Looking for ways to connect with the Fourth Church community and one another? On the church calendar you will find many opportunities to do so online (or, where noted, in person). Included among them are—
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Sacred Pause meditation on Saturday and Tuesday mornings
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Men’s Bible Study on Tuesday mornings
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Horizons Bible Study for women, offered at both noon and in the evening, on Wednesday, August 10, with a summer focus on practicing spiritual disciplines
For information about whom to contact for an event’s Zoom details or the link to register for an event, 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 about additional opportunities, keep reading!
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Sunday, July 31
10:00 a.m. worship in person and online
Nanette Sawyer preaching
Audio available by phone (toll free) by calling 888.916.9166
Due to the COVID risk level in Chicago, and consistent with the advice of city health officials, we are recommending, though not requiring, that individuals wear masks during worship and elsewhere on the Fourth Church campus.
4:00 p.m. Jazz at Four worship in person
with Communion
in Buchanan Chapel
Nanette Sawyer preaching
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Our Music by the Fountain series continues with an outdoor concert by John and Carlisle Sherer (piano and voice) this Friday, July 29 and Elaine Dame (voice and guitar) next Friday, August 5.
We hope you will join us outside for some summertime music on Friday at 12:10 p.m. in the Michigan Avenue courtyard.
For those who prefer to enjoy our concerts online, we are not livestreaming the outdoor concerts but invite you to watch your favorite Friday Noonday Concerts from previous seasons on our YouTube channel: www.bit.ly/fpcvideos
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Our summer music opportunities also include Encore 2022, the Center for Life and Learning’s annual benefit, which will take place on Saturday, August 27 with a theme of Cabaret! Live!
To learn more about this evening of music followed by a reception—with proceeds supporting the CLL and its programming and community for adults sixty and over—see www.fourthchurch.org/cll/encore.html
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Women at Fourth is continuing to collect school supplies, with items needed by Monday, August 8 for 80 Chicago Lights Urban Farm students.
Volunteers are needed on Tuesday, August 9 (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.) and Wednesday, August 10 (11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.) to unpack, inventory, sort donations, and fill backpacks.
Monetary gifts for purchasing supplies, can be made at www.fourthchurch org/give-online (select “Congregational Life” and then note “School Supplies” in the comment box).
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Each Friday afternoon through the end of October the Farmstand at the Chicago Lights Urban Farm is selling a wide variety of seasonal vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
Your purchasing fresh produce at the Farmstand directly supports Chicago Lights job-training programs, as students and young adults gain job skills through urban farming, skills that set them up for success as they pursue fulfilling careers.
Fridays
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
at the Chicago Lights Urban Farm
444 W. Chicago Ave.
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As explained on the PC(USA) website, at this summer’s General Assembly the Race and Gender Justice Committee addressed “intersecting items focusing on injustice and inequities faced by communities of color, Indigenous people and women and transgender people. Many items called for reparative justice and initial steps to apologize for the church’s participation in white supremacy, with several items calling out patriarchal traditions and systems.”
An overture was passed by the full Assembly, “On offering an apology to African Americans on the Sin of Racism.” Once passed, white commissioners read the following Litany of Repentance, while African American individuals, other people of color, and individuals from Native communities were invited to “receive the words.”
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A Litany of Repentance
from the 225th General Assembly (2022)
“As white Christians we repent of our complicity in the belief in white supremacy: the belief that people of European descent are superior in intelligence, skills, imagination, and perseverance. We acknowledge that this belief in white supremacy has been the foundation of, and an excuse for, atrocities against people of African descent in the United States and in the world.
“We repent of our failure to recognize and take responsibility for the legacy of slavery.
“We repent of the injustice, pain, humiliation, and suffering imposed on African Americans by our ancestors and ourselves through actions and inaction. We repent of our complicity in failing to act in mutual loving relationship.
“We repent of closing our eyes to the degradation and injustice forced upon African Americans who were enslaved, segregated, terrorized, and imprisoned.
“We repent of covering our ears to the crying of families torn apart, to the sound of human flesh being struck, while songs of freedom and heavenly grace flow from our lips.
