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Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse
5811 Heritage Landing Dr., 2nd Floor
East Syracuse, NY 13057
(315) 632-5698
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Dear Friends of Cayuga-Syracuse Presbytery,
Welcome to this week's edition of our e-letter,
Presbytery Matters. Our goal is to highlight things going on throughout the Church: within our Presbytery, in our congregations, as well as in the Synod of the Northeast and across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We hope that these are things that will be helpful, informative, challenging, encouraging and supportive. In other words, we hope that these things will matter. Your input is valued and your comments are always welcomed.
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Volunteers, InterFaith Works help move refugee family to Cazenovia
Story by InterFaith Works
A dozen volunteers organized under the banner of Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees last week did exactly as the group's name implies. With strong backs and firm grips, they spent the morning of Saturday, July 28 helping move in a refugee family that had arrived in Syracuse slightly more than a year ago from war-torn Iraq. Now, the Othman family's arrival in the idyllic Madison County community known for its picturesque namesake lake and historic buildings is giving Cazenovia something else to be known for: hospitality and generosity.
InterFaith Works provided the truck and driver, who also helped load the vehicle in Syracuse, for Rzgar Othman, his wife, Ivan Mohammed Ameen, and their three young daughters, Rasan, 8, Rinad, 6 and Iman, 3. Rzgar, who served as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Iraq, worked alongside the Cazenovia volunteers and his wife as they unloaded mattresses, beds, furniture, bicycles and other household items. During a break, he said InterFaith Works' Center for New Americans was instrumental to his family's resettlement, helping complete immigration documentation, find housing and secure employment.
The move to the "Old Manse," erected in 1806 and formerly the home for the pastor of the
First Presbyterian Church located next door, took place on a busy morning as the church hosted a marriage ceremony and the village's weekly farmers' market attracted visitors across the street. Caroline Cargo, a co-facilitator for Cazenovia Welcomes Refugees, said the Othman family move to the Manse was the result of months of planning, a partnership with InterFaith Works and was not a one-time event for the community-based initiative.
"This is the start of building a community here of New Americans," she said.
Editor's Note: A full story on the Othman family move will appear in the InterFaith Works' printed newsletter mailed in September.
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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 "Like us on Facebook" tab at the top of this letter.
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2018-2019
Planning Calendars
Pre-ordered Presbyterian Planning Calendars will be available for pickup at the Presbytery Meeting in Scipioville on
August 14. If you need to make other arrangements, please contact Linda Russell by Monday, August 6.
Presbytery Gathering Preview 
The Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse will hold a stated meeting on
Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at Scipioville First Presbyterian Church, 3428 Route 34 B, Scipio Center, NY 13147. The gathering will begin with early registration at 8:30 a.m. and a special program at 9:00 a.m. followed by the call to order at 10:00 a.m.
Things to know:
- Childcare is available by reservation. RSVP to Linda Van Buskirk at 315-237-7115 or lpv1@cornell.edu by Tuesday, August 7.
- Lunch will be served at a cost of $7.00 payable at registration.
- No internet connection will be available.
- Names of new commissioners may be sent to lsruss@aol.com for nametags.
- Names for excused absences may be sent to lsruss@aol.com.
- The gathering may be recorded and pictures will be taken.
Things to anticipate:
- The 9:00 a.m. program will be led by the Rev. Earl Arnold, co-convener of the nationwide PPNK - Presbyterian Peace Network for Korea - who will speak and take questions on peacemaking efforts in Korea, the peacemaking ministry of PC(USA) mission co-worker Rev. Kurt Esslinger, and the role our Presbytery played in launching the PPNK.
- Introduction of Communications Coordinator Sarah Buckshot. (Be prepared to use your cell phones!)
- Election of a new vice-chairperson for the Leadership Team to replace Rev. Mario Bolivar
- A first-read of the proposed 2019 Budget
- Reports from our commissioners to the 223rd General Assembly
- Commissioning of delegates to the Synod Assembly in September
- Report from the Rev. Robert Langston and others from Onondaga Hill Presbyterian Church on the Syracuse Workcamp held the last week of June in Camillus.
