Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-09-11
Friday 11 September 2020
Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Where were you on 9-11?
I was moving quickly through the narrow hallways of our church preschool checking in with teachers who exuded a calm they did not feel. Their smiles were big and plastic. Little children held their legs, as usual, and other kids played with the stuffed animals in their classrooms, building blocks scattered around them like so many fallen towers.
Fathers and mothers had been tearing into our parking lot, asking to see their kids whom they had just dropped off. They wanted to hug them goodbye. One. More. Time.
These young men and women were heading to their duty posts. Most of them were Coast Guard. Some were Navy. Many of those not in the military worked in the Norfolk Shipyard. They were so young and their eyes were so far away.
I assured them their children were in good hands. They left tread in our parking lot.
The morning was amazingly calm. It was another sunny, warm day. Kids were settling in for another morning of play with their friends. And those teachers—so calm on the outside, so loving on the inside—were so amazingly present to the duties at hand.
Where were you on 9-11?
September
(remembering 9/11/01)
Matt Matthews
September comes.
Summer’s haze has been lifting.
The hot days give way
to the sighs of the fall.
The skies are clear blue
above ashes still shifting.
Eight stories of rubble
crane crews lifting it all.
Too busy to notice
the season is changing.
Frost in the meadow,
summer is gone.
September comes.
Summer’s haze has been lifting.
The season is changing—
summer is gone.
* * *
Billy & Loretta Rickett for 911…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
* * *
See you on Sunday.
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you.
Be amazed.
Tell somebody.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
* * *
PHOTO Challenge!
From your Nurture Team — Congrats to Linda Sandquist for being the first to guess last Friday’s
Here’s this week’s photo.
Visit http://fb.com/groups/
We are getting low on photos, so please join in the fun! We would like you to select a photo from your younger years (grade school, high school or early adulthood). Photos need not be professional. Candid shots are welcome. Please send your photos to photos@
* * *
Peter Yau has brought to my and Rachel’s attention this special course offered by the University of Illinois in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This course is offered by faculty and guests of the University. The course is on Sunday evenings at 8 PM (Central Time), it is available FREE to everyone in the community, you just need to register to be able to log in. If you miss a discussion, you will be able to view an archived video on the specific topic.
The url to the website is: https://covcourse.web.
The course schedule is below. You will see that our own Tracy Dace is one of the speakers scheduled for December 6.
9/6 – Pandemics in History
Introduction: Antoinette Burton (Professor of History and Director, Humanities Research Institute)
Speakers: Carol Symes (History) and May Berenbaum (Entomology)
Video recording (coming soon) / Suggested additional reading
9/13 – Infection: Biology and Anthropology
Introduction: Neal Cohen (Professor of Psychology and Director, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute)
Speakers: Jessica Brinkworth (Anthropology), Rebecca Smith (Veterinary Medicine)
Join Livestream
9/20 – Diagnostic Technologies
Introduction: Neal Cohen (Professor of Psychology and Director, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute)
Speakers: Paul Hergenrother (Chemistry), Rashid Bashir (Grainger College of Engineering)
Join Livestream
9/27 – COVID-19 and the Election
Introduction: Rachel Switzky (Director, Siebel Center for Design)
Speakers: Robin Fretwell Wilson (Institute of Government & Public Affairs), Brian Gaines (Political Science)
Join Livestream
10/04 – Mental Health
Introduction: Brent Roberts (Professor of Psychology and Director, Center for Social and Behavioral Science)
Speakers: Tara Powell (School of Social Work), Karen Tabb Dina (School of Social Work)
Join Livestream
10/11 – Health Inequities
Introduction: Gene Robinson (Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Director, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology)
Speakers: Ruby Mendenhall (Sociology and African American Studies), Christy Lleras (Human Development & Family Studies)
Join Livestream
10/18 – Families and Other Relationships
Introduction: Brent Roberts (Professor of Psychology and Director, Center for Social and Behavioral Science)
Speakers: Leanne Knobloch (Communication), Eva Pomerantz (Psychology)
Join Livestream
10/25 – Arts in a Pandemic
Introduction: Antoinette Burton (Professor of History and Director, Humanities Research Institute)
Speakers: Jason Finkelman (Music), Gabriel Solis (Music and Theatre)
Join Livestream
11/01 – Data Security and Privacy
Introduction: Neal Cohen (Professor of Psychology and Director, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute)
Speakers: William Sullivan (Rokwire), Sanjay Patel (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
Join Livestream
11/08 – Global Impacts
Introduction: Rachel Switzky (Director, Siebel Center for Design)
Speakers: Jerry Dávila (History and Executive Director, Illinois Global Institute), Tim Liao (Sociology)
Join Livestream
11/15 – Food Security
Introduction: Brent Roberts (Professor of Psychology and Director, Center for Social and Behavioral Science)
Speakers: Alex Winter-Nelson (Agricultural & Consumer Economics), Craig Gundersen (Agricultural & Consumer Economics)
Join Livestream
11/22 – Higher Education
Introduction: Antoinette Burton (Professor of History and Director, Humanities Research Institute)
Speakers: James Anderson (College of Education), Robb Lindgren (Curriculum & Instruction)
Join Livestream
11/29 – Financial Consequences
Introduction: Gene Robinson (Interim Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences and Director, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology)
Speakers: Heitor Almeida (Finance), Robert Lawless (Law)
Join Livestream
12/06 – Social Life: COVID-19 and the CU Community
Introduction: Antoinette Burton (Professor of History and Director, Humanities Research Institute)
Speakers: Julie Pryde (Champaign-Urbana Public Health District), Tracy Dace (DREAAM)
Join Livestream
12/13 – The Future with COVID-19
Introduction: Rachel Switzky (Director, Siebel Center for Design)
Speakers: Eliza Forsythe (Labor & Employment Relations and Economics), Derek Long (Media & Cinema Studies), Benjamin Bross (Architecture)
Join Livestream
*Course schedule is tentative and subject to change.
* * *
On a day of remembrance like this, we turn to the Prince of Peace
Another rousing Christmas song from Nigeria
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
