GCPC Weekly News | October 21, 2021
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900 lbs. of spuds! Harvested at the Cole Family Farm. | | |
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This week's Stewardshift video! | |
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This year, pledging through Realm is even easier! (Watch a tutorial video here.) Simply CLICK HERE to submit your pledge online, all in one form.
If you would also like to set up automatic eGiving from your bank account or credit card, be sure to checkmark Add a scheduled gift for this pledge after the pledge confirmation and follow the prompts.
You will receive an email confirmation of your pledge and a separate confirmation for eGiving, if applicable. Questions or concerns? Please contact Natalie Weaver, Stewardship & Financial Administrator, at nweaver@gcpcusa.org or leave a message at 828.254.3274.
WAYS TO PLEDGE:
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Online pledge card HERE
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Email Nweaver@gcpcusa.org
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Call 828.254.3274 and leave a message for Natalie Weaver
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Request a mailed pledge card from the office
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Pledge Confirmation Emails
You will receive an email confirmation of your pledge when entered in Realm, whether you do it yourself or have the office assist. If you do not receive an email, your pledge may not have been submitted successfully or we may have an incorrect email address on your account. Please reach out to nweaver@gcpcusa.org if you have any questions or would like to confirm your pledge was received.
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Please keep in mind, pledging online does not automatically set up online recurring giving unless you go through the second set up selecting your bank account and giving details after submitting your pledge. If you are not sure if you set up eGiving or need assistance, please contact our Finance Office. | |
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Pledges & Prepay
Now that 2022 pledges have started to come in, you may wonder if you can prepay that before the end of the year. The answer is "yes," but please be sure to differentiate between the current year (2021 General Fund) and next year (2022 General Fund).
If you are prepaying a 2022 pledge for next year, please be sure to notate that on your gift- simply write "2022 pledge" in the memo line of your check or select 2022 General Fund online.
If you have questions about your 2021 pledge balance or need assistance in submitting a 2022 pledge, please reach out to Natalie Weaver in the Finance Office at nweaver@gcpcusa.org or leave a message at 828.254.3274.
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Deacon and Elder Nominations
The Nominating Committee is seeking recommendations from the congregation for persons to serve as an Elder or Deacon, beginning in February 2022. Please fill this out by October 31st.
The Nominating Committee, relying on the Holy Spirit, will be guided by prayer, their sense of the gifts that are needed to be called into service in this way, and by the guidance of the Book of Order.
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“Elders should be persons of faith, dedication, and good judgment. Their manner of life should be a demonstration of the Christian gospel, both within the church and in the world.” | |  |
The office of Deacon...“is one of compassion, witness, and service after the example of Jesus Christ. Persons of spiritual character, honest repute, of exemplary lives, brotherly and sisterly love, sincere compassion, and sound judgment should be chosen for this office.” | | |
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How to Check-In for worship on the Realm app
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Worship Preview | Sunday, October 24, 2021 | | |
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Sermon:
“Be the Shift”
by Marcia Mount Shoop
Scripture:
Mark 10:46-52
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*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here. | |
| Thursday, October 21 | 20s/30s/Beyond Gathering: Pumpkin Carving & Cookout | 6:30 pm at Ben Kees' and Alex Hollifield's house | | Thursday, October 21 | Earth Team Mtg. | 7:00 pm on Zoom | | Saturday, October 23 | Prince/Pollard Wedding | 1:00 pm on Youtube | | Sunday, October 24 | Adult Education Class - Caste | 9:00 am on Zoom | | Sunday, October 24 | Kids Zoom Adventure | 10:15 am on Zoom | | Sunday, October 24 | Livestream Worship | 10:45 am on Youtube | | Sunday, October 24 | Kids Pumpkin Carving | 3:30 pm @ GCPC | | Sunday, October 24 | Confirmation Class | 3:30 on Zoom | | Sunday, October 24 | High School Youth Group | 5:30 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, October 26 | CHURCH OFFICE OPEN! | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | | Tuesday, October 26 | Session Mtg. | 6:00 pm on Zoom | | Wednesday, Oct. 27 | Bible Study | 10:00 am on Zoom | | Wednesday, Oct. 27 | Choir Rehearsal pod | 7:00 pm in Sanctuary | | Thursday, October 28 | Men of GCPC Gathering | 8:30 am on Zoom | | |
