Friday 2 October 2020
 
Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends, 
 
Paul shares his resume in Philippians 3 beginning in verse 4b. What’s on your resume? I’ll be thinking out loud about that on Sunday in worship. I’d love to “see” you there.
 
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you. (It’s there.)
            Be amazed.
                        Tell somebody.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
 
* * *
 
PHOTO Challenge! No update this week…stay tuned!

* * *
 
William Carlos Williams’ “The Use of Force” is a story I’ve come back to year after year. If you’ve never read this short story—you’re welcome:
https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/force.html
 
Chancellor Robert Jones jams with these folk. They believe. I do, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JviNJJpp0wU
 
Beethoven:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceX5jJ5fggs
 
Somewhere Over the Rainbow (on a train?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xctzp0dp9uc
 
Quarantunes w/ Matthew Storie & Emma Taylor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo8xeshyA8o

Thursday, October 1^st, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
Our book study on White Fragility is going well. Thanks for praying for your church friends  who are exploring the subtleties and power of racism. Here’s a column that I borrowed from one of my colleagues at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago:
 
I learned this definition of racism at a workshop run by the Chicago Regional Organization Against Racism (CROAR): Racism is race prejudice combined with power. As soon as I heard the definition, I felt relieved. Not because it made the problem of racism feel less serious or easier to solve, but because it gave specific contours to it that I felt I could grab onto. Without clarity and understanding, racism feels like a force to simply swallow a people up. 
 
It’s been over two years since I learned that definition. Since then, Fourth Church has committed to a strategic direction of embracing racial equity and modeling an antiracism approach in all of our ministry. Also, during that interval, “antiracism” has achieved widespread adoption among community leaders (including church leaders), commentators, academics, and activists as the term best fit for the urgency of our moment. As a church leader, I have begun employing the term routinely, even though I would be hard pressed to define it with the kind of clarity that so relieved me at that CROAR workshop. 
 
Clarity about antiracism is available, thankfully. Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How To Be An Antiracist, is full of helpful definitions: racism and antiracism, yes, but also racist and antiracist policies, ideas, and people. Kendi employs definitions as tools for fighting racism. “If we don’t do the basic work of defining the kind of people we want to be in language that is stable and consistent,” he argues, “We can’t work toward stable, consistent goals.” It won’t be possible to model antiracism if we can’t say what it is. 
 
Here, then, is the Kendi glossary of antiracism:
 
Racism: “a marriage of racist policies and racist ideas that produces and normalizes racial inequities.”
 
Antiracism: “a powerful collection of antiracist policies that lead to racial equity and are substantiated by antiracist ideas.”
 
Racial inequity: “when two or more racial groups are not standing on approximately equal footing.”
 
Racial equity: “when two or more racial groups are standing on a relatively equal footing.”
 
A racist policy: “any measure that produces or sustains racial inequity between racial groups.”
 
An antiracist policy: “any measure that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups.”
 
A racist idea: “any idea that suggests one racial group is inferior or superior to another racial group in any way.”
 
An antiracist idea: “any idea that suggests the racial groups are equal in all their apparent differences.”
 
I don’t think a person or community is required to accept Kendi’s glossary wholesale to pursue antiracism. Personally, I wonder if it’s not overly restrictive in its guiding binary opposition of racism and antiracism. Also, it feels very technical. A theological lexicon of racism probably reaches beyond terms like “equal” and “inferior” to include “sin” and “evil.”
 
Kendi’s definitions are sheer gift, questions aside. For those of us committed to racial equity and antiracism in our lives and our churches, they are as helpful a conversation partner as we could hope for. 
 
—Rocky Supinger, Associate Pastor for Youth Ministry, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago
 
News:

Presbyterian Women’s Fall Gathering
TODAY   October 1
2 pm via Zoom
Program — Brandi Lowe, Moderator PW 

The next Adopt A Highway will be Tuesday, October 6, at 9 am. 
First time volunteers call Liz Miley, 356-5402 or email ebmiley@aol.com
 
Don’t forget these conversations on PUBLIC SAFETY:  The City of Champaign is pleased to invite you to participate in a community listening session to share your vision for public safety in our community. All residents, business owners and community stakeholders are encouraged to take part. The goal is to help create better communication and understanding between Champaign Police, City Administrators and community members by allowing you to directly voice your thoughts and expectations around policing. Each session will include Chief of Police Anthony Cobb and Police command staff, City Manager Dorothy David, and elected City officials. The listening sessions will be moderated by Dr. Travis Dixon, an American media studies scholar and Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois.

