Ongoing Response to COVID-19

Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-02-03

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2021
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Friends,
 
In-person worship will begin February 21. See the announcement below.
Book study on race. See the announcement below.
Certificate for $1 million. See announcement below.
 
* * *
 
This essay is from Bill McLean, presbyter for congregation care of our presbytery:
 
When will things go back to normal? This question is being asked a lot lately. If you type the phrase “returning to normal” in Google it takes 0.56 seconds to return about 390,000,000 results. The top three results are:
· “Coronavirus variant dampens prospects for return to normal …” The Harvard Gazette
· “Coronavirus In 2021 And Beyond: When Will Life Return to …” WBUR NPR Boston
· “COVID-19: we will not be returning to the old normal – The …” The Lancet
The current pandemic is not the first time that this question has been asked. After major events or tragedies, it is common to want things to return to how they used to be. Yet, things have changed and will never be exactly as they were pre-pandemic. Much like things changed after 9/11 and we adjusted to a new normal. Or earlier after both World Wars, things changed and adjustments were made.
 
The transition is not always smooth because there will be missteps and wrong turns along the way as well as efforts to slow or block the change. Yet, as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus is credited with saying, “You could not step twice into the same river.” As the water flows, as time flows, as events happen, the world and each of us is changed. It is not possible to go back to the way things used to be.
 
Which provides us with a powerful opportunity to build on what we have learned during the pandemic and combine it with what was successful before the pandemic. While also empowering us to let go of things that prevent us from living fully in the world around us.
 
This is seen in the plans to have more meetings happen virtually to reduce driving time, impact on the environment, and personal wear & tear. We are also continuing to provide opportunities for fellowship and interaction outside of meetings, both virtually and eventually in person as well.
 
Congregations are living this out as they continue to worship virtually even as some have begun to experiment with options for safely returning to in person worship services. It is maintaining the links that have been made with the homebound, those who have moved away, and those not able to physically be in the sanctuary for worship while creating opportunities for those who can safely be in the same place.
 
What things from the pandemic response will you be continuing in the weeks and months ahead? What things from before the pandemic will you be letting go of so that you can be present in the world around you?
 
As we adjust to the changing world around us, let us remember that we are not alone. God is with us, guiding us, and supporting us. And may the peace of Christ be with you in this season of change.
 
Grace and peace,

Bill

Rev. William “Bill” McLean, II
Presbyter for Congregational Care
Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois
 
* * *
 
What do these folk have in common? Be in touch with me. The winner gets a free ice cream Sunday from the Custard Cup.
 

  •       Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, 
  •       the musical genius Ludwig von Beethoven, 
  •       the football quarterback Terry Bradshaw, 
  •       Winston Churchill, 
  •       the singer Judy Collins, 
  •       Monica Seles the tennis pro,
  •       Abraham Lincoln. 

* * *

News
 
After careful discussion and prayerful deliberation, the COVID-19 team and the Session have recommended that we resume limited in-person weekly worship on the First Sunday of Lent, February 21st at 10:15 a.m.  
 
For those of you who feel safe to attend, please pre-register by calling the church office at 217.356.7238. Registration will run from Monday morning to Thursday noon the week before each service. (We are preregistering not only as a means of contact-tracing, but also to keep attendance at or under fifty [50] people, including worship leaders and ushers. That is the limit prescribed by state public health guidelines.) 
 
Remember, your Session is doing everything it can to keep everyone safe during this season of pandemic. While the end may be in sight with local and statewide numbers trending downward, not everyone is vaccinated yet and Covid-19 is still deadly. Some experts guess our nationwide death toll due to Covid may total over 600,000 by later this Spring.
 
The best way to safeguard against getting Covid is to limit one’s exposure to it and to get vaccinated; while we have prepared as safe a worship environment as possible, and all participants will be required to check in, wear masks at all times, and sit at a distance of six feet from other families, we cannot guarantee that somebody won’t get sick. Those who come to worship come at their own risk.
 
These in-person services will be, essentially, services of welcome, scripture, prayer, and preaching. These brief—40-minutes, or less—services will include no spoken liturgy, no congregational singing, and no choir. The preacher will speak from behind a plexiglass barrier. There will be no indoor fellowship, and no coffee or food service before or after the service.
 