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Earth Team Meeting | TONIGHT, October 21 | 7:15 PM | via Zoom
Please join the Earth Team TONIGHT at 7:15pm, as we explore what we at GCPC can do, both locally & globally, to heal our planet. We will discuss such topics as environmental justice, saving our “treasure tree”, & our activity as an Earth Care Congregation.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/91859541587
Meeting ID: 918 5954 1587 | Passcode: 789
If you can, attend the Environmental Justice Zoom with Creative Care Alliance before the meeting, 6-7pm. Information is below:
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Prophetic Witness, Environmental Justice, & the Mountain Valley Pipeline: Zooming with Rev. Michael Malcom
Join us on Thursday, October 21st, from 6-7pm for our monthly CCA all-region Zoom meeting with Rev. Michael Malcom, Executive Director of The People's Justice Council and Alabama Interfaith Power & Light.
Rev. Malcom will discuss his experience protesting with those on the frontlines of the struggle against the Mountain Valley Pipeline—a natural gas pipeline cutting through the neighborhoods of our siblings in central Appalachia and the North Carolina foothills, contributing to environmental injustice and climate change.
REGISTER HERE
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Wedding of Keith Prince and Rick Pollard
Saturday, October 23 | 1:00 PM | via livestream
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Keith and Rick regret not having an open invitation to their wedding for the GCPC church family due to COVID protocols around limited seating in the sanctuary. However, they would like to invite you to join via YouTube for their wedding on October 23rd at 1 pm. | | | |
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GCPC Kids & Families: Pizza & Pumpkins | Sunday, October 24 | 3:30 - 5:30 PM | GCPC Lawn
Join us on the church lawn for pumpkin carving followed by pizza. Bring your own Pumpkin(s) and we will have everything else you need.
Masks will be required for all in-person events.
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Fall Adult Education - Caste | Sundays | October 10 - November 21 | 9:00 AM | via Zoom
A Close and Spiritual Reading of Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. We will go through Caste chapter by chapter on Sunday mornings. Leaders from the Racial Justice Book Series will take turns leading the discussion. Whether you were a part of the summer gatherings or not, whether you read the book years ago, or are coming to it for the first time, please join us! Questions? Email Richard Coble.
Reading Schedule
- 10/24: Part 3, p. 99-164
- 10/31: Part 4, p. 167-260
- 11/7: Part 5, p. 263-308
- 11/14: Part 6, p. 311-357
- 11/21: Part 7, p. 361-388
| GCPC Kids Zoom Adventure | Sundays | 10:15 AM | via Zoom | |
You will receive an email on Friday with the zoom information.
Email Cat Kessler (ckessler@gcpcsua.org) if you would like to be added to the list.
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Lectionary Bible Study | Wednesday, October 20 | 10:00 AM | via Zoom
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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Rev. Tami Seeing Transformation in our Faith Communities
Covenant Partner FAITH 4 JUSTICE ASHEVILLE
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Faith 4 Justice Asheville (F4J) missioner, the Rev. Tami Forte Logan, stays real busy. She’s a familiar face at GCPC for past workshops, Sunday preaching, the pilgrimage to the Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the recent zoom seminar “The Violence and Virtue of White Women’s Tears." Currently, Rev. Tami consults with GCPC’s Building Visioning Team and helps Asheville’s Land of the Sky UCC deepen their work of dismantling white supremacy. At the same time, she continues to offer support to many people involved in regional racial equity efforts. (See video “Why F4J?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf-Y4wwFdzk)
The work of F4J started as a collaboration between Rev. Tami and area clergy convinced that God calls us to the task of provoking justice for and with black and brown bodied people through faith and racial equity work. One way to achieve the goal is to help faith leaders—clergy and laity—"tell the truth.” Rev. Tami gets many calls, texts, and emails from pastors seeking advice and support as they begin a transition to ministry focused on justice and equity. She then pairs more seasoned F4J clergy with those just beginning the risky journey of change so that support can be ongoing and frequent. “These pastors risk a lot, including their jobs.” Despite the dangers, “we have to stop elevating whiteness above God,” she exhorts.
