Open Letter to Faith Communities in Greater Liberty

2017 from Ed Chasteen

aka Pedalin’ Prof

The billboard on campus that summer showed the route I rode on my bicycle from Orlando to Seattle to Anaheim. By myself. With no money/. Looking for goodness. And finding it. Took me 105 days. On my longest days I rode 125 miles. So when I was back I drew a 125 mile circle around our town called Liberty. I dubbed this little piece of God’s good earth, Greater Liberty, meaning to call attention to the Greater Liberty we all have to live beyond all the names other people know us by. My hope is to find a friend in every Greater Liberty faith community and to encourage others to come with me.

I propose a class for faith communities located in Greater Liberty. An on-line class, with few, maybe no, actual visits. But! Close enough that should we wish, a visit//visits might easily be arranged. I ask members of Greater Liberty faith communities to contact me on line and sign up for this class. I will then pair you with a member of another faith community. This new identity will be someone of another faith who lives nearby. Let us call this The Greater Liberty Class.

Both members of every pair will hold seven on-line conversations using the seven sets of questions I provide. Each will then write the life story of the one with whom you are paired. The story will be written in first person” “My name is (……)” Each member of the pair will submit your story to the other for possible additions and/or corrections. And then to me.

After each online conversation, each member of the pair will tell me by email what you learned about the person you are becoming. When the seven conversations have been completed, each member of the pair will write the story of your new identity as you have learned it through the seven sets of questions.

This class will follow the academic calendar: fall semester September-December; spring semester January-April. In May at William Jewell College all pairs will be invited for a Human Family Reunion honoring those who by their work as pairs are now recognized as World Class Persons, able to go anyplace at anytime and talk to anyone about anything and feel safe.

Students may sign up for either the fall or the spring semester. The seven sets of questions are designed to be completed in one semester. I know of no better way to deepen and widen one’s own faith than by delving into another, and no better way of delving than by spending a few weeks as someone of another faith. One of my very good friends is Yahya Furqan, a Muslim imam. We have traveled the country together. We have visited in each others homes. Yahya says he is a better Muslim because he knows me. I am a better Christian because I know him. Neither of us have even thought of trying to convert the other.

I am now contacting some of my longtime friends in the various faith communities in the area to ask them to help me enlist their folks in this quest to both find friends and build bridges. And to all who may happen to read this letter, I ask you to please join me. Sign up for Greater :Liberty.. Email: hatebuster@aol.com

The Pedalin’ Prof

And HateBusters Founder

Ed Chasteen

From

William Jewell College

Teaching People How To Like People

Box 442 Liberty, MO 64069      816-803-8371         hatebuster@aol.com

www.greaterliberty.org              www.hatebusters.com

hatebusters.wordpress.com

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Greater Liberty Ride for MS

Saturday, May 22, 2004

Steve and Sharon and friends planned and executed this.

Features Ed Chasteen’s favorite small town cafés within easy riding of Liberty.

Café menus and specialties available on the web site for the ride.

Pick up maps at Biscari Brothers Bicycle shop in Liberty.

Pick your route and pair up with others with the same “appetite” for food, distance and degree of difficulty.

Meal vouchers for restaurants.

Hosted “gathering” at Biscari Brothers Bicycle shop at the end of the ride.

Free hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and soft drinks. Share stories and experiences.

All riders are asked to make a donation of $50 to the MS Society. Larger donations would be appreciated. Donation payable at time of registration.

Liberty to Kearney – Sarah’s Table – 30 mile round trip – hilly

Liberty to Excelsior Springs – The Mill Inn – 35 mile round trip – moderately hilly

Liberty to Orrick – Fubbler’s Cove – 42 mile round trip – mostly level

Liberty to Lawson – Catrick’s – 44 mile round trip – moderately hilly

Liberty to Plattsburg – JJ’s – 55 mile round trip – hilly

Combo #1 – Liberty to Excelsior Springs to Lawson to Kearney to Liberty – 60 miles

Combo #2 – Liberty to Orrick to Excelsior Springs to Liberty – 48 miles

Combo #3 – Liberty to Plattsburg to Kearney to Liberty – 65 miles

Century Ride—Liberty to Orrick to Henrietta to Richmond to Rayville to Lawson to Watkins Mill to Kearney to Liberty.

All rides start at Biscari Brothers Bicycle shop in Liberty. SAG support is available on each route. Rest stops at restaurants in each town.

Town                    Restaurant

Excelsior Springs                                Mill Inn

Kearney                                                  Sarah’s Table

Lawson                                                    Catrick’s

Orrick                                                       Fubbler’s Cove

Plattsburg                                                JJ’s

Rayville                                                    Rayville Baking Company

Richmond                                                Joyce’s Family Restaurant

Ride to Paradise

January 1, 2006

By Ed Chasteen

For the third year in a row the New Year’s Day temperature in Greater Liberty will reach 62. The average for this day is 38. The record high was 64 in 1897. But the high will come later in the day. We pedal away from the Hanson home on the outskirts of Kearney at 8 AM into an overcast and frigid morning. Steve has laid out a route north on Plattsburg Road to C Highway. Left on C to Highway W. Right on W to Paradise, crossing an arm of Smithville Lake. Then back on W to C. Right on C to Highway 92. Left on 92 about a quarter mile to Highway A. Right on A to 144^th. Left on 144^th back to Plattsburg Road. Right on Plattsburg Road to 139^th. Left on 139^th to Scottie Drive. Right on Scottie to the Hanson’s home. Out to Paradise and back. Prelude to the sumptuous breakfast Sharon has for us.

On this first day of 2006, I have driven in my little red HateBusters mobile, with its H8BSTR license plate, to the home of Steve and Sharon Hanson, two of our regular Greater Liberty riders. Steve has laid out our New Year’s Day ride route to Paradise. Sharon will stay home to have breakfast ready when we return. Long ago I came to value symbolism. Today in spades we have it. Sitting on an arm of Smithville Lake, Paradise is a church, a store, a service station and a few houses. A place seldom seen and little noticed. But able in the mind of all who hear its name to conjure a rapturous vision. To come en route to Paradise upon an eagle only magnifies the magnificence of a magical morning.

In Celebration of Sharon and Steve Hanson

Monday, July 3, 2017

by Ed Chasteen

For auch a long time and in so prominent a fashion have Sharon and Steve Hanson been leaders in our bicycle lives that even their coming move to California cannot sever the tie. From their place on the beach in Ventura they cannot regularly in person join us as before, but with Skype and in spirit they always will be with us.

For the next few days while they are in person still among us, I will revisit some of those past times and post them on my blog: www.hatebusters.wordpress.com I invite all of you who read these words to send me your own stories of Sharon and Steve.