Fourth Sunday of Easter, April 30

10:00 a.m. worship in person and online

Lucy Forster-Smith preaching

Worship bulletin

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

Livestreamed worship services are 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.

4:00 p.m. Jazz at Four worship in person

with Communion

in Buchanan Chapel

Nancy Benson-Nicol preaching

Worship bulletin

Shannon Kershner is away this weekend for the annual retreat with her preaching group.

Summer Worship Schedule

On Sunday, May 21 we will hold our last afternoon worship service until Sunday, September 10.

Beginning Memorial Day weekend, our 4:00 p.m. service will enter a summer sabbatical season of rest and refocusing for the future. Our afternoon service will then resume on Sunday, September 10.

Also on Sunday, September 10 we will be adding a second Sunday morning worship service. After Labor Day we will be worshiping at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings. Until then, and through the summer, we will continue to worship at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays.

Mark Sunday, May 28 on your calendar and plan to join us that morning as we celebrate and give thanks for Shannon Kershner’s ministry among us!

Sunday, May 28 will be Shannon’s last Sunday leading us in worship.

Immediately following the 10:00 a.m. service on that day, we will hold a congregational meeting in the Sanctuary. The meeting has been called by Session for the purpose of dissolving our pastoral relationship with Shannon.

Then after the meeting we will gather in Anderson Hall and the Commons for a reception in honor of Shannon. We hope you will join us for that festive opportunity to express our gratitude and well wishes to Shannon and her family as they prepare to move to Atlanta and Central Presbyterian Church.

At that reception we will also present Shannon with the gift of a memory box. We encourage you to contribute notes, letters, memories, and photos for Shannon, thanking her for her ministry among us and wishing her well in her new call. Please send these private expressions of gratitude, shared memories, and well wishes by Sunday, May 21. They can be mailed to the church (Attn. Memory Box), dropped off at the church reception desk, or emailed to memorybox@fourthchurch.org

As the Personnel Council emailed earlier this week, Session has approved the recommendation to hire an intentional Interim Pastor, with a contract for one year maximum that is renewable.

The Interim Pastor will not be our next Senior Pastor. Rather they will be someone to guide us during the year or more when we are searching for the next Pastor. That Interim Pastor will help us do the kind of preparatory work that is important in advance of welcoming a new leader.

The first step in this intentional interim process will be to identify possible candidates for the Interim Pastor position. This will be the work of an Interim Pastor Nominating Committee (IPNC) made up of three members of the Personnel Council and two members selected by Session, who will work with Craig Howard, Executive Presbyter for the Chicago Presbytery.

If you know members who did not receive the email announcement from the Personnel Council, please encourage them to subscribe to the Fourth Church email newsletter to ensure they see future updates. They can sign up online at www.bit.ly/newsfromfpc or send their email address to news@fourthchurch.org

Throughout this time of transition, if you have questions or comments about this time in our life together, please send them to transition@fourthchurch.org

Intergenerational Deep Listening Dinner

Cornerstones, a fellowship group for those fifty and older, is hosting an intergenerational Deep Listening Dinner on Friday evening, May 5.

This two-hour dinner experience is open to all and will invite participants into conversations about “Generations” – reflecting on what we have received from those who came before us while also looking ahead to the generations after us and what we are handing down to them.

There will be opportunity to share stories about elders and mentors and how they have shaped and influenced us and to talk about our hopes about what future generations will know and remember about our own lifetimes.

There is no charge for the dinner, but seating is limited and advance registration is required for capacity and planning purposes. 

Friday, May 5

5:30 p.m.

in person in Anderson Hall

Advance registration required

“Dancing in the Darkness”

A new adult education class will begin on Sunday, May 7, when Robert Crouch and Jeff Doane will lead us in a discussion of the latest book by Dr. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.

Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times is a life-affirming guide to the practical, political, and spiritual challenges of our day.

Drawing on the teachings of Dr. King, Howard Thurman, sacred scripture, Southern wisdom, global spiritual traditions, Black culture, and his own personal experiences, Dr. Moss instructs us on how to practice spiritual resistance by combining justice and love.

This collection helps us tap the spiritual reserves we all possess but too often overlook, so we can slay our personal demons, confront our civic challenges, and reach our highest goals.

Participants are asked to get a copy of the book in advance to read along with the class.

Sundays, May 7–21

11:15 a.m.

in person only

Register here

Center for Life and Learning Offerings

Matters of Health is a free series presented by the Center for Life and Learning for those sixty and over.

As part of the series, on Thursdays, May 4–25 at 11:30 a.m. Dr. Corissa Keefner will talk about “Strategies to Keep Your Brain Sharp and Healthy.” This class with Dr. Keefner, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with specialties as a Brain Health Trainer and Functional Aging Specialist, will be offered both in person and via Zoom. Registration required.

Also in May the CLL will welcome Idy Ciss, a Senegalese teaching artist from the Old Town School of Folk Music, who will be offering an in-person presentation of West African dance on Wednesday, May 10 at 1:15 p.m. Registration required.

Fourth Church Meals Ministry is grateful to all who have contributed snacks and supplies for Bag Lunch and Sunday and Monday Night Suppers this year. Thank you so much!

If you would like to order food items needed by Meals Ministry, you can do so online and have the items shipped directly to the church. Links, and wish lists for ordering, are posted on the Meals Ministry web page.

Last Sunday we recognized and welcomed into the wider life of the congregation the 2023 class of confirmands:

Franziska Amberg

Avery Bossert

Cece Burt

Lucy Chong

Willa Crosby

Alex Cruise

Frances Fairman

Rowan Foley

Mia Grady

Christopher Hutchison

William Kerr

Milo Koernig 

Eva Koshy

Gigi Luban

Peyton McAdams

Siena Moore

Evan Ocken

Samuel Picciola

Peter Pinto

Hugh Powers

Cole Raub

Ian Reatherford

Alexander Robinson

Mack Schnabel

Evan Tax

Callie VanDerMeid

Audrey von der Sitt

Felix Vujasin

We ask that you please keep these youth in prayer as they continue with us on their faith journey.

We also ask you to join us in giving thanks for the faith-filled dedication of the confirmation leaders, who accompanied the youth on their journey this past year: Anne Stelle, Eric Wu, and Amy Pagliarella.

If you would like to serve as Youth Ministry Leader, please let us know by filling out this form

The newest members of the Fourth Church family include not only confirmands but the following individuals who were also received into membership by the Session this past Sunday and welcomed by the congregation during worship.

Linda Arnold

Robert Arnold

Andrew Dust

Emily Dust

Amanda Jens

Anne Martin Solomon

MacKenzie Porter

John Smith

Karen Smith

Carl Traynor

Darcy Traynor

Alexandra Wassink

Are you interested in becoming a member of Fourth Church? We encourage you to attend a one-session Inquirers’ Class, which will next be offered in person on Sunday, May 14. For details, contact Nancy Davis.

Those graduating from eighth grade, high school, college, or a graduate or professional program in 2023 are asked to email their names to Katie Patterson by Sunday, May 28 so that we might recognize them on Baccalaureate Sunday.

Baccalaureate Sunday at Fourth Church will be June 4, and graduate names received by May 28 will appear in the worship bulletin on June 4.