Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-06-22
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
We need a poem about fathers, I think, on this day after Father’s Day. I love the scene Hayden paints here. I keep coming back to this poem. For all the father figures (male and female, blood and friend) who made sacrifices for me, I am grateful. I suspect we’ve all kept “love’s austere and lonely offices” before. We all owe certain unsung heroes a word of thanks.
* * *
Those Winter Sundays
Robert Hayden—1913-1980
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
* * *
NEWS:
Men’s Bible Study Tuesday 8 AM
Join Zoom Meeting
Our Wednesday Night Potluck on ZOOM features a Bible Study by Dave Bauer. He’ll get us thinking, laughing, and, probably, living more deeply.
* * *
HELP! Your Session is in need of two elders to replace sitting elders who had to resign. We need two saints willing to step in to lead our (1) Nurture Committee and (2) Mission Committee.
Please volunteer. Please pray. Please nominate somebody.
The nominating committee is:
Eric Stickels, chair
Greg Cozad (12/31/20)
Judy Hendrickson (12/31/20)
Leland Andrews (12/31/21)
Linda Peterson (12/31/21)
Bill Stout (12/31/22)
John Seiler (12/31/22)
* * *
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 (I’ve shared this one before.)
Glory to you, Prodigal Provider,
for the bumper crop of generosity
being harvested in this season.
I pray your heart gladdens with delight
as you see children’s encouraging
sidewalk art,
or an exhausted parent’s calming hug;
hear sweet music from balcony soloists
or virtual choirs;
smell donated flowers,
aromas from chef-prepared meals
donated for the poor,
or fresh baked goods left at
the front lines of care;
feel the pulsing flow from donors’
veins to blood banks,
or the touch of nurses’, doctors’,
or chaplains’ gloved hands on the brows
of the sick or dying, while still speaking
words of hope, comfort,
or blessing to those in need.
In the midst of the bombastic bedlam
of the self-serving, may I not miss
these beautiful, bounteous blessings
discretely planted, fed, and nourished
by your goodness and grace. Amen.
(Rev. Dr. David Hindman)
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
