Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-04-23
Thursday April 23rd 2020
A Weekday Emailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Tears.
For two days, I’ve wept non-stop.
And sneezed.
It’s allergies.
But with every sneeze, I think Coronavirus. I reach for my pulse. I look at our tulips, sneeze, think of our first responders. I ponder the peonies; ours our budding, marble-sized, tight-fisted, revealing at the edges the possibility of secret, exotic colors. The tender leaves resemble red-veined swiss chard. My eyes water taking them in. I sneeze and think of our nurses and doctors cloistered like monastics in our walled-off hospitals.
And real tears.
I shed real tears with gratitude for Roy Van Buskirk who died Tuesday afternoon, and with sorrow that I couldn’t spend the next decade getting to know him better. At 89, I’m not sure he would have wanted another decade of getting to know me better, but I did. I really did. My hot, selfish tears watered my shirt.
Also on Tuesday, I got word that Carl Thomas died. You don’t know him. He was on the committee that called me to my third parish. His mother-in-law was a member of my second parish. She drove a car the size of an aircraft carrier and could barely see over the steering wheel. One arm was bigger than the other. Carl hailed from my home town. We were Hampton High Crabbers together—actually a few decades apart. I wept tears of shock when I got the text; then, on the phone with his bride, I shed tears because she shed tears. As the shock faded, I wasn’t really sure what that next round of tears meant. And now, tears of gladness.
I sneeze at the blue skies and sunshine, which I have immensely enjoyed. I watch the protestors on TV who insist on shucking our community safety measures of self-distancing in place of their “constitutional rights”, and I sneeze, and weep, and turn off the TV with a snap and step outside into the sun, wave to my chemist neighbor, breathe in the fresh air.
If you, too, are sneezing, bless you. And bless you, anyway, during this Easter Season, this allergy season, this season of pandemic, this springtime of our lives.
News:
Evening Dessert. Join us for a Zoom gathering on Wednesday April 29th. We’ll meet online to catch up, chat, visit, show off our flower gardens. Bring some dessert “to share.” We’ll practice having an online conversation with each other. Think of it as the Sunday morning coffee break after morning worship. Technology makes these gatherings over distance possible—but it might not be easy. We’ll have to figure out how to talk without talking over one another. We’ll get the hang of it. So, help us experiment. Nothing beats face to face gatherings, but in the absence of that we’re trying this. “See” you there. If you do not have the link, email info@firstpres.church.
Roy Van Buskirk died on Tuesday afternoon. Prayers for his family, and thanks be to God for this life well-lived. One of the last things Roy did was make a gift to his church.
Prayers: Megan Ludwinski and fiancee Nathan were in a terrible car crash. A hit and run driver sped through a 4-way stop at a high rate of speed, hit their car sending it spinning, and then fled the scene on foot. The children were not in the car. They are recovering, but in much pain. Megan is not yet able to walk. Thanks for lifting this family up.
$$$$$. Thank you for keeping your pledges up to date. If you know of anyone experiencing food insecurity, please let me know. I have grocery gifts cards. Thank you. Thanks be to God.
Graveyard Walks: Thanks for telling me your stories about the Mount Hope/Roselawn cemeteries. I walk there regularly. Please keep the stories coming.
From our would-be Theologian-in-Residence: Jeff Kellam’s Easter post:
https://jeffkellam.wordpress.
Humor: Nine months from now we’ll have a small baby boom. In 2033, we’ll have the Quaranteens.
Pictures of tulips:
https://www.dutchtuliptours.
https://www.easyvoyage.co.uk/
Good Word:
Psalm 46:8 (Eugene Peterson’s The Message)
Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
loving look at me, your High God,
above politics, above everything.”
Let us pray:
This is my father’s world
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres
This is my father’s world
The birds their carols raise
The morning light, the lily white
Declare their maker’s praise
This is my father’s world
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas
His hand the wonders wrought
This is my father’s world
Oh, let me never forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong
God is the ruler yet
This is my father’s world
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is king, let the heavens ring
God reigns, let the earth be glad
This is my father’s world
He shines in all that’s fair
In the rustling grass, I hear him pass
He speaks to me everywhere
Much love to you all.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
