Ongoing Response to COVID-19
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-11-09
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Who will you serve this week?
What choices will you make?
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true friends;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
HOLY GOD, help us choose wisely,
and hear our thanks and praise that You have chosen us
by Your grace through your Son and the power of Your
Holy Spirit.
Amen.
And amen.
News
SAVE THE DATE: Join me for a PCUSA Poetry Slam! Sunday, November 15th.
https://www.
Check out our NEW website…firstpres.church. Same address…new look.
Men’s Bible Study Tuesdays 8 am
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
Grab a cup of coffee and your favorite sweet treat and stop in for a
Virtual Dessert Tuesday, November 10, 7 pm
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
Join us for Pickleball at 1:00 on Wednesdays. No experience necessary. Call Matt, Gary Peterson, Dave McNattin (Dave One), Dave Whitford (Dave Two), or Bill Stout for details.
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter):
A pastor asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night. ‘Yes, sir.’ the boy replied.
‘And, do you always say them in the morning, too?’ the pastor asked.
‘No sir,’ the boy replied. ‘I ain’t scared in the daytime.’
Good Word:
I Corinthians 12:13
“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
LET US PRAY: (THIS ONE IS WORTH HEARING AGAIN IN THESE DAYS.)
Lord God,
in this world where goodness and evil
continue to clash with each other,
instill in us, and in all your people,
discernment to see what is right,
faith to believe what is right,
and courage to do what is right.
Keep us aware of the subtlety of sin,
and preserve us, body, mind, and soul,
through the power of your Holy Spirit.
Forgive us our sins as you also
empower us to serve in your name. AMEN.
(From Stages on the Way/Wild Goose Publishing Worship Group)
Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
Read more...
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-11-06
Friday 6 November 2020
Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Sunday in the Park is this Sunday. Hessel Park, 11:00 a.m. Wear your mask. See you beneath the falling leaves…
* * *
A prayer:
Good and Gentle Grace/Frederick Ohler
O God, we want to sing You a new song
to be glad in You
to enjoy You—
to be moved
to feel
not to be bored to death
but to be excited to life.
Thank You for peace
and salvation
and today
just for today—
for all the gifts we overlook
that bear us grace – fully along;
for a night’s sleep
when body and soul can rest
and trust Your world to go on without us.
Thank You, God, for water that woke us up
for toothpaste that sweetened morning mouth
for the good lingering smell of soap
for getting the curlers out and the whiskers off
for the newspaper early there and the mail, late and urgent
for clothes on our back and warmth in our home
for cucumbers that are cool
and loves that are not
for our underwhelming merit
and Your overwhelming grace—
gift – ed
talent – ed
and en – abled.
We sing our appreciation—
for Eli Whitney
and Mahatma Gandhi
for Sarah and Abraham
and Eve and Adam
and all the overlooked saints and creators in our midst
for the uncountable fullness of Your providence
and for Your constancy.
We thank You
for this Freely given day
amen
* * *
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you. Be amazed. Tell somebody.
See you on Sunday, FirstPres.Live
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
* * *
PHOTO Challenge!
From your Nurture Team — Some of you really amaze me at your ability to recognize photos of church folks in their younger years! Amy Born was the first to recognize last week’s photo of Bruce Farthing. Way to go!
Here’s this week’s photo.
Visit http://fb.com/groups/
Please join in the fun! We would like you to select a photo from your younger years (grade school, high school or early adulthood). Photos need not be professional. Candid shots are welcome. Please send your photos to photos@
* * *
Grab a cup of coffee and your favorite sweet treat and join us for a “Virtual Dessert” Tuesday, November 10, 7 pm
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
* * *
What happens when a Muslim, Christian, and Jew take the stage? Good music from my friend David LaMotte’s band Abraham Jam:
A Muslim song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
A Christian song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
A Jewish song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Read more...
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-11-05
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
This just in: Matthew Santos, US Senator from Texas, narrowly won his bid for President of the United States in a tight race against California long-time Senator Arnie Vinick. And rumors are flying that Vinick, the Republican, will be tapped for Secretary of State. In the meantime, President Jed Bartlett is counting down the days to the inauguration and his return home to New Hampshire as a private citizen. End of term pardons may include that of his former communication director and speech writer Toby Sigler, convicted of leaking the existence of a secret military space shuttle used to rescue two Americans and one Russian in the disabled space station.
Some of you know that Rachel and I have been watching the television series The West Wing, and Santos (Jimmie Smits) and Vinick (Alan Alda) are fictional characters in a fictional election. One of the things Rachel and I often noted when watching this show (all 1,606-minutes of it) is how much politics now seem similar to twenty-years ago.
Psychiatrist Murray Bowen, pioneer of family emotional systems, suggested that emotional systems change only incrementally over generations. It’s hard to believe the topsy-turvy world of the last election cycle is a small thing in the larger scheme of things, and that changes born in these last days and weeks represent only incremental change. That might not, actually, be true, but according to Bowen’s theory, it is.
This notion helps me take a step back and think of the longer view, the bigger picture. Naturally, this gets me thinking about my faith. These words come to mind: Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock (Isaiah 26:4).
As I write this, I still don’t know who will win our very real election on Tuesday.
No matter who wins, God remains our rock, our holy comfort, our abiding hope.
Whew—Good news!
* * *
Daybreak in Alabama
by Langston Hughes
When I get to be a colored composer
I’m gonna write me some music about
Daybreak in Alabama
And I’m gonna put the purtiest songs in it
Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist
And falling out of heaven like soft dew
I’m gonna put some tall tall trees in it
And the scent of pine needles
And the smell of red clay after rain
And long red necks
And poppy colored faces
And big brown arms
And the field daisy eyes
Of black and white black white black people
And I’m gonna put white hands
And black hands and brown and yellow hands
And red clay earth hands in it
Touching everybody with kind fingers
Touching each other natural as dew
In that dawn of music when I
Get to be a colored composer
And write about daybreak
In Alabama.
