GCPC Weekly News | July 15, 2021
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Click "View entire message"
at bottom of email to see the FULL newsletter
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GCPC Middle School Youth at Massanetta! | |
YTL Youth on the new basketball pad | |
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GCPC's Daily Devotional
Click to see Marcia's Thursday devotional.
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Worship Preview | Sunday, July 18, 2021 | | |
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Sermon:
"Buil Together"
by Marcia Mount Shoop
Scripture:
Ephesians 2:11-22
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*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here. | |
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Saturday, July 17 |
Youth Coffee Break | 10am-12pm @ Starbucks on Hendersonville Rd. | | Sunday, July 18 | Outdoor/Hybrid Worship Service | 10:45 am @ GCPC
(also on Youtube) | | Sunday, July 18 | Youth Coffee Break | 4-6 pm @ The Hop on Merrimon Ave. | | Tuesday, July 20 | Finance Mtg. | 5:30 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, July 20 | Serve Mtg. | 6:30 pm on Zoom | | Wednesday, July 21 | MCI (Mild Cognitive Impairment) Group | 11:00 am @ GCPC
(also on Zoom) | | Thursday, July 22 | Men of GCPC Gathering | 8:30 am @ GCPC
(also on Zoom) | | Thursday, July 22 | Memorial Garden Comm. Mtg. | 4:00 pm @ GCPC
(also on Zoom) | | |
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Youth Coffee Breaks:
- Saturday, July 17 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ Starbucks (Hendersonville Rd.)
- Sunday, July 18 | 4:00 - 6:00 PM @ The Hop (Merrimon Ave.)
Calling all youth, middle school and high school ages! Join Amy Kim for a beverage break and some good company.
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Outdoor Worship Service | Sunday, July 18 | 10:45 AM | GCPC Lawn
Worship this week will be outdoors on the GCPC lawn. This service will be a hybrid event, so you can come in person or watch the live stream on our youtube channel. Worship will start at 10:45 as usual.
Check email and Realm Sunday morning for any weather updates.
If you are coming for the face to face service, please remember a few things:
- Bring a chair if you have one
- Bring a water bottle
- Bring a mask (when we do congregational singing we will mask)
- Remember that our parking lot space is limited, so leave yourself time to walk. If you have mobility issues, we do have spaces reserved in the parking lot for you. If you need to drop off your chair so you don’t have to carry it all the way, there will be deacons in the parking lot to help you.
- Remember that we are not asking who is vaccinated. So, we will need to continue to be mindful that everyone is finding their way in this next phase in their own way.
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Red and green bracelets will be available upon arrival for an easy way to signal if you want hugs or not. Some people want to give hugs, others do not. Some people are masking, others are not. Some are distancing, some are not.
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Marcia was invited to write an article about dismantling white supremacy culture in white dominant churches. You can read the article at this link.
"I appreciate the opportunity to write this piece for the Yale ISM Review. It was a gift to reflect on these last 5 years at Grace Covenant and the deep healing work God has called us to together." ~ Marcia
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Phyllis Utley and GCPC Covenant Partner, SOS - Saving Our Selves
GCPC Partner and Native American Tribal Clan Mother Phyllis Utley (Ani-Kusa Cofitachequi) is the visionary founder of SOS, Saving Our Selves. Her mother is Queen Mother Maggie Belle Gladden. Ye Iswa, People of the River Otter Clan.
Phyllis Utley (in black)
Phyllis says SOS is “not a program’ but “a resource hub” that seeks to promote personal and collective healing, She describes SOS as a rapid-response collaborative, an ‘on the ground’ effort based on relationships that helps to make connections when and where there is the opportunity based on reciprocity not philanthropy. Reciprocity is the Indigenous way.
Phyllis, who is a graduate of Dartmouth College (which was promoted in the early days to help the Native Americans) with a degree in Economics and minor in Spanish, served as Diversity Recruiter at Asheville Buncombe Technical Community College. She worked at the college from 2010-17. However, in that role, she became concerned by the gap between appearances and the allocation of resources. As a result, when AB Tech eliminated the Diversity Recruiter position and offered her the role of College Liaison for High School. Students, she felt called to pursue a different path after 6 months in the new position. Her organizing question is: “What if you had a whole alternative system that enabled you to make money make change?” She was fully aware that this is not what they teach in school. She became a Trainer with United for a Fair Economy.
