News @ Fourth Church: February 18, 2023

February 18, 2023

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. Included among them are—

LGBTQIA+ Widen Our Welcome Brunch in person following worship this Sunday, February 19 (meet at the church reception desk)
Men’s Bible Study via Zoom on Tuesday morning
Benevolent Guild in person on Wednesday morning, February 22
Women’s Bible Study via Zoom at noon and in the evening on Wednesday, February 22
Friday Noonday Concert featuring our Organist John Sherer on Friday, February 24, in person and livestreamed
Knitting and Crocheting via Zoom on Tuesday afternoon, February 28

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” at the top of the menu on our website).

For highlights about additional opportunities, keep reading!

Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday, February 19

10:00 a.m. worship in person and online

Fourth Church Youth preaching and leading worship

Worship bulletin

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

Audio available by phone (toll free) by calling 888.916.9166

Livestreamed worship services and concerts are accessible by going to www.bit.ly/fpcvideos, subscribing to our YouTube channel, or clicking on the photo with a “Play” arrow on the home page of the Fourth Church website.

4:00 p.m. Jazz at Four worship in person

with Communion

in Buchanan Chapel

Fourth Church Youth preaching and leading worship

Worship bulletin

We look forward to Fourth Church youth leading us in worship this Sunday!

This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. To observe that solemn day we invite you to join us in worship.

Both the 12:10 and 7:30 p.m. services will include Communion and the opportunity to receive the imposition of ashes.

Ash Wednesday Services

Wednesday, February 22

12:10 p.m. in person

7:30 p.m. in person and online

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

The imposition of ashes will also 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.

Each year the ashes serve as a reminder of our human mortality—and the eternal life that is ours by God’s grace alone.

Ashes on the Way

Wednesday, February 22

7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The forty-day season of Lent invites us to thoughtfully take up the gifts of faith: worship, study, prayer, and service.

We encourage you to explore the variety of resources available to you for your Lenten journey, from daily devotions for your personal prayer and reflection to the Path of Discipleship.

Lenten Devotions

Beginning Wednesday, February 22

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.

Lenten Rhythm and Word

Beginning Wednesday, February 22

Also available for your reflection during the season will be a Lenten “Rhythm and Word” video series.

Led by Rocky Supinger, these brief worship experiences (approximately fifteen minutes each) weave together scripture, prayer, and music. They will be released on our YouTube channel on Wednesdays at 6:00 p.m. beginning on February 22.

To receive them by email, sign up online at www.bit.ly/rhythmandwordemail

Lenten Taizé service

Friday, March 24

Next month a quiet candlelit Lenten Taizé service—a contemplative time of meditative song, silent reflection, and prayer for peace, reconciliation, and unity—will be held on Friday evening, March 24 at 7:00 p.m. in Buchanan Chapel.

Path of Discipleship

Lent is a great time for each of us to conduct a spiritual “spring cleaning,” take a spiritual inventory, and reflect on how we might improve our relationship with God. As James 4:8 relates, “Draw near to God and God will draw near to you.”

Thus the Spiritual Formation Council will again be hosting a six-week Lenten Path of Discipleship series, this year with a focus on Connie Fourre’s eighty-seven-page book The Spiritual Resilience Handbook.

A veteran faith formation educator for adolescents and adults, the author explains, “Spiritual resilience is the ability to maintain a sturdy positive spirit and a clear sense of purpose and meaning even in the face of suffering.”

The series will be offered via Zoom on Tuesdays, February 28 through April 4 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Each week, Associate Pastors Nancy Benson-Nicol or Joe Morrow will explore different elements in the handbook, after which participants will join a facilitated small-group discussion to examine these elements. A short worship service will conclude each evening.

To participate, please register online.

Ghost Ranch New Mexico in the spring. Finding ways to care for creation. Awakening the inner terrain of God’s Spirit. Kindling connections with others from Fourth Church.

If this sounds intriguing, consider joining Nancy Benson-Nicol and Lucy Forster-Smith for a Ghost Ranch Pilgrimage of Faith and Learning this May 15–19 in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

Mornings will be spent in conversation with a speaker; there will be hiking and exploration of the area in the afternoon; and evenings will offer time together as a group with guided conversations and worship. There will also be one afternoon and evening in Santa Fe enjoying the museums, dining, and wonder of that city.

