Wednesday June 3^rd  2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
How are you doing? 
I mean it.
How are you doing?
Let’s touch base tonight. Join us for our every-Wednesday Zoom at 7:00 tonight. Our program tonight is a service of evening prayer. Bring your concerns. You will be able to share them out loud. I will ask you tonight, “How are you doing?”
I’ll be listening. (God will be, also.)

Email info@firstpres.church for the link.

 
NEWS:
Good news for Richard Rossi, our church musician, is sad news for us. Read his resignation letter below. 
May 2020 
Matt Matthews, Pastor First Presbyterian Church 302 W. Church St. Champaign, IL 61820 
Dear Pastor Matt and the Congregation of First Presbyterian Church, 
This letter is my official notification to you and to the church community of First Presbyterian Church that my last day of employment will be on July 1, 2020. On that day I plan to resign from First Presbyterian Church and also retire from Eastern Illinois University. 
I have decided to take a position of Liturgical Music Director/Organist at St. Peter Cathedral in Erie, PA where I will be working for a former student/seminarian that I taught while I worked at the Abbey in the 1990’s in both the seminary and college at St. Vincent. Additionally, the bishop of the cathedral is also a good friend of mine with whom I also worked with when he was the Master of Ceremonies for several large liturgies that I played organ for at the abbey around the same time. I am also excited because there is so much opportunity for me in the area with five universities, two of which are Catholic and a minor seminary, along with five parochial elementary schools which I will be able to tap into as well as time progresses. This job literally fell in my lap unexpectedly and I do believe it is part of the journey I started a couple years ago when I had returned to the monastery. I believe this is the balance that will bring peace and happiness in my life at this time. (also volleyball league locally and I won’t need to drive an hour as I have been doing here)
I am excited about this new venture and my impending departure from First Presbyterian Church having been with them since 1998. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and everyone at the church for all of the opportunities that I have experienced working at FPC and I will truly miss many people, especially working with Joe Grant and the choir. I have genuinely enjoyed my employment at FPC, but I believe God is directing me to move on to this new venture. 
Please let me know what I can do to help you with the transition and again, thank you for everything and all of the support you and many have provided me over the past couple of years as my discernment process continued to unfold. I wish you nothing but the best for the future. 
Sincerely in Christ, 
Dr. Richard Robert Rossi, organist  
 
* * *
Join us Thursday for…

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN will gather Thursday.  For 150 years, the women of this church have faithfully served within the church and the community and world.  During the present need for “social distancing”, we’re missing meeting together for study and fellowship, but the ministries continue.  So a first step in moving forward is the annual installation of women in the variety of positions in Presbyterian Women.  Yes, we’ll Zoom forward, on June 4 at 1:00 p.m.  Every woman in the church is invited to log in to her email account and click on the link provided for PW officer installation, thereby joining in support and embracing all that is to come.

—  
 
Good Word: (Read this one again.)
 
Romans 12:9-21
 
Let love be genuine; 
hate what is evil, 
hold fast to what is good; 
love one another with mutual affection; 
outdo one another in showing honor. 
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, 
            serve the Lord. 
Rejoice in hope, 
be patient in suffering, 
persevere in prayer. 
Contribute to the needs of the saints; 
extend hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you; 
bless and do not curse them. 
Rejoice with those who rejoice, 
weep with those who weep. 
Live in harmony with one another; 
do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; 
do not claim to be wiser than you are. 
Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought 
            for what is noble in the sight of all. 
If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, 
            live peaceably with all. 
Never avenge yourselves, but leave room 
            for the wrath of God; 
If your enemies are hungry, feed them;
if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; 
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome 
            evil with good.
 
Let us pray: 
 
O Christ 
of the poor and the yearning, 
kindle in my heart 
within a flame of love for my neighbor,
 for my foe and for my friend, 
for my kindred all. 
 
From the humblest thing that lives 
to the name that is highest of all. 
Kindle in my heart 
within a flame of love. 
 
Amen 
 
(Iona Community)
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 

Monday June 1^st 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois 
 
Holy God, 
 
I pray for all the people on the streets of our cities in our nation, and the people at home and work. Forgive us all, help us all, heal us all. 
 
As our nation laments and is aghast at what we have seen on television news, I pray for wholeness even as that lamentation and outrage have literally caught fire. Ease those mobs who rant and rave. Give us the gifts of the Spirit we all need to breathe.
 
