Ongoing Response to COVID-19
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-07-01
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Wholeness.
That’s what we need and want for our world, for ourselves and neighbors, and our beloved church. The Hebrew tradition calls it “shalom,” which means an all-encompassing peace. Wholeness. Well-being. Welfare.
This kind of wholeness transcends physical health. It’s a spiritual thing. It’s what Herbert Richardson felt in the movie “Just Mercy” right before he was executed. Since Vietnam, his mind was unsettled, and his life was addled by night sweats and terror. His time on death-row equalled constant emotional anguish. In the death chamber he said, “I have no ill feeling and hold nothing against anyone.” And for the first time in the film we see a placid man.
“Shalom” is what Auther Moses “Truluv” felt even though he was sad upon the death of his wife Nola. It’s the feeling he shared with a frightened, pregnant teenager, and a grieving nextdoor neighbor in Elizabeth Berg’s novel The Story of Arthur Truluv. (A member of our church wrote me and said she wishes she could be more like Arthur, and to me, she is.)
Shalom is what my family felt for a few moments last night when we watched the brief movie from their childhood, “The Snowman” based on Raymond Briggs’ classic picture book. (All three of my boys are home for my birthday.)
Join us tonight for our WEDNESDAY evening gathering for a “Service of Wholeness.” We start at 7:00 and we end no later than 8:00. Together, let’s pray for shalom.
See you there. Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
Take on Race:
Structural racism can show up in multiple ways, including:
- Housing discrimination that limits where people of color can live and steers them to rental markets rather than home ownership.
- Laws and policies that deny people of color access to quality education, employment and adequate health care.
- Food apartheid — areas deliberately devoid of quality, affordable fresh food.
- Mass incarceration and criminal justice systems that disproportionately target people of color with lengthier sentences, “stop-and-frisk” laws, the over-policing of communities of color, the school-to-prison pipeline, etc.
- Environmental racism — the dumping of hazardous waste, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of access to clean water that results in a range of serious health problems in communities of color.
Where have you seen racism at work?
NEWS:
Make a donation to DREAAM for your friend’s upcoming birthday!
Thursdays
Compassion, Peace & Justice 11 am
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
Youth Meeting 4 pm
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
Good Word: (read this several times…)
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
8 The voice of my beloved!
Look, he comes,
leaping upon the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Look, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
11 for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.”
Let us pray
Thank you, Lord, for
sweaty-high humidity
that reminds me
of what I’m made of.
Thank you for hot
temperatures that
remind me of what I
hoped for last January.
Thank you for long days
to enjoy you and the
sweet, sweet memory of
neighbors and friends.
AMEN.
PEACE to you all,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-06-30
| News: Education is the Pathway to Peace 1:30 pm Wednesdays Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link. Midweek Online Gathering 7 pm Wednesdays |
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Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-06-29
Monday June 29 2020
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Your Covid-19 Response Team of the Session has been meeting every week. Prior to that, our Science Advisor Peter Yau has been in weekly conversation with me, your staff, and your Session. We’ve been asking: What now? What’s next?
We cannot predict the future. We don’t know how “phase four” of our recovery will go. If Covid cases and deaths continue to drop and area hospital ICUs remain uncrowded, we feel like our plan at First Presbyterian Church *may* unfold as noted below. If things change, these plans will change.
The organizing principle of our work has been this: we do not want our church to become an incubator for this virus. We want to be a “super-spreader” of Gospel-love only, not of the Corona Virus. Your Covid-19 team would prefer to be too cautious, too slow, and too thoughtful. Why? We want to keep people safe. We want our sanctuary to be a sanctuary. A safe place.
Note also, First Presbyterian Church will not “open fully” until we’ve safely reached “phase five,” when a Corona Virus vaccine is found, tested, and available.
