Presbytery Matters

March 5, 2026

Welcome to this week's edition of our e-letter, Presbytery Matters.

Mission Stories

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.

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Joys and Concerns around the Presbytery

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 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 Cuba.
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: United Church of Fayetteville; First United Church of Fulton; Jamesville Community Church; First, King Ferry

From the Lead Presbyter

Steady Church

Breathe Church

Matthew 6:33

“... Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. ...”

The Message

Matthew 7:7

“Don’t Bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. ...”

The Message

With everything happening in the world and our country, our hearts hurt and our heads spin. War, immigration concerns, and the challenges of democracy can bring our emotions up and down like riding on the ocean waves. May we try to steady ourselves and breathe and continue to follow Jesus to the cross.

For many, many years, I’ve sung and played on guitar Karen Lafferty’s song “Seek Ye First.” Lafferty wrote this song during a period of desperation. She couldn’t pay her bills or her car payments. Taken in part from Matthew’s gospel chapter 6 and 7, we find that this song touches our lives and refocuses us. Eugene Peterson’s translation of these two verses is written above. Perhaps these newer words from Peterson’s own translation of the Bible can touch us in these times.

Here’s my prayer for churches and the faithful leaders in our churches today:

Holy God, as we continue to follow your son to the cross, may we sense your presence and the presence of Christ as we live through these days of Lent. May we focus on you and your generous gifts to us. We admit that we live in challenging times, and sometimes we don’t know where to turn. Assure us that you are always there. Help us be aware that we are not alone and increase our faith and trust in you and your son. Steady us, O God, and allow us to breathe in deeply your Spirit. In Christ’s name. Amen.

My prayers continue as faithful leaders in our churches lead the people through Lent.

Greg Garis

Lead Presbyter of Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery and Susquehanna Valley Presbytery

Stated Meeting

A stated meeting of the Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 14, 2026 at Scipioville Presbyterian Church and on Zoom.

Requests to be excused and Commissioner's names should be sent to the Stated

Clerk via email statedclerk@cayugasyracuse.org.

Meeting agenda and papers will be available soon.

To attend the meeting virtually, please register on Zoom.

From the Focus & Coordination Team

Your Focus and Coordination Team has been meeting every 2 weeks for the past month or so, and this has proven beneficial. Additionally, our Assistant to the Lead Presbyter, Rev. Mary Anderson, has joined us for the last several meetings and this is a welcome addition.

Listed below are some highlights of what we are doing and anticipating over the course of the next few months:

There will be a Joint Gathering of the two presbyteries on May 16 at the First Presbyterian Church of Cazenovia. The meeting will feature Rev. Bill Carter to speak on the recent merger which resulted in Mountain Laurel Presbytery with time allocated for questions. We are hopeful there will be good attendance.
The Team will be submitting a grant application by April 1 to the Synod requesting funds to support the hiring of a Merger Coordinator to assist the committee with its work.
Our Lead Presbyter, Rev. Dr. Greg Garis, presented us with a first draft of a “Future Vision for a Merged Presbytery.” We have begun talking in depth about this and will keep you abreast of developments.
We have also begun talking about what a “new structure” for a merged presbytery might look like -- how best to serve and support churches and the overall mission of the “new presbytery.”
We continue to see greater collaboration between many committees and commissions.

This is exciting and we are grateful for this as we believe this will make an eventual merger easier if conversations and sharing of ideas and resources is well underway.

Thank you for your support and prayers as we move forward.

Lenten Blessings,

Focus & Coordination Team

Reclaiming Our Time

Rev. Ben Fitzgerald-Fye invites you to join Reclaiming Our Time, a five-week study exploring how our faith shapes our public life in a time of division, anxiety, and competing narratives. Together we will reflect on what it means to confess Christ as Lord, live as a community marked by covenant and humility, and embody justice, reconciliation, and hope in the world. In a season when religious language is sometimes used to advance fear, exclusion, or national identity, this study offers a thoughtful and faithful space to examine those claims and to renew our commitment to a gospel-centered witness. Through Scripture, the PC(USA) Constitution, group conversation, personal reflection, and good old-fashioned Presbyterian discernment, we will ask what stories are forming us and how the church can respond with courage, wisdom, and grace. Clergy, elders, and members across the presbytery are warmly invited to participate in this shared time of learning, discernment, and renewal.

From the Social Justice Committee

OVERTURES

On January 21, 2026 the Presbytery Social Justice Team, chaired by the Rev. Monica Stryon, passed a good number of overtures which are headed to the General Assembly this coming June. For the next several weeks, we will be highlighting two or three of these overtures for your informed reading.

Overture: On the Jeju 4.3 Tragedy in South Korea

Originating Body: Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse

WHAT THIS OVERTURE PROPOSES

This overture calls the PC(USA) to acknowledge, study, and respond to the Jeju 4.3 Tragedy (1947–1954), a mass killing of civilians on Jeju Island, South Korea, during the early Cold War period.

KEY ACTIONS REQUESTED

Public acknowledgment and lament during General Assembly worship
Advocacy for a U.S. investigation into its role in the tragedy
Consultation with Korean Presbyterian partners
Development of study guides, worship resources, and educational materials
Planning a pilgrimage to Jeju Island in 2028 for the 80th anniversary

WHY THIS MATTERS

Between 14,000 and 30,000 civilians—approximately 10% of Jeju’s population—were killed. The tragedy remains largely unknown in the United States despite evidence of U.S. military governance involvement. The overture frames this work as essential to truth-telling, repentance, reconciliation, and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

INTENDED OUTCOMES

Strengthened relationships with Korean church partners
Increased U.S. awareness of Cold War-era injustices
Faithful witness through repentance, education, and peace-building

If churches would like to request this document/graphic for inclusion in their bulletins or presentation slides, please contact Leigh Anne Herd at laherd02@gmail.com

Action

A PC(USA) statement on the escalating war with Iran

Sustained diplomacy, accountability and multilateral engagement are what’s needed

We are deeply troubled by the expanding military assault on Iran and the widening regional war it now threatens to become. As Christians shaped by the reconciling love of Jesus Christ, we grieve every life lost and every family now living in terror. Decisions of war and peace are measured not in political claims but in human lives.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has repeatedly affirmed that war must never be entered into lightly. Military force must be a last resort, and international disputes must be addressed through sustained diplomacy, accountability, and multilateral engagement grounded in international law. Our General Assemblies have called for negotiated agreements that constrain nuclear proliferation, reduce regional tensions, and prioritize civilian protection.

