Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-12-14
Monday December 14th, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
We are all enjoying your Christmas stories. Please share them with me. I’ll post them here.
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This is from Mary Jane Kelley:
We always went to midnight mass but left the house at 10:00pm to get front seats and listen to the hour of music before mass. When we returned home about 1:30am everyone was pretty weary. Mother mixed up egg nog for everyone with a spike of Dad’s whiskey. It was so special—also assuring my parents that we would not be up at the crack of dawn to see what gifts had arrived!
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Beth Hutchens shares these memories:
December 21, 1960
Maternal grandmother died at home in Boonville, NC. She had been an invalid at home for a decade. We lived in Orlando, and it took 2 days to drive there. We were going to NC the next day to pick up my brother at University of FL and drive up there; Mother was the only one of her 3 siblings who did not live in the small town. Really bad trip to NC on highways 441, 301, and 601; no interstates. Memory…white flower arrangement ‘frozen‘ by the front doorway of grandparents home.
December 18, 1971
I was living in Winston-Salem, NC. Had a plane ticket to fly to FL for Christmas with flights on the 21st and 28th. Had a call that evening from Mother that Daddy had a heart attack and was in the hospital, and it could go either way. Changed flight and flew into Orlando, arriving at 3 a.m. on the 20th. Brother was there at first from Orlando without his young family. Mother and I spent the rest of the time together by ourselves. I was there with her till the 28th. We could see Daddy, one person at a time, for ten minutes every hour. My hair was longer; fortunately, I could hide my recently pierced ears from him! He was in a big room with about 9 cardiac patients in cubicles. They said if he survived the first 48 hrs, it was good. He missed his newspapers. I made him a wall calendar for December and moved a little Christmas tree over the December days…sort of like I had done in my third grade classroom. I flew back to NC as originally scheduled on the 28th. Was getting ready for bed in my apt that evening when Mother called that he had taken a turn for the worse and would not live through the night; I frantically made preparations for return flight to FL. Both times, a neighbor’s son, Tom Hahn, picked me up at the airport in the middle of the night; great neighbors who moved across the street from us when I was in 2nd grade and Tom was in first grade…never any partnership tendencies between us but great friends.
Upon second return, I couldn’t believe the difference in Daddy. Always clean-shaven, he had the beginnings of a beard. They said he wouldn’t live through the night but he lived several more days. Never knew him to be sick before this…now his body was lurching on a respirator.
He died 3 hours into January 1st. Funeral in Orlando, another funeral and burial in Boonville, NC. Another long road trip with a grieving mother but the highways were better this time. At usual overnight motel stop in SC, owner asked where Daddy was…he was on his final flight back home to NC on flight schedule I had arranged with NC funeral director, changing planes in Atlanta as was usual back then; they used to say that if you were going to hell, you had to change planes in Atlanta!
December 22,1974
Was still living in NC and flew home to Orlando for Christmas alone with Mother. Went across the street that evening to see the Hahns, and Mother said that I should not stay long because they had a lot of company following a recent extended family wedding in West Palm Beach. Their nephew from Urbana, IL was there along with his folks from Arlington Heights, IL. I ended up playing bridge with Tom Hahn, ‘J. Pate’ Hutchens, and his mother. The next evening, Tom, ‘J. Pate’, and I went out to Rosie O’Grady’s Good Time Emporium in downtown Orlando. Tom was busy carousing; I drank a lot of beer to cool off because it was so hot down there. I had been in the back seat with the two guys up front on the way to the bar but wound up in the front bucket seat with J. Pate on the way home! And the rest is history. J. Pate came to Winston-Salem to see me in early January after his long drive back in his VW ‘Bug’. We were married in Winston-Salem on June 19, 1976.
PS
J. Pate…family name. I call him Pate. ‘John’ since he was in Army, Army Band in Germany.
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Advent Daily Devotional Monday John 6:1-3
A large crowd is following Jesus because they saw
the signs he was doing, the miracles of healing he
performed. Do we see signs of Jesus at work in our
world? In our lives? What signs get your attention
and cause you to follow Jesus even now? Today, pay
attention to where you see Jesus’ healing power and
make note of it.
Loving God, we often fail to see signs of your healing,
neglecting to anticipate your miracles, thinking instead
that such divine transformation happened only long ago.
As we go about our day today, we pray for an openness to
your Spirit that reveals that you still intervene and bring
wholeness in surprising and grace-filled ways. Amen.
News
Join us this Wednesday when Dave Bauer will lead a study for Advent:
- Does the Advent Journey of 2020 in ISOLATION have you confused, apathetic, hungry for the spirit?
- Are you stuck somewhere on the journey to Bethlehem or still uncertain if you want to “go” this year?
- Looking for inspiration?
Join us for our Wednesday Zoom Vespers, December 16, as the Rev. Dave Bauer encourages us to dig a little deeper and navigate that journey to the birth.
Join the fellowship as Dave helps us:
1. Compare the different approaches each Gospel writer takes to Advent. We’ll notice:
-unexpected pregnancies of the old and the young, angels making announcements, a mute father
-an abundance of “begatting”
-a voice calling in the wilderness
-Word becoming Flesh
—all ending up in the same place??? No wonder you may be confused.
2. Take a quick journey back to see what effect our Protestant Reformation leaders (i.e. Calvin, Zwingli) had on how we celebrate Christmas.
3. Can Christmas traditions turn into idolatry? Examine our Brief Statement of Faith (printed in our new church hymnal).
We invite you to listen, learn, share, reflect, challenge, discuss, explore. You can even ask, “Are we there yet?”
Let’s just take this part of the “trip” together and see where we go and what we learn along the way.
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Seeking a personal aide The person seeking help found it, thanks for Mindy Watts-Ellis passing along a trusted name. Several of you contributed ideas. Thank you for being church!
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An important link from Ruth Craddock, chair of the Session’s Covid-19 Response Team:
https://www.ama-assn.org/
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter):
Bill Gamble shares what he says is a bad joke, which one may have to be of a certain age to understand. I get it, but it’s before my time. Thank you, Bill:
Here his body lays molding
His dying was hard
They shot him for folding
An IBM card!
Good Word: (Mary sings a celebration song.)
Luke 1:46b-55
46b My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Let us pray:
Good morning, God. We are rounding the corner to what some popular singers say is “the most wonderous time of the year.” What makes any time wondrous is the way your Spirit surprises and comforts us. Thank you for that gift. We’re looking for Jesus at the manger. With your help, there will be room in our hearts for him to be born anew. Help us to sing a celebration song. And we don’t want to sing like Mary. We want you to help us sing like ourselves. AMEN.
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Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
