MORGAN'S MOMENT...
Same old, same old…
   patch, patch, patch…
   first one thing then the next.
I’m talking body talk here…
   trips to my “ologists”
   fixing wearing body parts.
During a “meditation moment”
   was it for teeth or ears or what?
   I had an inspired thought.
All these repair jobs are rent
   that we pay for the privilege
   of living some extra years.
The system has many faults
   that only its creator can explain
   but what is is what is.
One can complain about the rent
   but there are few days
   I would regret paying the price.
We pray for grace and courage
   and spiritual resources
   to keep paying the rent.
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
“Musicophilia” by Oliver Sacks is the most interesting book read recently. I commend it to the music-minded and especially to people who might benefit from it. I though of the half dozen or more of readers I know to be dealing with Parkinson’s. Sacks calls it “Parkinsonism.” He quotes Novalis who asserts: “Every disease is a musical problem; every cure is a musical solution.” Sacks adds, “This seemed almost literally to be the case with these profoundly Parkinsonian patients.” p 252
The author is a neurologist and musician. His interesting anecdotes about the effect of music on the brain are fascinating and encouraging.
There are even some comments about music that relate to the church.
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
February 25, 2008
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org
What's Easter All About?
      I distrust people who are so sure about a version of truth that they claim it as the final word. My word is an alternate way of thinking about the Easter story. I would be suspicious of people like me.
      To get a modern day feel for Jerusalem in Jesus’ time, think Baghdad under American occupation. Jesus lived his whole life under an occupied regime. Occupiers try to work with locals to keep order. People who don’t like occupiers are considered to be a threat. Many of those dying on crosses placed prominently along the roads were there for opposition to the empire ambitions and claims of Rome.
       It is more likely that Jesus fell victim to the occupation government than to a decision by God that someone needed to pay the price for our sins. That was a post-Jesus explanation about the why of his death that became a mantra of Christian preaching. It’s a simple answer to the question of why Jesus died that works so long as you don’t think about it very hard.
       My friend, Dick Wing, who pastors a large congregation in Ohio, is not buying the traditional mantra explanation of Easter. He headlines a most recent column:
“Did Jesus have to Die in Order for God to Feel Good About You?”
       Among other statements to stir a questioning mind, Dick adds,
“Any fool knows that it is immoral, illegal, and sick for a parent to kill his kid. Amazing that we are asked to praise God for doing something that would land any human in jail for life.”
       A favorite memory verse most Christians know (if they know any) is “God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” A favorite gospel song, often requested at funerals is “The Old Rugged Cross.”

“On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame; and I Iove that old cross where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.”
       It makes a nice, preach-able doctrine that has a number of supporting texts. One ought to wonder how this idea got started and why it has echoes of ancient myths that were widely known in Jesus’ time. What it doesn’t do is ask whether that represents the kind of God Jesus talked about.
       If you don’t buy the “substitution theory’ (that Jesus died in your place so that God would accept you, sins and all), you can still find new life in the Easter story. Those who choose the world view of Jesus as trumping other world views are transformed. There is power and life in the idea that got Jesus crucified - that we can change (I didn’t mean to use the ‘change’ word…but that’s what he was all about!) My main point is that we don’t need to continue the God blame game in order to find life-lifting power in the story of Jesus and the drama of Easter.
Easter again!
Yikes! Only four weeks until Easter on March 23. We plan a celebration that is a bit out of the ordinary. It’s a world-wide day that is observed in all kinds of ways. We wouldn’t want to miss the party.

 
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THEOLOGICAL THOUGHTS IN TRYING TIMES
1. Ahimsa
       We tend to think a surgery that happens to someone else is “minor”, but when it happens to you no surgery is minor. I was appropriately propped for my “little” surgery in our Dermatologist’s clinic in Gig Harbor. It was one of those basal cell carcinomas that have something like a 99% cure rate. It was invisible to me but not to them. I did not realize that before it was all over I would have two inches of stitches repairing a gap about the diameter of a nickel.
       I could see the doctor’s diploma on the wall I was facing. A strange middle name got my attention. “Ahimsa.” I asked her where the name came from, whether it was from a relative, or what? She paused, scalpel in hand, “It’s not the name of a person, but a name for Gandhi’s guiding principle. It means ‘non-violent, gentle, peaceful.’”
       “Do you live up to your name?”  (My eye was on the scalpel).
       “I try,” she said as she moved in.
       “I hope so,” I said, as my thoughts drifted away from whatever she was doing to my numbed face.
       Her words about Gandhi brought thoughts long buried in my mental computer. Gandhi’s life overlapped mine and his influence was planted in my mind. His philosophy and way of life made more sense than most of the religion I was learning. I have sometimes thought of myself as a “Gandhi Christian.” I don’t know exactly what I mean by that, but I remember Gandhi’s affection for Jesus. It was not for the Christian religion that evolved after Jesus, but for the Jesus reflected in the Sermon on the Mount. Gandhi believed in the teachings of that Jesus and practiced them more faithfully than any Christian I can think of in the past 2000 years. A testimony to the depth of that practice is the fact that Martin Luther King used Gandhi as a role model. The key was “Ahimsa,” the middle name of the skilled surgeon who was gently removing disease from my body.

2. AAA Answers Prayer
       If you have a car built in this century there is a good chance that it unlocks with the press of a button on the key. It’s kind of neat, but not so neat if both of your keys are locked inside the car.
       We were ready to leave for home from our cabin near Gig Harbor. I was draining the water from all the pipes to prevent freezing, while Jean was loading the car. We had appointments to make in Olympia and Portland. But the car doors closed and locked with keys inside and us outside.
       Time for a call to the AAA. We pay for a service we rarely use, but we’ve seen their magic in opening locked cars. They would come, and did, although past the time we needed if we were to make our Portland appointment.
       The driver opened his manual to check specifics for our car. I could see over his shoulder large, black letters – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN CAR – TOW TO NEAREST DEALER. Shocking news to say the least. The nearest dealer was more than 30 miles away from our location at the end of a country road. I called the dealer and pleaded for a better alternative. None was offered. “So, what do you guys do with a locked car?” “Nothing. There is no way in without a key. We order another key. We can get one in three or four days.” I said I would think about it.
      I reported back to the AAA man who was deep into his book, looking for another plan. He said that it doesn’t look good. He was afraid that if he tried anything he might set off the airbags or the alarm. That would cause bigger problems than we had. “But I can give it a try,” which is what he did. I won’t go into the details, but he managed to fish the key onto the seat and turn it so that its buttons faced up. I told him which button to push if he could. 45 minutes later we heard a sound from heaven, “Click!” The doors unlocked.
      I took the key into the cabin and showed Jean who said, “Thank God! I’ve been praying and praying.” I must admit that praying never occurred to me. Neither of us believes that God micro-manages the foolishness of lost keys to the neglect of Kenya, for instance. But it doesn’t seem to hurt anything, and when it works it’s hard to argue against.
      Our message to others with modern car locks…keep track of your keys. If you get into trouble, pray like Jean prayed, and call the AAA.
      Jean thanked God, which was at least a polite thing to do, just in case.
      For my part, I gave the AAA man a nice tip.
─ Art Morgan, February 25, 2008