Friday 24 July 2020
 
Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends, 
 
This passage from Amos 5:21 as translated by Eugene Peterson has really grabbed me this week. What have you read this week that has inspired you? Share it.
 

“I can’t stand your religious meetings. I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me? Do you know what I want? I want justice—oceans of it. I want fairness—rivers of it. That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”

And Prayers of Steel from Sandburg always stirs me:
 
Lay me on an anvil, O God.  
Beat me and hammer me into a crowbar.  
Let me pry loose old walls.  
Let me lift and loosen old foundations.  
  
Lay me on an anvil, O God.
Beat me and hammer me into a steel spike.  
Drive me into the girders that hold a skyscraper together.  
Take red-hot rivets and fasten me into the central girders.  
Let me be the great nail holding a skyscraper through blue nights into white stars.
 
* * *
 
On Sunday in worship, we who are tethered to the solid ground reach for the transcendent in song, prayer, and praise. Follow the links at FirstPres.Live and join us at 9:00 on Sunday.
 
See you on Sunday. Invite a friend.
 
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 — There were no correct guesses on last Friday’s photo of Rachel Matthews! 

Here’s this week’s photo. 

Visit http://fb.com/groups/firstpreschampaign to make your guesses, or email them to photos@firstpres.church.  
 
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@firstpres.church.

* * *
 
Summer songs: 
 
Knock on Wood!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kceiks__PsE
 
Sing it, Sly!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUUhDoCx8zc
 
If you travel, take this along…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgeVx8QoVaQ
 
Thank you, Arturo O’Farrill!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_5IGKqxKw0
 
 

Thursday July 23, 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
Nathan Paul-Bonham took a wet corner too fast on his bicycle, crashed, fractured hip and pelvis, and contracted a bad case of road rash. He’s okay, but is just now feeling the bad pain that will only get worse before it gets better. (Nathan, if you’re reading this, take your meds and feel the love coming your way. Seriously.) His parents, as I write this, are coursing through Illinois. By the time you read this tomorrow, they’ll be leaving the Texas panhandle or thereabouts. 
 
Nathan is a YAV—a Young Adult Volunteer for our church, the Presbyterian Church (USA)—serving in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was to be his last week concluding a year of service to and with at-risk youth there. 
 
Rachel and I and our sons love Nathan and his family. We met Scott and Donna almost 40 years ago at Union Seminary & the Presbyterian School of Christian Education. None of us had kids then, and we could not imagine how we would love each other’s kids and families.  
 
Nathan is 6-feet 8-inches tall with his basketball shoes on, but he’s still our collective “little boy.” Join us in praying for him.
 
Sometime ministry is rushing through the night on a cross country drive. Sometimes it is a healing ministry of books-on-tape and slow walks around the house. Sometimes it is praying for strangers or feeding family. It’s preaching hope in the face of hopelessness, freedom in the face of quarantine, victory when the tide is decidedly not in your favor, resurrection around a hole and pile of fresh dug dirt.
 
Friends, pray for the Paul-Bonham family and the miles they have yet to drive.  They have to make it back to St. Joseph, Michigan, after all, with a wounded son.
 
And let’s continue to be church together. “Being there” for one another. Caring. Reaching out. Challenging. Comforting. Taking seriously this ministry of presence during a season of separation.
 
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
 
Take on Race:
 
Interested in First Presbyterian Church becoming “multicultural”? It’s easier to talk about than to achieve. I would love it. But would the necessary changes be too tough on you? On me? Hum…. Here’s some food for thought from Beth Hutchens:
 
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/891600067/multiracial-congregations-may-not-bridge-racial-divide
 
News:
 
Wednesday Night Vespers was a special blessing last night. Thank you for the inspiration.  
 
Friday

Men’s Prayer Group 8:30 am
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

Friday Night Lights Bible Study 7:30 pm
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
 
Humor: (Serious times call for re-creation, joy, and humor.)
 
We had dinner on the moon the other night. The food was good, but we didn’t like the atmosphere.

GOOD WORD:
Romans 8:26             
… [T]he Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 

LET US PRAY:
 
Peace between nations. Peace between neighbors. Peace between lovers. In love of the God of life. Peace between man and woman. Peace between parent and child. Peace between brother and sister. The peace of Christ above all peace. Bless, O Christ, my face. Let my face bless everything. Bless, O Christ, my eyes. Let my eyes bless all they see. Amen.
 
PEACE to you all,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 

Monday July 20, 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
We have many people and situations to hold in prayer. Dick and Carol Ann Green could use our prayers now. See the note below from Nancy Bell.
 
