The Rev. Dr. David Latimore, Director of the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, to preach for annual Multifaith Service (this year again online) to Honor the Legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at 7 PM on Monday, January 17
The Rev. Dr. David Latimore, Director of the Betsey Stockton Center for Black Church Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, will be the preacher for the annual Multifaith Service honoring the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. starting at 7:00 PM on Monday, January 17. The Rev. Dr. Latimore previously served four Baptist churches and taught at Belmont University.
Due to the upsurge in the pandemic, this years’ Service will again be online, and the information for attending can be found under Upcoming Events at peacecoalition.org. The Service will also include faith leaders and music from a wide range of faith traditions, in addition to Dr. Latimore, and is expected to end by 8:30.
The Service has been taking place annually for over three decades and is co-sponsored by the Princeton Clergy Association and the Princeton-based Coalition for Peace Action. It has been hosted live at various Houses of Worship in Princeton prior to the 2021 Service.
Among the faith traditions represented by the faith leaders co-leading the Service are AME, Baha’i, Baptist, Christian Science, Jewish, Muslim, Presbyterian, and United Church of Christ.
“We are thrilled to have such a prominent faith leader as our preacher this year, as well a diverse group of faiths represented in the leadership of the Service ever for this years’ Service on the official Holiday for Dr. King’s birthday. We will also have powerful and spiritually uplifting music. We strongly encourage interested people from all backgrounds to visit peacecoalition.org to find the information to participate in this major annual event,” said the Rev. Robert Moore.
Rev. Moore is Executive Director of the Coalition for Peace Action and Treasurer of the Princeton Clergy Association. He has been serving as Chair of the Planning Committee for the Annual MLK Service since late 2017.
When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:
to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.
More than fifty years ago, members of Nassau Church led a grassroots movement of our congregation to welcome our first refugee family. Since then, countless Nassau members – recently including Tom Charles, Sue Jennings and Ann Youmans – have worked together to welcome twelve refugee families from eleven different countries into our midst. This opportunity to witness to our faith and act on our convictions has been a deeply meaningful experience.
Today, Nassau members are continuing this important ministry by preparing to welcome a family from Afghanistan. The New York Times recently reported that 11,000 people who fled from Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban are being temporarily housed in tents at Fort Dix. All of them are awaiting resettlement to towns across our country as their health and security screenings are completed and they become fully vaccinated.
Church World Service is one of the organizations that is working to assist in this Afghan Placement and Assistance process, and we are once again partnering with them as a community resettlement sponsor. We have just been informed by them that they have identified a family that is a good match for us, and we have agreed to sponsor them. We expect to welcome them into our community on or about January 5th. The family is larger than those we have hosted in the past, with six children — ages 11, 17, 19, 21, 22 and 23 — so our tasks in welcoming and supporting their resettlement will be somewhat different than before, including helping the older children to find appropriate educational and work opportunities. We are very excited to begin this work.
If you have been involved in one of Nassau’s previous resettlements, you know that it takes many, many volunteers and lots of generous support for the effort to be successful. A network of volunteers from across our congregation has begun making these preparations. This group has already found appropriate housing and furnished it with donated furniture. We are grateful to Princeton Theological Seminary for its support for this housing, and we thank everyone who has already volunteered in this effort and to hose of you who have already generously provided housewares, furniture, and other items.
The Nassau Generations newsletter on Friday, December 31, contained a link (also found below) to a “SignUp Genius” list for additional donations to meet the needs of this large family. As we find out more about their specific needs, we will continue to add items to that list. We thank everyone who has already responded to help us welcome this family. Monetary donations can be made using the “Give Online” link below by choosing the “Refugee resettlement” fund.
One important note about this resettlement – it is vital that we respect the privacy of the family and the confidentiality of their arrangements, given the circumstances of the Afghan resettlement. Unfortunately, there is a very real risk that politics and fear could threaten the security of the family as they seek to begin a new life in our community. We all need to commit to do everything we can to keep them safe by protecting their privacy. This includes information about their individual names, as well as their address and living arrangements.
We are very likely to need your help and support over the coming weeks and months in several areas, such as clothing, transportation and food. These needs will be communicated through Nassau Generations and listed on the SignUp Genius.
Please join us in prayerfully considering how you can join in this important resettlement ministry.
Affordable Housing in a Just World: Basics and Beyond
Sunday, January 9 from 5:30 to 7:00 pm on Zoom
Our speakers will include Diane Ciccone, attorney and former West Windsor councilperson, who had to deal with the challenge of complying with affordable housing requirements in a suburban town; Mitchell Newman, senior vice president at Lennar, a Fortune 500 national affordable housing builder; and Alice Small, president, Princeton Community Housing Development Corp., which builds 100% affordable developments.
