MORGAN'S MOMENT...
“OK, you two work it out.”
And so two elementary students
     worked out a playground dispute
     with Conflict Resolution.
They actually teach it
     in some schools…
     and it works.
I thought
     as everyone must think
     if kids can do it why not everyone?
How many marriages crash
     for lack of elementary skills
     that even children are learning?
Why, we cry
     aren't our diplomats
     skilled at Conflict Resolution?
The playground bully always wins
      by the right of might
      and willful stubbornness.
The bully is both hated and feared
      and becomes the ultimate enemy
      everyone wants brought down.
If one must resort to biblical mandate
       it can be found in Jesus
       who urged conflict resolution.
When war clouds gather
        let's find those children
        to show us how to avoid conflict.
— Art Morgan 


BOOK CORNER
Marcus Borg’s and John Dominic Crossan’s “The Last Week ─ A day-by-day Account of Jesus’ Final Week in Jerusalem” came too late to help my Easter remarks, but early enough for me to read before hearing Borg’s talk about the book. I noticed quite a few lay people buying the book, so it has wider appeal than just to clergy.
“Misquoting Jesus ─ The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why,”  by Bart Ehrman, is a great compilation of the history of how the Bible came to be. It will bring clergy up to date and be an eye-opener to those who assume the Bible on their table is an accurate report of Christian beginnings.
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
May 1, 2006
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org
MISCELLANEOUS MOMENTS…
     Lots of big things in town last week…including the Marcus Borg Lecture, The Spring Creek/Grass Roots concert of music and ideas with Kathleen Dean Moore and David James Duncan, plus the annual appearance of folk singer and story teller, John McCutcheon. All had good crowds, but no crowd was larger than the one present for Paul Pritchard’s singing of the national anthem at OSU’s spring football game. All this on top of the David Broder lecture the week before. And these were only the few we were able to attend.
    You get a feel of the pulse of a community by attending such events, especially if you notice who's in the crowd. As an increasingly “mature citizen” I can’t help but notice ages. The Broder and Borg lectures tended toward the more “mature” audience, possibly even exceeding the “boomers.” The Spring Hill Project/Grass Roots program and the McCutcheon concert were definitely dominated by the “boomers.” In fact, at one of the concerts I saw only a handful of people even my age in a crowd of well over 200. I wonder whether younger people are more passionate about the natural world and future of life on this planet.
     The response to David James Duncan showed me again that  people out there are interested in deeper probing (and even criticism) of religious practice, and open to spiritual values. His book “God Laughs and Plays: Churchless Sermons in Response to Preachments of the Fundamentalist Right” is on my reading table as we speak. (Right after Karen Anderson's “The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions”) I thought that his rather irreverent sounding talk was about as good a Jesus sermon as I have heard. Maybe the church crowd would change to a younger mix were concerns of nature, peace, justice and the core values of Jesus spoken for those who are turned off with what is passed off as Christianity.
     A call from Ed Faxon in California asking for resources for his daughter's wedding reminded me that one of the items Bill Gilbert has included on our web page is a section on weddings. If you chase it down there is a basic wedding planning guide that we use. It's not complete or up to date, but it's there. (Some will remember Ed from days in Corvallis long years ago. He was ordained in the Christian Church when I was there).
     Other events of interest to some who know them…Dr. Mercedes Altizer is being married this coming Saturday in Portland…A lectureship in the name of Dr. Tom McCormick in tribute to his many years as faculty member at the University of Washington School of Medicine will be inaugurated on the weekend of May 7 and 8 in Seattle. Tom has been invited to give the first lecture on the subject of medical ethics.

THURSDAY NIGHT MOMENT FOR MAY
May 11
Gather anytime after 6. We potluck beginning at 6:30
Our concluding “Moment” of this season

 
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BILL THE BREAD MAN
      I've pretty much done away with Sunday rituals. There are people who seem to like their religion ritualized. It's fine for them. I won't judge.
      But I do have one Sunday ritual. It's the day when I buy bread.
      We don't actually eat much bread, but what bread we do eat is special. It's baked by Bill. I think it takes a special baker to bake special bread, and Bill is special.
      I should say that the reason I buy bread on Sunday is because that's one of the only two days he's open. The other day is Thursday. We always buy a loaf of his bread for our Thursday night Moment potlucks.
      It's a different kind of experience buying bread right out of the oven. In fact, his shop is sort of an extension of his oven. It's very warm in there. It is not a store as stores go. You are right in Bill's kitchen the moment you enter the door from the street.
      He always lists available bread on a chalk board. It's all organic of course. Some of it is yeast free. He avoids white flour and sugar as much as he can. They are two of the body's poisons. I almost always choose a number 4 or 5, the densest whole wheat on his list. I hold up 4 fingers or five and he takes a loaf off the rack. The bread I want usually comes out of the oven about 4:00, so it's warm when I get there at 4:30 or 5:00.
      Bill doesn't have a cash register. Just a cigar box. He doesn't handle anyone's money. Customers pay the listed amount and make their own change out of the box. He keeps working, talking as he does so. He seems more interested in baking bread and talking with his friends than in taking in money. It's definitely a one man, low overhead operation.
      Another thing about Bill is his feeling about the world. He loves it. I've seen him go outside and just look up at the sky. Not that he doesn't get outdoors enough. His home is a good five miles from the bakery. He commutes on a bicycle. He has a trailer on his bike so he can carry bread for delivery to the Co-op in town. He laughs at the rest of us worrying about the price of gas. He's got his own energy policy. He thinks that if a few more Americans would do as he does there wouldn't be an oil crisis and not as much pollution and no war in Iraq. He worries that the same policy will lead us into Iran. It hurts him to think that people are made sick and die from preventable causes. His almost continual smile turns to a serious frown.
      He takes summers off from work. He has relatives in the mid-west, somewhere along the Mississippi. Guess what? He rides his bike when he goes. He loves it.
      His home in town is close against the Mary's River which flows into the nearby Willamette. He talks of clear nights when he shoves his kayak into the river, paddling to the confluence of the two rivers five times a week. He likes the quiet of the night air and the peace of the river.
      Bill is a thoughtful person. There is something about making bread that lends itself to thinking. I wonder whether people needed as much therapy in days when they made their own bread and did their own baking. There's time for thinking and wondering and wisdom. There is time for working on problems and feelings and ideas. Time for sorting things out. Bill comes out happy ─ most of the time. Sometimes thinking about what people are doing to the world he loves for sake of profit makes him pretty angry.
      Much has been said about bread. It plays a part in religious life, especially in Christianity. It is a powerful metaphor for the essence of life. Clues in the Bible tell us that Jesus knew about yeast and grain and bread making. He was known for breaking and dividing bread. He is quoted as saying, “I am the bread of life.” He surely meant organic, whole wheat, because it's best for you. He multiplied loaves and urged his followers to multiply loaves to feed the hungry of the world. He shared the bread and with it himself, something like Bill does.
      Well, Bill's not Jesus or in the Jesus business. But he passes out bread and when we break it at home we remember that it came from someone who loves the world and lives in it in ways to make it wholesome for others. It's 4:45 on Sunday as I write this. I'm going to shut down now and do my Sunday ritual. I'm going to Bill the bread maker for my weekly loaf of whole wheat bread.
      (Later. I'm back now. It's 5:30. I forgot my wallet, but it was OK. I got my warm bread and Bill said I could pay next time I came in. No interest. Another reason to love Bill the bread man!)
─ Art Morgan, April 30, 2006