Thursday 19 March 2020
A Daily Emailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois

Dear Friends, 
 
At 3:09 a.m. CST Rachel and I arrived home from O’Hare with our son John Mark safely in tow. Like study abroad students everywhere, his program at Universidad ORT in Montevideo, Uruguay, closed for a week, then another, and now promises on-line classes. We’ll see. He and his cohort from the University of South Carolina have all safely returned to their homes. 
 
In the meantime, he’s self-quarantined upstairs with an electric piano, acoustic guitar, banjo, and wifi connection. Rachel and I are not quarantined, per Peter Yau’s instructions, unless John Mark shows symptoms or we do. We all feel fine, so far.
 
Is everyone in your family settled? Traveling mercies if they are not.
 
My CPA’s sister-in-law said, “We’re about three weeks away from knowing everybody’s natural hair color.” 
 
News:
 
PHONE CALL. If possible, you’ll get a prerecorded call from me today. We’re still working out the bugs, and are doing our best to be in touch by phone with folk to whom we are not yet connected via email. Ask your church friends if they are getting these emails from their church; if they are not, consider adding them to this list.  Send their name(s) and email address to info@firstpres.church and we will get them added.
 
YOUR SESSION meets tonight via Zoom with our Corona advisor Peter Yau. Pray for them. They are:
Ken Chapman – Spiritual Formation
Ron Deering – Spiritual Formation
Judi Geistlinger – Worship
Sabrina Hwu – Nurture
Celeste Kim – Clerk
Debra Miller – Missions
Mark Schoeffmann – Finance
Eric Stickels – Outreach, Nominating Committee
Ann Stout – HR
Steve Tock – Finance
Karin Vermillion – Children, Youth, and Families
Tim Young – Building and Grounds
 
SUNDAY WORSHIP. We will be worshiping this Sunday remotely on-line. Tune in on Facebook or firstpres.live
 
The Good Word: Psalm 23 (King James Version)
 
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
 
Let Us Pray:
 
Disturb us, O Lord
when we are too well-pleased with ourselves 
when our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little, 
because we sailed too close to the shore.
 
Disturb us, O Lord
when with the abundance of things we possess, 
we have lost our thirst for the water of life 
when, having fallen in love with time, 
we have ceased to dream of eternity 
and in our efforts to build a new earth, 
we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.
 
Stir us, O Lord
to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas 
where storms show Thy mastery, 
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes 
and invited the brave to follow.
 
Amen
 
(Attrib. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu adapted from a prayer by Sir Francis Drake.)
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church