMA money

 Trump has announced FEMA will hand out 600 million in grants for states to build migrant detention facilities.  FEMA has enough money to build concentration camps but does not have money to help communities rebuild after floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires?

disabilities

Multiple sources report that on July 24, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order, titled "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets," aimed at addressing homelessness, according to The White House (.gov). The order has drawn criticism from civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Homelessness Law Center, who argue that it criminalizes individuals experiencing homelessness and those with disabilities.  

National Parks and more

 What can be undone? We CAN continue to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of Mexico. Republicans want to name the Opera House at the Kennedy Center the Melania Trump Opera House.  A different Congress and president could refuse that naming.  We could restore funds for the National Parks System. But the damage will already have been done. How much more damage will the Trump Administration do?

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NPR

 What an absolute loss to the country for the current administration and Congress to cut funds for public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS.   Filmmaker Ken Burns tells the nation we need public broadcasting. 

Ice Cream

 Cousins Jackson, Aimee and Jennaya at Birdsall's ice cream store in Mason City, Iowa.  Four generations of our family have enjoyed ice cream there. Birdsall's opened in 1931, 94 years ago. It has looked the same inside all these years. All the ice cream is home made on the premises. My favorite is a Hot Fudge Sundae.

Ice Raids

 ICE raids. ICE raids everywhere! And now people who protest the raids are in physical danger. 

ICE raids everywhere. Is no where safe? A crime to provide sanctuary? All of us need to be engaged. ICE raids, ICE raids everywhere!

family

 Family gathering in Mason City: Back row: Son Mark from Phoenix, Rachel and Joel with Dad Burton in between. Front row: Mark's daughter Aimee, Norma, and Joel and Rachel's daughter Jennaya

It's the children

 It's the children. We care about the children missing in the floods in Texas. We care about children who will be hurt by cutbacks to food stamps and health care and medicaid. We care about children across this nation hurt by cutbacks to the Department of Education, particularly children with disabilities. We care about children around the world who will die because of cutting USAID.  We are a global village called to care for all children.

No tax on tips rips people off.

No tax on tips?  Only if you make under $25,000 a year and itemize your deductions.  If you itemize your deductions you lose the $15,000 standardize deduction, which means you have been conned.

Disability Month

 July is Disability Pride Month in the United States. It is a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of people with disabilities, raise awareness about disability rights, and promote inclusion and accessibility. 

USAID

 USAID officially shuts down today.  Very sad.  Studies show 14 million lives could be lost.

Retention centers

 The Senate passes the "Big Beautiful Bill" which is ugly, harmful to so many people and terrible for this country. Meanwhile Trump trumps an "Alligator Alcatraz" retention center in Florida.  Trump says he would like to see more detention centers in more states.

Canada Day!

 HAPPY CANADA DAY. We love Canada and Canadians.

Depression

 If you rearrange the letters is DEPRESSION

you will get "I PRESSED ON."

Phone Book

I'm not in the phone book anymore. We lived in New Haven, Ct. for nine years where the phone book was invented, along with the frisbee and other things.  Everywhere we traveled traveled we checked out the phone book. It's size signaled the size of the city of town.  But now, with the proliferation of smart phones, those of us without a landline are no longer in the phone book.  Ours is now nearly a sliver and mostly adds.

Bombing Iran

On June 21, 2025, the United States launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan

. President Trump announced the strikes and described them as a "spectacular military success," Those who are intoxicated with making war, seek personal power. May we become peace-makers for the sake of the world.

Longest day

 

Juneteenth

 The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln and became official on January 1, 1863, declaring the more than three million enslaved people of Confederate states free. Yet it would take two and a half years for the order to reach Texas, where the announcement was read by Union soldiers led by Major General Gordon Granger in Galveston on June 19, 1865.

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"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer."

It’s said that the newly freed peoples “immediately began to celebrate with prayer, feasting, song, and dance.”

Why the two-year delay between when Lincoln issued the order and the news reaching Texas? There are a number of ideas: One says that a messenger was killed on his way to deliver the news; another says that the news was withheld to maintain the enslaved labor force that Texas plantations were reliant upon; and another idea surmises that the news was delayed purposely, to allow a final harvest to take place. But no matter the reason, slavery remained in Texas until the day now recognized and celebrated as Juneteenth.

Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images

TULSA, OK - JUNE 19: A family poses for a picture during the Juneteenth Festival on June 19, 2021 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Juneteenth celebrations, now recognized as a federal holiday, are taking place around the country in recognition of the emancipation of enslaved African-American people.

Juneteenth festivities followed each year and were special gatherings, where Black communities shared meals together, donned new clothing (representing new freedoms), and sang and prayed. For years, these celebrations were highly attended, until economic factors, cultural reasons, and racism reduced education about and knowledge of the holiday. The holiday would begin to see a resurgence with the civil rights movement of the sixties, when student demonstrators wore Juneteenth buttons.

The Path to National Recognition of Juneteenth

Black Texas legislator Al Edwards’s efforts prevailed in 1980, and Juneteenth was declared a state holiday, the first official state recognition of the day. Almost every state in the union officially recognized the holiday by 2021. Hawaii passed legislation recognizing the date in 2021, leaving South Dakota as the only state in the Union that did not declared Juneteenth a holiday before a Congressional bill was signed by President Joe Biden on June 17, 2021. The executive action made Juneteenth an annual federal holiday on June 19.

Emanuel AME Church

 Ten years ago, June 17, 2015 black saints gathered for prayer and study at Mother Emanuel AME Church.

They welcomed a stranger.

They opened the Word.

They were murdered in cold blood.

We remember their names:We grieve their loss.

We commit to justice

Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney – senior pastor of Emanuel AME Church and South Carolina state senator

Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton – pastor, speech therapist, and high school track coach

Rev. Daniel L. Simmons Sr. – retired pastor and longtime member of Emanuel AME

Rev. DePayne Middleton-Doctor – minister and admissions coordinator at Southern Wesleyan University

Rev. Myra Thompson – member of the church’s leadership and Bible study teacher that evening

Mrs. Ethel Lance – church sexton, known for her warmth and deep faith

Mrs. Susie Jackson – longtime church member, choir singer, and cousin of Ethel Lance

Mr. Tywanza Sanders – recent college graduate, aspiring entrepreneur, and Susie Jackson’s grandnephew

Mrs. Cynthia Hurd – librarian and public servant with the Charleston County Public Library for over 30 years

We grieve their loss.

We commit to justice.

Father's Day

My Daddy died 75 years ago when I was still a child. I miss taking walks with my father. I don't know what we would have talked about should we have taken long walks at dawn. We live at different times in different worlds having different conversations. I don't so much miss him, as miss never having had him to talk together on early morning walks at dawn. Would we know each other now? Would we walk together? I have no idea. Yes, yes, I think so. I think we would have walked, perhaps silently together some early days at dawn. 

Protest

 Hundreds of people--too many to count--gathered in Central Park in Mason City, Iowa, for "No Kings" Day. After listening to speeches protesting Trump's authoritarian rule, the group marched to the highway so that people could see and hear them. Passing cars honked in approval.  Today there were more than 30 "No Kings" protests in towns and cities across Iowa. 

No Kings Day June 13

 

USAID

 Many troublesome things are going on. However, in the midst of these issues we also must not forget the cuts to USAID. People around the world are dying and will die because of these cuts! Continue to contact the Congress to work to restore this vital work. Call 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to any U.S. Representative or Senator.  Help save lives

Military troops

 This is what it's like to have U.S. military troops aimed at you! This was Burton's experience in 1967 in Detroit.  However, then there were no deportations, no ICE raids.  Today we live in a very dangerous time.

East Park roses

 It's June. Roses in East Park. Nice.

No Kings Day i Saturday, June 14

 

No Kings Day is Saturday, June 14. over 1800 rallies are planned across the country. The parade will take place as National Guard units have been sent to crack down on protesters in Los Angeles County, where thousands are rallying to protect families and neighbors from abduction by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mobilizing the National Guard — while preparing to deploy U.S. Marines without justification or a request from California’s governor — is a clear sign that the Trump administration seeks to incite and provoke escalation to further justify the use of military force and authoritarian abuses of power against American citizens. June 14 is also flag day. The U.S. flag is for everyone. 