Further to that question, her passion is “working with people where they are” and “helping people to have a bigger picture”. SOS has continued to help individuals navigate college and after college life, worked with families with incarcerated loved ones, paying bail for those innocent until proven guilty. These individuals are simply waiting on their Court Dates and could lose their jobs and homes because the system criminalizes those without financial resources with a disproportionate number of Black people taken captive. SOS has also provided books for parents who are incarcerated and their children to read together. SOS has connected with youth who are incarcerated to address their sense of hopelessness about their future as well as children of affluence in the 1% to inspire them to use their socioeconomic status for the greater good. Another recent effort was the timely distribution of $600 to support youth working during the 2021 Juneteenth event on Martin Luther King Blvd. SOS serves as a connector for individuals who wish to buy from Black owned businesses. For individuals who wish to purchase basic products such as toilet paper, garbage bags, laundry detergent etc SOS has a social entrepreneurial component marketing Freedom Paper Company Products which also helps fund bail outs and provide self and collective care support.
In sum, SOS is the embodiment of Phyllis’ heartfelt and inspiring conviction, “you have to ‘be it.’ The SERVE Council is striving to do just that as we engage in covenant partnership with SOS.
~ Alexandra Lusak, Serve Council Member
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Deacon of the Week:
In this time of physical distancing, the deacons of Grace Covenant continue to be available to talk and pray with you by phone or online and to coordinate care. If
you have difficulty reaching your assigned deacon or if you do not know who your assigned deacon is, please feel free to reach out to our deacon of the week.
This week (7/11-7/17): Martha Ensign Johnson
email: marthaensignjohnson@gmail.com
Next week (7/18-7/24): Jerry Bleckley email: Jerryb@nexuscorp.com
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Prayer requests will stay on the GCPC Prayer List for one month. Please let any staff know if you (or your loved one) would like to remain on the list for longer.
Iglesia Jerusalem congregation
Ryan Lockett (nephew of Denise Lockett)
Jennifer Martin (Yvonne Smith's daughter)
Bertilda Arteta (Marta Alcala-Williams' mother)
Sheldon Smith (Beth Robrechtʼs brother-in-law)
Alyse Pryzant Pribish (Ashley Cooper's mom)
Marie and Jose Palacios and family (Marie is the presbytery coordinator of Guatemala partnerships)
Libby Shook (Melissa Shook's mother)
Harold Shook (Melissa Shook's father)
Bill Ross (Jonathan Ross' dad)
Family of Lilian Probst (niece of Marc and Susan Probst)
Bob Higgins
Florence and Steve Riedesel
Roslyn Carney
Susan Smialowicz
Laura Ross
Bill Williamson
Queen Mother Maggie Belle Gladden
John Mount Shoop
Elizabeth Fisher
Doris Prak
Dan Blake
Chuck Reiley
William Madamba
Mary Lou Nash
Shelia Chapman
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Volunteers Needed!
Would you like to serve on the Bereavement Team? We provide receptions following funeral services. We ask that you commit to one month, working alongside another team member. You can also be on a call list to help as needed. Please contact Cathy Froehlich, oremont2@gmail.com or 828-775-1016.
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Playground and Popsicles | Saturday, July 24| 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Kids 0-11 and their parents are invited to join us on the playground of GCPC for some outdoor community building and popsicles. We will start at 3:00 pm and stick around until 5:00 pm. Please come for a little or a lot of the time! Please bring water bottles for your family.
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The Racial Justice Book Series | Sunday, July 25 | 6:30 -8:00 PM | Outdoors @ GCPC
The Racial Justice Book Series will meet one last time for the summer in person and outdoors on Sunday, July 25th!
Bring your own dinner and be ready to discuss this important text from a faith perspective.
You can also join via Zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/97239066867
Meeting ID: 972 3906 6867 | Passcode: 789
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Presbyterian Womenʼs Circles are Zoom meetings. Please join us.
Circle 1: First Tuesday of each month, 10:00 a.m.
Circle 2: First Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m.
Circle 3: Third Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m.
Circle 4: First Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m.
Circle 5: First Monday of each month, 11:00 a.m.
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Setting up Zoom Meetings:
If you are a part of a group, Team, or Circle at GCPC and you want to have a Zoom meeting, let staff know. We will help you get set up on our GCPC Zoom account for group gatherings and meetings. You can schedule your meeting on the
calendar with Anna Louise, and any staff member can help you get set up for your meeting if you have questions.
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This week 9 Saturday gardeners harvested almost 50 pounds of produce, including chard, green beans, cucumbers, squash (yellow and zucchini) and okra for use by YTL families.
Ten Wednesday gardeners harvested 80 pounds of produce (zucchini, summer squash, cukes, green beans, okra, and collards) for delivery to the YWCA. A volunteer from Los Angeles joined the team in weeding.
Allison and YTL campers pulled collards, planted provider bean seeds, and weeded the rain garden.
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Community Working Together | |
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Medicare for All Rally | Saturday, July 24 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM | Downtown AVL (starting at the intersection of Biltmore Ave. and Hospital Dr. and marching to Pack Park)
More than 90 million Americans are without access to health care because they lack insurance or because they can't pay sky-high deductibles. The average deductible today is more than $4,000, at a time when 41 percent of Americans say that they can't afford to pay a surprise bill of $400 without borrowing money. No one should die because they can't afford to pay Big Insurance's prices, yet an estimated 68,000 Americans die every year from this lack of access to care. That's about one every eight minutes.
