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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Pics of the week
• This Week @ GCPC - Calendar and description of events this week @ GCPC
• Formation for Adults, Children & Youth
• Important Announcements
• Stewardship & Sustainability
• Prayer List
• Upcoming @ GCPC - Events in the near future @ GCPC
• Community Working Together - Includes info from Covenant & Ministry Partners
• GCPC Out & About - Info about events in the wider Asheville community

GCPC 40s/50s Christmas Party!

#GCPCinthesanctuary

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

Lectionary Bible Study | Wednesdays | 12:00 PM | Meeting Room E202 (in the Education Wing) and 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/89593021402

Meeting ID: 895 9302 1402 Passcode: 789

Centering Prayer | Wednesdays | 6:00 - 6:30 PM | Sanctuary

Pray with me and other GCPC faith filled congregants on Wednesdays at 6pm in the sanctuary. In a world of constant busyness and messaging, Wednesdays for me have become a place to rest and feel my deeper self and God.

It is a simple ritual. Light the God Candle and say blessings in your silence. We turn to our inward self and repeat a phrase such as Peace of Christ. If your mind wonders, it is okay. Just return to your phrase. Be gentle with yourself. After 20-30 minutes the candle is blown out and we show or say the Peace of Christ to each other. Rest in the peace as you leave.

If you can not be at GCPC, light a candle and be present to God.

In Community,

Liz Huesemann

The Annual Creation Care Alliance Symposium is happening again in Montreat on February 2-3, 2024. The Earth Care Team invites YOU to join us in a group from Grace Covenant.  I will get back to you with information about cost and registration for our group. However, the cost will be something between $20 and $80, depending on qualifying for the early bird registration, group. discount, and number of days you want to attend (Friday only, Saturday only, or both days). If you want to attend or want more information, please email Dana Cozad ([email protected] with a subject line Creation Care). 

Sacred Symbiosis: Relationships for Eco- Justice

The theme of the 2024 Creation Care Alliance Symposium is “Sacred Symbiosis.” The presentations, workshops, and conversations will explore the relationships needed to build and nurture justice for all creation–human and non-human.

This retreat is designed with congregational lay leaders, environmental professionals, and clergy in mind. Whether new to creation care or a long-time advocate, you’ll gain new language and tools to inspire your congregation or community and find space to invigorate your imagination, creativity, and spiritual practice. 

The symposium will begin on Friday, February 2nd, with a full day of workshops and conversations and will run through Saturday, February 3rd. Our keynote speaker, Mary Crow of Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), will speak on the 3rd. Unlike past years, Friday and Saturday’s programs are open to all and will not be limited to clergy.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO RECYCLE??? 

On Tuesday, December 12 at 1:30 pm, join the Earth Care Team at Curbies Recycling in Woodfin to learn about recycling in our community.  How does it work?  What should you recycle—and what goes in the trash?  Communities have different guidelines: do you know those in this area?  What happens after the truck empties your bin? 

Removing plastics from the environment in an important issue for our planet and our individual health.  Let’s learn how we can do it most effectively in our own households.

There is limited space on the tour.  Please let Kathy Singleton know if you would like to join us.  You can contact her at [email protected].

INVITATION TO CONGREGATION from the Guatemala Committee

Hello GCPC,

You are invited to attend GCPC’s Guatemala Partnership Committee’s meeting with our partner church Iglesia Jerusalem at on Sunday, December 10 at 6 pm via ZOOM. Come see and hear what our partnership church is doing! Meet some of their most active members... Like Alby and Rosabel, pictured here.

Kelley Griffith

Here’s the Zoom link:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84632696311

Meeting ID: 846 3269 6311

• GCPC Devotionals



• Email [email protected] 

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 (12/3-12/9): Justin Kyremes-Parks | email: [email protected]

Next week (12/10-12/16): Jerry Bleckley | email: [email protected]

SUBMIT YOUR 2024 PLEDGE!

CLICK HERE or scan the QR code to the right to submit your pledge online, all in one form.  If you would like to set up recurring online gifts, please continue to the next step or contact Brett Pinkston in the Finance Office. You will receive an email confirmation of your pledge.

WAYS TO PLEDGE:

• Online pledge card HERE
• Email [email protected]
• Call 828.254.3274 and leave a message for Brett Pinkston
• Fill out a pew pledge card and put in the Sunday offering plate
• Request a mailed pledge card from the office

Questions or concerns? Please contact Brett Pinkston, Stewardship & Financial Administrator, at [email protected] or leave a message at 828.254.3274. 

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, Esteban, and Erik Goicoechea

Richard Pollard (Rick Pollard’s father)

Yuji Morisako and Ginny Warner (friends of Eleanor and Bob Lane)

Loretta Landis (Mother of Ray Landis)

Beth Newman

Kent and Susan Averill (Jeff and Susan Curtis’ brother-in-law and sister)

Doug Huntley (Rebecca Summerlin Huntley's husband) 

Kathi Gyuran (Ken Richards’ niece)

Kristin Jacobs (Kathy Jacobs’ daughter)  

Grant Moss (Tiffany Kinnaird’s brother-in-law) 

Mohamed and Sana Aggour (Friends of Eleanor and Bob Lane)

Gabriel Alcalá (Marta Alcalá’s dad) 

Ellen Meinhardt (mother of friend of Marta Alcalá)

Family and friends of Margaret Atkinson (Friend of Pat Cheffins) 

Anne and Tony Khoury (Margie Groves’ sister and brother-in-law)

Billy Seymour (cousin of Laurie Stradley)

Tyrone Angle (in prison since he was 14, 29th birthday is next week; hoping for commuted sentence from the governor)

The Reparations Process in Asheville/Buncombe County (From PART) 

Doris Prak

Margaret Rada

Susie Churchfield

Larry Stern

Peggy Rada

Juanita Schneider

Maurice Stone

Michelle Chromey and family

Our sympathy and support are extended to Paul Tierney and Margaret Belk on the death of Paul's father, Joseph Tierney, on Friday, December 1st.

