Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-07
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
A Holy Week prayer:
Gracious God we thank you for the blessings, large and small, that, by grace, we have discovered in this deadly pandemic that grips the world you love. We thank you for the ways we have seen life anew: with deeper, more sacred appreciation.
Bless all those working to relieve suffering, to find a cure, and serving others with open hands in a no-touch season. Help and heal those who are sick.
And forgive us.
Forgive us for, until now, taking our lives and freedoms for granted. Forgive us for the times in our recent past when we avoided connecting with others when they so desperately sought holy fellowship in us. Forgive us for the important things we kept putting off that needed doing at that kairos moment-now-past. Forgive us for the ways we looked backwards to the past or forward to the future and disregarded the many graces of the present moment. Forgive us for our addictions to sensationalism, false modesty, and car-crash curiosity.
Forgive our sin.
Unburden us from all that which keeps us from living deeply and serving humbly and gladly.
We ask it in Christ’s holy name. AMEN.
News:
Here’s a link to the newest Heart of Missions, our “Mission” newsletter update. Click here: https://www.firstpres.
Remember, when you get an email from my personal account, it is from Matt@FirstPres.Church. If it comes from somewhere else, asking to be in touch with me immediately, or asking for money, it is NOT me. Please forgive the solicitations which insist on coming from “Matt Matthews” or “Pastor Matthews” but are not me. Argh…
DO BEES HAVE KNEES? If YOU think YOU are working hard these days, consider the BEES. Charles “Stretch” Armstrong shared this video from the beehive in his back yard. It’s glorious! Click here to see it: https://www.youtube.com/
Some of you have shared pandemic HUMOR. This is from Beth Holm:
Three of my fav hobbies:
1.) Eating out of restaurants
2.) Shopping at non-essential businesses
3.) Touching my face.
Good Word:
Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
Let us pray
From Augustine (I love the mention of restless waves)
O God, full of compassion,
I commit and commend myself to you,
in whom I am, and live, and know.
Be the goal of my pilgrimage, and my rest by the way. Let my soul take refuge
from the crowding turmoil of worldly thought beneath the shadow of your wings.
Let my heart, this sea of restless waves,
find peace in you, O God. Amen.
Much love to you all.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