In 2020, Rev. Tami cited working with young Black leaders as one of her favorite parts of the year. This time when asked what has been good about 2021, she answered with this: “Spirit is happening. Spirit is provoking justice.” Expressing her deep faith and giving hope to all who listen, she attests, “I’ve been doing justice and equity work for over twenty years and now I am finally beginning to see people of faith gaining a courage and boldness they didn’t have before. I am blessed to witness a good deal of personal and spiritual transformation and there’s no question we are starting to see shifts, ‘holy shifts,’ as Marcia would say.” Rev. Tami continues, “People are more vocal. More churches are getting involved at a deeper level and I am grateful that the Holy Spirit is provoking justice in ways we have not seen before. The more our region grapples with racial reckoning and repair, the more I feel empowered and encouraged on this journey toward collective liberation.”
GCPC, we are so blessed to have Rev. Tami in our faith community. Please pray for her and the Faith 4 Justice collaborative. If you are able, support the work with a financial gift so the F4J collaborative might reach even more people with the message of hope and liberation.
Donation link: https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/-/form/give/F4J.
~ Submitted by John Huie and Lynne Meacham
More about Faith 4 Justice at https://www.faith4justiceasheville.org/
and https://www.facebook.com/Faith4JusticeAVL
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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 (10/17-10/23): Jeane Smith | email: jeane.smith22@gmail.com
Next week (10/24-10/30): John Curry | email: jcurryavl@gmail.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
Marge and Warren Weidner (Jane Stoffer’s sister and brother in law)
Jami Schaefer (friend of Sarah Van Gunten’s life long friend, Sherry)
Debi Miller (friend of Marcia Mount Shoop)
Joan Haag (Carolyn Haag’s mother)
Jeff (Tricia Hynes’ son)
Dick Gibson (Jeff Gibson’s dad)
Davis (son of Linda Upchurch)
Maria and Esteban Goicoechea (La Mariposa and her husband)
Winnie Martel (Prayers for Winnie and Susie Churchfield)
Jennifer Martin (Yvonne Smith’s daughter)
Tayler Alexandria (Marta’s goddaughter)
Bob Higgins
Florence and Steve Riedesel
Susan Smialowicz
Laura Ross
Bill Williamson
Queen Mother Maggie Belle Gladden
Elizabeth Fisher
Doris Prak
The Seddon Family
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VRQ—BBQ Cook Team | Tuesday, November 2 | 4:30 or 5:45 PM
On the First Tuesday of each month, a team of folks gather at the Veterans Restoration Quarters, (1329 Tunnel Road) to grill hamburgers and prepare supper for more than 200 US Armed Forces Veterans living in transitional housing at the VRQ— an ABCCM Ministry.
The VRQ continues to have a good record of preventing COVID infection for staff, residents and volunteers. They are still using the infection control method of preparing the trays then the residents are allowed in, spaced apart, and seated one per table. They have also been responsible in cancelling or limiting our participation if there has been any significant exposure or community conditions change. Policy is that all employees are to wear masks. I have been assured by Danny Szemple, volunteer coordinator, that any volunteer may ask an employee to put on their mask to cover both mouth and nose.
