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Worship Preview | Sunday, March 5, 2023
Second Sunday in Lent
In-person and Online Service
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*For the full revised common lectionary, please click here. | |
| Saturday, March 4 | GCPC Blood Drive | 10:00 am - 3:00 pm | Fellowship Hall | | Sunday, March 5 | Hybrid Worship
(In-person and online) | 9:30 am @ GCPC
(also on Youtube) | | Sunday, March 5 | Fellowship Time | 10:45 am | Narthex | | Sunday, March 5 | Formation for All Ages | 11:00 am
*please see details below | | Sunday, March 5 | GCPC Cancer Survivors and Thrivers Dinner | 5:30 pm | Fellowship Hall | | Monday, March 6 | PW Circle 5 Mtg. | 11:00 am on Zoom | | Monday, March 6 | Volunteer @ La Milpa | 1:00 pm | Asheville First Church of the Nazarene | | Tuesday - Thursday | Church Office OPEN | 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | | Tuesday, March 7 | Prayer Group | 10:00 am | Jerusalem Room | | Tuesday, March 7 | VRQ Cook Team | 4:30 or 5:30 pm | Veterans Restoration Quarters | | Tuesday, March 7 | Guatemala Comm. Mtg. | 5:30 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, March 7 | Worship Council Mtg. | 5:30 pm on Zoom | | Tuesday, March 7 | PW Circle 2 Mtg. | 7:30 pm on Zoom | | Wednesday, March 8 | Lenten Bible Study | 12:00 pm |Jerusalem Room (also on Zoom) | | Wednesday, March 8 | Centering Prayer | 6:00 pm | Sanctuary | | Wednesday, March 8 | Choir Rehearsal | 7:00 pm | Sanctuary | |
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FINAL PUSH TO FILL APPOINTMENTS!
4 Power Red slots and 2 Blood donor slots left!
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Children's Formation (K-5th Grade) | Sundays | 11:00 AM | Sanctuary
Children will continue to explore the parables and the life of Jesus through Godly Play on Sunday mornings. Every Sunday there will be a special Lent Children’s Bulletin with art and activities to get our kids thinking more about Lent. Each week there will be a Lent Focus Prompt and Activity in the family email.
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Adult & Youth (Middle/High School) Formation: "Why Being a More Light Congregation Makes Us a More Faithful Church" | Sundays | 11:00 AM | Fellowship Hall and Zoom (password: 789)
In this class, we will be exploring how GCPC can continue to live into our values as a More Light Congregation. The mission of More Light Presbyterians is a non-profit organization dedicated to allowing the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and in society. Throughout the study, we will be hearing from leaders in More Light and the greater denomination via zoom.
Our guests include:
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March 5: Bryce Wiebe currently serves as the Associate for Vital Congregations of Eastminster Presbytery in Ohio. He is also the former Manager of the Office of Special Offerings at Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Bryce is a passionate advocate for justice, a Christian Educator and a seeker of liberation. Bryce brings a wealth of wisdom and experience around how he has navigated balancing his identity as queer with serving and working in the church.
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March 12: Laura Mariko Cheifetz is the Assistant Dean for Admissions, Vocation, and Stewardship at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. She has also served as the Deputy Director of Systems & Sustainability of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum and as Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Forum for Theological Exploration. She will be speaking about how the gift of queerness is that it is expansive of faith and theological insight, not only due to expanding community but also in ways of thinking and believing.
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March 16: Eric Thomas is the interim pastor of Siloam Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York. He is the first pastor ordained at Siloam and its first openly same-gender loving pastor. He is also currently completing a PhD in New Testament & Early Christianity at Drew University. His research explores the potential for queer people of color to engage with scriptural texts to articulate and embody their own modes of flourishing. Note: Rev. Thomas will be speaking to us on a Thursday night. We will then be discussing his presentation the following Sunday.