Our sympathy and support are extended to Therese Schuele on the death of her brother, Rev. John Schuele, who died on November 27th.

Our sympathy and support are extended to Anne Turnage on the death of her only remaining sibling, David Shaw, who died just after Thanksgiving.

Please keep all these families in your prayers.

SAVE THE DATES! NEW CLASS OFFERING beginning in January

Life in Death Practice Group

Dates: Thursdays, January 4 – February 8, and Wednesday, February 14

6:30 - 8:00PM | Sanctuary

Facilitated by Keaton Hill

Nothing is more life-changing than death. It is a certainty we can count on, yet it is often a source of great apprehension and distress. Death imbues our lives with significance: In every moment of our living, we are also dying. When we resist the reality of death, we diminish our potential for life.

During this Epiphany Season, you are invited to participate in a living-dying practice group. Whether you are curious or fearful about your bodily death, or are grieving the daily losses that life brings, this is a space to bring our sensations, emotions and beliefs into communion with the Author of life and death. Through sound, movement, silence, music, ritual and other creative expressions – both verbal and non-verbal – we will enact rhythms of living/dying. We will explore how letting go can be a life-giving practice, and how living fully can comfort us in our fears of dying. Our shared experiences and learnings will inform an Ash Wednesday service that we will design together.

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN

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

• Cathy Froehlich - 775-1016, [email protected]

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

• Ann Brown - (828) 279-4917, [email protected] 

Circle 3: Second Tuesday of each month (some Zoom and some in-person), 7:00 p.m.

• Andrea Rosal - (828) 545-8466, [email protected]
• Lynn Saul - (704) 451-5268, [email protected]

Circle 4: Second Tuesdays of each month, 10:30 a.m., In-person

• Marcy Onieal – (828) 775-9433, [email protected]
• Connie Jones – 231-2680, [email protected]

Circle 5: First Monday of each month, 10:00 a.m., Zoom

• Lynne Noble – (828) 582-9346, lynnesno[email protected] 

Need to set up a church zoom meeting?

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

Through Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is providing assistance to those most vulnerable, and supporting partners in Palestine and Israel who are responding to the needs of their neighbors. Our biggest concern is the safety and care for those caught in the middle of this conflict and in need of humanitarian aid, no matter their religious beliefs, politics or nationality.

GCPC participates in AVL Habitat 's House of Faith

Introducing the new homeowner of this year's House of Faith!

Click here to learn more about Deborah Humphries.

GCPC folks have contributed many hours of excellent labor to the house, and by the time you read this, the period of time in which congregations have slots will be over.

You can still help!  The house is not completed. If you want to get in on the project, you can go to the Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity website to sign up for a shift as an individual. You can select the Glenn Bridge community, and, depending on the needs of Habitat, you may get to work on "our" house- it will not hurt to ask the supervisors Danny and Matt. You can also contact Stephanie Wallace ([email protected]), the volunteer manager at Habitat and she will be able to help-828-210-9383, or Bill Ryan ([email protected])

Of course, financial contributions are still needed, and we can all pray for the future homeowner, Deborah Humphries, and the endeavor. 

UPDATE on our Advocacy with Asheville and Buncombe County

Do you believe Reparations Are Due to Black people?

The Asheville JCC invites you to a screening of...  A Tree of Life | Wednesday, December 13 | 6:30 PM | Asheville Jewish Community Center (236 Charlotte Street)

Following the screening there will be a discussion about security with the Asheville JCC’s Security and Facilities Director, Joseph Nunan.

Curious about the film?  Check out the trailer here.

Summary of the Film:

On Saturday, October 27th, 2018, a white supremacist, further radicalized by the political climate at the time, walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue with four semi-automatic assault weapons, shouting “all Jews must die.” He murdered eleven congregants, ranging in age from 54 to 97, as they prayed. A TREE OF LIFE: THE PITTSBURGH SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING creates a deeply personal, trauma-informed portrait of the survivors, victims, and victims' family members of the Pittsburgh Synagogue attack, and brings into sharp focus the hate-based crisis that threatens our collective safety and the very social fabric of our society. As the first film to document the survivor’s stories and the only documentary with this level of personal access to the survivors and families of the victims, viewers will experience first-hand how the lives of those directly affected have profoundly changed and how the Pittsburgh community and the congregations set out on a path towards healing.

Register here to attend.

Day of Mennonite Action for a Ceasefire

A number of people from different faith communities are concerned about the violence in Israel and Palestine. We are planning to visit the Hendersonville offices of Congressman Chuck Edwards and Senator Thom Tillis on Tuesday, December 19 in conjunction with Mennonite Action's "Day of Action for Ceasefire".

See this link to learn more about Mennonite Action: https://www.mennoniteaction.org/ 

We may also visit Senator Ted Budd's office in Asheville.

We do not yet know the times. If you are interested in going with us on 12/19, email Susan Presson ([email protected]).

The Wilma Dykeman Legacy presents....

 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.

• 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