WHAT CHEER. I sped past the sign and thought, “That must be a really neat place.”
I was traveling across rural Iowa. Mile of corn, soybeans and picturesque farms passed by. The winding country roads forced me to slow down and enjoy the bucolic landscape. I kept thinking about What Cheer as I worked in nearby Oskaloosa and Washington. So on my way home, I turned off of Highway 92 and took Highway 21 north four miles to What Cheer.
Peter Britton founded the city in 1865 as Petersburg. The post office eventually rejected the name Petersburg and Civil War veteran Joseph Andrews suggested What Cheer. The name become official on December 1, 1879. Since the 1890s this once coal-producing town has steadily declined from 3,246 citizens to only 627 in 2014. As I drove through town I formed an image of What Cheer that numbers support. In 2013 the estimated median household income in What Cheer was $26,555 — half of the Iowa state estimate. The 2013 mean house price was $46,525. Only 5.8 percent of residents age 25+ have graduated college.
What Cheer has seen better days. The Opera House was built in 1893 when things were rolling strong. Folks came from far and wide came to hear the John Phillips Sousa Band, Hank Williams Jr., Fred Waring and Guy Lombardo. The Opera House was restored in 1965, but the big name acts are gone. Stop by this coming September 12 at 7:30 pm and you’ll hear the Marengo Civil War Band perform. A long way from John Phillips Sousa. If you Google What Cheer you’ll find they’re best known today for the Collectors’ Paradise Flea Market held at the tidy, but small, Keokuk County Fairgrounds on the north side of town.
I found four churches in town. Three of them were tired, sagging, peeling and showing their age. The What Cheer Museum sat empty and neglected in a home that looked like it was built in the long-ago glory days. Other than the obligatory Casey’s General Store, the funeral home was perhaps the nicest looking business in town.
As I pulled back onto Highway 21 and asked my Garmin to take me away from What Cheer, I was left with an unsettled feeling. Not because I felt better than the fine folk who live there, but because their town reminded me of myself. Let me explain.
One day Jesus was eating with a Pharisee who wondered to himself why He didn’t wash before dinner. Knowing what he was thinking, Jesus turned the tables on the Pharisee. “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?” Luke 11:39-40
Ouch. Like What Cheer, the Pharisees had a great name, a modern, welcoming sign and a long history. But upon closer inspection, things were pretty run down.
“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. Those you ought to have done. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them.” Luke 11:42-44
I slap a suit and tie on each week and attend church. Attend Bible studies. Pay my tithe. Pray. But is the inside of my cup dirty? Beneath the surface am I really dead? Does my sign along the highway say “What Cheer” while I’m actually run down inside?
Ezekiel says, “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your fithiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes…” Ezekial 36:25-27
God will clean out the inside of my cup. He’ll fix up my house so that it matches the sign out on the highway. God will do that for me! And you!
One more quick story from What Cheer. As I slowly drove off the last side street onto Highway 21, I spotted a bright-eyed little girl. She stopped her play, smiled big and waved at me as I drove away. She seemed to understand that What Cheer was more than her town’s name. Perhaps she attends one of those tired-looking churches. Perhaps those wonderful What Cheer parishioners have let God give them a new heart and a new spirit. Perhaps that little girl was God’s way of telling me that the inside of What Cheer’s cup was clean and in good order!
How’s your cup?