|
Click "View entire message"
at bottom of email to see the FULL newsletter
| |
GCPC Community Gardeners! | |
Middle School Youth at Massanetta! | |
Worship Preview | Sunday, July 17, 2022
In-person Service and Youtube
| | |
|
|
Sermon:
"Rocket Surgery and Brain Science"
by Dr. Jeff Jones
Scripture:
Amos 8:1-12, Luke 10:38-42
Live Stream Worship Service
@ 10:45 AM Sunday
| | |
*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here. | |
| Saturday, July 16 | Garden Workday
(Team 2) | 9:00 am | GCPC Community Garden | | Saturday, July 16 | High School Youth Coffee Break | 10:00 am | Asheville Roasters | | Sunday, July 17 | Summer Choir | 9:45 am | Choir Room | | Sunday, July 17 | Hybrid Worship
(In-person and online) | 10:45 am @ GCPC
(also on Youtube) | | Sunday, July 17 | Summer Fellowship | 11:45 am | GCPC Courtyard | | Sunday, July 17 | Middle School Ice Break | 1:00 pm @ Jeremiah's Italian Ice | | Tuesday - Thursday | Church Office Open | 10 am - 4 pm | | Tuesday, July 19 | Serve Council Mtg. | 6:30 pm on Zoom | | Wednesday, July 20 | Garden Workday
(Team 3) | 9:00 am | GCPC Community Garden | | Wednesday, July 20 | Summer Bible Study | 10:00 am on Zoom | | Wednesday, July 20 | Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Group Mtg. | 11:00 am | Sanctuary
(also on Zoom) | | Wednesday, July 20 | Montreat Meeting and Check-In | 7:00 pm on Zoom | | |
|
High School Youth Coffee Break | Saturday, July 16 | 10:00 AM | Asheville Coffee Roasters
Rise and Shine and smell the coffee! We will meet at Asheville Coffee Roasters on Saturday, July 16th from 10-noon. Swing through or stay the whole time! Bring money for coffee. The address is 85 Weaverville Rd, Asheville, NC 28804
| |
|
Middle School Youth Ice Break I Sunday July 17 | After Worship | Jeremiah's Italian Ice
All Middle Schoolers, rising 6-8th graders, let’s enjoy a cool treat from Jeremiah’s Ice. We’ll walk over, grab a treat and hang out. Bring $5! The address is 705 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC 28804.
| |
|
GCPC Summer Choir
Sing because you can! Summer choir begins this Sunday in the Choir Room at 9:45 AM. This opportunity is open to all who want to sing. Join us for the time of fellowship, where we will warm up and learn a simple anthem to share in worship. This is a great time to find out if you enjoy singing in a choir. No experience necessary, children and adults welcome.
| |
|
Sunday Flowers for the Sanctuary!
There are still some dates on the 2022 Flower Chart! Please consider signing up to give flowers one Sunday. GCPC will place the order each week. Click on the button below to access the calendar and check which dates are available.
After signing up, email Anna Louise (annalouise@gcpcusa.org) your dedication for the bulletin or include it in the comment section in the sign-up.
Please mail your $75 check, payable to GCPC (with Flowers in the Memo line) to 789 Merrimon Ave., Asheville, NC 28804
| |
|
If you would like to help usher, please fill out this form asap so that the Head Ushers can more easily and efficiently access you:
https://bit.ly/UsherAvailability
| |
GCPC Covenant Partner, JMPro TV
About a month ago in this newsletter, we asked if you ever wondered what GCPC's Covenant Partner "JMPRO TV" stands for? To refresh your memory, it stands for Justice in Media Production. They provide valuable information to the Latinx community in Western North Carolina via radio shows, social media/videos and printed materials.
