MORGAN'S MOMENT...
We are surrogate grandparents
     adding Patrick to the other six
     because he didn't have any.
We visit him and he visits us
     even though he lives far away
     in Texas and Wisconsin.
Now he's in college
     and his college took him to Mali
     which is in Africa.
He lives in a family of 18 more or less…
     sometimes more sometimes less
     eating by hand from a common bowl.
He's learning the language and customs
     and learning to enjoy and appreciate
     a culture without wealth or goods.
Sleeping on mats on the floor
     traveling crowded into a van bus
     being the only white among blacks.
He sends back photos
     of mud made houses
     and many smiling people.
One grandson spent a South Pole year
     while this one is discovering life
     in the midst of Africa's tropics.
In the American world with everything
     these people's “everything”
     is food in the bowl and each other.
There's school and there's education…
     how can he not be a better person
     for living the way much of the world lives?
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
When I was a Scout leader I used to teach boys about stars and planets. At least I thought I did. In truth I knew very little except for the diagrams in a book that helped locate some constellations and planets. I've long since forgotten all of that.
But I have remained interested in the whole realm of astronomy as the universe has become widely known in my lifetime. I have needed people like Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking and others to lead my non-scientific mind into the heavens. Another book in that category is “The Planets” by Dava Sobel. I've previously read “Longitude” and “Galileo’s Daughter.” I recommend them all.
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
Feb. 16, 2006
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org
WHICH GOD?
Every party or so I end up in a conversation about God. I never bring it up. In fact I make an effort not to identify myself with the God business. But it happens.
And more often than the polls on religious belief in America indicate, someone will expect to shock me by saying “I don't believe in God.”
I'm not shocked. I would say that not believing should be more common. I'm sure whatever God there may be would not be offended by an honest opinion.
There is no good argument to turn someone's mind on the subject. Theologians from before writing devised various proofs of the reality of a particular God. None seem to have lasted.
I've sometimes asked (if I wanted to keep the subject alive) “Which God don't you believe in?”
That pretty much ends most conversations. The average non-believer has an idea of a particular variety of God not believed in without realizing that there are many differing ideas of God.
For instance one may believe in “God” without believing in “a God.” One may believe in a person God or a non-person God. Ancient times are full of expressions of Gods and Goddesses both. As now, wars were fought over which God was real. Temples of worship changed Gods or Goddesses whenever the political winds and religious fashions changed.
It makes a difference which kind of God one truly believes in. For instance, if you believed in the father-like God of Jesus, the attributes of peace might be more important. Clearly, many who call themselves “Christians” do not follow the same God as did Jesus.
The most commonly rejected idea of God is the picture of an old man in the sky who arbitrarily manages the goings on of the world. To reject an anthropomorphic idea of deity hardly makes one an atheist. Be warned, however, that believers of almost any variety may label those who believe differently, “Atheists.”
It is the nature of the human species to wish to be placed in a context of meaning that transcends the individual. Somewhere in this context is where most people meet their idea of God.

CABIN DAMAGE
A tree crushed one of the structures on our beach property. We'll have plenty of fresh firewood and kindling! But it's not a tsunami or a Katrina. It's just the price of living in the woods. The truth is that nothing can take away the main values of that place, namely the view of the mountains and sunset and the waterfront. We'll check later in the month.

E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS
It's not much work to attach summaries of books I've read (I always write a one-page summary of books read). If any are of particular interest, I'm glad to send them. We don't put everything on our web page. The blue sheets of past years are mostly on our web page for those who are interested.
 
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COLLATERAL DAMAGE
I was at the gym working on the “hamstring curl” machine when a fellow stopped to comment about Dick Cheney’s mis-hap. Most of the time we all stick to our own workouts, but he wanted to say his say.
He was speaking from the point of view of a hunter. He liked bird hunting. This Blue Sheet goes to a fair number who are or have been hunters. It also goes to some who love bird watching. I'm trusting in some transcending level of acceptance by both types.
Anyway, this man wanted to speak his speech about hunting. He told about what he was taught by his dad. It is the same thing any of us who have ever fired a gun was, or should have been taught. I assume Dick Cheney was taught the same thing.
He could not understand how anyone was putting the blame on the man who got shot. Of course, if you are around someone who is shooting, you are foolish to be anywhere near harms way. The one with the hand on the trigger is taught to know who is in range.
That being said, no hunter wants to have such a thing happen. No matter what, one assumes that Cheney must feel very badly. As I commented to my gym friend, why would Cheney take a chance of hurting a big time contributor? It was supposed to be a little joke.
The other thought that came to me was that Cheney has established a metaphor which cannot be avoided. He has given us a new way of portraying collateral damage.
As I get it, collateral damage is what happens while you are aiming at a specific target but inadvertently also hit something or someone else. Early in the Iraq war there was a lot said about “smart weapons” which were presumably creating shock and awe by coming in on selected targets. I am sure that Cheney had his eye on the grouse and expected to hit it and nothing else.
Alas. Collateral damage happens. In fact, by some accounts, more people have died from collateral damage in Iraq than from being the designated target. We have heard the generals, not to mention Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld, describe such incidents as an unfortunate but necessary result of war. Which is probably true. The limbless and maimed and dead, of all ages and sexes on all sides are grim proof.
But I'm not wanting to play the blame game. It doesn't fix anything. However, the metaphor helps us understand a reality about what we all do in life. We aim not to hurt anyone, but we all do it from time to time.
If you've ever been married you know that you sometimes say things that miss the mark and cause hurt. In fact, those of us who preach or write are guilty of this more than we can ever know. Our actions turn against people who don't deserve the consequences that occur. They are not the target, but they take the hit.
I think of children I used to see in custodial care, innocently suffering the results of their parent's misguided behavior. Anyone who knows the statistics of divorce knows that children usually feel the sting of the shots and shouts of the parents who claim to love them. Parents don't mean to cause harm to children while fighting personal demons. But collateral damage happens.
Most of us have enough humanity in us to hurt when we cause hurt. Who really wants a good friend to lie wounded by one's own shot? Not meaning to do it doesn't fix it. If we're lucky, there may be forgiveness. Or maybe not. In fact, forgiveness is about all we can hope for.
There's a song that was sung in the Baptist-Disciple Student Fellowship I once attended at the University of Washington. It was a closing circle song. It went something like this:
If I have wounded any soul today, if I have walked in my own willful way,
If I have caused one foot to go astray, dear Lord forgive.
There's also a line in the Lord's Prayer. I grew up using the term, forgive us our debts, but I think the old King James may have the better word when it says forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
When collateral damage happens it is a trespass. We have gone where we should not have gone. No matter our intention or excuse. The Jesus tradition recognizes this reality so offers us a prayer line to deal with it. It has application in our involvement in Iraq. It has application for Mr. Cheney who showered his friend in a way he did not intend. It applies to all of us. Forgive us our collateral damage.
                                ─ Art Morgan, Valentine's Day, 2006