After September 1st, we hope to resume some form of limited face-to-face worship in our sanctuary. Right now, we’ll limit the total of number of leaders and participants to 50 people; this number may change when we get closer to that date. We will attempt to preregister for worship. We will rethink how we do communion. We will, likely, not engage in congregational singing (as singing is known more widely to spread aerosolized air and singers more deeply inhale that air). Spoken liturgy will be limited. All persons will wear face masks and we will exercise physical distancing of six feet. We’ll have no paper bulletins. We’ll have no coffee hour (and doughnuts!) after worship.
Currently, face-to-face meetings at the church are considered on a case-by-case basis. Either I or the Covd-19 Response Team will make those decisions. Face-to-face office appointments with me may be arranged.
Should you come to face-to-face events?
The CDC recommends these guidelines. If you fit any of these categories, rethink your participation:
* People 65 years and older
* People who live in a nursing home or long-term care facility
* People of all ages with underlying medical conditions, particularly if not well controlled, including:
* People with chronic lung disease or moderate to severe asthma
* People who have serious heart conditions
* People who are immunocompromised
* Many conditions can cause a person to be immunocompromised, including cancer treatment, smoking, bone marrow or organ transplantation, immune deficiencies, poorly controlled HIV or AIDS, and prolonged use of corticosteroids and other immune weakening medications
* People with severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 40 or higher)
* People with diabetes
* People with chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis
* People with liver disease
So, we’ll not be back in face-to-face worship until September at the earliest. As stewards of creation, we recognize that keeping our flock free from situations where Covid-19 could be spread is a sacred goal. The body is a temple of God.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.
Questions? Comments?
Give me a call, anytime.
* * *
Take on Race:
Why do we talk about structural racism? Raci
* * *
Have you seen the movie “Just Mercy”? I watched it ONLY because I suggested you watch it. How can I ask you to do something I’m not willing to do? As I suspected, it was difficult and painful. But like as good dramas go, the movie was satisfying. A lot of people are reading about racism; this story takes all of the intellectualization and make it a matter of the heart. I recommend it. Jamie Foxx and Tim Blake Nelson are great actors.
NEWS:
Tuesday, Men’s Breakfast Bible Study, 8 am
Email zoom@firstpres.church for the link.
Don’t forget out Wednesday Night Potluck on ZOOM. Tune in each week.
* * *
Make a donation to DREAAM for your friend’s upcoming birthday!
Good Word:
Matthew 11:28ff
28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Let us pray
A Prayer in a Time of Anger, Unrest, and Injustice
Holy One, whose Spirit is poured out upon all flesh,
whose children you empower to prophesy,
whose youth see visions and whose elders dream dreams,
we cry out to you with a loud “Hosanna!”
Where else shall we go, O Savior?
You alone have the words of eternal life.
You came that we might have life more abundantly,
but that abundance eludes too many of us, O God.
Our news cycles are filled with despair.
Our hearts ache as we wade through a global pandemic,
reaching grim milestone after grim milestone.
But even as we navigate a new threat, old ones still linger.
Communities of color bear the uneven weight of a new disease,
yet we see that racialized violence
and the systemic injustice undergirding it
have by no means given way to the demands of a pandemic.
We speak some of the most recent names: Breonna Taylor,
Ahmaud Arbery,
George Floyd, and Tony McDade.
We add them to the litany already in our macabre collection:
Aiyana and Emmett,
Eric and Sandra,
Jordan and Rekia,
Trayvon, Atatiana and Tamir,
and the myriad others in far too long a list.
This great cloud has witnessed persistent injustice
and our perseverance in the face of it.
Yet, how can they rest when so many keep joining their ranks?
We are slow to confront our complicity
and investment in white supremacy and dominance.
We live in a world in which Indigenous, Black and Brown siblings
are expected and compelled to offer forgiveness at a discount.
When the cheeks are turned,
they are met with another hand to the face
— or knee to the throat.
Forgiveness is too infrequently met with repentance.
This, O God, we name as sin.
It is our sin.
Many of us lament and strive against that sin.
Help and empower us to continue that work with diligence and faith.
Too many of us still waver and are unconvinced that there is a problem.
Remove our hearts of stone
and replace them with hearts of flesh
that are softened toward our siblings.
