News @ Fourth Church: December 23, 2022

December 23, 2022

Our Advent journey ends this weekend with our arrival at the manger, where we behold the Word made flesh.

We hope you will join us—whether online or in person—as we gather around the telling of the birth of Emmanuel, God with us, and sing again the joyous songs of Christmas!

Christmas Eve | Saturday, December 24

Four Candlelit Christmas Eve Services

Christmas Eve Children’s Pageant

4:00 p.m.

In person only

Worship bulletin

Christmas Eve Family Service

6:00 p.m.

In person only

Worship bulletin

Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols

8:00 p.m.

In person and livestreamed on our YouTube channel

Worship bulletin

Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols

10:00 p.m.

In person only

Worship bulletin

For parking, entry, and other details about our Christmas Eve services, see below.

Christmas Day | Sunday, December 25

Christmas Day Service

10:00 a.m.

Lucy Forster-Smith preaching

In person and livestreamed on our YouTube channel

Worship bulletin

About Our Christmas Weekend Services

On Christmas Eve, all entry to the Sanctuary for worship will be through the glass Loggia doors on Michigan Avenue.

Seating will begin at 3:15 p.m. for the 4:00 Pageant; seating for the 6:00, 8:00, and 10:00 services will begin a half hour prior to the start of the service.

There will not be any socially distanced seating on Christmas Eve; the regular Sunday morning socially distanced section will be available on Christmas morning. Masks are always welcome!

Discounted parking on Christmas Eve is available only at the 900 N. Michigan garage. Those who enter the garage on Christmas Eve prior to 5:00 p.m. will need to purchase a parking validation ticket at the church that day for $20. Those who enter the garage after 5:00 p.m. will be able to park for $8 with a validation ticket that can be picked up for free that day before or after the services.

On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day there will not be nursery care. On those days, as on every Sunday, children are invited to be with their parents in worship.

Livestreamed worship (8:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve and 10:00 a.m. on Christmas Day) is 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.

For those who do not have Internet access, our livestreamed services are 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.

If the livestreamed worship times do not fit with your schedule, the services will also be available to watch via our YouTube channel at any time afterwards.

In this season of gratitude and giving, we invite you to join us in sharing Christmas joy with others.

Light Up a Life

The annual “Light Up a Life” offering extends mercy, kindness, and love to those who are most vulnerable.

Gifts to this offering support the mission and outreach efforts of Fourth Church and Chicago Lights as they provide meals, clothing, encouragement, and extra support.

Gifts can be made to this offering by noting “Light Up a Life” in the Designation or Comments section when giving via the Fourth Church website (fourthchurch.org/give) or Venmo or by writing it on the memo line of a check made payable to Fourth Presbyterian Church.

Gifts can also be made using the “Light Up a Life” envelopes in the Sanctuary.

Shopping Fair Trade

The World Mission and Social Justice Council encourages you to consider shopping fair trade to give gifts that give twice: to the recipient and to the maker and their family.

Fair-trade artisans produce their products in safe working conditions and earn a fair wage for their labor, which enables them to provide food, shelter, education, and health care for their families.

Through fair-trade practices, the environment is also sustainably treated through healthy soil practices and the minimal use of chemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

And consumers make a conscious choice to be part of a community striving for a more just world.

Ten Thousand Villages Evanston, our longtime fair-trade partner, has a store at 915 Chicago Ave. in Evanston as well as a website — www.tenthousandvillages.com/evanston — where you can shop for a difference.

At the turning of the year we will come together with neighbors for our annual New Year’s Eve service in the style of Taizé.

This quiet 7:30 p.m. service in Buchanan Chapel offers moving music, space for prayer, and meditative pause for reflecting on the year past and looking ahead to the year to come.

New Year’s Eve

Saturday, December 31

7:30 p.m.

in Buchanan Chapel (in person only)

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 (except on Wednesday, December 28, when Morning Prayer will be on Zoom only). 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.

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. Included among them are—

Men’s Bible Study via Zoom on Tuesday mornings
Friday Noonday Concert featuring our Organist John Sherer on Friday, December 31, in person and livestreamed
Knitting and Crocheting in person on Tuesday morning, January 3

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” at the top of the menu on our website).

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

STAY CONNECTED

Fourth Presbyterian Church | 312.787.4570 | www.fourthchurch.org