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"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions
of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people."
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
, Letter from Birmingham Jail
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Sunday Preview
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
Worship services @ 8:15 & 10:45 AM
Education Hour (for all ages) @ 9:15 AM
Homily:
"Take Away" by Marcia Mount Shoop
Scriptures:
Isaiah 49:1-7; John 1:29-42
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GCPC Congregational Breakfast & Annual Meeting | Sunday, January 26 | 8:15 AM | Atrium & Fellowship Hall
Come and celebrate another great year at Grace Covenant!
This annual gathering is an opportunity to be together and celebrate being part of a healthy faith community.
There will be no 8:15am worship and no adult Sunday school that morning.
Sunday school for children and youth will begin after breakfast. The Men @ GCPC will provide our scrumptious breakfast. If you would like to help with that, please contact Dean Presson,
michael.presson@bcsemail.org
.
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GCPC is hosting 15 stoles from the Shower of Stoles Project for one more week!
You can visit the display in the sanctuary and read the stories attached to each.
The Shower of Stoles Project is an extraordinary collection of over one thousand liturgical stoles and other sacred items representing the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people of faith. These religious leaders have served in over thirty denominations and faith traditions, and come from six countries on three continents.
This collection celebrates the gifts of LGBT persons who serve God in countless ways, while also lifting up those who have been excluded from service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Project bears witness to the huge loss of leadership that the Church has brought upon itself because of its own unjust policies.
Read more about this project
HERE
.
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Sign up to serve Communion
As we continue to explore "This Eucharistic Life," weekly Communion at both worship services has resumed. Our work together is to explore the ways Eucharist calls us into a particular way of life. Part of that way of life is the gift of sharing power and the gift of serving each other.
Traditionally in the Presbyterian Church, Elders have been the ones to serve Communion. Our Reformed tradition is built on the concept of the "priesthood of all believers," and while Elders serving Communion is a tradition, it is not a rule. Those who are ordained offer the Words of Institution, but anyone can participate in serving the elements to the community.
The Session invites anyone and everyone at GCPC to sign up to serve Communion.
It is a great gift to serve each other this way, and it is a gift in which we can all share!
You can sign up
HERE
(link is now fixed)
or by contacting
Sherrie Meehan
in the church office. Any Session member, Worship Council member, or Staff member is happy to answer any questions you might have.
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REGISTER NOW!
“We Like Sheep!” A Music, Drama, and Arts Camp at GCPC! | Monday - Friday | June 15-19, 2020 | 9:00 AM - 3:30 PM
For Children 4 Yrs. (potty trained) through Rising 6th Graders
This summer we will be hosting a week of music, drama, and arts at Grace Covenant that will culminate in a musical performance called “We Like Sheep!” Jeff Jones, Ednamae Fisher, Josie Moe, and Heather Ferguson, along with the Children’s and Family Ministry Committee invite children to this full week of fun, friends, and fuzzy, four-legged creatures as we sing, act, create and celebrate the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the One who made the flock complete.
The week will culminate with a Friday (June 19) evening performance of the musical, “We Like Sheep!,” an exhibit of art and creative work by the children, and a reception beginning at 6:30 pm.
Cost: $100/child
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL: $75/child registered and paid in full by Friday, February 28, 2020.
Registration deadline – April 1, 2020
NOTE: Additional information will be requested after the registration deadline (April 1).
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Dear Grace Covenant Community,
We have exciting news!!
Yesterday (1/15) was the deadline for the congregation to match the generous $50,000 gift made by 10 Grace Covenant families.
And GCPC did it!
And none of it could have happened without the generosity of all of you who have pledged in this campaign. When you look below at the numbers you'll see the remarkable progress we have made.
Congratulations! Together we raised an additional $100,000 in just 4 weeks!
Thanks to the 10 households who created the challenge for the congregation. And thanks to all of you who responded with increases and new pledges to make the match!
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We've broken a GCPC operating budget stewardship campaign again!
We've broken the record for number of pledges again!
We are getting closer and closer to a sustainable revenue stream for this church to continue its faithful work in the world and to continue to grow in our faith and make a life-giving impact in lives and in communities.
Even after the match was achieved, more pledges have been coming in today. It is profoundly inspiring to see what this faith community can do!
If you haven't gotten around to pledging yet
, please do so now.
To those of you who have pledged ...
thank you, thank you, thank you!
To all of you who have increased,
thank you, thank you, thank you!
