Thursday, March 18^th, 2021
A weekday e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
  
Friends,
 
Here’s the Lenten Devotional from Presbyterian Outlook. 

Thursday, MARCH 18, 2021
LUKE 6:27-36
In this scene from Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, Jesus exhorts us to love our enemies — surely one of the hardest things he asks us to do. Theologian Miroslav Volf claims that loving our enemies goes to the heart of the Christian faith. In his book “A Public Faith,” he writes: “Love doesn’t mean agreement and approval; it means benevolence and beneficence, possible disagreement and disapproval notwithstanding.” Thus, loving our enemies does not absolve us or deter us from pursuing justice as we understand it, from our calling to stand in solidarity with the marginalized among us, or from calling evil by its name. Justice and mercy go together — both are works of God.
Practice: Prayerfully read this passage from Luke and reflect deeply on
what it might mean to love your enemies. When you think of your enemies,
who comes to mind? Members of your family or church? Fellow citizens?
Foreign adversaries? If you are to pray for your enemies, what will you pray
for? As you reflect on Jesus’ admonitions, what do they compel you to do?
Journal: Note in your journal any insights that emerged from your
prayerful engagement with Jesus’ teaching.
 
* * *

Bruce Reyes-Chow recently spoke words that got me to thinking. He said when Pandemic began, he started various church programs (he’s a pastor and former moderator of our denomination) and practices that made sense at the time. We all hunkered down in unique ways. We adapted new patterns.
 
“I found that I couldn’t hold the intensity for the whole time,” he said during a recent Zoom. He has noticed that he (in his pastoral duties) and we (in our daily duties) might be pushing the edge, attempting to do more than we can do. He notices about himself that we have over-functioned, over-extended, and have become over-whelmed. 
 
As we dream a new normal, may we walk before we run. If we don’t take care of ourselves, we’ll arrive at The New Day exhausted, or worse. Continue to take care of yourselves. Wear your mask. Be safe.
 
Beth Hutchens shares this timely prayer…
 
Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ,
of Christ the light of the world to you.
Deep peace of Christ to you.
 
 * * *

News:
 
I’m so glad to see you coming back for in-person worship. When you’re ready, when you feel safe, please come. Remember to preregister by calling the church office from Monday 8:30 to noon on Friday. 

* * *

CYF will be hosting a Spirituality Center in the church chapel for the season of Lent beginning this Sunday. Open House hours will be Sundays 11am-2:30pm. Come for some quiet reflection time by walking the labyrinth, contemplating scripture, and creating at your own pace. One household will be admitted at a time. Check in and temperature recordings will be necessary as well as face masks while in the building and chapel. Sanitizing wipes will be at each station for further protection between visitors. We hope you will find it a blessing for this season of inward contemplation and examination.
Sunday school continues. Follow this link for a virtual version of the Lenten Spirituality Center Lenten Spirituality Center

* * *
 
Humor (Hard times really need godly laughter): 
 
An annual competition is held by The New York Times to see who can create the best original lexophile. This year’s submissions (more coming):
 
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
 
I got some batteries that were given out free of charge.
 
A dentist & a manicurist married. They fought tooth & nail.
 
 * * *
 
Good Word 
 
Amos 5:24
 
let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
 
LET US PRAY
 
Holy God, I’m hungry and you give me food. I am thirsty and you give me fluorinated, clean water from easy-to-access taps everywhere I go. I am naked, I am sick, I am imprisoned. 
I,
     I,
          I,

Forgive me for thinking about me first: 
I,
     me,
          mine,

I cannot see the world, 
I cannot see my neighbor, 
I cannot see into the headlines 
BECAUSE
I so often spend so much time gazing, gazing, gazing into my mirror. I’m so enamored with me. And so, my problems, my dreams, my wants, my faults, my life becomes amplified and distorted. And I see that I’m not created in your image so much as I am mis-shapened by my anxieties and selfishness.
 
Heal me and forgive me and help me. Help me repent. Help me to turn. Help me to turn to you. And help me to face my neighbors near and far that you call me to love and serve. 
 
Help me to reach out—
 
So many around me are hungry—literally and spiritually…
 
So many thirst for clean water—in Malawi, in growing American cities with polluted well water that can’t keep up with demand for clean water…
 
So many are naked to the cold…
 
So many are sick without healthcare, without a loving church family to surround and encourage them…
 
So many are warehoused in prison; they never can see the stars…
 
Turn my head. Gently, gently tune my vision. 
 
That I might see my neighbors and rejoice in what I see, in what YOU see, 
that I might reach out with love and service to the humanity you have redeemed (through your blood and you tears and your sacrifice)—like a mother bending near her child, like a father praying on his knees, on his aching knees for his beloved. Thank you, merciful God, for your love. Teach me to love like that.
 
Fill me up so that I can empty myself again and again and again with great delight in the name and manner of your son, Our Lord, 
 
Jesus,
Jesus,
Jesus-the-Christ.
AMEN.

* * *
 
Much, much love to you all.
  
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church