MORGAN'S MOMENT...
“Hey! Little bird…
         whatcha think you’re doin’
         building a nest in our kitchen?”
Not that we don’t like birds…
         but our outdoor summer kitchen
         is awfully busy and noisy.
But this little mama-to-be
         is singularly focused
         on establishing her nursery.
I marvel at her instinctual intelligence
         “knowing” without knowledge
         about her goal in life.
She does her nest-building 
         when we’re not looking…
         a darting shadow with moss in her beak.
Soon the nest is done…
         then time for eggs I suppose
          and full time nesting.
We’ll give what privacy we can
         without giving up our kitchen privileges
         or prior claim on her territory.
While with our scattered priorities
         we seek to find focus and purpose
        she does what she is born to do.
“Welcome to our kitchen, little bird…
         forgive our intrusion
         as you perform a holy miracle.”
— Art Morgan 
MOMENT MINISTRIES
June 8, 2001
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at  a-morgan@peak.org
FROM SUMMER HEADQUARTERS
Our two vehicle caravan arrived at the summer place on May 22. Our summer address:
             2412 N Herron Road (KPN)
             Lakebay, WA 98349
             (253) 884-2772
Our e-mail is the same and is read daily. We are listed in the Gig Harbor phone directory.
The sailboat was launched at high tide on the 23rd. The boat at anchor on the buoy out front is the sign to neighbors that summer is officially here. It is also a signal that the Morgan camp is open. In fact, we’ve had five guests in camp already.
I’m still directing camp, as I did each summer for 25 years in the church. I also used to take each age group for a day outing or overnight. There’s something about those kinds of experiences that people don’t forget. We’ve had more than 200 folks of all ages here for a day or a night or so over the past 23 years since I quit running church camps. We must still like it.
There are exceptions to our in camp schedule, but not many. We will have attended HS graduations for Lauren at West Albany, and Aram (Michael) at Ashland on June 6 and 8. In between Jean hosted the year-end party for former colleagues and staff from Inavale School.  We have also been invited to attend the 75th Anniversary of the Central Christian Church in Kelso on June 24. We’ll see. Then there’s the July 22 wedding for Jeff and Sara. We expect to spend the rest of the time here until we move out about September 10
PHOTOS ON THE WEB
Our Webmaster, Bill Gilbert, has added several groups of fairly recent photos. They are mostly of different people we know from blue sheet connections that we have seen during the past year. We don’t have everyone we have seen, but quite a few. The groupings include Easter 2001, Wintertour 2001, Summer 2000, At Home, and several weddings. Check it out if you are interested at http://www.moment-ministries.peak.org/
Also on the Web…there will be some electronic blue sheets, like those we did last year. This is for people who have nothing better to do in the summer than poke around on various web sites! 

the back page

THE TALE OF THE BROKEN TAPE
            A phone call from out of the past invited me to the June anniversary of the founding of the Kelso Central Christian Church. I had attended the 50th anniversary. Would I please attend the 75th?
            I’m really not much into attending church things anymore. Besides, I’ve been away from that place for almost 40 years. Although it had been my first church out of Seminary, where served for 7½ years, I couldn’t think of anyone there who would know me.
            The lady thought I might have some history to report that only I could give, since I was pastor during the construction of the “new” sanctuary. I tried to think of something of historical interest to anyone besides me.
            Then I thought of the tale of the broken tape.
            It happened this way. One day, after the foundations were poured and the walls well on their way toward completion, the construction superintendent took me aside. We were always conferring on details of the building. He was troubled:
            “I have a confession.” He paused, and I thought, “I’m not a Priest. What do I do with a confession?” He went on with his confession:
            “This building is going to be one inch short.”
            He paused, waiting for my reaction. I had no idea what he was talking about. One inch off the height?  Or off of the length?
            “The plans show for the sanctuary to be 80 feet long. It’s only going to be 79 feet, 11 inches.”
            Again he paused…”Unless you insist that I change it.”
            “This is what happened,” he continued. “The other day the long tape we use for big distances broke. The fellow who was using it just overlapped the tape and spliced it together. I didn’t notice it until I just now measured it and found the building was an inch short. That’s when I saw what had happened to my tape.”
            His confession was complete. Then he added the final, decisive, memorable words. “One inch will never be noticed and won’t make a bit of difference.”
            I agreed with him and decided not to risk this information on the Building Committee and Church Board.  They were famous for fighting for the last inch.
            I suppose that there are places where it would have made a difference. But in a church? One of the biggest tragedies of Christendom is its history of excommunicating or martyring folks with slight deviations from the “architect’s plan.” You don’t want to hear about all the hours of petty debate carried on in Christian assemblies over matters that won’t make a difference. Some people won and some people lost and who was “right?”
            In those days I was a “religious moderate,” which in that small town congregation made me a raging liberal. Some of those folks insisted on faith correctness (FC) to the last inch. But thankfully, more of them decided that my variations from their truth didn’t really matter. I stayed there 7½  good years.
            Another million years or so and nobody will be around to wonder at all the things we fight about. Actually, nobody will care in 100 years, or maybe 10 years. In truth, most folks don’t care at all. The builder had it right. One inch will never be noticed, and it won’t make a bit of difference.
— Art Morgan, June 2001