This may not sound like a very welcoming or, even, friendly invitation, does it? You know what I mean. So, make wise decisions for you and your family, stay away if you are high risk or don’t feel well, and know that I look forward to “seeing” some of you online at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday (FirstPres.Live), and others of you face to face at 10:15 a.m. 
 
God is good.
 
Matt Matthews
 
 
* * *
 
BOOK STUDY!  You are invited to a congregation-wide four session book study on race.

  • WHAT? Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World, 2015). A father talks to his fifteen-year-old son about the realities of inhabiting a black body.
  • WHEN?  Thursdays, February 18 and 25 and March 4 and 11 at 11:00am to 12:00 noon. 
  • HOW? Sign up by emailing or calling Patty Farthing in the church office. We will meet on-line via Zoom. 217.356.7238 /  Patty@firstpres.church . Borrow books from our public library in paper, digital or audio form. To order through the church request copy by February 10 and transmit check to Patty.
  • WHO? Everyone in our congregation and community is invited. Pastor Matt Matthews will facilitate. Our Compassion, Peace, and Justice Committee/ Spiritual Formation Committee will host.             
  • WHY? Jesus asks us to love “the other. A first step is listening to understand “the other”.

* * *

Join us tonight for our midweek gathering at 7 pm…
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

* * *

The Annual Meeting of the Congregation will be held Sunday, February 14, at 10 am.  Watch for the zoom link in next week’s mailers.

* * * 
 
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter): 
 
Two more from Bill Marble:
 
A friend of mine doesn’t pay his exorcist. He got repossessed. 
 
My friend wants to become an archaeologist, but I’m trying to put him off. I’m convinced his life will be in ruins. 
 
* * *
 
Good Word: 
 
Colossians 3:11b       [T]here is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

LET US PRAY (THIS IS A GREAT PRAYER): 
 
A poem from Linda Peterson. It’s a modern prayer, a contemporary psalm. Send me yours.
 
Looking Up/January 28, 2021
 
High on the tops of the trees cling shimmering crystals
The naked branches also bathed in sunlight
Radiating the warmth of healing balm
Lifting spirits to soar within the heavens
Peace and joy overcome us with the passing of dreary darkness
The heaviness is lifted as the playful smile returns
Looking up with thankfulness.
  
* * *
 
Much, much love to you all.
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church 
 
(There is no certificate for $1 million. Thanks for looking.)


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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-02-02

   
                                                       


  


Agua Prieta
 
The Heart of Mission
February 2, 2021
 
The Community Mission Deacons met last week and welcomed their new deacons on board and set their giving priorities. The big event locally on our horizon is the CU at Home One Winter Night THIS WEEK, Friday Feb. 5. Pay attention to the local news which is covering it and keep them in your prayers. People all around town will be sleeping in boxes to create awareness of our friends without an address. Matt and I sent a video to them in support of all they do for our community.
 
Our Mission Team will meet with World Mission and Community Mission Deacons for an educational zoom retreat on Feb. 9 at 4:30pm.
 
Keep in your prayers our friends at S.A.F.E. House. Members there have been fighting the COVID 19 virus.
 
If you are looking for some hands on mission work to do, the kitchen committee is looking for people to put the kitchen back together. We can hardly wait to use it! Contact Gary Peterson.
 
Friends of PEB in Pakistan’s introduced their new Executive Director Laurie Gift Harris in December.

She was able to zoom with our Pakistan group and Veda Gill during one of our recent Wednesdays. We welcome her energy and experience with non-profits!
 
 
The CEO of Opportunity International, Atul Tandon, wrote on what we learned from 2020 and what we can look forward to in 2021. It is a terrific assessment of the devastation the pandemic has brought to the poorest of humanity but also the resilience of humanity.
 
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&zx=jw11qafxa7vu#inbox/FMfcgxwLsJwTDdrqWHTPgzfSfjVFSSnG
 
Two quotes he shared from J.R.R. Tolkien seemed especially profound for our time:
 
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
 
And
 
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
 
The Cuba Steering Committee has been planning the CUBA Forum, Cuba Sunday and the Two Step Dance, May 1 and May 2. Save those dates! And, save these dates for the CPN Virtual Gathering: September 24 and 25, 2021. Those of us who attended by zoom last year saw many friends from Cuba and other parts of the United States who we know and love. Since we cannot travel, this is the next best thing.
 