How many people do you know who have had Covid-19?  We all try to be so careful, and, yet, we all are susceptible to this illness. Larry Braskamp, a former member of our congregation who now lives in Chicago, was flabbergasted that he got Covid. Read his essay at the very bottom of this email.
 
Bill Marble wrote a great essay about race. Read it below. Also, follow the link to Chancellor Robert Jones powerful essay in the News-Gazette. 
 
Mary and Steve Gritten have come to the humor rescue with the granddaughter’s jokes.
 
I hope your weekend was good. I’m around if you want to talk. My number is below, as always.
 
 
Take on Race:
‘It is time to stop hoping someone else will step up. And it is time to be unapologetically impatient.’ROBERT JONES UI Chancellor. Read his great article in the News Gazette: https://www.news-gazette.com/news/being-black-in-america-ui-chancellor-robert-jones/article_1b42a91b-d795-5f36-938c-131257e306a9.html

* * *

Have you read  the book “White Fragility”?   If so, what did you think? How did it help you think about race? Here’s what Bill Marble wrote.  Thanks, Bill:

Good Word: 

Psalm 104:1-3
 
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
    O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
²     wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
³     you set the beams of your^[a] chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your^[b] chariot,
    you ride on the wings of the wind,
⁴ you make the winds your^[c] messengers,
    fire and flame your^[d] ministers.
 
Let us pray:
 
Merciful God,
we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
we have broken your law,
we have rebelled against your love.
We have not loved our neighbors,
and we have refused to hear the cry of the needy. 
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 
PEACE to you all,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
  
 
Coping with Covid-19: A Personal Perspective   
By Larry A. Braskamp    larry@sitbeside.org      July 17  2020
 
In late May, I tested positive (infected) with the COVID- 19 virus.  After 29 days in quarantine, I “count it all joy” that I am now negative and have freedom.  In this reflection, I share some highlights and struggles of my journey in isolation as context for making some suggestions for church communities as they begin to further open up in this new era.
 
I was shocked that I got COVID – 19, since my wife, Judi, and I had been very cautious, given our age and Judi’s preexisting health condition. I have no idea how I got it.  I quarantined in our bedroom, with a bed, TV, easy chair and bathroom and a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. We communicated by phone.  I opened the door three times a day to get my meals prepared by my very supportive wife, an excellent cook. During this period we celebrated our 56^th wedding anniversary, waving to each other ten feet away. I can best illustrate my month by sharing the survey I completed each morning for my hospital. I indicated the frequency I have had a fever, a cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, muscle aches, trouble sleeping, lack of energy, feel ill, diarrhea, or stomach pain.  I had no energy at the beginning, no desire to read, watch movies, or watch the news. I just slept most of the time, focusing on my survival. Since I had only a slight fever, I was judged to have a mild case. But a month before I tested positive I had begun to experience a constant lightheadedness, which stayed with me throughout my quarantine. Weeks later it has not completely gone away.  All of my treatments were by telemedicine, except for the four times I walked six blocks to the hospital’s COVID-19 testing site.
 
My state of mind.  However, my responses to three questions on the survey best describe my well-being during this time. They capture the emotional stress I faced (as is common with others I’m told).  They are: I worry that the infection will get worse; I worry about spreading my infection; I feel overwhelmed by my condition. In the first two weeks I feared that my condition would get worse – I would land up in the hospital on a ventilator. It became a life and death issue continually on my mind. With one cough, I would panic and think that I am headed for the hospital soon. I also worried about my wife getting the virus, since she has a pre-existing health condition. And I felt overwhelmed especially at the beginning having brief moments of utter despair and complete hopelessness.  My physical isolation and anxiety over the uncertainty and unpredictability of the virus had a multiplier effect.  The treatment offered by the experts of “just wait it out” was not comforting. 
 
