Stop climbing the walls – come climb with us!
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Rockville Climbing Center, 200 Whitehead Rd, Hamilton
Parent permission form required for participation download the Rockville Climbing Waiver (pdf) or complete one at the Center that day.
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Their student days may have been a generation apart, but both Lemuel Garcia-Arroyo and his nephew Jasiel Hernandez found the Presbyterian Pan American School (Pan Am) to be an incubator for Christian leadership in their lives.
Lemuel, now Associate Director in the Racial Ethnic & Women’s Ministries area of the Presbyterian Mission, came to Pan Am from southern Mexico in 1981 as a high school sophomore. He enrolled in the Kingsville, Texas, secondary school in part to escape the scrutiny that comes with being a pastor’s son. He says the space Pan Am gave him helped his faith grow and encouraged him to claim his love for the church.
Jasiel, a senior at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, made the trek from southern Mexico to Pan Am 27 years after Lemuel. He grew up hearing stories about Pan Am from Lemuel and his younger brother Joel, who is an information systems manager and lay pastor in Mexico City. Jasiel heard his uncles talk about opportunities to excel academically, create community, and grow spiritually. Jasiel and Lemuel spoke highly of Pan Am’s academic preparation, chapel services, and extracurricular activities, but both also emphasized the importance of participating in student organized
Bible study and prayer groups.
“Who would have thought teenagers would voluntarily go to chapel to pray after breakfast?” Lemuel asks. “But that’s what we did. I wasn’t pressured to do it, but it helped solidify my identity and my love for the church.”
Jasiel participated in a weekly dormitory Bible study. “It was there I discovered I wanted to learn more about God. I wanted to know more about people’s faith and their understanding about how God works in their lives through different events and situations,” Jasiel says. “So that Bible study really impacted my life. I wound up leading it my senior year.”
Lemuel is grateful the Pan Am tradition continues and that it helped shape his nephew’s calling. “I am so proud and joyful that God would call him into ministry,” Lemuel says.
Jasiel is looking toward ordination in the PC(USA) and doctoral work in theology and Christian education after he finishes seminary. Jasiel and Lemuel appreciate the scholarships that made it possible for them to enjoy Pan Am’s spiritually nurturing and high-quality academic programs. They draw a connection between the student aid they received and gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering.
“My family is from humble origins, so money was tight,” Jasiel says, “I appreciate those who gave money, because scholarships made it possible for me to go to Pan Am.”
Your gift to the Christmas Joy Offering will make it possible for the Presbyterian Pan American School to prepare more leaders. Half of the Offering goes to Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges, and the other half supports current and past church workers and their families who are in critical financial need. Your gift will make a difference in the lives of individuals and will strengthen our church.
Return to Christmas Joy
You are invited to have a special place in the music of Christmas Eve. The Christmas Bell Peal is open to all, whether you are an experienced bell ringer or if you have never played before. Alumni of our children and youth choirs look forward to singing together every year for a special Alumni Choir on Christmas Eve.
Read on below about both opportunities.
Be a part of the annual Christmas bell peal at the 7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve Service. All players must attend the rehearsal on December 23 at 6:30 p.m.
Contact Lauren Yeh (x106, ) to sign up.
If you have never played handbells before or if you want a refresher, contact Noel Werner (x104, ) to schedule some practice time.
Dear Nassau Choir Alumni,
This past August 2017, I began working at Nassau Presbyterian Church in the position of Associate Director of Choirs for Children and Youth. My family and I moved from New York City to Pennington in 2010, and shortly thereafter I began teaching Joyful Noise and served as an Elder on Nassau’s Session. Having had many opportunities to collaborate with Sue Ellen Page on Christmas Pageants, Chancel Dramas, and the Singing Faith-All Day Long project, I felt the dedication and love she held for her music ministry, and for you, her former students. It is important to me now that I reach you, and invite you to return for Nassau’s traditional Christmas Eve service.
Nassau Presbyterian will always be your church. It will always be the church where you sang in your youth, where you began friendships and grew the seeds of your faith through music and countless other ways. These experiences will always be with you, and my prayer is that you carry with you and remember what you sang – perhaps when it matters most. My own two children are now in Cantorei, and I have the same prayer for them as well as my nieces Lily and Amy Olsen.
I hope you will consider singing with us on Christmas Eve at the 7:00 p.m. service. We will rehearse on December 23rd from 7 – 9 p.m. and have some appetizers and refreshments at 6:00 p.m. so you have a chance to visit before we sing! Please come raise your voices with those of our current youth. They look forward to seeing you, and singing with you.
With anticipation of being together.
Blessings,
Ingrid Ladendorf
Associate Director of Choirs for Children & Youth
Nassau Presbyterian Church
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Please use this form (click on the SignUp Genius logo) to let us know that you will be able to join the Alumni Choir on December 23 and December 24! We’re planning to begin with a social hour in the Assembly room at 6 pm on Dec. 23 (refreshments provided by our current Cantorei will be waiting!), followed by rehearsal in the Sanctuary from 7 -9 pm. On Christmas Eve, our pre-service music will begin at 6:30 pm, followed by the 7 pm service.
We’re looking forward to welcoming you, and being together for this special service. Thank you for coming.
Saturday, December 23
6 pm – Refreshments in the Assembly Room
(6:30 pm – optional Bell Peal Rehearsal in the Sanctuary, contact Lauren Yeh)
7 – 9 pm Rehearsal in the Sanctuary
Sunday, December 24
5:45 pm – Touch up rehearsal for whomever would like
6 pm – Warm up and quick review for 6:30 pm start
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Our youth choir alumni are invited to sing every year in the 7:00 p.m. Christmas Eve service. Join the Youth Choir Alumni email list to receive rehearsal and performance details.
We also invite you to follow the Nassau Youth Choir Alumni Facebook page.
In December join us for the inspiring art and music of Advent and learn about the “subtle hints which artists suggested to faithful eyes….”
For a look at Adult Education offerings through December, download the brochure: Adult Education Nov Dec 2017 (pdf).
As we enter this season of waiting, we will explore the first scene of Christ’s life on earth, the moment when Mary learns of God’s plan for salvation. Using works of art from the Medieval to the Modern, we will see how artists across time and space have chosen to represent the initial moment of awareness of the incarnation. By visualizing the revelation of the greatest of all news, we can ponder these things with Mary as we wait for Christ this Advent.
Jason Oosting teaches Advanced Placement Art History at Montgomery High School. He lives in Hopewell with his wife Shari, two sons Asher and Ezra, and two daughters Elia and Ada.
Ongoing through May 13
Holiday Schedule: Class will meet on December 3, then resume on January 7.
George Hunsinger returns for the 21st year to lead this verse-by-verse examination of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. Bibles are available for use during the class. Find them on the Deacon Desk by the church kitchen. Class meets next door in Maclean House (Garden Entrance).
Series concludes December 3
True to the definition of romp, “to play boisterously,” Phillippe will move participants quickly through the 39 books of the Old Testament and do it with a style he believes the writers would approve, even if the some biblical interpreters might not. One reviewer of Phillippe’s book says, “Phillippe’s work will be seen by some as blithe and brash. That’s the best part. He takes us on a tour of what and where and why the Bible happened, and by peeling off the dusty old trappings he brings to light an enchanted story about people, and a God, we’d like to know better.” Copies of the book will be provided free to the first 12 participants.
William R. (Bill) Phillippe, upon retirement, chose to move to Princeton primarily so he could worship and engage at Nassau Presbyterian Church. He is a retired Presbyterian minister and author of A Romp through the Bible, and most recently, The Pastor’s Diary. Bill has served a number of churches as pastor, was a Synod Executive for 10 years, and has served as Acting Executive Director of the General Assembly Mission Council.
While Martin Luther is most often remembered for having posted his ’95 Theses’ on the door of Wittenberg Castle Church, he, indeed, wrote several pertinent Christmas Hymns. This class will serve to enlighten about Luther’s musical abilities and will focus on Glory to God Hymnal #102, “Savior of the Nations, Come,” a composition we sing at Nassau on occasion during our celebration of Advent.
Paul E. Rorem is Princeton Theological Seminary’s Benjamin B. Warfield Professor of Medieval Church History. An ordained Lutheran minister, he is interested in medieval church history. His courses cover the confessions and influence of St. Augustine, the Christian mystical tradition, medieval Christianity, and the spiritual and theological legacy of the Pseudo-Dionysian writings.
More than entire chapters, one verse in the New Testament has shaped Christian theology from its beginning to this very day: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Condensed into a single Latin word, “incarnation,” this verse expresses on its deepest level the central mystery of the Christian faith. Examine a number of art works from the early and medieval period depicting Christ’s nativity and explore the question of how the artists wrestled with the meaning of this central mystery in the context of the theology of their time. The result will be the discovery of a host of cross-connections and subtle hints which artists suggested to faithful eyes and expected to be understood by generations of people well versed in the rich tradition of Christian symbolism. This discovery may enrich our own insight into Christmas art as well.
Karlfried Froehlich, a native of Saxony, Germany, studied theology, history, and classical languages in Germany, France, and Switzerland. Moving to the United States in 1964, he taught at Drew University and from 1968 to 1992 at Princeton Theological Seminary where he held the Benjamin B. Warfield chair in church history. An active member of the Lutheran Church in America (today the ELCA), he was a member of the Lutheran – Roman Catholic National Dialogue in the 1970s and 80s and of the Reformed – Lutheran Conversations in the 1990s which led to the 1997 declaration of full communion between the churches involved. His scholarly interests include the history of Christian art and the history of biblical interpretation, a field to which he has contributed significantly through his teaching and writing.
The digital media files posted on the Nassau Presbyterian Church website are copyrighted by the pastors and presenting lecturers. These works are only for personal and educational use through a digital media player on a personal computer or using a personal digital media device (e.g., iPod). These works may not otherwise be archived or re-posted on the Internet, broadcast in any manner, distributed, transcribed or modified in any way without written permission of the presenting lecturer. The user of the audio file holds no license (of any form – expressed or implied) to any of the content of these files. The same applies to any PowerPoint® presentations.
Dynamic relationship to be celebrated December 3 in services and reception.
Sixteen years ago, in 2002, based on a need identified by members of Princeton’s Latin American Task Force, we at Nassau Presbyterian Church and others from the Princeton community initiated a partnership with a school in Parramos, Guatemala. The small town of Parramos is surrounded by mountains, several of them active volcanoes, and by villages still lived in by indigenous Mayan people. It’s a poor area, recovering from a devastating 7.4 earthquake and from the civil war that, for 35 years, tore Guatemala apart.
The school—the New Dawn Trilingual Education Center (in Spanish, Centro Educativo Trilingue Nuevo Amanecer) with its 550 students and 28 teachers—is a bright spot in the center of town. Fully-accredited, it offers primary, middle school, and high school programs with a curriculum ranging from art to computers and language to geography. Its name, New Dawn Trilingual Education Center, reflects the three languages taught as part of the curriculum: Spanish, English, and Kaqchikel, the regional Mayan language.
This partnership will be coming to a programmed end during the next two years.
On Sunday, December 3, Nassau is honoring this partnership which, for 16 years, has made a huge difference to the New Dawn Trilingual Education Center and to residents of the town of Parramos. Nassau’s congregation, including the partnership’s hundreds of supporters here and beyond, are invited to join us for a celebratory reception in the Assembly Room immediately following the 11:00 service.
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Each year of the partnership, Nassau members and others have stepped up to provide tuition for some 100 primary and middle school students. These sponsors are matched with particular students, and the pairs often form strong “pen-pal” relationships which last for years.
Without this support, many of these youngsters would be forced to drop out of school to join their parents in the fields. With this help, however, many scholarship students have continued their schooling to become teachers, accountants, farmers, business people and other professionals who can advocate for their villages and their local region.
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Each year, Nassau members and others also provide funds at New Dawn for daily breakfast for the 250 youngsters in primary school—which their teachers say is probably the most nutritious meal of the day. In addition, special efforts have been made over the years to supply such items as textbooks, library books, and computers and to improve the kitchen facility and classroom lighting.
Most summers since 2002, members of the Nassau congregation and the broader community have flown to Guatemala for a week of service at New Dawn. Participants have ranged widely in age, skills, and interests, so activities with the school have been lively and varied each year. Hands-on work, such as painting the walls, repairing windows and roofs, and constructing blackboards and whiteboards, has been paired with classroom interaction in such areas as music, art, English, math, and photography. Some years have seen a large medical component, with pediatric, gynecological, and dental clinics set up at the school for the neighboring community. Lodging for the service group has been in a small inn near the school.
The Princeton-Parramos Partnership has also supported town services such as the Parramos Older Adult Program and the public library.
Each summer, the work in Parramos has been supplemented by sightseeing and educational visits to indigenous communities, historic cities, and Mayan archaeological sites throughout Guatemala. A final trip will take place this coming July.
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The Princeton-Parramos Partnership has been rewarding and meaningful for the Nassau congregation. Sponsors and students have formed strong relationships, the school has seen significant improvements, and the dynamic intercultural friendship has inspired both Americans and Guatemalans.
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Celebration and Reception. Join us on Sunday, December 3, for our celebratory reception in the Assembly Room immediately following the 11:00 a.m. service.
Guatemala Bistro in January. In 2018 and 2019, we will continue to support the school, primary school breakfast, and students. To raise funds for the breakfast, we invite you to save the date for a “Guatemalan Bistro” with Guatemalan pizza, pastries, coffee, and tropical fruit juices on Sunday, January 28, at 12:15 p.m. in the Assembly Room.
July Service Trip. In addition, on July 13 to 22, a service trip is scheduled for New Dawn, with five days of work at the school, book-ended by weekends at the magnificent Lake Atitlan and at the astonishing Mayan ruins in Tikal.
For more information, contact Jonathan Holmquist () or Mea Kammerlen ().
Gary Lucero Jr., a sophomore at the Presbyterian related Menaul School, has 20/20 vision that sees the promise of the future and the richness of the past.
He looks forward to the year 2020 when he will graduate from Menaul, a racial ethnic secondary school, and envisions himself well prepared to enter college and young adulthood thanks to his time there. He also looks back on years past and sees the impact of the school on his family members. His family’s history on the Albuquerque campus began more than a century ago.
“A lot of my family has gone there, so there’s a very big legacy, and that is important to me,” Gary says. One of Gary’s maternal great grandfathers, Jose I. Candelaria, a 1916 Menaul graduate, became pastor of Albuquerque’s Second United Presbyterian Church. In addition to serving at Second, Candelaria helped start several congregations in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
Joe Candelaria, Gary’s grandfather and a 1950 Menaul graduate, worked for many years as a public school industrial education teacher. Menaul honored him with the Harper C. Donaldson Outstanding Alumni Award this year, citing his commitment to the values that Menaul seeks to instill through Christian education.
Two of Gary’s paternal great grandparents, Ofene Garcia, a 1934 graduate, and Carlota Romero, a 1937 graduate, met at Menaul and later married. Both were active in the Presbyterian Church throughout their lives.
“I come from a caring family, and they have done things to help the church and the school, and I am very proud of that,” he says. Gary has 28 relatives who attended Menaul, and his family continues its commitment to both the church and the school.
“Menaul School has made an impact on our lives, and we are beyond grateful for the opportunity to have our son attend such a wonderful place,” says Gary’s mother, Joanne Lucero.
While appreciative of the legacy he inherited, Gary also sees how the Menaul experience is shaping his future. “The small classes help a lot, and the
teachers and the coaches are very supportive,” Gary says. “I love it here.” Gary is a high-achieving student and is on the track and basketball teams.
Today Menaul students are beginning new legacies. Most come from homes where neither parent has attended college, and many sacrifice to send their child to the school because it sends nearly every graduate to schools of higher learning.
Your gifts to the Christmas Joy Offering will help Menaul open the doors of opportunity for more students to begin their own legacies. Half of your gift will go to help Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges train future leaders for our church and society, and the other half will go to help past and present church workers and their families who are in critical financial need.
Return to Christmas Joy
In 2014, Elisabeth Scotland’s college graduation day turned from joy and celebration to trauma and heartache in an instant.
After receiving her diploma from Boston University, Elisabeth, along with family and friends, went to a baseball game at Fenway Park. While waiting for an elevator, Elisabeth casually leaned against the elevator doors. The doors opened at the wrong time, and Elisabeth fell 20 feet down the elevator shaft. Her multiple injuries included a brain injury that put her in a coma for a week.
Her parents, Rev. John and Anne Scotland, spent two months in Boston by Elisabeth’s side during her hospitalization and rehabilitation. The congregation John serves, Community Presbyterian in Brigantine, New Jersey, graciously granted John leave, but there were living expenses in Boston to be paid, and someone had to fulfill John’s pastoral duties while he was away.
Thanks to a Shared Grant from the Presbytery of West Jersey and the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions, the Scotlands’ expenses in
Boston were covered, and a newly ordained pastor from Community Presbyterian handled the congregation’s pastoral duties during John’s absence.
Caring Presbyterians in West Jersey Presbytery rallied around the Scotlands with prayers and financial gifts. Another crucial component of their support came from Presbyterians across the country who had given to the Christmas Joy Offering, which supports the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions.
The Christmas Joy Offering gifts also helped the Scotlands two years earlier when Superstorm Sandy damaged thousands of homes in their island community. Four feet of water flooded their basement, ruining the heating system, electrical panels, appliances, and other possessions. They received an Emergency Assistance Grant from the Board of Pensions to help with replacement costs.
“I think the emotional support was more important than the financial support,” John says. He explains that it was comforting to “know that somebody outside the community knew we were hurting and wanted to help.”
Thankfully, life is much better these days for the Scotlands and their community. In early 2017, Elisabeth, now an accountant in Philadelphia, passed her CPA exam. Also this year, John and Anne made a gift to the Assistance Program to help others get the kind of help they received.
“Having a Presbyterian family was a big blessing to us and helped us come through tragedy,” he says.
The Christmas Joy Offering is one way the Presbyterian family blesses people in need. Half of your gift will help current and retired church leaders and their families who are in critical financial need. The other half will help Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges train future leaders. Your gift will make a difference for the church today and tomorrow.
Return to Christmas Joy
As an urban minister for more than 40 years, Bob Forsberg dedicated his willing hands, generous heart, and sharp mind to serving people society
had cast aside.
Last year however, at age 91, the mental capacity that had served this Presbyterian minister so well began to fade. His memory loss became so debilitating that Bob, after years focused on helping others, found himself in need of help.
Bob’s retirement income was enough to pay the bills at his retirement community in Oakland, California, but he had few other resources. Before retirement, Bob had earned a modest salary at Wider City Parish, serving among economically disadvantaged people in New Haven, Connecticut.
Bob believed he should be paid no more than the average worker in his impoverished neighborhood. He and his family qualified for public housing and made their home there. Yet Bob was adept at leveraging ministry funds from churches and charitable foundations for initiatives ranging from youth work to affordable housing. He advocated for better schools in his community and for civil rights, both locally and nationally.
In retirement, Bob relocated to the West Coast to be near his children. He eventually moved to a retirement community and functioned well in an independent living unit until last year. When dementia forced him to move into a memory care unit, the added service was more than Bob could afford over the long term. His children were grieved by the possibility of having to move their father to another facility.
“We looked around at places nearby in the price range that we could afford, but it was very upsetting to see those conditions and to think about my dad being in those circumstances,” says his daughter, Barbara Forsberg.
Thanks to gifts made to the Christmas Joy Offering, Bob didn’t have to move. Help from the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions has enabled him to receive high-quality care in familiar surroundings.
“For a family like ours and for a person like my dad, who has served his entire career in the Presbyterian Church, it has really been a lifesaver,” Barbara shares. “I don’t know if he would be doing so well if we had to move him to another place.”
Barbara notes that it was generosity, a trait that Bob so faithfully incarnated, that came to Bob’s aid in his time of need.
“This is a very moving thing,” Barbara says, “and the irony is I don’t know if he is even aware of it in his mental state. But certainly for those of us who are caring for him, it is a wonderful circle.”
That circle of caring is possible because of congregations like ours that give to the Christmas Joy Offering. Half of the Offering will help past and
present church workers and their families who are facing critical financial circumstances. The other half goes to Presbyterian-related racial ethnic
schools and colleges to train future leaders.
Return to Christmas Joy
Every year, society expects us to celebrate the holiday season even bigger and better than years before. This year, coming together to reclaim Advent and Christmas can be both humbling and fulfilling. As we excitedly await the birth of Christ, it’s important to remember the reason for the season: the newborn Servant of All.
With Christ at the center this holiday season, we can follow in his example of servant leadership by serving our brothers and sisters in faith. Through the Christmas Joy Offering, we are able to support those in our community and give them the gift of hope.
Funds from the Christmas Joy Offering help the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions provide critical financial assistance to eligible workers in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and their families, and to qualifying retired church workers and their families.
The Christmas Joy Offering also supports the education and development of our future leaders at Presbyterian-related racial ethnic schools and colleges. These schools are dedicated to creating opportunities and environments for racial ethnic students built on a foundation of Christian values. The Offering benefits Menaul School and Presbyterian Pan American School, two secondary schools that ready students for a path of higher learning, as well as Stillman College, where graduates are prepared for lives of leadership and service.
By giving to the Christmas Joy Offering, we can share in the hope of Christ and celebrate his leadership by providing support to our church workers, racial ethnic young people, and their families.
Daylight Saving Time will end on Sunday, November 5. We’ll “fall back” by setting the clocks back an hour.
