Looking for ways to connect with the Fourth Church community and one another? On the church calendar you will find many opportunities to do so. Included among them are

• “Faces at the Manger,” in person and via Zoom, on Sunday morning, December 8
• Men’s Bible Study via Zoom on Tuesday mornings
• Books by Women discussing, in person, Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn on Tuesday evening, December 10
• Zoom Morning Prayer weekly on Wednesdays
• Benevolent Guild weekly on Wednesday mornings
• Horizons Women’s Bible Study via zoom at noon and in the evening on Wednesday, December 11
• Women at Fourth Holiday Gathering in person on Thursday evening, December 12
•  “A Christmas Carol by Dickens: A Discussion,” in person and via Zoom, on Sunday morning, December 15
• Chicago Exchange Japanese Fellowship in person on Sunday, December 15

For information about whom to contact for an event’s Zoom details or the link to register for an event, simply click on the down “arrow” to the right of the event name in the calendar (which is easily accessible from the “Calendar” at the top of the menu on our website).

You can also find the day’s events on the bottom of our website home page.

For highlights about additional opportunities, keep reading!

Second Sunday of Advent, December 8

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

Tom Are Jr. preaching

Worship bulletin

11:00 a.m. worship in person

Tom Are Jr. preaching

Worship bulletin

2:00 p.m. worship in person

with Communion

Rocky Supinger preaching

Worship bulletin

About This Sunday’s Sermon

During these Advent weeks we are visiting each Gospel writer at their home. It requires some imagination, but reading what they have left us, we can learn more than we might first suspect.

After spending last Sunday at Mark’s house, we find the celebration at Matthew’s house to be quite different. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and “We Three Kings” are favorites at Matthew’s house. The most striking feature is the crowd.

You won’t believe how many people are gathered at Matthew’s house.

Children in Worship

On the second Sunday of the month — which means this Sunday! — Sunday School children in the 9:30 a.m. class are invited to come to worship with their parents. At the time of the Gloria Patri, the children will meet up with their teachers and head to their classrooms.

Children are always welcome in worship at Fourth Church. If you need to step out to comfort your child, the Hospitality Suite, on the second floor of the Gratz Center, is a quiet space for families where worship is livestreamed.

During the morning services nursery care is available on the fourth floor of the Gratz Center for infants through two-year-olds.

The season of Advent began last Sunday with representatives from the Fourth Church Board of Deacons lighting the Advent wreath in morning worship.

This Sunday, December 8 is the last day to make Christmas flower contributions remembering loved ones and recognizing those who are special in your life.

The Christmas bulletin will include a list of those remembered by gifts toward the purchase of flowers and wreaths to decorate Fourth Church during the Advent and Christmas seasons.

Contributions can be made online and must be received by this Sunday, December 8 in order for names to be included in the bulletin.

For more information, contact Gloria Vicente.

Light Up a Life

The annual “Light Up a Life” offering, received each Advent and Christmas, provides funds for

• Fourth Church programs that support our neighbors and congregation
• Chicago Lights, as it extends kindness and love to those who are most vulnerable
• Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, as it cares for communities affected by crises and catastrophic events

Gifts can be made to this offering by noting “Light Up a Life” in the Designation or Comments section when giving via the Fourth Church website or Venmo or by writing it on the memo line of a check made payable to Fourth Presbyterian Church.

Gifts can also be made using the “Light Up a Life” envelopes in the Sanctuary on Sundays.

We are delighted that poet, author, and pastor J. Barrie Shepherd will be joining us via Zoom for our adult education class this Sunday, December 8.

During our time together members of the Adult Education Council will read passages from Shepherd’s book Faces at the Manger, portraying characters present at Jesus’ birth.

We hope you will plan to be with us for this special Advent event!

Sunday, December 8

11:00 a.m.

