Monday June 14th 2021
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
 
To Members and Friends of 
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
 
Dear Friends,
 
We are coming out of pandemic. 
 
Sigh. 
 
My pastor friends around the country find themselves in different places in the post pandemic world. Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago is awakening from their hibernation with reservation-only face-to-face services. The Old First Presbyterian in San Francisco hopes to be open for face-to-face services in August, if not before. Black Mountain Presbyterian near Montreat is open. 
 
It’s been a long road.
 
Our church is fully open. I’ll say that again: Our church is fully open. No reservations. No taking temperatures at the door. No contact tracing. No limited seating. No social/physical distancing. We still have some lingering hold-outs: no donuts (yet) in fellowship hour. No congregation-wide sit down dinners. Yet. All that is coming very soon. (I may sneak in illegal donuts.)
 
Sunday Services resume at 9:00 a.m. on June 20^th (Father’s Day). That service will be live-streamed for all our peeps who aren’t ready to come back yet for face-to-face (or for those accustomed to worshiping in PAJAMAS!) We have collected friends from around the country: Arkansas, Tennessee, Kansas, Maryland, Florida, Arizona. Hopefully, those not coming in-person will continue to log on.
 
I’m tempering my giddiness by keeping in mind that, according to the CDC, 597,195 people have died of Covid-19 in the United State (25,481 in Illinois). Over 3.7 million people have died worldwide.  Those unvaccinated still face risks from the disease for which we have no cure. 
 
Yes, we should celebrate and thank God that this hellish night appears to be ending. It also makes sense to continue praying for our world, thanking God for health care workers, and praying that vaccinations progress.
 
* * *
 
I need your advice. Please respond.
 
I began these daily emailers to keep our flock connected and to make as personal a touch as possible to you in lonely isolation. Now that we are ‘coming out’, the time to draw these daily missives may be coming to a close. I’ll continue to write weekly Friday emails with a hopeful eye towards Sunday worship. Please let me know what you think about the Monday-Thursday notes.

* * *
 
NEWS:
 
There will be a Congregational Meeting this Sunday, June 20, immediately following the 9 am service to act on Eric Corbin’s request to dissolve his relationship with the church.
 
* * * 

Humor:
 
This jewel-in-the-rough from Bill Gamble. I meant to share it from the pulpit on Sunday. I did have the presence of mind to share it at last week’s wedding rehearsal when friends and family of the Jaqueline Prestegaard and Bain Wilson gathered from Kansas, Virginia, North Carolina, and lots other other places. Here it is:
 
 From vaudeville days:

On a North-bound Illinois Central local passenger train.

Conductor:  Arcola! and a bit later Tuscola!

Passenger:  What’s next, Coca Cola?

Conductor:  No, Champaign.
 
 * * *
 
Good Word: 
 
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
1I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
2Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
  
Let us pray: 
 
Oh God,
            thank you because
goodness is stronger than evil, 
            Love is stronger than hate;
Light is stronger than darkness, 
            life is stronger than death;
Victory is ours, 
            Victory is ours
through you, O God, who loves us.
Victory is ours, 
            Victory is ours
through you, O God, who loves us.
 
(adapt. Archbishop Desmond Tutu)
 
PEACE,
 
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church