MORGAN'S MOMENT...
A very good unidentified friend
     (he drives a Lexus)
     has a GPS in his car.
I watched our progress on the map
     as we cruised across the valley
     to find a favorite lunch spot.
We don't have GPS in our car…
     about the only thing
     we don't have.
I am told that GPS
     can direct you to the exact destination
     of your choice.
I mean “it” tells you
      out loud
      which way to turn.
Global Positioning System
      knows where you are on the map
      at every moment.
It’s kind of a predestination system
      like God in the sky
      guiding your every turn.
Except it couldn't find our lunch spot
      because we didn't know
      its name or address.
It did know its home address however…
      guiding us back
      where we made our own lunch.
Not even God can guide us
      when we have no notion
      of where we want to go.
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
Our book club chose “Thunderstruck,” by Eric Larson, because we had read his “The Devil in the White City.”
He has a way of combining a murder mystery with a significant historic happening. In this case, the historical part is about Marconi’s invention of wireless communication. Very interesting. His research is detailed with all quoted dialogue coming from actual research documents. The plot was not as compelling or gruesome in this book as the last.
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
March 27, 2007
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org
2ND WINTERTOUR 2007
Our first Wintertour ended in Longview, Washington. We reported this in the last blue sheet which was mailed March 6. We were there when Jean's brother, Dick, died.
We started our 2nd trip March 8. We were tired, in a bit of shock and sadness, but we had plans made, so we went.
We usually travel too far too fast with few pauses for refreshment along the way. This trip wasn't much of an improvement, but we did better. We stopped in three places for more than one night. We actually staying 3 nights in one place, which is a new record for us.
This trip has some good memories.
First, we had wonderful driving conditions and miles of beauty through rolling hills and along the Oregon and California coasts. We don't count our LA freeway times or the I-5 road race as memorable.
Second, we had a number of special “memory moments” for Jean's brother. We gathered a few together, showed some photos and recalled some memories, then toasted. We have pictures of at least 8 such moments.
Third, there was that surprise birthday party honoring Betty Ann Dibb at Brookings. This was the event that got us started so far down the coast that we decided to keep on going.
Fourth, we were able to work in a series of happy meetings, always regretting those we couldn't see.
We toasted Dick with people in Palo Alto, San Luis Obispo (we attended a Buddhist chanting group event there), Ventura, Bel Air, Fountain Valley, Desert Hot Springs, Boron and Ashland. Among these were Jean and Dick's brothers, Earl and Tom, and cousins Carol and Patty.
We had another visit with Betty Ann in her home in Medford, saying good-bye to daughter, Janet, who was heading back to Australia.
Like I said, too much driving (2,550 miles), not enough time for all the visits we'd like to make, not enough stopping to just “be.”
Gas was running from $3.09 to $3.25 per gallon!

As I write, Paul is in Mississippi with a youth group doing some post-Katrina repairs. Last time he was there he marched with Martin Luther King.
Lauren Peters was named U of O Duck's Biggest Fan by Coke!! Had the Ducks won, she would have been sent there too.
The local GT pictured Barbara Ross rewarding Bardon Maginnis with a rose for community service. Good job.
Now time to see about doing Easter at Inavale Farm. I think that comes up pretty soon.

 
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WHAT MAKES A WEEK HOLY?
        Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan teamed up on an article for Christian Century called “Jesus’ Final Week.” It has to do with the week Christians call Holy Week.
        “Holy” is a word that means “set apart,” “different,” “unique.” I would add, “memorable.”
        Actually, it has to do with dying, which is the heart of the Christian story.
        I've been through a lot of dyings. You don't forget those times.
        We reported our last days with Jean's brother, Dick. We would give anything if it had not happened, but we would not have stayed away for any possible reason.
        I used to do a “pre-memorial party” for my friend and guru, Hayden Stewart. He had asked me to preside at his memorial service. He was 80 at the time. I said, “Why wait?” We had 10 pre-memorial parties before he died. Way to go.
        Our good friend, Betty Ann Dibb has just gone into the Hospice program. It’s a great program that you can only enter with a six-month diagnosis. It’s a holy time for her.
        Two weeks ago we attended a secret birthday party held for her in Brookings. (Her home is in Medford). It was fun seeing her amazed expression and joy as each unexpected friend arrived from as far away as Ohio or California. We were with her for three days, enjoying the life-giving views of the river and ocean surf.  We visited her on our way north again after seeing some people down the coast and in California. She was still beaming with memories of that party. “It’s good to have a memorial party when you are there to enjoy it,” she told us. I think everyone must feel that way, but sometimes it doesn't work out.
        So I reacted to the title of the magazine article, “Jesus’ Last Week.” Actually, I was thinking, “Here we go again, trying to make a story into history.” Someone tries it every year, sometimes with gruesome outcomes as in Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ.”
        But I thought through the story about Jesus’ last week. There are things that ring true.
        For one thing, the story writers have Jesus knowing that his end was near. Like many who know that the end is not far away, he had time to say and do things that he wanted said and done. People remember the last things from a person's life.
        He is portrayed as facing his death with courage. He does not flinch, though one gospel has him praying that “the cup” might pass from him. This kind of prayer for remission or delay or revocation of the inevitable is virtually universal. We treasure the gift of life so much that we don't want to let it go. We pray as Jesus prayed, believers or not.
        There is also that moment on the cross when he pleads, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Scholars doubt this quotation from the psalm, as they do the rest of the “last words of Jesus.” Whoever the writer of that scene was, he has the dying feelings right when he raises the question of unanswered prayer. People long for a sign of God that their dying does not mean rejection.
        Palm Sunday has Jesus among friends celebrating his life and cheering him into Jerusalem. It’s the only time I can think of when he is celebrated as the hero he was to become after he died. Most of the time those soon to die don't have such affirmation. Jesus’ celebration march on Palm Sunday was his pre-memorial party.
        I also notice the Last Supper. When someone's life ends without a chance for a final word or a celebrative moment, we search our minds to remember last times spent with that person. We try to remember what was said. We remember the event with greater clarity and bank it away as a moment to be treasured. We remember where and when and what was said and done. We remember the life in a way we want to always remember it. When we are finally at the table alone the awareness of the absent one is strongest. We toast a living memory. Is it any wonder that the Eucharist, or Last Supper, or Mass is the main event of Christian worship? Is it any wonder that families gathering for Thanksgiving or Christmas often pause to mention their absent loved ones?
        As I re-read these stories about Jesus’ last week, knowing that they are the created stories of authors who were not there and that report the faith of early Christians who came to revere a Jesus they never knew, I nevertheless feel their authenticity. They understand the circumstances of dying. To die is a universal reality of life. There is no universal way to die. I am reminded of Pope John Paul's last days. He faced his dying with grace and courage. Jesus was his model as one who showed how to die as well as how to live
─ Art Morgan, March 26, 2007