On the church calendar are many opportunities to connect online (or, where noted, in person) with the Fourth Church community and one another. Included among them are—

For information about whom to contact for an event’s Zoom details, 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 information about additional opportunities, keep reading!

The worship bulletin will be available to download and print on Friday

Streamed from the Sanctuary at www.bit.ly/FPCworship

in Buchanan Chapel

The worship bulletin will be available to download and print on Friday

This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, a day when we celebrate our oneness in Christ with our global family.

We will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper at both the 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. services. As worshipers enter the Sanctuary or Chapel, the ushers will distribute individually prepackaged Communion elements to them. Those worshiping with us online at 10:00 a.m. are invited to have bread and juice on hand as we share in this meal from wherever we are.

This Sunday we will receive a Peace and Global Witness Offering as part of our observance of World Communion Sunday. Gifts to this offering will be directed to efforts toward peacemaking that are supported by the Presbyterian Church (USA) as well as local efforts to address violence in Chicago.

Gifts to this offering can be made online at www.fourthchurch.org/give-online (noting “Peace Offering” in the comments) or by a check made payable to Fourth Presbyterian Church, with “Peace Offering” in the memo line.

For those choosing to worship with us in person, wearing masks fully covering nose and mouth is required of everyone on the Fourth Church campus, regardless of vaccination status. Those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 are also required to practice social distancing.

The front section of the Sanctuary is for those required to or choosing to practice social distancing, with seating by households. The remainder of the Sanctuary is open seating, with masks required wherever one sits.

We are 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 practice social distancing if they are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Doors open a half hour before each service, and there is no congregational singing.

Read about all of the guidelines that are in place for in-person worship—as well as information about continued online opportunities—at www.fourthchurch.org/reopening

The service is also available online any time afterwards on YouTube.

For those who do not have Internet access, we also make our worship services available to listen to via the phone. If you know of someone for whom this audio opportunity would be welcome, please encourage them to call 888.916.9166 (toll-free) at the time of the service.

Our Sunday services are available for viewing following the conclusion of worship and throughout the week at www.bit.ly/fpcvideos.

Worship and sermon podcasts are available via iTunes and Spotify, and you can sign up to receive the text of the weekly sermon by email.

Today is the deadline to submit leadership recommendations for the offices of Elder, Deacon, Trustee, and the Chicago Lights Board.

Please take a moment to watch this video message from the Nominating Committee and then complete the recommendation form at www.bit.ly/nominating2022

Cornerstones—a fellowship group of those fifty and over—meets via Zoom this Friday, October 1 when Rocky Supinger will moderate a panel of high school students discussing “How Has the COVID Pandemic Impacted Your High School Experience?”

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/cornerstones1021

To follow up on our spring classes with artist Gerald Griffin, Mr. Griffin has invited members of Fourth Church to visit the Gerald Griffin gallery in the Chatham neighborhood this Sunday, October 3 from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.

Mr. Griffin, a popular lecturer at Fourth Church and painter of The Ascension, which hangs in our Commons, will talk with us about his art, the healing power of creativity, and the importance of art in the neighborhood.

Individuals are responsible for providing their own transportation.

12:00–2:00 p.m.

Gerald Griffin Gallery (8237 S. Princeton)

Registration (required) at www.bit.ly/griffingallery21

A new online Bible study, led by Lucy and Tom Forster-Smith and beginning next Thursday, October 7, will bring small group Bible study to members’ homes via Zoom.

As we examine themes and events in Genesis, reading assignments will precede each session to make discussions more lively and the learning more meaningful.

This course requires preregistration, with participants strongly encouraged to attend the entire series.

7:00–8:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/genesisbiblestudy21

While many can recite statements of faith by memory or by rote, the true import of those statements and their place in the history of faith is a fascinating study. Jeff Doane will lead us in exploring one of the earliest, the Apostles’ Creed: its history, its language, and its importance for what we believe.

Next February the class will resume with a study of the Brief Statement of Faith, one of the most recent statements from the Presbyterian church.

11:15 a.m. via Zoom

For details, email Lewis Hamer

Starting October 10 Meals Ministry plans to resume offering limited indoor dining—in addition to the continued to-go option—for Sunday Night Supper.

To make this happen, we need additional assistance serving guests on Sundays. Can you help?

You can sign up to volunteer on Sundays or for other Meals Ministry programs using VOMO, our Volunteer Ministry sign-up platform.

In conjunction with the policy for Fourth Church and Chicago Lights staff, effective October 15, 2021, all Fourth Church volunteers serving in person must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

If you are volunteering this fall please send a copy of your vaccination certification to vaxproof@fourthchurch.org by October 15.

Your information will be received directly by our Human Resources Department and kept confidential, only being used to confirm your ability to volunteer with the church. Please direct questions to Robert Crouch.

Do you have time one evening a week to mentor a student through Chicago Lights Tutoring? For the fall term, which kicks off on October 12, Tutoring will take place online from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

If you would like to be a tutor or learn more about this mentoring opportunity, please fill out the Tutoring Volunteer Application or contact Program Coordinator Mark Dennison.

Our summer “Rhythm and Word” videos captured a following not only within the congregation but also across the country.

So we are excited to share that this coming Wednesday, October 6 we are launching a new autumn series of “Rhythm and Word: Midweek Music and Prayer” videos.

This fifteen-minute midweek worship experience weaves together scripture, prayer, and music offered by the Fourth Church Jazz Quartet, with a new video made available on Wednesday evenings.

You can subscribe to our YouTube channel (www.bit.ly/fpcvideos) and watch the videos there or receive them by email (sign up at www.bit.ly/rhythmandwordemail).

If you would like to connect with five to seven other people via Zoom for a time of fellowship, relationship building, and spiritual formation, our next round of Zoom Small Groups will begin the week of October 11 and will meet weekly for six weeks.

To sign up to participate or find out more about our small-group opportunities, please email Simon Crow.

You can identify additional ways to connect with others through Fourth Church by attending our “Reconnect, Renew, and Reawaken” Zoom gatherings, which highlight different areas of opportunity at the church.

If you are interested in learning more about opportunities to get involved in the following areas—or connecting with others who are—please join us online for as many of these Zoom information-and-connection gatherings as you like.

For more information, contact Simon Crow.

Thursday, September 30 (tonight!)

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

Tuesday, October 5

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

Thursday, October 7

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

A forum for examining the ethical and social issues facing Christians today, the First Tuesday Book Club continues its autumn conversations in October with online discussion about Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren this coming Tuesday.

7:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/firsttuesday1021

Meeting on the second Tuesday of the month, Books by Women invites all women to join them for online discussion whenever their schedules allow and the books are of interest to them. In October the topic of conversation will be A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Simon Crow

Please join us in welcoming the newest members of the Fourth Church family who were received into membership by the Session on September 19 and welcomed during worship this past Sunday, September 26.

Shannon Farrar

Marsha McGowen

Jennifer Mickel

Danielle Patrick

Clifford Przybyl

Alexa Rice

Mar Schaetzlein

Alin Schubert

Luke Schubert

Macee Simon

Nancie Thompson

Are you interested in becoming a member of Fourth Church? Joe Morrow, Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Community Engagement, would welcome the opportunity to get to know you!

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 David Handley, Interim Minister for Caring Ministries, 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 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.

Married September 25, 2021

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