News @ Fourth Church: February 9, 2019

February 9, 2019

What’s coming up on the church calendar? Among other things—

Inquirers’ Class this Sunday, February 10
A Books by Women discussion of Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate this Tuesday, February 12
Women at Fourth’s Horizons Bible study this Wednesday, February 13
A Racial Equity Council-hosted viewing and discussion of The Long Shadow, a film about the origins and legacy of slavery, next Sunday, February 17
A candlelit Taizé service on Friday, February 22

If you haven’t already, why not bookmark our calendar to keep up-to-date on these opportunities and the many others that are available to you at Fourth Church!

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, February 10

8:00 a.m. Communion

Victoria G. Curtiss

9:30 a.m. Baptisms and Children in Worship

Shannon J. Kershner

11:00 a.m. Baptisms and Children in Worship

Shannon J. Kershner

4:00 p.m. Jazz Communion

Shawn Fiedler

More about worship, including bulletins

The 149th Annual Meeting of the Congregation will be held this Sunday, February 10 following the 11:00 a.m. service. As part of that meeting, the congregation will elect new officers. The slate of candidates that will be presented by the Nominating Committee is posted online.

There will also be remarks reflecting on the previous year and looking ahead to the year to come as well as an opportunity to recognize our Facility and Security staff (shown above) for all they do as part of the mission and ministry of this congregation.

All members are encouraged to attend the annual meeting in order to take part in this important activity in the life of Fourth Church!

Sunday, February 10

12:00 p.m.

in the Sanctuary

The Gala of Hope is less than three weeks away, on Friday, March 1!

Not to worry: there is still time to get your tickets for the festive evening of dinner, dancing, live and silent auctions, and the Peloton bike drawing.

Tickets are available on Sunday during Coffee Hour or online today. That includes tickets for the Peloton drawing, for which the winner need not be present at the Gala (making it a perfect opportunity to support the benefit if you are unable to be there).

All proceeds help make possible the life-changing work of Chicago Lights—the community outreach arm of Fourth Church—and the Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being.

Thank you to all who contributed to last weekend’s Souper Bowl of Caring, helping us to tackle hunger in our community!

Because of your generosity, our youth collected approximately 500 canned food items (double the number donated in 2018) and $3,388.62 in monetary contributions (surpassing last year’s figure by more than $1,000)!

All of these donations will support the work of our Fourth Church Meals Ministry Bag Lunches and Sunday and Monday Night Suppers as well as the food pantry of our Chicago Lights Elam Davies Social Service Center.

Why do you give?

Our Resource Development Committee would appreciate hearing your responses to that question as well as your reflections on supporting Fourth Church and Chicago Lights.

Please take a moment to complete their brief online survey.

Lucy Forster-Smith and Judy Watt invite you to join them in an October 2019 European trip that follows in the steps of the Reformers.

Travelers will visit Prague; Luther sites in Germany, including Wittenberg and Eisenach; Dresden; the Terezin Memorial; and Geneva. Along the way we will explore the history and work of the Reformers as well as share in discussion about how that work and history applies to the present.

Interested in learning more about this October 2–13 trip? Send your name and contact information to Allison Santos.

The Academy for Faith and Life will also be holding a trip information session on the evening of Thursday, March 14. Details about the exact time and location will be posted closer to that date.

Learn more about the Reformation trip

“Conversations at the Intersection of Faith and Life with the Ministers of Fourth Church”

Each week of this series, Fourth Church pastors are engaging in conversation on questions that arise when we try to practice our Christian faith in our daily lives. Bring your questions and comments to Borwell Dining Room at 11:00 a.m. and join the discussion.

This week’s conversation leaders will be Judith Watt and Rocky Supinger.

More about this class

“Water: Use, Abuse, and Stewardship”

We tend to take the very important physical blessing of water for granted, but this month we have set aside some time for a closer look at this life-sustaining gift.

In a three-week class that begins this Sunday at 9:30 a.m., Louis Sytsma will lead us in an overview of historical aspects related to water as well as such things as properties of water, consumption, conveyance, treatment systems, and contaminants and how these have evolved over the centuries. Stewardship principles for Christians called to be earthkeepers will also be discussed.

More about this class

Do you have gifts for compassionate listening? Do you feel called to be present with and pray for individuals experiencing challenging times?

If so, we encourage you to consider becoming a Stephen Minister.

Our next fifty-hour Stephen Ministry training class will begin this spring and will be offered during the day on weekdays.

Applications for the training are due Friday, February 22.

Learn more about becoming a Stephen Minister

Families with young children, do you need a way to burn off some winter energy? Come join us for a winter carnival-themed Family Night on Friday, February 15!

We’ll have a bounce house in Anderson Hall and a wide variety of other carnival games, such as ring toss, knocking down cans, and a potato-sack race. We’re even going to try to learn how to make balloon animals!

Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. in Borwell Dining Room so the doors to the carnival can open at 6:00 p.m. sharp in Anderson Hall: we want to get in as many games and as much jumping as possible!

Friday, February 15

5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

in Borwell Dining Room and Anderson Hall

Fourth Church Meals Ministry is in need of individually packaged snacks to put in the bag lunches distributed to our neighbors on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Particularly needed are chips and fruit cups.

Donations—marked to the attention of “Meals Ministry”—can be dropped off at the church reception desk or shipped directly to the church (Fourth Presbyterian Church, c/o Meals Ministry, 126 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, IL 60611.2014).

Fifty tutors, each one night a week at the church to work one-to-one with Chicago Lights Tutoring students; attend a one-session volunteer orientation on February 13, 21, or 27 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Hospitality hosts (two-hour shifts) for the Presbytery of Chicago meeting to be held at Fourth Church on Saturday, February 16
Administrative volunteer to perform various office tasks such as filing, data entry, and organizing department information (four to eight hours a week)

You can sign up or learn more by contacting Robert Crouch, Director of Volunteer Ministry

Additional volunteer opportunities.