MORGAN'S
MOMENT...
Fix it or throw it away?
    a question I hate to face
    as a Depression Kid.
The guy at the counter
    had no hesitation…
    our printer was a throw away.
Something about labor costs
    costing us more
    than buying new.
I’d just been through this trauma
    with my computer
    when I gambled on a fix.
Re-cycling salves my conscience…
    As does donating old stuff
    To thrift shops.
I still spend hours
    fixing things others
    send to the land fill.
I always sing “Amazing Grace”
    that saves a wretched thing
    like this.
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
Greene and Ruth Fletcher in Great Falls. So I was more interested in Ivan Doig’s recent novel, “The Twelfth Man” which was set there.  I was also interested because it took place during WWII years when I was growing up in Seattle. More than that it had a section on the naval battles in the South Pacific, giving me flashbacks of stories my dad told from his time there on a destroyer. A well told story with interesting sub-plots and characters.
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
– November 6, 2009 –
    A MOMENT MINISTRIES production – Art Morgan
a-morgan@peak.org
PRITCHARD REPORT
We had previously reported that Paul and Mary were in Sydney, Australia where Mary was in the hospital. She was treated well enough to make the flight home. She is now scheduled for gall bladder surgery next week. We are happy to have them home!

IS MARRIAGE OVER-RATED?
One sure hot-button issue across this land has to do with the estate commonly called “marriage.” I generally think of it as a commitment to personal relationship. Most people think it has to do with the law and a government issued license.
At least half of those who go through the legal steps change their minds after several years, more or less, and decide that maybe they don’t want to be committed any more. There are sometimes good reasons.
When I read of campaigns called “In Defense of Marriage” and such, I think, “You’ve got to be kidding. Can you legalize commitment? Can you tell some people that their commitment is illegal?”
A whole generation of young adults between 18 and 30 are avoiding legalized commitment, as are increasing numbers of “senior citizens.” If they don’t get a license is their commitment illegal? They think “marriage” is over-rated. They also know the importance of commitment to intimacy.
And why wouldn’t you want everybody in a relationship to enjoy and practice commitment rather than promiscuity?
Those who take on raising of children owe the children the security that a legal commitment assumes. Maybe half the children in high school lack such parents.
Anyway, I was thinking random thoughts on this matter. What are yours?

PRE-CHRISTMAS SUNDAY BRUNCH
Barbara Ross and Joe Omelchuck
warmly encourage your presence for Moment Ministries
Christmas Season Brunch
At their historic home on the corner of 5th and Jefferson
460 SW Jefferson in Downtown Corvallis

SUNDAY DECEMBER 6 AT 10 A.M.
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A DOWNTOWN CHURCH?

         I remember laughing to myself during my first visit to Corvallis when those recruiting me said they wanted to be a “downtown church.” They had picked us up in Portland after our flight from Los Angeles.
         As we looked the town over I thought it was a nice little college town. It made me think of a suburb. The church was located on Central Park but I didn’t see anything to make me think “downtown.” I saw it as 10 miles from a freeway, 100 miles from a city and 1000 miles from the world.
         The congregation actually owned a building site on the north edge of town that would have been perfect for church growth. Their site on Central Park made sense if they were serious about doing what down town churches do. For some reason we left our challenging ministry near the heart of Los Angeles to help move the church toward their stated mission.
         We were the first meal site for the program now located at the Senior Center. We had the first community counseling center. Groups for parent and marriage training were started. Various self-help groups kept lights on at the church most nights of the week. We started two “contemporary” church services to add to the traditional service.
         I was reminded of that time, 40 years ago, when I arrived in Corvallis to succeed Dr George Reeves, as I was reading the Corvallis Gazette-Times. I usually read the “Support Group” notices every day. I’m not sure how many Alcoholics Anonymous groups meet there, but there are sometimes two or three a day. I see Narcotics Anonymous and have seen meetings for Sexual Addiction. There are others.
         The group re-did the kitchen that we first re-did 40 years ago, in order to take in the Stone Soup program for at least three days a week. They have been in the forefront of programs to shelter homeless people in the winter and provide a warming place during days when shelters are not open. Ask any of the men hanging around the riverfront and they will know where the Christian Church is and when they can go for a breakfast or meal.
         A “service fair” called “Project Homeless Connect” took place there a couple of weeks ago. It brought together government, non-profit and church providers of meals, housing, health and dental care screening, legal aid and more. There were hair cuts, bike repairs, reading glasses, blood tests for HIV and hepatitis and condoms. I noted that some churches that could never agree on creeds or doctrines were coming together to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. Praise Allah or whomever!
         Those outside would think that this is exactly what you should expect a church following Jesus would be expected to do. The inside truth is that many church folk are hung up on image and propriety and protection of property. It takes a minister who can deftly hold off opposition and live with criticism, along with a core of the congregation that embraces the policy of doing whatever is needed.
         This congregation, now led by Dr. John Evans for the past couple of decades, is doing what people now mostly gone, visualized many years ago. They have kept the vision alive and advanced it mightily.
         I don’t have close contact with my former church, but I read the papers. I laughed those many years ago when they talked about being a “Downtown Church” in Corvallis. I don’t laugh any more, but it makes me very happy.
─ Art Morgan, November 5, 2009