MORGAN'S MOMENT...
“Muslims are all alike…”
      a caller declared on talk radio…
      identifying himself as “Christian.”
I wondered how many agreed…
      hoping not many…
      fearing too many.
You’ve already answered…
      “All Christians are alike?”
      “Baptists…Catholics…
       Buddhists….””
Absurd.
Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson
      both raised as Disciples of Christ
      (not a cult but a denomination).
George Bush and Bill Clinton
      both Methodists
      at least they claim.
A Jimmy Carter kind of Baptist
      is far different from Jerry Falwell
      (thank God, I say!)
I got to laughing at the strange reunions
      when various religious groups
      meet in their corners of heaven.
All of which makes us despair
      that religions offer any hope
      of helping reconcile this world.
I hope that the Muslim world
      doesn’t think that Americans
      and Christians are all alike!
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
Thanks to all who send book suggestions. Many are on our waiting list. Two are currently being read, but are unfinished. My reading is mostly done on the sailboat. Evening reading is limited by my lack of ability to stay awake after a day outdoors.
One friend suggested putting a list of books I have “written up” so people might ask for an e-mail attachment of my thoughts. Among recent book summaries are:
      Our Endangered Values - Jimmy Carter
      The Great Transformation - Karen Armstrong
      Why God Won’t Go Away - Andrew Newberg
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
June 12, 2006
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org
A BONUS BLUE SHEET
     We were back in Corvallis for Grace’s HS graduation, making a mailing possible. Quite a few of you are receiving a summer e-mail version via attachment. I don’t know how well this is working, but there have been a surprising number of replies.
     The good part of the e-mail version is that it allows for a more immediate response, which I appreciate. I suppose it allows those who don’t have time, to simply delete.
     The bad parts include the fact that a number do not have e-mail available. I don’t know what to say. Another complaint is that readers tend to scan e-mail and think maybe they’ll come back to it later. Some like a hard copy in hand but don’t have any blue paper. “How can you have a blue sheet on white paper?” asks one reader.
     There have been two e-mail “mailings,” essentially the equivalent of the usual back page.
     If there are any who have e-mail and want on to this summer list, let me know. It’s easy for me to do
BLOGGING
     Blogging is big in the religion business. Conservative Baptists are reporting rebellion in the trenches stirred by non-system bloggers. This is picking up momentum everywhere. Anyone can have an opinion and input. Churches and denominations can no longer control what is said or thought within a particular congregation or denomination.
     The trouble with blogging is that there is no telling between fact and fiction. It’s the DaVinci code syndrome. It can sound true, but is it?
     Most don’t have time for it, but apparently millions do. So get used to it. It is making participants out of people who have never previously said anything.
SUMMER SO FAR
     We are getting things in order at our beach place. Lots of wood has been cut up and split with more to do. It’s early in the season for many visitors. Some are threatening, with only three fairly firm dates set. The summer goes so fast for everyone. We think there is time to do it all, then all of the sudden the summer’s gone.
FINAL NOTES
     Paul and Mary joined Grace and family for a Sunday graduation party. He sang the National Anthem for the collegiate regional playoffs later in the afternoon…Jean and Linda returned to nearby Inavale elementary school (where both have taught for many years and from which Jean retired 10 years ago) for a closing down party. A sad/fun gathering
     Grace sang at the Unitarian Church with her group, “The Dots”. She thought it was strange to sing in a church, “but alright.” She didn’t know how it happened…Ross and Shirley Warren sent greetings from Costa Rica…Terry and Marlene Lorenzen are moving from Sun River to a new home in Bend. We’ll mail this Monday and see you on email.
 
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ONE LIFE ALONE
One man’s hands can’t tear a prison down; Two men’s hands can’t tear a prison down
But if two and two and fifty make a million, We’ll see that day come ‘round.
(an Alex Comfort and Pete Seeger song)

      One of my late spring, early summer activities for the past five or six years has been participating in the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society. When at our summer place we walk in nearby Gig Harbor on the Tide’s Tavern Team. Don’t ask me how. It just happened.
      Participation has led to some interesting “moment” friendships. And some quite moving experiences. As part of the event there is always some dignitary called upon for remarks directed toward the survivors group as well as other participants. This year the remarks were spoken by Dr. Gordon Klatt, a colorectal physician. He was a man I wanted to hear and meet 

Dr. Gordon Klatt and Art
23 years ago, he was moved to make an effort to raise more money for cancer research. In those years the survival rate was about 40%. He wanted better results. So he decided to walk around the track at the University of Puget Sound for 24 hours raising money for the American Cancer Society. He raised $27,000, which was pretty good for one man alone.
      The next year he got some others to join him. Year by year the numbers grew along with money for the American Cancer Society. The walk outgrew Tacoma and spread to nearby towns, then to other states, onward to many other countries. If you haven’t walked in a Relay for Life event, you’ve probably been invited to contribute to one of the teams of walkers.
      The income from these events is almost beyond belief. Dr. Klatt said that the 23 year’s total has surpassed two billion dollars. “That’s spelled with a ‘B’.” He went on to say that during that period of time the survival rate has increased from 40% to 60%, largely because of results from cancer research funded by the American Cancer Society.
      Relay for Life is the largest single fund raising event in the world, started by this one physician who walked all night and all day all alone 23 years ago. I didn’t have much to say except, “I just wanted to shake your hand and say thank you.”
      I will walk in 3 Relay for Life events this year. I’ve already done two of them. At the Corvallis event I sat with survivors who were sharing a post-walk meal provided by the ACS. Next to me was a 10-year survivor, now a housemother at Oregon State University. Across the table was a student who asked each person what kind of cancer they were surviving. She told her own story of discovering cancer while she was a junior in high school. The two ladies exchanged experiences of radiation and chemo-therapy treatments, of losing hair, and the joy and surprise as hair grew back different from what it was. It was an almost joyful conversation with the laughter of life. Both of them believed that they were alive because of newer treatments not available 20 years earlier. They celebrated the results of cancer research.
      Dr. Klatt gets sentimental hearing such stories which he does over and over. But he is still crusading, not satisfied with 60% success. He urged walkers in the Relay to walk until cancer has been defeated. Maybe there can be a victory walk in 10 years, or maybe 15. Until then we are to keep on walking.
      If you can’t start a great movement, at least you can join one.
─ Art Morgan, June 12, 2006