If you have not yet had the opportunity to reflect on your pledge amount, please take a moment to review it and consider increasing your pledge if that works for you and your family. We trust that everyone is prayerfully exploring these questions as we work together to create a more sustainable trajectory for our church's finances.
As Amber the Abundance Fairy said on Sunday (after Jeff the Chef's pep talk!):
"GCPC, we are so close to creating a more sustainable budget for 2020!
Your generosity so far has been so inspiring!
Together we can respond to all the blessings God has given us
at Grace Covenant—a growing church has a growing budget—
and that means we all keep growing in our willingness to respond!
Pray about it.
And listen for how God is calling you to respond!"
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Creating Sanctuary Team (CST)
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Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, April 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy delivered the following eulogy, considered by many to be one of the greatest addresses of the twentieth century
. In this month when we honor Dr. King and in these times fraught with polarized beliefs, we share with you in three parts Kennedy’s eloquent and healing words. Today, we can translate Kennedy’s references to the black people of our nation as references to all people of color.
The first part appears below:
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Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.
In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black - considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization - black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.
Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand that compassion and love.
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Power and Race Team (PART)
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Racial Justice Book Series | Thursday, February 13 | 6:00 PM | Jerusalem Room
For February, we will be discussing
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.
The first history of the United States told from the perspective of indigenous peoples.
In
An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States
, Dunbar-Ortiz adroitly challenges the founding myth of the United States and shows how policy against the Indigenous peoples was colonialist and designed to seize the territories of the original inhabitants, displacing or eliminating them. And as Dunbar-Ortiz reveals, this policy was praised in popular culture, through writers like James Fenimore Cooper and Walt Whitman, and in the highest offices of government and the military. Shockingly, as the genocidal policy reached its zenith under President Andrew Jackson, its ruthlessness was best articulated by US Army general Thomas S. Jesup, who, in 1836, wrote of the Seminoles: "The country can be rid of them only by exterminating them."
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PART Meeting | Thursday, February 13 | 7:00 PM | Fellowship Hall
Everyone is invited to join us for the next PART (Power and Race Team) meeting. We will continue practicing Organizing 101 skills and tools of building a more relational culture at GCPC. This is for anyone interested in meeting with and learning more about fellow GCPC members. What keeps us up at night? How do we take our anger and use it to build power and connections in our congregation and beyond the walls of GCPC.
In addition, everyone is invited and encouraged to join us for the next meeting of Organizing Tools,
Sunday, Jan. 26th, 1:00-2:30pm in the Garden Room @ GCPC,
where we will practice relational meetings, gain more organizing insights and plan for the February PART meeting. For more information, contact
Liz Huesemann
or
Carol Hovis
.
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Part of what
PART
does is to inform Grace Covenant about
racial equity work going on in the larger community.
The following are some events that PART recommends.
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10th Annual MLK Celebration at Kenilworth | Monday, January 20 | 5:00-6:30 PM (Potluck), 6:30 PM (Program) | Kenilworth Presbyterian Church (123 Kenilworth Rd.)
The theme of this year’s event is: "Environmental Injustice: Race, Class and Climate Change.". We are honored to welcome William Barber, III as keynote speaker. William Barber, III is the strategic partnerships associate at The Climate Reality Project (
www.climaterealityproject.org). He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law where he earned his juris doctorate. William currently serves as co-chair for the North Carolina Poor People’s Campaign Ecological Devastation committee (
www.breachrepairers.org/blog/eco-devastation) and is a member of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary's Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board. Mr. Barber will lead a discussion on Environmental Racism and the disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on the poor and people of color.
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UNC Asheville’s 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration | Tuesday, January 21 | 7:00 PM | UNCA,
Highsmith Student Union Blue Ridge Room
UNC Asheville’s annual commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. will feature a keynote address by the award-winning journalist, author and civil rights pioneer Charlayne Hunter-Gault.
Charlayne Hunter-Gault is an award-winning journalist of national and international stature, the author of four books, and a pioneer of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement who successfully challenged segregation in court and gained entrance to the University of Georgia.
This event is free and open to everyone. Click
here
for full schedule for the week.
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"Ancestral Cherokee Towns and the Resilience of the Archaeological Record" | Tuesday, January 28 | 4:30 - 5:30 PM | Mars Hill University, Ramsey Center
This talk will summarize recent archaeological research on ancestral Cherokee mound and town sites in western North Carolina. Steere will discuss archaeological fieldwork on the campus of Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, and discuss the archaeological and historical context surrounding the recent transfer of ownership of the Nikwasi Mound in Franklin, North Carolina. These two case studies not only shed light on advances in our understanding of Cherokee archaeology, but also show that ancestral Cherokee towns are still vital, living places in the cultural landscape of western North Carolina.
