Friday 3 July 2020
 
Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,  
 
            “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19) 
 
* * *
 
            When my grandfather (Deda) died, my grandmother (Baba) slowly adjusted to life without him. She eventually emptied his closets and his drawers. 
 
            Deda’s workshop was in the garage. He threw his scraps in a chest-high wooden box, and fed these scraps into the potbellied stove, which took the chill off Tidewater Virginia’s winters. While she gave a lot away, Baba kept that box filled with scraps. Piece by piece she’d rescue and sand down Deda’s scraps. She’d glue them together into sculpture, staining or painting as necessary. One of my favorites, signed from 1973, is called “Extravaganza.” 
 
            I loved what she did with Deda’s leftovers. She handled each scrap gently, in a holy way, looking at each piece with imagination. Baba thought, “What can I do with this piece?” And, “What piece would go nicely with this piece?” With sandpaper, glue, patience, and love my grandmother made something extraordinary from simple scraps of wood. 
 
            When you look at these ‘sculptures,’ some just see scraps of wood. I see Baba and Deda and their love for each other, and their love for their eight-year-old grandson named Matt.
 
            On the night of his betrayal, Jesus took bread and wine and did something extraordinary with it. This bread and wine were already sacred, symbolizing the mighty acts of God in the Passover. But on that night, he said, amazingly, “This is my body, given for you.” And, “This cup is the new covenant, sealed in my blood, shed for the forgiveness of your sin.”
 
            It’s just ordinary bread and juice. There’s nothing gourmet about it. But the bread and juice remind us powerfully of Jesus. Do this in remembrance of me, he said. And we do.
 
            Some see just bread and juice. 
 
            We see the love of God. 
 
—Matt Matthews
* * *
 
Rachel reminds me that my birthday is today. It’s poor form for a pastor to ask his flock for a present, but I’m asking. Consider making a donation to DREAAM House in my honor (or in anybody’s honor). I’d be SUPER glad if you did that. I love DREAAM, what they stand for, how they work, and the love the DREAAM Team has for its “dreamers.” Write a check to DREAAM and send it to the church address. Help a young person dream!
 
* * *
 
I’m preaching this Sunday about sin. This topic is sure to cause a large turnout(!) It’s also communion Sunday, so bring some bread and juice.
 
I love worshiping with you on Sundays. 
 
Invite a friend.
 
* * *
 
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you.
            Be amazed.
                        Tell somebody.
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 
 
* * *
 
From your Nurture Team — We didn’t have anyone successfully guess Kathy Schoeffmann in last week’s Photo Challenge! 

   
Here’s a new photo challenge. 

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.
 
* * *
 
A birthday song…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs5vUfddkT8
 
Aretha!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWANdsaWhG4
 

Thursday July 2 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
 Dear Friends,
 
            Thank you for those who joined the Wednesday service for wholeness. Eric Corbin crafted a beautiful service, and he and Judi Geistlinger led it beautifully. God is good.  
 
Take on Race:
 
Racism is anti-Christian. In 2016, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved a comprehensive churchwide anti-racism policy called “Facing Racism: A Vision of the Intercultural Community.” The policy states:
Racism is a lie about our fellow human beings, for it says that some are less than others. It is also a lie about God, for it falsely claims that God favors parts of creation over the entirety of creation. Because of our biblical understanding of who God is and what God intends for humanity, the PC(USA) must stand against, speak against and work against racism. Anti-racist effort is not optional for Christians. It is an essential aspect of Christian discipleship, without which we fail to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Structural racism is not only the “opposite of what God intends for humanity,” but is also an example of how sin is systemic rather than simply personal. As the PC(USA)’s anti-racism policy states, “Reformed theology offers a nuanced understanding of sin. Calvin did not understand sin to be simply an individual belief, action, or moral failing (Calvin, 1960). Rather, he viewed sin as the corporate state of all humanity. It is an infection that taints each of us and all of us. No part of us — not our perception, intelligence, nor conscience — is unclouded by sin.”
Psalm 14:3 and Romans 3:10 remind us, “There is no one just, not even one.” The PC(USA)’s policy also reminds us that this realization “does not mean that human beings are awful. Rather, it means that we must have humility about our own righteousness, and that we must cling to the grace of God in Jesus Christ.”
 
NEWS:
 
Make a donation to DREAAM for anyone’s birthday. Send  them to the church, or directly to DREAAM at  https://www.dreaam.org/take-action

Fridays

Men’s Prayer 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.

Good Word: 
 
Ephesians 2:19-22
 
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, ²⁰ built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. ²¹ In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; ²² in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
 
Let us pray 
 
As the wind is your symbol, so forward our goings. As the dove, so launch us heavenwards.
As water, so purify our spirits.
As a cloud, so abate our temptations. 
As dew, so revive our languor.
As fire, so purge out our dross. Amen. 
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) 
 
PEACE to you all,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church

• Housing discrimination that limits where people of color can live and steers them to rental markets rather than home ownership.
• Laws and policies that deny people of color access to quality education, employment and adequate health care.
• Food apartheid — areas deliberately devoid of quality, affordable fresh food.
• Mass incarceration and criminal justice systems that disproportionately target people of color with lengthier sentences, “stop-and-frisk” laws, the over-policing of communities of color, the school-to-prison pipeline, etc.
• Environmental racism — the dumping of hazardous waste, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of access to clean water that results in a range of serious health problems in communities of color.

