September 11 – October 16, 2022
9:30 a.m. | Assembly Room
We are blessed to live in a global community filled with faithful scholars and individuals doing excellent work near and far. Come meet new faces, hear current voices, and expand your world this Fall. Classes begin at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays in the Assembly Room.
Audio recordings will be posted below each class description.
September 11 | Sanyua Mojola
Faith and Epidemics in South Africa
Join us to examine how societies produce health and illness, especially how gender, race/ethnicity, aging and the life course and socio-economic status shape health outcomes. South Africa is currently battling the worst HIV epidemic in the world. It is also experiencing a severe chronic disease epidemic. Come learn the causes and consequences of the HIV epidemic among middle aged and older adults, as well as the impact of the growing chronic disease epidemic on experiences of aging in rural post-apartheid South Africa.
Sanyu Mojola is Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs and the Director of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. She holds degrees from Durham University, UK, and the University of Chicago. Her first book, Love, Money and HIV: Becoming a Modern African Woman in the Age of AIDS won multiple awards. She is working on her second book, which investigates the production of racial health inequality in the US, using the case of the HIV epidemic in Washington D.C.
September 18 | Lisa Bowens
Reception, Resistance, and Transformation: African American Readings of Paul
How have African Americans interpreted Paul and the Pauline epistles from the 1700s to the mid-twentieth century? Come learn about African American Pauline hermeneutics, or in layperson’s terms, black interpretation and how Pauline scripture, language, and tradition, is used to resist oppression and dehumanization.
Lisa Bowens is an Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. She holds degrees from the University of North Carolina, Duke University and Princeton Theological Seminary. She is currently working on two commentary projects, one on 2 Corinthians and one on 1-2 Thessalonians.
September 25 | Elise McKee
A Congo-Nassau Roof for Hope, Health, and Joy
Did you know that one expression of your Matthew 25 work this year was to provide a roof for women and girls at risk in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo? Come hear Elsie McKee tell about some of the poorest of the poor whom you have helped to save and serve. Your roof now covers the Women’s Center of FEBA (Femme Berceau de l’Abondance). This Center provides space for women and girls to find hope through fellowship and education, health through counseling and medical assistance for victims of violence and food support for destitute widows, and joy in being heard and welcomed. Elsie will be standing in for Maman Monique, the president of FEBA, telling stories and showing pictures of the new ‘Nassau’ roof!
Elsie Tshimunyi McKee was born and reared in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in central Africa. She was the Archibald Alexander Professor of Reformation Studies and the History of Worship at Princeton Theological Seminary for 29 years and continues to be a member of Witherspoon St. Presbyterian Church. Since retiring, she has worked with Woman, Cradle of Abundance, Inc., the non-profit organization she and PTS friends established in 2013.
October 2 | The Hashimi Family
When Returning Home Isn’t an Option: Starting Over From Scratch in New Jersey
When Taliban forces captured Afghanistan’s capital city in August 2021, Soraya Hashimi and her children fled the country in search of safety and freedom. The Hashimis are now our friends and neighbors in Princeton, settled here with sponsorship from Nassau Presbyterian Church and with support from many volunteers, but nothing about their flight from Kabul or building a new life in New Jersey has been simple or straightforward. Nor is their situation rare: according to the United Nations, over 100 million individuals worldwide are now displaced from their homes because of persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights violations. What is it like to build a new life from scratch? How do families face the challenges of long-term separation and immigration uncertainty? Join us to meet the Hashimi family and learn from their experience.
Soraya Hashimi and her two sons and four daughters were airlifted from Kabul in August 2021 as part of the “Operation Allies Welcome” program. After an extended stay in a resettlement camp in Texas, they arrived in Princeton in January 2022. Because Soraya’s husband was traveling when the crisis in Kabul escalated, he was separated from the rest of the family and is still waiting to be allowed to rejoin them here in New Jersey. Members of the family are working, attending school, polishing their English, and facing all the challenges of building a new life far from what once was home. The Mission and Outreach Committee and the many volunteers from Nassau Presbyterian Church and beyond are happy to welcome them as they have welcomed many previous refugee families to our community.
