Marcellus Presbyterian Hosts Santa’s Workshop

Marcellus First Presbyterian Church welcomed families for a festive evening with Santa and children’s crafts as part of the village’s annual Christmas Tree Lighting on December 5th.

Church members transformed Shinaman Hall into a charming “gingerbread village,” complete with sweet details and a miniature replica of the church featuring colorful “stained glass” windows.

Before or after sharing their Christmas wishes with Santa, children enjoyed hands-on activities, including making pinecone gnomes and decorating paper stockings to take home. The joyful event drew more than 120 children and parents from the community.

In the spirit of giving, attendees donated 101 pairs of socks, which will be distributed through the church’s ecumenical food pantry.

This year marked the third consecutive year the church has hosted this beloved holiday tradition, continuing to spread warmth, creativity, and generosity throughout the season.

We want to hear about the mission stories from our Presbytery's worshiping communities. What mission work are you involved in? How are your members working in the community? What story would you like to share with others in the Presbytery?

Send any mission stories from your congregation that you would like to share to: CaySyrNews@gmail.com. 

Deadline is 12 p.m. on Wednesdays for the current week's edition of

Presbytery Matters.

We want to share your stories, missions, activities and more. Also, make sure to like our Facebook page by clicking the "Facebook" icon at the top of this newsletter.

We are asking our churches to share this newsletter with your members each week. Click the button below to forward the email or to obtain the newsletter link.

Thank you! 

In our prayers together this week:

• Please keep Doug Russell, of Baldwinsville Presbyterian Church, in your prayers as he battles cancer. Pray for strength, healing, and peace for Doug and his loved ones during this difficult time.
• Please pray for pastors Steve and Saunda Thomas as Steve is undergoing cancer treatments. Please keep them in your prayers and cards can be mailed to 130 Wade Hampton Dr., Beaufort, SC 29907.
• Please pray Jerry Armstrong (Whitelaw Presbyterian) Jerry is 15 years old with recurrent bone cancer that has spread to his esophagus. Please continue to pray more than ever for both Jerry and his family. Cards can be sent to Jerry Armstrong at PO Box 414 Wampsville, NY 13163.
• Prayers for peace for the people and country of South Korea.
• Pray for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
• The voiceless.
• All those who have been separated from their families.
• All those in America.
• Our brothers & sisters in Haiti.
• All those in Sudan.
• All those in Ukraine.
• All those in Lebanon.
• All those in Israel and Gaza.
• All displaced people.
• All those who are homebound.
• All those who battling addiction and their loved ones.
• Keep all those who battling cancer and other chronic illnesses in your prayers. Please ask God to be by their side and to be with their doctors and families.
• Please pray for all those who are dealing with the painful grief of losing a beloved family pet.

In the cycle of prayer our Presbytery, please pray for these congregations, faith communities, and individuals: Amboy Belle Isle; First, Auburn; Westminster, Auburn; United Ministry of Aurora; First, Baldwinsville

From the Synod of the Northeast...

Prayer for a Hurting World

Holy One,

whose heart breaks when evil prevails and when we become instruments of pain and suffering, bring comfort to all who grieve.

Make us aware of the actions of those who cause harm— those who disregard the lives of others and those who act out of their own brokenness. Confront evil with your love that always prevails,

and redeem even the darkest acts through your mercy and justice.

Move your Church and our leaders to act justly and courageously, so that lives taken too soon will not have been lost in vain. Remind us that we are called to model your compassion as we live and serve in a hurting world.

We are not helpless. You have empowered us to resist harm and to seek healing through faithful, collective action. Strengthen us, embolden us, and send us forth as instruments of your peace.

Amen

Rev. SanDawna Gaulman Ashley

During the last COM meeting, the COM voted for Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery to join the Great Lakes Call Finder. Logging on to this website, greatlakescallfinder.org, a congregation, minister or church worker may be able to find a full-time or part-time position (installed or transitional/interim), a youth director, a facilities/maintenance staff person, a choir director, a church musician, or a preschool director. This website is for Presbyterians and other denominations in the Formula of Agreement, which includes the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ. 

Some Presbyteries in New Jersey have developed a similar website because congregational leaders are increasingly part-time or geographically bound and therefore more open to serving across ecumenical lines to stay rooted in a particular place.

Even though this website is not being used widely in our area, it is possible that in a few months, churches and pastors will use this website rather than our Church Leadership Connection system. The ELCA Synod of Northern New York has recently joined this group. Just recently Baldwinsville Church has a listing on the Great Lakes Call Finder. 

For more questions, please contact Greg Garis at presbyteryleader@cayugasyracuse.org 

A NEW HYMN-PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO AN ICE ARREST

Your Little Ones Are Suffering

PASSION CHORALE ("O Sacred Head, Now Wounded")

Your little ones are suffering from evil things we do.