The social justice committees of Beth Chaim in Princeton Junction, Har Sinai in Pennington, and the Jewish Center in Princeton are offering the panel discussion in accordance with the value of welcoming the stranger, including people who are unable to afford market rate housing in our communities.
This free program is open to all. To register for the Zoom link or more information, email Linda Oppenheim. Hope you can make it and encourage others to attend.
Synod of the Northeast 2022 Innovation Grant awarded to the Bending the Moral Arc Courageous Conversations project.
Good news! A Joint Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church and Nassau Presbyterian
Church Bending the Moral Arc Courageous Conversations grant writing team of Karen
Brown, Monica Burch, Barbara Flythe, Michelle Peal, Len Scales, and Pam Wakefield
submitted a winning proposal to the Synod of the Northeast for one of its coveted 2022
Innovation Grants. The $15,000 award will be used to extend the Bending the Moral Arc
Courageous Conversations model to more congregations and organizations. God is good,
All the Time!
The Bending the Moral Arc webinar recording and resources are now available online:
Read the Article
During a webinar this week, lay leaders from two congregations — one predominately Black, the other primarily white — shared how their conversations about race and justice in the past year have strengthened their resolve to learn more about systemic racism. They also discovered what they can do together and as individuals to bend the moral arc toward justice. Read more online (link)
Bending the Moral Arc Manual
The Bending the Moral Arc manual, written to encourage and assist others in creating race and justice ministries in their own communities, includes sample conversations and other resources and tools. Download the Manual (pdf)
Courageous Conversations Resources
In our charge to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly,” Nassau is grateful to partner with our siblings at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church. Ongoing Bending the Moral Arc small groups engage in courageous conversations on race and justice facilitated by members of the Nassau & Witherspoon Partnership Team working in partnership. Those leaders pull from a running resource list to ground discussion, and we wanted to share those resources with you here. (updated January 2022)
Two congregations came together in partnership around the invitation of Matthew 25 to have courageous conversations and to take steps towards dismantling structural racism. They were transformed!
We will hear from these churches, one predominately white and one historically black, that developed a small group model for conversation and action, all during the pandemic and on zoom! Leaders from Nassau Presbyterian Church and Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey will be present to share their story and best practices as you learn to translate this model to your own context.
A template for this small group ministry partnership has been created and will be available as a FREE download during this webinar. Background, tips for creating your own ministry and sample lessons and resources will be included. There will be break-out groups and a Q and A.
All church leaders are welcome to attend.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021 | 7pm-8:30pm (EST)
No registration necessary. Join us on zoom using this link: https://zoom.us/j/94405040254 This webinar is hosted by Theology, Formation and Evangelism in the Presbyterian Mission Agency and is part of our Scattered Church ministries.
From the Annunciation to the Alleluias, Advent is a season of Anticipation. In music, art, movement and speech, we look forward to the birth of Christ. Come, Lord Jesus!
Audio recordings will be posted below each class description.
Current Covid Protocols for Adult Education
Our presenters are fully vaccinated and will comply with our testing protocol for worship leaders. Social distancing will apply in the Assembly Room with seating limited to 40 and masking inside the building will continue.
November 28 | Elizabeth Steel
Advent in Pictures: Joy and Gladness
Joy is a central theme to the Advent narrative. We will explore the concept of “joy” in visual art and usher in the season by reflecting on how we are called to express joy in our own lives. By encountering a variety of different works, we will discern how we can be open to receiving and sharing God’s “joy and gladness” this season.
Elizabeth Steel is a fourth year student at Princeton Theological Seminary earning her MDiv and MA in Christian Education and Formation. With BA in Art History at the University of Virginia, she is exploring the capacity that art holds for theological reflection and formation, including an internship at the Princeton University Art Museum. She grew up in McLean, Virginia and didn’t know anybody could be anything other than Presbyterian until high school.
“Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying” may be an Advent hymn, but not in the modern sense. It has more to do with the plague than with Christmas. And “How Brightly Beams the Morning Star” (How Fair, How Bright the Morning Star) may sound like it refers to the Epiphany star the Wise Men saw, but it doesn’t! These two hymns, (“Wachet auf” and “Wie schoen leuchtet der Morgenstern”) appended in tandem to a big book by Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608) and later favorites of J. S. Bach and F. Mendelssohn, became known as the King and Queen of German Chorales.
