Class of 1956

Remaining members of the Mason City High School class of 1956 who still live in Mason City meet once a month for dinner out.  These faithful people have planned class reunions for hundreds of people every five years.  But that stopped during COVID.  I so strongly support public community schools. Youth of every class and race, background and ability come together to receive an excellent education.  Excellent teachers--professionally trained and caring about all of us. The entire nation needs excellent public schools where diversity is welcomed.

Indigenous Peoples Day: Much to Learn

 I live in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, native home to the Winnebago and Sioux tribes. Today is Indigenous Peoples day in over 12 states, including Iowa. There are 574 recognized tribes in the United States. Columbus Day has been recognized as a federal holiday for a long time. President Biden has proclaimed, for the second year this is Indigenous Peoples day. In Canada, indigenous people are called "First Peoples" and say "the Encounter" not "Discovery." How can one discover people who already existed? I need to learn from indigenous people and "discover," what I don't know. I plan to do that.

A Mockery of Democracy

 Six weeks from today is Election Day. Some people have already requested absentee ballots. A few states have begun early in-person voting. But too many will "sit this one out." We can't! Democracy itself is on the ballot. What can you do to assure all people can vote? Help those whose names have been removed from the rolls? Help those who don't have an address because they are homeless? Congregational clergy cannot tell people HOW to vote, but can encourage them TO vote. Justice, inclusion, equity are on the ballot. We dare not give in to those seek authoritarian power, making a mockery of democracy. 

Our Cerro Gordo (Iowa) County Courthouse

Where has the Cook Family name gone?

 Family heritage is important. On my father's side I am English and Scottish. My Dad died 72 years ago when I was ll. In his Cook family, there were six sisters, my dad, and one more brother, 20 years younger. Since my dad had only girls, would our Cook name be lost? (I use Norma Cook Everist as my professional name, not a legal name.) However, my dad's younger brother had five boys, including two sets of twins.  Lots more Cooks!  My cousin, Rick, a doctor in Chicago, came back to Mason City for a class reunion last weekend. What a wonderful conversation we had after all these years! Here is a picture of him and me.  I think we have the same smile.

The Queen: Minister of Reconciliation

 So much has been said about Queen Elizabeth II's stability, her family troubles, her long life, but I go deeper to this woman's ministry of reconciliation.  In watching the German TV DW news, I learned of her five visits to Germany, more than to most other nations.  Elizabeth suffered through WW II and also joined the war effort as a mechanic in the military.  She began her reign during the food shortages after the war. However, only a short time after the War she traveled to Germany.  She cared about the suffering in Germany, too.  After unification, she traveled to Dresden, which had been bombed to the ground by Allied forces.  Although booed by some, she persisted, and personally led an effort to restore a church. 

Fall some say she presided over a falling British monarchy, she persisted in building the Commonwealth of nations, not to rule over, but to reconcile. She was against apartheid in South Africa and Namibia. More nations a part of the Commonwealth now than ever before.  The picture of her and Angela Merkel is priceless. Queen Elizabeth II was no a conquering monarch but a servant, a faithful minister of reconciliation.

Jennaya goes to college

 Granddaughter Jennaya Everist, left this morning for Wartburg College.  She has struggled for most of her lifetime with a very serious form of Crohn's disease, being in the hospital too many time to count.  She had another surgery just last week at Mayo. Wartburg College is only a couple of hours from Mayo. Wartburg is very supportive of people with disabilities. She plans to major in music therapy, hoping to help children in hospitals.  

We appreciate your prayers for people across the country, and even the world.  We give thanks for her gifts and for her courage. We gave her our blessing yesterday.  Here are pictures of her with Burton and me.  Also pictured is Jennaya standing in front of her house by the tree which was planted shortly after her birth 18 years ago.

Hiroshima Day and Baptism

My son Kirk and I were both baptized on August 6, neither of us in a church building.  I, born in Des Moines in 1938 on Nov. 6, was baptized nine months later in 1939 in the home of our aunt and uncle in Garner, Iowa. Kirk was baptized in the parsonage back yard next door to our Detroit congregation two weeks after his birth, on August 6, 1969. Thirty years apart. 

Hiroshima day each year helps us remember the U.S. nuclear bombing of Japan Aug. 6, 1945, and to pledge ourselves to work for peace. In the baptismal service we welcome people into the body of Christ to bear God's creating and redeeming word to all the world. We are all called to do that, especially outside the doors of our church buildings.

The Bikers Kept Coming

 Hour after hour, the riders kept coming. They biked out State Street to pitch their tents in all the open spaces in Mason City. After riding 100 miles, the 17,000 riders Midway through a week of RAGBRAI--the Register Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa--were tired of course but also energized by their achievement. Support vehicles of hundreds more people carried tents, bedding, clothing, lawn chairs were waiting so that riders could have a shower in the portable wash facilities they brought along. This was the first year in 37 that a 100-mile stretch has been included.  

As I write this, it is still dark, but at daybreak they will be up to ride the final three days.  Each year riders come from Iowa, across the country and the world.  I talked to two men from Chicago. A woman from Colorado passed by. 

Besides the parks and school yards, about 60 people camped across the street from our Prairie Place apartment building. The birds, squirrels and rabbits must have been surprised. Some small birds took refuge in the rafters of our deck.

RAGBRAI is not a competition to see who comes in first. It is a collegial community, where people make friends for a lifetime, leisurely, strenuous, and so well organized. No guns, no litter left behind. Respect and friendliness. Riders begin the week by dipping their bikes in the Missouri River and ending by dipping them in the Mississippi. Each year a different route is chosen. This year it was across the Northern most part of Iowa. As they kept coming past they waved at the welcoming residents of Mason City.  From late afternoon well into the evening, there was music downtown on a main stage and two other stages as well. People casually walked or biked back after pitching their tents. Dozens and dozens of food sites were available all over town. 

Last week temperatures were 100 degrees plus. Today he temperature in the morning and evening was 76 degrees, as if to remind people they were in "River City" of "Music Man" fame.  When night fell, there was lightning and sprinkles. All was peaceful. 

Her Own Choosing

 Each year new statues appear all over downtown Mason City. Some remain and others are replaced for new ones.  I love this statue, placed recently outside the Methodist Church. It says at the base: "Life will be a marvelous journey for this strong young girl as she looks to the future paths of her own choosing."

Would it be so for all girls and young women. 

The Good Samaritan Now Needs a Gun

 How sad indeed that the Good Samaritan image in Luke's Gospel is now having to be used to describe the man who had mercy as using a gun to stop even more people from being shot and killed in Greenwood, Indiana. Just how much more dangerous can the Jericho Road become? 

This picture from a public park nearby shows the beautiful diversity of colors in the flowers. There are so many other images in the picture.  What do you see?  How important to pay attention to all the images in what we see and experience. There is so much going on in the world today. Yes, beauty and so much more. We give thanks for the beauty and also need to pay attention to the whole picture.

 

Juneteenth and the Fourth of July

The United States is not so much an experiment in democracy as various experiences of being a country of diversity. Recognizing and celebrating this pluralistic nation has meant years of growing into liberty for all.

The Fourth of July needs to be recognized along with Juneteenth. And August 26--women winning the right to vote.  We need to fully live out the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Marking October 12 now as Indigenous Peoples' Day is important.  And so many other significant days! Freedom and democracy for all is unfinished work.  Let's make it happen.