GCPC Weekly News | August 19, 2021
| |
|
Click "View entire message"
at bottom of email to see the FULL newsletter
| |
GCPC Outdoor Worship Service | |
Writing & Reflection Gathering for Parents and Caregivers | | |
|
|
GCPC's Baptismal Font with a new handmade top crafted by GCPC member,
Kelley Griffith!
Thank you for sharing your talents Kelley!
| |
Worship Preview | Sunday, August 22, 2021 | | |
|
|
Sermon:
“Whatever Will Make
You Ready”
by Marcia Mount Shoop
Scripture:
Ephesians 6:10-20
| | |
*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here. | |
| Friday, August 20 | Padrino Lunch | 12:45 pm on Zoom | | Sunday, August 22 | PW Coordinating Team Mtg. | 3:30 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, August 24 | CHURCH OFFICE OPEN! | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | | Tuesday, August 24 | Session Mtg. | 6:00 pm on Zoom | | Wed., August 25 | MCI Mtg. | 11:00 am @ GCPC
(also on Zoom) | | Thursday, August 26 | Men of GCPC Gathering | 8:30 am @ GCPC
(also on Zoom) | | Saturday, August 28 | Playground & Popsicles | 3:00 pm @ GCPC | | |
|
Playground and Popsicles | Saturday, August 28 | 3:00 - 5:00 PM
Kids 0-11 and their parents are invited to join us on the playground of GCPC for some outdoor community building and popsicles. We will start at 3:00 pm and stick around until 5:00 pm. Please come for a little or a lot of the time! Please bring water bottles for your family.
| | |
|
|
WE WANT TO SEE YOU in our CHURCH DIRECTORY!
*If you submitted a picture but do NOT see it in Realm yet, please email it again to pics@gcpcusa.org.
| | |
|
WAYS TO SHARE YOUR SMILING FACES:
| |
-
Open your Realm Connect app on your smartphone
-
Select ... More at bottom right
-
Select Profile from the list
-
Click on the pencil logo next to the circle at the top center with your picture icon to edit
-
Select New Profile Photo
-
Choose Take Photo to open your phone camera or Choose Photo to select from your existing photos
-
Scale, move, and frame as desired and click Apply at the bottom right
| |
-
Register or Sign In to your account at onrealm.org/gcpcusa
- Click the drop down next to your Name on the top right and select My Profile
- Hover over the photo or photo icon until you see the pencil logo, click to edit
- Select New Profile Photo
- Choose a photo from your computer and click Open
- Drag and resize the photo as needed, then click Save
| |
|
The Eddington Center on Livingston Avenue is a hub of various activities all year long, but the leaders of the Residents’ Council of the City of Asheville Housing Authority always know what’s what. Crystal Reid and Shavonda Harper are two of those leaders who shared some of those activities and their wisdom with me a few weeks ago. It was a blessing to walk through the halls looking at photos on the walls, seeing and smelling the activity in the Southside Kitchen, and being around an actual table with Crystal and Shavonda.
The Residents’ Council has been a GCPC ministry and covenant partner for at least the last five years and is made up of a small paid staff of three and a board of volunteers. Their mission is to support and advocate for all the residents of the eight public housing neighborhoods in Asheville.
Thanksgiving meals and Christmas toy drives are a long standing passion for Shavonda, who made it happen even in 2020. She looks forward to continuing these traditions and has added “Covid bags” as another vital way to take care of each other. Stay tuned for ways the GCPC community can walk alongside our neighbors during these events.
Taking care of each other includes environmental safety as well. Safe housing and safe neighborhood gathering spaces are an ongoing priority that involve listening to residents, educating leaders, securing resources, and even filling trash bags. Most of Asheville is feeling some type of growing pains, and these neighbors have the same concerns around development, change, and maintaining safe housing.
| |
|
The Residents’ Council was instrumental in getting free basic internet connections to the neighborhoods with school-aged children, a necessity during remote learning. They appreciate Skyrunner and the city leadership for making this connection a priority. The efforts continue with several of the neighborhoods for senior residents and residents with disabilities.