Ben Steere is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, where he teaches courses in anthropology and archaeology and directs the Cherokee Studies Program.
This event is free of charge and all are welcome. Click
HERE
for more info.
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Hard 2 Recycle Event | Saturday, January 18 | 10 AM - 2 PM |
1298 Patton Ave
Hard 2 Recycle events are free to the public collections geared to bring awareness to alternate modes of recycling to our area. Our goal is to educate and collect and divert items that would normally end up in the Landfill i.e Styrofoam, electronics, books, batteries and much more.
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Sponsored by Asheville GreenWorks. Join in a roadside cleanup in preparation for the MLK Jr March from the Berry Temple United Methodist Church to Downtown. We will be finished with the cleanup in time if volunteers wish to participate in the Peace Rally & March. Please read more about this here:
http://mlkasheville.org/activities/peace-march-rally
Biscuits provided by Biscuit Head Biltmore. Coffee provided by Penny Cup (bring a mug if you can!). We will be supplying grabbers, gloves, vests, and bags. Please dress for the weather in clothing that may get a little dirty, and wear closed toed shoes.
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This Sunday's Education Hour (for all ages)
Winter Term | January 5 – February 23
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Pressure Points | The Theology and Legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Choir Room
A German theologian who called out 'cheap grace' and dreamed of a 'religionless Christianity,' Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a vital part of the Confessing Church who stood against Adolph Hitler's Third Reich at a time when most German Christian churches acquiesced to Nazism. He was executed in 1945 by the state for his part in a plot to overthrow the fascist regime. In our class together, we will learn from his theology and discuss why his legacy is currently being fought over by Christians with divergent viewpoints today.
Facilitators:
Marcia Mount Shoop & Richard Coble
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The Improv | Justice, Money and God: Exploring God’s call for right relationship (justice) by considering our relationship to money | FH
A lot of the Bible talks about money. In fact, money was Jesus’ most talked about topic. Money influences and has power in many of our relationships: our faith, our culture, our church. We will explore God’s call for justice and righteousness and wrestle together with where money fits into it all. In this class we'll be deepening relationships with each other, and hopefully seeing possibilities for new ways of relating to God, to ourselves, to each other, and to money.
Facilitators
:
Keaton Hill, Bonnie Parker and Kate Shem
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Digging In | Sexuality and the New Testament | Jerusalem Room
“If the Gospel is where we find healing from the harm done to us by the messages of the church, then it must also be where we find freedom.”
- Nadia Bolz-Weber
Sexuality and the New Testament is a 7-week, discussion-based series covering a variety of topics focused on sexual ethics in the light of New Testament principles. Our goal is to create a space for learning and honest discussions about sexuality in our contemporary culture that help us wrestle with the shame and confusion many of us harbor. Join us for discussions on purity culture, sexual identity, gender identity, and more.
Facilitators
:
Amber White & Leah Madamba
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Toddlers (ages 2-3) | “God Loves Me”
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9:15 – 10:15 AM | Toddler Room (1
st
floor)
Preschool/K (ages 4-5) | Godly Play
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9:15 –10:15 AM | Preschool Room (1
st
floor)
Elementary (grades 1-3) | Godly Play
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9:15–10:15 AM | Temple Room
(2
nd
floor)
Elementary (grades 4-5) | “CONNECT”
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9:15–10:15 AM | Indie Room
(2
nd
floor)
Middle School & Senior Highs (grades 6-12)
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9:00-10:15 AM | Youth Rooms
*Nursery care is available throughout Sunday morning beginning at 8:10 am.
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Worship & Godly Play - Why We Do the Things We Do (4 Sundays of Worship Education)
January 19 and 26 | 9:15-10:15 am
During the month of January Sundays, GCPC children (ages 4 yrs-3rd Grade) will gather in the upper-level Godly Play room for a special 4-part series on “Worship - Why We Do the Things We Do.” This will be an important time for children to learn about the movements in worship, their meaning and how we approach them.
This series will also be a time for preparing to lead worship on “Children’s Sabbath at GCPC,” Sunday, February 2, 2020.
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Winter Weekly Bible Study | Mondays: January 27 – March 16 |
12 – 1:30 PM
We will examine Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon with a focus on learning where white supremacy has distorted our understanding of the text and kept us from messages of liberation and freedom. This will be a space to build deeper relationships with church members committed to undoing white supremacy in their faith journey. If interested, please email Kate Shem at
kateshem@gmail.com
.
