Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-11-16
Monday November 16th, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Deep Thoughts/Words from our Confessions:
The Spirit gives us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in Church and culture, to hear the voices of people long silences, and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace. In gratitude to God, empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God’s new heaven and new earth, praying, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
—lines 66-76, “A Brief Statement of Faith”, 1991
Question. What is your only comfort, in life and in death?
Answer. That I belong––body and soul, in life and in death––not to myself but to my
faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil; that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed , that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and make me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
News
From Interfaith Alliance of Champaign County…
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Give it a close listen. Don’t just Let It Be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
* * *
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter):
My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE.
My mother taught me about STAMINA.
“You’ll sit there until all that spinach is gone.”
My mother taught me about WEATHER.
“This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.”
My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY.
“If I told you once, I’ve told you a million times, don’t exaggerate!”
My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.
“If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way.”
My mother taught me GENETICS.
“You’re just like your father.”
My mother taught me WISDOM.
“When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.
Good Word:
NRS Romans 12:21
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Spanish Romans 12:21
No seas vencido por el mal, sino vence con el bien el mal.
LET US PRAY: (AN OLD FAVORITE.)
Prayers of Steel
Carl Sandburg (1918)
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.
Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
