Welcome to this week's edition of our e-letter, Presbytery Matters. | |
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Sweet Treats for a Good Cause
Cake Walk raises nearly $600 for Soup Kitchen
The town of Marcellus celebrated "Olde Home Days" last weekend. On Saturday morning, the Presbyterian Church held its annual Cake Walk, which featured 52 donated cakes The church raised $599 for the Soup Kitchen at St. Peter’s & St. John’s Episcopal Church in Auburn where they also send sandwiches every month.
On Saturday afternoon, the church also had a float in the parade for the first time in many years. All in all, a fun day helping others and being part of a fantastic community!
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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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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!
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Joys and Concerns around the Presbytery | |
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In our prayers together this week:
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Pray for 14-year-old Jerry Armstrong who has been diagnosed with bone cancer. He attends Whitelaw Presbyterian Church with his family.
- Pray for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
- Keep all those who battling cancer in your prayers. Please ask God to be by their side and to be with their doctors and families.
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; God’s Vision Christian Church, Hannibal; Jamesville Community Church; First, King Ferry
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A Joy to Share from Whitelaw Presbyterian Church
This is a gorgeous banner made for the Whitelaw church by Carol Schmitter and Barbara Yorton!
"We are so blessed by their creative and artistic talents. The picture does not do the banner justice- standing in front of it, it truly appears that you could step onto the path!" said Jill Kilts.
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If you'd like to share a particular joy or concern with the Presbytery, please contact: CaySyrNews@gmail.com. Please note, prayers will be featured for three weeks, unless a specific time frame is requested. " | |
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Our commissioners representing Cayuga-Syracuse at the General Assembly are busy preparing for the June gathering. As commissioners, they will be members of the governing body that helps shape the future of our denomination and presbytery.
You can show your support by sending a note of encouragement and thanks. Our commissioners are:
Marissa Saunders, Ruling Elder
Park Central Presbyterian
504 E. Fayette
Syracuse, NY 13202
Ben Fitzgerald-Fye, Minister of the Word and Sacrament
Scipioville Presbyterian Church
3428 Rt 34B
Scipio Center, NY 13437
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LGBTQIA+ Frequently Asked Questions
In an effort to continue to embody the welcoming and inclusive kin-dom of God, Presbyterian Church (USA) created a FAQ resource to be a helpful tool for churches, mid councils, educational bodies and individuals. This resource was created with LGBTQIA+ people with a lens on diversity and intersectionality. May this resource be an effective tool for the spread of the gospel to all people. Download Here.
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We are compiling a list of Pride Month special services and events. If your church is hosting one, please email caysyrnews@gmail.com. Everyone is welcome at the following service(s): | |
Scipioville Presbyterian Church to Hold Annual Psalm Vigil for Gun Violence Awareness on Friday
By Rev. Ben Fitzgerald-Fye
On Friday, June 7th from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. the members of Scipioville Presbyterian Church and friends from various places will read the Psalms and offer prayer and reflection. It has become an annual tradition here at Scipioville to read the Psalms as a way to commemorate the National Day of Gun Violence Awareness.
We chose to read Psalms because they are the voice of our shared humanity crying out to God. They are raw expressions of emotions that cross the spectrum from joy and thanksgiving to grief and rage. They are confessions, petitions, praise, and pleadings that rise from up to the ears of God. The challenging honesty and vulnerability of these prayers speak to the complexity of emotions caused by the trauma and tragedy of gun violence.Now the #1 cause of death for young people in the US, gun violence tears through communities with immeasurable destructive force. For those who experience it, gun violence offers disorienting shock, profound grief, burning anger, new fears, and a sense of brushing against true and palpable evil. For those who witness it, first-hand or in the media, gun violence offers a feeling of helplessness, outrage, horror, and deep sadness. Through the Psalms, we stand in solidarity with those touched by violence.
We are currently looking for volunteers to read in half-hour blocks (we can offer 15 mins if there are folks who find 30 difficult). We invite you to read the Psalms in order with us and we welcome you to offer your own prayers as well. The vigil occurs in-person in our sanctuary and on Zoom. This hybrid model allows for a wider diversity of participation and we are always looking to expand our reading group. Readers will also be welcome to sit in the sanctuary when standing is difficult or tiring.