The idea of the organization started in 2010 in Detroit, Michigan at the US Social Forum. Back in town, Julio Tordoya and Magaly Urdiales started producing content in Spanish since 2014, training community members to be news anchors, community reporters and community radio hosts. At the moment, JMPRO continues to be a key source of information, adding 2 Mayan languages, Mam’ and Kiche, to serve those communities in Western North Carolina. These are immigrant communities formed by Mexican and Central American workers, helping them access resources and information that are not in their most-used language. JMPRO fills the gap of communication between the resources offered and our WNC community due to language barriers.
Before the Covid pandemic, JMPRO had a studio production on Merrimon Ave. close to GCPC. Right now, they operate in different spaces, like Asheville FM where they record and broadcast their shows, and other locations in collaboration with organizations and community leaders. You can listen to their shows from 6 am to 8 am on Asheville FM station 103.3. You can also visit their website at www.jmpro.tv (there is a link in the top right to switch to English), or on social media using “jmpro tv”.
Want to help this amazing group of people get their information out? They would love for GCPC folks to deliver these flyers to nine (9) places of business in Buncombe County once or twice a month. Depending on how many folks volunteer, we can split up the places geographically or ride together to each place, whichever works best. Contact Chris Callaway at christinecallaway4@gmail.com or Alexandra Lusak at at alusak44@gmail.com.
https://jmpro.tv/noticias/derechos-de-las-mujeres-noticias/advierten-sobre-riesgos-de-leyes-anti-aborto-para-mujeres-indocumentadas/
|  | | |
|
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.
This week (7/10-7/16): Bill McNeff | email: wpmcn6@yahoo.com
Next week (7/17-7/23): Beth Robrecht | email: bethrobrecht50@gmail.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
Maria and Esteban Goicoechea (La Mariposa and her husband)
Seth Turnbow (Anne Raustol’s twin brother)
Vince and Michele (Gordon Gaiser’s niece and nephew-in-law)
Chip Lambert (GCPC Community member who is hiking the App. Trail)
Shabnam and Sana (Afghan Family partnering with GCPC’s Circle of Welcome)
Deanna Fleenor (Mike Fleenor's sister)
Trey and Alisha Thompson and 3 kids - Gabi 7, Arlo 5, and Eldon 3 (Patty and Brent Thompson's son and daughter-in-law and children)
Paula Kelton (Mary Bridges' mother)
Will Pressley
Ann Burnette (Amanda Pressley's friend)
Bob Higgins
Susan Smialowicz
Doris Prak
Michelle Chromey and family
Bob Schaefer
Frances Johnson
Don and Gloria Moe
Janet Hovis
Earl Fowler
Karen Rohls
| |
|
SAVE THE DATES!
A Journey Through “The Revelation of John”
Thursdays (Sept. 15 - Nov. 17) | 6:30 - 8:30 PM |
Fellowship Hall
Rev. Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop, Instructor
This course is a deep dive into “The Revelation of John” that will involve a ten week commitment. Each week there will be an optional opportunity to prepare your spirit and mind with centering prayer in the sanctuary at 6:00pm prior to the beginning of class at 6:30pm.
Class participants will carefully read “The Revelation of John” in small amounts for each class and be asked to journal in response to prompts each week as well. We will explore the prophetic edges of this book as well as the liberative message that many miss when the book is mistaken for a prophesy of the future. Childcare will be available.
| |
|
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.
| |
|
Need to set up a church zoom meeting?
Contact Anna Louise and she can get you all set up!
| | |
|
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
The GCPC garden has a wonderful partnership with Anthony Cole at Jasperwood Farm where we grow a large amount of potatoes and cabbages together. This results in thousands of pounds of fresh food that we share with the community.
| | |
|
We need a consistent presence on Jasperwood Farm to take care of these crops, and we need more volunteers! The group will meet every other Wednesday morning starting on July 20th (time TBD) but will be around 9 am and will last about 2 hours or less. Jasperwood Farm is located in Leicester, about 20 minutes drive from GCPC. You will need to bring your own tools, gloves, water, snacks and sunscreen. Jasperwood is a beautiful place to spend time with your friends. Please email allison@gcpcusa.org if you want to attend and to get more details.
| | |
|
On Wednesday, July 6, Team 3 had 13 volunteers and harvested 21 lbs. of beans, 27 lbs. of collards, 3 lbs. of cucumbers, 66 lbs. of garlic, 3 lbs. of onions, and 65 lbs. of summer squash that was shared with the YWCA.
