Wednesday 18 March 2020
A Daily Emailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 

Dear Friends, 
 
Thanks for staying in touch with one another via emails, calls, and notes. Here’s an email I got yesterday from Beth Hutchens: 
 
“Today I am grateful . . . 

•        that our heating system works on a chilly morning (am reminded of a Valentine’s Day ice storm years ago when Church St. was without power for 6 days)
•        that phones and internet are working and tv too
•        that we may be socially distant but we are not emotionally distant
•        that God is near”

 
Thank you, Beth. 
 
Respond to this email and tell me what YOU are grateful for these day? Marcia will compile our responses and I’ll share them soon. 
 
If you’ve looked out your window lately, or gone for a stroll, you’ll notice that spring is springing! God is good!
 
News:
 
YOUR STAFF. Your staff has met and is working hard to stay in touch with you. They are praying for you. Consider praying for them and their families.
 
YOUR SESSION meets tomorrow (Thursday at 7:00) via Zoom.
 
SUNDAY WORSHIP. We will be worshipping next Sunday remotely on-line. Tune in on Facebook or firstpres.live
 
REACH OUT. Set a goal of reaching out to a few “new” people each day. I am particularly concerned about our flock who do not connected electronically. Lots of us don’t use Facebook or, even, email. That’s where YOU come in. There is healing in your “touch.” Please, reach out.
 
 
The Good Word:
Matthew 6:25-34                                            
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 
 
26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 
 
27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 
 
28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 
 
31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
 
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
 
 
Let Us Pray:
 
Christ be with me, Christ within me
Christ behind me, Christ before me
Christ beside me, Christ to win me
Christ to comfort me and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger
Christ in hearts of all that love me
Christ in mouth of friend or stranger.
 
(attrib. St. Patrick of Ireland, 390-461 A.D.)
 
 
PEACE, 
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church