Come to the table of grace. Come to the table of love. Come to the table of peace.
You are invited to a Lenten Home Dinner with Communion. These casual, welcoming groups are a lovely practice for this season of Lent. Extend the table and expand your fellowship this Lent.
For more information or to find out how YOU can host a dinner this Lent, email Corrie Berg.
Find out more about Lent and Easter at Nassau Church this year.
We confess Jesus saves.Lenten Small Groups will focus on stories from the gospel of Luke encouraging participants to reflect and wrestle with them. Our hope for this study is that you bring your full self and community with you as you read Luke. Bring your stories, your hopes, your questions and your fears. Through small group fellowship find a vision of salvation wide enough, graceful enough, and merciful enough to carry you through challenging days.
The 2020 Study Guide is now available! Pick one up at the church office or download a copy here: Small Group Study Guide Lent 2020 (pdf)
Dear friends,
On this Lenten journey, we find ourselves in a new and challenging landscape. Concerns over COVID-19 are heightening and best practice recommends a policy of social distancing. Although social distancing may seem the antithesis of Christian fellowship, we know there are those in our community who are especially vulnerable to the effects of this virus and, we, as Christians, are called to act communally. For this reason, we are suspending Lenten Small Groups for the foreseeable future and taking a Lenten Sabbath.
It grieves me to write this note. These groups are a weekly source of joy, enrichment, education and fellowship for so many, including me. Even though, face to face gatherings will end. I encourage you all to be in touch with and support one another. We don’t want to leave anyone stranded on this Lenten journey! Perhaps your group might start a Group Email Prayer Chain. There are also several platforms which facilitate virtual meetings, if this might be appealing and possible for your group. Please reading and working through the Lenten Study Guide (download the PDF above) and praying for one another. In lieu of Adult Education, Eric Barreto is excited to record video classes on the upcoming Lukan texts which will be posted to our website. I’ll let you all know when they “live.”
With hopeful hearts and clean hands,
Corrie Berg
Director of Educational Ministries
You can listen to the Adult Education Classes and Sermons for March 1 and March 8 here:
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Sign up in Fellowship beginning Sunday, February 9, or online beginning Monday, February 10.
Groups meet weekly for six weeks unless otherwise noted. The small groups with spaces available are listed below.
Complete catalogue: Small Groups – Lent 2020 (pdf)
Mondays, Feb. 24 – Mar. 30, 12:00-1:30 p.m. (Soup & Bread provided)
Berg Home, Princeton
Corrie Berg, leader
Corrie is Nassau Church’s Director of Educational Ministries. She counts hosting the “Soup Group” on Mondays a highlight of each Lenten season. Come join this lively group of fellow Lenten pilgrims as, together, we discern the shape of salvation in our own lives.
Wednesdays, Feb. 26 – Apr. 1, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Sakenfeld Home, Skillman (Stonebridge)
Kathie Sakenfeld, leader
Kathie retired from Princeton Seminary in 2013 after teaching Old Testament there for 43 years. An ordained PCUSA clergywoman, she has participated in the life of Nassau Church since 1970 and has served the denomination at Presbytery, national, and international levels.
Wednesdays, Feb. 26 – Apr. 1, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Dolley Madison Room, The Windrows, Princeton
Liz & Kim Beasley
Liz and Kim were married in the Nassau sanctuary in 2010. Liz has served as an elder and on the membership and adult education committees. She was ordained as a deacon in November, 2019. Kim has served on the property committee since 2016. They are very much looking forward to leading a group for the The Windrows community.
“If you, even you, had only recognized the things that make for peace!
But now they are hidden from your eyes.”
Luke 19:42 (NRSV)
Sundays, 9:30 a.m., in the Assembly Room
unless otherwise noted
As Christians, we are called to be a part of God’s transformative work of peace, justice, and reconciliation in the world, yet we live in a country with the highest incarceration rate in the world: despite making up close to 5% of the global population, the U.S. has nearly 25% of the world’s prison population. Join us to learn more about crime and punishment in our time, as we consider how we might be part of God’s transformative work.
Download the February 2020 Brochure (pdf)
for more details and speaker bios
Christianity and slavery are interrelated world movements, a paradox of our understanding of the history of human bondage and racism. In this class, we will look at how Christian theologies and practices both reinforced and challenged the institution of slavery.
