I Love a Parade

I love a parade. Watching a parade. Being inside a parade. This morning the 81st annual North Iowa Band Festival Parade units—116 of them—lined up on the streets all around our blocks.

 I remember this parade from my teenage years here in Mason City, Iowa. Yes, this is Music Man’s River City, 76 trombones and all.

Son and Daughter-in-law Joel and Rachel and their children Jennaya and Jackson were IN the parade announcing the high school summer musical.

We were first on our condo deck watching the line-up, and then, of course, on State Street AT the parade.

I love the Mason City Band Festival, 4 days of civic celebration, everyone outside together. This morning, no cars on our blocks, just people walking. And bands and floats, even a few horses, and varieties of people all in a line. No carrier boats lined up for a war with no reason, no guns piled up for sale.

It was safe to be outside together. We did not fear being outside. We did not fear or hate each other. We celebrated one another.  I loved this parade.

Abortion: What Our Church Said 28 Years Ago

“Women and men share equally in the responsibility and accountability for procreation, although it is women who are most intimately affected by decisions about abortion.” The ELCA 28 years ago adopted by more than a 2/3 majority vote in 1991 a Social Statement on “Abortion.” Amazing for its time. Although conversation on issues has changed through the years, I share some quotes from that church-wide teaching I find positive for this time.

“We are moved particularly by the anguish of women who face unwanted pregnancies alone.” “Poverty, lack of supportive relationships. . . oppressive social realities, sexism, and racism can intensify her sense of powerlessness.”

“Our ministry of hospitality to all people ought to include women who have had abortions, women who are considering abortions, children, families, and those who bear and raise children under all kinds of circumstances. This should be reflected throughout congregational life and church policy. Services and shelter should be provided, especially to enable young mothers and fathers to continue their education and care for their children. Members should also be encouraged to become foster and/or adoptive parents. By our policies and practices as a church we need to indicate that we are truly supportive of children through the long years after, and not only before, they are born.”

“Greater social responsibility for the care, welfare, and education of children and families is needed through such measures as access to quality, affordable health care, child care, and housing.”

“We affirm that the goodness of sexual intercourse goes beyond its procreative purpose. Whenever sexual intercourse occurs apart from the intent to conceive, the use of contraceptives is the responsibility of the man and of the woman.”

“An abortion is morally responsible in those cases in which continuation of a pregnancy presents a clear threat to the physical life of the woman. A woman should not be morally obligated to carry the resulting pregnancy to term if the pregnancy occurs when both parties do not participate willingly in sexual intercourse. This is especially true in cases of rape and incest. This can also be the case in some situations in which women are so dominated and oppressed that they have no choice regarding sexual intercourse and little access to contraceptives. Some conceptions occur under dehumanizing conditions that are contrary to God’s purposes.”

“Christians as citizens and this church as an institution should join with others to advocate for and support just laws and to work to change those, which are unjust. In our attempts to influence the shaping of public policy, we should not disregard the rights of others, but work faithfully through the public processes by which justice is sought for all.”

 "The concern for both the life of the woman and the developing life in her womb expresses a common commitment to life. This requires that we move beyond the usual ‘prolife’ versus ‘pro-choice’ language in discussing abortion.  If we are to take our differences seriously, we must learn how to talk about them in ways that do justice to our diversity.”

“Church members must not only be aware of the moral complexity of the situation, but be able and willing to listen and walk with women and men through the process of decision-making, healing, and renewal. . . ”

I Don't Lose Power When You Are Empowered

“When you are fully empowered, I do not lose power but

am empowered as well.”

North Iowa Area Community College announces the following class by Dr. Norma Cook Everist: “Power and Partnership: Personal and Social Power in the Workplace” Tuesday, May 28

Join us for an interactive seminar to build productive relationships.

We will explore together the power cycle which is real,

strong and so commonplace that we may not even notice it.

Once we do, there is opportunity for change as we develop

skills for what we can actually say, and do in difficult situations.

Participants will be invited to enter the conversation from wherever

they are as we open ourselves to ongoing growth, working

toward more just, equitable partnerships in the workplace.

You can find out more information about this course by contacting

Jamie Malek at 641-422-4076 or

Jamie.Malek@niacc.edu.