All you have to do is...
1. Click Here
2. Choose your time or times.
3. Fill in your contact information and let us know how you are participating (Zoom or In-Person).
4. That's it! I will be in touch with our volunteers before June 7 with instructions for joining online and some basic info that guides our vigil each year.
I hope you will accept my invitation to lend your voice to our collective cry to God for a world made safer, less violent, and more merciful. Gun violence is not inevitable, not uncontainable, and not an exercise in freedom. Ending gun violence is one of the most significant moral imperatives of the 21st century. It is an issue that lives at the intersection of our physical, spiritual, mental, and cultural health. It is an issue that challenges the most basic call of the church to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.
Please consider offering 30 minutes of your time to raise awareness of an issue that truly does affect us all. We can end gun violence. Lord, in your mercy...
Do you want to join the Zoom? Visit Facebook for Zoom information and password.
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Update on Presbytery Mission Project with InterFaith Works
Dear Friends:
At our September Presbytery Meeting we reviewed a request from InterFaith Works (IFW) for $30,000 to fund the settlement of new refugees. The first several months are critical as IFW sets up apartments, helps them with the many layered aspects of settling into a new country, community, learning English and finding jobs. Please note that at least one apartment is being secured every day for a refugee couple, individual or family is being set up every day.
The Presbytery voted to give $15,000 out of funds available from our remaining budget. The Social Justice Committee recommends that there are two ways to make up the remaining $15,000. First an anonymous donor is putting up $5,000 to be matched by congregations. And Second, another $5,000 to be recruited from individuals who want to contribute. The Good news is that of the latter $4,000. Has been secured with $1,000 remaining.
With your help and your congregations’ help, we would like to make a total gift of $30,000. Will your congregation help us raise an additional $5,000 by partnering in this effort as a matching donor to assure safe and stable housing for our New American Families?
InterFaith Works has been able to create extensive relationships with a network of landlords in the Syracuse area to identify available housing and provide landlord/tenant mediation for current tenants when needed, leveraging this network to set up new families that benefit of housing stability.
If you can give, you can send the check directly to Presbytery as a separate donation from your congregation noting on the memo line that it is for the “IFW First Rental Refugee Assistance”. Your gift will be reported to the Presbytery so that all gifts can be counted.
In Appreciation for Making a Difference in so Many Lives,
Rev. Monica Styron
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A SPECIAL THANK YOU NOTE
With Sincere thanks for your support of our Rental Assistance Request 2024
Dear Friends:
Refugees are a particularly vulnerable population in our community. Many have special needs, including housing, advanced age, medical and mental health issues, or a lack of English skills. Our goal is always to promote self-sufficiency for the families we serve, but a crisis such as a health emergency that leads to job loss can set in motion an eviction which creates a deeper crisis for the family. The Rental Assistance Program provides a one-time critical safety net for the family during such times to prevent them from losing their home.
We are deeply grateful to the Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse for recently approving a $15,000 gift to help our agency serve people who need immediate and one-time help to prevent eviction.
InterFaith Works has over 40 years’ experience settling refugees from United Nations-identified troubled areas across the globe. We are resettling over 1,000 refugees in 2024. We also provide services beyond initial resettlement for approximately 450 refugees every month who visit our office with continuing needs.
Sincerely,
Beth A. Broadway
President/CEO
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Board of Pensions Zoom links | |
Save the Date: Presbytery Day | |
Interim Resource Presbyter Announcements | |
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Scam Alert!
Be aware that scammers are targeting churches!
One recent scam involves the offer of a FREE grand piano provided the church pays a freight company $2500 for shipping. Educate your session, church secretary and volunteers of the following warning signs:
- An introductory tale of upheaval (My spouse died; I'm going through a divorce; I'm moving and can't take it with me)
- Refusal by the scammer to speak on the phone, insisting that all information be shared and transactions conducted by email
- Fee to the freight company must be paid with a bank draft
- Fee is paid prior to shipping
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck SCAM.
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Under the new guidelines from the Book of Order, boundary training is required every three years for: Ministers of Word and Sacrament, Certified Christian Educators (CCE), Certified Christian Ruling Elders (CRE) and Inquirers before moving to candidacy.
