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Session Dinner and Meeting | |
Worship Preview | Sunday, May 29, 2022
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Sanctuary and Youtube
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*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here. | |
| Thursday, May 26 | Racial Justice Book Series Mtg. | 7:30 pm | Fellowship Hall (also on Zoom) | | Saturday, May 28 | Garden Workday
(Team 4) | 9:00 am | GCPC Community Garden | | Sunday, May 29 | Hybrid Worship
(In-person and online | 10:45 am @ GCPC
(also on Youtube) | | Monday, May 30 | Memorial Day | Office closed | | Tuesday, May 31 | Church Office Open! | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | | Tuesday, May 31 | Worship Council | 5:30 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, May 31 | Long Range Visioning Team Dinner & Mtg. | 6:30 pm in the Fellowship Hall | | Wednesday, June 1 | Garden Workday
(Team 1) | 9:00 am | GCPC Community Garden | | Wednesday, June 1 | Bible Study | 10:00 am | Atrium
(also on Zoom) | | Wednesday, June 1 | Choir Rehearsal | 7:00 pm @ GCPC | | Thursday, June 2 | PW Circle 4 Mtg. | 7:00 pm on Zoom | | |
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Racial Justice Book Series | Thursday, May 26 | 7:30 PM | Fellowship Hall and Zoom
The Racial Justice Book Series returns this summer with four books about the systems, consequences, and remedies of the deep entrenchment of white supremacy culture in our country and church.
All meetings will be in hybrid format. Come in person or tune in via zoom! The church library has copies of all the books. Contact Richard or Anna Louise to reserve a copy.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84687572345
Meeting ID: 846 8757 2345 Passcode: 789
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Hybrid Lectionary Bible Study | Wednesday, May 25 | 10:00 AM | Atrium (masked) or 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!
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/93439349183
Meeting ID: 934 3934 9183 | Passcode: 789
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Presbyterian Outlook Special Edition - #TrustBlackWomen
From the Outlook:
"This issue has been turned over to Black women to highlight and center the voices of these trustworthy leaders, scholars, theologians, writers and artists. Framed by the barrier-breaking leadership of Katie Geneva Cannon, contributors highlight issues of representation, call for rest as a form of resistance and advocate for the needs of Black women and girls.
The call of this issue is the call of the faithful: trust Black women. Listen to them. Learn from them. Honor them."
Copies are available on the credenzas outside the sanctuary in the narthex.
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Sunday Flowers for the Sanctuary!
The 2022 Flower Chart is now available! 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
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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 (5/22-5/28): Skip Stansell | email: skipstansell1@gmail.com
Next week (5/29-6/4): Justin Kyremes-Parks | email: Justinmkp@gmail.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
Maria and Esteban Goicoechea (La Mariposa and her husband)
Winnie Martel (Prayers for Winnie and Susie Churchfield)
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)
Don Weddell (Robin and Gordon Gaiser’s friend)
Donna Krueger (Robin and Gordon Gaiser’s friend)
Brittney Connoley (Amy Kim Kyremes-Parks' cousin)
Margarita del Carmen Leiva Nuñez (Marta Alcala-Williams' friend)
Pat O’Hara (Christa Hyatt’s sister)
Shabnam and Sana (Afghan Family partnering with GCPC’s Circle of Welcome)
Dakota Ferris (Mary Lou Nash’s grandson)
Deanna Fleenor (Mike Fleenor's sister)
Estilita Ruiz (Marta Alcala-Williams' great aunt)
Ciera Williams (ACS principal’s daughter)
Marcus Archuleta (Amy Kim Kyremes-Parks' uncle)
Hans and Loidaly awaiting the arrival of their first child
Bob Higgins
Susan Smialowicz
Doris Prak
Michelle Chromey and family
Bob Schaefer
Frances Johnson
Don Moe
Janet Hovis
Jim Froehlich
Susan McCammon
Stacy Haddenham
Earl Fowler
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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 Thursday, eight YTL volunteers harvested 90 lbs. of lettuce that was shared with Bounty and Soul! They also planted snacking peppers. | |
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Saturday's Team 2 had 6 volunteers and harvested 15 lbs. of chard, 16 lbs. of collards, and 12 lbs. of kale that was shared with Western Carolina Rescue Ministries.