Frontera de Cristo sent a new newsletter introducing their new conversations dates for February. Included was a video talking about their coffee coop – Café Justo.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9wmMSv3SoY&index=1&list=PLIF2Qii5YwBBKzsd8pneH3Y8b7l4Muhyr
 
The photo at the top of today’s newsletter is from Frontera de Cristo in Aqua Prieta and shows how the coffee orders (and our Raindrop Offering last year) helped provide bags of groceries to families there.
 

 
 
The PC(USA) is announcing Advocacy Days. https://advocacydays.org/  Don’t forget our denomination has activities and mission opportunities going on all the time outside of our local congregation. We are a connectional church filled with diversity and far reaching arms.
 

 
The United Way of Illinois is doing a 21-week Equity Challenge. This week’s focus is “Understanding and Reflecting on Bias.”  They shared a PBS video looking at racial bias in millennials., https://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/daily-videos/how-unconscious-race-bias-affects-millennials/
 
And, in a University News, June 4, 2020 interview by Craig Chamberlain with U of I Professor Travis Dixon, whose research deals with the prevalence and impact of racial and other stereotypes in the mass media, he notes,
 
“Society, including the media, keeps teaching us to degrade one another through stereotypes – just like going outside and engaging in physical activity can make us dirty. We must continuously “bathe” ourselves in positive intergroup contact, diverse experiences and mindfulness to make us cleaner.” https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/809383
 
I thought, “Isn’t that partly why we have a confession of sin each week in worship followed by a reading of scripture and sermon. And, isn’t that why we pray and study new things in small groups.” Let’s keep each other on track in supporting God’s diverse creation.
 
Peace,
 
Rev. Dr. Rachel Matthews, Mission Coordinator
 
Let us keep all our mission partners in our prayers, those who are waiting to go back to their place of ministry and those who are able to work where they are. Listen for God’s call to you in their ministry.
 
Our PC(USA) Mission CoWorkers:
 
Mark Adams and Miriam Maidonado Escobar (Mexico)
Farsijanna Adeney-Risakotta (Indonesia)
Jeff and Christi Boyd (Central Africa)
Bob and Kristi Rice (South Sudan)
 
Our regional and global mission partners:
 
Kemmerer Village (and Camp Carew)
Lifeline Pilots
Marion Medical Mission
Mission Aviation Fellowship
Opportunity International
Friends of Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan Presbyterian Cuba Partnership
Special Offerings of the PC(USA)
Theological Education Fund
Young Adult Volunteers
 
Here in Champaign – Urbana:
 
CU at Home
CANAAN S.A.F.E. HOUSE
CANTEEN RUN
COURAGE CONNECTION
DREAAM
eMPTY TOMB, INC
FAITH IN ACTION
JESUS IS THE WAY PRISON MINISTRY
THE REFUGEE CENTER
RESTORATION URBAN MINISTRY
SALT & LIGHT
 
Here at First Presbyterian Church
 
FPCC Amateur Preachers
FPCC Environmental Committee working with Faith in Place
FPCC Presbyterian Women
FPCC ESL
FPCC Children, Youth and Families
FPCC Mission Possible/Go and Serve
FPCC Mission Team, World Mission and Community Mission Deacons

 
 
A picture containing drawing Description automatically generated
 

  302 W. Church Street
  Champaign, IL 61820
  217-356-7238
  info@firstpres.church
 
 

 
   
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-02-01

Monday, February 1st, 2021
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Friends,
 
There’s a LOT in this daily emailer, and some important news and announcements:
 
The following great essay (and recipe) comes from Nancy Whitford. What better way to kick off a new month than by reflecting upon God’s call to model hospitality?
 
* * *
 
In-person worship will begin February 21. See the announcement below.
 
* * *
 
At the bottom of this essay is a long-ish blog from Diana Butler Bass about “silence.” We live in an age of lots of chest beating, angry tweeting, unhinged social media posts, and general volume. The recent snow invites silence. Consider my sermon from yesterday, then try Diana’s blog.
 
* * *
 
The Joy of Hospitality
 
Contribute to the needs of saints and seek to show hospitality.  Romans 12:13
 
Throughout the Covid 19 pandemic, people have been asked what they’ve missed most during this sheltering-at-home period.  Spending time with family and friends usually tops the list, followed by travel, dining out and attending movies and concerts.   Of course, we’ve all missed being in church on Sundays, experiencing the service in person and interacting with our friends. 
 