They also organize and run My Community Matters, a space for children and teens to come together to be seen and heard and loved and nurtured. Both Shavonda and Crystal beam with pride when they share stories of the young people - their insights, their hard questions, their art and creativity, and their determination. They are hopeful that students can return to schools in person and safely. Like many of us, they are hopeful that schools can lean into lessons learned through the pandemic and P.O.D.S. (Positive Opportunities Develop Success).
Finally, Crystal is organizing socially-distanced gatherings in each of the neighborhoods as a way to share information, listen to concerns, and to build positive relationships. The Klondyke event will happen soon.
I am so grateful for the leadership of these women and for the opportunity for GCPC to be in partnership with the Residents’ Council.
~ Amy Wiesner, Serve Council Member
| |
|
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 (8/15-8/21): Cathy Froehlich | email: oremont2@gmail.com
Next week (8/22-8/28): Mary Berg | email: marhber@hotmail.com
| |
|
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
Ryan Lockett (nephew of Denise Lockett)
Jennifer Martin (Yvonne Smith's daughter)
Sheldon Smith (Beth Robrechtʼs brother-in-law)
Marie and Jose Palacios and family (Marie is the presbytery coordinator of Guatemala partnerships)
Harold Shook (Melissa Shook's father)
Bill Ross (Jonathan Ross' dad)
David Good (Amber Cook’s dad)
Rod and Janet Pike (Amy Pike’s uncle and aunt)
Family of Rev. Dolly Jacobs of FPC Greensboro
Kyle Holtz (Tim Hamel's cousin)
Nikita Smart (Eleanor Lane’s friend)
Deanna Fleenor (Mike Fleenor's sister)
Rebecca Lorenz (Phil Brown’s daughter)
Glen and Tom Kilbourne (Janet Martin’s parents)
Bob Higgins
Florence and Steve Riedesel
Susan Smialowicz
Laura Ross
Bill Williamson
Queen Mother Maggie Belle Gladden
John Mount Shoop
Elizabeth Fisher
Doris Prak
Carolyn Tingle
Irene Richards
| |
|
Faith 4 Justice AVL presents ... The Violence and Virtue of White Women's Tears | Thursday, September 30 | 6:30 - 8:00 PM | GCPC's Youtube Channel
Join Faith 4 Justice Asheville for a free panel discussion on the Violence and Virtue of White Women’s Tears. During this discussion, we will consider:
- How white women’s tears have resulted in violence against black and brown bodies
- Why it is not about white women not being allowed to cry, but about where, when, and for what purpose white women cry
- How tears are weaponized in multi-racial spaces, and used to control, center white comfort and manipulate/violate
- The reactions to white women’s tears and Black and Latinx women’s tears
- Ways and spaces where white women can accept responsibility and grieve, so their tears aren’t tools of manipulation but a genuine part of their healing
| | As always, donations are welcome to help Faith 4 Justice continue this important work. Click here to donate. | |
|
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.
| |
|
Setting up Zoom Meetings:
If you are a part of a group, Team, or Circle at GCPC and you want to have a Zoom meeting, let staff know. We will help you get set up on our GCPC Zoom account for group gatherings and meetings. You can schedule your meeting on the calendar with Anna Louise, and any staff member can help you get set up for your meeting if you have questions.
| | |
|
|
This Saturday’s team of 16 gardeners harvested 89 pounds of produce including eggplant, green peppers, tomatoes, yellow squash, okra, green beans, and jalapenos for use by Western Carolina Rescue Mission.
Allison harvested about 70 pounds of squash, tomatoes, and okra for the Wednesday team who didn’t harvest due to very wet soil.
| |
Community Working Together | |
|
RELIEF FOR FLOOD VICTIMS
Urgent need for canned goods, diapers, soap, toothpaste, and women's necessities for Asheville flood victims. Our GCPC covenant partner Colaborativa La Milpa tells us that many in the Emma community and beyond have lost much in the flooding. Seeing us as trusted partners, they asked us to help out.
