Baptism of the Lord Sunday, January 8

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

Shannon J. Kershner preaching

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

Nancy Benson-Nicol preaching

Worship bulletin

Baptism of the Lord

This Sunday we remember the baptism of our Lord, one of the texts traditionally read after Epiphany, when we continue to focus on the revelation of the divinity of Jesus.

As we hear again the voice of the Lord saying at Jesus’ baptism “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” and as the congregation is sprinkled with water, we will recall our own baptism, in which God has claimed and named us as God’s own.

In grateful thanksgiving we will together renew our commitment to live out our call as beloved children of God.

In this new year, we invite you to explore opportunities to connect with others in the Fourth Church community. Two occasions to do that — Zoom Small Groups and Deep Listening Dinners — will both be starting up soon.

New Zoom Small Groups

New Zoom Small Groups are starting again this month.

Some groups will use Nanette Sawyer’s book Hospitality as a resource and others will use The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby.

If you would like to connect with five to seven other people via Zoom for a time of fellowship, relationship building, and spiritual formation or would like more information about small group opportunities, please email Simon Crow.

Deep Listening Dinners

Are you interested in taking part in Deep Listening Dinners in the coming weeks?

Groups of six to ten people each will dine together twice in home settings, gathering for a time of discovering and better understanding our differences while honoring our shared humanity and telling our life experiences to one another.

To express interest in this opportunity to get to know each other more deeply, please fill out the form at www.bit.ly/deeplistening123, or for more information, email Simon Crow.

We also invite you to add to your 2023 calendar the various learning and enrichment programs offered through Fourth Church. Beginning this coming week are a new Sunday morning adult education course and the Winter Session of the Center for Life and Learning.

“Using the Enneagram as a Tool for Spiritual Growth”

A new three-week class, “Using the Enneagram as a Tool for Spiritual Growth,” begins this Sunday morning at 11:15 a.m. in Borwell Dining Room and via Zoom.

The class provides opportunity to learn about the enneagram and how to apply it as a tool for enhanced self-awareness; heart, head, and body intelligence; and the spiritual dimensions of all nine enneagram types, their virtues and vices, and the holy ideas that reconnect us to our true nature and oneness with God.

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/enneagramjan23

Center for Life and Learning Winter Session

For those who are sixty and over, membership in Fourth Church’s Center for Life and Learning (CLL) is a ticket to a grand adventure filled with new insights, experiences, and friendships.

CLL members enjoy Special Topics, Events, and Member-Led Groups; receive a discount for special classes; and may select from more than twenty different classes each week of the twelve-week session.

The CLL Winter Session begins this Monday, January 9.

Register for CLL Winter Session Membership at www.bit.ly/cll2023 or by calling the CLL office (312.981.3389 or 312.981.3391).

Included in the CLL Winter Session programming is a Mayoral Forum on Aging. The CLL, along with Skyline Village Chicago, has invited all of the Chicago mayoral candidates to participate in this forum on Wednesday, January 18 at 12:00 p.m. in Buchanan Chapel.

Candidates Kam Buckner, Frederick Collins, Ja’Mal Green, Brandon Johnson, Sophia King, Roderick Sawyer, and Paul Vallas will be participating. The format will be one of questions prepared in advance by the moderator, with no questions from the audience.

Although the Mayoral Forum on Aging is free (and will also be available to watch via Zoom), for planning purposes registration is required at www.bit.ly/agingforum1823

Are you incorporating a time of prayer and reflection into your daily routine this year?

Available to you as a resource is our new Winter “Rhythm and Word” video series. These brief online, midweek worship experiences are led by Lucy Forster-Smith and the Fourth Church Jazz Quartet.

Weaving together scripture, prayer, and music, these fifteen-minute videos are released on our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos) on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. (and are available there for viewing afterwards). To receive them by email, sign up online at www.bit.ly/rhythmandwordemail

To view the first video in the series, click here (or on the image below).

Also available as a resource for personal meditation and prayer are daily devotions written by Fourth Church members and staff.

To receive the devotions daily by email sign up at www.bit.ly/fpcdevotions; you can also read them online on our website.

For anyone interested in becoming a member of Fourth Church, our Inquirers’ Class will next be offered on Sunday, January 15 from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Room 5F. Lunch will be served.

Registration for this one-session class is required for planning purposes and can be completed at www.bit.ly/inquirers123

For additional information about Fourth Church membership, please contact Joe Morrow, Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Community Engagement.