Should We Encourage People to Bring Their Guns to Worship? Or What Should We Do?

Faith communities are asking how to safely gather for worship in the wake of increasing shootings and bombings. Do we encourage our people to bring guns to worship? Do we hire security teams to guard us? Do we work for peace and justice in the world? Are we called to become places of “sanctuary”?

While some congregations may deny the issue exists, e.g. “That couldn’t happen here in our nice community,” others are becoming preoccupied with security plans: “We have a robust group working with law enforcement, including a fence and cameras.”

We want people--all people--Jews, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and more, to come to their holy places of worship feeling safe and secure. The challenge: Can we be safe inside by daring to go outside? The Gospel for the 2^nd Sunday of Easter showed us the disciples met behind locked doors in fear. Jesus came, stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you.”  This coming week we hear the disciples went out. Jesus: “Feed my sheep.” “Follow me.”

Motive Yes, we need our worshipers’ eyes and ears used for precaution, but also to see the troubled one. How can we know who will enter a house of worship with a gun or bomb? So often we hear, “The motive is unclear.” I think the “motive” will always be unclear. The issues are complex. The person is complex. There are traits and signs, even profiles of a person who commits a shooting, but not just one type of person, or shall we say, stereotype. Each of us has the capacity to hurt, harm, even kill another. There are not “good people with guns” and “bad people with guns.” However, we can have caring concern for those who seem lonely, frustrated, angry, and as a community, reach out to them, not just after a tragedy, but every day. 

Mental Illness  Likewise so often we use the phrase, “A ‘crazed’ person.”  Mental illness is a broad and serious issue in our society to which we need to give much more attention. However, not every person who kills people in a house of worship is mentally ill, nor are all people who are mentally ill dangerous.  Many of us are mentally ill as are our family members and people who are strangers to us. People of faith have a calling to care about everyone with mental illness and to provide more care facilities and health workers.

It Can’t Happen Here  So what about the issue of  “I never thought it could happen here.”? Then where?  I live in a small city in the upper Midwest. After returning from almost every trip to a large city or to a coastal region, someone asks me, “Weren’t you afraid?” I respond, “No.” There are murders in my state, in my town. There is abuse in the homes on my block. We fear “those people” We are plagued with homophobia, anyone not “like me.” I also am capable of fearing and and hating people very near to me who look just like me. So, yes, HERE.

For 12 years our family lived among “others,” in terms of race and economic class. As we became acquainted, as we lived through stressful, and yes, even difficult times, we learned to care and depend upon and love each other. I often felt the most safe among those most different from myself.  Likewise, when traveling in some (even dangerous) places on other continents, I have had experiences of feeling far from home, but the most safe.

Violence and Guns  All of that is not to say danger from shooting and bombings in houses of worship is not real.  It is. I wrote twenty years ago about the rise of terrorism. One lone shooter can kill dozens. One mass shooting can multiply fear a hundredfold. So what should we do? We need welcoming places not to become armed camps. Yes, we need to take reasonable precautions and use safety measures. In this nation of ours we have become wedded to implements of violence as a way to stop violence. Arming parishioners is not the answer.  Encouraging parishioners to bring their guns with them to worship, and, even worse, to encourage them to purchase weapons so they have one to bring, will not make houses of worship more safe. All kinds of studies show how many people are killed in this country on purpose or accidentally with the proliferation of guns. Martin Luther King showed that nonviolence and nonviolent responses are most helpful in the long run in creating a “beloved community.”

A Community of Communities  But what about those most vulnerable? Muslims?  And also Jews?  (The religious right claims there is a war on Christians and encourages the sale of guns.) Rather than increasing this nation’s high rate of gun sales and ownership, we have the opportunity to increase our image in being a community of faith communities.  

Much happened after 9/11 in terms of Christian/Jewish/Muslim dialogues, real efforts to learn about our neighbors’ faith.  But in the recent escalation in the climate of hate, we have grown more dangerous to one another in our speech and in our actions.  We dare not continue on this path or we will simply fear going outside at all. We do not want to fear gathering together with those of our common faith, nor to gather as a pluralistic people. Rather we want to both worship in our sanctuaries and provide sanctuary. More on how to have safe sanctuaries and provide sanctuary in the public world in a blog coming soon.