Reformation Sunday, October 30

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

Shannon J. Kershner preaching

The worship bulletin is available to download and print

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

Nursery care is available on Sundays at 9:45 a.m. on the fourth floor of the Gratz Center.

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

with Communion

in Buchanan Chapel

Nancy Benson-Nicol preaching

The worship bulletin is available to download and print

This Sunday is Reformation Sunday, a day when we recall the rich heritage of the Protestant tradition. The Presbyterian Church (USA) grew out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century under leaders such as John Calvin and John Knox. It was on October 31, 1517, that Martin Luther posted his ninety-five theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, the watershed event sparking the Reformation.

As part of our remembrance of our denomination’s Scottish roots, on Reformation Sunday we also include a bagpipe recessional during worship.

Looking Ahead on the Worship Calendar

Next Sunday, November 6 is All Saints’ Sunday, a day when we remember the faithful who have gone before us and honor departed loved ones. As part of that observance, the names of all Fourth Church members who have entered the Church Triumphant in 2022 will be read during worship.

During the 10:00 a.m. service that day the Morning Choir will sing the thirty-minute Requiem by Maurice Duruflé.

This Sunday is also Commitment Sunday at Fourth Church, the day we lift up our pledges to our 2023 Stewardship campaign for Fourth Church and Chicago Lights.

Following the sermon we will bring forward our pledges and dedicate them to the work of God’s kingdom, as we each answer the invitation to join in God’s re-creating and reconciling work in this world through our financial support.

If you have not already made your pledge for 2023 indicating your support for and investment in the work of Fourth Church and Chicago Lights, we encourage you to take this opportunity to do so by filling out the form at www.bit.ly/fpcclpledge; for those worshiping with us in person, there will also be pledge cards in the pew racks.

Join us as together we celebrate all that we are able to do together through our pledged commitment to Fourth Church and Chicago Lights—a commitment that is our generous response to God’s blessings in our lives. 

More about the 2023 stewardship campaign

“Housing Insecurity: Advocacy Design Team”

A new class, “Housing Insecurity: Advocacy Design Team,” begins on Sunday, November 6 at 11:15 a.m. in Borwell Dining Room.

The Fourth Church Community Engagement Working Group, the Chicago Lights Board Strategy Committee, and the World Mission and Social Justice Advocacy Committee have collaborated to design this November series, which builds on our partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

Beginning Sunday, November 6

at 11:15 a.m.

in Borwell Dining Room

Register for the class at www.bit.ly/aehousing1122

“Journey to the Center: A Spiritual Formation Workshop”

The Spiritual Formation Council invites you to join them for a Saturday morning opportunity to explore and learn more about what it means to live an embodied spirituality as inspired by Christ’s example.

Together we will reflect on the questions “How can I feel connected to an extraordinary God in my ordinary life?” “What does it mean to center myself in Christ?” “Does prayer just involve my head and thoughts, or are there other ways to pray that engage the rest of me?”

This workshop led by Nancy Benson-Nicol, Associate Pastor for Caring Ministries and Spiritual Formation, will include discussion of various types of prayer, meditation, contemplation, and reflection as well as opportunity to walk the labyrinth in Buchanan Chapel.

Saturday, November 19

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

in Buchanan Chapel and via Zoom

For details, contact Nancy Benson-Nicol

“Death Anxiety: Ways to Live and Die without It”

What are your fears about death? What does it mean to “get your affairs in order?” What is the dying process?

In a three-part series hosted by the Center for Life and Learning, Death Doula Catherine Durkin Robinson will facilitate discussion about the physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering and comfort care for those three types of categories at end-of-life.

We’ll also talk about death doulas and how they comfort and support people with these issues and so much more.

Thursdays, November 3, 10, and 17

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

in person and via Zoom

Register here (free for CLL members / $25 for non-CLL members)

or call the CLL office: 312.981.3391 

“The Past as Memory + Future Goals:

A Writing and Collage Workshop”

Who are you becoming?

In this Center for Life and Learning class led by local artist Monica Brown, you will be encouraged, through guided writing prompts, to discover more about your goals, dreams, and visions. No writing experience necessary. Just come ready for fun, exploration, and self-discovery! 

Friday, November 4

9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

in Room 5G

Register here ($40 CLL members / $55 non-CLL members; materials provided)

or call the CLL office: 312.981.3391 

First Tuesday Book Club

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

This coming Tuesday, their November Zoom discussion will focus on Interfaith Leadership by renowned interfaith leader Eboo Patel.

A guide for students, groups, and organizations seeking to foster interfaith dialogue and promote understanding across religious lines, this book offers a clear, detailed, and practical guide to interfaith leadership, illustrated with compelling examples.

Skilled interfaith leaders are vital if we are to have a strong, religiously diverse democracy, and this primer not only presents readers with the philosophical underpinnings of interfaith theory but also outlines those skills necessary to practice interfaith leadership today.

Tuesday, November 1

7:00 p.m.

via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/firsttuesday1122

Books by Women

This group of Women at Fourth gathers in person on the second Tuesday of the month to discuss books by woman authors.

In November the topic for Books by Women will be Having and Being Had by Eula Biss. In this book, this New York Times best-selling author—described as “one of the leading lights of the modern American essay”—offers an “uncommonly immersive and deeply revealing new portrait of work and luxury, of accumulation and consumption, of the value of time and how we spend it,” prompting us to ask “in what have we invested?”

Tuesday, November 8

6:00 p.m.

in the Bumpus Room and via Zoom

For details, email Simon Crow

Permanent and Substitute Tutors

Chicago Lights Tutoring is in need of in-person (at Fourth Church) and online mentors to connect one-to-one with a student (grades 1–12) one evening a week from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

There are volunteer openings for Permanent Tutors, who meet with the same student weekly, building relationships, trust, and self-esteem through academics, advising, and social and communication skills, as well as Substitute Tutors, who volunteer on a more flexible schedule to fill in when a Permanent Tutor is unavailable.

If you would like to learn more about how through Tutoring you can make a difference in the life of a child (and in yours!), please contact Mark Dennison or visit chicagolights.org/volunteer/#tutoring

Worship Leaders

If you would like to read Scripture and lead prayers in an upcoming worship service, please email Rocky Supinger to express your interest.

Meals Ministry

Fourth Church Meals Ministry is in need of volunteers to assist in preparing and serving meals for our neighbors who are hungry and food insecure. To learn more or explore the various Meals Ministry volunteer needs, see our Volunteer Ministry platform, VOMO (www.bit.ly/fpcvolunteers).

For anyone interested in becoming a member of Fourth Church, an Inquirers’ Class will be held next Sunday, November 6.

You can register for this one-session class at www.bit.ly/inquirers1122 

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

On Friday evening, November 11, the Fourth Church Choral Society will join organist David Briggs in presenting Briggs’ organ transcription of Mahler’s Second Symphony “Resurrection.”

David Briggs, “one of the world’s greatest contemporary organists” (New York Times), is not only an internationally renowned virtuoso performer but also has transcribed for the organ orchestral compositions by Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, Bruckner, Ravel, and Bach as well as six of Mahler’s symphonies. He is currently artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

On Friday, November 11 come hear his transcription of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, which he will perform with the Fourth Church Choral Society, a choir that brings together individuals from the Chicago community and the Fourth Church congregation to perform a major choral work.

We hope you will join us at 7:30 p.m. that evening, whether in the Sanctuary or via livestream, for this concert celebrating the Dedication Anniversary of our Andrew Pipe Organ.

Death

We give thanks to God for the gift of life eternal.

B. Evelyn Brown

Died January 23, 2022