They also weeded and strung many of the beds.
| |
|
Last Saturday's Team 4 had 14 volunteers and harvested 1.5 lbs. of basil, 11 lbs. of beans, 4 lbs. of chard, 23 lbs. of cucumbers, 4 lbs. of kale, and 23 lbs. of summer squash that was shared with Loving Food Resources.
They also completed the weeding of the remaining beds.
| |
On Friday, July 8, Jim McDowell and 5 volunteers headed to Jasperwood Farm in Leicester to weed the potato patch. | |
|
Planning on giving regularly to GCPC? Let us know by submitting a pledge, which helps us maintain sustainable financials and more accurately budget. Anyone can pledge any amount- every single gift helps support the ministry and mission at GCPC!
WAYS TO PLEDGE:
Questions, concerns, or need help setting up eGiving? Contact Natalie Weaver, Stewardship & Financial Administrator at 828.254.3274, natalie@gcpcusa.org, or stop by the office Tuesdays 10am - 4pm.
| |
Community Working Together | |
Racial Justice Coalition - ACTION ALERT
Support the Reparations Commission by emailing County officials
In May, the Community Reparations Commission formally asked both the City of Asheville and Buncombe County to commit to Reparations funding as an ongoing budget priority. The City responded to this request a few weeks later, but there was no response from anyone in the Buncombe County government for well over a month. That changed last week, when County Commission Chair Brownie Newman revealed the County’s plans for funding Reparations into the future: "We plan to discuss the proposal around longer term investments at our next Commission meeting (on July 19th).” He added: “My expectation is that the Commission will support a long-term commitment to invest in community reparations…”
We’re relieved to see this item finally on Buncombe County’s radar, and it’s important that the other six members of the County Commission hear how important this issue is to the communities they serve. To take action today, click here for an email template you can personalize and send.
| |
GROUNDBREAKING for BeLoved Village!
"With joy and shovels, we broke ground at the BeLoved Village! Permits in hand, we are poised and ready to build homes that will welcome neighbors in our community into a place of belonging, safety, and where equity will help lift them out of poverty and allow them to sink their roots deep here in our mountain home."
| |
|
|
Interfaith Initiative -
Social Justice Opportunities
| |  |
Buncombe County Remembrance Project |
| |
Race and Gender Justice Committee Moderator Willye Bryan presented the committee's report virtually early on Wednesday afternoon during the seventh plenary of the 225th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), on July 6, 2022, at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Rich Copley) | |
|
A reading as a first act of repentance -
Amended Race and Gender Justice Committee docket approved by full Assembly
~ by Fred Tangeman
Plenary 7 focused on the work of the Race and Gender Justice Committee (RGJ), with nine items of business placed on the consent agenda. The committee’s two other items were RGJ-07: “A Resolution Addressing the Lack of Installed Pastoral Leadership in People of Color Congregations in the PC(USA) — From the Racial Equity Advocacy Committee” and RGJ-08: “On Offering an Apology to African Americans for the Sin of Slavery and Its Legacy.”
The two-hour plenary ended with votes overwhelmingly approving both items, and with white Presbyterians reading aloud “A Litany of Repentance” found in RGJ-08, which begins with the words: “As white Christians we repent of our complicity in the belief in white supremacy.”
Read more here.
| | | |
The Rev. Kate Murphy led worship to open the second day of plenary meetings at the 225th General Assembly of the PC (U.S.A.) on July 6, 2022. | |
The road to denominational Damascus -
The Rev. Kate Murphy calls the PC(USA) to radical repentance
~ by Emily Enders Odom
As a deeply evocative and lyrical liturgy led some 500 online worshipers at the 225th General Assembly down a quiet, gentle path on Wednesday morning, the road at once became riskier as the Rev. Kate Murphy stepped into the virtual pulpit.
