Grace Notes

Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we enter 2013. The arrival of the New Year is often an occasion for pausing to review the past year, and for making resolutions for the year to come. As I was listening to Nelson Reveleys sermon on Sunday, something he said moved me strongly to consider Gods extraordinary grace. When I pause to assess the past year, I find as Im sure you do joys, blessings, successes, and growth, as well as sorrows, loss, setbacks and mortality. Our lives will always be thus, no matter the year or the perspective. But one aspect that shone more brightly than any other was the aspect of Gods grace. When I think of the multitude of blessings that we enjoy and consider them alongside the lives of, for example, many of the people whom Susan Pillsbury David, Ron David, Adam Pillsbury, Nelson Reveley, and the rest of the team will be visiting next week in Tegucigalpa, Honduras I am struck by the immense gulf of material prosperity that stretches between us. And while material prosperity, as we all know, is a measure of neither well-being nor happiness in itself, nevertheless it opens doors to life-changing opportunities for education, health, safety, sanitation, justice, and myriad other upbuilding pursuits that otherwise would be pushed to the side while searching for food and clean water, or hiding from violence. I know that I have done nothing to earn or deserve my station in life. Rather, as Job said, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord. All that I enjoy, including the privilege of being able to devote myself full-time to the pastoring of a congregation, is an unmerited gift from God. His grace, indeed, is amazing, and as I consider how I have received so bountifully from Him, I both give thanks for my many blessings, and understand more clearly my calling to be about my Fathers business and to share as generously with others the blessings that God has so generously bestowed upon me. Chief among these is the new life God has given to us and to me me in Christ Jesus. It is nothing less than life-changing. As a familiar hymn goes, I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see. Such words are necessary to truly convey the fundamental difference between the life of this world and the life won for us by Christ. I fear that the word new is insufficient to the task, because it can imply novelty without substantial difference. A new car is, in most ways, just a shinier, less-worn, and improved version of an older car. A new year, similarly, is usually approached with expectations shaped almost entirely by years past. The other word we often use to describe this gift, eternal (or everlasting) life, is similarly insufficient because, to mortals such as us, with no experience of the eternal, such a word more often means forever or not ending. And yet, the life that is eternal in Christ is not simply our current life, extended ad infinitum. Neither is it an improved life, i.e., the life we have now, just better. It is a different life.

Volume 43, Issue 1

January 2013

-continued on page 10-

Thank You from STEP

22nd Christmas Store - A Blessed Success

Our 22nd "Pride For Parents" Christmas Store was a huge success. We had an overwhelming amount of donations and volunteer help. It was indeed our best Christmas Store ever. We served 65 shoppers who shopped for 201 children! Wow, we were blown away by the church and business community response. We had more than 50 volunteers who cheerfully sorted toys and gifts, prepared and served breakfast to the shoppers, helped them shop and wrapped their gifts. It was a very meaningful experience for everyone involved. Thanks to everyone who donated, volunteered and prayed for the success of this year's store. We at STEP wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Christ-centered 2013.
STEP (Strategies To Elevate People) is a Richmond faith-based ministry supported by GCPC.

Thank You for Candlelight

A very special THANK YOU to all who volunteered their time and talents to make possible such a wonderful reception after the Eighty-First Candlelight Service. The refreshments were extraordinary, delightful, delicious and presented with such style. A special thank you to the Presbyterian Women co-chairs, Elizabeth Russell and Diane Davis, who coordinated the event and to the many volunteers for the planning, preparation, baking, flower arranging, serving and cleaning up. You are a wonderful congregation to continue this lovely tradition. - Cheryl Jacobs

LOST and FOUND

Our Lost and Found Closet is overflowing! If you are missing something please check the Lost and Found Closet in the Glass Office.

January Birthdays
Openers/Closers January 6 Kent Cardwell January 13 Rick Nochta January 20- Whit Whitley January 27- Hank Downing

1223366667-

Juliette White Brenda Harris Bill Jacobs Marcia Manning Valerie Campbell Taylor Reveley III Patty Richwine Laurie Harvie Caroline Johnson Holly Wilson

7- Cherry Corley 9- Kathy Koch 11 Adrian Chenoweth Worship Kits 11 Leo Chenoweth Lisa Cardwell 14- George Norris 15- Willie Alford Grace Notes Deadline: January 21 is the deadline for 16- Donnie Appich submissions for our February edition. 16- Harris Longfield 17- Steve Kemp Elementary Sunday School 19- Will Bridenstine III Megan Meyer 21- John Pope 22- Allison Spangler 22- John Gray 23- Libby Rosebro 26- Evelyn Tower 26- Susan Boze 28- Wayne Casey 30- Fitz-Henry Boze 30- Katey Winston