For firefighters who run into fires while others run away;
 
For police whom we call when things go badly wrong;
 
For our National Guard who shovel sand into bags where the waters rise, and who stand in the streets attempting to keep crowds safe at times like this;
 
For the protesters who keep vigil;
 
For the rioters and looters whose actions I do not understand, but whose call for justice I do;
 
For the mothers and fathers who don’t know where their children are;
 
For all those who wait, and watch, and pray during these impatient hours; 
 
For neighbors and friends we love who are almost uncontrollably anxious;
 
For my flock of saints at First Presbyterian Church—wise people who have walked through many seasons of valleys and mountaintops. Help us to lean on one another in these days of physical distancing. Help us to learn from each other. Bless them to be a blessing.
May we cast our worry upon You, O God.
 
May we claim the responsibilities entrusted to our care.
 
Guide our walk as we follow the path you would have us trod. 
 
In a season of much rage, may you grant us the patience to listen.
 
And when we are given our moment to speak, might our few words bear your holy grace to all.
 
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
 
More Prayers:
 
Hippo Mbungu’s mom died in Congo last week. Hippo and his wife, Gladyle, have been in Easy English Fellowship. Alex is in our Sunday School and had been looking forward very much to VBS. We provide transportation for him. Alex has a younger brother, Ritchie. 
 
Rev. Michael Evanchack’s mom, Jackie Evanchak, died last week. Michael serves as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Taylorville and as the moderator of the presbytery’s Committee on Preparation for Ministry.
 
A childhood friend of Steve Gritten is in hospice. The family would appreciate prayer.
 
Nancy MacGregor writes this: Grieving for Minneapolis today – my grandfather’s last church was in the area where the young man was killed. The husband of Mac’s cousin served a Covenant church in that area for more than 20 years and was probably the only white man in a very violent time who could walk safely through the area because of the work he did.
 
Prayers for Chris, Helen, and Henry Hutchens whose Chicagoland neighborhood is shut down. 
 
Thank you to those who joined us in prayer last night for a quickly called service of prayer. Remember prayer is speaking. Prayer is our “sorry” prayers, our ‘praise’ prayers, our prayers for “ourselves” and for “others,” and prayers for “needs.” (SPOON). Prayer is also listening.
 
* * *
Join us via ZOOM…

Tuesday, Men’s Breakfast Study, 8 am 

* Email info@firstpres.church for the link.

— 
 
Good Word:
 
Romans 12:9-21
 
Let love be genuine; 
hate what is evil, 
hold fast to what is good; 
love one another with mutual affection; 
outdo one another in showing honor. 
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, 
                  serve the Lord. 
Rejoice in hope, 
be patient in suffering, 
persevere in prayer. 
Contribute to the needs of the saints; 
extend hospitality to strangers.
Bless those who persecute you; 
bless and do not curse them. 
Rejoice with those who rejoice, 
weep with those who weep. 
Live in harmony with one another; 
do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; 
do not claim to be wiser than you are. 
Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought 
                  for what is noble in the sight of all. 
If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, 
                  live peaceably with all. 
Never avenge yourselves, but leave room 
                  for the wrath of God; 
If your enemies are hungry, feed them;
if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; 
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome 
                  evil with good.
 
 
Let us pray: 
 
Our Father, who art in heaven, 
hallowed be thy name, 
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, 
on earth as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread; 
and forgive us our debts, 
as we forgive our debtors; 
and lead us not into temptation, 
but deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom, 
and the power, and the glory, forever.   
Amen.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church

Friday 29 May 2020
 
Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends, 
 
About the time you get this email, your Session’s Covid-19 Response Team will be meeting via Zoom. Please pray for that group, and thank Peter Yau for his role as our science advisor. 
 
* * *
 
On this Sunday, we have a special service of worship for you. It was fun to record. I’ll see you Sunday at 9:00 on Facebook, YouTube, and the Church website. Go to FirstPres.Live to find the links.
 
* * *
 
What happens every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.?
 
* * *
 
Don’t forget to wear your masks when you go out. When you do, you are telling the world
·      you respect the power of this pandemic, 
·      you are using the brains God gave you, 
·      you care about your safety, 
·      you especially care for others’ safety, and 
·      you are taking your role as God’s steward of creation seriously. 
 
