On the church calendar are many opportunities to connect online with the Fourth Church community and one another. 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 (which is easily accessible from the “Calendar” button in the upper left corner of our website).

For highlights of some of the opportunities you will find on the calendar, keep reading!

This Sunday, March 28 is the last day to make Easter flower gifts in honor or memory of loved ones. The Easter flowers will decorate the Sanctuary for our online Easter service, and a list of those individuals remembered will be printed in the Easter bulletin.

Contributions can be made online at www.bit.ly/FPCgifts and must be received by Sunday, March 28 for names to appear in the bulletin. For more information, email Andrea Miller.

As we begin our Holy Week journey on Sunday, we hope you will be with us online to join millions around the globe who, on this holy day, will be raising loud hosannas.

To join in the spirit of this day that is both festive and somber, we encourage you to download and print a palm (www.bit.ly/palmcolor) to have on hand as we together sing “all glory, laud, and honor.”

Take a photo of your palm or of you and your palm and share it on social media, tagging @FourthChurch. Together we can create a virtual crowd welcoming Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem!

Join us online when an introit by children as well as images of them waving palms will usher us into our Palm Sunday singing of loud hosannas. Our focus will then turn to the Passion story that leads us into Holy Week.

Shannon J. Kershner preaching

The worship bulletin will be available to download and print on Friday

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

Our online worship services are available live at 11:00 a.m. (Central) via

For those who do not have Internet access, we also make our worship services 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.

The Sunday service is available for viewing throughout the week at www.bit.ly/FPCworship.

Worship and sermon podcasts are available via iTunes and Spotify, and you can sign up to receive the text of the weekly sermon by email.

11:00 a.m. online

We hope you and your loved ones near and far will join us online on Easter Sunday, April 4 as we gather in festive celebration of the resurrection of the Lord!

The service will include the stirring music of brass and organ, handbells and jazz, and the joyous hymns of Easter. This year we will also be celebrating Communion as part of our Easter service.

We invite you to have bread and juice on hand as we share in the Lord’s Supper from our homes.

A longtime symbol of our One Great Hour of Sharing Offering has been the fish banks that Sunday School children have presented during the Palm Sunday processional. Although they won’t have opportunity to do that this year, you still have opportunity to take part in this offering, touching the lives of those in need as we reach out to those most vulnerable, both here in our city and around the world.

Your gifts to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering support the work of

Chicago Lights Tutoring and Elam Davies Social Service Center

Gifts to this offering can be made by

•   giving online

•   writing “Lenten Offering” on the memo line of a check made payable to Fourth Presbyterian Church and mailed to Resource Development, Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut, Chicago, IL 60611.2014.

In light of the targeted murders of primarily Asian American women in Atlanta a week ago, Shannon Kershner shared the following remarks prior to this past Sunday’s sermon.

If you’re looking to read ahead, here is what our book groups have planned for their April discussions.

7:00 p.m. via Zoom

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

This book group hosted by the Adult Education Committee examines the ethical and social issues facing Christians today.

April book: Just Faith: Reclaiming Progressive Christianity by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

Join us for a conversation with progressive Christian activist and writer Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons as he talks about Just Faith, a book in which he explains how a strong religious left has accompanied every major progressive advance in our society. In it he resurrects the long history of progressive Christianity to show how it can and must link arms with progressive Muslims and Jews to make the moral case for pluralism, human dignity, and the common good.

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Anne Ellis

All women are invited to join in monthly Books by Women discussions whenever their schedules allow and the books are of interest.

April book: Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout

Olive Again continues the story begun in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, bringing moments of grace as we follow the protagonist and her neighbors in Crosby, Maine.

On Tuesday, April 13, in addition to the Books by Women discussion (see above), we will also be hosting Zoom conversations about generosity and interfaith dialogue.

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/generosity0421

A new four-week series, “Generosity as a Spiritual Practice” examines how generosity can enrich our lives and deepen our faith. Offering insights and lively discussion on ways to live generously in a spirit of abundance, each 90-minute session will focus on one chapter of the book edited by Adam J. Copeland, Beyond the Offering Plate: A Holistic Approach to Stewardship.

A Fourth Church pastor will present concepts from the chapter and offer insights into how we might integrate them into our spiritual practices. Small groups will then break out for interaction, reflection, and to foster trust and sharing as we explore how how different faith traditions and family cultural backgrounds affect our relationship with generosity and faith. 

Purchasing the book is suggested but not required. It is available in e-reader or print formats at www.christianbooks.com and elsewhere.

7:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Anne Ellis

In this online conversation and learning opportunity, Nanette Sawyer will explore the scriptural and theological foundations of the Presbyterian commitment to interfaith dialogue.

Three of our programs are currently looking for volunteers to assist them with their work. Might you be able to help?

Fourth Church Meals Ministry is looking for people to assist with

To sign up to help, please go to VOMO, our Volunteer Ministry sign-up platform. In order to allow as many people as interested to help out, prior to Friday, March 26 please do not sign up for more than two dates per month. Safety and health standards are strictly followed.

For more information or assistance with VOMO, please contact Robert Crouch, Director of Volunteer Ministry.

Fourth Church Youth Ministry, a welcoming and inclusive Christian community where sixth- through twelfth-grade youth are accepted, known, and loved for who they are, relies heavily on the generosity of adult volunteer leaders. Applications are currently being received for leaders to serve in one of three volunteer roles during the 2021–2022 program year: Sunday Morning Leader, Zoom Small Group Leader, and Committee Member.

Interested church members are asked to sign up here for one of three informational sessions that will be held online in April. For more information email Katie Patterson, Youth Ministry Program Manager.

Fourth Church’s Employment Network, which works in partnership with the St. Sabina Employment Resource Center on the South Side, is looking for volunteers interested in supporting job-preparedness workshops on interviewing, entrepreneurship, or credit repair.

The skills of those volunteering for SCORE or CARE Chicago are especially needed as are individuals with organizations that can provide internship and job opportunities in the fields of health care, security, manufacturing, IT, retail, administrative, and commercial driving.

If you can help or would like to learn more, please email employmentnetwork@fourthchurch.org

Each Sunday after worship you are invited to share in a time of conversation with one another, when we gather for virtual Coffee Hour via Zoom.

Also accessible at www.bit.ly/fpcfellowship

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

Meeting ID: 963 5583 1751

Passcode: 631276

Phone: Call 1 312.626.6799

and enter Meeting ID 963 5583 1751#

If you know someone who would like to receive email updates from us but currently is not, please encourage them to add their email address to our distribution list by signing up at www.bit.ly/newsfromfpc