So, Lord, we pray for children, for youth and families, too.

A girl cries for a loved one who’s just been ripped away.

And so a mighty millstone is ours to wear this day.

Her mother can’t console her; her dad has disappeared.

The land we love has told her, “There is no mercy here.”

We see the things that happen; we sigh, and let them go.

A heavy-weighted millstone— our guilt— is bound to grow.

The harm comes from ignoring— participating, too.

When we look back on suffering, will we admit we knew?

God, where is our compassion, that we would let this be?

And now we wear the millstone— and none of us are free.

When nations harm the children you’ve placed within our care,

Lord Jesus, you give warning to people everywhere.

And when we show compassion, and mercy, love and grace,

We’ll all know peace and freedom together in this place.

Biblical References: Leviticus 19:33-34; Zechariah 7:9-10; Matthew 18:6; Deuteronomy 10:19; Matthew 25:31-46; Hebrews 13:2 and many others.

Tune: Hans Leo Hassler, 1601; harmony by Johann Sebastian Bach, 1729

Text: Copyright © 2025 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved.

Email: carolynshymns@gmail.com

New Hymns: www.carolynshymns.com

Permission is given for permission for free use of this hymn, including in the streaming of online worship services.

Hymn text with music PDF

Hymn Note: This hymn was in response to a recent photograph by four-time Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Carol Guzy: "A security guard sheds tears witnessing a woman and child distraught over watching their loved one detained by ICE following his immigration hearing at the Jacob Javits Federal Building in New York on Aug. 20, 2025.” Read More...

PREACH PALESTINE

Resources

Preach Palestine is a free resource developed by FOSNA. The group encourages worship and prayer group leaders who have registered to share with their community as you plan to Preach Palestine.

Please register here.

Download resources here.

From the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship:

Hi friends,

As we enter Advent, I keep returning to Kelly Latimore’s Christ in the Rubble. Many writers, artists, and theologians have been naming the same truth: that if Christ is being born today, he is being born among people crushed by the world’s violence.

Womanist theologian Emilie Townes teaches that God shows up where cultural evil does its deepest harm, with those suffering under systemic evil, not above it. God is found with the people the world tries to push to the bottom. When I look at Latimore’s icon, I hear that teaching in visual form. 

Advent invites us to wait, but not with closed eyes. It calls us to wait with vigilance, with courage, and with solidarity. Living in Chicago as a Black queer person has always made this real for me. And with heightened ICE and Border Patrol presence these past months, my eyes have been opening wider and wider. People have been taken from corners I walk past every day and families are being torn apart. This advent I have practiced waiting by getting to know my neighbors, checking in on families, joining community patrols near schools, and showing up for PPF’s Flight work. It has meant remembering that Christ is not only in the rubble of Gaza. Christ is also in the rubble of our own neighborhoods, our own systems, our own streets.

Invitation to Creative Action & Stubborn Hope

"At [the Chicago Presbytery] assembly meeting on Tuesday, the presbytery unanimously approved this call to action. We speak with one voice against the violence and oppression our members, neighbors, and loved ones are experiencing at the hands of ICE agents, border patrol and law enforcement at the direction of the Federal Government. The connectional church is meant to be a place we build power and take risks for the sake of love and justice." Learn more here.

Kairos Palestine – The Palestinian Christian Initiative

A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide

Palestine Document in 2009 — “A word of faith, hope, and love from the heart of Palestinian suffering.” The Heads of Churches in Jerusalem heard this cry, welcomed it, and offered their support. Likewise, the document resonated widely, both locally and internationally. Then, as now, we gathered — women and men, clergy and laity — from across the different church families in Palestine. After prayer and reflection on the suffering of our people under occupation, we released that cry of hope in the absence of hope, affirming our faith in God and our love for our homeland, convinced that our struggle is ultimately about human life and dignity.

We live now in a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the eyes of the world. This moment demands from us a new stand, one unlike any before it. It’s both a decisive moment and a moment of truth. Today, we renew our stand for truth and our commitment to fundamental religious, theological and moral principles. We look at our reality and take a renewed stand, responding to the voice of the Holy Spirit deep within us, listening to the call of faith in this time of genocide. We renew our message of faith, hope, and love — offering a faith-inspired vision for the time after genocide.

Palestinian Christians the forcible displacement and dispossession continue.

To commemorate 75 years of Nakba, BADIL Resource Center and Kairos Palestine have collaboratively produced a joint document addressing the situation of Palestinian Christians, focusing on their ongoing displacement, dispossession and denial of self-determination. This resource follows our initial joint study published in 2012; Palestinian Christians - Ongoing forcible displacement and dispossession which raised the question “until when?” Now, 11 years later, we find ourselves facing the same question under even more dire circumstances that demand immediate attention and action.

