MORGAN'S MOMENT...
“Recalculating – Recalculating!”
Everyone with a GPS
    (that’s “Global Positioning System)
    knows that message.
A voice from the box
    receives word from the stars
    telling of our wandering ways.
It’s sort of scary
    knowing our car is watched
    and under directional judgment
It gets us to our listed address
    with a triumphant announcement…
    “Arriving at destination!”
It never admits to error
    nor does it apologize
    for completely losing us.
What I like best about it
    is its amazing grace
    in allowing us a second chance.
When our own willful way
    is detected from above
    it does its “Recalculating!”
It wants us to turn around
    (the biblical word is “repent”)
    or else it will find another way.
I once was lost
    but now I’m recalculated
    by a mystery I don’t quite fathom.
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
I took one book on our two-week trip and didn’t open it. It’s Marcus Borg’s latest, “Jesus.” I try to stay current with biblical scholarship. Stay tuned
I bought “Water for Elephants” in Palo Alto. I’ve read about half of it for our book club. Not enough for a report, but I’m enjoying it.
“Let us dare to read, think, and write.” (John Adams)
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
April 15, 2008
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org

Thoughts Along the Road…
We’ve been traveling a bit the past two weeks, visiting brothers and others, mostly in California. We try to stay in touch with at least a few every year or so. I’m afraid we miss more than we see.
We drove 2430 miles at about 29 mpg. One thought is that there’s something wrong with turning food products into oil, causing food prices to jump among the people who can least afford it. Somebody tell me whether it’s something to wonder about.
I think we visited 28 people and had phone conversations with a half dozen more. It was more rushed than we liked, yet our daily driving distances were mostly short. As long as I can get a nap I’m pretty OK. We valued every visit we made and enjoyed being welcomed even when unexpected. Most people don’t have visitors these days.
Every visit has a story. We hope we heard more stories than we told. I report only one of the stories (on the back page). Others are deserving as well.
Most on our journey receive the blue sheet. So I was calling on people who don’t need to hear more “wisdom” from me. It’s very amazing and humbling and warming for me to hear that thoughts are being read, discussed and shared in ways I hadn’t imagined. It’s inspiring to hear ideas that spring from mine.
Some had already received the last March mailing with “Jeremiah and Jeremiah.” I thought I was encouraging the idea that standing up and speaking out when you have dispute with your government is a historic form of patriotism. Some got it, and more. Some either didn’t get it or don’t believe it. Alas, already. One space has become available on our mailing list. Win a few, lose a few. Actually, the response has been 99% good. Some simply sent a check. Amazing.
Jean knit a lot of dishcloths as usual. They are scattered in sinks everywhere. She is remembered daily in kitchens along our journey.
One thing we became more appreciative of as we journeyed is the importance of staying in shape. Our endurance was pretty good for old folks. We think that walking a couple of miles almost every day and going to the gym to work out pays dividends. Go while you can. If you can’t go, then go to the gym until you can. Keep moving and when you can’t keep moving, at least keep thinking. Some bodies along the way were not so spry, but oh those minds.
Just some of my thoughts along the road.
•
 
                                                                                     (back page)

LOS ANGELES AGAIN
        We only lived in Los Angeles 6 and ½ years, but it feels like it left us with a lifetime full of memories. Some are a bit overwhelming.
        I don’t mean the freeways, which have only increased in number and velocity and speed in the past 40 years. I’m thinking of experiences.
        It wasn’t planned that past and present should intersect as they did on April 2nd. It was the day that a stop at All People’s Christian Center was on our agenda. We try to go by there when we are in Los Angeles just to see how the place is going. I was on the Board there for a number of years. In fact, I was the board chairman there 40 years ago. (Times have changed so that there are no “chairmen” any more…just “chairs.”)
        It was 40 years ago to the day that I was to chair the meeting of the board. How do I remember? It was the day that Martin Luther King was assassinated. The news was fresh and raw as I drove from my church five miles away towards All People’s Center for that board meeting.
        It was one of the most difficult moments of my ministry. I wondered what I could say. I remember that my daughter, Linda, a high school Junior at the time, gave me some quoted material to use in opening the meeting. I don’t remember what it was, but it fit the feelings of that moment.
        Tom Norwood was Director of All People’s. He would remember the names of all of them. I just remember the faces. Tears flowed in shiny streams down dark cheeks as we faced the agenda. I’ll never forget that moment.
        Each was a heroic survivor. One lady took the bus out to a white neighborhood to clean. She put her children through college. One man was a school janitor, or maybe plumber. He was proud to have a house with a swimming pool. One lady had a daughter, about the age of mine. The mother’s name was Mary, I believe. The daughter’s name is Saundra. She went on to study social work. Saundra has been Director at All People’s for more than 25 years.
        It’s hard to think of these people and their journey, living out their hope and faith and love in the center of one of the most troubled places in the country. I think of names like Joe, who is revered in that place and whose picture is on the wall right beside Martin Luther King. I think of Aki, one of the original Japanese community that built All People’s before being deported after Pearl Harbor but came back to become a revered leader.
        Saundra took us around to show improvements and tell of some of the programs. You name the need. All People’s has a program. Packages of food were stacked high for distribution. People were setting up 100 tables and booths for a health fair. Children could get a measles shot, or young adults could get an HIV test. Doctors and nurses would be present to diagnose some, treat a few, and give counsel to others. We watched youths from the high school program that is housed at All People’s playing volleyball. I crouched beside some three-year-olds who wanted to include me in their play.
        Saundra introduced us to staff directors of various programs, telling of my presence that night 40 years ago when Martin Luther King was killed. None had been born then, but they knew the story. We who remember the Watts riots and Martin Luther King during his lifetime are looked upon as really old. I was more impressed with her depth of understanding of each of the programs. As Director she coordinates the gathering of funds and monitors the distribution to the various programs. She was joyful in reporting a bequest that would allow health care payments for the 27 employed staff.
        The walls show awards and declarations of commendation from the City of Los Angeles, from Los Angeles County, from the State of California. Some are for All People’s in general. And some are for Saundra herself. Funding came mostly from churches in early days. Now the founding denomination no longer budgets for All People’s. The work is so important to Central Los Angeles that there is a wide base of funding from both the public and private sector. Individuals with knowledge of that program add what support they can.
        No one keeps a good record, but anecdotal reports indicate that many achieving adults credit All People’s with providing what they needed to take the step beyond what one guy used to call the “get-ho!”
        On that dark night 40 years ago I never dreamed that All People’s would become one of the brightest lights in Los Angeles. The dream that seemed shattered lived beyond the tears. The countless people who gave themselves in so many ways within that courageous community, and who are still giving, carry on the dream.
        No, I didn’t plan to be there because it was the anniversary of MLK’s death. It just happened. Such things are true “moments.” I’m glad I didn’t miss it. And I’m glad I’ve had this chance to tell of it.
─ Art Morgan, April 15, 2008