Where have you seen racism at work?
 
NEWS:
 
Make a donation to DREAAM for your friend’s upcoming birthday!

Thursdays

Compassion, Peace & Justice 11 am
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

Youth Meeting 4 pm
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
 
Good Word: (read this several times…)
 
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
⁸   The voice of my beloved! 
          Look, he comes, 
     leaping upon the mountains, 
          bounding over the hills. 
⁹   My beloved is like a gazelle 
          or a young stag. 
     Look, there he stands 
          behind our wall, 
     gazing in at the windows, 
          looking through the lattice. 
¹⁰  My beloved speaks and says to me: 
          “Arise, my love, my fair one, 
          and come away; 
¹¹  for now the winter is past, 
          the rain is over and gone. 
¹²  The flowers appear on the earth; 
          the time of singing has come, 
          and the voice of the turtledove 
          is heard in our land. 
¹³  The fig tree puts forth its figs, 
          and the vines are in blossom; 
          they give forth fragrance. 
     Arise, my love, my fair one, 
          and come away.”

Let us pray 
 
Thank you, Lord, for 
sweaty-high humidity 
that reminds me
of what I’m made of.
 
Thank you for hot 
temperatures that 
remind me of what I 
hoped for last January.
 
Thank you for long days 
to enjoy you and the 
sweet, sweet memory of
neighbors and friends.
 
AMEN.
 
PEACE to you all,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
 

Monday June 29 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
Your Covid-19 Response Team of the Session has been meeting every week. Prior to that, our Science Advisor Peter Yau has been in weekly conversation with me, your staff, and your Session. We’ve been asking: What now? What’s next?
 
We cannot predict the future. We don’t know how “phase four” of our recovery will go. If Covid cases and deaths continue to drop and area hospital ICUs remain uncrowded, we feel like our plan at First Presbyterian Church *may* unfold as noted below. If things change, these plans will change.
 
The organizing principle of our work has been this: we do not want our church to become an incubator for this virus. We want to be a “super-spreader” of Gospel-love only, not of the Corona Virus. Your Covid-19 team would prefer to be too cautious, too slow, and too thoughtful. Why? We want to keep people safe. We want our sanctuary to be a sanctuary. A safe place.
            
Note also, First Presbyterian Church will not “open fully” until we’ve safely reached “phase five,” when a Corona Virus vaccine is found, tested, and available. 
 
After September 1^st, we hope to resume some form of limited face-to-face worship in our sanctuary. Right now, we’ll limit the total of number of leaders and participants to 50 people; this number may change when we get closer to that date. We will attempt to preregister for worship. We will rethink how we do communion. We will, likely, not engage in congregational singing (as singing is known more widely to spread aerosolized air and singers more deeply inhale that air). Spoken liturgy will be limited. All persons will wear face masks and we will exercise physical distancing of six feet. We’ll have no paper bulletins. We’ll have no coffee hour (and doughnuts!) after worship.
 
Currently, face-to-face meetings at the church are considered on a case-by-case basis. Either I or the Covd-19 Response Team will make those decisions. Face-to-face  office appointments with me may be arranged.
 
Should you come to face-to-face events? 
 
The CDC recommends these guidelines. If you fit any of these categories, rethink your participation:
 
* People 65 years and older
* People who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility
* People of all ages with underlying medical conditions, particularly if not well controlled, including:
* People with chronic lung disease or moderate to severe asthma
* People who have serious heart conditions
* People who are immunocompromised
* Many conditions can cause a person to be immunocompromised, including cancer treatment, smoking, bone marrow or organ transplantation, immune deficiencies, poorly controlled HIV or AIDS, and prolonged use of corticosteroids and other immune weakening medications
* People with severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 40 or higher)
* People with diabetes
* People with chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis
* People with liver disease
 
So, we’ll not be back in face-to-face worship until September at the earliest. As stewards of creation, we recognize that keeping our flock free from situations where Covid-19 could be spread is a sacred goal. The body is a temple of God.
 
1 Corinthians 6:19-20     Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.
 
Questions? Comments? 
 
Give me a call, anytime. 
 
* * *
 
Take on Race:
 

Why do we talk about structural racism?  Racism is not primarily about individual prejudice or an individual’s beliefs and attitudes. Rather, racism in the U.S. is a socially constructed system. Some people are advantaged, and others are disadvantaged, merely because of their skin color, ethnic identity or their ancestral background. Social power and prejudice have combined to treat people differently, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Some people are privileged while others are oppressed. As a consequence, there is unequal and inequitable access to resources such as money, education, information and decision-making power.