Help us to reckon not only with our personal failings,
but also with our institutional history
and the ways the church has helped to create systems of inequity.
By your Spirit, help us to
corporately live into our creeds and confessions
and provide sanctuary for all God’s children.
When we say that “God, in a world full of injustice and enmity,
is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged”
and that “the church labors for the abolition of all racial discrimination,”
help us to truly mean it.
We humble ourselves and cry out to you
in the hope that you will hear us and heal us.
We lift the communities of Louisville, Minneapolis, Glynn County,
and all where racialized violence has occurred and unrest has been stirred.
Holy God, we recall the words of our ancestor Dr. King,
who reminded us that “a riot is the language of the unheard.”
Open our hearts, minds, and understanding
to your movement in the margins,
so that when your people speak, they are indeed heard,
and when they tell the truth about your deeds of power,
they are not dismissed as something other than sober and of a clear mind.
In this way, let the fires of uprising
give way to the fires of your Spirit,
where your people hear the Good News of your kin-dom,
hear it with joy, and make haste to take part in it.
Let us release our attachment to our current world order
and walk bravely into the world you’ve intended for us,
even and especially when it costs us something.
We are mindful that, as Rev. Dr. Cornell West states,
“Justice is what love looks like in public.”
Your kin-dom come,
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus is still Lord.
To the one and only God,
our Divine Parent,
Jesus, our Gracious Sibling,
and Holy Spirit,
be the honor and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(from the PCUSA’s Office of Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries)
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-06-26
Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
Some of your friends are going back to face to face worship at other area churches. Your Covid-19 Response Team thinks that is unwise for us at this time. Please read their statement below about how the team is thinking about the virus.
* * *
Rachel reminds me that my birthday is next Friday. It’s poor form for a pastor to ask his flock for a present, but I’m asking. Consider making a donation to DREAAM House in my honor (or in anybody’s honor). I’d be SUPER glad if you did that. I love DREAAM, what they stand for, how they work, and the love the DREAAM Team has for its “dreamers.” Write a check to DREAAM and sent it to the church address. Help a young person dream!
* * *
See you on Sunday. We have a guest preacher on Sunday. (You’ll thank me.)
I love worshiping with you on Sunday. Invite a friend.
* * *
Pay attention to God’s activity in the world around you.
Be amazed.
Tell somebody.
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church
To those wanting to return to First Presbyterian Church of Champaign for a face-to-face event, meeting or worship service – from the FPCC COVID-19 Response Team
Since Sunday, March 15, prior to the Shelter In Place Order from Governor JB Pritzker on March 20, the Session of the First Presbyterian Church of Champaign changed our in-person worship services to online streaming, our staff have been working remotely from home except for critical activities that required them to be present on campus. A FPCC COVID-19 Specific Safety Plan and Guidelines for Staff was approved and implemented, including strict personal hygiene practices, wearing a mask, social distancing, self-monitoring of health and a negative test result of the COVID-19 test. We want our staff to be healthy in order to serve God and His congregation and as a testimony of our commitment to the community.
As we move into our transition into Restore Illinois Phase 4 – Revitalization expected to be announced today, June 26, 2020, many of you are asking when we can resume face to face worship at FPCC, return to our routine meetings and gatherings? Here is some of our thinking. (The Session has approved that we won’t begin face to face worship until September at the earliest.)
The Coronavirus COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel virus first emerged in 2019. From what we know, it is a respiratory virus, but also affects heart, kidney, brain and many other vital organs in human. Globally over 8 million people were affected by COVID-19; in the United States, there were over 2 million confirmed cases with ~120,000 deaths (June 21). What was alarming is over 80% of the deaths were people 65 years and older. So far there is no cure for this virus; when you catch the virus, you either recover from it, get really sick or die.
In managing this type of Pandemic, the following 3 principles are applied: Prevention, Isolation and Treatment.