Paul Rorem is Princeton Theological Seminary’s Warfield Professor Emeritus of Ecclesiastical History, a title he now shares with his own doctor-father Karlfried Froehlich. His courses covered St. Augustine, mysticism, women writers, and hymn texts as windows into church history in general.
During Advent, we turn our attention to the coming of our Incarnated Christ, the Word made Flesh. By also tuning in to our own bodily experiences, we can freshly experience the season this year. Together we will consider how and why embodied spiritual practices can enliven our faith. Then we will get up and play with a bit of movement for ourselves. All bodies are welcome!
Annalise Hume is a passionate, creative, down-to-earth Spiritual Director who loves listening and asking questions to help others recognize the movement of God in their life. She has a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota as well as an MDiv and MA in Christian Education from Princeton Theological Seminary. In her spare time, you will find her playing with her toddler, watching Princeton tennis matches, and dreaming up her next trip.
Join us as we explore and hear Luke 2:8-10 as if for the first time. What tools do orators use to highlight meaning and story in scripture? Through these tools we will discover the patterns, contradictions, and hidden gems in a passage we know (almost) too well.
Michael Dean Morgan and family (Shana, Dean, and Avery) joined Nassau Church in 2013. Michael is a professional actor, head of Voice and Speech at Rowan University, and a longtime adjunct professor of Speech Communication at Princeton Theological Seminary.
All are welcome to this treasured annual community gathering, the Interfaith Thanksgiving Worship Service, in the University Chapel. Sponsored by Princeton University’s Office of Religious Life and the Princeton Clergy Association.
This service will be live streamed on the Office of Religious Life’s YouTube page.
*All persons, including members of the broader community, are welcome to attend this event if they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 if over age 12. Face coverings must be worn at all times by everyone over age 2. Registration is required for contact tracing purposes.
Please follow this link for advance in person registration.
Would you consider writing a meditation for our 2022 Lenten daily devotional series? We are always hoping to encourage new writers to join us. These messages of faith and encouragement have become a meaningful tradition for our community, and for many beyond the Nassau congregation. We will share these messages through a daily email, and later, when the season is complete, as a PDF that can be downloaded from our website.
Participating easy — here’s how:
“God’s Hands and the Holy Spirit,” from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/basta-cosi/1547659026/ – Jean Bean.
Each writer will be provided a choice of scriptures and guidelines for writing. Choose one or two verses meaningful to you, write a short reflection on them, and include a sentence prayer to close your reflection. It can be in any literary form: Prose, poem, haiku, dialogue, etc. Examples of our recent devotionals can be found on our website here (link).
It need not be complicated; simply from your heart. We have resources and helpers to guide you through the process. Please join us.
If you have any questions about the process or if you’re ready to sign up, please email Karen Barrows.
Fully vaccinated guests are also welcome to view The Gospel of Matthew Art Gallery in person:
Monday, November 8 – Thursday, November 11 | 12:00 – 4:00 pm
Meet the Artist: Tuesday, November 9 | 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Gambrell Room, 2nd floor Scheide Hall
Face coverings are required indoors.
“Made in God’s Image: Creating With and For Others”
7:00 pm Friday, November 12
Hosted by Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church
Guests are also welcome to view The Gospel of Luke Art Gallery in person:
Sunday, November 7 and Sunday, November 14 | 10:15 – 11 :00 am and 12:00 – 1 :30 pm
Meet the Artist: Sunday, November 7 | 12:00 – 1 :00 pm
First Floor Conference Room
Face coverings are required indoors.
Together Again: Biblical Stories of Reunion & Restoration
As we slowly return to cooperate worship and gatherings within our own community, come explore how earlier generations of believers have learned from and experienced reunion. Listen to familiar stories of redemption and reconciliation as well as ones where reunion is stalled, avoided, or only anticipated.
Audio recordings will be posted below each class description.
Current Covid Protocols for Adult Education
Our presenters are fully vaccinated and will comply with our testing protocol for worship leaders. Social distancing will apply in the Assembly Room with seating limited to 40 and masking inside the building will continue.
October 17 | Anne Stewart
Reunion and Repair
Jacob and Esau are the long-awaited twin sons born to Isaac and Rebekah. These brothers emerge from the womb already locked in conflict (see Genesis 25:19–34; 27:1–46). As they grow, the differences deepen and result in a dramatic power grab that fractures a family. Jacob must leave home to escape the vengeful wrath of his brother Esau. As these two prepare to meet again in Genesis 32 and 33, they have not seen each other for years. Jacob has gained wisdom and humility and prepares for the reunion with caution and savvy.