Volunteers also planted bush bean seed, bell peppers, sweet banana peppers, cilantro, parsley and basil.
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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.
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Community Working Together | |
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Winter Shelter Team News
The Winter Shelter Team has continued to meet even though it is no longer winter! There are a great number of plans and preplans being worked in order to try to avoid the issue of folks without homes having NO shelter available to them next winter as happened this past year.
The Trinity Shelter got on its feet through many challenges in addition to cold temperatures and Covid still being prevalent. One marvelous outcome from the Trinity experience was to bring different interested stakeholders, groups, individuals, and organizations together to discuss and develop plans for those experiencing homelessness in our community. These groups have now not only met together but are collaborating.
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Another outcome of last winter’s code purple experience is that the founders of Trinity Shelter have initiated a “Room In The Inn” type of shelter for approximately ten women. Currently Jubilee in downtown Asheville has granted them the temporary use of their facilities. GCPC is supporting these folks with this endeavor. However, the GCPC Winter Shelter Team needs additional support from our congregation! We need a group of GCPC folks (women or men) who have about 2 hours to volunteer every 2 weeks.
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Here is the Need:
We need individuals to rotate in picking up two bags of soiled sheets and pillowcases from the Shelter at Jubilee every two weeks and taking that laundry to the Fiesta Laundry at 615 Merrimon Avenue (behind and below the Sherwin-Williams Paint store). The employees there will wash, dry, fold and package the sheets and pillowcases. When that cleaning process is complete, a person from Fiesta Laundry will call the GCPC volunteer. At that time, one would need to pick up the laundry and deliver the cleaned items back to the Jubilee Shelter. (Payment for the cleaning is reimbursed by the church.) Pick-ups and Deliveries to the shelter may be done anytime between 8:00 and 9:30 am, as the all the ladies and overnight volunteers leave the shelter at 10:00 am. Currently this task is being done at approximately 9:20 am. There will be an orientation for each volunteer.
Will YOU be able to help?
If you are interested in helping with this cause, please contact Beth Philipsen at onthecove@charter.net or call 828-230-7661. Thank you!
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Habitat for Humanity News!
GCPC is participating along with a dozen or more faith families in this years' Habitat for Humanity House of Faith. Next phase is to put up the roof! There are still a few shifts available on Wednesday, June 22 and Thursday, June 30. If you are interested, please contact Bill Ryan at bill73ryan@gmail.com. More information is also available at the Welcome Desk in the narthex.
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Other ways to support the Habitat house are:
- prayer for the family and builders
- send a donation directly to: Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity, 33 Meadow Road, Asheville, NC 28803.
Please mention that the money is toward this year's House of Faith and is connected with GCPC.
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Green Money: Nature Makes Good Business Sense | June 2-3, 2022
Click here to see the pdf flyer version with active registration links.
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A direct and compelling headline | |
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The money raised from the event will be distributed back out to initiatives that support the unhoused in our community. The Ramada resident council will vote on the distribution of funds. This is an evening organized, produced and performed by those experiencing houslessness in Asheville. This is true bottom up, community based organizing. We hope to see you and some of your friends there!
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Bountiful Cities
Bountiful Cities, one of GCPC's Covenant Partners, has been supporting low wealth communities in growing food for the last 20 years with a tool library, seed library, and free workshops. More than ever growing food=food security, but there are barriers for low wealth communities. Some people have little or no access to tools, seeds and know-how.