The presbytery has contracted with SafeGatherings https://safegatherings.com for the online boundary training course. To learn more, or to register for the course, please contact your committee chair or the interim resource presbyter.
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Background checks for incoming Ministers of the Word & Sacrament are now conducted through Praesidium.
https://www.praesidiuminc.com
To request a background check, please contact your COM liaison.
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Seeking volunteers for voter outreach
Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is building state based voter outreach, education, and mobilization teams for a campaign to reach millions of poor and low-wage infrequent voters for a movement that votes and to build a 3rd Reconstruction.
In October of 2021, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival released our landmark report, Waking the Sleeping Giant: Poor and Low-Income Voters in the 2020 Elections.
In this report, we demonstrated that if poor and low-income voters, over 85 million Americans, voted at a similar rate as higher income voters in 2016, they would have matched or exceeded the margin of victory in the presidential election. Our report proves that the biggest opportunity to build support for a moral agenda that lifts from the bottom is among poor and low-income voters, and that such voter engagement must be across geography, race, and other lines of division.
Indeed, the reality of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the denial of healthcare, militarism and the false narrative of religious nationalism—interlocking injustices that are hurting more than 30 percent of the electorate—is sinful and immoral. Tired myths are used to blame the poor for these conditions and to deflect attention away from the structural sin of poverty and the abdication of our elected leaders. The narrative that poor and low-wage people are apathetic about politics or don’t care enough to vote is just another one of these myths. In actuality, there is great, untapped power among these tens of millions of people, who often don’t see their demands– such as housing, healthcare, and living wages– reflected by those seeking election. They are like a sleeping giant and we have only felt its midnight stirrings. We are waking the Sleeping Giant.
In order to wake the Sleeping Giant, we need people from all across the country committed to reach poor and low-wage infrequent voters in their state. We have an opportunity to reach, inform and mobilize these voters. This is our work and our calling in this moment of history, no one else is proposing to do this type of specific outreach to an unprecedented 15 million poor and low-income voters in this upcoming election to demonstrate that our votes are not a show of support, they are demands.
Poor and low-wage voters in this country ARE the Sleeping Giant who have the power to shift EVERY election up and down the ballot all across the country to usher in a 3rd Reconstruction in these yet to be United States of America.
If you are interested in being involved, please contact Beth DuBois at beth.dubois51@gmail.com to get connected to the NY State effort and National training.
For information on the PPC, go to: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org
For information on the NY State PPC, go to: https://linktr.ee/nysppc and check out the newsletter and State of the State report.
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If you were unable to attend the talk on “Christian Nationalism” by Dr. Greg Carey on May 15th at Pebble Hill Presbyterian Church, the good news is that his powerful message about the threats of this growing movement is on YouTube.
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July 21-25, 2024
What you need to know to decide if Summer Servants 2024 is for you:
- We will run this year's trip as an overnight experience.
- Each group will participate in 4 days of service in Syracuse.
- Groups will be comprised of 10-20 students and 2 adult leaders.
- Groups will serve at a variety of service sites.
- Students, leaders, and staff will all stay at the DeWitt Community Church in Syracuse
- After serving at the local sites each day, groups will participate in community Faith dialogues led by Kevin Frank and his team as well as participate in interactive workshops reflecting on their day of service and work in Syracuse. (These are extremely powerful - life changing!)
Registration is now open for Summer Servants.
Learn more or register here.
Have questions about the program? Contact Onondaga Hill Presbyterian Church Pastor Bob Langston at 315-492-2692 or pastorbob.ohpc@gmail.com
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The First Presbyterian Church of Weedsport is operating a free clothing giveaway at the church. It is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 6:30 p.m. All clothing is free and people are encouraged to take anything they can use. No questions asked. | |
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NEW Book Discussion:
The False White Gospel
by Jim Wallis
WEDNESDAYS, June 5 - 26
6:30 to 8 p.m. via Zoom
It is time, says Jim Wallis, to call out genuine faith—specifically the “Christian” in White Christian Nationalism—inviting all who can be persuaded to reject and help dismantle a false gospel that propagates white supremacy and autocracy. Turning our attention to six iconic texts, Wallis reminds us what genuine biblical faith means and what Jesus, in the gospels, has called us to do. For Wallis, it is time to ask anew: do we believe these teachings or not? Please read the Forward, Introduction, and first two chapters for the first session. This discussion will be facilitated by Ms. Courtney Williams, MA, MPH, and doctoral fellow in the Department of Sociology at Louisiana State University and Rev. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Racial Justice and Racial Justice Consultant for the UCC-NY Conference. To register, click here.