Self-reflections.  I took to writing self-reflections to better discern meaning and purpose in my life and my future. What has been and should be essential in my life?  I started them with a short commentary on a selected Bible passage. My reflections, usually written from 1 – 3 am, were raw, very inarticulate, and grossly inadequate in describing my feelings and thinking. But the mere writing of these gave me some peace and insights. The first one was “Alone, together’” and the last one was “By the Grace of God.” I discovered, not surprisingly, that ultimate meaning in my life is still heavily based on my Calvinist worldview –God’s grace and providential presence in my life– which I learned growing up from my family and local church. But the Grace of God became more than some theological abstract term. Surprisingly and joyfully I found it very meaningful knowing that family and friends – persons of various faith traditions or no religious faith –were thinking of me. (Two church communities, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago where we have been members for three decades, and First Presbyterian Church, Champaign, IL where we were members three – four decades ago were bountiful in their grace.) It provided comfort, at times considerable strength and motivation to endure – giving me hope through my uncertain, unpredictable, uncontrollable future. It was manifested beautifully by the daily thoughts and prayers, expressed in emails, cards, phone calls, zooms. I will never forget when one of my granddaughters (age 14) said, “Grandpa, I am praying for you to get negative.”   As I write this now in my freedom, I am so thankful that “By the Grace of God, I am alive and well – I didn’t go to the hospital. I can play tennis again.” 
 
Suggestions for churches 
I wish to provide some suggestions based on my experience to churches which are beginning to open up. When I told my friends and family that I was infected, many replied with these two comments. “I now know someone who has it—I can check it off,” and “If you who have been so careful can get it, maybe I am next.”  Unfortunately, many more may still be infected in the future. My suggestions range from the concrete to comprehensive initiatives.
  
Care for those with COVID-19 and their caregivers isolated by this virus.  Both will no doubt experience loneliness and anxiety even being overwhelmed at times. Thus communication – emails, notes, zooming, and telephone — among those in and out of quarantine is helpful. The power of people cannot be overestimated.  I experienced it so powerfully. Communication makes the virus more personal, which can benefit everyone in understanding and showing empathy. Communication must respect the privacy of those isolated and the church’s guidelines.   
 
Care for older adults.  Recognize that many, especially older adults, who have not been infected with the virus, have been forced to be isolated. They cannot enjoy the social relationships that they have had at church before the virus.  Many are lonely and depressed they tell me.  They need the support and prayers of others as well.  
 
Engage church members of all ages. Provide opportunities for members of a church to reflect on their goals, aspirations, values, and of course their faith. Reflection requires us to look inward, not an easy endeavor. Are we being asked or even forced to adapt our lives to discover meaning and purpose given at this time?  What is essential in our lives now and in the future? How adaptive do we need to be and for how long – maybe for the rest of our lives?  Is there a new definition of well-being needed individually and for the church collectively?   
 
Revisit the meaning of “Vocation.”  This period is a good time to reflect on vocation as a useful way to think of our lives moving forward.  I like how Frederick Buechner defines it, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” It is this interdependence between our life and the lives of others that makes this definition so useful in thinking about how we can live a meaningful life during this era.  We cannot take our vocation seriously or completely until we include our relationships with others in our thinking and actions.  
 
 
Acknowledge and accept loss. Acknowledge that there is loss in the way we have been engaged in church.  To plan to get back to normal, the way we have been, as soon as possible, is not a valid or useful mindset.  Change is inevitable, which means accepting and moving beyond grief over what we will miss in moving forward as a church community. When I walked to my office at Elmhurst College to begin my day, I went past the statue of Reinhold Niebuhr, a graduate, which has these words printed on its base:  “God, give me the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” Accepting the loss of where we were is needed as we think and experiment with new strategies to develop a new form of community in the church.  “What is essential in our lives and in our religious communities?”   
 
Recognize that individuals best develop in community.  Hold steadfast to the fact that we best develop as individuals when we are in community — being engaged with others. Isolation is a dangerous thing from a developmental point of view.  We grow and develop in our faith when we live a life surrounded by support and challenge. The church as a community of believers can play such an important role in developing each of us in our spiritual, social, intellectual life.  The church is a community that supports – gives us comfort — but also provides the necessary challenge to grow.  Our task as a church is this new era is to discover how to provide an optimal environment for each person to grow in their faith.  
 
Welcome the opportunity.  Finally, embrace the fact that the church is challenged and now has an opportunity to address three overlapping crises –COVID -19, collapse of the economy, and racial inequity. We are witnessing “history in the making.”  How do we as a church community respond and act? The church can become a powerful voice in moving our society forward.  But more than spoken words is needed.  Institutional commitment and action is required. Church communities can contribute by offering understanding, based on our faith traditions, and be engaged in action-filled solutions working collaboratively with other institutions. Now is our opportunity. 
 

Thursday July 16, 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
            In my Sunday sermon I make a passing reference to Lamar Williamson one of our esteemed professors at Union Theological Seminary and, across the road, at the Presbyterian School of Christian Education. His brilliance was matched by his tender love of people. Lamar made me feel like I really mattered. What a sweet man. 
 