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Bible Study | Wednesdays | 11:00 AM | Garden Room
Join the pastoral staff to read and study our sermon texts for Sunday. No preparation needed; just come ready to open scripture and discuss!
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Winter Women's Memoir Series | 4th Monday of month | 6:00 PM | Jerusalem Room
Join us for a series of book talks focusing on memoirs written by people of faith. Open to all women of the church. One copy of each book can be found in the church library. Please pre-read the book to ensure lively discussion.
- January 27 | Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen | Facilitator: Susie Wheelis
- February 24 | I Grew Up Little: Finding Hope in a Big God by Patsy Clairmont | Facilitator: Grace Hall
- March 30 | Shameless: A Sexual Reformation by Nadia Bolz-Weber | Facilitator: Amber White
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Room in the Inn (RITI) | February 9 – 16 | GCPC
Grace Covenant, thank you for your response last week in signing up for Room In The Inn tasks. We are almost one third of the way there to having commitments for being ready for our next Room In The Inn (RITI) during the week of February 9 – 16, 2020.
If you didn’t sign up last week and are able to, please do so this week
. We have plenty of food items of which we are still in need. Additionally, there are openings for Drivers – to and from A-Hope, both mornings and afternoons. This session of RITI we are trying a new procedure—all the afternoon drivers will be from either Grace Covenant or the Unitarian congregation, which we hope will make it easier since the drivers will probably all know each other and can depart A-Hope at the same time. We also need overnight hosts – 2 a night from Grace Covenant.
We hope you can participate with us in this session of RITI; it is such an important ministry which Grace Covenant has supported for many years due to its importance of sharing the warmth of hospitality to those who might need it the most.
Sign up in the narthex with a RITI team member on paper or you can sign up
HERE online.
THANK YOU.
Your RITI Team:
Tish Anderson, Sally Booher, Beth Kissling, Geneva Neeriemer, Lynne Noble, Susan Presson, Linda Pyeritz, Linda Sperling, and Beth Philipsen.
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Haywood Street Clothing Bin Volunteers Needed
Have you noticed the blue bin in our parking lot? Have you ever wondered about what happens to the clothes that are donated? Here is your opportunity to find the answers and volunteer in a very meaningful way.
Volunteers are needed to deliver donations to the Haywood Street Congregation once a week for one month. Please email Nancy Kramer at
nancykramer1981@gmail.com
to claim your slot.
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Ministry Partner News and Events...
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The best way to honor Dr. King is by putting his life, teachings, and example into practice. He said, "Everybody can be great because anybody can serve." Instead of a day off, we want to make this a day on for the community as Dr. King would have wanted. Come out and help be the answer to the housing crisis by helping build deeply affordable homes. Housing was a key focus area of Dr. King's Poor People's Campaign!
8:30am - Opening Circle and breakfast
9:00am - Work begins
11:30am - Break to attend Dr. King rally (Amy Cantrell is one of the speakers)
1:00pm - Return to Village and lunch
1:30-4:30pm - Work continues
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Intergenerational Contra & Square Dancing Fun! | Dinner & Dancing | Sunday, January 26 | 5 - 7 PM | Fellowship Hall
Come enjoy dinner and hear about our GCPC youth group trip to Raleigh, followed by an evening of dancing for all ages! We will have a teacher/caller and a student band from Warren Wilson College! Get ready for an evening of learning, sharing, fun and fellowship! RSVP at
http://bit.ly/GCPCContra
.
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Men @ GCPC Gathering | Thursday, January 30 | 8:00 AM | HomeGrown (371 Merrimon Ave.)
Join us for fellowship and discussion of Isaac Villegas's article "All Earth Is Grieving" from the Christian Century. Click
HERE
to read the article. Contact Richard,
rcoble@gcpcusa.org
with questions.
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Centering Prayer | Wednesday Nights | 6:30 - 7:00 PM | Sanctuary
Christianity has a rich and ancient tradition of intentional and prayerful silence as a spiritual practice. Sacred silence teaches us to listen devoutly, humbly, and with trust. It is beautifully simple and a spiritual skill whose gifts goes deeper and gets more powerful the more one practices it. This practice is open to all and is come as you are able. Questions? Contact Marcia at
mmshoop@gcpcusa.org
.
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Deacon of the Week
Each Sunday morning there will be a deacon available for everything from praying with you to giving you a tour of the building. This deacon will be wearing a purple sash and stationed in the narthex before 10:45 worship and in the front of the sanctuary after worship. He or she is also available during the week if you or someone you love needs assistance from our board of deacons.