* * *
 
How are you sharing your violin/using God’s gifts to heal the world?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REwFf6tbue0
 
I’m reminded of the hymn “Lord of the Dance”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_AxMA_dE4Q
 
22-million views. Plus you. Turn it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOjHhS5MtvA
 
* * *
 
I’ll ‘see’ you on Sunday.
 
Turn on your “device” and find us at:   FirstPres.Live
 
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you.
            Be amazed.
                        Tell somebody.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 
 
* * *
 
New fun photo challenge! Each Friday the Nurture Committee is challenging us to read an assigned scripture about Jesus and come up with a representation of the story using whatever you already have around the house and share it in photo form.
CHALLENGE #7
RESURRECTION – Luke 24:1-12
Some may think that our story is done.
But they would be wrong, it has only begun!
For after 3 days, Jesus rose from the dead
To give us new life forever, just as He said!
 
Our greatest hope comes in knowing that we will get to spend all of eternity with Jesus and with all who follow him! We don’t have to be slaves to sin. Jesus can help us to live with joy and life now. That is what Easter is all about!
 
Take a picture of you celebrating. Maybe you have a Easter photo, past or present to share.
 
Post your photo to:
 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/firstpreschampaign/
 live@firstpres.church
 For Instagram @fpcchampaign
 
Example

 
 
 

Thursday May 28^th 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
  
 Dear Friends,
 
This from Cousin Tom, who prays for our congregation:
 
In a London Review of Books essay by Jacqueline Rose discussing Camus’ The Plague, she dwells on the disparate suffering experienced during a pandemic. In New Mexico we have first-hand knowledge of the pandemic’s apparent prejudice, watching the mortality and morbidity numbers of the Navajo nation sky rocket. 
 
For decades Navajos and Mexican-Americans have had intolerable rates of adult-onset diabetes, heart disease and essential hypertension. For more than a century a large segment of Navajos on reservation has lived at the margin, with too little nutritious food, too little good water and with substandard shelter and health care. 
 
Rose delivers a sort of reverse rationale employed by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who identified AIDS as God’s punishment of gays: the dispossessed suffer for our sins of bigotry and neglect.
 
Today I opened the June Harper’s and found the Easy Chair in which Thomas Chatterton Williams describes quarantining in Paris and thinking about Camus and The Plague.  
 
Quoting Camus: “There’s no question of heroism in all this. It’s a matter of common decency. That’s an idea that may make some people smile, but the only means of fighting a plague is –common decency.”
 
Quoting Williams: “For Camus, the question of sickness, of life’s two irreducible teams – pestilences and victims – and of the Sisyphean struggle for meaning in a godless, absurdly indifferent universe, was always quite literal. He worked on the book for six eventful years: first in Oran, then in the French Alpine village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, where he went to treat his tuberculosis, and afterward in Paris, during the Resistance, distilling into fiction his painstaking research on the history of plagues in Europe and Asia…
 
“A pandemic, if you are fortunate enough not to be hospitalized or killed by it, wears you down by other, more subtle measures. It administers by a thousand cuts, a kind of spiritual and psychological incapacitation… Indeed one of the key insights of The Plague is its emphasis on the fundamental fragility of all human arrangements, and the concomitant inability of most people to acknowledge this tenuousness until it is far too late for meaningful collective action. (Beyond the particular menace of the coronavirus, this is ultimately what is so terrifying about the climate crisis.)”
 
Yesterday the NY Times reported on the Columbia U study by public health statisticians as they looked back at the beginnings of the pandemic in the United States.  Creating elaborate calculations dependent on a list of variables, the researchers were able to estimate that at least 36,000 deaths could have been avoided had federal officials declared the lockdown a week earlier.  
 
That estimate, however, depends on the assumption that Americans would have been willing to accept the need for an earlier sheltering-in-place, an assumption that seems non-sensible given the current rush to have tatoos and hair styling as the disease curve in many states reach record heights in a kurtosis of death.
 
News:
 
Wednesday Vespers! Thanks for joining us last night.

