MOMENT MINISTRIES
Apr. 21, 2006

home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave. Corvallis, OR 97333;  541-753-3942;  email at a-morgan@peak.org
MORGAN'S MOMENT...
He's our “Associated Minister”
   assigned to the State of Washington
   and the rest of the world as needed.
We worked Campus Ministry at OSU
     then we conspired to legalize him
     for some ministerial functions.
He's garbed for a wedding
     I brokered for him to do
     for a family in my circle of care.
He was known as a Giant Killer
     on the team that beat
     O.J. Simpson and USC.
He blended Japanese with English
     poetically and memorably
     uniting two happy souls.
He's had previous experience
     including the first wedding
     in Seattle's Safeco Field.
By Moment Ministries standards
     our friend Don Whitney
     led a holy moment.
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
Two books completed are “Our Endangered Values,” an important book by Jimmy Carter about the threat of theocratic government and erosion of church and state as well as the dangers in fundamentalism.
The other book is “Dark Star Safari, Overland from Cairo to Capetown” by Paul Theroux. He is a keen observer of conditions and politics with some sharp words about the failings of aid programs   and the folly of religion. An eye-opening journey from one end of Africa to the other.


Don Whitney in kimono for the wedding of Naoyo Hosogai and Pat Nease at the amphitheater of the University of Washington, Bothell where Don is an Administrator.
Don's two years in Japan allowed him to use some Japanese language in the ceremony. The bride's mother from Japan, who speaks no English, appreciated it.
Don has studied at Claremont School of Theology as well as delving into Buddhism while in Japan. His unique service gave opportunity for meeting the needs of this bi-racial couple.
We have done weddings in which we included some Spanish. With his music background in French, German and Latin, no telling what Paul can do! What we are learning is that our culture is increasingly multi-racial and multi-religious, and that there is good in being able to affirm them equally.
As I look at our mailing list I note that there are a number of mixed religion, mixed nationality, and mixed race couples. It would be interesting to know how or whether the individual values are honored and how they are blended.

Marcus borg IN CORVALLIS is so famous nation-wide that he is more easily found almost anywhere other than Corvallis. So it is good news whenever we hear that he will lecture here where he has his base.
So we announce that he will be at the First Presbyterian Church this coming Tuesday, April 25. While his lecture title, “Holy Week and Empire,” may not sound like much, there's a lot to it of historic and current interest. I'm planning to be there. It starts at 7 p.m.

BOOKLETS SENT
The booklet of Thursday Night Prayers was sent with the last blue sheet. It is imperfect in many ways, with at least three known typo’s. See if you can find them.
There have been requests for extra copies. We think we have printed enough to cover such requests. Ask and you shall receive.

THURSDAY MOMENT AHEAD
The Thursday Moment on May 11 may be the last of this current season. We'd be happy to have you save the date.

A QUOTE FROM
WILLIAM SLOAN COFFIN, JR.
which works for earth day or any day.

“Let us dare to see that the survival unit for our time is no longer the individual nation, or an individual anything. The survival unit in our time and henceforth is the whole human race and it's environment.”                                     (“Credo,” p. 84)


                                                                                     (back page)
 
HE GAVE ME COURAGE
         We got back in town the Thursday evening before Easter. We had been out of town ─ out of state, or actually out of the country ─ for 10 days. After turning up the heat (62° seemed coolish after so many days in the 80’s), I checked the answering machine, my e-mail inbox, and the day's newspaper. Of all the many bits and pieces of news from all over the world, the one item that caused me to stop everything was a column about the death of William Sloan Coffin, Jr.
         It would be hard to find anyone who has been in the ministry very long, especially in the ministry from the days of Vietnam and Civil Rights activity, who doesn't know about Bill Coffin. I asked around in my book club if anyone had heard of him. Even in that un-churched group some knew of him.
         Checking my e-mail I found several messages plus some directives to web pages about Bill Coffin. When you get multiple messages about the same person it says something.
         Why were clergy in particular drawn to this man? One writer commented that “Bill Coffin gave me courage.” I thought about that a little. Then some more. You see, he was courageous himself. He came into the ministry out of military and CIA service. He was Chaplain at Yale during the tumultuous Civil Rights and Vietnam days. He was strongly outspoken in behalf of the Civil Rights movement and equally opposed to the Vietnam War. In a time when students protested against many things, including religion and church, the chapel was full whenever Bill Coffin spoke. Even those who disagreed with him were attracted.
         Though opposed by elite alumni and others important to the funding of Yale, he did not swerve from his stand which led him into the streets and sometimes to jail. He was not the wild-eyed prophet some might have expected. In fact his Christian based message and clear thinking and humorous presentation was anything but scattered. His lines came like bumper stickers. You could post them on your refrigerator. You might not ever forget them. Some that pop to mind: “What did Jesus have to say about homosexuality? ─ ─  ─Nothing!” Or this, “The United States doesn't have to lead the world; it first has to join it.” And this one at tax time, “The way we are cutting taxes for the wealthy, and cutting social programs for the poor, you'd think the greedy were needy and the needy were greedy.”
         You can find many of these aphorisms in his last book, “Credo.”
         Preachers who ever heard him speak always went away thinking, “That's really true. That really needed to be said. Maybe I should speak out like that.”
         The one who wrote about Coffin giving him courage says something I understand. It's easier, sometimes, to join a movement than to lead it. Once someone takes the first bold step in word or action, it seems more possible to do it yourself. I'm not sure that always happens, but it can. When we see prophets shot down, we think maybe that's not a good way to go. Many clergy are not in churches where they feel free to speak as Coffin spoke. I'm not sure he was free to do it, but he felt obligated to speak as a Christian out of the mind and heart of Jesus. And Coffin could do that. His vision of Christ as the model for compassionate action and fearless justice and peace as a method as well as an outcome drove him all his days.
         I last saw him when he spoke to an embarrassingly small crowd at Oregon State University. They didn't know who he was. He was trouping on, though slowed in body, but not mind, by advancing Parkinson's disease. He hit every hot button issue in America, fearlessly.
         When I read that article I had already intended to quote from Bill Coffin. I don't know why. I was going to use him as an example of how Easter isn't an immediate or easy “fix” for Palm Sunday. It came from a sermon he preached at the famed Riverside Church in New York City 10 days after his son died in a car accident. If you can, look him up on the Internet and look for that sermon. You won't forget it. Preaching it took courage and gave courage.
         I wonder if George W. Bush ever heard of Bill Coffin when he was at Yale. It doesn't seem likely. I am sure that he would have heard a very different Jesus from Coffin than the Jesus claimed by the evangelical theocrats he seems to be listening to now.
         So Coffin helped with my Easter sermon. I included a number of quotations from his book as well as his sermon at the time of his son's death.
         He gave courage. I can’t say for sure but there may have been quite a number of times, as I too lived through those (and these) tumultuous years, that what little courage I showed was inspired by him. I wish you courage too. 
                                ─ Art Morgan, After Easter, 2006