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March 26: Adrian White recently graduated from Vanderbilt Divinity School and serves as the interim part-time pastor at Woodland Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN. Rev. White will be discussing their article in Unbound, "Queer Family Celebration" (https://justiceunbound.org/queer-family-celebration/) and the work of Christians to create possibilities for all people to participate fully with their names and with their bodies at the Lord's Table and in the life of the church. Adrian is also on the board of More Light Presbyterians.
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April 5: Bertram Johnson is the Interfaith Minister at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Rev. Johnson is a faith leader who has spent more than two decades serving churches, non-profits, and faith-based organizations dedicated to social justice, spiritual care, and public health. He is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and was the first openly gay African American to be ordained in the PCUSA. He will be discussing his recent article in Time Magazine about "Finding Resilience As A Queer Person During The Holidays" https://time.com/6242427/lgbtq-loneliness-resilience-holidays/
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*NEW LOCATION!
Serve Volunteer Opportunity -
Fight Food Insecurity!
Join us on Monday, March 6, at the MANNA FoodBank mobile market organized by our covenant partner Colaborativa La Milpa. Help put food on the tables of families experiencing food insecurity in the Emma community of Asheville.
Come for an hour or the whole afternoon. We need more GCPC helping hands and loving hearts.
DATE: Monday, March 6
* NEW LOCATION: Asheville First Church of the Nazarene, 385 Hazel Mill Rd., Asheville
SCHEDULE:
- 1-3 PM Set up tables of dry and canned goods; bag produce.
- 3-5 PM Restock items, assist families as they fill their carts.
Here are the dates for the full year if you would like to put them in your calendar:
- April 3, May 1, June 5, July 3, August 7, September 4, October 2, November, December 4
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!
VRQ—BBQ Cook Team | Tuesday, March 7 | 4:30 PM to cook or 5:30 PM to work the serving line | Veterans Restoration Quarters
On the first Tuesday of each month a team from GCPC gathers at VRQ, 1329 Tunnel Road, to grill hamburgers, prepare and serve supper for the veterans housed there.
If you can help please contact Bill Neeriemer, bill.nmer@gmail.com.
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Wednesday Lenten Bible Study | 12:00 PM | Jerusalem Room and Zoom
Throughout Lent during our normal Wednesday Bible Study time (12-1p), we will be discussing Jill Duffield’s book Lent in Plain Sight. This devotional work enables us to see God’s transformative work through the ordinary: “ordinary people, ordinary objects, ordinary grace.” Together we will delve into Scripture and practice together as we delve deeper into our spiritual Lenten journeys.
The Church will order and provide books for all who can participate on these Wednesday meetings, March 1-April 5. Contact Richard (richard@gcpcusa.org) if you would like a copy.
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Centering Prayer | Wednesdays | 6:00 - 6:30 PM | Sanctuary
Join us on Wednesdays to sit in sacred silence and feel God closely. If you are not able to join us in person, we invite you to light a candle and hold silence wherever you are.
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“Feeling Our Way in the Puzzle: God, Evil, and the Human Condition in Process Theology” | Thursday Night Class | March 9, 16, 23, 30 | 6:30 - 8:00 PM | Fellowship Hall | taught by Marcia Mount Shoop
Some of the hardest parts of the life of faith today are making sense of the traditional ways Christianity has explained things like Divine power, the existence of evil in the world, and why humans are the way we are. Process Theology invites us to shed many of the faulty assumptions of the Western philosophical tradition like materialism, superiority, and linear understandings of time for a cosmology and theology that coheres to the realities of the created world. This four week class is an opportunity for us to explore the novel perspectives that Process Theology offers us as we struggle to both understand and embody the life of faith in these trying times on the planet earth.
(both in person and zoom options; some readings will be available but not required)
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Important Announcements... | |
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Marcia also has a chapter in another newly released book, The Routledge Handbook of Religion and the Body; Chapter 9: "Avoidance, Aversion, and Intellectualization: Embodied Brokenness in White Christianity."