Prevention: First, if you are sick, have a fever or have recently been in contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, you must stay at home. Because COVID-19 is a respiratory virus, transmission is most likely through droplets (i.e. breathing, speaking, singing etc.) Wearing a mask is the most effective and simple solution as a simple fabric mask will stop droplets from coming from you to other people or surfaces near you. We strongly encourage you to wear mask and practice social distancing when you are inside the church premise (including the Parking Lot). You are requested to wear a mask to protect yourself and others. If you need a mask, a clean disposable mask will be provided (please ask an usher for it). In addition, hand sanitizing solution are available throughout the church. Hand washing with soap and water and avoid touching your face will prevent you from catching virus from surfaces you touch. Social distancing (6 ft. apart) is another good way to avoid droplets from other people around you. As for common areas in church and surfaces, our custodians are spraying the entire church (Sanctuary, office, classrooms, bathrooms, door-knobs, tables, pews, hand-rails) using a FDA approved electrostatic sprayer and disinfectants between use. We have also removed bibles, hymnals, writing pads, pens and paper etc. from pews as they cannot be disinfected properly. In order to practice proper social distancing, our elevator and bathrooms are for single occupancy (unless you are from the same household). Collection of offering, Holy Communion with passing of the plates, corporate singing, spoken liturgy etc. will be redesigned to avoid contamination. We are working hard in ensuring your safety when we resume face-to-face meetings and services.
Another consideration is your risk in contracting COVID-19. Please refer to the CDC Guidelines on this. People considered to be at risk for COVID-19 are: 65 years or older, having any of the following diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory illness (asthma, COPD), cancer, currently under immune-therapy treatment, immune-compromised, chronic liver disease, chronic renal disease, diabetes, hemoglobin disorders, severe obesity and people in nursing homes or long-term care facilities. If you have any of these conditions or fit into these categories, please prayerfully consider the risk(s) you may be taking. Consult your medical professionals if you have question of this or speak with the FPCC COVID-19 response team members.
Isolation: This is the “true and tested” approach to manage a Pandemic. If you are sick, you should contact your medical professional and stay home. Do not go out unless you are going to visit your doctor.
Treatment: You have probably heard about the over 100 vaccines that are being developed for COVID-19 in many different countries. The soonest date of availability for a vaccine ready for the general public will be in 2021. This is assuming if the vaccine is safe and effective in preventing people from contracting COVID-19. Until then, the best approach is Prevention.
FPCC COVID-19 Response Team:
Dr. Ken Chapman Ph.D.
Rev. Eric Corbin
Dr. Ruth Craddock MD
Dr. Ron Deering MD
Ms. Judi Geistlinger
Rev. Matt Matthews
Mr. Mark Schoeffmann
Dr. Peter Yau Ph.D.
Mr. Timothy Young
* * *
From your Nurture Team — Congrats to Nancy Brombaugh for being the first to correctly recognize last week’s photo of Bob Kirby!
Here’s a new photo challenge.
Visit http://fb.com/groups/
Please join in the fun! We would like you to select a photo from your younger years (grade school, high school or early adulthood). Photos need not be professional. Candid shots are welcome. Please send your photos to photos@firstpres.church.
* * *
Friday Night at the Movies: The film Just Mercy has been made available to watch for free during the month of June. This film follows the story of Civil Rights Attorney Bryan Stevenson. You can watch the movie by following this link https://www.
French Prayer Service Saturday Evenings 6 pm
* * *
Somebody asked me recently, “When’s the last time you listened to Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life?” Answer? Twice in the last three weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Are trains safe in Covid? The “A Train” is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Weekday Email to Members and Friends – 2020-06-24
A daily e-mailer from
Matt Matthews
To Members and Friends of
First Presbyterian Church
Champaign, Illinois
Dear Friends,
I’m kicking off a new segment of my daily emailer: Take on Race.
When I have (or you submit) material that fits that category, I’ll park it there. The first material for that spot was written by our very own Ian Evensen. He’s a 15-year-old junior at Uni High School this fall. He loves basketball, spending time with family and friends, and listening to music. He also enjoys drawing, cooking, and writing. He likes to learn about the human brain and body. During this quarantine, “I’ve been playing basketball, studying for the SAT and ACT, watching TV shows, and journaling.”
