Park Central hosts Friendsgiving

On Thanksgiving, Park Central Presbyterian Church hosted a Friendsgiving dinner, which was open to their church community and the public. Between the event and home deliveries, the church fed 200 people a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings!

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 pray for those who are struggling with the holiday season.
• Pray for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.
• 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.
• 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.

In the cycle of prayer our Presbytery, please pray for these congregations, faith communities, and individuals: First, Cazenovia; First, Chittenango; United Church of Collamer; Pebble Hill, DeWitt; First United Church of East Syracuse

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. "

President Biden and his State Department have asked all refugee agencies to step up hard and fast from now until January 20th to get as many refugees as possible in safe places. This means that InterFaith Works (IFW) will be settling 440 people in the next 2 months. While they don’t know at this point how many children vs adults, etc. they do know that they will need home furnishings, kitchen set ups, household cleaning supplies and new linens and pillows.

Anything the churches in our Presbytery can do to help would be so deeply appreciated.

As to the Coat Drive, IFW is seeking 1,500 coats to serve the new refugees and many who are already here. This includes all sizes for men and women, babies, children and teens. It would be great to have churches in our Presbytery consider gathering

10-20 coats each and dropped off at: IFW Center 1010 James Street, Syracuse

If you have questions about the Coat Drive or household items you can contact  Rhonda Butler, IFW Community Engagement Manager, who can be reached at rbutler@ifwcny.org or 315-449-3552 ext. 127.

Or you can also contact Sharye Skinner, Social Justice Member: sharyecaz@gmail.com.

Attention Churches: Do you need event graphics created for social media and online use? Communications Coordinator Sarah Buckshot can help create graphics for you to share online. Do you need a Word Document or PDF converted to an image file for better sharing online? Sarah can help. Please don't hesitate to reach out and request a graphic at anytime! Sarah can be reached at caysyrnews@gmail.com

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.

LET IT SNOW: First Presbyterian Church of Chittenango covered in a fresh blanket of snow!

Amboy Belle Isle United Church

(6190-92 Airport Road, Syracuse, NY  13209)

will be having their annual

COOKIE WALK

Saturday, December 7^th

10am to 1pm

Cookies are $12.00 per pound

{everything will be individually wrapped}

Date: Saturday, December 7^th, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.

Place: Korean Church of Syracuse, 1800 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13210

Admission: General $15/ Students $10  

Contact: 315-474-8346 or info@kcsyr.org

This concert is the annual fundraising concert for New York Bible Conference (NYBC) which will be held on Jan. 9-11, 2025 at Camp of the Woods in Speculator, NY. This concert has been held since 2006. 

NYBC focuses on its mission for Christian students and adults to reestablish their faith in the Word of God through Jesus Christ. It is targeted for those in Upstate NY in areas like Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, Rochester, and Syracuse to revive the Gospel in this area.

This concert is performed mainly by the HESED of Eastman music school (Rochester, NY) and recently other music schools have joined.

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

Help Wanted: Church Organist for Rural Country Church



Position: Church Organist/Pianist

Location: Whitelaw Presbyterian Church, Canastota NY

Job Type: Part time - 5 hours weekly

"Whitelaw Presbyterian Church is seeking a skilled and dedicated organist to enrich our worship services with music. This role involves accompanying weekly services, special ceremonies (such as weddings and funerals), and family choir rehearsals 6:30 pm on Thursday. We are looking for someone who is musically proficient, dependable, and passionate about enhancing the worship experience through music."

Key Responsibilities:

• Play organ for weekly services and special church events
• Select and arrange hymns and music pieces in coordination with church leadership
• Support choir rehearsals 6:30 pm on Thursday
• Perform basic maintenance of the organ and report any issues

Qualifications:

• Proficiency in organ performance, sight-reading, and music selection
• Previous experience in a church setting is preferred
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Commitment to regular attendance and participation in church services and events

Compensation: Depends on Experience

How to Apply: Interested candidates are asked to call Donna Chapman, CLP at (315) 447-9196. Auditions will be part of the selection process.

Scipioville Presbyterian Church seeks Organist/Choir Director

Scipioville Presbyterian Church is a small, vibrant and welcoming congregation in search of an Organist/Choir Director.

Scipioville Presbyterian Church is located at 3428 State Route 34B in Scipio Center/

Interested candidates are asked to call or text Barbara Adams at 315-246-7955 or email resume or questions to baamoravia@aol.com.

