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Sunday, January 1 - Pancake breakfast and worship in the Fellowship Hall | | |
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GCPC @ Montreat College Conference
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Worship Preview | Sunday, January 8, 2023
Baptism of the Lord
In-person and Online Service
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*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here. | |
| Sunday, January 8 | Hybrid Worship
(In-person and online) | 9:30 am @ GCPC
(also on Youtube) | | Sunday, January 8 | Session Mtg.
(Called to receive new members) | 9:00 am | Jerusalem Room | | Sunday, January 8 | Fellowship Time | 10:45 am | Narthex | | Sunday, January 8 | Formation for All Ages | 11:00 am
*please see details below | | Sunday, January 8 | Middle School Youth Group | 4:30 pm | Youth Room | | Sunday, January 8 | Cancer Support Steering Team Mtg. | 7:00 pm on Zoom | | Monday, January 9 | PW Circle 1 Mtg. | 10:00 am | Fellowship Hall | | Monday, January 9 | Prayer Group
(new members welcome!) | 10:00 am | Garden Room | | Monday, January 9 | Volunteer with La Milpa | 1:00 pm | Emma United Methodist | | Tuesday - Thursday | Church Office OPEN | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | | Tuesday, January 10 | PW Circle 4 Mtg. | 10:30 am | Offsite | | Tuesday, January 10 | Guatemala Comm. Mtg. | 5:30 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, January 10 | Property Council Mtg. | 6:00 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, January 10 | Memorial Garden Comm. Mtg. | 7:00 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, January 10 | PW Circle 3 Mtg. | 7:00 pm | Offsite | | Wednesday, January 11 | Bible Study | 12:00 pm | Jerusalem Room (also on Zoom) | | Wednesday, January 11 | APNC Mtg. | 6:00 pm on Zoom | | Wednesday, January 11 | Choir Rehearsal | 7:00 pm | Sanctuary | | |
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Children's Formation (K-5th Grade) | Sundays | 11:00 AM | Sanctuary
The children will begin in the Sanctuary with prayer, music and storytelling. At 11:25 am they will travel to their "wondering rooms" (second floor of Education Wing) to finish their Godly Play lesson. Pick up is at noon and children are invited to take a snack home.
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Youth Formation (Middle/High School) | Sundays | 11:00 AM | Youth Room
After worship service starting at 11 a.m. Middle and High Schoolers will meet together in the new youth room. We will provide breakfast-like snacks and will be learning about Holy Troublemakers and Unconventional Saints.
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Serve Volunteer Opportunity -
Fight Food Insecurity!
Join us on Monday, January 9, at the MANNA FoodBank mobile market organized by our covenant partner Colaborativa La Milpa. Help put food on the tables of food insecure families in the Emma community of Asheville.
Come for an hour or the whole afternoon. We need more GCPC helping hands and loving ❤️ hearts.
DATE: Monday, January 9
LOCATION: Emma United Methodist Church, 55 Adams Hill Rd., Asheville
SCHEDULE:
- 1-3 PM Set up tables of dry and canned goods; bag produce.
- 3-5 PM Restock items, assist families as they fill their carts.
Here are the dates for the full year if you would like to put them in your calendar:
- January 9
- February 6
- March 6
- April 3
- May 1
- June 5
- July 3
- August 7
- September 4
- October 2
- November 6
- December 4
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Bible Study | Wednesdays | 12:00 PM | Jerusalem Room & 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!
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82947867192
Meeting ID: 829 4786 7192 Passcode: 789
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Stewardship & Sustainability | |
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WE'RE GETTING CLOSE!
Finance Council and Session are working to finalize the 2023 budget, but we need pledges to set the income and expenses.
If you're already donating but haven't pledged, please take a few minutes today to let us know your giving plans for the next year by submitting a pledge.
If you haven't given or pledged before but would like to talk to someone about how impactful your support could be, let us know! We can connect you with a member of the Finance Council or Treasurer to share some of the amazing ways GCPC dollars are put to good use.
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2022 YEAR END STATEMENTS - COMING SOON!
Your 2022 year end giving statements will be issued mid to late January once the accounting year is closed. If you want to check your 2022 pledge balance or have questions, you can check the Giving tab in Realm (change the date filter to last year) or contact Natalie in the Finance office at natalie@gcpcusa.org or 828.254.3274.
All statements will be emailed unless we do not have an email address on file for you or you have specifically requested a printed statement.
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READY TO SUBMIT YOUR 2023 PLEDGE?
Submitting your pledge is quick and easy! (Watch a tutorial video here.) Simply CLICK HERE or scan the Qr code to the right 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. These are two separate steps and forms - setting up a pledge does not renew eGiving automatically and eGiving without a pledge doesn't count towards our Stewardship and budget goals.
