August 5, 2022
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—

  • Sacred Pause meditation on Saturday and Tuesday mornings
  • Men’s Bible Study on Tuesday mornings
  • Horizons Bible Study for women, offered at both noon and in the evening, on Wednesday, August 10, with a summer focus on practicing spiritual disciplines
  • Knitting and Crocheting on Tuesday afternoon, August 23

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 additional opportunities, keep reading!
Sunday, August 7

10:00 a.m. worship in person and online
with Communion
Nancy Benson-Nicol 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

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.


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
Women at Fourth is continuing to collect school supplies, with items needed by Monday, August 8 for 80 Chicago Lights Urban Farm students.

Throughout the rest of August, we will also be collecting items for Chicago Lights Tutoring.

Monetary gifts for purchasing supplies can be made at www.fourthchurch org/give-online (select “Congregational Life” and then note “School Supplies” in the comment box).

Supplies can also be purchased online and shipped to the church using the wish list www.bit.ly/fpcschoolsupplies22

For more information, contact Simon Crow.
Our Music by the Fountain series continues with an outdoor concert by Tom Michael and Beckie Menzie presenting cabaret and Broadway music next Friday, August 12.

We hope you will join us outside for some summertime music on Friday at 12:10 p.m. in the Michigan Avenue courtyard.

For a complete schedule of these summer concerts, see www.fourthchurch.org/concerts

For those who prefer to enjoy our concerts online, we are not livestreaming the outdoor concerts but invite you to watch your favorite Friday Noonday Concerts from previous seasons on our YouTube channel: www.bit.ly/fpcvideos
Our summer music opportunities also include Encore 2022, the Center for Life and Learning’s annual benefit, which will take place on Saturday, August 27 with a theme of Cabaret! Live!

To learn more about this evening of music followed by a reception—with proceeds supporting the CLL and its programming and community for adults sixty and over—see www.fourthchurch.org/cll/encore.html
Each Friday afternoon through the end of October the Farmstand at the Chicago Lights Urban Farm is selling a wide variety of seasonal vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

Your purchasing fresh produce at the Farmstand directly supports Chicago Lights job-training programs, as students and young adults gain job skills through urban farming, skills that set them up for success as they pursue fulfilling careers.

Fridays
1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
at the Chicago Lights Urban Farm
444 W. Chicago Ave.
Deaths
We give thanks to God for the gift of life eternal.

James Baughman
Died July 31, 2022
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 6 at 10:00 a.m. in Buchanan Chapel.

Joyce Sigmon
Died July 24, 2022
A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, August 10 at 11:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary.
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.
A Mask-Welcoming Community

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 at “high,” we are going a step further to not just encourage but recommend (though not require) that individuals wear masks while on campus, including during worship.

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.
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
Fourth Presbyterian Church | 312.787.4570 | www.fourthchurch.org