 
* * *
 
Members in the News:
 
Lisa Ainsworth elected to the National Academy of Sciences
https://ripe.illinois.edu/press/press-releases/lisa-ainsworth-usda-ars-elected-national-academy-sciences
 
Stretch Ledford receives teaching award!
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/808778
  
* * *
 
John Muirhead invites us to celebrate Louise Allen’s 95^th Bday!
Louise Allen
The Bickford
1002 S. Staley Road
Champaign, IL 61822 
 
* * *
 
Presbyterian Women will gather next week! Plan now. 
\For 150 years, the women of this church have faithfully served within the church and the community and world.  During the present need for “social distancing”, we’re missing meeting together for study and fellowship, but the ministries continue.  So a first step in moving forward is the annual installation of women in the variety of positions in Presbyterian Women.  Yes, we’ll Zoom forward, on June 4 at 1:00 p.m.  Every woman in the church is invited to log in to her email account and click on the link provided for PW officer installation, thereby joining in support and embracing all that is to come.

— 
 
Humor:
 
What gets wet as it gets dryer? A towel.
 
When is a door not a door? When it’s ajar.
 
When the three-legged dog walked into the bar, what did he say? “I’m lookin’ for the man who shot my Pa.”
 
I know, groan…
 
New monthly budget:  Gas $0  Entertainment $0  Clothes $0   Groceries $2,799.
 
Breaking News:  Wearing a mask inside your home is now highly recommended.  Not so much to stop COVID-19, but to stop eating.
 
Good Word:
 
Galatians 5:22-23             
²² By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.
 
Let us pray: 
 
Holy God,
today I thank you for the Peony:
the way the heavy-headed buds
bow before you then lift their
heads in that profusion of color.
 
May I lift my head to you
with such radiance, even
if only for a single day—
 
for your Son, 
for your Spirit,
for your Whole Self
with my whole self.
 
AMEN
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church

 
The Heart of Mission
May 26, 2020

Happy Birthday, Church! Pentecost Sunday is this coming Sunday, May 31, 2020. It is hard to believe the Easter Season is over. I will share the Pentecost Offering minute for mission with you today. After I give the minute for mission, please read the mission updates and announcements. At the very end I have included an updated list of food pantries that are open.
 
Each year on Pentecost Sunday we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church. What we celebrate at Pentecost is God’s pouring out of the Holy Spirit so that people of every identity and language can hear a word of welcome into God’s household.
 
At Pentecost, we look especially to our young people with whom God has called us to live. The psalmist reminds us of the importance of faith being established during our earliest years, saying, “God from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.” God’s youngest family members need support to build their full potential in both faith and life, and all of us have a role to play. These young ones can teach how the Holy Spirit is moving in our world.
 
The Pentecost Offering lets us support the development of children, youth and young adults in our community and throughout the country. Forty percent of this offering stays within our community because we want to build the household of God together, in this place. The remainder is sent on to our denomination so that young adults can lay a foundation for their lives through a year of service as part of the Young Adult Volunteer program. At Sunday’s online worship you will be able to give to the Pentecost Offering by mail, or digitally at firstpres.live/giving.
 
The Pentecost Offering is also used to support ministries with youth, through experiences of worship and formation like the Presbyterian Youth Triennium, which gathers nearly 5,000 young people every three years to learn and grow together (Our congregation send a delegation with the Presbytery of Southeastern Illinois last year).
 
There is also a portion of this Offering that supports the education of every child in this country, through the Educate a Child, Transform the World national initiative. Even when there are no children or young people in the places where we live, there are many, many with us in the household of God.
 
Our children in Champaign, Urbana, Rantoul and Savoy will benefit from this offering through DREAAM which we have been highlighting the past three weeks in our Heart of Mission Newsletter. During this Pentecost season, let us celebrate the fact that we are building a life of faith and building the household of God with our children, youth and young adults. Through our gifts today, we join with them and with God in building that household together.
And you know what we always say … if we all do a little, it adds up to a lot.
 
Let us pray, Holy Spirit, breathe on us. Inspire us to give and to grow your household. Thank you for the special place you offer to the youngest members of your family. May our efforts reflect the joy and delight that Jesus showed in welcoming children. Amen.
 
Peace,
Rachel Matthews, Temporary Mission Coordinator
First Presbyterian Church Champaign

ANNOUNCEMENTS
 
Go and Serve: We cannot keep the Mission Possible people down! Bill Gamble, and Itch and Sue Jones have been building a handrail for the choir stairs. Those of us who are short in stature (me included!) will be able to hug the wall with confidence when they are finished. I have a few people taking pictures so hopefully we will be able to see the final results in upcoming newsletters! Thank you all!
 