Borwell Dining Room and via Zoom

Register at bit.ly/faces122024

Also on our calendar this month —

A Christmas Carol by Dickens

Join us next Sunday as John Clum — Fourth Church member and Professor Emeritus, Duke University — leads us in an exploration of A Christmas Carol and its relationship to Dickens’ view of Christianity.

Sunday, December 15

11:00 a.m.

Borwell Dining Room and via Zoom

Register at bit.ly/aedickens122024

A Christmas Carol Sing-Along

Lend your voices to a sing-along of select Christmas carols as Kat Evans — Fourth Church member and professional actress — discusses their origins and history.

Sunday, December 22

11:00 a.m.

Borwell Dining Room

(in person only)

Our season of special holiday music kicked off last Sunday with the Festival of Advent Lessons and Music and continues with a variety of festive concerts.

Glory!

with Lux Cantorum Chicago

Friday, December 6

7:30 p.m.

in Buchanan Chapel

Tickets required, available from Lux Cantorum

Holidays a cappella

with Chicago a cappella

Friday, December 13

7:30 p.m.

in Buchanan Chapel

Tickets required, available through Chicago a cappella

A Tower Brass Christmas

Saturday, December 21

5:00 p.m.

in the Sanctuary and livestreamed

No tickets required, but a $20 donation per person is suggested

Christmas Cantata:

Magnificat in D Major

by Johann Sebastian Bach

Sunday, December 22

during 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. worship

(also livestreamed at 9:30)

Featuring the Fourth Church Morning Choir with members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago

For a complete schedule of concerts at Fourth Church, see fourthchurch.org/concerts

Friday, December 20

“Longest Night” Service

6:30 p.m.

in Buchanan Chapel

in person only

This service is for those for whom the celebration of Christmas is made difficult by feelings of loneliness, grief, alienation, and sadness, whether personal or collective.

Prior to the service, a time of fellowship and refreshments will be held in the Manse, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

Sunday, December 22

Christmas Cantata

9:30 and 11:00 a.m.

Livestreamed at 9:30

This year’s Christmas Cantata will be Bach’s Magnificat, presented by the Morning Choir and members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago during the morning services.

The Gathering: Communion at 2:00

2:00 p.m.

Tuesday, December 24

Four Candlelit Christmas Eve Services

Christmas Eve Children’s Pageant

4:00 p.m.

in person only

Christmas Eve Family Service

6:00 p.m.

in person only

Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols

8:00 p.m.

in person and livestreamed

Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols

10:00 p.m.

in person only

Wednesday, December 25

Christmas Day Service

10:00 a.m.

in person only

Sunday, December 29

First Sunday of Christmas Service

10:00 a.m.

in person and livestreamed

Please note there will be only one worship service on December 29 and it will be at 10:00 a.m.

Women at Fourth Holiday Celebration

“La La Ladies: A Women at Fourth Holiday Celebration” will be held in the Manse on Thursday, December 12 at 5:30 p.m.

Women are invited to don their favorite holiday attire or ugly sweater, bring their favorite drink (or bottle) of holiday cheer, and join in an evening of fun, giving, laughter, and fellowship. Light appetizers will be served. 

Register at bit.ly/waf122024

Cookies and Cocoa: Bakers and Servers Needed!

It’s almost the season for our annual “Cookies and Cocoa” treat, which this year will be part of morning Coffee Hour on Sunday, December 15.

Women at Fourth will again be hosting and, as they make preparations, are requesting help with the following:

Baking a minimum of two dozen holiday cookies. Cookies will need to be delivered to the church on Saturday, December 14 by 2:00 p.m. or on Sunday, December 15 by 9:30 a.m.

Setting up and serving, which also includes helping to make the cocoa, setting out cookies, and doing some light cleanup for either of the following two shifts:

Sunday, December 15

9:00–11:00 a.m.

11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

If you can help or would like to learn more, please contact Simon Crow.

Join us in traveling to Cuba in March 2025, when we will visit the First Presbyterian Church of Havana, continuing our twenty-four-year partnership with our sister church.

