Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-12-18
Friday December 18th, 2020
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
What a surprise we have in store for this Sunday! (Christmas Pageant!)
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I know we can’t worship in person on Christmas Eve, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t worked hard (and are still working hard) to produce a beautiful service of worship. I hope you join us for that service. It will be available at FirstPres.Live at 4 p.m. You can watch it any time after that hour.
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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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Advent Daily Reading Friday Luke 12:13-21
Jesus warns us to be on guard and keep watch for all kinds
of greediness. Jesus tells us to keep a lookout for our own
propensity to believe that our life’s worth is measured in
material goods. When have you believed life consists of
an abundance of possessions? Be conscious today of your
relationship to money and possessions. How does that
relationship reflect, or not, your relationship to Jesus Christ?
Jesus, you enter the world as an infant, born in a stable to a
family with little in the way of material possessions. You tell
your followers to take nothing for their journey. You warn us
to be on guard for greed. As we prepare for your birth, we pray
to be given the faith to put you first so that all our priorities
are rightly ordered. Amen.
Saturday Isaiah 9:1-2
Deep darkness resonates this year. The word in Hebrew can
be translated as “shadow” or “death-shadow.” The people
in this passage know the reality of fear and suffering — a
nearness to death and vulnerability that feels familiar
right now. As you navigate the waning days of a difficult
season, where do you see God’s light breaking into the deep
darkness?
God of the light no darkness can overcome, we confess to
being weary, tired of worries that keep us up at night and
ready for your promised rest. When we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, grant us the peace that passes
understanding and the ability to see even a pinprick of your
light that shows us a way forward. Amen.
Sunday Acts 1:6-10
Why read a passage about Jesus’ ascension during the
season of Advent when we prepare for his birth and
return? What do Jesus’ final instructions to his closest
friends just prior to being lifted up to heaven have to
do with us on the cusp of Christmas? What resonates
in this passage at this time in this year is the disciples’
pressing question. They want to know if now is the
time that God will restore the kingdom of Israel. Their
question is understandable. Having endured seeing
their friend and Savior suffer and die, they want an
assurance that all that pain results in restoration. In
our human terms: they want to know it has all be
worth it, leaving their familiar vocations, following
Jesus, fearing for their lives, huddling behind locked
doors, processing the good but utterly upending reality
of resurrection. After all this, will the world be set
right on their terms?
Do we not have similar questions at the end of this
long year? Will the vaccine come soon and be safe?
Will we be able to be together in person again? Is
now the time we can sing in worship? Will those long
oppressed find justice? Will the economic fallout ebb
and turn course? Is it not the time for the restoration
of what we used to call normal, Lord?
Jesus tells the disciples that he does not know the
answer to what is to them their most pressing
question. Instead, he gives them a mission, an
unwavering purpose no matter what is happening in
the world. They are to be his witnesses right where
they are and to the ends of the earth. I wonder if they
were frustrated by his response. I wonder if we are,
too. Often we want Jesus to answer our most pressing
questions, but rather than answering our question
Jesus gives us a job to do. We are to tell the world what
we know of Jesus and what we know of God through
him. Even as we make ready for his birth, we are to
tell others why his incarnation matters to us and to
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the world.
As we continue to navigate a difficult time in the life
of the world, we bear witness to the love of God that
refuses to let us go. As we wrestle with challenges that
persist despite our fatigue and dismay, we tell of the
one found among the least of these. As we press God
with understandable and pressing questions, Jesus
recognizes our fears but entrusts us with the gospel
anyway. As we get closer to Bethlehem, we remember
that we are already and always witnesses to our Savior
right where we are and wherever we are sent.
Gracious God, we have so many questions, urgent questions.
We want to know when this time filled with so much
upheaval will come to an end. Even as you honor our
questions, you entrust us with your mission of bearing
witness to Jesus Christ at all times and in all places. Open
our mouths that we might proclaim your praise. Guide our
actions that we might embody the good news of our Savior.
Amen.
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Much, much love to you all.
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
One more Sunday of Advent music. Enjoy:
O Come, O Come…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Emmanuel…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