October 9 | Farsijana Adeney-Risakotta
God Calls Christians to Declare Justice and Peace in Indonesia
Being a PC(USA) mission co-worker in Indonesia is a blessing. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world but also contains a significant Christian population. In Indonesia, the church and Muslims work together to reveal God’s love to the world. Come and learn how Christians in Indonesia strive to be salt and light and living witnesses in a Muslim-majority Indonesia.
Farsijana Adeney-Risakotta is a mission co-worker from PC(USA) who serves at Duta Wacana Christian University (DWCU). She holds a degrees in religion, theology and a PhD in anthropology. Currently, Farsijana is one of the visiting scholars at the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC) at Princeton Theological Seminary and is excited to visit Presbyterian churches during her 9-month stay in the US sharing about her work and ministry in a multi-faith setting. When not traveling, Nassau Presbyterian Church will be her home church during her stay in Princeton.
October 16 | Everlyn Nicodemus
A Journey to the Arts
Come meet this year’s Artist-in-Residence at the Overseas Ministries Study Center of Princeton. Nicodemus will share how her life has been marked by movement and how that movement is reflected in her art. She grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, moving across Europe – to Sweden, France and Belgium – before finally settling in the U.K. Her experience of racism and cultural trauma has prompted the creation of a unique body of work that uses unusual materials to explore human experience, from metal nettings and sisal to textiles and found objects.
Everlyn Nicodemus is one of the strongest feminist voices to emerge from Eastern Africa in the past 30 years and is an artist, writer and curator. Her research and curatorial interests focus on the history of Modern African Art. A Lutheran, Nicodemus has been worshiping at Nassau Presbyterian during her time in Princeton.
The Refugee Coordinating Team is very happy to share an update on the members of the Afghan refugee family that Nassau Church has sponsored. We are so pleased with their progress since our last report and greatly appreciate the volunteer help provided by so many Nassau members.
Join us, on July 10, 17, & 24, in the Assembly Room at 9:00 a.m. for a 45-minute, pre-service, pop-up small group, facilitated by Adult Education Committee member Louise Yang. Each week, we will gather to discuss the sermon text for that Sunday using questions provided by the Sunday preacher. Bagels, juice, coffee and tea provided. No registration necessary. All are welcome.
Every September the new school year brings excitement and lots of new goodies. This year students will be returning from virtual or hybrid learning during the pandemic to the more familiar routines of the schoolhouse. In any event, the supplies add up. In 2019 the average family spent over $200 per student, just too much for many families in our area.
Nassau’s Mission & Outreach Committee has been impressed over the last few years with the developing HomeWorks program in Trenton.
Een Jabriel is currently acting as the Regional Manager for The Petey Greene Program of NJ. He is responsible for recruiting and training college students and community volunteers to go inside of state and federal correctional facilities to tutor incarcerated students. Jabriel has been directly impacted by the criminal justice system and was able to take advantage of prison education through NJ STEP. This experience later led to his graduation from Rutgers University in 2016.
Kimme Carlos 
Antonne Henshaw is a Rutgers Camden School of Criminal Justice Graduate School Student, Executive Director of CANDO (Camden African Neighborhood Development Organization), Community Organizer, and founding member of the NJSTEP (New Jersey Scholarship and Transformative Education in Prison) program. Henshaw has dedicated himself to eradicating mass incarceration and changing legislation to end the structural violence that disproportionately threatens the health of our Black and Brown communities.
Following the death of George Floyd, groups of deeply concerned members from Nassau and Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Churches decided to meet weekly to talk openly about race and social justice. This month we are celebrating the two year anniversary of the Bending the Moral Arc Courageous Conversations.