Sundays, 9:15 a.m.
Maclean House (Garden Entrance)
George Hunsinger continues with a verse-by verse examination of the Letter to the Colossians.
Sundays, 9:30 a.m.
Niles Chapel
The Inquirers’ Class, led by our Membership Committee, gives you time to explore the meaning of the Christian faith and church membership, and to learn more about the history and foundations of the Presbyterian Church, PC(USA). Discover opportunities for spiritual growth, service, outreach, and fellowship; learn about the worship, theology, and programs of Nassau Church. What might it mean for your life if you joined in the ministry and mission of this congregation?
Are we destined to maintain a massive state of criminal punishment in America? While it may seem like this is an active time for criminal justice reform, most of the reforms have been relatively minor. And we have been achieving the reforms we have with low crime rates. If crime goes up, all bets are off. What can we do? In this talk, Prof. Barkow will explain why we need far more fundamental changes than the “low-hanging fruit.”
Why do so many of our criminal justice policies fail to make us safer? What are the political dynamics that produce such ill-advised policies? Our speaker will suggest three targets of institutional change.
New Jersey’s current youth incarceration system is a failed experiment—morally, financially, socially, and from a rehabilitation and public safety perspective. Statistically, black and white children commit offenses at similar rates but two-thirds of New Jersey’s youth prisoners are black and one-third are white. New Jersey spends over $200,000 to incarcerate each child for one year.
Come hear about the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice’s 150 Years is Enough campaign which seeks to close two youth prisons—the New Jersey Training School for Boys (Jamesburg) and the Female Secure Care and Intake Facility (Hayes)—and invest in community-based systems of care as alternatives to incarceration.
Join us to hear from these community leaders whose programs offer hope and support for those caught up in the criminal justice system or seeking a path out of poverty. Consider how you might offer your time and talents to this transformative work.
January 19-20 is Mission Weekend, when we remind ourselves of our Christian commitment to human flourishing in all places. Join us for these opportunities to get involved.
After a normal Fellowship night on Jan. 19th, Senior High Youth are invited to stick around and spend the night in the church. We’ll do some help-out projects for Arm-in-Arm, have some fun, take a midnight run to Hoagie Haven, and maybe even get some sleep. Our Sr. High Leadership Team (Kelsey, Jesse, Nathan, Lauren & Mark) will be here all night.
Contact Mark Edwards (, 609-933-7599)
Signed Permission Form Required
Come and join an effort below as we equip and serve local organizations. All hands are needed and welcome.
From 10:30 am to 12:00 pm at the church we will be making pet blankets for orphaned animals, putting together sack lunches for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, assembling Creativity Kits for HomeFront, collecting personal care products for Arm in Arm clients and making calendars for ABC Literacy.
Contact Corrie Berg (, 609-924-0103 x108)
Bring donations to the church on Sunday or Monday:
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This year’s MLK Day of Service project will take place at the historic Hedgepeth/Williams Middle School of the Arts located in Trenton, New Jersey. The service activities will include school beautification projects such as painting several walls, decorating stairways, and organizing various spaces.
Meet at 8:00 AM at Nassau to carpool and return by 1:00 PM.
Contact Christ Werner Robinson ()
MLK Day 2020 Community Project Facebook Event
Princeton Clergy Association invites everyone to gather for a service to celebrate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, January 20, at 7PM in Nassau Presbyterians’ sanctuary. Those wishing to join the community choir should come to the music room at 6PM. Reception to follow.
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The Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program is an ecumenical, faith-based year of service for young people (ages 19–30) in sites across the United States and around the world. YAVs accompany local agencies working to address root causes of poverty and reconciliation. Alongside this work, volunteers explore the meaning of their Christian faith and accountability to their neighbors in the community with peers and mentors.
Current YAVs (2020-2021), are serving remotely. Applications are now open for a 2021-2022 in-person YAV service year. Find more information online:
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Follow #MissionMonday on our social media platforms to hear about how, with your help, Nassau Presbyterian Church is supporting others in our town, our state, and across the world.
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Collage birds and portraits by NPC Artist-In-Residence, Trudy Borenstein-Sugiura, will be displayed in the Conference Room Gallery. Originals and giclees (fine art photographs) will be available for sale, and private commissions accepted.