One thing that I’ve missed is the joy of hospitality.  I love calling a friend or two and asking them to join me for a cup of tea at 4 in the afternoon or a glass of wine at 5.  David and I have missed welcoming our friends into our home and sharing a special meal and a fun evening together.  
 
In both the Old and New Testaments we learn of the importance of hospitality.  Jesus’ first miracle, turning the water to wine at the wedding in Cana, occurred at a social event.  As we read the story we can picture a festive occasion, with friends and family celebrating together. 
 
When we’re able to return to church, I hope we can experience the joy of hospitality in our church life.  We have a new kitchen so let’s use it to welcome friends and strangers.  On several occasions Matt has asked for ideas of ways to use this new facility.  Let’s all do our part and come up with a wide range of suggestions.   We’re all hungry for social interaction. 
 
Matt asked me to include a recipe that goes with my thoughts.  So, here goes! I like to keep a tin of these crackers on hand, just in case someone drops by or I call a friend for a spur-of-the-moment get together.  I look forward to the day when that happens again.  Best of all, these crackers go well with both tea and wine!
 
Cheese Crackers
 
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups flour  (divided)
1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes  (or more for a little more spice)
1 teaspoon salt
 
Mix all ingredients together, using 1 1/4 cups of flour.  I have the best results when I pulse them together in my food processor until there is a ball of dough.  Spread remaining flour on a wooden board. Place dough on the board, incorporate the additional flour, and roll it into a log, then wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Slice log into ¼ inch slices, place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and bake in preheated 350-degree oven for approximately 20 minutes.  

* * *
 
News
 
After careful discussion and prayerful deliberation, the COVID-19 team and the Session have recommended that we resume limited in-person weekly worship on the First Sunday of Lent, February 21st at 10:15 a.m.  
 
For those of you who feel safe to attend, please pre-register by calling the church office at 217.356.7238. Registration will run from Monday morning to Thursday noon the week before each service. (We are preregistering not only as a means of contact-tracing, but also to keep attendance at or under fifty [50] people, including worship leaders and ushers. That is the limit prescribed by state public health guidelines.) 
 
Remember, your Session is doing everything it can to keep everyone safe during this season of pandemic. While the end may be in sight with local and statewide numbers trending downward, not everyone is vaccinated yet and Covid-19 is still deadly. Some experts guess our nationwide death toll due to Covid may total over 600,000 by later this Spring.
 
The best way to safeguard against getting Covid is to limit one’s exposure to it and to get vaccinated; while we have prepared as safe a worship environment as possible, and all participants will be required to check in, wear masks at all times, and sit at a distance of six feet from other families, we cannot guarantee that somebody won’t get sick. Those who come to worship come at their own risk.
 
These in-person services will be, essentially, services of welcome, scripture, prayer, and preaching. These brief—40-minutes, or less—services will include no spoken liturgy, no congregational singing, and no choir. The preacher will speak from behind a plexiglass barrier. There will be no indoor fellowship, and no coffee or food service before or after the service.
 
This may not sound like a very welcoming or, even, friendly invitation, does it? You know what I mean. So, make wise decisions for you and your family, stay away if you are high risk or don’t feel well, and know that I look forward to “seeing” some of you online at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday (FirstPres.Live), and others of you face to face at 10:15 a.m. 
 
God is good.
 
Matt Matthews
  
* * *
 
BOOK STUDY!  You are invited to a congregation-wide four session book study on race.

  • WHAT? Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World, 2015). A father talks to his fifteen-year-old son about the realities of inhabiting a black body.
  • WHEN?  Thursdays, February 18 and 25 and March 4 and 11 at 11:00am to 12:00 noon. 
  • HOW? Sign up by emailing or calling Patty Farthing in the church office. We will meet on-line via Zoom. 217.356.7238 /  Patty@firstpres.church . Borrow books from our public library in paper, digital or audio form. To order through the church request copy by February 10 and transmit check to Patty.
  • WHO? Everyone in our congregation and community is invited. Pastor Matt Matthews will facilitate. Our Compassion, Peace, and Justice Committee/ Spiritual Formation Committee will host.             
  • WHY? Jesus asks us to love “the other. A first step is listening to understand “the other”.

* * * 
 
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter): 
 
Bill Gamble has something for us to think about. Comments?
 
From a high-school inspirational speaker from the middle of the last century:
 
“You will never need more than half of what you learn. The problem is that you do not know which half.”