For updates and to RSVP: https://actionnetwork.org/events/medicare-for-all-asheville/
Sponsors: Sunrise Movement Asheville, the Asheville Racial Justice Coalition, Healthcare For All WNC, the Progressive Dems of Buncombe County, the Western Circle of the NC Poor People's Campaign, Indivisible Asheville and others.
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Lifting up the people of Haiti -
Stated Clerk and the Office of Public Witness issue Call to Prayer following presidential assassination
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, associate director of advocacy for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, have issued a Call to Prayer for Haiti following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and the shooting of his wife, Martine Moïse, on Wednesday.
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PC(USA) advocacy director joins in Poor People’s Campaign events; you can too -
Rev. Jimmie Hawkins talks about four weeks of ‘Moral Monday’ direct action events
~ by Rich Copley
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, Associate Director of Advocacy in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), will be participating with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival in four weeks of “Moral Monday” non-violent direct action events to call for voting rights and the $15 minimum wage.
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PC(USA) joins ecumenical call for reparations commission -
At press conference, faith leaders call for House to pass bill before August recess
~ by Rich Copley
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness participated in an ecumenical call on Tuesday to support a bill before the House of Representatives calling for a commission to study reparations for people who are Black following centuries of injustice.
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, Associate Director of Advocacy for the PC(USA), said, “We urge Congress to pass H.R.40 before recess. This is an issue of racial justice, equity and equality. We remind Congress that this call is not new but a continuation of one that has been issued since the end of the Civil War.”
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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance concerned about government treatment of migrant children -
Statement comes after whistleblower complaint about intake center in Fort Bliss, Texas
~ by Rich Copley
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is expressing deep concern and calling for action by Congress and the Biden Administration after whistleblower reports of inhumane conditions at an intake and processing center for unaccompanied migrant children in Fort Bliss, Texas.
In a July 7 letter from the Government Accountability Project . . . detailed a wide variety of examples of mismanagement and mistreatment of children at the center.
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GCPC Ministry Partner, Working Wheels, Cruises to 240
Working Wheels has now served over 240 families in Western North Carolina with safe, reliable transportation!
Founded in 2014 as a very small, all-volunteer satellite office of Wheels4Hope in Raleigh, Working Wheels has grown into an independent nonprofit with 5 employees and two separate transportation programs: one for participants in need of cars, and one for participants who already own cars and are in need of affordable repairs.
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Buncombe Community Remembrance Project
July, 2021 Issue
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A fun night out!
Put on your dancing shoes, warm up your voice and head over to Waynesville and the HART Community Theater’s delightful production of Gershwin Music in “S’Wonderful”!
Our own GCPC Matt Wiedel and his lovely and talented wife Lara light up the stage with nonstop music which is magical. Our Dine with Nine group went on opening night and we were thrilled.
If you like Broadway, great singing and dancing, you will love this production.
And you will feel “family pride“ while watching our very own Matt and Lara. “
Heath and Peggy Rada
John and Nancy Kramer
Blake and Janet
Melissa and Ann Brown
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Summertime Stewardship
Are you looking forward to time outside and away
from screens, but concerned about staying on top of your pledged giving? Don't worry, there are ways to give easily remotely, even automatically!
MAIL gifts to the office at 789 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC 28804(the office remains closed but we are checking the mail)
BANK BILL PAY mails checks remotely, one-time or on a recurring schedule – contact your bank to set this up
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ONLINE at https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/give/now
or through your Realm Connect smartphone app
TEXT "giveGCPC" to 73256 on your mobile device, then follow the prompts
Interested in setting up online recurring giving? Follow these simple step-by-step instructions to self-manage eGiving through Realm or return this signed authorization form to have our Finance Office set up on your behalf.
If you have any questions, please contact Natalie in our Finance office at nweaver@gcpcusa.org or by leaving a message for Natalie Weaver at 828-254-3274.
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HOW TO CONTACT STAFF:
Our staff are all still working remotely as the office remains closed due to the pandemic. To leave a voicemail for a staff member to return your call, follow these steps:
- Beginning in June, the office will be open on Tuesdays, 10am - 4pm.
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Call the office at 828-254-3274.
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Listen through the office closure notice, which will then take you to a staff directory.
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Enter the first 3 letters of either the staff member's first or last name on your phone keypad (i.e. to reach Natalie Weaver, you'd enter 628 for NAT or 932 for WEA).
- You'll be directed to the staff member's individual voicemail, where you can leave a message to be returned as soon as possible.
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If you just want to leave a message for the general voicemail box, press 0.
You can also reach our staff by email- please see our website for each staff member's individual email address.
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Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804
828.254.3274
www.gcpcusa.org
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