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RALEIGH MISSION EDUCATION TRIP
Please keep in your prayers the 47 youth and adults who will be traveling to Raleigh this MLK Jr. weekend! If you are going on the trip and have not yet received the email with trip info, please contact Samantha at
sgblock@gcpcusa.org
ASAP! Please remember to pack appropriate clothing for being outdoors in January--keep warm and dry!
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Youth Sunday School & Youth Group: Sunday, January 19
There will be
no
Youth Choir/Sunday School this week.
At 9:15 am,
youth are invited to meet in the Temple/Godly Play room to help lead this week's Godly Play lesson for the children. Please contact Heather Ferguson,
hferguson@gcpcusa.org
with any questions.
There will be
no
evening programming for youth on Sunday, January 19th. We look forward to seeing you next week!
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Youth Group: Sharing Raleigh Experiences & Intergenerational Contra Night! | Sunday, January 26 | 5 - 7 PM | Fellowship Hall
Youth will be sharing their experiences from the Raleigh Mission Education Trip. Following the youth presentation, we will enjoy intergenerational contra dancing, accompanied by a teacher/caller and a student band from Warren Wilson College! Families are welcome to attend, and dinner will be provided.
Remember this is a mandatory event for youth attending the Raleigh trip.
Please RSVP at:
http://bit.ly/GCPCContra
.
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Senior Highs: Last call for Midnight Manna! | Saturday, January 25 | 8:50 PM -Midnight | Meet/pick up at Manna Food Bank (
627 Swannanoa Rd.)
Senior Highs,
sign up here ASAP
for this unforgettable service party (sponsored by AYM & Manna Food Bank). GCPC is covering the cost (food & t-shirts provided). Youth should arrive to Manna at 8:50pm, so that we can check in on-time all together.
*
Parents sign up above if you would like to serve as a chaperone.
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Last Call! Senior High Youth Delegation to Guatemala
(June 23 - July 2, 2020)
Our presbytery will be sending a delegation of youth (who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th grade by this summer) to Guatemala to strengthen relationships with youth from our sister presbytery and churches. See the
application HERE
due February 1st (please note that it requires recommendations from pastor/session, so
please notify
Samantha
ASAP if you plan to apply
). Partial scholarships available based on need for those accepted.
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Prayer List
[We are happy to pray for anyone who is in need. Concerns will stay on this list for a month unless we hear otherwise. Please keep us updated.]
Iglesia Jerusalem congregation
Pat Cocke (Les Stradley’s friend)
Deborah Strong (Robin Gaiser's cousin)
Nancy Schaadt (Donna Robertson's sister)
Jeffrey Ferris (Mary Lou Nash's son)
Rebecca Wells' brother, Jamey
Jeff Combs (Bill McNeff's friend)
West Asheville Presbyterian Church
Marcia Zuzel (friend of Kim Hottle and Melissa Shook)
Virginia Bibee (Jamie Bibee Lloyd's mother)
Suzy Carter (David Carter's wife and Yvonne Smith's friend)
Arlene Hill (Jay Hill's aunt)
John Kominski (Russell Kominski's dad)
Family of Frank Palmeri (father-in-law of Laura Palmeri who is Jim and Martha Branden's daughter)
Hettie Lou Garland
Betty Smith
Margaret Rada
Bob Higgins
James Harwell
Joyce Summerlin
Cory Hartbarger
Florence Riedesel
Elizabeth Fisher
Doris Prak
Roslyn Carney
Nell Payne
Amanda Pressley
Allen Johnson
Sarah Frye
Click
HERE to follow the link to Sarah Frye's Caring Bridge page.
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Grace Covenant Community Out and About...
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January 25, 10am-4pm Enneagram Retreat
Daily Practices: All Nine Types
RSVP deadline:
January 22nd
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Christians for a United Community (CUC) Book Discussion Group
Book
: "Between The World And Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Dates
: starts Sunday February 2nd, 2020 and meets every other Sunday through April 5th
Time:
2:00-3:30 PM
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PWNC Annual Spirituality Retreat:
"Celtic Spirituality II" | March 13-14, 2020 | Bonclarken Conference Center (Flat Rock, NC)
Experience the prayer, poetry, folklore, and spirituality of the Celtic Christians of old - and how their down-to-earth, lyrical, and hope-filled wisdom still speaks to us today. First-time attendees are more than welcome!
Click
here
for more information and/or to register!
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Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church | 828.254.3274
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804
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