* * *
 
Good Word: 
 
If we say we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
      If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just 
      will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
 (1 John 1:8-9)

Let us pray: 

 
Thank you, LORD.
 
      For snow and light,
      for busy day and quiet night,
      for all wrong things 
      we strive, by God’s grace, to make right . . . 
 
Thank you, LORD.
 
* * *
 
Much, much love to you all.
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 
 * * *

From The Cottage
by Diana Butler Bass
(from her blog read on 31 January 2021)
 
I woke up this morning to silence. 
 
It is snowing in my neighborhood. And quiet accompanies snow. People inside to keep warm; no cars on the roads. 
 
The winter landscape turned into a whitened world. 
 
Silence. 
 
This month, I’ve been thinking a lot about silence — and longing for it. Perhaps because of the January 6 madness, the screaming of the rioters, the QAnon lies. But partly because of the breathless, continuous outrage on social media and in the news. There’s a continual demand to take sides, speak out, prove one isn’t “complicit” with whatever structural injustice has become viral on any given day. 
 
Yet, when I long for silence, two familiar quotes come to mind, both by Martin Luther King, Jr.:  “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
 
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
 
And others as well remind me that speaking out is a necessary part of the work of justice. 
 
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference.” — Elie Wiesel
 
“Where you see wrong or inequality or injustice, speak out, because this is your country. This is your democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” — Thurgood Marshall
 
“What is the source of our first suffering? It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak. It was born in the moment when we accumulated silent things within us.” — Gaton Bachelard
 
“Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.” — Jean-Paul Sartre
 
There’s another MLK quote that I’ve been reflecting on this month:  “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” 
 
I emphasize the words, “about things that matter,” because not every silence leads to death. Only silence about things that matter. How do we know what matters if we are yelling all the time? If we live in perpetual outrage? If we never enter into silence to gain perspective, deepen understanding, and to discover what matters?
 
Right now, our public culture is marked by a sense that every single thing is a world-historical crisis to the nth degree. We are living in a time with multiple, demanding crises — climate change, economic inequality, the structural injustice of hierarchies of race and gender, and the challenges of technological society and globalization. Few generations of human beings have had to face such a set of interlocking challenges, and these difficult times demand insistent, passionate, and clear voices — those who point to the problems and offer possible solutions. 
 
But understanding these problems and leading toward solutions isn’t about viral tweets, jumping on the cause of the day, or public shaming of those who resist the latest bandwagon. The things that matter are often a matter of discernment, research, creativity, empathy, and innovation — the things that matter aren’t always entirely visible, and the things that matter are something just beyond what is immediately obvious. We sometimes think we know what matters only to learn later that we were wrong.
 
Thus, we need to recognize that there are two kinds of silence involved in the work of justice and the common good: some silence is that of neutrality, ignorance, or fear; yet other silences are that of inner work, healing and insight, and making room for new awareness and activism. The latter needs to be encouraged, and the former needs to be challenged and overcome. Silence can be consent or complicity; but silence can also be mourning past words, a voiceless sorrow and suffering, pain without any shape other than groaning. It is extremely important to be able to discern one from the other.
 
There are silences that are wrong, sinful, evil; there are silences that are the most holy of things possible.
 
Some silence fuels injustice; some silence is truth in the face of injustice.
 
Silence can be indifference. Silence can also be profound empathy, a stunning solidarity.
Silence can emerge from fear, but silence can also be a strategy of survival by victims or potential victims of injustice and violence.
 
Put simply, not all silence is the same. Knowing when to speak, knowing when to hold silence — this is a spiritual practice. And it is wisdom. 
 
Mystics of all religious traditions have known this. So many of history’s greatest activists for justice have also been history’s most profound contemplatives. Silence and justice are not opposing energies, but part of a single fabric of our inner and outer lives. Silence is not quietism. Instead, silence is guide and path toward the world envisioned by our gurus, prophets, and God. 
 
I can’t say I know this from being one such contemplative. I know it from being a writer. For writers are contemplatives of a sort — we withdraw to discover the things that matter and to put just the right words to those things. Writerly silence is often the hardest of practices (at least for me), as I’d prefer to be in the fray, at the protest, pontificating online, and preaching prophetically. But silence is necessary for the right sentence to be birthed so that the things that matter may shine brightly in written word. Not every word does this. But the best work — the work of transforming the world — comes into being when words that matter and things that matter converge. And, I know from experience, that doesn’t happen without blanketing silence. 
 