Trudy’s artistic output was originally focused primarily on jewelry design and goldsmithing. All the while, she has had a lifelong devotion to paper and has saved, catalogued and hoarded report cards, postcards, travel brochures, invoices, documents, medical records and books of travels, important personal events and several generations of her family’s ephemera.
After the death of her mathematician father, her longstanding interest in paper collage was rekindled; she wanted to make use of and honor his personal papers and writings to make a collaged momento mori portrait of him. This set her on a new path on which she have been traveling since. She is continuing that path with us, creating a large collage from materials submitted by our congregation.
In the last 4 years, her work has been exhibited in group and solo shows in NYC, LA, Chicago, Denver, Cincinnati, Princeton, the Nassau County Museum of Art and the Hamptons, and many commissioned portraits are included in several private collections.
See more online: https://trudy-borenstein-sugiura.squarespace.com/
Sundays, 9:30 a.m., in the Assembly Room
unless otherwise noted
The Bible is a forest, but we don’t need to feel lost. This January, our All Ages Class (middle school to adults) will return as we spend four weeks finding our way by looking at classic stories of “Trees of the Bible.” From Genesis to Revelation we will see how God’s redemptive plan for the world is rooted in these stories, one tree at a time.
Continental breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, peanut butter, Nutella, fruit, coffee & hot chocolate available at 9:15 a.m.
Download the January 2020 Brochure (pdf)
for more details and speaker bios
Even in paradise there are some things you just can’t have. As we kick off our January series on Trees of the Bible, come see how the seeds of human longing and God’s good plan for creation grow up and get tangled in this first story about this first tree.
Sundays, 9:15 a.m. (resumes January 5)
Maclean House (Garden Entrance)
George Hunsinger continues with a verse-by verse examination of the Letter to the Colossians.
Sometimes extraordinary things catch our attention and draw us in, especially when we find them in familiar places. This Sunday, join us as we revisit one such moment in the well-known story of Moses and the Burning Bush. Come explore some new (and very old!) ways of reading that will draw you into this familiar story in unexpected ways.
Looking to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and his radical vision of liberating justice, Dr. Thames will guide us through the diverse imagery of Isaiah 61: 1-3. Come see how a passage that served as Jesus’s opening declaration of his mission (Luke 4) and as a rallying call for Civil Rights can take root in your own life.
America’s early religious communities often saw this land as offering a utopia of peace and freedom. Have we turned out this way? For our final session, Eric Gregory will walk us through Revelation’s Tree of Life, the art of Edward Hicks, and Augustine’s understanding of original sin as we inquire whether the leaves of America’s trees truly offer healing for the nations.
Unfortunately, this class was not recorded.
Sundays, 9:30 a.m., in the Assembly Room
unless otherwise noted
Download the December 2019 Brochure (pdf)
for more details and speaker bios
Join us for an exploration of the political themes woven in Luke’s story of the birth of Jesus. We’ll discuss how the Gospel writer boldly asserts the relevance of Jesus’ birth within the Roman Empire, and what this narrative means for our own attempt to live faithfully in a complex world.
So many Advent themes, so few Sundays in Advent! This Sunday, join us as we discuss timeless Advent hymns. Come to learn not only about the variety of thematic material in the poetry but also the stylistic variety of music from different historical eras.
Sundays, 9:15 a.m. (December 8 & 15 only)
Maclean House (Garden Entrance)
George Hunsinger continues with a verse-by verse examination of the Letter to the Colossians.
First read as a holiday sermon, Presbyterian minister Henry Van Dyke’s parable imagining a fourth Magi’s lifelong search for the King of Kings remains one of his most popular works. Storyteller Maria LoBiondo will share her version of “The Other Wise Man,” as well as a brief history of the author, who was educated at Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary and called Princeton home.
The infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke are very, very different, and they have no parallels elsewhere in the New Testament. Why is this the case? What is distinctive of each narrative? How much history might lie behind them—behind the visit of the magi, the star of Bethlehem, the virgin birth, and so on? And how might we go about interpreting the infancy narratives for ourselves today?
December 1 | 12:15 PM, Assembly RoomCome to our All–Church Lunch and Christmas Carol Sing, 12:15–1:15 PM, in the Assembly Room. Suggested donation: $8/adult, $25 max/family (exact change is always appreciated). Good food, good company – a joyful start to the season.
Princeton offers free metered parking on the Sundays in December!