Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-12-04
Friday December 4th, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Last week I spent time wandering up and down Folly Beach collecting shells in warm sun with Rachel and our boys. I got 500-keepers. I pondered what I was thankful for over that Thanksgiving weekend, those long walks, that soothing surf. I couldn’t count high enough to number my blessings.
The week was framed by the death of an old friend from growing up years in Hampton. Alice brought light to her friends. Thank God I was among that number. You’ll hear about her again, I’m sure, in an essay or future sermon. For whom are you thankful this season? Who do you miss?
My family watched four movies over Thanksgiving that were fun for lots of reasons. You know I like films that are small, independent, character-driven, and, ideally, funny. “Person to Person” is the one below that I suspect you will like the least. It’s the rawest. I’d be interested to know which of the others you like the most? Here they are: “Fisherman’s Friends” (Head Gear Films), “Onward”(the Pixar film), “Person to Person” (Magnolia Films), and “Song of the Sea” (StudioCanal).
I’ve been told that you can’t appreciate Christmas until you live through Thanksgiving well. Gratitude is the attitude. Sometimes I’m moving too fast through busyness to ponder my blessings. This year, not so much. I’m trying to go slower. I am thankful for you, friends. FOR YOU.
I’ve also been told that we can’t get to the manger without going through John the Baptist. So, on Sunday we jump into Mark’s gospel and meet John preaching at the side of the Jordan River. I hope you join me at 9:00 a.m. for worship. FirstPres.Live
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you. Be amazed. Tell somebody.
I’ll say it again: Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you. Be amazed. Tell somebody.
See you on Sunday,
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
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Here’s an important invitation for YOU to consider from a member of our community. Please give it thought:
Seeking a personal aide I am a widow in my mid-nineties, living alone in the home I have been in for over 65 years. I am ambulatory with a walker and have no dementia, but I am increasingly concerned about falling. I am hard of hearing and have issues with high blood pressure.
I am seeking a non-smoking woman to aid me in normal daily activities including personal care (such as showering and toileting), meal preparation, running errands occasionally, and helping me with other matters which may arise.
The woman may be of any age and background but someone with similar prior experience and perhaps a background or interest in nursing would be preferred.
I am very particular about how my kitchen and house are kept and my aide must be willing to accept my directions in this regard.
Ideally, my aide would have a flexible approach toward hours but generally be able to spend two or three hours a day with me five or six days a week and also be able to spend an occasional night at my home if needed.
Please be in touch with Pastor Matt if you are curious about this posting. And thank you in advance for praying for this ministry opportunity.
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News…Sunday in the Park for this Sunday, December 6, has been CANCELLED! Stay home and stay warm and join us on FirstPres.Live.
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Daily Advent Readings for December 4, 5 and 6
Friday, December 4 Jeremiah 29:10-14
God has plans for us, plans for our welfare and future. God
promises to hear us when we call out and be found when we
seek our Lord. When have you struggled to believe that God
had plans – good plans – for you? Can you recall a time when
you could not discern God’s providence in the moment, but
could see how God’s good plans were evident in retrospect?
Can this remembering give you hope for today?
God of our past, present and future, when present
circumstances baffle and challenge us, test and upend us, we
struggle to see your good plans and we worry about the future.
We know you promise to hear us when we call. We know your
word is trustworthy and true. When we cannot yet perceive
your providence, sustain us and give us hope until that time
when we see your good plans for us come to fruition. Amen
Saturday, December 5 Luke 24:21
This verse comes in the middle of the discourse between
several of Jesus’ bereft disciples and the risen Christ. They
voice their dashed hope to the One walking with them who
fulfilled it. They cannot yet see that their hope is not lost, but
found and present right in front of them. How often is this
true for us? Today prayerfully ask God for the vision to see
God’s fulfillment of promises right in front of you.
Lord of all that is seen and unseen, even when we hope for
that which you promise, we often fail to see your present
and coming kingdom despite the fact that you are walking
alongside us. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear the holy in
our midst. Do not let our human expectations blind us to
your divine inbreaking wherever and whenever it comes.
Amen.
Sunday, December 6 Psalm 62
Wait. Wait in silence. Wait patiently. Wait in hope.
Rarely, if ever, do we want the answer to be “wait.”
Rarely do we wait without engaging in distractions to
help the time pass. We stand in line and immediately,
most of us look to our cell phones to read the headlines
or check our email or play a game. We multitask. We
toggle from one website to another. Waiting makes
us anxious. Seeing buffering on the livestream causes
irritation. An image of someone frozen on Zoom
annoys us. Technology trains us to expect everything to
happen instantly, seamlessly, until it doesn’t and then we
get unduly angry. I always knew in my household the
moment the internet went down because my teenage
children would emerge from their room like whack-amoles
in an arcade game.
What is it about waiting that is so difficult for us? Did
generations before us tolerate waiting better or is our
impatience just more evident these days?
Of course, there are seasons of waiting that warrant
our fear and unease. Waiting for a medical test result.
Waiting for a loved one to come out of surgery. Waiting
for a job offer to come when we are desperate for
employment. Waiting for a family member to return
safely from military deployment. Waiting for a storm to
pass. We know this kind of anxious waiting, too.
But what are we waiting for this Advent and how
do our Advent hopes meet our current fears and real
worries? The psalmist writes: “For God alone my soul
waits in silence; from the Lord comes my salvation.
God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I
shall not be greatly shaken.” This liturgical season is a
pregnant kind of waiting — marked by expectation of
new birth and new life that brings change, a transition
that alters our priorities and schedules and reveals that
some of what we have previously valued does not really
matter anymore. We are waiting for God, not in vain,
but in certain hope that with the birth of Jesus salvation
for all creation comes and reorders our world and our
lives. However, we may need to wait in silence in order
to quiet our minds, discern God’s near presence, and
trust that God is with us in all of our waiting, all of our
worrying, all of our distractions, anxieties and fears.
Lord, you are our rock and our salvation, our refuge and
strength, our hope and breath. As we wait with anticipation
and anxiety, with patience and with eagerness, even with
irritation and fear, silence in us any voice but yours. Grant
us confidence in your promises to never abandon us and
certainty in your power to bring light and life, love and
grace, to all places and all people. Amen.
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From your Nurture Team — Lizz Pippin was the first to recognize last week’s photo of Dick & Carol Arnould (with many others close behind.)
Here’s this week’s photo, another couple.
Visit http://fb.com/groups/
Please join in the fun! We are running low on photos, so 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@
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O Come, O Come…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