Amazon says: "The Routledge Handbook of Religion and the Body is the first comprehensive volume to feature multireligious cross-cultural perspectives on the body and embodiment. Featuring multidisciplinary approaches and methodologies from the humanities and the social sciences, it addresses the body and embodied religiosity in theological, ethical, and cultural contexts."
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Update on Winter Safe Shelter, a collaborative effort between GCPC, Grace Episcopal, and Trinity United Methodist | |
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The Winter Safe Shelter is still in need of volunteers! You can sign up at this link.
Check out the most current needed items by clicking here.
Safe Shelters’ person-centered, trauma-informed approach shows many promising outcomes. We have consistently provided 10 beds on a nightly basis for the past seven weeks. During that time we have served
23 guests, with an average length of stay of 16 days.
Outcomes at Exit:
71% of housing outcomes at exit have been to permanent housing
82% if you include transitional housing
100% of families transitioned into permanent housing at exit, with support furnishing
100% of children were housed at exit.
82% of BIPOC guests were housed at exit.
100% of Latine guests were housed at exit.
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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 (2/26-3/4): Bill McNeff | email: wpmcn6@yahoo.com
Next week (3/5-3/11): Pam Baker | email: pam.dunkin56@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
Trey and Alisha Thompson and 3 kids - Gabi, Arlo, and Eldon (Patty and Brent Thompson's son and daughter-in-law and grandchildren)
Cathy Wooten (William High’s mom)
Jessica Huie (John Huie's daughter)
Mimosa Hines (Robin Mallernee's daughter)
Maria, Esteban, and Erik Goicoehea
Cierra Williams (Marta Alcala's friend)
Ann Bartlett (friend of Amanda Pressley)
Family of Burch Mixon (Kate Shem connection)
Casey Gunn Newton (Lynn Turnage's friend; Beth Gunn's daughter)
Susan Smialowicz
Doris Prak
Michelle Chromey and family
Andrea Rosal
Sharon Sasse
Reed Carney
Laura and Jonathan Ross
Margaret Rada
Mary Byers
Gloria Moe
Ken Richards
Susie Churchfield
Karen Rohls
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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: Second Tuesday of each month (some Zoom and some in-person), 7:00 p.m.
Circle 4: Second Tuesdays of each month, 10:30 a.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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The GCPC Community Garden is gearing up for the season! | |
Community Working Together | |
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Racial Justice Coalition -
Opportunities to Engage in Equity Work this Week
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You are invited to a free screening and discussion of the powerful film “Racist Roots” on the UNCA campus this Thursday TONIGHT(3/2), from 7-9 pm. The 25-minute film traces our modern death penalty's deep entanglement with slavery, lynching, and racism. The film will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with the North Carolina Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (NCCADP) team: death row exoneree Alfred Rivera, community organizer Nick Courmon, and director Noel Nickle. This event is open to the public and does not require you to RSVP or register. You can find more info about this event here.
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Asheville City Council is inviting your input on a Budget Priorities survey that closes this Friday (3/3) at 11:59pm. This survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete and allows you to rank City services, and other expenses, to inform the City on how to build their next annual budget. You can find more information and take the survey here.
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You can also "plug in" related to the City Council Budget survey by visiting RJC's most recent GAP report from Monday 2/27 and helping them advocate to extend this survey's deadline and expand its distribution in order to increase inclusion and input from Black and Brown communities in the City's budget process.
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CoThinkk Member Mixer | Saturday, March 4 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM | 8 River Arts Place
We will be celebrating the powerful impacts disruption has on shifting mindsets and systems, sharing about CoThinkk's vision for 2023, and embracing the joy that comes from being in community with one another.
The Mixer is FREE and provides an opportunity to partner and collaborate with CoThinkkers!
