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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“The Luminous Web,” a Sunday morning class on Barbara Brown Taylor’s book by that title, which explores the dialogue between science and faith; the class is held both in person and via Zoom
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Men’s Bible Study on Tuesday mornings
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Knitting and Crocheting in person on Tuesday morning, June 7
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Horizons Bible Study for women, offered at both noon and in the evening, this Wednesday, June 8, with a summer focus on practicing spiritual disciplines
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Women at Fourth in person on Thursday, June 23 for “Paint and Sip” (registration required at www.bit.ly/waf62022)
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 some additional opportunities, keep reading!
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Day of Pentecost, June 5
10:00 a.m. worship in person and online
with Communion
Amantha Barbee preaching
Audio available by phone (toll free) by calling 888.916.9166
Due to the increased 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
Joe Morrow preaching
Pentecost
This Sunday is Pentecost, the day we celebrate the birth of the church and the giving of the Holy Spirit to the disciples of Jesus. Red, which is the liturgical color for the day, symbolizes the pentecostal fire of the Holy Spirit.
We will be receiving a special Pentecost offering this Sunday to support Fourth Church and Presbyterian Church (USA) ministries working with at-risk youth and young adults.
To make a gift to this special offering, use the designation “Pentecost Offering” when giving at www.fourthchurch.org/give-online or write it on the memo line of a check made payable to Fourth Presbyterian Church.
Communion
This Sunday we will be celebrating Communion at both services. For those who will be joining us online for the morning service, we encourage you to have bread and juice on hand so that we might all share together in the Lord’s Supper.
Survey about Online Engagement
To help us continue to shape meaningful connections for the many who are engaging with Fourth Church online, we would appreciate your responses to a brief survey about your online engagement with Fourth Church—be it Sunday worship, Rhythm and Word, Adult Education Classes, Friday Noonday Concerts, or the Bible Top 10 podcast.
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This Sunday morning we look forward to welcoming guest preacher Amantha Barbee to the Fourth Church pulpit!
Senior Pastor of Oakhurst Presbyterian Church in Decatur, Georgia, and a leader in the PC(USA), the Reverend Amantha Barbee holds a Master of Divinity from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, where she earned the E.T. George Award for Excellence in Homiletics and Worship.
She also sits on the Board of Trustees for Montreat Conference Center as well as the Strategy Team for NEXT Church and is the chairperson of the PC(USA) General Assembly Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.
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Those graduating from eighth grade, high school, college, or a graduate or professional program in 2022 are asked to email their names to Rocky Supinger no later than Sunday, June 19.
Graduate names received by June 19 will appear in the worship bulletin on June 26, which is Baccalaureate Sunday at Fourth Church.
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On the calendar for the first two Tuesdays of June: book group discussions. Newcomers are always welcome for these Zoom conversations!
First Tuesday Book Club
In her new book, Fortune: How Race Broke My Family and the World—and How to Repair It All, Christian activist Lisa Sharon Harper recovers the beauty of her heritage, exposes the brokenness that race has wrought in America, and casts a vision for collective repair.
Fortune helps readers understand how America was built upon systems and structures that blessed some and cursed others, allowing Americans of European descent to benefit from the colonization, genocide, enslavement, rape, and exploitation of people of color.
Join us as we welcome Ms. Harper for an evening of provocative and insightful discussion via Zoom.
Tuesday, June 7, 2022
7:00 p.m. via Zoom
Books by Women
Books by Women will meet via Zoom on June 14 to discuss Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo.
Winner of the Booker Prize, this novel offers what has been described as a “magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.”
Tuesday, June 14
6:00 p.m. via Zoom
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This past Wednesday, June 1 thirty-two travelers from Fourth Church and Community Presbyterian Church in Clarendon Hills departed for the Middle East.
Twenty of those individuals make up the Touring Choir, led by John Sherer. They are joined by Nanette Sawyer and others for this opportunity to learn about the history and culture of the Middle East region. In addition to sharing the gift of music in concerts and worship services, the group will also have opportunity for conversation with those living in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.
Please keep these travelers in your prayers as over the next two weeks they learn from and share fellowship with our siblings in the Middle East.
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The Chicago Lights Social Service Center relies on donated items from Fourth Church members and friends to support their work with guests of their program.
Here is their current wish list:
- adult-sized backpacks
- men’s jeans and casual pants (sizes 34–42 waist)
- men’s belts
- men’s underwear (L, XL, 2XL)
- men’s tennis shoes (sizes 10–14)
Donations can be dropped off at the church reception desk (enter via the Chestnut Street doors). For more information, email Lynn Milligan. |
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Marriage
We give thanks to God for the gift of life together.
Elizabeth Claire Flessor and Jeffrey Daniel Koukol
Married May 28, 2022
Death
We give thanks to God for the gift of life eternal.
Paul Thenstedt
Died May 30, 2022
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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 in Buchanan Chapel. (The chapel is also open for opportunity to walk the labyrinth between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. on Wednesdays and between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m. on Thursdays.) 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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Mask Wearing Recommended
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 increased to “high,” 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 “high 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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Campus Badges
As we return to more on-site programming, Fourth Church and Chicago Lights have implemented a new safety and security practice.
Anyone present on the Fourth Church campus is required to wear a campus badge while on site, except on Sundays and for other worship opportunities, concerts, and Meals Ministry meals.
Anyone who does not already have a campus badge when they enter (except for those exceptions noted above) will be asked to pick up a single-day badge at the 126 E. Chestnut reception desk. Reusable badges are being issued by some programs with regular, ongoing weekly programming, such as Chancel Choir. These reusable badges are only available from the staff of those programs, not from the reception desk. Anyone who does not bring their reusable campus badge will be able to pick up a single-day badge.
To facilitate this process—as well as for safety and security reasons—all access to the building is through the 126 E. Chestnut entrance only, except on Sundays and for other worship opportunities, concerts, and Meals Ministry.
Our ongoing commitment to the safety and security of all on our campus undergirds this practice, which was been under discussion since prior to the pandemic. (Implementation was set aside while the campus was largely closed.)
The campus badges and single-entry access point were strongly encouraged by our safety and security consultants and advisors and are also consistent with practices at other large, spread-out, multi-use buildings with spaces and uses like ours. The badges enable us to know who is in the building throughout the day. (Previous unlimited access has at times resulted in unknown individuals hiding in corners of the campus.) The badges also ensure that should we ever have to evacuate the buildings, we will know who was on site and needs to be accounted for.
As a congregation, we value radical hospitality and welcome for all, and we believe an integral component of that is our care for the well-being of those who are present with us. This safety and security practice is but one expression of that. For those who will be joining us on site as programming on campus continues to expand, we look forward to seeing you!
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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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