If you are able, bring requested items to GCPC and text or call Cliff (828-279-2573) upon arrival. He will come out and get the donations from you. Thank you!
Please drop off donations by Friday, August 20 at 5:00 pm so we can ensure a timely delivery to those affected.
| |
|
Donations for BeLoved may be dropped off daily at
15 Overbrook Place, 28805 from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm!
| |
|
The scale of the disaster facing Haiti after the August 14 earthquake is becoming clearer. The quake and its aftershocks have left almost 1,500 people dead, thousands more injured and an unknown number of people are still missing.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is providing emergency relief and short-term recovery in the impacted areas through our established local partners and in collaboration with ACT Alliance and its members.
| | | |
A new class from Story Medicine Worldwide... | |
Presbyterian Week of Action | August 23-29 | |
|
Amid the ever-present racial tensions existent in our nation and amplified last year, many PC(USA) staff band together to lift their voices in a proactive way to bring attention to injustice. The Bearing Witness Team has dedicated itself to responding to God’s call to create beloved community by dismantling white supremacy culture and whiteness through a cross-agency and denominational collective voice. What was produced through this collective effort last year was The International PC(USA) Week of Action 2020, Voting Campaign 2020, COVID-19 on the Margins Series, and the Black Lives Matter signage.
The theme this year is “Shades of Oppression, Resistance and Liberation.” The goal this year is to be even more inclusive of the wider denomination in the planning process as well as the implementation. Events will be both virtual and potentially in person. The Week of Action has, at its core, the idea of being a visible arm of justice in our communities around the denomination as we stand on the foundations of both Matthew 25 and the Hands & Feet Initiative. The week and theme are crafted to bring attention and action to the plight of those suffering from differing forms of oppressive situations.
| |
The Rev. Lukata Mjumbe discusses congregational ministry with the Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly (2020) during Good Medicine on August 11, 2021. |
'Decolonizing our congregational ministry'
Mobilizing church buildings to become true resources for the people of God
~ by Pam Wineman
“As we prepare to return, we’ve gone 16 months and beyond without being able to make use of the physical structures of our buildings, so I pray we have come to see our identities as churches that are not bound up in our idol worship of buildings,” the Rev. Lukata Mjumbe said during the August broadcast of “Good Medicine,” hosted by the Rev. Gregory Bentley and Ruling Elder Elona Street-Stewart, Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly (2020)."
| |  |
Elona Street-Stewart and the Rev. Irvin Porter celebrate communion on Native American Day on September 12, 2018, at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Gregg Brekke) |
'Responding to a crisis in Indigenous communities is the focus of Week of Action Thursday'
Co-Moderator among those speaking on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People
~ by Rich Copley
On Thursday, Aug. 26, the Presbyterian Week of Action will focus on an ongoing crisis in Indigenous communities in the United States, Canada, and around the world with a day themed “No More Stolen Relatives: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People.”
| | |
Creative Homeownership and Repair of Racial Wealth Gap
Homeownership has been a key part of building generational wealth for many people. But not for everyone. The racial wealth gap and generational wealth disparities are due to many factors. Repairing the historical damage in this homeownership area, however, is starting to happen in creative ways here where we live. Share this information widely, volunteer, and contribute financially where you can. (Thanks to PART and CREATING SANCTUARY list-serve members who shared ideas in an impromptu email chain. Contact Anna Louise if you want to receive PART and/or CREATING SANCTUARY communications.)
