Day 7 of Walk Around the Neighborhood

 Day 7 (the final post) of my “walk around the neighborhood”: Back at home (just in time; the snow has come) I show you Prairie Place on First, before and after the first snowfall. We moved in 3 1/2 years ago after leaving Dubuque. There are 32 apartments; ours is on the second floor, just above the entrance. Built in 2016, the building follows the Prairie-style and is part of Good Shepherd campuses. The long-term care facility is across the street to the North. Our Prairie Place residents have formed a fine community—at a distance now with masks—and none have contracted COVID. We need to continue to take precautions for everyone's sake, in every neighborhood around the country and around the world.

Day 6 of Walk Around the Neighborhood

Day 6 of my "walk around the neighborhood" Seven churches are within a few blocks of our home. We are members of Trinity Lutheran (ELCA), 1/2 block NW of us. Due to COVID, the last time we were in the building was March 13. This large congregation is blessed with an on-line service for us and for people across the country. Trinity at 150 years, continues to be in ministry and mission by offering on-line Bible studies, health ministries, and more.

Back home again, here is a picture of the front door to our apartment, complete with memories from our visits to Australia. (The world is a larger neighborhood.)

Day 5 of Walk Around the Neighborhood

 Our neighborhood, Day 5: We walk back on Rock Glen, the nationally recognized historic district of Prairie-style homes, the largest collection in the world. Over a dozen homes in the Rock Glen, Rock Crest area on both sides of Willow Creek are in a beautiful setting. We could walk all around, by crossing the footbridge. It would take about 20 minutes.

For now, we simply walk by some of them and continue on our way back. We do pass the Stockman House (pictured here) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1908, only 1 block from our home. The Park Inn Hotel, 4 blocks west downtown, is the only Frank Lloyd Wright hotel left anywhere. Built in 1910, it was recently renovated as a wonderful place to stay overnight.

Stockman House

One of the Prairie style homes on Rock Glen.

This is the four-plex across the street from the Prairie style homes. My mother and I lived in the 2-room apartment upstairs on the left while I was in college. (My father had died when I was 11 and my sister was now off teaching.) Mother lived there many years. We would enjoy the Prairie style homes across from us.

Day 4 Walk Around Our Neighborhood

 Day 4, walking around our neighborhood: Just up the street from the Library, we walk over the Meredith Willson footbridge. (It's 3 blocks from our home when we walk up Connecticut) The footbridge, in scenes from the "Music Man," is in "River City" (Mason City). Below the bridge is Willow Creek, which flows behind the library and art museum. There's a waterfall just beyond the bend.

Day 3 of the Walk Around Our Neighborhood

 Day 3 of the walk around our neighborhood: Next door to the Library is Mason City's Art Museum. Across the street is Hospice where Burton made many pastoral calls. If we were to walk West instead of South, the Post Office is one block away, also our bank, the Court House and Central Park are within a few blocks. So good to walk.

Number 2 of Walk Around our Neighborhood

 Continuing to take you on my walk around our neighborhood, three blocks further is the library. Built in 1939, it's beautiful. You may recall Marian the Librarian from "The Music Man." Meredith Willson went to school with my father. Here is a picture of the building and one of the statues on the grounds.

Walk Around Our Neighborhood Day 1

 Before the snows arrive, I'm going to share some scenes from our neighborhood here in Mason City. (I will share each day this week.) Across the street at the corner from where we now live is the old Mason City High School from which my sister and I graduated. Our father was in the first class to graduate from that building.

Women March Oct 17, 2020

 In 2017 an estimated 5,000,000 people marched (200,000 on the National Mall) across the U.S. and the world to protest the Trump inauguration. It was an unforgettable sight, people of all ages, backgrounds and genders. This Women's March was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. I spoke at the march in Dubuque, Iowa

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Sat., Oct. 17, 2020, there will be a Women's March again (2:00 at Central Park in Mason City, IA) opposing Trump's record and agenda, including his efforts to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg's seat. Check out if there is a March near you. This march is for reproductive rights, immigration reform, LGBTQ+ rights, racial equality, healthcare, the environment and more. We march, and we vote!

"Take my Yoke Upon Me": Invitation and Promise Today

 Gospel reflection by The Rev. Duncan R. Wielzen, Ph.D., The Hague Netherlands. Colleague and friend, Dr. Wielzen is a parish priest and president of URI Europe Board, a global grassroots interfaith network that cultivates peace and justice by engaging people to bridge religious and cultural differences.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Mt. 11:28-30 – New KJV)

Hearing these verses – be it for the very first time, or after several times – may cause one to wonder about what Jesus means by the word ‘yoke’. It is therefore important to remember that His words are two thousand years old, and that He said them to simple, believing Jews, who were indeed burdened with a yoke, especially the yoke of the 613 precepts - 248 commandments and 365 Prohibitions - which made up Jewish law, and still exists today. Obviously, so many commands and prohibitions are burdensome to bear which made them a real yoke that weighed down on law abiding Jewish people at that time.

But yokes still exist today. So many of us too often suffer from the pressure of life. Under our workload, for example, because we have to deliver what is expected from us. Many of us experience societal pressure because of what commerce and media dictates for living so called happy lives. Entire communities are suffering from the yoke of violence and discontent that disrupt peaceful living together. The growing threat of gun violence, the reluctance to address local problems honestly and gently, the turmoil in Belarus, the insurmountable division among citizens in the wake of the US Presidential election… it's becoming a heavier yoke every day.

Compared to all of that, the yoke of Jesus is easy. He does not make hard demands, he does not impose heavy assignments, he does not expect the impossible. His words are an invitation and a promise. An invitation to learn and a promise to receive. However, as easy as His yoke is, it still requires a courageous heart and a brave spirit to encounter the full spectrum of His yoke: a yoke of love, humility and kindness. These are priceless, i.e.: they don’t cost a dime and won’t diminish our humanity. They are fundamental to healing and cementing justice and peace. In any case, we have the freedom to respond to Jesus’ invitation or not.