GraceNote
Wednesday, April 28
Dear Grace Covenant Community, 
Happy Easter! 

Easter isn’t just one Sunday in the Spring, it’s a season of embracing new beginnings. And there are many to celebrate these days, even as we remain engaged in the deliberate and slow work of social and cultural change and getting through the COVID19 pandemic. 

With the Spring weather and more and more people getting vaccinated, there are a few new beginnings for us to consider together. 
Worship
The vitality, creativity, and faithful engagement that defines GCPC worship has not missed a beat during the COVID 19 pandemic. Our faith community has continued to worship together in ways that support, encourage, and challenge us. 

Grace Covenant has embraced the gifts of live online worship and I thank all of you for your can-do spirit, your moral courage, and your open hearts. 

The Session and Staff continue to be committed to the well-being of the larger community. We are still a few months out from the conditions required for us to safely resume any face to face worship services at Grace Covenant in ways that honor who this community is. 
We won’t be going back to the way things were before when in person worship resumes. There are many gifts from this COVID time that we will carry with us into this next chapter of our life together. In fact, getting back to face to face worship is not our top priority. Creating the conditions for all of us to worship together is our top priority. 
Here are a few abiding values that are guiding the way forward: 

  • GCPC worship prioritizes an open door and being together. Worshipping in a way that affords access only to some would not be GCPC worship. 

  • GCPC is an intergenerational community. Grace Covenant families with young children need access to vaccinations for their children before we can be together in large groups in doors. 

  • GCPC worship is creative and responsive to the movement of the Spirit and online worship is here to stay. Session is discerning technological updates for the sanctuary in order to create the conditions for new hybrid online/face to face worship practices to emerge.  

  • GCPC worship seeks to be a trustworthy space for our whole selves. The COVID safety of face to face worship is directly correlated to how many of us are vaccinated. We know that such decisions are unique and complicated. While we will not request proof of vaccinations for worship attendance, we strongly encourage everyone who can be vaccinated to be vaccinated. Our goal is to have 80% of the congregation fully vaccinated. We do anticipate requiring masks for indoor gatherings when they resume, and we will be following the best science that is available on decisions about congregational singing. 
  • GCPC worship will continue to seek ways to practice and embody the new skills and muscles we are learning to dismantle white supremacy culture in ourselves and in our community. 


I know that God will continue to provide, inspire, and stretch us as we move into this next phase of our community’s worship life together. 
GCPC Campus
Our building has provided safe and trustworthy space for many children in our community during the COVID19 pandemic through the work of The Children’s Center at Gracelyn (TCC) and Youth Transformed for Life (YTL). The GCPC building remains closed for indoor face to face church gatherings. 
This continued closure remains a critical part of our strategy to keep our community as safe as we can. Both COVID safety and the safety necessary for any space that is serving children requires that we understand the church space as a space for only the TCC and YTL children right now. Please do not stop by the building without making prior arrangements with a GCPC staff member to gain entry. 

It is not safe for YTL or TCC to be asked to let anyone in the building who is not one of their staff members or their children. Both of these programs are not even letting parents into the building right now. They screen the children in the parking lot to keep the schools as COVID safe as possible. 

Cliff, GCPC’s Property Manager, is at the building during the workday most weekdays. You can reach him on his cell phone (828-279-2573) if you need to make arrangements to drop something off or pick something up in the building. Any other planned meeting at the church must be coordinated with a staff member to protect the children who need this to be a trustworthy space. 
If you do stop by the church you will notice some new signage for our parking lot. We have had some near misses with people driving too fast. I have written both YTL and TCC parents and asked them to follow these guidelines when in the GCPC parking lot. I invite you to follow them as well: 

  • As soon as you enter the GCPC parking lot, cars should not be moving at speeds that exceed 5 mph
  • Discontinue all cell phone use before you enter the GCPC parking lot so you can be as aware and attentive to children moving about as possible. 
  • When entering the GCPC parking lot, know that a child could dart out at any moment. Be prepared to stop quickly.  
  • Be aware that the parking lot is full of children that are precious to us all. We are a part of a community who wants all of our children to feel like they can trust the people and the space where they spend so much of their time. 

There are some gradual movements back to one on one face to face meetings with staff and smaller face to face outdoor gatherings off campus. Please continue to be patient, safe, and self-aware as you navigate what this all means for you and your family. The Staff is being intentional with each step we take. And we anticipate there will be new challenges and opportunities as work becomes a hybrid of remote and face to face. Walk slowly with it all as we feel our way through.  And remember that COVID is still a very real risk in Buncombe County.
Community Garden  
GCPC’s beautiful garden remains a place of vitality and growth. Thank you to all the amazing volunteers who have gotten plants in the ground this year. Our Garden Steering Team has been hard at work organizing it all. 

I am excited to announce that we have hired a part time Garden Manager to support and coordinate the work of the garden.  Please welcome Allison Kiehl to our GCPC staff team!
Allison's bio:
I grew up as a water child in Virginia Beach, VA swimming, surfing, skateboarding, and water skiing. I was first introduced to gardening and composting at an early age by my grandmother and her family farm in Salisbury, NC. I have a varied background that includes a degree in International Business and Spanish, traveling to Central America and Europe, and organic farming in California, Hawaii and Asheville. Prior to joining GCPC, I had a career in land conservation working as a land steward of preserved wildlands and family farms. Locally I served as the Farmland Stewardship and Sustainability Director at a local land trust where I managed their Community Farm. I also recently helped create and manage the Fairview Road Resilience Garden - a community garden in the Oakley neighborhood of Asheville. I love connecting to nature and connecting people through growing food. I love just about any activity that is outdoors - basketball, hiking, boating, wildlife viewing, travelling, and finding the best swimming holes in the mountains. I also love to help train shelter dogs, trying to build things out of wood, and watching college basketball and women's soccer. I'm so grateful for all that I have and that I get to share my life with my wife Sarah Carter and our very spoiled and skeptical super mutt Kona!
Remember if you want to volunteer at the garden you can contact Betsy Wilson and she can get you plugged in. 


Whew! That’s a lot of new beginnings! I am excited for how these new beginnings will support the flourishing of all the amazing things that God is doing in our midst. I am sending love and gratitude your way. 

Peace and love,