Northville United Presbyterian Church seeks pastor

Northville United Presbyterian Church (NUPC), nestled in the bucolic village of Northville, New York is searching for a vibrant, compassionate part-time to full-time Pastor to lead and accompany us on our quest to becoming better Disciples of Christ. Located on the Great Sacandaga lake in the beautiful Adirondack Park of Upstate New York, we are a small but active congregation serving the Lord and community in various outreach and inhouse programs who desire a forward-thinking pastor to preach the teachings of Christ and relate them to our daily lives. Our pastor will also shepherd our efforts in our music program, develop programs to attract youth and minister to the needs of the elderly in our midst. Read More...

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.

While overall PC(USA) membership continues to decline, new worshiping communities maintain their growth

By Layton Williams Berkes

Presbyterian News Service

The Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) released its annual report on church statistics this month with no particular surprises. The numbers in the report reflect statistics from 2023, which saw a decrease in the number of members, ministers and churches across the denomination, in keeping with trends from recent years. Meanwhile, new worshiping communities saw an impressive rate of growth.

There were almost 46,000 fewer members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 2023 than in 2022. In terms of raw numbers, the number of members lost was fewer in 2023 by several thousand than in the previous two years, although in terms of percentage loss, the rates are comparable. Total membership within the denomination still hovers over the 1 million mark, at just under 1.1 million.

There were 195 fewer ministers reported in 2023 than in 2022. That is a loss of 1.1%, compared to a loss of 1.5% in 2022 and 1.7% in 2021. In 2023, the total number of ministers was almost 18,000. While the number of newly ordained pastors decreased in 2023 to 145, that statistic is roughly stable when considered over a period of the last several years. 2023 saw a loss of 133 churches, bringing the total number of churches to 8,572. These declines were expected and remain largely consistent with trends over recent years.

The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Executive Director and Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Interim Unified Agency of the PC(USA), acknowledged the difficulties reflected in the 2023 report, but also expressed hope.

Continue reading...

‘Nobody gets through an endeavor like this without focusing on what God is calling a congregation to do for the sake of their neighbors’

Two Presbyterians with an eye to the future stop by the ‘A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast’ microphones

By Mike Ferguson

Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Mark Elsdon, an author and co-founder of Rooted Good, which has partnered with the PC(USA) on its Good Futures Accelerator Course, joined Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, the PC(USA)’s Deputy Executive for Vision andwhat Innovation, for a recent edition of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” hosted by Dr. Andrew Peterson and Simon Doong.

Listen to their 52-minute conversation on reimagining church property here.

Here’s the question Doong and Peterson posed to their guests: “How can innovation and reimagining the use of church property help address these challenges while staying true to the church’s mission and fostering vibrant ministry in changing times? With the most pressing challenge related to church property being the cost of maintaining these assets, how can congregations navigate this issue?”

Elsdon, who edited the recent book “Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition” and wrote “We Aren’t Broke: Uncovering Hidden Resources for Mission and Ministry,” noted that churches and faith communities “have always been part of what’s going on in the world” but “at the same time, we have this economic shift that’s pretty radical for churches. Declining participation means declining giving” while aging buildings “are getting more expensive to maintain.”



“In some ways it feels dark, but I think it’s an exciting moment,” Elsdon said, “because it’s forcing a really creative rethinking of what it means to be the gathered community of Jesus followers in the world today.”

Continue reading...

What is Advent?

As the days shorten and the nights grow colder, Christians embrace God’s promise of light in the form of Jesus Christ, God with us (John 8:12; Matthew 1:23). Heralding the beginning of the church calendar year, Advent begins on the Sunday between November 27 and December 3. Deriving from the Latin word adventus, the word means “coming,” “approach,” or “arrival.” “Advent” is also a translation of the Greek παρουσία (parousia), a word historically used in the church to signify Christ’s second coming. The church collectively waits with hope-filled anticipation for arrival, “Advent,” of Christ in our world, the one born in the flesh and whose presence is with us both now and eternally.

What is the history of the Advent wreath?

Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox and other Christian traditions around the world celebrate the season of Advent with a host of annual rituals: contemplative worship, prayer, Scripture study and daily devotionals to name a few. In Journey into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year, Philip Pfatteicher names an enduring appeal of the Advent season: the development of meaningful traditions and customs celebrated both in worship, as well as in the home with our families. Today, the Advent wreath is one of most common symbols associated with the season.

Invented by Johann Hinrich Wichern in 1839, the Advent wreath was intended as a physical sign to help bring the spirit and expectation of the season to young boys living in a settlement house that Wichern founded in Hamburg. Evergreens and fire, two of the main materials that make up the Advent wreath, are both deeply rooted in ancient, pre-Christian symbolism associated with everlasting life. Though traditions vary today, four candles typically form a circle around the outside with one white candle in the middle, known as the Christ Candle. The four outer candles customarily represent peace, hope, joy, and love. One candle is lit for each of the four Sundays of Advent, with the Christ Candle as the final one we light on Christmas Eve.

