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—

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).

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

In person and streamed from the Sanctuary on our YouTube channel: www.bit.ly/fpcvideos

in Buchanan Chapel

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

If you missed the new “Rhythm and Word” video released yesterday evening, you can find the fifteen-minute worship experience—along with others in this video series—on our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos).

Caring Ministries invites veterans in our church community to join Chaplain Mark Schimmelpfennig to explore creating a group to meet periodically in order to give veterans and family members opportunity to share their experiences and concerns in a safe and confidential space. To learn more or join the initial Zoom gathering this Tuesday, February 22 at 6:00 p.m., contact Jeff Doane.

For anyone who would like to pray with a Deacon on Sundays, the Deacons invite you to come to Stone Chapel (through the door next to the Sanctuary pulpit) following Sunday morning worship.

If you would like to submit a prayer request to our Morning Prayer or Deacon Prayer Ministries, please email caringministries@fourthchurch.org

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 Jeff Doane, Parish Associate 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.

Are you interested in singing with a choir at Fourth Church?

The Chancel Choir welcomes newcomers to its rehearsals on Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m. in Anderson Hall. Directed by John Sherer, this choir is preparing music for Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and some upcoming morning services.

We are also excited to be adding another choral opportunity for volunteers: a new Gospel Choir, directed by Bryan Johnson.

Anyone interested in singing music of the gospel tradition is encouraged to join us for rehearsals, which will begin next Sunday, February 27 at 11:30 a.m. in Room 4F. This new choir will be preparing to sing in morning worship in March.

If you are interested in singing in one or both of these choirs, please contact John Sherer. Also please note that all singers are required to show proof of COVID vaccination. 

This coming Tuesday, Frances Taylor Gench will join us via Zoom to talk about her book

That book will be the focus of our Lenten “Path of Discipleship” journey (read more about this later in the newsletter).

While those who plan to be with us for that series are particularly encouraged to register for this conversation with Dr. Gench, all are invited to take part in this one-evening program. Come hear Dr. Gench offer insights to interpretive issues that open new angles of vision upon these ancient stories.

7:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/genchpfc222

The First Tuesday Book Club invites readers to examine the ethical and social issues facing Christians today and provides a forum for thinking Christians and others to wrestle with the complexities of living as faithful people in today’s confusing world.

The March topic of discussion will be Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans.

Author Rachel Held Evans was appreciated for bridging the gap between her evangelical upbringing and the more progressive faith she claimed as an adult. When she died suddenly in 2019, she left behind unfinished writings that—with the help of her friend and colleague Jeff Chu—have been woven into the book Wholehearted Faith.

The Reverend Amy Pagliarella, Book Review Editor for the Presbyterian Outlook, will lead us in conversation about that book when we gather via Zoom on March 1.

7:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/firsttuesday322

Books by Women invites all interested women to join them online in March for conversation about Free Thinker by Kimberly A. Hamlin.

This is the first biography of Helen Hamilton Gardener, a women’s suffrage activist who at the time of her death in 1925 was the highest-ranking woman in federal government and a national symbol of female citizenship.

Tuesday, March 8

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Simon Crow

Come Alive!^® with Women at Fourth

Women at Fourth will be offering Come Alive!^® beginning this Saturday. This seven-session small group program approaches wellness—starting with God’s love and joy in us—by integrating well-being into the daily rhythms of our life and connecting us with others. It makes focusing on well-being less about denying ourselves the things that we love (but are bad for us) and more about embracing all of the good and beauty that God places before us.

For details or to sign up for the series, contact Simon Crow.

10:00–11:15 a.m.

Via Zoom

If you would like to be part of one of our new Zoom Small Groups for Lent, please email Simon Crow.

These groups will start the week of February 27 and offer opportunity to connect with five to seven other people via Zoom for a time of fellowship, relationship building, and spiritual formation.

Whether or not you have participated in a Fourth Church small group, our Small Group Ministry team would appreciate it if you would take just a couple minutes to complete a brief survey to assist them in their planning: www.bit.ly/fpcsmallgroupsurvey22

This year Ash Wednesday falls on March 2. To observe that solemn day we invite you to take part in one or more of the following opportunities.

Wednesday, March 2

Shannon J. Kershner preaching

Rocky Supinger preaching

In person and streamed from the Sanctuary on our YouTube channel: www.bit.ly/fpcvideos; also available by phone by calling 888.916.9166

To begin our Lenten journey, we will gather for worship on Ash Wednesday. Both the 12:10 and 7:30 p.m. services will include Communion and the opportunity to receive the imposition of ashes.

Wednesday, March 2

7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The imposition of ashes will be available outside the Sanctuary throughout the day on Ash Wednesday. This is offered for those in our community who are unable to be with us for worship but who find the ashes to be a meaningful way to mark the beginning of this season of repentance and reflection.

Offered as a resource for personal meditation and prayer, our daily Lenten devotions are written by Fourth Church members and staff. If you would like to receive them in your inbox each day during Lent (and do not already receive our daily devotions), simply sign up at www.bit.ly/fpcdevotions or email devotions@fourthchurch.org.

During the upcoming season of Lent the Spiritual Formation Council invites you to join them in traveling the “Path of Discipleship.”

This year’s six-part series will use the book Back to the Well: Women’s Encounters with Jesus in the Gospel by Frances Taylor Gench. Led by Nanette Sawyer and Joe Morrow, the series will take place via Zoom on Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. beginning March 8. For the Zoom link, register at www.bit.ly/fpcpod2022

You are also invited to hear author Frances Taylor Gench talk about Back to the Well on Tuesday, February 22. See the Book Groups story above for details; for Zoom information register at www.bit.ly/genchpfc222

This past Sunday, February 13 we concluded our sesquicentennial year with a festive service of worship at 10:00 a.m. If you missed the service—with John Buchanan, Pastor Emeritus, preaching—or want to enjoy it again, you can find it on our YouTube channel.

We also invite you to catch up on any installments you may have missed in our “Back and Fourth” history series or our collection of letters from Chicago’s faith leaders, video messages from friends, or memories from pastors who previously served this congregation. All can be found at www.fourthchurch.org/150.

Congratulations to the officers elected at the Annual Meeting this past Sunday!

We are grateful for your willingness to serve this congregation in leadership roles over the next three years, and we look forward to your ordination and installation on Sunday, May 5.

In the Sanctuary, the front section is for those required to or choosing to practice social distancing. The remainder of the Sanctuary is open seating. Seating for Jazz at Four is all socially distanced.

We continue to require that everyone on the Fourth Church campus wear a mask, fully covering the nose and mouth, at all times. Anyone not wearing a mask fully covering their nose and mouth will be asked to leave, as we know that some people make the decision to worship with us in person—or participate in adult education classes—based on the knowledge that everyone will be fully masked. This is but one of the ways we continue to live out our commitment to value the health and safety of all.

Since everyone is masked throughout the service, the congregation is invited to sing.

We are 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 practice social distancing if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Our Sunday morning worship service is livestreamed at 10:00 a.m. (Central) via our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos)

The service is also available online any time afterwards on YouTube.

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

Our Sunday services are available for viewing following the conclusion of worship and throughout the week at www.bit.ly/fpcvideos.

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.

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