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Lent Devotional - "Full to the Brim"

Sign up to receive a copy of the Lenten devotional, "Full to the Brim," created by A Sanctified Art. You can choose to receive a printed copy mailed to your address or a digital PDF copy sent directly to your email.

Beginning with Ash Wednesday, this weekly devotional follows the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C) through Easter Sunday. As you journey through the devotional at your own pace, you will find scriptures, poems, art, reflections, and hymns that are filled with promises of God’s abundant and expansive grace.

A Sanctified Art is a team of artists in ministry who create multimedia resources for worshiping communities of all shapes and sizes. They work collaboratively to bring scripture and theological themes to life through visual art, poetry, liturgy, curriculum, worship installation art, coloring pages, graphic design, and more.

WORSHIP UPDATE!

We are planning on resuming an in person worship option on Sunday, February 27 if COVID rates continue to decrease. 

*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here.

Winter Adult Education: The Difficult Words of Jesus | Sundays | 9:00 - 10:00 AM | January 16 - February 27 | via Zoom

Using a DVD series from NT scholar Amy-Jill Levine, we will explore the meaning and implications of these difficult texts together. Topics include Jesus's commandments to sell all you own, hate father and mother, be a slave to all, and other texts that have been used to justify anti-semitic, racist, and sexist violence through the ages.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82353845672

Meeting ID: 823 5384 5672 Passcode: 789

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) to be added to the list.

Middle School Youth Group | Sunday, February 20 | 5:30-7:00 PM | In-person @ GCPC

It’s been a strange year and hard to adjust to a new grade, people, activities during a pandemic! Come get to know your peers through games, conversation and Pizza!

Masks are required, and friends are welcome! Please let us know if you’re coming so that we have a headcount for pizza!

4th & 5th Grade Games in the Atrium | Monday, February 21 | 10:00 - 11:30 AM | GCPC Atrium

CHANGE OF TIME: Join us at GCPC in the Atrium — MASKED — for community-building and board games from 10-11:30 a.m. This is a great time to bring a friend!

Hybrid Winter/Spring Memoir Series | Monday, February 21 | 6:00 PM | Fellowship Hall & on Zoom

Join us for a series of book talks focusing on memoirs written by people of faith. Please pre-read the book to ensure lively discussion. The church now has copies of all three books. Please contact Richard or Anna Louise if you would like to come by and borrow one of the copies.

• February 21 | The Beauty in the Breaking by Michele Harper | Facilitator: Margaret Tierney

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84570600114

Meeting ID: 845 7060 0114 | Passcode: 789

Lectionary Bible Study | Wednesday, February 23 | 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!

FUND THE 2022 BUDGET

The main source of budgeted revenue is Pledged Offerings, which means our community putting their dollars together to be able to support Covenant Partner grants, special programming for children, youth, and adults, Sunday worship, special events, congregational care, support our staff team and benefits, maintain the building and grounds... and much more. 

As a non-profit, we try to budget net $0 - the money we reasonably expect to come in covers the expenses we predict for the year. Right now, we're  $67,040 short of funding the 2022 budget.

If you haven't already done so, please consider pledging your support today so we can finalize the 2022 budget and move into the new year from a stable financial position. If you've pledged already but need to make changes, please contact Natalie Weaver at nweaver@gcpcusa.org or 828.254.3274. Thank you for your generosity and support!

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:

• Online pledge card HERE
• Email Nweaver@gcpcusa.org
• Call 828.254.3274 and leave a message for Natalie Weaver
• Request a mailed pledge card from the office

Winter Shelter Team Update @ Trinity

A huge thank you to GCPC for all your incredible generosity supporting Trinity in so many ways, including carloads of donations.  

CURRENT WINTER SHELTER NEEDS:

To sign up, please contact Dustin Mailman at (772) 214-4116 or mailmand79@gmail.com or sign up on your own here: Trinity Code Purple Sign up.  

Specific volunteer needs are:

• An on-site manager to oversee volunteers from 3-8pm (today through Monday, Jan 24). Volunteer once or multiple times. Contact Kate Shem for details, kateshem@gmail.com

• Dinner support - both bringing food and/or serving dinner(5-8pm). Dinner needed each evening or Contact Tish Anderson, 19ppanc40@gmail.com, to join the GCPC food team to prepare and serve on Feb 1 & 15 and March 1 & 15.

• Overnight volunteers (10:30pm-8am). Contact Beth Philipsen, onthecove@charter.net, with questions about overnight volunteering.

• Morning transition shift (7:30-10:30am)

• Laundry support- pick up and return bedding (THIS IS A NEW REQUEST FOR SUPPORT). Contact Kate Shem, kateshem@gmail.com, to learn more.

You can also donate money directly by check to Trinity United Methodist Church with "Winter Shelter" in the memo line. Mail to: 587 Haywood Ave. AVL, NC 28806

GCPC's Circle of Welcome continues to support our Afghan friends as they acclimate to living in Asheville. Gratitude goes out to all for your prayers and efforts!