Prayers for mission coworkers in Indonesia: Prayers for our Muslim neighbors here in Champaign-Urbana but also worldwide as they have just celebrated Eid-al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. We pray that the COVID infection rate does not rise for their communities. To this end Indonesia has been in the news lately since it is the largest Muslim country in the world. We pray for our mission coworkers Farsijanna Adeney-Risakotta and her husband Bernie who live and work in Indonesia.
 
Update on food distribution:
Restoration Urban Ministries (R.U.M.) has been continuing its food pantry through this shelter in place as well as offer virtual worship services on its Facebook page. They operate on a shoestring but have continued their work through this time.
 
At the end of the newsletter is an updated list of food pantries for the area. Thank you to Bob Kirby and Compassion, Peace and Justice Committee for keeping us updated on food pantry and immigrant concerns.
 
The NAWC Immigrant Relief Fund:
The New American Welcome Center’s Immigrant Relief Fund provides time-sensitive monetary assistance to local immigrants for one-time expenses. To request assistance, please submit this form, e-mail welcome@universityymca.org, or call 217-417-5897. To make a donation to the fund go to: www.universityymca.org/irf
 
Jesus is the Way Prison Ministry Fundraiser: THE DATE IS STILL SET FOR: Friday, August 28, 2020 at 6:00pm Since this is our largest fundraiser of each year WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP = TO SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF OUR MINISTRY. Contact us at info@jesusisthewayprisonministries.org or 217-892-4044 so we can share with you the ways you can HELP. Additional details coming soon — STAY TUNED!!!
http://jesusisthewayprisonministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020-May-Newsletter.pdf
 
Cuba Partners Network: American Airlines is beginning to book flights to Cuba again for people with special religious visas. However, in a message from Rev. Edelberto Valdes General Secretary from the IPRC Synod, there is concern for the safety so meetings and activities of the churches with more than two persons remain suspended until the last quarter of the year (October, November, December). 
 
We are being encouraged to communicate with our Cuban partners through some of the other various ways possible (WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, email) and that you share photos (via Facebook), news, reflections, Bible studies and prayer concerns with each other to maintain your connections. Also, we are being encouraged to continue to pray for our Cuban friends and to join the Advocacy efforts to urge the U.S. government to allow humanitarian aid, medical supplies and test kits, currently blocked by the U.S. embargo, into Cuba. Remember, you can read translations of daily devotionals of our Cuban partner church, “Su Voz”. (Ask Rachel Matthews if you are not getting “Su Voz” and want to.) We hope to send to you some ways you may send funds to our church and seminary partners in Cuba soon.
 
Frontera de Cristo – We have finished the fourth video coffee and conversation with our mission coworkers at Frontera de Cristo. “Peacebuilding Through Education in Communities of Violence” in which Marina Forero, the Director of Frontera de Cristo’s Children’s Enrichment Ministry, and her husband David Barillo discussed the role of education in peacebuilding within communities of violence.
 
Here is a Facebook link to some of the pictures of their work at the Hope Community Center run by FDC https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10159038987901412&set=pcb.10159038988501412
 
These conversations have been enlightening. Also, you might want to note that they are having a special on coffee through the end of this month as we participate in these compassionate conversations. $2 for every 5lbs ordered will go to COVID relief in Agua Prieta in addition to keeping the jobs open at the Café Justo roastery. Email office@fronterderisto.org for a zoom link to these wonderful conversations.
            May 28: FDC Board Member Rosie Mendoza and Author Aaron Bobrow-Strain discussing The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story
            June 4: 4th Anniversary Celebration of Cafe Justo y Mas
            June 11: PCUSA Mission Co-workers Miriam Maldonado and Mark Adams: 
Borders as Places of Encounter
 
A bonus for this week as summer descends upon us: a video link for a recipe for Iced Coffee in the Café Justo shop. https://www.facebook.com/fronteradecristo/videos/2726099074168140/
 
Friends of PEB
Two videos updating us on what is happening at Presbyterian Education Board Schools in Pakistan. These are fantastic videos to show this country, our friends, teachers and children that we support. The second video is a particularly wonderful Christian witness they give to this country.
1. https://www.facebook.com/296290880468314/videos/578803929648714
2. https://www.facebook.com/296290880468314/videos/339733273670349
 

Let us keep all our mission partners in our prayers, those who are waiting to go back to their place of ministry and those who are able to work where they are. Listen for God’s call to you in their ministry.
 