D-Day

 D-Day 2025, commemorating the 81st anniversary of the Normandy Landings, will be observed on June 6th, 2025. This date marks the start of the Allied invasion of France on June 6, 1944, a pivotal moment in World War II. 

65th anniversary

 June 5th is the 65th anniversary of my consecration as a Lutheran deaconess. I am thankful for all of the people among whom I've been privileged to minister. I thank God for you! These pictures are from the time of my consecration until now. And one is of me two years ago with the statue of "Phoebe" which has stood outside Deaconess Hall and now the Lutheran Diaconal Center all these years. 

Ascension Day

 Ascension Day, Thursday, May 29. The first congregation I served was Ascension in St. Louis. There was a sign over the exit door that we saw each time we went out into the world: "Why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" (Acts 1:ll) Jesus had ascended; then the disciples, including women, gathered together and prayed. Here is my poinsettia from Christmas, the celebration of Jesus' birth, what we are still enjoying on Ascension day.

King Charles speaks in Canada

 King Charles does not ordinarily speak at the opening of the Canadian Parliament. However, King Charles III did make a historic exception and delivered the Speech from the Throne himself this year. This was the first time a monarch had done so since Queen Elizabeth II in 1977. The King's decision to personally deliver the speech was widely viewed as a symbolic show of support for Canada, particularly amidst rising tensions with the United States. King Charles' delivery of the Speech from the Throne in 2025 was a significant event, highlighting Canada's sovereignty and its distinct identity. 

Concord Cemetery

 On this Memorial Day we spent time walking around Concord Cemetery in Garner Iowa where nine members of my Kloock family are buried, including my mother and father, A.E. Cook. Garner is a lovely little town of 3000 about 1/2 hour from Mason City. The people there held a memorial service in the park. I give thanks for my father's service in World War 1.

Memorial Day

 Memorial Day: A day to remember and to give thanks for those who have fought and died for our country. This is the 250th anniversary of the Army, the Marines and the Navy.  This year is the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.  It has been 75 years since the beginning of the Korean War. We remember the courage of those who have served and who serve today, and for their families.

Band Festival

 The North Iowa Band Festival is underway! This has been a tradition in Mason City for over about 85 years, stopping only for World War 11 in 1943, 44, and 45. My sister and I watched it when we were in high school. Once 100 bands.  Seventy-Six Trombones and Meredith Willson. Here at Prairie Place we are in the middle of things with floats lining up all around us. The parade goes down State Street. It begins with the Mason City High School band.

Storms

 Storms, so many storms.  A tornado ripped through St. Louis. They, like so many places need help from FEMA. We lived in St. Louis. The apartment where we lived before we both graduated from Concordia Seminary, was right in the tornado's path. That's the apartment were ll-month-old Mark came to be part of our family. Is the building still there? The Seminary survived. Please call the Congressional switchboard, 202-224-3121 and you will be put through right away to any senator or representative. Leave a message to fully fund the National Weather Service and to NOT cut FEMA.

Sewing

 Speaking of skills. A skill I haven't used in a while is sewing. (Never crocheting or knitting) I have sewed all my life.  I have used my mother's sewing basket which is by now 100 years old. I still have a packet of needles from 1957, made in Japan after the U.S. resumed trade with Japan in 1954 in an effort to help rebuilt Japan after WW 11. My mother gave me her Singer sewing machine for a wedding present.  I used to sew all my clothes. I sewed clothes for three little boys. I sewed drapes for a parsonage. Even a whole couch! Bolsters, bedspreads. Hems to shorten. Pants to mend. Yesterday I mended some slacks. My fingers can remember old skills. And now in the closet are. . . 

Things I have not learned

 Skills I have not learned and don't plan to learn:  1. How to make a habit of lying. 2. How to get others to do things and then take credit for it. 3. Overcount--by a lot--people attending an event and then do what I want and claim "everyone wanted us to do that."  4. How to blame others for everything. What skills do you plan not to learn? I invite you to put your responses in the comments.