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 giving@gcpcusa.org or leave a message at 828.254.3274.
Keep in mind, anyone can pledge any amount - every single penny helps support the ministry and mission at GCPC!
WAYS TO PLEDGE:
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Online pledge card HERE
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Email giving@gcpcusa.org
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Call 828.254.3274 and leave a message for Natalie Weaver
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Fill out a pew pledge card and put in the Sunday offering plate
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Request a mailed pledge card from the office
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Important Announcements... | |
Update from the Winter Shelter Team: | |
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We are grateful to share that the Presbytery of Western NC has agreed to partner with the Winter Safe Shelter team to provide shelter to 10 guests at the former West Asheville Presbyterian Church. This shelter remains a referral based, 10-person nightly capacity shelter serving intact families, BIPOC, and LGBTQI individuals. More details on the webpage.
If you have questions about referrals you can contact the brilliant Operations Coordinators, Gene, Tracey, and Kat by clicking here.
Please sign up for evenings you may be able to volunteer. The link to the volunteer schedule is on the webpage, or you can access it here. Once you sign up, you will receive a call from one of the coordinators to confirm and let you know a little more.
Your pledge to GCPC helps fund the financial support GCPC is providing for this shelter initiative. If you would like to encourage others to contribute to the effort by donating funds or if you would like to donate items,
Please share the link to the Winter Safe Shelter info page www.counterflowasheville.com/safeshelter.
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Deacon of the Week:
The deacons of Grace Covenant are 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.
Next week (1/8-1/14): Bill McNeff | email: wpmcn6@yahoo.com
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Prayer requests will stay on the GCPC Prayer List for one month. Please let any staff member know if you (or your loved one) would like to remain on the list for longer.
Iglesia Jerusalem congregation
Trey and Alisha Thompson and 3 kids - Gabi, Arlo, and Eldon (Patty and Brent Thompson's son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren)
Rebecca Longenecker-Singer (sister-in-law of Loidaly & Hans Rosario-Singer)
Bill Ross (Jonathan Ross' dad)
Diane Eubanks (Marty Johnson’s sister)
Jamie Waskey (Anna Hamel's sister-in-law)
Richard Davis (Lori Davis’s father)
Bill Brown (Mary Lou Nash's brother)
Archie Young (Leslie Sharpe's father)
Susan Smialowicz
Doris Prak
Michelle Chromey and family
Andrea Rosal
Sharon Sasse
Lisette de Groot
Reed Carney
Laura Ross
Margaret Rada
Juanita Schneider
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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: Second Tuesday of each month (some Zoom and some in-person), 7:00 p.m.
Circle 4: Second Tuesdays of each month, 10:30 a.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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Community Working Together | |
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Creation Care Alliance will hold its annual Creation Care Symposium at Montreat for clergy and faith leaders Monday, February 6, 1-5:30 pm and then an open symposium on Tuesday February 7, 8:30am-5:30pm. Grace Covenant is a progressive faith community. We have solar panels, we recycle, and we vote for laws to protect the God’s Creation, but I wonder if, as a congregation, we can’t do more. I would love for several of us to go to the Tuesday symposium so that we can get our EARTH TEAM very active again in new and ‘creative’ ways.
Check out the CREATION CARE ALLIANCE website for more info about this symposium and contact Susan Presson(4pressons@gmail.com) if interested in registering together as a faith community.
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AVL GreenWorks | DIY Litter Cleanup | Ongoing (anytime, anywhere!)
Organizing a litter cleanup with your friends, neighbors, co-workers, or other community members is easier than you may think! Asheville GreenWorks provides cleanup supplies and safety information, and will coordinate trash pick up as needed. Supplies include gloves, safety vests, trash bags, trash grabbers, and a SHARPs container. Register now to learn more about borrowing supplies to organize your own cleanup!
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UNC Asheville presents: | |
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Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Keynote Address from Clint Smith, “Our History, Reimagined” | Wednesday, January 18 | 7:00 - 8:30 PM | Lipinsky Hall
UNC Asheville presents “Our History, Reimagined,” a Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Address from keynote speaker Clint Smith in Lipinsky Hall on Wednesday, January 18. This event is free and open to all, no tickets are required.
In a conversation exploring Civil Rights movements over the decades, as well as how memorials tie into our perceptions and collective memories of these eras, Clint pushes the audience to wrestle with the complicated truths about the country we live in and helps crystalize how this history has shaped the contemporary social, political, and cultural landscape of our world today.