Our PC(USA) Mission CoWorkers:
Mark Adams and Miriam Maidonado Escobar (Mexico)
Farsijanna Adeney-Risakotta (Indonesia)
Jeff and Christi Boyd (Central Africa)
Jo Ella Holman (Carribean and Cuba)
Bob and Kristi Rice (South Sudan)
 
Our regional and global mission partners:
Kemmerer Village (and Camp Carew)
Lifeline Pilots
Marion Medical Mission
Mission Aviation Fellowship
Opportunity International
Friends of Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan Presbyterian Cuba Partnership
Special Offerings of the PC(USA)
Theological Education Fund
Young Adult Volunteers
 
Here in Champaign – Urbana:
CU Better Together
CU at Home
CANAAN S.A.F.E. HOUSE
CANTEEN RUN
COURAGE CONNECTION
DREAAM
eMPTY TOMB, INC
FAITH IN ACTION
JESUS IS THE WAY PRISON MINISTRY
THE REFUGEE CENTER
RESTORATION URBAN MINISTRY
SALT & LIGHT
 
Here at First Presbyterian Church
FPCC Amateur Preachers
FPCC Environmental Committee working with Faith in Place
FPCC Presbyterian Women
FPCC ESL
FPCC Children, Youth and Families
FPCC Mission Possible/Go and Serve
 
FOOD PANTRIES, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY
Please note: In light of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) some of our partners may cancel distributions temporarily. Please check our COVID-19 Updates and Information page (www.eifoodbank.org/news/) or contact the site directly to find out if they will be having distributions. Some of our agencies are closed on major holidays. Please contact the site directly for holiday distribution hours.
If you’re in need of help, but haven’t visited one of EIF’s partners in the past year, please visit www.eifclient.com to pre-register.

Champaign Church of the Brethren
Call Church Monday-Friday 8am-12pm to schedule appointment
1210 N. Neil Street  Champaign, IL 61820
217-356-3852
Serving Champaign County

Daily Bread Soup Kitchen
Lunch served 7 days a week 11am – 12:30pm
116 N First Street, Champaign, IL 61820
Serving Champaign County

Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal
Monday-Friday 9am-10am (until takeout sacks are gone)
208 W University Ave Champaign, IL 61820
217-352-9827
Serving Champaign County

Faith Baptist Church-Champaign
By appointment only – call church to schedule
4601 N. Market Street  Champaign, IL 61822
217-367-9918
Serving Champaign-Urbana & surrounding area

Faith UMC Emergency Food Pantry
Open Monday-Wednesday 11am-2pm
1719 S. Prospect Ave, Champaign, IL 61820
217-359-3631
Serving Champaign County

Friends of Champaign County
(located inside Champaign-Urbana Public Health District)
Open Thursday 12pm – 2pm
201 West Kenyon Road Champaign, IL 61820
217-352-7961
Serving Champaign County

Grace Lutheran Church
Open Thursday 10am – 12pm
313 S. Prospect Ave Champaign, IL 61820
217-356-6232
Serving Champaign County

Jubilee Café (located inside Community United Church of Christ)
Serves hot meal  Monday’s from 5-6:30pm
805 South 6th, Champaign
All are welcome!    https://www.facebook.com/jubileecafecucc/           

Restoration Urban Ministries
Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday 10am – 1pm
1213 Parkland Court, Champaign, IL 61821
217-355-2662
Serving Champaign County

Salvation Army Pantry
Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am – 4pm / Tuesdays 9 am – 5 pm
2212 North Market Street, Champaign, IL 61822
Serving Champaign County

St. Vincent DePaul-Champaign (Inside Holy Cross Church)
Call Church for an appointment 
405 W Clark Street Champaign, IL 61820
217-352-8748
Serving Champaign

St. Luke CME Food Pantry
Open 3rd Saturday 10am – 12pm
809 5th Street, Champaign, IL 61820
Serving Champaign County 