            He began his teaching career in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Many of our local Presbyterian African friends have families whose lives were touched by Lamar and Ruthmary and their work training pastors in Africa. 
 
            It’s a small world.  And, no, the circle will not be broken.
 
            Here’s Brian Blount’s remembrance of Lamar. This is one story of one Christian life lived in community with God’s wide, wide family.
 
https://mailchi.mp/upsem.edu/statement-from-president-blount-on-passing-of-lamar-williamson-jr?e=2371b73baf
 
Take on Race:
 
For your library: White Fragility 2018 by Robin DiAngelo. It should be in stock on Amazon on July1 priced at $9.39 paperback and also available in digital form. For those of you who have read this book, what stuck out for you? 
 
* * *
The words “change” and “chance” differ by only one letter, but their relationship intrigues  me.
 
News:
 
Your Session meets tonight. Prayer for them.

Friday:
Men’s Prayer Group 8:30 am
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

Friday Night Lights 7:30 pm
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

* * *
 
If you missed this, try again. Todd Ledbetter funeral highlights. (Thanks Ian Evensen.)
 https://www.facebook.com/firstpreschampaign/videos/312986080106285/   
 
* * *
 
Join your church friends for pickleball on Wednesdays at 1:00 at the courts of Hessel Park. Bring your paddle.
 
* * *
 
Our Wednesday night Zoom was a delight last night. Don’t miss out. Join us next week.
 
Humor: (Serious times call for re-creation, joy, and humor.)
Please send me some jokes. I’ve only got 4^th grade groaners:
 

•       Where did the spaghetti and sauce go to dance? (The Meat Ball.)
•       What does the corn say when it’s frustrated? (Aw, shucks.)
•       What kind of tree has the best bark? (Tune in tomorrow for the answer, and PLEASE send some jokes!)

GOOD WORD: 

Ephesians 2:19                  
¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God . . . 

 
Let us pray:
 
A Charge from John Wesley:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.
 
A prayer:
 
LORD, help us. 
AMEN
 
PEACE to you all,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church

Wednesday July 15, 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
            I talked to a friend who talked to a friend who talked to a friend who was tired of talking about race. He said, essentially, “I have nothing left to learn. I like everyone. I am not a racist.”
 
            Ouch!
 
            Stay the course, friends. Let’s keep learning, growing, reaching.
  
Take on Race:
 
June 28 was the birthday of the founder of the Methodist movement, John Wesley (1703). He was born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England, and his father was a Nonconformist — a dissenter from the Church of England. Wesley studied at Oxford, where he decided to become a priest. He and his brother joined a religious study group that was given the nickname “the Methodists” for their rigorous and methodical study habits; the name wasn’t meant as a compliment, but Wesley hung onto it anyway and managed to attract several new members to the group, which fasted two days a week and spent time in social service.
            By 1739, he felt he wasn’t really reaching people from the pulpit, so he took to the fields, traveling on horseback, preaching two or three times a day. He began recruiting local laypeople to preach as well, and ran afoul of the Church of England for doing so. He believed that Christians could be made “perfect in love” when their actions arose out of a desire to please God and to promote the welfare of the less fortunate. He wrote: “Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment. It is not only ‘the first and great’ command, but all the commandments in one. ‘Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,’ they are all comprised in this one word, love.”
            He was also an ardent abolitionist. In Thoughts on Slavery (1774), he wrote: “Are you a man? Then you should have a human heart. But have you indeed? What is your heart made of? Is there no such principle as Compassion there? Do you never feel another’s pain? Have you no Sympathy? No sense of human woe? No pity for the miserable? When you saw the flowing eyes, the heaving breasts, or the bleeding sides and tortured limbs of your fellow-creatures, was you a stone, or a brute? Did you look upon them with the eyes of a tiger? When you squeezed the agonizing creatures down in the ship, or when you threw their poor mangled remains into the sea, had you no relenting? Did not one tear drop from your eye, one sigh escape from your breast? Do you feel no relenting now? If you do not, you must go on, till the measure of your iniquities is full. Then will the Great GOD deal with You, as you have dealt with them, and require all their blood at your hands.”
            He’s said to have traveled 250,000 miles, preached 40,000 sermons, and written, translated, or edited more than 200 volumes. He made £20,000 for his publications but gave most of it away and died in poverty. Though there’s no evidence that he actually wrote it himself, “John Wesley’s Rule” does a fair job of summing up his life:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.
 