“We repent that we have failed as an institution and as individuals to use our voices to abhor and end lynching, segregation, and racial profiling. We regret our generations of silence on these issues so that we could maintain a comfortable life in our churches, homes, and communities.
“We repent of shutting our hearts to the experiences of fellow humans whose stories of pain, suffering, hardship, struggle, love, and joy mirror our own life journeys, yet are deprived of privilege and marred by racism. We have turned our backs and walked away pretending not to see, yet we saw, pretending not to know, yet we knew, and convincing ourselves that we were not complicit, yet we are.
“We now know that we as white Christians have benefited directly and indirectly from these injustices. We name ourselves as complicit and repent.
“Finally, we repent of our violent actions to suppress Black agency. African Americans, since the time of slavery, have actively pursued their freedom . . . built this country . . . laid foundational structures . . . and demonstrated their capacity to fully participate in the construction of this American society in spite of white supremacy.
“As repentance means turning and going the other way, with Christ’s help we seek to do so. At the same time, we commit ourselves to walking with people of African descent toward the goal of healing, reconciliation, and eliminating racism as we seek to dismantle white privilege.”
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Welcoming New Racial Equity Council Members
The Racial Equity Council is thrilled to welcome new members Eva Chess, Irma Olmedo, Julia Roberts, Kevin Williams, and Eric Wu.
Continuing members are Samantha Borow, Jenny Giblin, Anthony Hipp, Jerry Johnson, Cynthia Joho, Janet Love (Co-Moderator), Justin Myers, Melanie Oh Pierce, Deb Ramsey, and Kent Stevens (Co-Moderator).
Robert Crouch, Director of Volunteer Ministry, and Nanette Sawyer, Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Small Group Ministry, are staff liaisons for the REC.
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If you would like to join in praying for others—members of Fourth Church and those in need—we invite you to gather with us for Wednesday Morning Prayer at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom or at 10:00 a.m. in person. For Zoom details, email Nancy Benson-Nicol.
If you would like to talk to a pastor, please call the church (312.787.4570) and your request will be forwarded to someone on the pastoral staff.
If you would like to alert pastoral staff to emerging pastoral care needs, please email caringministries@fourthchurch.org; however if the situation is an emergency or requires immediate attention, please call the church at 312.787.4570 to be connected to the Minister on Call.
For one-to-one spiritual and emotional support through life challenges, we encourage you to consider being paired with a Stephen Minister. To learn more about this resource, contact Nancy Benson-Nicol, Associate Pastor for Caring Ministries and Spiritual Formation, or leave a confidential message for a Stephen Minister at 312.573.3365.
To set up a time to talk or for more information about how the staff of the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being can be a resource for you, call the Center at 312.787.2729, ext. 2260.
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A Mask-Welcoming Community
Although wearing a mask is not required at Fourth Church, we as a community have made a commitment to be a mask-welcoming campus, encouraging the wearing of masks by anyone who wants or needs to wear one.
With the COVID risk level in Chicago at “medium,” we are going a step further to not just encourage but recommend (though not require) that individuals wear masks while on campus.
This is consistent with city health officials recommending that—in light of the “medium risk” level—individuals wear masks indoors when they are not certain of the vaccination status of others present.
As a mask-welcoming—and now recommending—campus, we also remain committed to ensuring no one will feel out of place should they choose to wear a mask while at Fourth Church.
Since some populations are more vulnerable to COVID-19 than others, some programs on the Fourth Church campus choose to require masks. That is a decision that is made on a program-by-program basis.
We continue to have a socially distanced seating section at the front of the Sanctuary on the pulpit side. That section is reserved for those required to or choosing to practice social distancing, and everyone sitting in that section is required to wear a mask. The remainder of the Sanctuary is open seating.
Additionally, we are continuing our practice of not checking vaccination status, but anyone coming on site certifies by doing so that (a) they do not currently have COVID-19; (b) they are not experiencing COVID symptoms; (c) they have no reason to quarantine; and (d) they will wear a mask and practice social distancing if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19.
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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
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