Stewardship Corner and Financial Update

Page 4

Both income and expenses were relatively low in November and the months operations recorded a small surplus. Contributions of $36,300 were up 10.3% from the prior month and 15.6% from November a year ago. No rental income was recorded during the month and total income was only $37,900. However, expenses of $33,900 were relatively low. They included $2,600 cost of air conditioning repairs and $1,000 for a mission project, but they were reduced by $2,600 prior insurance cost adjustment. Novembers income exceeded expenses by $4,000. For the year to date, contributions of $409,900 are 14.4% higher than the same time last year. Our year-to-date operating deficit is $25,900. Novembers Loaves and Fishes contributions totaled $1,700, while $11,700 was disbursed in support of various mission projects. Our Five Cents Per Meal offering was $260, just slightly below Octobers total.

Music Ministry January 2013

January 6 Epiphany Prelude How Lovely Shines the Morning Star Anthem Adoration of the Wise Men Postlude The Rejoicing (Suite in G) Dietrich Buxtehude Crawford Thoburn Charles Callahan

January 13 Baptism of the Lord January 20

Prelude Baptismal Dance (and the heavens were opened) Dan Locklair Anthem Thy Perfect Love John Rutter Postlude Allegro (Trois Postludes) Denis Bdard Prelude Andante sostenuto (Symphonie Gothique) Anthem Grant Unto Us Thy Peace, O Lord Postlude Festival Finale Prelude All Glory Be to God on High Anthem Consecration Handbells Ring Joyous with the Sound Postlude Menuet Gothique (Suite Gothique) Charles-Marie Widor Felix Mendelssohn Malcolm Archer Johann Sebastian Bach John Ness Beck Douglas Wagner Lon Bollmann

January 27 Installation of Officers

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN
All Circles Meet on Tuesday, January 8
PW Circle 2 11:00 a.m.

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PW Circle 3 9:30 a.m. Social Room Hostess: Lisa Cardwel l

Covenant Room Hostesses: Mary Whitley & Carole Wagner

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January
Sunday Monday Tuesday 1 New Years Day Wednesday
2

CHURCH OFFICE & CDC CLOSED

6 7 Mens Lunch 12 noon Prayer 9:15 am Sunday School 9:30 am Worship Committee Worship 10:55 am Meeting 7:00 pm Fellowship Hour 12 noon Congregational Lunch 12:30pm
8 Staff Meeting 10:00 a.m.

Chancel Choir 7:15 pm

PW Circles see page 4

Finance Committee 6:00 pm Admin. Comm. 7:00 pm

9 Carol Choir 4:30 pm Junior Choir 5:00 pm First WNL 6:00 pm Chancel Choir 7:15 pm

13 14 Mens Lunch 12 noon 15 Staff Meeting 10:00 a.m. Prayer 9:15 am Sunday School 9:30 am Care Team Meeting 3:00 pm Worship 10:55 am Fellowship Hour 12 noon Congregational Lunch 12:30pm 20 22 21 Martin Luther Staff Meeting 10:00 a.m. Prayer 9:15 am King Day Sunday School 9:30 am Care Team Meets 12:30 pm Worship 10:55 am CHURCH OFFICE Fellowship Hour 12 noon Congregational Lunch 12:30pm CLOSED 27 28 Mens Lunch 12 noon 29 Staff Meeting 10:00 a.m. Prayer 9:15 am Sunday School 9:30 am Care Team Meeting 3:00 p.m. Worship 10:55 am Fellowship Hour 12 noon Congregational Lunch 12:30pm

16 Carol Choir 4:30 pm Junior Choir 5:00 pm WNL 6:00 pm Chancel Choir 7:15 pm

23
Carol Choir 4:30 pm Junior Choir 5:00 pm WNL 6:00 pm Chancel Choir 7:15 pm

30
Carol Choir 4:30 pm Junior Choir 5:00 pm WNL 6:00 pm Chancel Choir 7:15 pm

Page 7

Thursday 3 CDC Chapel 10:00 am 4

Friday

Saturday 5 Officer Training 9:00 am

Community Group 5:45 pm

10

CDC Chapel 10:00 am

11

12 Officer Training 9:00 am

17

CDC Chapel 10:00 am

18 Community Group 5:45 pm

19

SESSION MEETING 7:00 pm

24

CDC Chapel 10:00 am Deacons Meeting 5:30pm

25

26

31

CDC Chapel 10:00 am

Wednesday Night Live!