A brief information session about this travel opportunity will be held this Sunday, February 19 at 9:00 a.m. in Room 5E.

To express interest in the trip, please complete the simple “Expression of Interest” form at www.bit.ly/ghostranchinterest23; an application, which will be due March 15, will be available in the coming days.

For additional details, email Nancy Benson-Nicol or Lucy Forster-Smith.

Are you interested in joining the Fourth Church Choir trip to India in February 2024?

This seventeen-day trip will include visits to Old and New Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Mumbai.

Travel details for this tour, which is open to singers and non-singers alike, are included in the trip brochure and are also available by contacting Emily Cox.

“The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Individual or Universal?”

A one-session adult-education class — “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Individual or Universal?” — will take place this Sunday morning, February 19 at 11:15 a.m. in Borwell Dining Room and via Zoom.

Stephen Hauser and Michael Kazanjian will lead this discussion using religious art from the East and West from the book Resurrecting Easter by John and Sarah Crossan and several Bible passages.

Join them as they guide us in exploring first millennium religious art that portrays Christ’s resurrection as both individual and universal. We will also look at Western religious art that conveys the resurrection as Christ alone and Eastern/Orthodox art that conveys the resurrection as a universal event bringing Adam, Eve, Abel, David, Solomon, and others with Christ.

For Zoom details, register online.

“Faces at the Cross”

Next Sunday, February 26, Betsy Storm and Kat Evans will be presenting the one-session adult education class “Faces at the Cross” at 11:15 a.m. in Borwell Dining Room. (This class will meet in person only and will not be recorded.)

We know the story of the resurrection well from oft-told Bible stories, but what about hearing them from the breaking heart of Mary, whose beloved son has died brutally, or Pontius Pilate, the man who sentenced Jesus to death? How did these major characters experience Holy Week and the resurrection itself?

In poetic and often riveting words, author J. Barrie Shepherd’s book Faces at the Cross: A Lent and Easter Collection of Poetry and Prose regales us with clearly imagined stories in the voices of Mary, Pilate, and others. Join us as we share, aloud, several selected readings from Shepherd’s well-loved book. There will also be time for small-group discussion.

“The Ancestors in Genesis”

Looking ahead, in March a favorite Fourth Church adult education instructor, Tom Dozeman, will return to teach a class on the ancestors in the book of Genesis, who are meant to provide identity both for ancient Israel and for contemporary readers.

This course will explore the themes of identity that emerge in the three cycles of stories about Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar; Isaac and Rebekah; and Jacob, Leah, and Rachel—stories that are complex and hardly heroic. We will also look at the aim of the biblical authors in composing the literature and different ways in which readers have found identity in the stories.

The class will meet in person only on Sundays, March 5–19 in Borwell Dining Room.

Do you have your tickets for the annual Chicago Lights Gala of Hope?

This year’s event is less than two weeks away!

To be held Friday, March 3 at the Ritz-Carlton Chicago (160 E. Pearson), the Gala will be a fun and festive evening, with dinner and dance, all in support of the life-changing work of Chicago Lights, the nonprofit community outreach arm of Fourth Church, which includes the Tutoring and Summer Day, Urban Farm, and Social Service Center programs.

To reserve tickets or become an event sponsor, stop by Coffee Hour on Sunday or visit one.bidpal.net/galaofhope2023 today!

Gala planners are also in need of additional donations for the Mystery Wine event (bottles valued at $50 or more). Juice @ 1340, a Black-owned, woman-owned wine cellar located in the West Loop is partnering with us in this and has curated a special collection of wines for the event that can be ordered online and delivered directly to the Gala.

For details, stop by Coffee Hour on Sunday or contact Caryn Blomquist.

Thank you to the youth who organized our participation in last week’s Souper Bowl of Caring and to all who contributed!

Because of your efforts and generosity, our youth collected more than 100 food items and $5,326.61 for the Chicago Lights Social Service Center Food Pantry and the Fourth Church Meals Ministry program.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is working with various partners to provide emergency relief and short-term recovery in Syria and Turkey in the aftermath of the February 6 earthquake. They are also committed to remaining active in the region throughout the entire recovery process.

To support this disaster relief work, you can make a gift to PDA at www.bit.ly/earthquakepda

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 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.

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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