Sunday, October 9

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.

Directions and the easiest routes for getting to Fourth Church this Sunday, which is the day of the Chicago Marathon, are posted on the Fourth Church website.

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

Our 2023 stewardship campaign for Fourth Presbyterian Church and Chicago Lights is underway, giving us opportunity to celebrate the particular ways in which this faith community is committed to actively participating in God’s re-creating and reconciling work in this world. 

It is also an invitation to each one of us to join in that work through our financial support.

In the days ahead, please prayerfully consider the investment you will make in your Fourth Church family and its work and the work of Chicago Lights in 2023 and make a pledge by Reformation Sunday, October 30, which is also Commitment Sunday.

We also invite you to take time to reflect on the question “How is Fourth Church home to you?” We would welcome hearing your thoughts and stories about that, which you can share with our stewardship team at giving@fourthchurch.org

More about the 2023 stewardship campaign

“Ezekiel: Where Is Home in Exile?” is a new adult education class that will begin this Sunday, October 9 at 11:15 a.m.

Taught by Jina Kang of McCormick Theological Seminary, the class invites us to explore the biblical book of Ezekiel through the lens of migration.

As we do so, we will be attentive to how Ezekiel gives expressions to the loss of home and the hope for home and reimagines a sense of belonging for a community longing for home while far away from it.

We will also listen for how—set in a time of uncertainty and crisis—the prophet’s voice in the book of Ezekiel prompts empathetic responses to ancient and contemporary experiences of exile.

Sundays, October 9, 19, and 30

(no class on October 23)

11:15 a.m.

in Borwell Dining Room and via Zoom

Register for the class here

The Zoom link for attending online is www.bit.ly/ezekiel1022

On Tuesday, October 18 we will be hosting a Michigan Avenue Forum: “The 1619 Project Revisited: Race, History, and the Future—A Conversation with Nikole Hannah-Jones and Natalie Moore.”

This program will feature Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, together with WBEZ’s Natalie Moore.

D. Bradford Hunt, Professor and Chair in the Department of History at Loyola University, will moderate this important conversation, which will include our speakers exploring and reflecting on the reactions to and examining the backlash and positive developments since the publication of The 1619 Project.

They will also discuss the importance of playing a leadership role in creating awareness and dismantling systems of oppression to rebuild a new transparent and equitable order.

Please plan to join us, whether in person or online.

Tuesday, October 18

7:00 p.m.

in the Sanctuary and livestreamed on YouTube (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos)

New Zoom Small Groups are starting again this month and will meet weekly in October.

Groups will be looking at The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah-Jones; Hospitality: The Sacred Art by Nanette Sawyer; Silencing White Noise: Six Practices to Overcome our Inaction on Race by Willie Dwayne Francois III; history and current issues facing Indigenous peoples of the United States; and So You Want to Talk about Race by Ijeoma Oluo.

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

Chicago Lights Tutoring

Tutors are needed on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday evenings to partner with Chicago Lights Tutoring students. For details, contact Mark Dennison.

Fourth Church Choral Society

The Choral Society is looking for more individuals who like to sing to join in performing Mahler’s Second Symphony “Resurrection” with organist David Briggs on Friday, November 11.

Weekly rehearsals take place on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in Buchanan Chapel. 

Addresses for Our College Students

On Sunday, October 30 our youth will be putting together care packages to send to our college students.

If you are a current college student or your child is at college, please send their mailing address to Katie Patterson by Sunday, October 23 so we can send a care package to them.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is delivering aid to those impacted by recent hurricanes; these outreach efforts will continue, providing emotional and spiritual care as well as long-term recovery assistance.

To support the work of PDA in responding to the damage caused by Hurricanes Fiona and Ian and in remaining engaged during the hurricane season, you can make a gift to PDA at www.bit.ly/pdahurricane

Get your pets ready for an outing to the Michigan Avenue courtyard on Saturday, October 22.

We will be gathering that day at 10:00 a.m. for a Blessing of the Animals service, giving thanks to God for the creatures that bless our lives. All pets are welcome! (Please have them on leash or in a carrier.)

If you’d rather not bring your pets, please bring photographs of them and join us as we celebrate the wonders of God’s creation and our relationships with its creatures, great and small!