* * *
Richard Rohr is a Franciscan Friar. Here’s an interesting essay about letting go of the things that hold us back and keep us down, the encumbrances that keep us from more deeply loving and living. Read slowly:
https://email.cac.org/t/
News
The Covid-19 Response Team met last night. We are curtailing face to face alternative worship for two weeks due to the spike of infections in region 6. The team has set parameters and is in process of pulling together a written statement. I hope to share that early next week. These last ten days have been a roller coaster.
* * *
SUNDAY IN THE PARK is this Sunday at Hessel at 11:00. If you feel safe to attend, please do. Physical distancing, masks, proper check-in/contact tracing will be operative. Bringing your own folding chair is optional. It’s supposed to be 73-degrees and sunny. WOW!
* * *
Grab a cup of coffee and your favorite sweet treat and join us Tuesday, November 10, at 7 pm for a “Virtual Dessert”.
* * *
SAVE THE DATE: Join me for a PCUSA Poetry Slam! Sunday, November 15th.
https://www.
* * *
Join us for Pickleball at 1:00 on Wednesdays. No experience necessary. Call Matt, Gary Peterson, Dave McNattin (Dave One), Dave Whitford (Dave Two), or Bill Stout for details.
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter):
Some Covid one-liners:
Why do they call it the novel coronavirus? It’s a long story.
The World Health Organization has announced that dogs cannot contract Covid-19. Dogs previously held in quarantine can now be released. To be clear, WHO let the dogs out.
I ran out of toilet paper and had to start using old newspapers. Times are rough.
(I think Dave Hunter will like this one:) So many coronavirus jokes out there, it’s a pundemic.
Good Word:
Joshua 24:14-15
14″Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
LET US PRAY: (THIS ONE IS WORTH HEARING AGAIN IN THESE DAYS.)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console,
To be understood, as to understand,
To be loved, as to love,
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
— St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
Read more...
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-11-04
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Several of you have told me that October is the most beautiful month in Champaign. Perhaps, but these first few days of November have been glorious. Rachel and I took the Hessel Park tree walk and now know the difference between a Douglas Fir and a White Pine. (https://champaignparks.com/
Nature has been a respite for me from pandemic and election news. I’ll say more in future emails. For now, important commentary from Robert Frost:
Nothing Gold Can Stay
by Robert Frost
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
News
The Covid-19 Response Team meets tonight to discuss how or if to move forward with our alternative face-to-face worship services. Please pray for them.
* * *
Join us tonight at 7 pm for our Mid-Week Gathering via Zoom…
* * *
SUNDAY IN THE PARK is this Sunday at Hessel at 11:00. If you feel safe to attend, please do. Physical distancing, masks, proper check-in/contact tracing will be operative. Bringing your own folding chair is optional.
* * *
Nurture Team is inviting you to a virtual dessert on Tuesday, November 10, at 7 pm. Grab a cup of coffee and your favorite and…
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
* * *
I haven’t heard from many of you about this. Let me try again. KITCHEN, KITCHEN: What is your vision for our new kitchen? After Covid, should we have weekly Sunday brunches? Monthly dinners? Community meals? Sunday Night Jazz? What ministry awaits us? Ideas? Please be in touch with Gary Peterson (or me) with thoughts. Thanks.
* * *
SAVE THE DATE: Join me for a PCUSA Poetry Slam! Sunday, November 15th.
https://www.
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter):
Some Covid one-liners:
Now is not the right time to surround yourself with positive people.
The grocery stores in France look like tornadoes hit them. All that’s left is de brie.
What do you call panic-buying of sausage and cheese in Germany? The Wurst Kase scenario
Good Word:
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-15
1Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 2And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. 3aThen I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.
14″Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
LET US PRAY:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console,
To be understood, as to understand,
To be loved, as to love,
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
— St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226)
Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
Read more...
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-11-03
 The Heart of Mission I began this morning praying for our country, praying that the election today goes as the prophet Micah recommends with “justice, mercy and spiritual humility;” my paraphrase. Thank you for praying with me throughout the day and the coming weeks of transition. Social scientists have declared the “habits of our hearts” are important to the success of our democracy. (Bellah, et al., Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life, 1985 citing Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1969) May our character which is engrafted to the character of Christ through our baptism betray our allegiance today. May we be filled with the fruits of the Spirit, however individually expressed they may be: 22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:22-26, NRSV) Peace,
Faith in Action – Before the pandemic hit in March, over 700 people gathered at the Statehouse in Springfield to advocate for clean energy jobs. Now, it’s almost November and our policymakers in Illinois have yet to take action on climate change. We have one more opportunity when policymakers meet during Veto Session starting November 17th. Register for the first ever Virtual Advocacy Day on November 12 to tell our legislators we need them to take action on climate change by creating equitable clean energy jobs. Register today to hold your State Representative and State Senator accountable. Faith in Place also has a wealth of free webinars check them out here. Presbyterian Border Ministry – For those of you who liked Frontera de Cristo’s “Coffee, Conversation and Compassion” – Registration for the 2020 Presbyterian Border Region Outreach (PBRO) event, “Gospel Hospitality & the Kingdom of God,” is now open! This online event will be hosted by the ministry site Pasos de Fe y Esperanza in Ciudad Juárez, and presented through Zoom. The conference begins on Friday, November 6 and will conclude with morning worship on Sunday, November 8. |
||
| Attachments: |
Read more...
