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While we are not gathering in person in this season, there are many opportunities to connect online with the Fourth Church community and one another.

You will find these online opportunities posted on the church calendar, which is easily accessible from the “Calendar” button of our website (in the upper left corner). Included among them are—

For information about whom to contact for an event’s Zoom details, simply click on the down “arrow” to the right of the event name in the calendar.

In addition to making our online worship service available via our worship channel at www.bit.ly/FPCworship, we are also sharing the service via Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/fourthchurch) and—for those who use smart TVs or TV streaming devices—via our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos) at 11:00 a.m.

For those who do not have Internet access, we also make our worship service available to listen to via the phone. If you know of someone for whom this audio opportunity would be welcome, please encourage them to call 888.916.9166 (toll-free) at the time of the service.

Shannon J. Kershner preaching

The worship bulletin is available to download and print in advance

Livestreamed from the Sanctuary at www.bit.ly/FPCworship

Our six-week sermon series—“To What End? Being Church in These Days”—continues this week, as together we explore the Six Great Ends of the Church. This set of statements was crafted in the early twentieth century to define and guide the life and work of the Presbyterian church—who we are and what we are called to do.

The Third Great End, our focus for this week, is “The Maintenance of Divine Worship.”

This Sunday during worship we will be recognizing the 2020 class of eighth-grade confirmands and welcoming them into the wider life of the congregation. Please keep these youth in prayer as they continue with us on their faith journey.

If our 11:00 worship time does not fit your schedule, the service will be available for viewing throughout the week at www.bit.ly/FPCworship.

You can also subscribe to our worship and sermon podcasts available via iTunes and Spotify and sign up to receive the weekly sermon by email.

Following worship this Sunday, September 27 we will have a virtual congregational meeting online at www.bit.ly/fpcprograms.

During the meeting, we will ratify the Session’s action in May to dissolve the pastoral relationship between Fourth Church and Vicky Curtiss, who retired on May 31.

We will also receive and act on the recommendation to elect Joe Morrow as Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Community Engagement.

This recommendation comes from the Associate Pastor Nominating Committee (APNC) elected in 2019 for the purpose of identifying and recommending a candidate for that newly defined Associate Pastor position.

That APNC—Ken Gaines; Elizabeth Hurley; Jared Light; Brian Satre, chair; Linnea Schramm; Kashane Taylor; and Jessica Wang—conducted a national search, reviewed applications, identified final candidates, and, after conversations with the final candidates, unanimously recommend Joe Morrow for this role.

We hope that you will join us online this Sunday as we take these important actions as part of our shared ministry together!

12:15 p.m.

Online at www.bit.ly/fpcprograms

To listen to the meeting, dial 888.916.9166

Following the congregational meeting this Sunday we hope you will join us via Zoom for virtual Coffee Hour, an opportunity to connect online with one another and share in a time of fellowship.

Following the congregational meeting

Also accessible at www.bit.ly/fpcfellowship

(the link is also posted on our website: www.fourthchurch.org)

Meeting ID: 963 5583 1751

Passcode: 631276

Phone: Call 1 (312) 626-6799

and enter Meeting ID 963 5583 1751#

The last day to submit names of Fourth Church members you recommend as candidates for roles in church leadership—whether as Elder, Deacon, or Trustee or for Nominating Committee or Chicago Lights Board member—is this coming Wednesday, September 30.

You can do so by adding their names—self-nominations are welcome—to the Leadership Candidate Form online at www.bit.ly/nominating2020.

On behalf of the Nominating Committee, thank you for your help!

We hope you—and your pets!—will join us via Zoom for our annual Blessing of the Animals next Sunday afternoon, October 4.

This year we will do so virtually, as we gather online with our animal friends to thank God for the gift of special creatures in our lives.

3:00 p.m. via Zoom

For the Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/animalblessing20

With the Illinois Graduated Tax Amendment on the general election ballot in Illinois this November, the Equitable Education Committee at Fourth Church will be hosting a Zoom panel discussion about the amendment—with special emphasis on the impact on education funding—on Tuesday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m.

David Greising, President and CEO of the Better Government Association, will moderate the conversation of panelists Ralph Martire (President of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and Arthur Rubloff Endowed Professor of Public Policy at Roosevelt University), Leslie Munger (Former Illinois State Comptroller and Deputy Governor), and Robin Steans (President of Advance Illinois).

7:00 p.m.

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/taxamendment

In the days ahead we have several opportunities planned for learning together via Zoom. We hope you will mark these on your calendar and register to join us!

9:30 a.m.

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/3bTHnZd

This three-week class kicked off last week with Derrick Dawson, Co-Program Coordinator of Chicago Regional Organizing Against Racism, speaking about the historical context of racial disparities in education. If you weren’t able to be with us for that discussion, you can watch the September 20 session here.

This week’s speaker will be Dr. Maurice Swinney, who is charged with moving CPS closer to achieving educational equity for all students. He will explain why policies and programs throughout CPS need to be examined for inequities as well as how potential strategies could minimize gaps in resources, staffing, and high-quality academic programming.

12:30 p.m.

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/fpcff20

In our weekly “Foundations of Faith” encounter with the Bible, members of the pastoral staff are taking turns hosting three-week thematic studies of biblical texts at 12:30 p.m. on Sundays.

This week David Handley will guide us in discussing texts around the theme “Knowing God, Loving God, Serving God.”

7:30 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/firsttuesdaybooks

This fall the Adult Education Committee is organizing a remote book club, specializing in nonfiction titles that they have found especially thought-provoking. They invite you to join them via Zoom for a moderated discussion of these scintillating reads.

To launch this series of conversations, author and Fourth Church member Jeanne Bishop will talk about her book Grace from the Rubble, in which she tells a story of pain and forgiveness in the aftermath of one of America’s greatest tragedies: the Oklahoma City bombing. As the publisher notes, this “powerful new book tells the heart-stirring story of how the father of a young woman killed in the Oklahoma City bombing and the father of her killer, Timothy McVeigh, forged an unlikely friendship and found forgiveness.”

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/cfpc1020

The October Zoom gathering of Cornerstones—a group for those 50 and older that meets monthly for fellowship and a program—will feature two of Chicago’s most admired and gifted cabaret artists—Carla Gordon and Beckie Menzie—performing “Songs of Protest and Patriotism.”

The Chicago Tribune called Carla Gordon’s show “Blacklisted—Songs McCarthy Didn't Want You to Hear” “inspired” and lauded Beckie Menzie as “indispensable to Chicago cabaret.” Those attending the October Cornerstones gathering will have opportunity to hear Carla and Beckie perform. For Zoom details, be sure to register by Thursday, September 30.

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Anne Ellis

The book group Books by Women has been hosting conversations for more than twenty years to discuss classic and contemporary works by women authors. All women are invited to join in the discussions whenever their schedules allow and the books are of interest.

The October book will be Jeanne Bishop’s Grace from the Rubble, a true story of tragedy and the unexpected grace of humanity.

After the success of our small groups via Zoom this summer, we are now making plans to launch additional groups to meet for six weeks beginning in October.

There will be groups discussing a book, others engaging in conversations about race, and others reflecting on faith.

If you would like to connect with five to seven other people via Zoom for a time of fellowship, relationship building, and spiritual formation around one of these topics, please let us know by emailing Anne Ellis.

Child of Ken Nicholson and Nikki Dekker

Died September 22, 2020