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A Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates | Tuesday, February 28 | 7:00 - 8:30 PM | Sherrill Center / Kimmel Arena
UNC Asheville welcomes award-winning author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates in conversation in the Sherrill Center’s Kimmel Arena on Tuesday, February 28. The event, which will include a reading and question-and-answer session, is free and open to all but requires advanced registration through Eventbrite. Books will be available for purchase at the event.
To register, visit the event page on Eventbrite.
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Interfaith Initiative -
Social Justice Opportunities
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Buncombe Community Remembrance Project |
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Celebrating the Baptism of Our Lord -
New beginnings begin at the font
~ by Marie Mainard O’Connell
January is a month when people embrace new beginnings. It is a time to start fresh or even start over. Resolutions are written down and the Christmas season ends with the feast of Epiphany, Jan. 6. It is a day to remember not only the Magi’s faithful following of the nativity star, but to also begin seeing God in flesh in the way of Christ working among us. But on the heels of Epiphany is an often-overlooked celebration that can have a meaningful impact on one’s faith — the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Sunday. On this day, congregations not only recall how Jesus’ ministry began with his baptism, but they are also reminded how baptism is an important beginning for them as well.
It was the dreaded church “calendaring meeting” — juggling special Sundays, worship themes, vacation dates and competing programming for the months ahead. We were finally past Advent to languidly plan January.
“OK, if we moved Epiphany, which falls on a Friday this year, to the Sunday after, then the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, which follows the Sunday after the Sunday in which we observe Epiphany, gets bumped right before Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. So, which theme do we celebrate?” That was the question racking our brains.
The discussion that followed revealed a host of challenges with the Baptism of the Lord Sunday — traditionally observed the Sunday following Epiphany, Jan. 6 — that went beyond calendaring. The challenges included a vague discomfort with the Gospels’ disagreement on how Jesus’ baptism occurred; a well-worn ritual remembering baptism that left folks ambivalent on the “baptism-lite rite”; an embarrassing reminder of how few baptisms have occurred of late within the church; and (honestly?) the distaste for the disused, dusty — even ugly — fonts with unwieldy tops and shallow basins that did not exactly invite creative inspiration. Why focus on Jesus’ baptism if Martin Luther King Jr. Day seemed better for prophetic vision and kingdom values? Well, why not celebrate both?
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Drone warfare the subject of an informative webinar hosted by a PC(USA) partner -
Topics include international law, theological implications and grassroots lobbying efforts
~ by Mike Ferguson
Last month’s webinar “Drone War, Tech Assassinations and the Future of Conflict” provided viewers with a thoughtful examination of policies, the law and the theology around the deadly use of drones and included ways Presbyterians and others can learn more and make their beliefs known to lawmakers and the Biden administration. Watch the hour-long webinar, hosted by the Interfaith Working Group on Drone Warfare, by going here.
The Rev. Dr. Nathan Hosler, director of the Office of Peacebuilding and Policy at the Church of the Brethren, and Holly Metcalf, director of Peace with Justice with the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society, convened the panel, which included:
Eviatar noted international humanitarian law — the laws of war deriving from the Geneva Conventions and other sources — governs lethal force in armed conflict. There’s also international human rights law, which is designed to regulate the use of force outside armed conflict and is permissible only to prevent an attack on human life. The United States, Eviatar said, does not recognize international human rights law outside its borders.
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NEW DATES!!
Fraught & Flummoxed: Courage and Creativity for the Elevation of the Gospel | January 30–February 2, 2023 | Montreat
In a time when the gospel of Jesus is threatened by the ascendance of Christian nationalism and white supremacy, what is the apprehensive, overstretched church leader to do? How does a leader tend one’s soul for the elevation of the gospel? How do followers of Jesus meet this moment with courage and imagination?
Building on the content of past conferences such as CoInspire, DisGrace, and MLK’s Unfinished Agenda, we will engage in three days of peer learning group work in partnership with Crossroads to examine the current challenges of leadership in this time and place. Furthermore, we will critically reflect on the obstacles of leadership as well as explore tangible and embodied practices involving creativity, movement, and contemplative exercises with the goal of building capacity and endurance for this important work. All levels of interest and experience are welcome as we will host three customized tracks of learning, nurture, and growth.
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The church office is open Tuesday - Thursday, 10am - 4pm.
We recommend calling ahead or emailing to set up an appointment if you are wanting to meet with a specific staff member. Please note, many staff are off or work remotely on Monday and the office is not open on Friday.
Coming to visit? We have a new video doorbell to assist with security. To access the building or office, please enter through the far left glass doors off the courtyard (labeled Enter). Ring the doorbell to have the door unlocked. The GCPC office is down the hall to the right, just past the Sanctuary.
You can also reach our office by phone at 828.254.3274. Follow the prompts for the staff directory to dial by name or press 0 for the main office.
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Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804
828.254.3274
www.gcpcusa.org
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