Thursday December 3^rd, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
This is worth saying again: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Howard Thurman
 
* * *
 
An important word from our Confessional record. 
From the Confession of Belhar, 10.5–6 We believe 

• that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ; 
• that the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, that the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker, that the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells; 
• that God’s life-giving Word and Spirit has conquered the powers of sin and death, and therefore also of irreconciliation and hatred, bitterness and enmity, that God’s life-giving Word and Spirit will enable the church to live in a new obedience which can open new possibilities of life for society and the world; 
• that the credibility of this message is seriously affected and its beneficial work obstructed when it is proclaimed in a land which professes to be Christian, but in which the enforced separation of people on a racial basis promotes and perpetuates alienation, hatred and enmity; 
• that any teaching which attempts to legitimate such forced separation by appeal to the gospel, and is not prepared to venture on the road of obedience and reconciliation, but rather, out of prejudice, fear, selfishness and unbelief, denies in advance the reconciling power of the gospel, must be considered ideology and false doctrine. 

Therefore, we reject any doctrine which, in such a situation sanctions in the name of the gospel or of the will of God the forced separation of people on the grounds of race and color and thereby in advance obstructs and weakens the ministry and experience of reconciliation in Christ. 
 
News

Daily Advent Devotion
Thursday 1 Corinthians 13:7,13

This most familiar of Bible passages reminds us of the
intimate connection between hope and love. Love bears,
believes, hopes and endures all things. The love of God made
manifest in our human relationships tethers us together and
binds us to one another in ways that will not be undone by
life’s myriad challenges. Consider those you love this day,
those you are called to love, those you struggle to love. What
are your hopes for them?

Loving God, you unite us in Christ. Such intimacy is not
our doing and we cannot undo it. Nonetheless, we often
test this oneness and fail to bear, believe, hope and endure
in love. Knowing your unfailing love for us, we pray to
exhibit a love that hopes all things even for those we fi nd
hard to love. May our stalwart love bear witness to your
love for the world. Amen.

* * *

All are invited to the Presbyterian Women Christmas Tea on
TODAY 2 PM via ZOOM!

Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.

We will listen to the Christmas Story, sing carols, talk about Christmas memories, and have a wonderful time in each other’s presence. 

* * *

Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter): 
 
During the minister’s prayer one Sunday, there was a loud whistle from one of the back pews. Tommy’s mother was horrified. She pinched him into silence and, after church, asked, ‘Tommy, whatever made you do such a thing?’
 
Tommy answered soberly, ‘I asked God to teach me to whistle, and He did!’
 
 
Good Word:
 
NRSV Jeremiah 31:31-34               
The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt — a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, (1) says the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
 
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.
 
Much, much love to you all.
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church