I know we’re coming up on the end of the Annual Appeal season with this week’s Commitment Sunday, but I have another important appeal that I’d like to make to your family over the next several weeks:
our church’s Chicago Light's Elam Davies Social Service Center is in desperate need of a wide variety of food and toiletry items as we head into the holiday season, so we’ll be collecting those items at our Nursery and on our Sunday School floor over the next five Sundays!
There are a wide variety of reasons why you and your family might choose to donate, but in case you need an additional, non-charitable reason, please know that
if your family donates 25 or more items, your child will have a chance to throw a whipped cream pie at me between services on Sunday, December 2
.
Part of the reason that I’m so motivated to do this
—
other than altruism, of course
—
is that I may have inadvertently started a rivalry with the Center for Life and Learning about who could raise more items this year. They won the 2017 program competition, but I noted that if I hadn’t been on paternity leave last year, Sunday School would have easily won. And just like that a rivalry was born!
If you are able to help, our Social Service Center has requested the following items in particular, although all non-expired donations will be accepted:
Food Items
- Canned items (15-ounce cans preferred)
- Green beans, collard or mustard greens, carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, chicken, tuna
- Instant mashed potatoes, Stovetop stuffing mixes
- Cake and dessert mixes
- Can openers
Ready-to-Eat Items
- Fruit snacks, granola bars, cracker snack packs, Pop Tarts
- Juice boxes or bottled water
- Any pop-top fruits, veggies, or pasta canned items (think Chef Boyardee)
Staple Baking Items
- Flour, sugar, vegetable or cooking oil
- Salt and pepper shakers
Travel-Size Toiletry Items
- Deodorant, razors, soap, washcloths, lotion, toothbrushes, toothpaste
Thanks for considering helping some of the hundreds of guests who come through our doors each month, and thanks for helping Sunday School reclaim our title as the most generous program at Fourth Church!
Matt
Matt Helms
Associate Pastor for Children and Family Ministry
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We are continuing our popular
Sunday Morning TED Talk series
.
This year our themes will broaden our scope beyond parenting into talking about relationships in a digital age.
Typically held on the first Sunday of the month, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the fourth-floor Loft (
but please note we will next meet in Room 5D
),
TED Talks for parents invites all parents to gather for a time of connection and conversation with one another.
Our typical gathering schedule looks like this:
- Twenty minutes of socializing and meeting other parents
- Twenty minutes of watching a TED Talk. The November talks will be “Breaking the Habit of Small Talk” and “How to Have a Good Conversation”, two short talks that explore and challenge the way that we often communicate with others.
- Twenty minutes in small groups discussing themes and ideas from the talk, using a handout with prepared questions
Come join us for coffee, muffins, and bagels and some great conversation!
Sunday, November 4
9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Room 5D
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Do you have an infant or a toddler who loves singing or listening to music? If so, you are invited to join Chrissy in the Nursery from 9:00 to 9:20 a.m. for
Tunes for Tots
—
a short, interactive sing-along for infants and toddlers with a parent!
Upcoming dates are
October 28, November 11, and December 9
In November, due to the Thanksgiving holiday, we’ll only be offering Tunes for Tots on November 11
—
but please
know that you and your infant or toddler are always welcome to attend our Cherub Choir upstairs in Room 4F from 9:00 to 9:20 a.m. on Sundays when Tunes for Tots is not occurring.
Sundays, October 28 and November 11
9:00 to 9:20 a.m.
Nursery Room B
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All Sunday School-aged children are invited to attend worship with their parents for the first half of the hour on Sunday, November 11, as we continue having kids in “big church” on Baptism Sundays.
If you have not had a chance to experience this before, here’s everything you need to know:
- All children who would normally attend Sunday School on the fourth floor (ages 3 through 5th grade) should instead stay with you as you attend worship that particular morning. Nursery-aged children (ages 2 and younger) are welcome in the nursery as usual.
- Before the sermon begins, all Sunday School children will be invited to come forward to the front of the Sanctuary for a short liturgical piece before heading off to their regular classrooms. Our teachers will meet them at the front of the Sanctuary and help make sure everyone gets where they need to go after exiting worship.
- After worship ends, you will pick up your children from their fourth floor classroom just like you would on any other Sunday.
If your child attends Cherub Choir,
you can plan to walk with them to worship after choir rather than dropping them off on the fourth floor.
For any questions or clarifications, please contact
Matt Helms
.
Sunday, November 11
During the 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. worship services
Sanctuary
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They’re back!
Animal Family Night has always been one of our favorite Family Nights
, so we are partnering once again with the group Animals for Awareness for another wild evening. Animals for Awareness is a nonprofit group that specializes in rescuing exotic animals that people had purchased as pets only to realize that exotic animals do not make great pets. This year,
we’ll have animals such as a fennec fox, a coatimundi, a kinkajou, and a giant tortoise!
We will have a games and crafts located in the Borwell Dining Room at the start of the night with
dinner around 6:00 p.m.
and the animal show beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Anderson Hall.
If you’ve never been to a Family Night in the past, please know there is no cost to attend Family Night, and there are no RSVPs necessary; we do, however, put out an offering box if you’d like to help us offset the cost.
Parking validations
for $8 are available at the church reception desk, provided that you park in the 900 N. Michigan garage after 5:00 p.m.
Friday, November 16
5:30–7:30 p.m.
Borwell Dining Room
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Rocky and Matt are teaching a Bible class:
"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about the Bible or Your Money Back
(A Free Class)
."
Let’s face it—the Bible is long: 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 31,173 verses. So long that many of us don’t even know where to begin. Well, sure: Genesis. But how is Genesis connected to the rest of the Old Testament? What’s the deal with Leviticus? How did Israel come into being? Are Obadiah, Nahum, and Zebulun all prophetic books in the Old Testament, or did we totally make one of those up?
Rocky Supinger and Matt Helms, Associate Pastors (and Bible enthusiasts), invite you to join them for this monthly class that mixes
biblical storytelling, historical context, literary analysis, and small group discussion
to help bring the biblical text to life and wrestle with what it means for us today.
Each class features a chance to
submit any question that you’ve ever had about the Bible
—large or small—and Rocky and Matt close the class by attempting to answer several of these questions.
Sunday, November 18
(
and Dec. 16, and Jan. 20)
Room 5G
9:30-10:30 a.m.
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Please note that
Sunday, November 25
will be the last time that you’ll have a chance to donate food to our Sunday School Food Drive to benefit the Social Service Center (I mean, they’ll still accept the food
—i
t just won’t count towards our important competition against the CLL).
Sunday, November 25
Fourth Floor of the Gratz Center and the Nursery
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Here are upcoming events we hope you'll take a moment to put on your calendar now so you can plan on joining us for some special times together.
- Advent Wreath Workshop—Sunday, December 2
- Festival of Advent Lessons and Music—Sunday evening, December 9
- Cookies, Cocoa, and Carols Family Night—Friday, December 21
- Christmas Eve Pageant—Saturday, December 24
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Fourth Presbyterian Church | 312.787.4570 | www.fourthchurch.org
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