Employment has started for the "aunt" and enrollment in school is in process for the 11 year old. A tutor from Literacy Together has been assigned and registration in AB Tech's ESL classes is also underway. 

Immediate needs are rides to the grocery store periodically. We are also looking for someone to give assistance with installing SIM cards in phones. If you feel technically gifted please let us know!

Contact Lara Hollaway at lhollaway@gmail.com or Bonnie Parker at bparker17@gmail.com to help with these needs or if you would like to help in other ways. 

• GCPC Devotionals



• Email prayer@gcpcusa.org 

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 (2/13-2/19): Cathy Byers | email: byersabc@gmail.com

Next week (2/20-2/26): Bill McNeff | email: wpmcn6@yahoo.com

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

Debi Miller (friend of Marcia Mount Shoop) 

Jeff (Tricia Hynes’ son)

Maria and Esteban Goicoechea (La Mariposa and her husband)

Winnie Martel (Prayers for Winnie and Susie Churchfield)

Jennifer Martin (Yvonne Smith’s daughter)

Jack Waskey (Anna Hamel’s father)

Brenda Young (Leslie Sharpe’s mother)

Joel Holtzclaw (Leslie Sharpe’s uncle)

Geraldine Haynes (Libby Kyles’ aunt) 

Michael Riedesel (Steve Riedesel's nephew)

Marianne Nash (Dave Nash’s daughter)

Phil Noland (Kelly Spradlin's friend)

Ben Nicoll (Christa Hyatt's friend)

Mike Wisecup (Kim Hottle’s brother)

Mimi (friend of Robin and Gordon Gaiser)

Bob Higgins

Susan Smialowicz

Doris Prak

Sharon

Michelle Chromey and family

Marty Dean

Martha Kisiah

Kathy Jacobs

Bill Ryan

A note from Marcia:

Dear Grace Covenant Community, 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your love, support, prayer, cards, attendance at my moms service, and so much more. All of the ways you have surrounded my family and me during these difficult several months of my mom‘s illness and death has been a blessing beyond measure. 

Some of you may not be aware that my parents have been attending Grace Covenant online since COVID started. So in a very concrete and beautiful way Grace Covenant has been beloved community to my parents during these trying times. And it is a special gratitude that I have that, in God’s mystery, my mother was able to worship with me in the church where I am pastoring for the last two years before her death. 

Thank you for being you, Grace Covenant. 

With gratitude, 

Marcia and the entire Mount Family 

Presbyterian Womenʼs Circles are Zoom meetings. ​​Please join us.

Circle 1: Second Monday of each month, 10:00 a.m.

• Cathy Froehlich - 775-1016, oremont2@gmail.com

Circle 2: First Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m.

• Ann Brown - (828) 279-4917, hbcove@aol.com 
• Heather Hudson - 501-442-6223, hehudson@charter.net

Circle 3: Varies (Click here to see schedule for 2021-2022), 7:00 p.m.

• Andrea Rosal- (828) 545-8466, ameach@gmail.com
• Angela Kemper - (828) 301-1475, angela@hunter-kemper.com 

Circle 4: First Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m.

• Frances Johnson – 628-4742, facjohnson@gmail.com
• Connie Jones – 231-2680, Conjones@charter.net

Circle 5: First Monday of each month, 11:00 a.m.

• Lynne Noble – 803-206-3821, lynnesnoble@gmail.com 

Need to set up a church zoom meeting?

Contact Anna Louise and she can get you all set up!

New beds were plowed this week! Big thanks to Wade Macfie for bringing his tractor and plowing them. These beds will help us grow more veggies and add in some flowers and herbs!

The Great Backyard Bird Count | February 18th-21st

Hoping to help your community witness the beauty of creation and all creatures? Wanting to get outside with your congregation for a COVID-safe winter activity? Awesome. The Great Backyard Bird Count was made for times such as these.

Beginning on Friday, families, congregations, community members, and individuals will partake in the 25th annual Great Backyard Bird Count by choosing a 15-minute block of time, at least once each day (Friday through Monday, February 18-21) to identify and count the birds they see in their yard or neighborhood. We hope you'll join them!

In addition to getting outside and having fun, you will be helping to document bird populations and migratory patterns. In other words, you will be practicing citizen science! This is a beautiful way to care for creation, and you don't have to be an expert to help out. Learn more at the link, and please, join the chorus of folks admiring our winged friends the world over.