The trip includes opportunity to build cross-cultural relationships, stay in solidarity with our Cuban siblings in Christ, and contribute to international peacebuilding efforts.

The deadline for registering for this March 10–17 trip has been extended to Friday, December 20. You can register online at bit.ly/cubatrip2025

To learn more, contact Joe Morrow.

Throughout Advent we are sharing a weekly ten-minute video of scripture, prayer, and music as a resource for your Advent prayer and reflection.

In the videos Matt Helms guides us in exploring what each candle on the Advent wreath represents in our time of waiting and preparation for the arrival of Christ.

This week we began by considering the theme of the first candle — hope — in the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, found in Luke 1:5–25.

To watch the first video of the series, click here (or on the image below).

The videos in this series are released on Wednesday evenings on YouTube; to receive them by email, subscribe at bit.ly/rhythmandwordemail

Advent devotions written by Fourth Church members and staff are also available as a resource for personal meditation and prayer.

To receive them daily by email, sign up online at bit.ly/fpcdevotions or read them online on our website.

You can also find — and share them — on Facebook and Instagram.

Works by twentieth- and twenty-first-century composers were featured at today’s Friday Noonday concert, presented by the Varo String Quartet (left to right, Carmen Abelson, Hannah Christiansen, Isidora Nojkovic, and Lena Vidulich).

Next week, pianist Chungers Kim is scheduled to perform a rollicking collection of holiday favorites, from “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” to “Jingle Bell Rock,” as part of our free Friday Noonday Concert series.

Last night at an opening artists’ talk in the Loggia, two promising young painters presented their work in a new exhibit, “Figurative Abstraction” (running through January 30). Jinghan He discussed the painting “Dissociation,” and Jasmine Elizabeth described the making of “it was half past midnight or maybe a little later and the light shone on my face, 2024.”

Award-winning saxophonist and member of the Morning Choir Phil Pierick played “Elegy for Saxophone and Organ” by Michael Baker during the prelude on Sunday.

The sounds of bustling families and the scent of pine needles on the fifth floor can only mean one thing: Advent wreath making! Whether going it alone or helping a sibling, the lovely end result is always a source of pride for weeks to come.

Wonderful acoustic effects fill the Sanctuary when the choirs sing from the east (rear) balcony, as they did in Sunday night’s beautiful Festival of Advent Lessons and Music.

December is always the busiest month for concerts at Fourth Church! Last night the ever-popular Andrew Bird kicked off a seven-night stretch of sold-out performances, guaranteeing lines around the block as shivering fans from around the country eagerly waited to enter the dramatically lit Sanctuary.

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, illnesses, hospitalizations, or deaths, please email Gloria Fleming, Assistant for Caring Ministries and Spiritual Formation; 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.

Grief Groups facilitated by our Replogle Center for Counseling and Well-Being meet for four weeks via Zoom. To learn more or register for an upcoming group, contact the group facilitator, Sharon Crawford-Tucker (312.787.8425).

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.

Prayer

If you would like to submit a prayer request to our Morning Prayer or Deacon Prayer Ministries, please email Gloria Fleming or Nancy Benson-Nicol.

If you would like to offer individual prayers of praise or concern with a Deacon, you are invited to do so on Sunday mornings in Stone Chapel (through the Sanctuary door to the right of the pulpit) following the 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. services.

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 weekly at 9:30 a.m. via Zoom. On the first Wednesday of the month (Wednesday, January 8) we also gather at 10:00 a.m. for in-person Morning Prayer in Buchanan Chapel. For Zoom details, email Nancy Benson-Nicol.

Worship Livestream

We livestream the 9:30 a.m. worship service on our YouTube channel, which is accessible by going to www.bit.ly/fpcvideos, subscribing to our channel, or clicking on the photo with a “Play” arrow on the home page of the Fourth Church website.

The livestream is 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 is available (toll free) by calling 888.916.9166 just prior to the start of the 9:30 service.