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Racial Justice Coalition - Call to Action
It’s been almost two years since both the City of Asheville and Buncombe County passed Reparations Resolutions, acknowledging the massive debt they owe to Black community members for hundreds of years of harm. Since that time, both governments have resisted the suggestion that they begin setting aside money in their budgets to begin paying off this Reparations debt. They have repeatedly said that they were waiting to hear such a request from the newly formed Community Reparations Commission. Now the Commission has spoken, and spoken clearly: they are asking the City and County to begin funding Reparations now, and have it be a line item in their budgets each year going forward. This is commitment. Anything less is negligence.
Will you join RJC in reaching out to the Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Commission, asking them to act now on this important request from the Community Reparations Commission? Click here for more information and an email template you can personalize and send.
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Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly and Moral March on Washington and to the Polls | Saturday, June 18 | Washington, D.C.
The Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington and to the Polls will be a generationally-transformative declaration of the power of poor and low-wealth people and our moral allies to say that this system is killing all of us and there is no more time for silence. Click here to RSVP. Click here to find a bus stop near you!
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Asheville Poverty Initiative | |  |
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Interfaith Initiative -
Social Justice Opportunities
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Stated Clerk mourns for those killed in latest school shooting in Texas -
J. Herbert Nelson says the church needs to do what is necessary to minister to those who suffer
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The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, President and Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, and the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) (Photo by Rich Copley) | |
‘I think we as a church have to learn how to love again’
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II and the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett share their prophetic gifts during Thursday’s ‘Being Matthew 25’
~ by Mike Ferguson
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, shared a forward-looking and candid conversation that was aired on the PC(USA) Facebook page on Thursday.
Two of the top leaders in the PC(USA) discussed the denomination’s future, next month’s General Assembly, and what it will take for Presbyterians to remain faithful to God’s call. Their conversation was recorded in the Chapel at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, and the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA), spoke during Thursday’s airing of “Being Matthew 25.”
Nelson, who’s in his second term as Stated Clerk, talked about all the sacrifices and investments that parents typically make for their children. “There’s something in our love ethic that drives us to do that. I think we as a church have to learn how to love again,” he said. “Not have big barns or the building of great temples … Are we willing to give of ourselves and of the church, even at the risk of losing the church? I think that’s the kind of love that’s required.”
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What happens when the PC(USA) engages an insurance giant on climate change? -
Leaders of Presbyterian Mission Responsibility Through Investment talk about their recent success with AIG
~ by Rich Copley
The Presbyterian Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) regularly engages corporations in which the church’s entities own stock to persuade them to bring their practices in line with Presbyterian policy on a number of issues.
“MRTI really gets to be the ambassador of Presbyterian values to publicly traded companies,” said Rob Fohr, director of Faith-Based Investing and Corporate Engagement for the PC(USA). “I can’t think of many other examples in the social witness of the Presbyterian Church where a Presbyterian entity says to a secular entity, ‘We’d like this to change to be closer to our values’ and really have that happen, more often than not.”
A recent example of how that works is MRTI’s successful engagement with American International Group, Inc. (AIG), which has committed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions across its investment portfolio by 2050 in response to a shareholder resolution filed by the PC(USA).
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Artwork by Asheville Artist extraordinaire, Jenny Pickens and Honoring our dear Queen Mother, Maggie Belle Gladden, who joined the ancestors this past year and continues to use her powerful gifts to SEW/SOW LOVE! | |
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Fall Craft Week | September 25-30, 2022 | Montreat
Fall Craft Week is our quest here at Montreat Conference Center to celebrate the profound idea of “craft” in a world where technology dominates and where people mainly use their hands to operate smart phones and computers.
Work with your hands, your voice, and your craft to create beautiful handmade works of art as you make time for renewal in a community of artists. Come gain proficiency in an art form of your choice, and enjoy the community of other artists during a fall week in the mountains. This is a great opportunity for individuals or groups. Bring your church, community, family, or come alone. We can help you figure out all the details!
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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 - Friday. 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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