Each Wednesday evening we gather at 6:00 p.m. for table fellowship, followed by a program from 6:30-7:15 p.m. We provide child care for preschoolers and a childrens program for school-age children. All are welcome! Take a break from cooking dinner and join us for a friendly, relaxing, and inspiring evening. For more information, contact Vanessa Strait in the church office at 359-2463, or info@grace-covenant.org. January Programs: January 9: Tim Cole with STEP (Strategies To Elevate People), a faith based holistic mentoring and education program to eliminate poverty in Richmond. January 16: Katie Preston with Virginia Interfaith Power & Light is speaking about faithful stewardship of the environment. January 23: Missions Committee reports on The Loaves and Fishes Outreach Ministry. January 30: Come hear how a member uses Christianity in the workplace.

January Meals: January 9: Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, and fruit and cookies for dessert.

All meals are $5.00 per person, $12.00 per family, and $2.00 for students. First-time guests eat free.

Page 9

Grace Notes

CDC Update
Happy New Year, Grace Covenant Presbyterian! I am happy to announce that the CDC has finished 2012 on a happy note, having celebrated the Christmas Season with much cheer and Christian Fellowship. I want to thank your congregation for allowing us use of the Fellowship Hall for our Christmas Reception on December 14, even with its proximity to your very important Candlelight Service. Working together with love, cooperation, and sharing are part of what the Christmas season is all about! Our Christmas Reception was a huge success, and really added to the Christian sense of community offered by our uniquely Family-Style professional daycare program. It was almost like having dinner at my Grandparents house! That's how much of a loving, caring, supportive environment we are providing for these families, and how GCPC is ministering to families in the Richmond Community. Our children sang two Christmas Carols, and several staff participated by singing and playing instruments in our mini-program for the night. Thank you again for making this wonderful night possible. So we start the year of 2013 with fond memories of family time, and a renewed sense of God's love. We also start the new year with praise and joy, as we have six new children starting in January! Our program is really beginning to pick back up as our reputation for a genuine atmosphere, knowledgeable staff, and professional, quality program grows. Our enrollment will be at 47, the highest it's been since the beginning of the summer of 2012, and it will only continue to rise as 2013 goes forward. We look forward to having a larger community of families with a common goal, and continue to support them through the challenges of raising children in an era filled with so many negative influences. Thank you for all your prayers and actions in support of the CDC. You are providing a rare, positive service to the community of young families in Richmond. Happy New Year! -Nicole Williams, Director of CDC

-continued from page 1It is a life that rejoices constantly in Gods goodness (Ps. 148); it is a life that delights in His Word, and seeks every opportunity to meditate upon it (Ps. 1); it is a life that turns over all concern for its own welfare to God, confident in His providence, and asks, Lord, how shall You use me today? (Matt. 6:25-33); it is a life that sees the promise of redemption in the darkest circumstance (Romans 8:28); it is a life that knows it is powerless against sin, and that sin is powerless against God (Matt. 4). Most of all, it is a life that overflows with love (Phil. 1:9). And God gives this different life to us freely by grace even though we sin against our Lord (Rom. 5:8). As the psalmist says, such thoughts are too wonderful for me (Psalm 139:6). As we begin this new year, I invite us all to honestly examine our lives. Ask yourself, Am I living this grace-filled life that scripture describes (above)? Have I allowed myself to be deceived into thinking that a Christian life is primarily a set of behaviors and habits (e.g., Sunday morning worship, involvement in a committee, saying grace before dinner)? Am I dooming myself to failure by trying to prove to God that I can be a Christian by my own efforts? Do I foolishly think that God has any interest in my trying to be good apart from surrendering my life to Him? Or, alternately, if I have already surrendered my life to God, have I recently slipped back into worldly habits and indulgences? Have I been taking Gods grace for granted, and lazily following my own appetites rather than seeking His will? Have I grieved his Holy Spirit? The good news for those of us who answer the questions above honestly is the news of Gods covenant faithfulness the news that, no matter the frequency, the severity, or the character of our sin, God does not cast us off. He does not turn away. He is faithful to His promises, even as we regularly break the ones we make to Him. At the last supper with His disciples, Jesus lifted up the cup of the new covenant the new promise, the new binding contract sealed in His blood, which was shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins. He is faithful to His covenant. Christ forgives us all our sins (Luke 23:34) not only those who have relapsed from lives surrendered to Him, but also those who have yet to make the choice to follow Him. Our congregation a congregation of Grace, and a people of the Covenant is filled with both. And He freely extends His gracious love to us all. I invite you to turn afresh to the Lord in 2013. Rejoice in the grace shown to you this past year, lean upon the covenant He has established with us in love, and walk humbly forward with the God who makes all things new (Rev. 21:5) including the year ahead. In Christ,

Her Presbyterian goodies? Yum! Whenever Brints around hes This poem was composed by Janet Chenoweth as a tribDiscussing scripture with Miss T. ute to Renaissance Lady While hoping for her brownies. Evelyn Tower, and presented to her at her
farewell in November. It is reprinted here by popular demand.

