World Communion Sunday, October 1

9:30 a.m. worship in person and online

with Communion

Brian Ellison preaching

Worship bulletin

11:00 a.m. worship in person only

with Communion

Brian Ellison preaching

Worship bulletin

2:00 p.m. worship in person and online

The Gathering: Communion at 2:00

Nancy Benson-Nicol preaching

Worship

Livestreamed Services

Livestreamed worship services (9:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.) 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.

These livestreams are available to view anytime after the service begins if you would prefer to connect online at a later time. For tips on how to watch — from the beginning — a service already in progress, see www.fourthchurch.org/watch-from-the-beginning

Audio-only by phone for the 9:30 service is available (toll free) by calling 888.916.9166 just prior to 9:30.

World Communion Sunday

This Sunday is World Communion Sunday, a day when we celebrate our oneness in Christ with our global family.

We will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper at all three services. Those worshiping with us online are invited to have bread and juice on hand as we share in this meal from wherever we are.

Peacemaking and Global Witness Offering

This Sunday we will receive a Peacemaking and Global Witness Offering as part of our observance of World Communion Sunday. Gifts to this offering will be directed to efforts toward peacemaking that are supported by the Presbyterian Church (USA) as well as local efforts to address violence in Chicago.

Gifts to this offering can be made using the envelopes in the Sanctuary pew racks; online at www.fourthchurch.org/give; or by a check made payable to Fourth Presbyterian Church, with “Peace Offering” in the memo line.

This Sunday, October 1, World Communion Sunday, we will welcome as our guest preacher the Reverend Brian Ellison, who has served as the Executive Director of the Covenant Network since 2012.

The Covenant Network, of which Pastor Emeritus John M. Buchanan was a founding co-moderator, seeks to strengthen the church by working for the full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in its life and leadership and calls the church to bear a unified witness to generous hospitality and faithful justice.

We hope you will join us in giving Brian a warm welcome this Sunday!

By this Sunday, October 1, the Officer Nominating Committee would like to have your recommendations of individuals to serve in leadership positions opening in 2024 for Elder, Deacon, Trustee, Nominating Committee, and the Chicago Lights Board.

If you know any Fourth Church members — including yourself! — who have demonstrated gifts for leadership and ministry, please offer your recommendations via the online form at www.bit.ly/nominating2024 or by using the paper forms in the pew racks.

How is Fourth Church home to you?

To others?

Our 2024 Stewardship campaign invites you to consider those questions as you reflect on what will be your 2024 pledge in support of the life-giving mission, ministry, and outreach efforts of Fourth Church and Chicago Lights.

Please plan to submit your 2024 pledge — which you can make using the form mailed to member homes and also available in the pew racks and online at www.bit.ly/fpcpledging — by Commitment Sunday, October 29, when we will celebrate all we are able to do together through our generous response to God’s blessings in our lives.

That festive day, which is Reformation Sunday as well, will also be the day we welcome to our pulpit the Reverend Tom Are Jr., who is joining us as our Interim Pastor! Read more at www.fourthchurch.org

Sunday’s Coffee Hour is sponsored by the Stewardship and Giving Council. Members of the Council will be in Coffee Hour to answer any questions about pledging.

Foundations of Islam

Starting this Sunday morning is a new Adult Education class: “Foundations of Islam: Discovering Common Ground and Debunking the Myths."

In this three-week class, Nanette Sawyer, Arshan Khalid, and Aisha Subhan will discuss the commonalities and differences between Islam and Christianity and explore the 5 pillars of Islam, the sacred Islamic texts, the role of the Imam, the role of women, and contemporary reform movements.

Sundays, October 1–15

11:00 a.m.

Borwell Dining Room and via Zoom

Register online for Zoom details

Do you enjoy singing?

Come enjoy time with fellow singers when the Fourth Church Choral Society kicks off its autumn season with a rehearsal on Thursday evening, October 5 at 7:00 p.m. in Buchanan Chapel.

We’ll be rehearsing weekly in preparation for a November 10 concert honoring Morgan Simmons, former Fourth Church Organist and Choirmaster.

For more information about the Choral Society or the concert, contact John Sherer.

Cornerstones, a group for those fifty and over, will meet on Friday, October 6 for dinner and a program on “Icons: Windows to the Divine” presented by our Associate Pastor Nanette Sawyer.

Scripture says that Jesus is the image, or the ikon, of God. Religious icons throughout the ages have taken on deep spiritual meaning and became a way to convey a spiritual truth through physical forms.

Join Nanette as she gives an introduction to religious icons and speaks of her personal practice of creating contemporary icons.

Friday, October 6

5:30 p.m.

Borwell Dining Room

Registration required

Get your pets ready for an outing to the Michigan Avenue courtyard on Saturday, October 7!

We will be gathering that morning for a Blessing of the Animals service, giving thanks to God for the creatures that bless our lives. All pets are welcome! (Please have them on leash or in a carrier.)

If you’d rather not bring your pets, please bring photographs of them and join us as we celebrate the wonders of God’s creation and our relationships with its creatures, great and small!

Saturday, October 7

10:00 a.m.

Michigan Avenue courtyard

If your child is attending college this fall, please email their mailing address to Katie Patterson by Sunday, October 15.

We’d love to send them one of the care packages our youth groups will be assembling later on in October.

As we move from summer to fall, we carry with us highlights and relationships from the summer, including those formed by the junior high youth who traveled to St. Louis for their summer trip.

For the second straight summer, a team of our junior high students worked with Amen! St. Louis, a ministry of Oak Hill Presbyterian Church. Led by Katy Sinclair, Decima Panitch, and Judy Watt, fifteen students worked at a variety of organizations in the city, hearing peoples’ challenges and witnessing their strength.

The youth began by helping prepare apartment units at a transitional domestic violence shelter. They also visited the New Roots Urban Farm and Farmer Antajuan, who is working to support Black farmers in the city. New Roots grows all kinds of food that it distributes to residents in its neighborhood, and it also raises ducks, chickens, and rabbits (the rabbits were a big hit!). 

The youth’s work in St. Louis was filled with important work and also thoughtful reflection on the role of service in our faith.

Daily reflections focused on Jesus’ parable of the sower, wondering together what kind of fruit might be born of the group’s time together — time that also included shared meals and van rides, mini golf, running around the City Museum, and riding up the Gateway Arch.

It was a week in which all of our students represented Fourth Church proudly with a spirit of joy and humble service.

Watch future newsletters for highlights from the senior high youth and those who traveled to Montreat!

Please joins us in welcoming the newest members of the Fourth Church family, who were received into membership by the Session this past Sunday and welcomed by the congregation during the 9:30 service.

Robert Acevedo

Kathryn Brown

Elizabeth Ko

Anna Prenzler

Clune Walsh

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, October 15. Register here.

Or for more information, contact Associate Pastor Matt Helms.

Marriages

We give thanks to God for the gift of life together.

Stefanie Lynn Schumann and William Joseph Brennan

Married September 23, 2023

Sarah Shu and Patrick Daleen

Married September 23, 2023

Prayer

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. For Zoom details, email Nancy Benson-Nicol.

Conversation and Presence

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.