You can’t force someone into or out of such a silence. That silence is an enveloping cloud, the hush of the snow storm — it just is. It is like Jesus’s forty days in the desert or his refusal to speak before Pilate; Paul’s three years of contemplation and learning; Israel’s forty years in the wilderness. Silence should be welcomed for its generative power, not condemned as a moral failing.
 
America needs to wake up in silence. 
 
Silence. To hear. To see a different landscape. Wait in silence until the snow melts.
 
We need the counter-cultural practice of silence.
 
Perhaps if we keep more silence instead of less, we’ll be able to speak words that matter and understand the things that matter to face the crises that threaten our neighbors and our future. We are in desperate need of the right words about the right things.
 

 
For more from Diana, see the following link:
https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/words-that-matter-and-things-that
 


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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-01-29

Friday, January 29th, 2021
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
Dear Friends, 
 
How would you describe our church? 
 
Conservative? 
 
Contemporary? 
 
Justice-minded? 
 
Inclusive? 
 
Liberal? 
 
White?
 
Predictable?
 
Moderate?
 
Interesting?
 
Black?
 
An active church?
 
A spectator church?
 
Vital?
 
Launch pad?
 
Crucible?
 
Dead?
 
A Sunday only church?
 
A seven-day-a-week church?
 
Haven?
 
Hopeful?
 
Jesus-centered?
 
Challenging?
 
Welcoming?
 
Engaged?
 
Loving?
 
Faithful?
 
Some of those titles or categories may be helpful, but others, decidedly, are not. But the words we use to describe our congregation are important, especially to the degree that our words create worlds. Be careful what you say. 
 
“Being church” with you is an honor. 
 
And, for me, Sunday worship is at the center of things. As a kid and teenager, I was dreadfully bored with morning worship, particularly the preaching, which I often didn’t understand and usually slept through. I loved the hymns, though, and singing next to my dad was comical because he was more or less tone deaf. But that didn’t stop him from singing loudly. I loved it. The prayers were powerful moments each week. The prayer of confession made me feel small within the larger grace of God’s firm grip. Communion, albeit perfunctory, was something way bigger than my brain could contain, and I felt connected to the cosmos in ways I could not understand. Still, the best word that describes the sacraments for me are “holy mystery.” At evening vespers after youth group, I was blown away. My faith smoldered all week long but caught fire on Sunday nights. 
 
I’ve been in love with God’s church my whole life.
 
What does our church mean to you? What do you call it? Do you love the world through our church? Do you feel the brokenness of the world through our church? Are you warmed within its fellowship? Inspired? 
 
One of the best words that describes my experience of church is a four letter word. 
 
Home.
  
 
See you there on this Sunday.
 
FirstPres.Live.
 
PEACE and much love,
 
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
matt@firstpres.church
 
* * *

News:

From your Nurture Team — Judi Geistlinger was the first to recognize last week’s photo of Naomi Rempe (with many others close behind.)   

Here’s this week’s photo. 

Visit http://fb.com/groups/firstpreschampaign to make your guesses, or email them to photos@firstpres.church.  
 
Please join in the fun!  We are running low on photos, so 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@firstpres.church.
 
* * *

This four-minute zoom movie from Jane Alsberg inspires…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQIOMubFAI
 
Summertime… (I miss summer’s warm and light.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3kQt14_5OQ
 
Marcus King…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RNNQYpnukA
 


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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2021-01-28

Thursday, January 28th, 2021
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Friends,

We put our beloved Casey Dog down two weekends ago and reminders still explode into our daily routine flashing light and tears through which Casey saunters into our mind’s eye, one ear up, one ear down, with that ready smile. This is my anthropomorphism at work, I’m sure, but I imagine her saying to us, I miss you, too. 
 
Today it was the refrigerator notes on dog-care for the sitter that broke the gates through which memory flooded in. Those notes now come down. The auto-fill on her drugs from the pharmacy are cancelled so we won’t be getting those pesky robo-calls about Casey’s medicine being ready for pick up. No more Gabapentin. No more Quellin. And no more watching our sweet dog stagger around in dazed pain, nine pills a day.
 
But now we have to pick up the bacon scraps from the floor because she no longer Hoovers that stuff up. There is no dog bed to step over in the wee hours on my way to the toilet. No staccato click-clack-click of toenails on the hardwood telegraphing her location. No fierce barking when another dog walks by on the street and the front door is open. No barking when the UPS truck idles outside at the curb and the front door is closed. 
 
There is no canine shadow to follow you from room to room to room napping wherever you read, watch tv, or chat. She used to watch us being consumed by our computers. “What are you doing?” she seemed to ask. “You should play with me instead of talking into that strange machine that makes you irritable.” 
 
There is no scratching at the back door to go out, no looking up and asking with big brown eyes, “Isn’t it time for you to scratch my ear and give me a dog biscuit?” No twitching and whimpering in her dreams as she chases squirrels or does whatever dogs do in their dreams. No marking her ground around everyone’s mailbox and not caring one bit about what and where property lines actually fall. No sniffing strangers’ crotches and panting an earnest hello. No wrestling my sons with her snarl and flip of that tail, frolicking, pretend-biting, licking, nuzzling. No barking at our play-fights when she says to us, “Quit that fighting, guys, or somebody might get hurt.” 
 
No dog to lie upon our socked, winter feet. 
 
No dog that smells of manure and fish to argue with about having a bath. 
 
No dog pacing around our property lines as if we lived in a castle and she were our proud protector, never mind that crooks would be greeted with the same tail-wagging welcome the Pope would get. 
 
No chasing her tail in a dervish blur. No basking in a pool of sunshine lifting her face and closed eyes up and up to the warm light. No more wide, halitosis yawns. No ghastly flatulence to which she always said, “It’s not my fault, it’s what you feed me.”
 
For these and other of the tenderest memories, thanks be to God.
 
* * *
 
In-person worship will begin soon. The Covid-19 is working out plans with the Session. The rough start-date is February 21. Stay tuned. In the meantime, sign up for your vaccine! 
 
* * *
 
I’m excited about the book study that’s coming up. This will deepen our conversation about race. I’m looking forward to it because I want to learn more. I’m eager to be part of bridging the chasms that are splitting our country apart. Join me. Invite a friend. See below.

* * * 
 
News
 
Remember: When we get wind of Covid vaccine schedules, we are forwarding them to you as soon as we receive them. The schedules fill up by the next day, so be diligent. 
 
* * *
 
You are invited to a congregation-wide four session book study on race in America.

  • WHAT? Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World, 2015). A father talks to his fifteen year old son about the realities of inhabiting a black body.
  • WHEN?  Thursdays, February 18 and 25 and March 4 and 11 from 11:00am  to 12:00 noon.
  • HOW? Sign up by emailing or calling Patty Farthing (patty@firstpres.church or 217.356.7238) in the church office. We will meet on-line via Zoom. Borrow books from our public library in paper, digital or audio form. Books can be also directly ordered from Amazon at $16.63 each or downloaded on your Kindle at $12.99.  To order through the church office, request a copy by February 11.  Make checks payable to First Presbyterian Church for $17.50 (includes shipping costs). Send to First Presbyterian Church, 302 W. Church St., Champaign, IL 61820.  Mark checks for “book study.”
  • WHO? Everyone in our congregation and community is invited. Pastor Matt Matthews will facilitate. Our Compassion, Peace, and Justice Committee/ Spiritual Formation Committee will host.             
  • WHY? Jesus asks us to love “the other”. A first step is listening to understand “the other”.

Purchase books in paper, electronic or audio formats online or order from either of our public libraries. Registration is required through the church office for the zoom link.

* * * 
 
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter): 
 
(Thanks Bill Marble)
 
Why don’t crabs give to charity? Because they’re shellfish.
 
Why did the man name his dogs Rolex and Timex? Because they were watch dogs.
 
What’s the best way to watch a fly-fishing tournament? Live stream.
 
My wife asked me to sync her phone, so I threw it into the ocean. I don’t know why she’s mad at me.
 
* * *
 
Good Word: 
 
If we say we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
      If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just 
      will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
 (1 John 1:8-9)

LET US PRAY: 
 
Holy God, we come to you in this new year seeking your guidance and your joy. Many things vie for our attention, affection, and allegiance. If we aren’t careful, we end up worshipping idols instead of you. We follow ideas and ideologies that contradict your Gospel. We care only for “our own” instead of the whole world. Forgive us. Help us fix our sights on your son, Jesus, who knows the way and, by your Holy Spirit, guides our steps. AMEN.
  
* * *
 
Much, much love to you all.
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church


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