St. Vincent DePaul-Urbana
Open Monday -Thursdays 4:30pm – 5pm
Inside St. Patrick Parish Center
708 W Main Street, Urbana, IL 61801
Serving Champaign County

Stone Creek Food Pantry – Urbana
Open second & fourth Friday of the month from 10:30am – 1pm 
2502 S. Race St, Urbana, IL 61801
Serving Champaign, Urbana, Rantoul and surrounding areas

UniPlace Christian Church
Open Wednesdays 6pm – 7pm (while University classes are in session)
403 S. Wright St., Champaign, IL 61820
217-362-5118
Serving Champaign County

UniPlace Christian Pantry – Open Door
Open Tuesday 10am – 12pm
403 S. Wright St., Champaign, IL 61820
217-362-5118
Serving Champaign County

The Vineyard Food Pantry
Open Wednesdays 10am – 12pm, & 5pm – 6pm
Inside Hope Center
1802 N. Lincoln, Urbana, IL 61801
Serving Champaign County

Windsor Road Christian Church 
Open Monday-Thursday 9am – 4:00pm
2501 Windsor Road, Champaign, IL 61822
217-359-2122
Serving Champaign County

Wesley Evening Pantry at Wesley United Methodist Church
Thursdays 5pm – 7pm
Additional hours for Champaign County College Students only: Fridays 1pm – 3pm
1203 W. Green Street, Urbana, IL  61801
Serving Champaign County

Wesley Evening Pantry at Parkland College
Open every Wednesday 1pm – 3pm / 1st and 3rd Saturdays 10am – 12pm
Parkland College “M” Building (room M138 across from the Planetarium; park in the M1 lot)
2400 W. Bradley Ave, Champaign, IL 61821
Serving Champaign County

Foodmobile Schedule
 
If you plan to attend one of the following distributions, please visit www.eifclient.com to pre-register. Please note, pre-registering does not reserve a spot in line.

Upcoming Foodmobiles will be held on the following dates, times, locations and serving the following areas:

Drive-Through Food Distribution in Normal, IL
Saturday, May 30th from 9:30am – 10:30am
Normal West Community High School
501 N Parkside Rd, Normal, IL

Drive-Through Food Distribution in Bement, IL
Saturday, June 6th from 9:30am – 10:30am
Bement High School
201 S. Champaign Street
Enter from Highway 105
 
https://www.eifoodbank.org/help/champaign.html
 
 


  302 W. Church Street
  Champaign, IL 61820
  217-356-7238
  info@firstpres.church

Monday May 25^th 2020
A Special Memorial Day
Emailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
Carl Sandburg was born in Galesburg, IL. At 13, he drove a milk wagon. He spent two weeks enrolled at West Point but failed math and grammar. He worked as a farm laborer in Kansas. Was a bricklayer for a time. A coal heaver in Omaha. In 1945 he moved to Flat Rock, NC. He was in his late sixties. His wife raised famous goats, which sounds like a Marx Brothers’ joke. The goats were famous because they held milking records. She bred them to be strong, productive, old. 
 
I’ve walked through the Flat Rock house and grounds many times. I’ve met some of Mrs. Sandburg’s goats. We saw a play on the grounds once, a reading of his Rootabaga Stories. His wife was the former Lilian Steichen; her brother was the famous photographer Edward whose son Alfred married Georgia O’Keefe, which is another story. Sandburg called his wife Paula, and interestingly, she never allowed a single drape, blind, or window dressing of any kind to be hung in their Flat Rock home, which they called Connemara. Mrs. Sandburg said windows frame the beautiful world, and the beautiful world ought not be covered up. Suffice it to note their rural estate did not border meat factories or laundromats. 
 
I digress, again.
 
A big piano fills the front room of Connemara. I’ve seen the guitar on which Sandburg composed his folk tunes. I’ve looked into his bedroom. I’ve walked through his voluminous book collection. 
 
He won the Pulitzer prize thrice. Twice for his poetry and once for the biography of Abraham Lincoln during the war years. Lincoln, as you historians will know, only a few generations before Sandburg, lived just over two hours away in New Salem, IL. 
 
I have a point and I’m almost there.
 
Sandburg as an old man wrote late into the night. He slept until noon every day. His breakfast was to be left on a tray at his door; whomever brought it was never to knock. He wrote about a third of his published work in the Flat Rock house that once belonged to the treasurer of the Confederate States of America, a cause that couldn’t have been farther from Sandburg’s heart. The NAACP counted Sandburg as one of their champions, and he was, staunchly.
 