Murphy, pastor of The Grove Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C. — a diverse congregation that resulted from the transformed former Hickory Grove Presbyterian Church — took on the challenging story in Acts 9:1–9 in her sermon “The Good News of Damascus.”
Inspired by the GA225 theme of “From Lament to Hope,” the worship services throughout the assembly each, in their own way, acknowledge the difficult times the church and nation are experiencing while also raising up reasons for hope.
For Murphy, those difficult times are the very present moment.
“I believe that we Presbyterians are like Saul on the road to Damascus,” she began. “We are educated, we are cultured … sincere, efficient and excellent. And we are absolutely convinced that we do the will of God, as all the while we are violently resisting the saving work of God in Christ.”
Watch this prerecorded service on on the GA225 Worship Page or the Spirit of GA Facebook page.
| | |
Aaron Ochart, vice moderator of the Environmental Justice Committee | |
Commissioners approve divestment from five energy companies -
It’s the first time the PC(USA) has voted to divest from companies out of compliance with GA environmental policy
~ by Mike Ferguson
By a 340-41 margin on Wednesday, commissioners to the 225th General Assembly voted to place five energy companies — Chevron, ExxonMobil, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy — on the General Assembly Divestment/Proscription List “until their actions comply with the General Assembly’s established criteria.”
“This overture gives teeth to selective divestment,” said Aaron Ochart, vice-moderator of the Environmental Justice Committee, which had earlier approved ENV-10 in a 30-7 vote. “We listened to those who felt this went too far, and to those who felt it did not go far enough.”
According to ENV-10, the Guideline Metrics employed by Mission Responsibility Through Investment, which promotes the mission goals of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) through socially responsible investing, are used “in an effort to improve the companies’ governance, strategy, implementation, transparency and disclosure, and public policy with respect to climate change.”
| | |
Montreat Conference Center - Women’s Connection 2022
Claimed for More: Wholehearted Living When We Are All Out of Sorts | August 12–14, 2022 | Montreat, NC
These days, we feel all out of sorts in all sorts of ways: physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally. And yet, God claims us for wholehearted living with wholehearted faith. Come join us as we explore together what it means to be Claimed for More: more joy, more beauty, more community, more peace.
Women’s Connection 2022 will be a time for women to connect with old and new friends, a time to care for yourself; a time for space and Sabbath. As in years past, we will do this together through powerful and authentic worship led by women, space for honest and faithful conversation, and allowing time for discernment and renewing rest. Our hope is you will experience spiritual nourishment, inspiration, and discernment.
| |
|
STAFF & OFFICE SCHEDULE
Wondering who's where, doing what, and when?! Here's an overview of where you can find our full-time staff this summer and who to contact for what:
Amy Kim, Director of Formation for Children, Youth & Their Families
In Office: Tuesday & Thursday, Sunday service, Remote: Monday & Wednesday
amykim@gcpcusa.org
Anna Louise, Engagement & Communications Coordinator
In Office: Tuesday - Thursday, Remote: Monday & Friday
annalouise@gcpcusa.org
Cliff, Property Manager
In Office: Monday- Thursday, Sunday service
cliff@gcpcusa.org
Jeff, Director of Music Ministries
In Office: Tuesday - Thursday, Sunday service, Remote: Friday
jeff@gcpcusa.org
Micah, Director of Technology & Media Ministries
In Office: Weekday schedule varies, Sunday service
micah@gcpcusa.org
Natalie, Stewardship & Financial Administrator
In Office: Tuesday & Thursday, Remote: Monday & Wednesday
natalie@gcpcusa.org
Richard, Associate Pastor
In Office: Tuesday - Thursday, Sunday service, Remote: Friday
richard@gcpcusa.org
| |
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.
| |
|
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804
828.254.3274
www.gcpcusa.org
| | | | |
