Monday, May 24^th 2021
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church, Champaign
 
Dear Friends,
 
As I write this note to you during Sunday twilight, at least two emergency vehicles are carving their way through west Champaign. The two sirens blare urgency. They elicit prayer. 
 
It is muggy on my back porch. The air is heavy with the fragrance of trees and flowers, a fragrance often spelling allergies for me, sneezes, watering eyes. My eyes water for other reasons on this beautiful night.
 
Birds whistle and tweet in the gathering dark. They are busy tonight, hosting gathering, calling in their kids to baths and bedtime. Our dove is nested in the outdoor light fixture under the eaves on the wall of our porch. She’s sitting on two white eggs. She used to fly away when we opened the back door, but now she remains nested. She watched us warily, at first, ready to burst into flight to the safety of the higher limbs of our maple. Now, she’s settled. 
 
After weeks of her getting used to us, I think of her as a companion. Her chicks will be our grandbirds. I talk to her about my day. I sweep the porch as quietly as I can. I talk and talk. I talk to her like I image some people talking to a bartender. She doesn’t answer. But she watches me. She watches over me. And I feel I’m being heard.
 
God is watching over the emergency that pierces this evening with sirens. Nothing escapes God’s vigilant, compassionate gaze. I hope our EMTs, fire, or police servants are heading to the slightest of fender benders and that all will be immediately well.
 
Wednesday’s deadly shooting in Champaign has shaken many of you. What do we do about rising violence? I think we do what we have been doing, and doing faithfully. We support our local (and worldwide) mission partners like DREAAM House and CU at Home and Courage Connection and SAFE House. We celebrate and support our Sunday school (they had a full house today!) and our ESL program. We gather together to remind the world that the church is alive and well, and God draws us and welcomes us together, and that together we all are Christ’s body on this earth, and we aren’t complete without each other. Our church is a safe place. We welcome all-comers. We proclaim in word and deed that God’s name is love, that God uses even us as healers, that God’s got the whole world in God’s hand. 
 
What do we do?
 
We listen more than we speak. 
 
We think big picture. 
 
We remain curious and compassionate.
 
We ask, “What can I learn about my community that I don’t already know?”
 
We pay attention to the ways our heart callouses over and hardens. We resist this.
 
We don’t let our anxiety get the best of us.  
 
And, of course, we settle, breathe, listen, and pray. 
 
Here are two prayers.
 
* * *
 
In every age your saints remind us that you, O God,
walk with us.
 
Walk with us now as we strive to build your kin-dom
here on earth as it is in heaven. 
 
We lift up the family of police officer Chris Oberheim,
and the Champaign Police Community. 
 
We pray for officer Jeffrey Creel, shot three times, who is 
recovering at home.
 
And we pray for Darion Lafayette who also died at the scene.
 
Holy God, you know and we do not know the gifts
our community will need to heal. Help us to be your
hands and feet to share your love here. 
 
We don’t know the way, so our eyes are glued on Jesus.
 
Guide our steps.
 
Amen.
 
* * *
 
A Father’s Prayer Upon the Murder of His Son
 
O God we remember not only Baharam but also his murderers. Not because they killed him in the prime of his youth and made our hearts bleed and our tears flow, not because that with this savage act they have brought further disgrace on the name of our country among the civilized nations of the world, but because of their crime we now follow in thy footsteps more closely in the way of sacrifice.
 
The terrible fire of this calamity burns up all selfishness and possessiveness in us. Its flame reveals the depth of depravity and meanness and suspicion…the dimension of hatred and the measure of sinfulness in human nature. It makes obvious as never before our need to trust in God’s love as shown in the cross of Jesus and his resurrection.
 
Love which makes us free from hate towards our persecutors, love which brings patience, forbearance, courage, loyalty, humility, generosity, greatness of heart. Love which more than ever deepens our trust in God’s final victory and his eternal designs for the church and for the world. Love which teaches us how to prepare ourselves to face our own day of death.
 
O God, Baharam’s blood has multiplied the fruits of the spirit in the soil of our souls, so when the murderers stand before thee on the day of judgment, remember the fruit of the spirit by which they have enriched our lives and FORGIVE.
 
— Shared by Rev. Dr. Kenneth Bailey; written by Hassan Dehqani-Tafti
 the former Episcopal Bishop of Tehran, Iran, upon the murder of his son.
 
* * *
 
PEACE to you ALL.
 
Matt Matthews
Matt@FirstPres.Church
864.386.9138