Tiny Titan: Evelyn Tower

We gather on this Wednesday night With accolades to shower On tiny titan, juggernaut Thats known as Evelyn Tower. Her talents are unlimited I doubt she even sleeps! She sews all sort of pageant clothes Like shirts, scarves, skirts, and sheep's. Her puppets in the Drama Room Delight the little tot I think she even took some salt And made the wife of Lot. Lets not forget that long ago She was a missionary I know brave Evlyn wouldnt think That Kim-Jung Il was scary. Meals on wheels, meals for moms And singing in the choir Then serving at The Candlelight This lady is on fire! From Hecuba to Habakkuk Evelyn knows the story The Daughters of Zelophehad. Proclaim Ms. Towers glory.

We also gather on this night To show you our devotion To all the literature youve writ Youre poetry in motion. You love to travel everywhere By plane and Winnebago We wish you well when now you venture Off to San Diego. Remember us Grace Covnanters Dear Nell, Pat, Jean, and Betty Think of Dottie-Ray and Pete Wheneer you eat spaghetti. Remember No Peek Beef and buns While surfing the Pacific Speak not to Valley girls and dudes Their accents are horrific. So pack the sun block - 50 plus And fly across our nation; Be sure to send us your address Well come there for vacation! Well miss your voice and words and love Well miss you every hour So go with grace and Facebook us Our precious Evelyn Tower. -Janet Chenoweth Circle 3 November 28, 2012

The Staff
Brint Keyes Interim Pastor Revbrint@verizon.net Chris Martin Director of Music and Organist martin@grace-covenant.org Vanessa Strait Administrative Assistant strait@grace-covenant.org Martha Rubin Bookkeeper bookkeeper@grace-covenant.org James Greene Custodian Christopher Tweel Seminary Intern Christopher.Tweel@upsem.edu Church Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Phone: (804) 359-2463 Fax: (804) 278-6298 www.grace-covenant.org

Church Officers
Our Elders serve the church as leaders. Our Deacons lead the church in service. Please feel free to approach them with any questions or feedback about Grace Covenants ministries. CLERK OF SESSION: Everett Reveley ELDERS: Jordan Ball (14) - Nominating (M); Finance Kent Cardwell (12) - Fellowship (M) Wayne Casey (13) - Property, Small Groups (M); Jack Corley (13) - Finance, Missions Matt Hartman - Missions (M) Virginia Hudson (14) - Evangelism (M) Cheryl Jacobs (12) - Worship (M); Fellowship Katie McCullough (13) - Administration (M) Dana McKnight (14) - Finance,Worship,Stewardship Christof Meyer (12) - Christian Ed (M), CDC (M) Tom Miller (12) - Christian Education Joy Nevin (14) - Administration Everett Reveley (12) - Finance (M), Stewardship Robert Rosebro (13) - Property (M) Rob Turner (14) - Worship, Nominating

DEACONS: Pat Ball (12) - Flowers Cherry Corley (12) - Communication Cards Susan Farrell (12) - Transportation, Care Team Sundays: Nikki Hazlegrove (13) - Vice-Moderator - Meals Jan Kessel (14) - Care Team 9:30 a.m. Sunday School for all ages in Jim McCullough (13) - Deacons Fund, Nominating the Education Building Ann Pais (14) - Care Team 10:55 a.m. Worship Service in Erika Tabor (14) - Secretary - Communication Cards the Sanctuary Judy Waldron (14) - Moderator - Cards 12:00 noon Congregational Fellowship in Dawson Watkins (13) - Care Team the Social Room Carol Wood (13) - Prayer, Communication Cards Grace Covenant Child Development Center Sid Yates (12) - Ushering Nicole Williams Director director.gccdc@verizon.net www.gracecovenantcdc.com TRUSTEES: Lloyd Bostian (13) Kent Cardwell (13) Caroline Leith (14)