February 27, 2020

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, supportive. In other words, we hope that these things will matter. Your input is valued, and your comments are always welcomed.

   I n our prayers together this week...

• Pray for those impacted by the outbreak of the Coronavirus and the for those who lost loves ones to the virus and other flu strands.
• Pray for all the animals who are abused and neglected. May God protect all of his creatures.
• Pray for Jim Russell as he continues his fight with esophagus cancer.

Hello Cayuga-Syracuse,

 

"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return."

 

Not that long ago I recall saying those ritual words and applying ashy crosses to the foreheads of friends knowing these folk were well aware of their own mortality. One had stage four cancer, and the other had just buried her spouse and was struggling with a terminal disease. Yet there they were, standing before me as I marked them as human: humans from the humus, earthlings from the earth. Mortal.

 

This action -- reminding them they would return to the earth -- was an affirmation of what they had already grappled with. What was different in that moment was the knowledge that everyone around them had joined them in those thoughts. In that specific time and place, we all remembered we were little more than dust. Although their arms bore the bruises of blood work and IV tubes ... we all bore dusty crosses on our foreheads or hands. We joined them in remembering who we were, as well as Whose we were.

 

Churches also get a bit dusty. Churches that were built for specific purposes and demographics find their purpose challenged as neighborhoods change. Some adapt and find new purpose (sort of like what the March of Dimes did after the polio vaccine was developed!) Others relocate either to reach a new mission field, or to flee a mission field they fear.

 

Congregations die. The Church does not.  

 

When we remember how tenuous our existence is as individuals and as a corporate body, we may also remember we belong to the Creator of dust and starlight.  

 

Acknowledging our eventual death as individuals and as congregations helps us to remember that our purpose is not to live forever. Indeed, "The Church is to be a community of faith, entrusting itself to God alone, even at the risk of losing its life." (F-1.0301). From the most robust congregation filled with vitality to the church that struggles every day to survive ... we are all dust, and we all belong to God. We all bear the mark of the cross.

 

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

 

Remember that you....we ... all belong to God.

 

Blessings,

Karen

March 23          Leadership Team Meeting

April 27            Leadership Team Meeting

April 27            Docket items due for the May 12 meeting  

May 12             Presbytery Stated Meeting, Robinson Elmwood United Church

June 4              Spring Senior Fun Day at Vanderkamp 

June 20-27       General Assembly, Baltimore

July 23-24        Board of Pensions Thrive Seminar (for clergy age 50+)

'Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return'

Ashes, communion elements and a Pauline epistle form foundation for Presbyterian Center's Ash Wednesday service

By Mike Ferguson

Presbyterian News Service

 

LOUISVILLE - After a simple and beautiful Ash Wednesday service, worshipers left the Chapel at the Presbyterian Center nourished by the Lord's Supper and marked with ashes imposed on their foreheads.

"We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance, and for the mercy and forgiveness proclaimed by the gospel of Jesus Christ," said the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, associate for worship in the Office of Theology and Worship and Wednesday's preacher. The ancient sign of ashes "speaks of the frailty and uncertainty of human life and marks the penitence of this community."

Gambrell weaved his sermon together with Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, found in 2 Cor. 5:20b-6:10, where God tells the church in Corinth, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you."

"See, now is the acceptable time," Paul tells the church. "See, now is the day of salvation!" As "servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God ... We are treated as imposters, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see - we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything."

 

Continue reading...

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Group urges formation of presbytery Earth care teams

Toolkit available to help people become better stewards of God's Creation