Why do churches decorate with purple during Advent?

Rich, deep colors are symbolic of the Advent season. As in the season of Lent, purple is one of the main liturgical hues associated with Advent. Philip Pfatteicher observes that the color purple holds different meanings for different church calendar seasons. Purple represents penitence during the Lenten season. Whereas during Advent, purple is often associated with royalty, signifying the anticipated arrival of Christ the king. Dark blue is also commonly recognized during Advent. In church history, a deep shade of blue is symbolic of hope and also of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Today, throughout the Advent season, clergy wear purple or dark blue vestments and churches are adorned in purple or dark blue paraments. In the Middle Ages, black was also a liturgical color associated with the observance of Advent.

What are the historical origins of Advent?

Much like the mystical spirit of the season, the precise historical origins of Advent are something of a mystery. Scholars have pieced together significant evidence for annual liturgical periods of fasting and preparation in the early Christian church. Notably, these early Advent seasons didn’t culminate on December 25 but instead on January 6, the day of Epiphany. On Epiphany, the church commemorates the revelation of the Christ-child to the world, represented by the three magi who traveled a great distance to Bethlehem to pay him homage. The early church’s observance of Epiphany included themes of the nativity, Jesus’ baptism, the miracle of Jesus turning of the water into wine at Cana (John 2:1-11), and other revelations of Jesus’ identity to the world. In the West, Epiphany was marked as a feast day for the baptism and joyful reception of new catechumens, or converts, into the life of the church. In The Origins of Feasts, Fasts, and Seasons in Early Christianity, Bradshaw and Johnson point out that the connection between Epiphany and Jesus’ baptism is stronger in the Eastern church than in the West. In the Western Church, Jesus’ baptism would later come to be celebrated on a Sunday after the Sunday of Epiphany, as it is today.

Scholars believe that our modern-day Advent observance may have its origins in Spain and in Gaul. In the sixth century, the church in Rome observes a similar season of preparation for baptism. Bradshaw and Johnson note that these early church preparatory observances were of varying lengths, anywhere from three weeks to a six-week Advent in Rome. Pope Gregory I at the end of the sixth century eventually shortens the length of the Advent season to four weeks. Christmas Day, commemorated on December 25, began as a local Roman church observance. In Rome, the four Sundays of Advent leading up to Christmas were officially set by Pope Gregory I. Though the early church’s celebration of Epiphany on January 6 was much older and celebrated more broadly, as Christmas Day gained wider acceptance in the church, the celebration of Advent became oriented not toward preparation for Epiphany but for Christmas.

What is the theological significance of Advent?



As early church Advent celebrations were not centered upon December 25 at all, theologically Advent is oriented beyond the birthday of Jesus. Advent prepares us to celebrate Jesus Christ’s arrival, born into our broken world as a real, enfleshed human being. However, the season of Advent also directs us toward the ultimate, eschatological hope of our eternal Savior’s second coming and the subsequent reconciliation of all things. In other words, we spiritually “get ready” for Christ to come again.

In Journey into the Heart of God: Living the Liturgical Year, Philip Pfatteicher writes, “The spirit of the season is expressed in the impatient cry of a sometimes desperate people, ‘O that you would tear open the heavens and come down’ (Isaiah 64:1).” In contrast to the often-ostentatious ethos of the commercial Christmas season, the Church’s Advent is a somber and soulful time of contemplation. Many of our Advent scriptures and hymns are of lament. A very familiar Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” has a haunting minor melody, in which the chorus cries out for God to save God’s people, to “ransom captive Israel.” In the final days of Advent, many churches hold “Longest Night” worship services in the evening, intentional spaces for communities to gather and lay bare the sadness and grief so often felt on these longest nights of the year.

The church’s Advent journey does not abandon us at the threshold of despair and sorrow. Ultimately, this season orients us toward hope in a Savior who has the power to break through the anguish and sins of this world — and to ultimately redeem us all. The theme of the fourth and final Sunday in Advent is profoundly incarnational, pointing us toward the eternal hope of God’s people in Jesus Christ and the enduring promise that our prayers for salvation have at last been answered. The Catholic Church has recited morning prayers together for hundreds and hundreds of years. One line of praise from these morning prayers (Lauds) on the final days of Advent strikes a triumphant and optimistic tone, beautifully summing up our ultimate hope of the Advent season: “The Lord is here; go out to meet him, saying: Great is his birth, eternal his kingdom, strong God, Ruler of all, Prince of peace, alleluia!”

Have a blessed week!