Download Full document

The next "Can We Talk?" gathering will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, December 19, 2025 in the lounge at Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church, 5299 Jamesville Road in Syracuse.

Coffee and goodies will be served.

The gathering is for retired clergy, clps, and retired Christian Educators - those who have served churches and those who have labored in other venues. First-timers are always welcome!

Steeple Coffee House Gets Ready to Shake Off the Winter Blues with Jess Novak!

The Steeple Coffee House at the United Church of Fayetteville begins the Winter/Spring Season on January 10th with Jess Novak, a new name to Steeple Coffee House.



Jess Novak is a formidable performer - a triple threat singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist who brings choice covers and soulful originals to every stage. With 14 original albums to date, Novak is a prolific writer and fierce instrumentalist. Come prepared for powerful vocals, shredding electric violin and songs that will stay stuck in your head. Having played shows from Vermont to Florida to California, Novak knows how to entertain any crowd.

And if that isn’t enough, Jess Novak is the organizer of the F.I.R.E. Festival (Females Inspire, Rock, Empower) and the author of Dare to Begin and The House Musician! For more, visit www.jessrocknovak.com

Where: Steeple Coffee House is in the United Church of Fayetteville at 310 E. Genesee St. in Fayetteville, NY. The venue is Accessible. Plenty of free parking behind the church with entries from E. Genesee St., Chapel St., and Walnut St.

When: Saturday, January 10th Show starts at 7:30 PM and runs until 9:30 PM. Doors open at 7:00 PM

Cost: Suggested donation is $15-20 (cash) and includes refreshments

LONGEST NIGHT: First Presbyterian Church of Chittenango held its Longest Night Service of hope and healing on Wednesday, a reminder that even after night has fallen, the dawn of a new day will follow.

How to contact our Lead Presbyter, the Rev Greg Garis

Email: leadpresbyter@cayugasyracuse.org

How to contact our Stated Clerk, the Rev Ben Fitzgerald-Fye

Office Phone: 315-291-0360 (call or text)

Email: statedclerk@cayugasyracuse.org

Mail received at:

Scipioville Presbyterian Church

Attn: Pastor Ben

3428 State Route 34B

Scipio Center NY 13147

More staff contact information is linked below.

Our Address: PO Box 438, Syracuse, NY 13214

Click Here for Staff Contact Information

Click Here for a list of Live Streams from our churches

Click Here for a list of Past Editions of Presbytery Matters

Are you hiring?

If your church is hiring, please send an announcement and job description to Communication Coordinator Sarah Buckshot at caysyrnews@gmail.com

Please Note: Hiring announcements will run in Presbytery Matters for 3 weeks and then moved to our website. If you have a hiring announcement from 2023 and are still looking to fill it in 2024, please send a new announcement.

Thank you, Sarah Buckshot, Communications Coordinator.

The end of a season on discernment

The hosts of ‘Leading Theologically’ discuss some of what they’ve learned over the past two months

After completing a season of “Leading Theologically” focused on discernment, the Rev. Zoë Garry, associate director of Theological Education Funds Development for the Presbyterian Foundation, invited her colleague, the Rev. Bill Davis, to the final edition this season to explore some of the highlights from five previous editions. Watch the most recent installment here.

Garry asked Davis the question she asked each of the previous guests: At what point in your ministry did discernment become an important practice?

For Davis, it was his first call out of seminary, when he served as an associate program director at Calvin Center, the camp and conference center of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. Davis helped launch the Common Soul program, which they spelled both “soul” and “sole,” “pointing out that we share a common faith and a common walk,” he said.

The program was designed to help young adults discern their call into ministry, either inside the church or outside, according to Davis. Young adults in the program worked in roles including environmental education staffers and lifeguards and also in church settings, giving them experience in children and youth ministry. Over three years, about half of the 18 young adults in the program ended up going to seminary while others discerned calls not to attend seminary but stay in the ministry of camps and conference centers.

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Joy to the world!

Author and pastor the Rev. Dr. Robert Boak Slocum talks about his Advent/Christmas/Epiphany devotional on ‘A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast’

What does it mean to find comfort and hope in the seasons of Advent and Christmas and then Epiphany?

For their answer, the Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong, the hosts of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” turned to the Rev. Dr. Robert Boak Slocum, the author of a book of meditations called “Joy to the World! Devotions for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.” Listen to their engaging and timely 56-minute conversation here.

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Short videos featuring excerpts from Slocum’s book are here, here, here, here, here and here.

“I see Advent as probably the most countercultural of seasons,” Slocum told the hosts. “In a time when the wider culture is saying do more, spend more, gear up, have the perfect party and find the perfect gift,” churches can instead embrace the pause that Advent offers, “this time to go a little slower, reflect and make room — which is right out of Scriptures.”

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