Give Ian’s essay a close read. It follows.
* * *
Take on Race:
How I Learned About Race and Racism
By Ian Evensen
I always knew that not everyone looked like me. From a young age, I recognized that people had different skin colors, facial features, body types- the list goes on. Before elementary school, however, I never paid attention to any of that. We were all humans, despite the innumerable physical characteristics that gave us our distinctive appearances. From what I remember, all of us preschoolers were treated the same way, even though we all looked different. It wasn’t until elementary school that I learned about race.
In elementary school, I began to hear both classmates and teachers refer to others as “Black”, “White”, “Brown”, “Asian”, “Hispanic”, and several other names. It didn’t take me long to realize that because my dad was American and my mom was Korean, I was “half Asian and half White”. The categorization of people by race had produced a label for my identity. I heard and experienced racial stereotypes, and was exposed to all kinds of talk that regarded people of different races as different types of human beings. Because of how prevalent racial categorization had become in my life, without even trying, my mind started to divide people based on this single physical characteristic. My classmates were no longer just a bunch of kids; each of them now belonged to one racial group or another.
Also, during my elementary school years, I learned a lot about African-American history. We were taught about slavery and segregation, but we were also taught that those things had ended, giving the implication that everyone had equal rights now. I was under the impression that thanks to the abolishment of slavery and the civil rights movement, the cruelty that African-Americans had experienced was a thing of the past. Racial discrimination seemed like something that had only existed a long time ago; a problem that was no longer present in America. It wasn’t until later in my life that I realized that this was not the case.
Seeing the video of George Floyd being murdered fully opened my eyes to the fact that racism is still real, and that it is a serious problem. Since elementary school, I’d become more cognizant of the systemic racism that affects Black Americans every single day. I’d heard about how high the unemployment rate is for them, and about the wage gap between Black and White workers. I’d read about how it’s harder for Black Americans to access education or healthcare, and how much more susceptible they are to criminal injustice. I’d seen countless headlines about Black men being mistreated by White police officers. But witnessing George Floyd’s life being ruthlessly taken from him because of the color of his skin made me realize that I am a part of a racial group that has never experienced the injustice that afflicts the lives of Black Americans. I will never know what it’s like to live as a Black American; to be oppressed because of the singular physical characteristic that divides us all: race. People are categorized by the pigmentation of their skin- a trait which no one has control over- and it determines the way they are treated. We all need to treat everyone as equal individuals in order to make a change.
* * *
“I’m not racist.” Have you heard people say that? Check out this TedTalk:
https://www.ted.com/talks/
NEWS:
Tuesday’s The Heart of Mission had an incorrect date for the PW Bible study. It is not July 25; it is this Thursday June 25 at 9:30 am.
Our Wednesday Night Potluck on ZOOM features a Bible Study by Dave Bauer. He’ll get us thinking, laughing, and, probably, living more deeply.
* * *
HELP! Your Session is in need of two elders to replace sitting elders who had to resign. We need two saints willing to step in to lead our (1) Nurture Committee and (2) Mission Committee.
Please volunteer. Please pray. Please nominate somebody.
The nominating committee is:
Eric Stickels, chair
Greg Cozad (12/31/20)
Judy Hendrickson (12/31/20)
Leland Andrews (12/31/21)
Linda Peterson (12/31/21)
Bill Stout (12/31/22)
John Seiler (12/31/22)
* * *
This reminder from Pat Phillips: “At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude.”
* * *
From Nancy MacGregor: I’m passing along a favorite quote of Dave Fillpot’s from the Indian poet Rabinthranath Tagore: “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.” Good explanation of Hebrews 11:1.
Good Word:
· “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
Let us pray
Holy God,
guide my steps,
tune my vision,
open my heart,
in the name
of Christ.
AMEN
PEACE,
Matt Matthews
Cell: 864.386.9138
Matt@FirstPres.Church