South Africa

A group of South Africans, all white, as arrived in the U.S. There is no basis for calling them refugees.  White South African church leaders speak up against Trump's statements about whites. “We make this statement as white South Africans because these claims are being made about us and our experience in this place.  The narrative presented by the US government is founded on fabrications, distortions, and outright lies. It does not reflect the reality of our country and, if anything, serves to heighten existing tensions in South Africa,” it said.

“It also detracts from the important work of building safer, healthier communities and addressing the complex history of land dispossession by white Europeans from the Black African majority.”“As followers of the God of life, and of Jesus Christ whose ministry of healing has guided the work of the Church over centuries, we must protest in the strongest possible terms where we see racial politics being weaponized in ways that will contribute to the early death for the poor and vulnerable, while serving the political agendas of the powerful,” it continued.

Whites only 2 percent of murder victims

The Christian leaders noted that South Africa has endured immense violence over generations, continuing even today. However, they said, Trump’s narrative of “disproportionate violence” against white South Africans is in contrast the reality that Black South Africans still face the worst of violence and oppression. 

They acknowledged that South Africa “has failed to effectively address the racial injustices of apartheid and colonialism,” but noted that one factor in this “is the sustained resistance by many white South Africans to initiatives that seek to meaningfully address the economic and land ownership consequences of these systems of racial oppression”.

2nd American Pope

 Just to be clear, Pope Leo XIV is the second American Pope. Pope Francis was born in. Argentina, South America. We should not equate the United States with America.  Pope Leo is the first pope born in the United States.  He served in Peru and has dual citizenship with Peru and the United States. Blessings on Pope Leo XIV as he leads the Roman Catholic Church.

Please show us the resistence

 Are your news sources showing you pictures of the over 1400 pro-democracy rallies that have taken place in all 50 states over the past few weeks? There have been 3-5 million participants.  This has been non-violent resistance to Trump's policies.  Many media outlets show only one here or there where there has been a scuffle.  As with the Civil Rights movement, the public needs to see the marchers so that they knew they have a voice and that it is working.

VE Day 80th anniversary.

 What is VE Day 80th AnniversaryE Day commemoration without any of the royals who stood on the balcony that day, 80 years ago. VE Day was declared on 8 May 1945, after Britain and its allies formally accepted Nazi Germany's surrender after almost six years of war. Four days of celebrations, which have been organized by the government, began on Monday 5 May and will run until Thursday 8 May. I remember VE day. I was 6 1/2 years old on May 6th that year. Even at the young age, we understood what war meant. 

Jackson earns AA degree

North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC), Mason City, is a fine school of about 2500 students today. I, a graduate in 1958, was proud to attend the 2025, graduation of my grandson, Jackson Everist. An excellent place for both of us to begin our higher education. Jackson received his AA degree in humanities in one year with honors (4.0 GPA and Phi Theta Kappa) Jackson's parents, Joel and Rachel, teach at NIACC.

PBS and NPR

 Donald Trump has signed an executive order to end federal funding of PBS and NPR.  He has no authority to so do.  Congress does. We need to contact our Congressional delegations to stop Trump. Small towns and cities and metropolitan areas need PBS and NPR for balanced truthful coverage of the news. They also give us local weather forecasts. Some people listen to NPR all day.  I trust PBS and watch it every day. We must act.

Whooping Cough

Before there were vaccines, I had whooping cough as a very young child. My sister, my mother, and I were quarantined at home for 10 weeks. (Our dad had to stay at his sister's house). I still have memories of sleeping in my crib with a cover over it and steam.  I almost died. We worried my mother would.  To this day, I cough often for no reason, except for remaining damage from that disease.  So far this year, there have been 8,064 reported cases of whooping cough in the U.S., compared with 3,835 for the same time in 2024, Please, vaccinate children! 

Yale Alumni

 

On Monday afternoon, 0ver 6000 Yale University alumni (including myself) signed and delivered letters to Yale leadership. To the best of our knowledge this alumni response is unprecedented--and in one week. 

We were very pleased to see that yesterday morning, Yale President Maurie McInnis, joined 171 other university presidents to issue a joint statement “speak[ing] with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.”