Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-12-09
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Tell me about your Christmas memories. I’d like to share them here.
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One Day In the Life of Your Worship Team
by Judi Geistlinger
Sunday was such a big day for the worship committee.
We began the morning premiering the worship video put together by our editing crew. All of us worshiped at home. We enjoyed the Advent candle liturgy from Gary and Linda, music by our soloists and church musicians. The tech crew made everything seamless.
Following the broadcast, a small crew gathered to record a face-to-face baptism for the next Sunday. Afterwards, they set up for recording more worship, watered poinsettias and vacuumed up leaves, ironed black tablecloths we are using for ambiance, practiced camera angles, taught a new backup camera operator, and envisioned candlelight and staging around the tree decorated by Ritchie and crew under direction of a PW angel.
Later that evening, expert scene-dressers from local theatre installed directional lights for the Christmas Eve session. Scenes, sight-lines, and lighting for Christmas Eve were tweaked.
Friends, this is just one day in the life of what it takes to do worship for our church community. Our team works hard to bring meaningful worship that is accessible to all. Usually, no more than nine people are in the sanctuary when we shoot services, but another group of nine record batches of music at other times. Special greetings such as the heart-felt stewardship messages, Advent candle lighting, and special music take more creative effort. Then, behind the scenes saints edit all the parts together.
I’ve tried not to name these workers because I’m likely to leave someone out. Many hands make for light work. When these hands come together, I see the grace of God at work, and I see the community called “the church” growing in grace.
Our Christmas Eve worship service will premiere at 4pm on Thursday, December 24th, the time of our usual family worship service. It will be available on our firstpres.live, YouTube and Facebook any time after 4pm. We invite you to share this Christmas gift to those you love.
Some of you may wish to watching it as the sun sets. Some, after dinner. Some near midnight, so that by the time it’s over it will be Christmas “day.” We do hope you will tune it, that you will share the link on your social media and with both your near and far away family and friends.
O come all ye faithful, to Bethlehem.
I can’t wait to see you there.
P.S. Our Sanctuary will be open for private prayer on Thursday 10 December (tomorrow) from 7am to noon. While there will be no organized service, you may come and sit in the space to pray and meditate. Physical distancing, masks, sign in with temperature check, and registration/contact tracing will be operative. Our worship team will greet and assist you. Only 10 people at a time will be allowed in. Bring your own Bible or hymnals if you wish, as the pew materials have all been removed as a safety precaution. See you on Thursday!
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Advent Daily Devotion Wednesday Isaiah 8:16-17
Isaiah says to bind up the testimony and seal the teachings.
God’s people are believing conspiracies and fearing things
other than the Lord. God says to the prophet to only fear and
honor the Lord. Isaiah affirms that he will wait and hope for
the Lord who seems to be hiding for a season. When you feel
God is absent, how do you wait in hope for the Lord? Today,
what is a source of hope in difficult waiting?
God of all times and places, when we feel as if you are hiding
your face from us, our hope dims and our waiting seems
endless. We give in to false teachings and let our fears run
rampant. Send your Spirit to grant us hope even as we wait
through difficult and painful seasons. Shine your light in the
darkness, even if only for a moment, so that we remember
your promise that joy comes in the morning. Amen.
News
Wednesday Night Zoom: Join us tonight at 7:00.
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
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Our ESL (English as a Second Language) classes invite us to a visit on Thursday at 10 a.m.
* * *
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.
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter):
What do you call a slab of wood with nothing to do? Board.
Good Word:
Psalm 126:1-3
1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy;
then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we rejoiced.
LET US PRAY:
God, give us the strength to accept with serenity the things that cannot
be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the
wisdom to distinguish the one from the other. (Reinhold Niebuhr)
Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
PS:
Emails claiming to be from Pastor Matt have been received again recently, but please note that these emails are NOT actually from him. Please do not respond to such emails, as they are an attempt by a scammer to get money from you (often in the form of gift cards). If you have already responded, please discontinue the conversation and DO NOT send any money or gift cards. These scammers appeal to our generosity, and can seem legitimate. However, they are not.
The bottom line is this: before purchasing gift cards or some other method of sending money, you should always attempt to contact by a different method the person supposedly sending the email (or phone call, as is sometimes the case). Or, you can check in with the church office to see if we have heard about any such need. It is unfortunate that we have to be leery of such requests for help, but we must do so in order to be able to help when genuinely needed.
You can learn about other email scams (often known as “phishing scams”) at https://techservices.illinois.
We hope this information will help you to stay safe!
