If you know someone who would like to receive 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

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).

Shannon Kershner preaching

The worship bulletin is available to download and print in advance

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

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

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.

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.

We invite you to join us in making preparations to share Christmas joy with those in need.

Again this year Women at Fourth is coordinating our Christmas Wishes efforts to provide gifts for Chicago Lights Tutoring students. This year each student will receive a gift card, a book, and a mask.

This Saturday, December 5 is the last day to help fill these Christmas wishes; you can order the selected books online at www.bit.ly/christmaswishes20.

Contributions toward Christmas Wishes gift cards can be made online at www.fourthchurch.org/give-online (choose “Congregational Life” as your designation, and type “Christmas Wishes” in the comments).

Sunday and Monday Night Supper guests will again be receiving Christmas gift bags from Fourth Church, this year prepared by staff and volunteers.

Donations are needed to cover the cost of the items to be included in the bags: a food gift card, gloves, hygiene items, and a mask. These donations can be made online at www.bit.ly/giftbags2020

Although we will not have our annual Cookies-and-Cocoa reception this year, Women at Fourth is still inviting individuals to bake cookies, brownies, and other sturdy sweets to share with our Sunday Night Supper guests on December 20. For details, email

Anne Ellis.

Throughout Advent we are receiving a “Light Up a Life” offering, which helps shine God’s light of love on those who need it most this season, including those in need of the warmth, clothing, and nourishment provided by our Fourth Church Meals Ministry and Chicago Lights Social Service Center programs.

Gifts can be made to this offering online at www.fourthchurch.org/give-online (type “Light Up a Life” in the comments) or by writing “Light Up a Life” on the memo line of a check made payable to Fourth Presbyterian Church (and mailed to the church at 126 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, IL 60611.2014).

Give thanks for those who are special in your life and remember loved ones through contributions toward the purchase of Christmas flowers and garlands. These will decorate the Sanctuary for our online services this Advent and Christmas season.

A list of those remembered will be printed in the Christmas bulletin. Contributions must be received by next Friday, December 11 in order for names to be included in that bulletin.

Contribute to Christmas flowers at www.bit.ly/FPCgifts

The season of Advent invites us to set aside time for daily personal prayer and reflection, creating space to prepare our hearts and lives to receive the gift that comes to us in the stable and embracing what it means to travel through life guided by the Light that darkness cannot overcome.

Our daily Advent devotions—which are written by Fourth Church members and staff—offer a resource for this meditative journey. To receive them daily by email, sign up online at www.bit.ly/fpcdevotions.

The devotions also will be posted daily on Facebook, on Twitter (@FourthChicago), and on our devotions web page.

Additional resources for observing Advent can also be found online.

For many, the celebration of Christmas is made difficult by feelings of loneliness, grief, alienation, and sadness, whether personal or collective.

Our “Longest Night” service, which will be hosted by our Stephen Ministers via Zoom on Tuesday evening, December 15, recognizes and makes space for these feelings and challenges.

7:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/longestnight20

Stephen Ministry is a one-to-one ministry of care and supportive listening for those who are experiencing life’s challenges.

If you or someone you know could benefit from a such a connection—even just a one-time phone call—we invite you to learn more about being paired with a Stephen Minister.

We also welcome applications for our next Stephen Minister training course—a fifty-hour series that culminates in making a two-year commitment to serve as a Stephen Minister. That course will next be offered in the spring.

This Wednesday, December 9 we will gather online with friends from Chicago Sinai Congregation for “Our Neighbors: Deepening Interfaith Relationships,” an opportunity to share stories of life and faith as we reflect on the metaphor of light in this season and reflect on how our faith traditions encourage us to bring light into the world.

Join us for conversation as we make new friends and strengthen bonds of affection with our neighbors.

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

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

Another opportunity to connect online with others and share in a time of fellowship is offered each Sunday following worship, when we hope you will join us after the postlude for virtual Coffee Hour.

Following the postlude

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#

This year the Chicago Leadership Prayer Breakfast, which is annually attended by Fourth Church pastoral staff, will be held online.

Hosted by the Chicago Sunday Evening Club, it will include remarks by the Governor, Mayor, and Cook County President; a keynote address by Adam Taylor, acting president of Sojourners and author of Mobilizing Hope: Faith-Inspired Activism for a Post-Civil Rights Generation; and music by tenor Rodrick Dixon.

8:00 a.m. online

Register for this free event at www.chiprayerbreakfast.com