We are gravely alarmed that this expanding military campaign is already resulting in civilian casualties and retaliatory strikes across the region. Reports that civilian infrastructure, including schools, has been struck heighten our alarm and underscore the devastating human cost of escalation. The people of Iran, many already living under repression and economic hardship, will bear the brunt of destruction, displacement, and fear. Families across neighboring countries now face renewed instability and the prospect of a widening war. Civilians, not political leaders, will suffer first and longest. History warns us that regime-toppling interventions and open-ended military campaigns often unleash consequences far beyond what leaders anticipate.

We affirm clearly: the Iranian government’s repression, corruption, and human rights abuses are real and grievous. Our opposition to this escalating military action is not a defense of authoritarian rule. Nor does our concern end with another nation’s abuses. Every government, including our own, is accountable for how it wields power, and democracies must guard against actions that erode the rule of law and constitutional restraint.

Rather, our opposition reflects our conviction that bombs do not create democracy, and airstrikes do not build just societies. Lasting peace and freedom require sustained diplomacy, support for civil society, regional de-escalation, and accountability under international law. Our church has long urged:

renewed diplomatic engagement rather than military brinkmanship
congressional oversight and adherence to constitutional war powers
protection of civilians as a moral and legal priority
serious investment in nonproliferation and multilateral agreements
a foreign policy that reduces, rather than expands, cycles of retaliation.

As Presbyterians, we confess that true security does not come through military might but through justice, restraint and accountability. We call for an immediate cessation of further military escalation and for a return to sustained diplomacy grounded in international law. The stakes are too high for impulsive action or open-ended conflict. We pray for wisdom and courage among leaders, for the people of Iran, for Israelis and Palestinians, for U.S. service members, and for all who may suffer as a result of this decision. And we recommit ourselves to Christ’s call to be peacemakers in a world too quick to reach for war.

Urge Congress to Uphold Its Constitutional Responsibility on War with Iran

In recent days, military strikes and retaliatory attacks involving the United States, Israel and Iran have escalated rapidly. This widening conflict threatens to draw the region into the devastation of a broader war, placing civilian lives at grave risk and increasing instability across the Middle East. U.S. service members may also face expanding involvement in a conflict whose scope and duration remain uncertain.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has long affirmed that decisions of war and peace require careful deliberation, lawful oversight, and a commitment to diplomacy. Our General Assemblies have consistently stated that military force must be a last resort and that sustained diplomatic engagement is essential to lasting peace.

Act Now...

Urge Congress to Support Peace in Sudan

In 2019, millions of Sudanese citizens rose up peacefully to end decades of dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir. Women, youth leaders, and neighborhood resistance committees demanded civilian rule, dignity, and accountability. For a moment, democratic change felt possible.

But the military never fully relinquished power. In 2021, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo carried out a coup that derailed the transition. International efforts to stabilize the country, including those backed by the United States, focused heavily on negotiating with these same military leaders. Sudanese civil society groups warned that centering talks on generals while sidelining grassroots democratic voices would entrench armed power rather than dismantle it. When war broke out in April 2023, those two men became rival warlords, and civilians were left without protection.

Act Now...

"Protecting People, Peace and Planet"

In 2026, our nation faces massive upheaval and multiple crises. But as Christians, we remain hopeful as we persevere in the midst of fear and uncertainty. We remain true to the gospel, true to Jesus’s call to love our neighbor as ourselves. Given the many challenges we face, it is critical that people of faith come to Washington D.C. to raise our voices. Psalm 24 declares that “the Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it”. This Psalm reminds us that we are bound to one another in responsibility, and can only be human together.

Join us in Washington D.C., April 20–22, 2026, as we draw on our shared faith traditions to inspire one another, and call on Congress to commit to Protecting People, Peace, and Planet! Through worship, workshops, solidarity and Congressional visits, we will bring together a diverse group of Christians to remind Congress of our shared responsibility to care for all that belongs to God. Register today!

Around the Presbytery

Steeple Coffee House presents Loren and LJ

We’re happy to have Loren and LJ Barrigar back at Steeple Coffee House!

Loren, a long-time friend of Steeple Coffee House, is a highly skilled guitarist and singer whose guitar playing and composing have been significantly influenced by renowned guitarists Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel. He has composed melodies for television shows such as “ER” and “The Young and The Restless,” as well as a Christmas CD featuring legendary musicians BB King and Patti Labelle.

LJ, a self-taught musician, has been playing with his father in a finger-picking duo for the past six years. Heavily influenced by his father’s music and the guidance of his father’s friend and performing partner, Mark Mazengarb, LJ has become a virtuoso guitarist.

Loren and LJ have embarked on extensive tours across Central New York and beyond, captivating audiences with their performances. Their shows have taken them to various states, including Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Maryland, and Arkansas. Audiences are enthusiastic and often return to local shows, cultivating a loyal fan base.

If you like serious finger-picking guitars, then you’re in for an amazing show!

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, March 28^th - 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) includes refreshments

Pastors' Retreat