If you or folks in your network are interested in learning about CoThinkk or joining, come along and get to know what membership is like from our members. If you can’t join at this moment, want to learn about other ways to contribute - register and come hang out. If you are able to donate, your donations will shore up our efforts and support capacity building, leadership development, and future grant investment in Asheville and Western North Carolina change-makers.
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Racial Equity Institute (REI) Upcoming Trainings
The Western North Carolina Racial Equity Collective is a collective of volunteers in counties across the mountains working to create more equitable communities. Together we organize to bring the Racial Equity Institute workshops and trainings to our area and beyond, as well as facilitate community conversations about race, racism and how both are operating in our communities.
| Hood Huggers Intl. and Peace Gardens & Market invites you to.... | |
“Adoration” by Daniel Bonnell is the art that illustrates the liturgy resource created by Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri for Wednesday’s “Celebrate the Gifts of Women” service. | |
PC (USA) - "Celebrate the Gifts of Women" Worship Service
If you were unable to watch this special worship service on Wednesday, you can watch the recorded video here.
This year’s resource includes liturgy for a full worship service as well as a reflection by Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri called “Favorecida.” Cintrón-Olivieri chose this year’s scripture (Luke 1:45-56) as she thought about Mary, the mother of Jesus, and about both her vulnerability and her strength. At the March 1 worship service, the Rev. Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop preached on this same text, with a sermon titled, “Scattering, Shattering, & Mattering.”
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Asheville Poverty Initiative
"Building Community & Promoting Economic Justice"
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Interfaith Initiative -
Social Justice Opportunities
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Buncombe Community Remembrance Project | | |
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PC(USA) Special Offerings -
One Great Hour of Sharing
February 22 - April 9
Millions of people lack access to sustainable food sources, clean water, sanitation, education, and opportunity.
The three programs supported by One Great Hour of Sharing - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People - all work in different ways to serve individuals and communities in need. From initial disaster response to ongoing community development, their work fits together to provide people with safety, sustenance, and hope.
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Rabbi Alana Suskin (Screenshot) | |
Listening in while a PC(USA) pastor and a rabbi hold a respectful conversation on antisemitism, Islamophobia and the church -
Two old friends, the Rev. Denise Anderson and Rabbi Alana Suskin, invite us along as they hold what can be a difficult discussion
~ by Mike Ferguson
The Rev. Denise Anderson, director of Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries in the Presbyterian Mission Agency, had an hour-long conversation with an old friend last week and invited the rest of us to listen in.
Anderson’s old friend is Rabbi Alana Suskin, an educator, activist and writer and the co-founder and co-director of The Pomegranate Initiative, a nonprofit organization fighting antisemitism and Islamophobia through education and relationship-building. The two friends, who met about six years ago working on issues as part of the Poor People’s Campaign, labeled the event “Antisemitism, Israel Palestine and the Church: A Conversation.”
“This is billed as a conversation because that’s how it began,” Anderson said near the opening of their time together. “The best way to achieve lasting and just peace is to have these dialogues.”
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Stewardship & Sustainability | |
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IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO SUBMIT YOUR 2023 PLEDGE!
Submitting your pledge is quick and easy! Simply CLICK HERE or scan the Qr code to the right to submit your pledge online, all in one form. You will receive an email confirmation of your pledge.
Questions or concerns? Please contact Natalie Weaver, Stewardship & Financial Administrator, at giving@gcpcusa.org or leave a message at 828.254.3274.
Keep in mind, anyone can pledge any amount - every single penny helps support the ministry and mission at GCPC!
WAYS TO PLEDGE:
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Online pledge card HERE
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Email giving@gcpcusa.org
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Call 828.254.3274 and leave a message for Natalie Weaver
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Fill out a pew pledge card and put in the Sunday offering plate
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Request a mailed pledge card from the office
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Click here for a Primer for Christian Nationalism Discussion | |
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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.
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Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
789 Merrimon Ave. Asheville, NC 28804
828.254.3274
www.gcpcusa.org
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