Because changes may occur without notice IT IS IMPORTANT THAT I KNOW WHO IS COMING each month so that I can communicate any changes. The second concern is that the number of volunteers has been down. Some of our regulars are unable to come because of the pandemic. We need to have at least four and preferably six willing to be there to cook and three to help prepare the trays each month. If more want to come, we can always find things for them to do. Thanks for responding if you can be there. We do this routine on the first Tuesday of each month. Hope to see you there.
~Bill Neeriemer, bill.nmer@gmail.com
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Presbyterian Womenʼs Circles are Zoom meetings. Please join us.
Circle 1: Second Monday of each month, 10:00 a.m.
Circle 2: First Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m.
Circle 3: Varies (Click here to see schedule for 2021-2022), 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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Need to set up a church zoom meeting?
Contact Anna Louise and she can get you all set up!
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On Saturday 8 gardeners harvested 106 pounds of lettuce, green peppers, beans, eggplant, okra, jalapenos, snacking peppers, tomatoes and collards for use by YTL families.
On Wednesday Allison and team 3 gardeners harvested 171 pounds of tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, jalapenos, collard greens and delivered them to the YWCA.
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Also on Wednesday 9 gardeners harvested 900 pounds of potatoes at Jasperwood Farm for donation to our distribution partners.
A new garden shed will be installed on October 27.
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It's never too late to sign up to volunteer in the garden. Please contact Betsy Wilson at betsywilson1111@gmail.com if you are interested. | |
Community Working Together | |
8th African Americans in Western North Carolina & Southern Appalachia Conference: "Reparations, Revelations & Racial Justice: The Path Forward" | Saturday, November 6 | 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM | |
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As a project of the UNC Asheville, The African Americans in WNC and Southern Appalachia Conference illuminates the African American experience in Southern Appalachia including history, culture, community, and enterprise. Now in its 8th year, the conference seeks to eradicate incomplete and false narratives about African Americans in this region, while creating new possibilities for the future.
In this way, the Conference will continue to be a community-wide effort in making the invisible histories of African Americans, and other historically minoritized highlanders—visible—and it has grown to encompass the living histories and mutable futures of our vital community here in WNC.
Click here to see the Program Schedule.
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What is Advocacy? | Wednesday, November 3 | 6:00 - 7:30 PM | Online
This advocacy training seminar will be shaped around the Matthew 25 Initiative and answer questions like, "What is advocacy?", "What are the various forms of advocacy with examples?", and "What does advocacy mean in a church contact?"
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Erlinda Quesada (right), an activist from an area in Costa Rica, shares about her community’s struggles for environmental justice at Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Mission co-worker Karla Ann Koll is translating. (Photo courtesy of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church) | |
Land use in Latin America and systemic poverty - Asking good questions moves us to solidarity
~ by Mark Hare
To end systemic poverty, we first must understand its root causes by asking good questions. In Latin America and the Caribbean, two good questions to ask are, “How is the land used?” and “How are the people who live on that land treated?”
In Nicaragua, Indigenous groups who live along the coast and extensive rivers in the eastern half of the country struggle to control their land, despite laws passed in 1987 and 2007 that recognized their land rights. But policies and attitudes of the government encourage encroachment on traditional lands as well as outright confiscation of land for mining, lumber and cattle ranching. At the same time, global warming led to two hurricanes in fall 2020, Eta and Iota. These historically powerful hurricanes devastated many of these same communities. National and international aid to help these remote communities recover has been minimal.
In Haiti, the 2010 earthquake set the stage for massive international investment in a Free Trade Zone along the northern coast. It’s the same coast where many small communities have traditionally used state land for irrigated crop production, and their proximity to the ocean for fishing. To create the large tracts of land to build factories, international investors moved the families away from the coast into poorly constructed housing surrounded by semi-arid soils. In the end, the complex provided a small fraction of the employment that had been promised, leaving many families with almost no means of support.