* * *
 
4-minutes 16-seconds with Oscar Romero:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2j9W780Mo
  
News:
 
Mary Gritten wants to share the sad news of the death of a cousin-in-law yesterday.  (Steve’s cousin’s husband.)  “They live in FL so we have made it a point to visit with them every winter.  How we did enjoy our time together.  Bob, the one who died, and I disagreed about many issues but we always were able to laugh and tease and have fun about those differences. And to look forward to the next round.  We liked and respected each other even while taking opposite positions.  I will miss him, as will Steve.”
 
Holy God, bless Mary and Steve as they grieve this loss.
 
* * *
 
Todd Ledbetter funeral highlights. (Thanks Ian Evensen.)
 https://www.facebook.com/firstpreschampaign/videos/312986080106285/   
 
* * *
 
Join us at 7:00 p.m. tonight for conversation and a concert. This link is:
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

Thursday
Youth Gathering 4 pm
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
 
Humor: (Serious times call for re-creation, joy, and humor.) 

•       What kind of dance did the snowman go to? (A snowball.)

GOOD WORD: THE GLORIOUS NEW CREATION
 
Isaiah 65:17-25  (NRSV)
¹⁷ For I am about to create new heavens
    and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
    or come to mind.
¹⁸ But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
    and its people as a delight.
¹⁹ I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
    and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
    or the cry of distress.
²⁰ No more shall there be in it
    an infant that lives but a few days,
    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
²¹ They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²² They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
²³ They shall not labor in vain,
    or bear children for calamity;^[a]
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
    and their descendants as well.
²⁴ Before they call I will answer,
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵ The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
    but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.
 
Let us pray:
 
With your hands of power and your heart of love, help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nations shall not lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors, when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid, when justice will roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day 
when black will not be asked to get in back, 
when brown can stick around
when yellow will be mellow…
when the red man can get ahead, man; 
and when white will embrace what is right. 
That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.
 
(Rev. Joseph Lowry)
 
PEACE to you all,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church

Monday July 13, 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
            “Death has come up into our windows,  it has entered our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the squares.” Jeremiah 9:21
 
            The Corona Virus is not going away. I thought it would just evaporate with summer heat. By now I thought this past winter-into-spring would feel like a faraway dream. Fall would be a blank canvas. Fall still is a blank canvas but the need to social distance and wear a mask leave me feeling like I only get to use one color on that blank canvas. 
 
            My mom used to say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” She probably stole that from my tennis coach, who said it to us a lot during winter strength training. In the summer and fall, Coach Mann was the defensive line coach for the mighty Hampton (Virginia) Crabbers, always a contender for triple-A state competition. The origin of that phrase may be a coach from a Texas football field, says Wikipedia. 
 
            If there’s anything true about this admonition, then I think the definition of the word ‘tough’ bears teasing out. In my experience, the toughest people are often the most tender. And ‘tough’ people speak the language of grace. Paul puts it this way to the church at Galatia: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ humility, self control” (Galatians 5:22). That’s as good a definition of ‘tough’ as one can find anywhere. We need exactly that kind of ‘fruit.’
 
            Yes, death has come up to our windows, and it is likely the playgrounds will be cordoned off again to keep children from spreading the virus. But the ‘toughest’ among us are already making a way for the rest of us to follow. 
 
            Thank God.
 
Take on Race:
 
It’s your turn. Given Ian Evensen’s powerful essay on what he has learned about racism (on Thursday), what have you been learning? Tells us. 
 
News:
 
Our internet was out Sunday due to storm damage in the neighborhood. If you weren’t able to tune into worship in the morning, you can tune in anytime. Eric Corbin preached a good sermon. Find it here: https://www.facebook.com/firstpreschampaign/videos/997724640684418/
 
And at:
 
https://www.firstpres.church/first-pres-live-2020-07-12/
 
Humor: (Serious times call for re-creation, joy, and humor.)
 
(From Mary Gritten’s son-in-law. Her daughter chose a funny guy!) 

•       Why does a chicken coop only have two doors? Because if it had four doors it would be a chicken sedan.
•       Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road? It didn’t have the guts.
•       What did the mathematician say when her parrot flew away? Polygon.
•       What did the mathematical acorn say after it grew up? Geometry! (Gee, I’m a tree!)

(And these chestnuts from Gary Peterson:)

•       Two pickles fell out of the jar onto the floor. What did one say to the other? Dill with it!
•       Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7, 8, 9 

^[1] Surely the Spirit of the Lord is in this place. There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place and I know that it’s the Spirit of the LORD.
^[2] Fear? Why not awe, wonder, joy?