- "Good News" from our Congregations and Worshipping Communities, including, among others, video highlights of the 9th annual Lodi summer camp for refugee children offered by the Korean Presbyterian Church of Syracuse.
Presbytery gatherings are important opportunities to do business together, to worship together around Word and Sacrament, to learn together, and to connect with and engage in "one-anothering" with our sisters and brothers from throughout the Presbytery.
Peace & Global Witness Offering
The Peace & Global Witness Offering is one of four Special Offerings of the PC(USA) that serve as a collective witness to Jesus Christ's love for the whole church. The Peace & Global Witness Offering is received during the Season of Peace that ends on World Communion Sunday, which this year is October 7, 2018.
 Gifts to this Offering enable the church to promote the Peace of Christ by addressing systems of injustice across the world. Individual congregations are encouraged to utilize their portion of this Offering to connect with the global witness of Christ's peace and reconciliation as it also joins the larger church in advocating for peace and justice in cultures of violence, including our own, through collaborative projects of education and Christian witness.
In the Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse, local congregations retain 37.5 percent of the Offering they collect, while 12.5 percent is to be used by Synod and 50 percent is to be used by the PC(USA)'s Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) for their peacemaking programs.
[Note: A few years ago Presbytery set a policy that it would no longer claim the presbytery portion of 12.5 percent and that this portion should be retained by the local congregation and added to their usual 25 percent and that the combined 37.5 percent be used at the congregation's discretion.] After collecting the Offering and subtracting the local portion of 37.5 percent, congregations in Cayuga-Syracuse send the remaining 62.5 percent to the Presbytery's bookkeeper who forwards the appropriate amounts to Synod and PMA.
In 2017 only one-third of congregations in Cayuga-Syracuse collected this offering.
All congregations are encouraged to give prayerful consideration to joining in peacemaking efforts supported by the Peace & Global Witness Offering, and perhaps our collective witness will be much stronger in 2018.
Resources can be found here.
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Joys and Concerns around the Presbytery
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In our prayers together this week...
- Pray for the tens of thousands of people displaced and the families of those killed in the wildfires raging in California.
In the cycle of prayer for our Presbytery, please pray for these congregations, faith communities, and individuals: Isaiah's Table, Syracuse; Korean Church of Syracuse; Park Central, Syracuse; Robinson Elmwood United Church, Syracuse; South Valley, Syracuse
If you'd like to share a particular joy or concern with the Presbytery, please contact:
CaySyrNews@gmail.com.
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"I am the vine, you are the branches..."
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Morrisville Community Church
is looking for a part-time Ordained Pastor.
Interested applicants should send their letter of application and credentials to:
Morrisville Community Church
Pastoral Search Committee
3824 Swamp Rd., PO Box 178,
Morrisville, NY 13408
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We want to share your news, events, activities and more.
Please email your stories, news, questions and ideas to
CaySyrNews@gmail.com, and add this new address to your contacts for your congregation's e-letter.
You always may keep abreast on happenings in and around the Presbytery by
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Around the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
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 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women celebrates 30 years
PC(USA) oldest and largest
mission partner to meet in Louisville
By Gail Strange | Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE -- Presbyterian Women from across the country will gather in Louisville August 2-5 to celebrate the
2018 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women (PW). Susan Jackson Dowd, executive director of Presbyterian Women, Inc., said she is pleased PW, Inc., is bringing the triennial PW Churchwide Gathering back to Louisville for its 30-year anniversary celebration.
"This year's conference will feature dynamic speakers from throughout the church," said Jackson Dowd. "Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, will again be among her PW sisters at the Churchwide Gathering, this time as co-moderator of the 223d General Assembly (2018)."
Jackson Dowd added that "the organization, the oldest and largest mission partner of the PC(USA), is 230 years old, but 2018 marks 30 years since church and women's organization reunion. Participants will enjoy worship, education and mission opportunities, and other activities related to the PW purpose. Of the more than 1,500 registered participants, 35 are global partners and ecumenical guests."
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5811 Heritage Landing Dr., 2nd Floor
East Syracuse, NY 13057
(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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