1. Self-Help Credit Union, a not-for-profit financial institution committed to financial justice, including home ownership for people long-marginalized by traditional banks. Read their mission statement, invest in their stock, open accounts with them. Self-Help has partnered with Pisgah Legal, Beloved Asheville and other mission partners over years. Two Asheville branch locations. https://www.self-help.org/
| |
2. Asheville Buncombe Community Land Trust, a community-led effort formed to “address the injustices of urban renewal and the increased cost of living in our area.” Buys (or receives as donations) parcels of land on which homes can be built. Homeowner will own the house and lease the land. Next orientation for prospective homeowners: September 20. https://abclt.org/
3. Montford & Stumptown Fund, a fund within the Asheville Buncombe Community Land Trust. Essay on gentrification and accountability in Montford at https://amiworthen.com/2021/06/07/history-accountability-and-home/. Info on fund at https://montfordandstumptown.com/
| |
4. Poder Emma (part of Colaborativa La Milpa) has a real estate cooperative and loan program to enable the residents of four Emma trailer parks to purchase the lots their trailers are on. Residents don't have to worry about eviction should the landlord decide to sell the land because they and their neighbors now own the land under their trailers. See the "one-pager" information sheet at https://www.poderemma.org/resources.
5. Landis Technologies, a brand-new, national, for-profit yet social-driven company that works closely with clients in a rent-to-buy program with coaching on credit, savings, and mortgage selection. https://www.landis.com/
Bonus! For background on Black-owned residential and business property lost to urban renewal—a key part of reparations discussions--see the City of Asheville’s Urban Renewal and City-owned Property StoryMap. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ba1e9d724a1a4916bc9ff134283e5a43
| |
|
YWCA 21-Day Racial Equity and Social Justice Challenge | September 6th
Join us as we continue to engage our community on issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership. Sign up to receive daily emails with the option to read an article, listen to a podcast, or reflect on a personal experience on social justice topics like reparations, sports, gender-based bias, and environmental racism. Based on the premise that it takes 21 days to build a habit, the 21-Day Challenge aims to continue heightening our community’s wisdom on the numerous racial and social injustices still present today, and, most importantly, how to end them—until justice, just is.
SIGN UP TODAY
| |
Wild Goose Festival STILL NEEDS VOLUNTEERS! | Sept 2-5 | Hot Springs, NC
SPIRIT | JUSTICE | MUSIC | ART
Wild Goose Festival grows each year, and with that growth, our volunteer needs grow. We need your help to fill some of the slots on our volunteer teams.
Are you planning to volunteer, but just haven’t completed your application form? Don’t delay. Take the time and get that form in today!
If you’re already a volunteer or are just interested in helping us spread the word about our need for volunteers, would you please share our our volunteer application link (below) with your friends, family, network, and groups?
https://wildgoosefestival.org/get-involved/volunteer/
| |
|
Summertime Stewardship
Are you looking forward to time outside and away
from screens, but concerned about staying on top of your pledged giving? Don't worry, there are ways to give easily remotely, even automatically!
MAIL gifts to the office at 789 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC 28804(the office remains closed but we are checking the mail)
BANK BILL PAY mails checks remotely, one-time or on a recurring schedule – contact your bank to set this up
| |
ONLINE at https://onrealm.org/gcpcusa/give/now
or through your Realm Connect smartphone app
TEXT "giveGCPC" to 73256 on your mobile device, then follow the prompts
Interested in setting up online recurring giving? Follow these simple step-by-step instructions to self-manage eGiving through Realm or return this signed authorization form to have our Finance Office set up on your behalf.
If you have any questions, please contact Natalie in our Finance office at nweaver@gcpcusa.org or by leaving a message for Natalie Weaver at 828-254-3274.
| |
|
HOW TO CONTACT STAFF:
Our staff are all still working remotely as the office remains closed due to the pandemic. To leave a voicemail for a staff member to return your call, follow these steps:
- The Church Office is open on Tuesdays, 10am - 4pm.
-
Call the office at 828-254-3274.
-
Listen through the office closure notice, which will then take you to a staff directory.
-
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.
-
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.
| |
|
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804
828.254.3274
www.gcpcusa.org
| | | | |