He loved America. 
 
He wrote powerfully about Chicago, the city in which he took his first newspaper job. The City of Broad Shoulders, he called Chicago. Player of Railroads, he said. Did he know Rev. George McKinley’s son (our pastor who built our current sanctuary), William, who got rich with the Illinois Traction System? Did he know Chicago-born Robert Henry Allerton, whose nearby estate brings such joy to me and Rachel? (The peony garden is alive with color right now!) 
 
Sandburg knew a lot of people. Befriended the little man, spoke out against big business, championed the rights of the worker. 
 
And he was a great writer. 
 
Stormy, 
 
husky, 
 
brawling,
 
Chicago. 
 
 
Why all this blather about Sandburg? 
 
Because he wrote what I think is the perfect Memorial Day poem. It is a truth, a memorial, a warning, a prayer.
 
Let me know what you think.
 
 
 

Grass

BY CARL SANDBURG
 
Pile the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.
Shovel them under and let me work—
                                          I am the grass; I cover all.
 
And pile them high at Gettysburg
And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.
Shovel them under and let me work.
Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:
                                          What place is this?
                                          Where are we now?
 
                                          I am the grass.
                                          Let me work.
 
 News:
 
CU-Better Together Coming together to fight hunger and give hope to school families in need. Here is the sign up for the Interfaith Alliance. Please share widely. Thank you!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F044EAEA822ABFA7-cubetter
 
Good Word:
 
Proverbs 1:7 (King James Version) (Notice I keep repeating this.)
 
⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
 
Let us pray:
 
A Prayer by an Unknown Confederate Soldier. 
 
I asked for strength that I might achieve;
I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health that I might do greater things;
I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;
I was given poverty that I might be wise.
I asked for power that I might have the praise of men;
I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;
I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for
but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself my unspoken prayers were answered,
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
 
Much, much love to you all.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church

Friday 22 May 2020
 
Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends, 
 
Last night the Session appointed a Covid-19 Response Team. Your staff and worship teams have been talking about this for many weeks with Peter Yau’s input; those people realized we needed a larger group to think more widely about opening and other issues. Please pray for them and be in touch with your observations and ideas.
 
Motion to Session: That the Session of First Presbyterian Champaign elect a Covid-19 Response Team coordinated by the Head of Staff for the purpose of discerning how and when our church reopens, and all matters related to the Covid-19 World Pandemic. The Team will function as a permanent committee of the Session until such time as the Session dissolves it. The Team will have advisory role only unless the Session elects to allow otherwise in specific circumstances.
 
Members shall include the following.
 
1 Peter Yau
2 Ron Deering
3 Judi Geistlinger
4 Ken Chapman
5 Matt Matthews
6 Eric Corbin
7 Mark Schoeffmann
8 Ruth Craddock
9 Tim Young
 
 
* * *
 
I’ll ‘see’ you on Sunday.
 
Expect a miracle.
 
Turn on your “device” and find us at:   FirstPres.Live
 
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you.
            Be amazed.
                        Tell somebody.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 
 
* * *
 
New fun photo challenge! Each Friday the Nurture Committee is challenging us to read an assigned scripture about Jesus and come up with a representation of the story using whatever you already have around the house and share it in photo form.

CHALLENGE #6
CRUCIFIXION – Matthew 27:32-56
Betrayed by a friend, Jesus was arrested
He was tried by a court and his death was requested
On the saddest of days, our Savior did die
But within the dark moment, our salvation did lie

When Jesus died on the cross, his disciples and friends lost all hope. But God had a bigger plan. A beautiful plan that was way bigger than they could see at the moment.
We remember the cross as a place of suffering but also as a place of hope for all eternity.

With your family find or a make a cross and take a picture of it.

Post your photo to:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/firstpreschampaign/ 
 live@firstpres.church
 For Instagram @fpcchampaign

Example

  
 
 
* * *
 
The Covid-19 Response Team has considered these and many other resources. I share them with you so that you aren’t in the dark, and that you might share your resources with us.
 
 Required reading:
 
 PCUSA response:
https://www.pcusa.org/site_media/media/uploads/covid-19/returning_to_public_worship_may_2020.pdf