MORGAN'S MOMENT...
“What do you think about
      Intelligent Design?”
In 25 lines or less?
I'm all for it.
I mean…
     who wouldn't be in favor
     of anything intelligent?
You have to wonder though
      what's so intelligent
      about cancer?
Or what's so intelligent
      about population so large
      that millions starve?
What's so intelligent
      about the human species
      destroying life on earth?
Not that I'm not amazed
      at the endless wonder
      of life's intricacies.
If there is intelligent design
       I’d have to say the designer
       is still practicing.
There's more hope I think
       in life as evolving process
       rather than finished design.
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
Science Fiction has never attracted me, but one was recommended that I have read. “The Dispossessed,” by Ursula K. LeGuin. Strange names impede my reading progress and understanding, but I work through them.
The main character, for instance is named, “Chevek.” He leaves his isolationist and anarchic planet (Anarres) to live on the mother planet (Urras). The story is a meeting of ideas, ideals, and cultures. It is full of big questions and issues that speak to our day (though the book was written in 1974.)
Social and political issues, nationalism, materialism and the place of women in society are among the topics. It made me think.
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
Nov. 18, 2005
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org

THE GIVING SEASON
'Tis the season when fund raisers must solicit most of their annual funds. The envelopes and calls are coming daily. We have a pile of envelopes with checks ready to go in the mail right now.
Being a fund raiser must be an awful job. Is there any call we hate to receive more than that of someone wanted us to give money? How many rejections must a caller get before someone makes a gift?
We never give by telephone, which causes me a bit of heartache, because the callers are often so nice. They may be calling from one of our schools (we made the mistake of getting degrees from five!). They have students calling alumni. They are taught to get some kind of promise, but we don't promise.
The other day someone called from one of the causes that we make a major donation to every year. He wanted to thank us, he said, surely hoping we would give again. I wouldn't commit to anything except to say that his cause was at the top of our list. Because I didn't want him getting discouraged I talked a bit about the difficulty of fund raising calls. He opened up on the subject and while admitting that it's sometimes discouraging, he feels rewarded by people who respond. Besides, he said, the cause is so important and valuable. He wouldn't give up easily. I decided that the least I could do to encourage him, other than giving a million $ which I couldn't, was offer encouragement.
I believe that encouragement is the gift that keeps on giving. If you encourage someone who is doing something you believe in, it keeps that person going. The person moves ahead to raise more money than you could possibly give.
I try to remember when I get unwanted calls, that when the caller represents a cause I care about, at least to offer encouragement.

A WORD TO MOMENT PEOPLE
I know that many do not participate in a church and are not subject to the weekly appeals for disciplined giving. Since my own group does not have to pay salaries or building costs, or contribute to other overhead causes of a faith community, my hope is that disciplined giving be shared all the more abundantly among the many worthy causes, both in our local community and in the wider world.
The decision to give to others is a value based statement about who we are and what we believe and stand for. Can we really do Thanksgiving without the giving?
 
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THANKSGIVING ANYWAY 
This picture was taken on Steptoe Butte, high over the Palouse Hills of Eastern Washington. I found a “pulpit” there with this photo as a result.
       Like lots of my preaching, it seems like there's nobody out there to listen.
       Writing is something of the same thing, except that I think I get more responses from writing than preaching. As I stood there looking over miles and miles of nothing except rolling hills and the ghosts of thousands of years of those who must have looked upon this lone spire as a sacred space, I wondered what I would want to say.
       I came on some words in Psalm 137 (“Psalms Now” version by Leslie Brand) that I would like to have put out there into the wind:
    How grateful we are, O God
        for our great country
        for the blessings You lavish upon our Land!
    How concerned we are, O god,
        that our very nation may become our god
        and that we worship the gifts
        rather than the giver.
    Is it possible, O God,
        that our laws may circumvent your will?
        that our freedom may place chains on others?
        that our wealth impoverish someone?
        that our power may come
            by way of anther's weakness?
        that our enemies may be those
            who are obedient to You?
    Dare we pray, O God
          that You take away those things that come
            between us and you?
        that You raise up men who will oppose
            those institutions and those citizens
                who carelessly, even unconsciously,
            equate patriotism with allegiance to You?
    We do pray, O God,
        that our nation be restored to Your objectives
        and that Your children who abide in this land
        dedicate their lives to You and Your purposes.
       Since this translation was done in 1973, I thought maybe people wouldn't accuse me of using Thanksgiving as an opportunity for a political statement.
       Thanksgiving is a troubling day if you think. As I was driving home today, across a beautiful valley near our home in Oregon, I thought of the Calapooia Nation that once lived here, decimated by small pox brought in by my European ancestors. Are any of our benefits free from loss by another? Who can honestly say that we have earned all our blessings? And who would dare say that what we have is because God has chosen us above others?
        For me, Thanksgiving is for being, not having. The wonder and mystery of life and my place in it is such a surprising thing. Whether by some sort of design or by natural evolution, it is amazing that there is life and that I am alive enough to know of it. Who is alive that cannot be thankful?
 — Art Morgan, Thanksgiving, 2005