Hard 2 Recycle | Saturday, February 19 | 70 Fernihurst Dr. 28801 | A-B Tech (parking lot across from Fernihurst Mansion)

ᏣᎳᎩ: Wherever We Are

Cherokee Freedmen Edition

Saturday, February 19 | 1:00 PM ET 

Citizens of the Cherokee Nation bought, owned, and sold enslaved Africans as early as 1755. As the Cherokee Nation was forced from their homelands in the 1830s, Cherokees brought enslaved Africans with them to Indian Territory, and by 1861, the Cherokee held about 4,000 enslaved people. Finally, in 1866, the Cherokee Nation signed a treaty and promised to free all enslaved people and grant them all the rights of native Cherokees.

But for the next 155 years, Freedmen and their descendants were denied their rights. Finally, in 2017, a U.S. District Court ruled in their favor. Today, our tribal leadership is proud to stand with Cherokees of Freedmen descent and celebrate everything they've done to make our Nation more fair and just.

Understanding this complex piece of our history is essential to understanding the Cherokee Nation as a whole -- and there's no better way to learn more than by joining Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., Deputy Principal Chief Bryan Warner, and two trailblazing Freedmen leaders for this conversation.

Environmental Injustice: Race, Class & Climate Change | Sunday, February 20 | 4:00 - 6:00 PM | Online

Join CreationCare Alliance for an environmental justice webinar with Will Barber III. Barber's presentation will focus on the many social justice implications of climate change and will be followed by conversation and Q&A. This will be an opportunity for participants to consider deeply how environmental racism and climate injustice can be addressed systematically and within their communities, congregations, and lives to create a just, sustainable, and compassionate future. 

A call for volunteers for a Community Work Day -

the rescheduled 2022 MLK Day of Service Event!

Saturday, February 26 | 12 - 4 PM | 47 Bryant St.

Join on this day for community building and connection! Food and refreshments and good company will be provided.

Folks can park across the street at the Community Center's field or small lot or find street parking.

Make sure to layer up to stay warm and bring gloves if you've got them! Please also be sure to bring a mask so that we can gather together safely! We hope to see you there!

~ Hood Huggers Team

Wade in the Water: White Supremacy, Race, Religion, and Reciprocity | March 9-12 | Charlotte, NC and Online

For the first time in its 23-year history, the White Privilege Conference is being hosted by a religious organization and specifically by The Presbytery of Charlotte. Our keynote speakers will include Resmaa Menachem, Khyati Joshi, Bree Newsome and Gregory Drumright. We plan to be both in-person and hybrid knowing that the in-person experience will be life-changing. We are taking Covid precautions for our in-person presentations & we have a virtual track available.

ACTION: Do Racial Equity! Support a Track at Memorial Stadium!

For over a decade, neighbors in the East End/Valley Street neighborhood, have been asking for a public track to be added to their neighborhood park at Memorial Stadium. This neighborhood was one devastated by urban renewal, just one vestige of systemic racism that tore neighborhoods apart taking homes, land, and businesses from African American people and families in Asheville.  

We ask you to join us as we support the East End/Valley Street Neighbors in calling on City Council to set aside American Rescue Plan funds to build the track and support our neighbors. This is a clear and concrete way to support racial and health equity.

Please send a letter to City Council and City Manager Campbell in support.

CLICK HERE to read the February 6th, 2022 newsletter that outlines news and opportunities for action.

Poems for a Dangerous Time: A Gathering around the Psalms | February 20-22 | Montreat Conference Center

Inspired by the students and family of Patrick Miller, this gathering will explore the rich and varied ways biblical Psalms give voice to the cries of the believer: in lament, in anger, in praise, in rejoicing.

According to Pat’s family and his students at both Union Seminary (VA) and Princeton, nothing could honor him more than a gathering around the Psalms, exploring the way they sustain communities of faith, even – or especially – in dangerous times.

Leaders include: Brent Strawn, Nora Tubbs Tisdale, Aisha Brooks Johnson, and Martin Tel. Commuter rates are available. 

RECURRING GIVING:

Interested in fulfilling your 2022 pledge with automatic giving? There are a few easy ways to make that happen! 

• Bank Bill Pay: contact your bank and they can set up a check to mail directly from your account on a recurring basis. There's typically no charge for this service, but contact your bank to confirm.

• Realm eGiving: have GCPC's software draft your bank account or charge your credit/debit card on a recurring schedule. GCPC does incur online processing fees, but you have an option to offset these if desired (1% ACH, 2.75% credit card).

• ~ Self Manage with these step-by-step instructions through the Realm Connect app or website
• ~ Have us do it for you - Natalie Weaver, Stewardship & Financial Administrator, can set up and manage your eGiving with a signed Authorization Form on file. 

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 - Friday. To leave a voicemail for a staff member to return your call, follow these steps:

1. Call the main office at 828-254-3274.
2. Listen through the office closure notice, which will then take you to a staff directory.
3. 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).
4. You'll be directed to the staff member's individual voicemail, where you can leave a message to be returned as soon as possible.
5. 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. 

• Click for the Online Calendar
• Click to Make a Secure Donation or Give a Gift  

Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church

789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804

828.254.3274 

www.gcpcusa.org