Determining the future of policing in our community should be a collaborative process involving community partnerships, and the first step in that process is to hear from you. Each listening session will be used to gather information from the public so it can be shared with the City Council as they make future public safety policy decisions to best address the needs, interests, and values of our community. Virtual Listening Session Dates:
· Saturday, Oct. 3, 1-3 p.m.
· Friday, Oct. 9, 1-3 p.m.
· Tuesday, Oct. 13, 6-8 p.m.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the listening sessions will be held electronically using the Zoom meeting platform. More information on how to join and participate, including how to attend via Zoom can be found on the City’s website at  champaignil.gov/CommunityConversations. Please feel free to share this invitation with others. The City looks forward to hearing your input during one of these important listening sessions.
Humor (Hard times need godly laughter): 
 
From Tom Gilmore:  Why did the boy build a robot? Because his mother told him to make new friends.
 
From Mary Gritten: I went to the library to find some books about turtles. “Hardbacks?” the librarian asked. “Yes,” I replied, “with little heads,”
 
How do you make the number one disappear? Just add a ‘g’ and it’s gone!
 
Good Word:
 
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 5:24
 
LET US PRAY:
 
Holy God,
our theologians teach that
You never change. Yet,
You created the world to change
every nanosecond. From season
to season, morning to noon,
day to night, birth to old age—
Every second you give us 
something new to delight in
and marvel over. 
 
Frost, soon, will dust
pumpkin and lawn with a million
crystals in myriad, delicate form.
 Green leaves will crisp and changed hue
to red, yellow, even blue.
Our children are learning to walk,
to ride bikes, to harness their dreams.
Every moment is new.
 
Holy God,
all of this change is too
marvelous to take in. 
 
Hear our thanks.
Receive our praise.
We hold your works
in wonder, awe, and delight.
 
How majestic is your name
in all the earth.
 
AMEN.
 
Much, much love to you all.
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 

Wednesday, September 30^th, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
Join our Wednesday Zoom tonight at 7:00. On this 5^th Wednesday of the month, we’ll meet for catching up and free ranging conversation. NEXT week is our monthly prayer service. This link is here:
  
* * *
 
The Covid-19 Response Team meets in six days. Please chime in to me (or to them) about when we should begin face to face worship. Some churches that I know who have returned, have done so because they are small congregations meeting in large sanctuaries. They can be spaced far apart because they are so few saints in such a large space. That is not the case for us. I’d really like to hear from you on this. The members of the Team are Peter Yau, Tim Young, Judi Geistlinger, Ken Chapman, Ruth Craddock, Ron Deering, Mark Schoeffmann, and Eric Corbin.
 
* * *
 
A short sermon:         
This passage is one of my favorites. Christians are sometimes known as the exact opposite of what this passage urges: they are mean, hard-edged, arrogant, purists who aren’t very pure. I hate to admit that I sometimes fit that description. (What about you?) But I aspire to reach higher, and, by God’s grace, to do better. I strive to live as this passage invites me to live: 
 
Colossians 3:12-14           
¹² As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³ Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (NRSV)
 
God helps me be the person I was created to be. I try to dress the part. God’s love is sufficient even when mine seldom is. Good News.
 
News:
 
PW News from Brandi Lowe…
Presbyterian Women’s Fall Gathering
Thursday, October 1
2 pm via Zoom
Program — Brandi Lowe, Moderator PW 
 
* * *
 
Everyone living in the United States on April 1, 2020 needs to fill out their 2020 Census form.  A complete count is important because it determines how much federal funding comes to states and communities for services like education, health care, libraries, social services, and transportation.
 
The last day to fill out your Census form is September 30.  Complete it online at my2020census.gov, or respond by phone at:
 
English 1-844-330-2020
French 1-844-494-2020 
 
* * *
 
Don’t forget these conversations on PUBLIC SAFETY:  The City of Champaign is pleased to invite you to participate in a community listening session to share your vision for public safety in our community. All residents, business owners and community stakeholders are encouraged to take part. The goal is to help create better communication and understanding between Champaign Police, City Administrators and community members by allowing you to directly voice your thoughts and expectations around policing. Each session will include Chief of Police Anthony Cobb and Police command staff, City Manager Dorothy David, and elected City officials. The listening sessions will be moderated by Dr. Travis Dixon, an American media studies scholar and Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois.