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Susan Krehbiel, Associate for Refugees and Asylum for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. (Rich Copley) |
PC(USA) is major supporter of refugee and migration conference -
Church World Service presenting ‘Together We Welcome’ five-day virtual event in November
~ by Rich Copley
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is one of the major sponsors of Together We Welcome, a five-day virtual Church World Service (CWS) conference to strengthen support in the faith community for immigrants, migrants and refugees.
The Nov. 7-11 conference is designed to help people at the community and congregational levels see how they can be involved in welcoming and the issues surrounding immigration.
“There are several reasons that I am excited about this conference,” said Susan Krehbiel, associate for Refugees & Asylum for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). “Presbyterians have a long tradition of welcoming refugees and newcomers into our communities but individual congregations and their members may not have recent experience. Conferences like this help individual congregations see how they are part of something really big while offering an opportunity to really dig into the nuts and bolts of this type of ministry. Working together with other faith groups, refugee and immigrant leaders, we can offer a much broader conference than we could do on our own. And the workshops and denominational breakout sessions create spaces for local church leaders to network and learn from the experience of others.”
Click here to register for Together We Welcome
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The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett discusses antiracism during the broadcast of Good Medicine on October 13, 2021. |
Matthew 25 and decolonization -
‘We are created in the image of God, and we are created to be different. And difference is not deficient’
~ by Pam Wineman
The Matthew 25 vision challenges the PC(USA) to “see the ways to reform, rethink and reimagine how we engage in this world that needs our witness now, to point people to another reality and another way of being that invites all God’s children to the table,” the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), said during the October broadcast of “Good Medicine,” hosted by the Rev. Gregory Bentley and Ruling Elder Elona Street-Stewart, Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly (2020).
Matthew 25 is an invitation for Presbyterian congregations, mid councils, and other related organizations and agencies to actively engage in the world around them. Both the 222nd and 223rd General Assemblies (2016 and 2018) called on the PC(USA) to act boldly and compassionately to build congregational vitality, dismantle structural racism and eradicate systemic poverty.
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Webinar on human rights for the LGBTQIA+ community set for Monday
The event is another in fulfillment of a 223rd General Assembly (2018) overture
~ by Kathy Melvin
Dr. Michael J. Adee, a global advocate for human rights for LGBTQIA+, is the featured speaker during a storytelling webinar at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday. The event is open to everyone, but registration is required. Register for the free event here.
Adee is a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ruling elder who served as executive director for More Light Presbyterians from 1999 until 2012 and helped lead the successful campaign to end the ordination barriers to LGBTQIA+ ministers in the PC(USA). He has also been instrumental in the founding of several national and international LGBTQ+ organizations and, during the webinar, will offer insight about what other churches and organizations are doing around the globe.
The event was planned in response to a 223rd (2018) General Assembly overture, On Celebrating the Gifts of People of Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities in the Life of the Church, approved by commissioners by consensus with amendments. In 2019, a committee was formed out of the World Mission initiative to engage the PC(USA) in responding to that overture.
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John Philip Newell presents Spiritual Exile & Seeds of Promise | Saturday, November 20 | 1:00 PM | Online | Cost: $25
In his widely acclaimed series Spiritual Exile & Seeds of Promise, John Philip Newell explores the yearnings that have led countless numbers of people into an experience of exile from the religious traditions of their inheritance, whether in literally leaving church or in looking well beyond its bounds for vision and nourishment.
‘Listening to the Inner Child’, the fifth episode in the series, will explore our longing for interconnectedness. This is a yearning that honors the way of the child again, whose instinct from birth is for relationship. The diaspora of today is disillusioned with religion’s path of separateness, prompting as it has done the divisions that lead also to hatred and violence. A vital characteristic of today’s vast spiritual quest is the search for interrelationship in all realms of life as the way of wellbeing.
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HOW TO CONTACT STAFF:
The church office is open weekly for walk-ins on Tuesdays, 10am - 4pm. Our staff can also be reached by email or voicemail Monday - Wednesday. To leave a voicemail for a staff member to return your call, follow these steps:
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Call the main 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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