If you know someone who would like to receive 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

On the church calendar are many opportunities to connect online 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).

Shannon J. Kershner preaching

The worship bulletin is available to download and print in advance

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

Our online worship service is available live at 11:00 a.m. (Central) via

For those who do not have Internet access, we also make our worship service 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.

The Sunday service is available for viewing throughout the week at www.bit.ly/FPCworship.

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.

On Friday evening, November 20, our Organist and Director of Music John Sherer will play an online concert to mark the fifth anniversary of the dedication of our Andrew Pipe Organ.

Join us online for this celebratory performance that will feature music by Chicago composers.

7:30 p.m.

Online at www.bit.ly/fpcprograms

On Thanksgiving Day we invite you to join us online at 11:00 a.m. for a Thanksgiving service.

As part of this service we will receive Thanksgiving greetings from our interfaith partners as well as hear short readings and presentations representing their religious traditions. Nanette Sawyer will also offer a sermon on our Christian calling to treat our neighbors of other faiths with love and respect.

The service will include musical offerings from Holy Name Cathedral and the Niagara Foundation as well as our own Fourth Church musicians.

Other participating partners and friends are the Council of Islamic Organization of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, LaSalle Street Church, Chicago Sinai Congregation, and others.

11:00 a.m.

Online at www.bit.ly/FPCworship

In this season of gratitude and giving, we invite you to join us in making preparations to share Christmas joy with those in need.

Sunday and Monday Night Supper guests will again be receiving Christmas gift bags from Fourth Church, this year prepared by staff and volunteers.

Donations are needed to cover the cost of the items to be included in the bags: a food gift card, gloves, hygiene items, and a mask. These donations can be made online at www.bit.ly/mmchristmasbags20

Again this year Women at Fourth is coordinating our Christmas Wishes efforts to provide gifts for Chicago Lights Tutoring students. This year each student will receive a gift card, a book, and a mask.

To help fill these Christmas wishes, you can order the selected books online at www.bit.ly/christmaswishes20; contributions toward gift cards can be made online at www.fourthchurch.org/give-online (choose “Congregational Life” as your designation, and type “Christmas Wishes” in the comments).

Remember loved ones and recognize those who are special in your life with contributions toward the purchase of Christmas flowers and garlands. These will decorate the Sanctuary for our online services this coming Advent and Christmas season.

A list of those remembered will be printed in the Christmas bulletin. Contributions must be received by Friday, December 11 in order for names to be included in that bulletin.

Contribute to Christmas flowers at www.bit.ly/FPCgifts

9:30 a.m. via Zoom

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

Beginning this Sunday, Dave Handley will lead a class on Harry Emerson Fosdick’s The Meaning of Prayer. This classic book on prayer is aimed at both the seeker and the believer as we long to deepen our personal connection with God.

12:30 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/fpcff20

This weekly Bible study, led by members of the pastoral staff, is currently taking a closer look at “From Pentecost to Constantine: How the Early Church Grew,” with Matt Helms as our guide.

Beginning next Sunday, Joe Morrow will lead us for “Scriptural Journeys: The Enduring Power of Migrations in the Bible.”

10:00 a.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Carol Allerton

We are in a time of grief shaped by ambiguous loss, yet the upcoming season of Advent reminds us that we are all pregnant with the hope of possibility, joy, and revolution and that the journey to the foot of the manger is a journey marked by transitions.

Rituals help us make sense of those transitions, and they can bring us to the other side of loss and grief if we let them, to a place of healing.

In an online workshop hosted by the Spiritual Formation Council on Saturday, December 5, Lois Snavely will lead an exploration of what it means to create ritual for ourselves and our communities (even virtually) and to navigate through the transitory waters of life. She will also invite us to think about how to use ritual-making as a way to reconnect us to ourselves, our faith, and our God.

For more information, watch this short video message from Lois, who recently served as a seminary intern at Fourth Church.

Following worship each Sunday we hope you will join us via Zoom for virtual Coffee Hour, an opportunity to connect online with one another and share in a time of fellowship.

Following the postlude

Also accessible at www.bit.ly/fpcfellowship

(the link is posted on our website as well: www.fourthchurch.org)

Meeting ID: 963 5583 1751

Passcode: 631276

Phone: Call 1 312.626.6799

and enter Meeting ID 963 5583 1751#

6:00 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, email Anne Ellis

In this November Zoom gathering for women, Maggie Shreve, who is currently serving as the Fourth Church Parish Associate for Jail Ministry, will talk about this congregation’s jail ministry: the vision, the history, and what can be done now.

5:30 p.m. via Zoom

For Zoom details, register at www.bit.ly/cornerstones1220

Cornerstones, a fellowship opportunity for those fifty and older, will next gather via Zoom on Friday, December 4 for a Christmas concert by John Sherer and tenor Cole Seaton.

Stephen Ministry is a one-to-one ministry of care and supportive listening for those who are experiencing life’s challenges.

If you or someone you know could benefit from a such a connection—even just a one-time phone call—we invite you to learn more about being paired with a Stephen Minister.

We also welcome applications for our next Stephen Minister training course—a fifty-hour series that culminates in making a two-year commitment to serve as a Stephen Minister. That course will next be offered in the spring.