Determining the future of policing in our community should be a collaborative process involving community partnerships, and the first step in that process is to hear from you. Each listening session will be used to gather information from the public so it can be shared with the City Council as they make future public safety policy decisions to best address the needs, interests, and values of our community. Virtual Listening Session Dates:
· Saturday, Oct. 3, 1-3 p.m.
· Friday, Oct. 9, 1-3 p.m.
· Tuesday, Oct. 13, 6-8 p.m.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the listening sessions will be held electronically using the Zoom meeting platform. More information on how to join and participate, including how to attend via Zoom can be found on the City’s website at  champaignil.gov/CommunityConversations. Please feel free to share this invitation with others. The City looks forward to hearing your input during one of these important listening sessions.
 
Humor (Hard times need godly laughter): 
 
From Betty Hollister: Knock, knock. Who’s there? Goliath. Goliath who? Goliath down, you look-eth tired!
  
Good Word:
 
PHILIPPIANS 3:12b              
 I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 

Let us pray:

 
We humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou has prepared for us to walk in.
 
Much, much love to you all.
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church

Monday, September 28^th, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
  
Dear Friends,
 
Yadkin County, NC, Brunswick Stew (Thanks Beth Hutchens!)
 
1 chicken, 6 lb. or 2 fryers (yes, any available meat was thrown in)
2 onions, diced
2 c. Okra, cut (optional)
4 c. Fresh tomatoes or 2 cans
2 c. Lima beans
3 medium potatoes, diced
4 cups corn or 2 cans
3 tsp. Salt
1 T. Sugar 
1 tsp. Pepper

Cook chicken in 2 qts water. Bone and dice.  Reserve 1 quart of broth.
Add raw vegetables to broth.  Cook till tender. 
Add other vegetables, seasonings, plus chicken, and simmer.
If canned vegetables are used, do not drain.
 
 
And . . . for dipping chips:
 
1 can black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
fresh tomatoes, chopped 
Green onions, diced
Green pepper (optional)

Juice of 1 lime
1  T. Olive oil
1 T. Chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Pinch of salt (or use salted chips)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
 
News:
 
Yesterday’s ‘‘SUNDAY IN THE PARK” was great fun. Join us in two weeks, on Sunday October 11^th, for another fellowship hour after worship. Hessel Park is a perfect place. The weather was glorious.

 
* * *
 
Don’t forget these conversations on PUBLIC SAFETY:  The City of Champaign is pleased to invite you to participate in a community listening session to share your vision for public safety in our community. All residents, business owners and community stakeholders are encouraged to take part. The goal is to help create better communication and understanding between Champaign Police, City Administrators and community members by allowing you to directly voice your thoughts and expectations around policing. Each session will include Chief of Police Anthony Cobb and Police command staff, City Manager Dorothy David, and elected City officials. The listening sessions will be moderated by Dr. Travis Dixon, an American media studies scholar and Professor of Communication at the University of Illinois.

Determining the future of policing in our community should be a collaborative process involving community partnerships, and the first step in that process is to hear from you. Each listening session will be used to gather information from the public so it can be shared with the City Council as they make future public safety policy decisions to best address the needs, interests, and values of our community. Virtual Listening Session Dates:
· Tuesday, Sept. 29, 6-8 p.m. 
· Saturday, Oct. 3, 1-3 p.m.
· Friday, Oct. 9, 1-3 p.m.
· Tuesday, Oct. 13, 6-8 p.m.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the listening sessions will be held electronically using the Zoom meeting platform. More information on how to join and participate, including how to attend via Zoom can be found on the City’s website at  champaignil.gov/CommunityConversations. Please feel free to share this invitation with others. The City looks forward to hearing your input during one of these important listening sessions.
 
Humor (Hard times need godly laughter): 
 
From Bill Gamble:
 
The passengers had all boarded. The pilot came on the PA with this 
announcement: “Ladies and gentlemen. We are having a slight delay 
loading baggage. The machine that breaks the handles off of the 
suitcases is out of order, so they are having to it by hand.”
 
 
Good Word:
 
PHILIPPIANS 3:4B-14                4bIf anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
 
7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
 
12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.  

Let us pray:

 
O God, I’m not there yet.
While I want to follow,
I can never imagine following
so ardently and so completely
as your Son.
 
But please, nevertheless, accept 
my stumbling efforts, and by
your grace, guide my steps, 
in the name of the One
 
whose humility and grace
inspire me to serve with
all my heart.
 
Help me, Holy Lord.
 
And thank you, Holy Lord.
 
In Jesus’ name,
In Jesus’ perfect name,
I pray . . .
 
AMEN
  
 
Much, much love to you all.
  
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church