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Nancy Wind and Isaiah’s Table invite you to join them in their new book study at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays via Zoom. The book is "Everything Good About God is True" by Bruce Reyes-Chow. They will be using this book for the next 6 weeks.
You know what you don’t believe about the Bible, the church, and God. But what if someone asked: “What do you believe?” Reyes-Chow helps the reader to consider what it means to choose faith and how to create one’s own “faith montage.” What if we could articulate the gospel of love, humility, and justice? "What if everything about God is true?”
Zoom info: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83276947441?pwd=dEIVL2c3UTducVIIUmdPYXRJdUVIZz09
Meeting ID: 832 7694 7441
Passcode: 065105
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Rita Hooper and Presbyterian Women invite you to join their book club on discrimination at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays. They will be reading "The First Ladies" by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.
This is a novel about the extraordinary partnership between First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune -- an unlikely friendship that changed the world. Many people know Eleanor Roosevelt but many have not heard about Mary McLeod Bethune. She was an educator, national civil rights pioneer and activist. Mary was a champion of African American women’s rights and advancement and an advisor to Presidents of the United States. She was one of three women among 27 men to serve in FDR’s Black Cabinet.
Zoom info: https://us02web.zooom.us/j/87193947627?pwd=SDZkanBOZFVDZFoybmczUOF4QWpNQT09
Meeting ID: 871 9394 7627
Passcode: 748784
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If your church has a book club via Zoom and are open to new members joining you, please contact Rita Hooper at twohoops2@gmail.com with your information. Please include Zoom information, day and time of meeting, name of book currently studying, contact person and anything else you find useful to know! | |
Practical Resources for Churches Webinars | |
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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
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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.
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Around the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | |
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Ordination Committee to address host of issues related to the ‘ordered ministries’ of the Church
Proposals call for greater clarity around 'shared ministry'
As the PC(USA) continues to discern and address the evolving needs of the Church of today — and tomorrow — in the light of a significantly changing religious leadership landscape, issues related to preparation, examination and the various structures that impact those who are called to serve will be the focus of the GA Ordination Committee when it meets online June 25-27.
Among the items of business before the Committee are three overtures, 01, 02 and 03, from Lake Erie Presbytery that call for greater clarity surrounding “shared ministry.”
“Congregations are exploring the possibilities of utilizing the ministry gifts of a minister of the Word and Sacrament together with another — or even several — other congregations,” said the Rev. Timothy B. Cargal, Ph.D., associate director, Ministry Leadership Development, Mid Council Ministries of the Office of the General Assembly of the PC(USA). “In some cases, these arrangements include working together with churches of other denominations through ‘orderly exchange’ with our Formula of Agreement partners. As these arrangements become more common, there is a need to clarify their structures under our polity so that both the congregations’ and the ministers’ interests are preserved from the outset to their conclusion.”
Continue reading...
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Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy provides new mental health guide
The ‘2024 Guide for Mental Health Ministry’ can help churches offer mental health outreach
By Shani E. McIlwain
Presbyterian News Service
One thing that the 20th-wealthiest county in the United States — a south-central Texas community — and a Boston neighborhood, Roxbury, which is riddled with violence and underemployment and is also the home of the R&B music group New Edition, have in common: both are touched by the epidemic of mental illness.
At Darnestown Presbyterian Church in Darnestown, Maryland, a mental health crisis knocked on the door 10 years ago when member Lindsey Hoggle’s daughter made local and then national news when her oldest daughter, who suffered from schizophrenia, attempted to escape her life and take her children Sarah and Jacob with her. A decade later, Sarah and Jacob, who would be 13 and 11, respectively, have never been found. Hoggle’s daughter remains at Perkins Psychiatric Hospital in Maryland.
Continue reading...
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P.O. Box 438, Syracuse 13214
(315) 632-5698
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"I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them
bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5
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