Barbara Lundblad 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

Due to the increased COVID risk level in Chicago, and consistent with the advice of city health officials, we are recommending, though not requiring, that individuals wear masks during worship and elsewhere on the Fourth Church campus.

in Buchanan Chapel

Matt Helms preaching

The worship bulletin is available to download and print

This Sunday morning we look forward to welcoming guest preacher Barbara Lundblad to the Fourth Church pulpit.

The Joe R. Engle Professor Emerita of Preaching at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Dr. Lundblad served sixteen years as a parish pastor in New York City, as well as campus pastor at Lehman College and New York University. She has taught preaching at Yale Divinity School, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Hebrew Union College and has served as president of the Academy of Homiletics.

She is also author of Transforming the Stone: Preaching through Resistance to Change and Marking Time: Preaching Biblical Stories in Present Tense.

This Sunday we observe Dedication Commemoration Sunday at Fourth Church, declared by Pastor John Timothy Stone in 1914 to be observed on the third Sunday of each May.

It was on May 10 of that year that the Fourth Church congregation first worshiped in the Michigan Avenue Sanctuary. Not only did a series of dedicatory services follow, but later that month the new Sanctuary and Parish House buildings were host to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, including the assembly’s Communion service attended by more than 1,800 worshipers.

As we mark this anniversary, we give thanks for all who have made possible our place in the city from which to do ministry.

The generations that have gone before us left a vibrant legacy, not only in the bricks and mortar of the Sanctuary and Parish House buildings but also in the financial foundation from which we carry forth our ministry. It was the $25,000 that remained after the completion of the 1914 building project that began the Fourth Church endowment fund.

Just as we carry on the work of the church today, so too we are committed to passing on the legacy of that ministry for future generations. If you are creating or revising your will or are considering a legacy gift to Fourth Presbyterian Church or Chicago Lights, we invite you to be in touch with Katy Frey Bever, Director of Development, for information about our Legacy Society.

More than 1 million people in the United States have now died as a result of COVID-19 as it has raged across the world in the past two years. On Sunday, we paused to remember those beloved children of God and all affected by grief and loss throughout the pandemic.

As we return to more on-site programming, Fourth Church and Chicago Lights are implementing, effective this Monday, May 16, a new safety and security practice.

Beginning Monday, anyone present on the Fourth Church campus will be required to wear a campus badge while on site, except on Sundays and for other worship opportunities, concerts, and Meals Ministry meals.

Anyone who does not already have a campus badge when they enter (except for those exceptions noted above) will be asked to pick up a single-day badge at the 126 E. Chestnut reception desk. Reusable badges will be issued by some programs with regular, ongoing weekly programming, such as Chancel Choir. These reusable badges will only be available from the staff of those programs, not from the reception desk. Anyone who does not bring their reusable campus badge will be able to pick up a single-day badge.

To facilitate this process—as well as for safety and security reasons—all access to the building will be through the 126 E. Chestnut entrance only, except on Sundays and for other worship opportunities, concerts, and Meals Ministry.

Our ongoing commitment to the safety and security of all on our campus undergirds this practice, which was been under discussion since prior to the pandemic. (Implementation was set aside while the campus was largely closed.)

The campus badges and single-entry access point were strongly encouraged by our safety and security consultants and advisors and are also consistent with practices at other large, spread-out, multi-use buildings with spaces and uses like ours. The badges enable us to know who is in the building throughout the day. (Previous unlimited access has at times resulted in unknown individuals hiding in corners of the campus.) The badges also ensure that should we ever have to evacuate the buildings, we will know who was on site and needs to be accounted for.

As a congregation, we value radical hospitality and welcome for all, and we believe an integral component of that is our care for the well-being of those who are present with us. This safety and security practice is but one expression of that. For those who will be joining us on site as programming on campus continues to expand, we look forward to seeing you!

This Sunday, May 15, Matt Helms and Rocky Supinger invite you to attend a live taping of the podcast “Bible Top 10” at 11:15 a.m. in Borwell Dining Room, as they talk about “Top 10 Mysteries in the Bible.”

To listen to previous episodes of the podcast, which is a lively, often lighthearted, always interesting journey through the Bible as explored through a rotating series of top ten lists, see www.fourthchurch.org/podcast, where this Sunday’s taping will also be posted later in the week.

11:15 a.m.

Borwell Dining Room

For the first time in three years, Fourth Church Youth are taking mission trips this summer, and adult chaperones for the summer trips are urgently needed. The trips are June 26–July 1 (junior high youth to St. Louis) and July 9–16 (senior high youth to Memphis). For details, see www.bit.ly/chaperone4youth; if you are interested in volunteering in this role, please contact Katie Patterson as soon as possible.

As we look to open the Sanctuary on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday afternoons for those seeking a place of respite and prayer as well as those curious to learn more about Fourth Church, we are in need of Sanctuary hosts (five to six per afternoon) to commit to being a welcoming presence. If you can help make this opening possible by volunteering, please contact Tiffany Holmes or sign up for “Sanctuary Opening” via VOMO at www.bit.ly/fpcvolunteers

Our World Mission and Social Justice Council is recruiting volunteers to assist sponsored refugee families coming from conflict areas around the world. Also needed will be some items to help these families settle into a new home. Those who are interested in helping are asked to email refugeeproject@fourthchurch.org.

Fourth Church Jail Ministry is looking for additional volunteers to take part in our Jail Ministry. Those who are interested are invited to attend an informational meeting next Sunday, May 22 at 11:15 a.m. in Room 4F or email jailministry@fourthchurch.org.

The Chicago Lights Social Service Center is in particular need of the following items, either new or gently used:

Donations can be dropped off at the church reception desk (enter via the Chestnut Street doors) or shipped, if ordered online, to Chicago Lights Social Service Center, c/o Theresa Thornburg, 126 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, IL 60611.2014.

Donations can be dropped off at the church reception desk, to the attention of “Shower Ministry.”

The memorial service for Aurelia Spann, whose September 12, 2020, death was previously announced, will be this Saturday, May 14 at 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary