This Fall brings a wonderful diversity of topics, leaders, and platforms, all designed to deepen your knowledge, faith, and community. Whether you opt for in-person or virtual groups, the promise that the Holy Spirit is present when two or more are gathered in God’s name remains a constant.
Click on the Small Group Name to read more.
Ways to Pray: In the Old Testament and Today
Linked In Learning Series
Perhaps when you think of prayer and the Bible, you head straight for the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, but a wealth of examples of prayer can be found in those pages, especially in the Old Testament. The linked-in learning for this fall will focus on prayers and those who prayed them in the Old Testament. As usual, the preachers will preach on the same text that is featured in adult education that morning led by members and friends of this congregation.
Join us as you can: in worship (live or live-streaming), in education (in person or listening to the recording later in the week) and in fellowship by joining a small group. Whether joining a small group following the linkedin series this fall or an additional group, participation will enrich your faith and build friendships in the congregation.
Mondays, October 23-November 20, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
In-person at the home of Carol Wehrheim in Skillman, NJ
This group is full
Carol Wehrheim is Clerk of Session. She finds small groups a necessary part of her life with Nassau Church and enjoys playing cornhole.
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Tuesdays, October 24-November 21, 7:30-9:00 p.m.
In-person at the home of Mary and Jim Vanderkam in Princeton, NJ.
Register Here
After retiring, Mary and Jim Vanderkam moved to the Princeton area to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Mary was an educator who taught in several contexts, in the classroom, private tutoring, and adult education. Jim was most recently a professor of Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Notre Dame, with interests in Jewish literature such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Mary and Jim have much appreciated being members of small groups at Nassau.
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Wednesdays, October 25-November 22, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Virtual on Zoom
Register Here
Dave Davis has been pastor and head-of-staff at Nassau since the fall of 2000. His PhD in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary focused on preaching as a corporate act and the active role of the listener in the preaching event. He has published two sermon collections A Kingdom You Can Taste and Lord, Teach Us to Pray.
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Thursdays, October 26-November 16, 12:00-1:30 p.m.
Virtual on Zoom
Register Here
Len Scales, serves as the Associate Pastor for Faith Formation, Mission, and Outreach. She also serves part-time as the Executive Co-Director of the Westminster Foundation and Presbyterian Chaplain at Princeton University.
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Additional Small Group Options
Prayer in Films
Sundays, October 22-November 19, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Virtual on Zoom
Register Here
Prayer takes many forms from a simple call for help or thanks to conversation, song, debate and through the filming of a popular TV children’s show. We will look at films spanning the last fifty years in honor of Nassau Church celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Movies: Heaven Can Wait, Hoosiers, Oh Brother Where art thou?, Women Talking, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
Marshall McKnight, a lifelong movie buff, has been a Nassau Church member since 2011. He is a deacon and is active on the Mass Incarceration Task Force. He also serves on the Adult Education and Membership Committees. He was a journalist for seven years and for the last 18 has worked for the State of New Jersey.
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Adventures in Barth, Season 8
Mondays, October 8 – November 13, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Virtual on Zoom
This group is full
Get “Barth Smart” as we continue to dive into Barth’s dramatic treatment of justification and our total acquittal in Christ. First-timers and experts are welcome as we gather around this rigorous challenge to church and world. Reading is ~30 pages/week.
Mark Edwards joined Nassau as Director of Youth Ministries in 2013. He is a lifelong Presbyterian and holds a PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. He also teaches at Princeton University, The College of New Jersey, and Princeton Theological Seminary. Mark is married to Janine and they have two great kids, lots of animals, and a bunch of backpacks. His new book is Christ Is Time: The Gospel according to Karl Barth (and the Red Hot Chili Peppers).
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Race Relations in Film
Wednesdays, October 11 – November 15, 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Virtual on Zoom
This group is full
Join us for a discussion series exploring the ways in which racial relations in America have been addressed in recent documentary and feature films. No one series could cover this topic in its entirety, but issues considered will include the impact of racial prejudice and institutional racism on artists, prisoners, immigrants, and interracial couples.
Please watch the films in advance of our meetings (streaming options listed below) and come prepared to share your thoughts.
- Oct. 11 – I Am Not Your Negro (2017), Peacock or Amazon Prime
- Oct. 18 – Dear White People (2014), Apple+ or Prime
- Oct. 25 – Stranger at the Gate (2022), Amazon Prime or Youtube
- Nov. 1 – Loving (2016), Netflix
- Nov. 8 – The Innocence Project (2006), Netflix
- Nov. 15 – 13th Amendment (2016), Netflix
Liz Beasley, a retired Rutgers administrator, serves on Nassau Church’s Mission and Outreach Committee, volunteers with Villages in Partnership, and chairs the activities committee for the Present Day Club.
Aruna Bhargava is a former college professor who taught Race Relations. She is the author of eight books: three on entrepreneurship for adults and five books on fantasy and adventure for children. For the last 25 years, Aruna and her husband have run a not-for-profit organization called I Create, that trains unemployed youth and disadvantaged women in India to become entrepreneurs.
Lina Genovesi, a member of Nassau Church since April 2019, is a pharmaceutical litigation attorney with a national law firm. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts in Nonfiction program at Goucher College and is working on her memoir of growing up in Beirut, Lebanon.
Debbie Tegarden is a longtime Princeton resident and worked for many years at Princeton University Press. Raised a fourth-generation Unitarian from Marblehead, she joined Nassau Presbyterian Church in 1988.
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The Sacred Art of Photography
Thursdays, October 12 – November 16, 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Virtual on Zoom
This group is full
Sacred Art of Photography returns to Nassau this Fall with a small group devoted to photography and prayer. Members will share, during each of the six sessions, two photographs and a prayer of less than 200 words. Members are expected to compose their own prayers and create their own photographs during the week prior to the session.
Ned Walthall is a photographer based in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He received his MFA from the Institute of Art and Design at New England College (formerly the New Hampshire Institute of Art). His work has been shown throughout the United States and abroad.
Tim Brown has led and participated in numerous small groups. He has been an amateur photographer going back to when cameras used film and lenses had to be focused by hand. For over fifty years he has been on a photographer’s journey of discovery, reveling in the light of the world.
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