Anne Stewart is Vice President for External Relations at Princeton Theological Seminary. She is a Presbyterian minister and the author of Poetic Ethics in Proverbs: Wisdom Literature and the Shaping of the Moral Self. She is a graduate of Smith College, Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv), and Emory University (PhD, Old Testament). Anne grew up in central Pennsylvania and was raised in the faith at Camp Hill Presbyterian Church.
October 24 | Dennis Olsen
Two Reunions and a Reveal
Israel’s ancestor Jacob had twelve sons who eventually became the twelve tribes of the people of Israel. Joseph and his younger brother Benjamin were Jacob’s favored sons, born of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel. The other brothers all knew it and resented their younger brothers. This favoritism provokes the brothers to commit a violent act that propels Joseph on an epic quest resulting in fame, power and wealth. After years of separation, Joseph has a surprise encounter with his brothers who do not recognize because they assume he died years ago.
Dennis T. Olson is the Charles T. Haley Professor of Old Testament Theology and Chair of the Biblical Studies Department at Princeton Theological Seminary. He earned his MDiv from Luther Theological Seminary and his MA, MPhil, and PhD from Yale University. An ordained Lutheran minister, he specializes in the Pentateuch and other narrative literature of the Old Testament.
October 31 | James VanderKam
Reunion with Torah
After being exiled in Babylon, the Jewish people finally return to Jerusalem to find their beloved city and temple in ruins. Nehemiah begins rebuilding the city walls while the priest Ezra seeks to rededicate the temple. Both these leaders were convinced that the national disasters of the past were caused by disobedience to the law and feared that their contemporaries were repeating the sins of their ancestors. Therefore they and other leaders instituted practices that centered on the temple and were intended to ensure conformity with the law. In that way the restored nation could avoid the punishments meted out to generations past.
James VanderKam taught at North Carolina State University and at the University of Notre Dame where he was the O’Brien Professor of Hebrew Scriptures. His areas of research are the Hebrew Bible and the literature of Early Judaism such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. He and his wife, Mary, moved to Princeton in 2019 and became members of Nassau a few months later.
November 7 | Shane Berg
Reunion and Relationship
One of the most famous reunion stories in scripture is Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. The embrace of the wayward son by his loving father, captured so poignantly in Rembrandt’s famous painting, is an enduring reminder of God’s compassion and love for us. This powerful image is key to our understanding of God’s grace and nature. The best-known stories in the Bible, however, often repay a fresh reading. A closer look will reveal a rich complexity and nuance that deepens our appreciation of this iconic parable.
Shane Berg is the Executive Vice President at Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Berg earned his MDiv degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and his PhD in New Testament and Ancient Christianity from Yale University. He served on the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary for seven years as Assistant Professor of New Testament, and then joined the Seminary’s executive leadership team in January 2014. Around Nassau he is perhaps best known as Corrie Berg’s husband and the father of Anders, Mathias, and Soren.
November 14 | Theresa Thames
The Reunion that Wasn’t
If your family is anything like my own, family reunions can be…interesting. In our text, Matthew gives us a brief introduction to family systems theory by sharing an encounter between Jesus, his birth family, and the disciples. On first reading, Jesus’ response sounds harsh and gives us pause. However, Jesus’ jarring words model a more expansive understanding of family and widening of the circle.
Theresa Thames, an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, has been the Associate Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel at Princeton University since 2016. She is passionate about the intersections of theology, gender, organizational development, and social justice. A challenging preacher, thoughtful theologian, and devoted friend, Theresa is also a lover of life and a music connoisseur who prioritizes self-care and believes that freedom is not optional, rest is her strength, and radical joy is her resistance.
November 21 | Noel Werner
The Sound of Reunion
You might be surprised how much of our congregational song is based on the visions and poetry in Revelation. Starting with the reunion of God and the great company of saints in Revelation 7:9-17, we’ll explore the way in which this final book of the New Testament has inspired authors and composers for generations and created some of our most enduring songs. Together we’ll experience a little of what the great reunion might sound like through the prophetic witness of word and music.
Download the Revelation Lecture Playlist (PDF) for YouTube links and copyright information for the musical selections presented during the class.
Noel Werner
Noel Werner has been the Director of Music at Nassau Presbyterian Church since 2006. He lectures on occasion at Westminster Choir College and Princeton Theological Seminary, and spearheads many cooperative music endeavors in the community, in addition to directing Nassau’s adult choir, coordinating Nassau’s extensive music program, and staffing Nassau’s Worship and Arts Committee.
We will hear from these churches, one predominately white and one historically black, that developed a small group model for conversation and action, all during the pandemic and on zoom! Leaders from Nassau Presbyterian Church and Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey will be present to share their story and best practices as you learn to translate this model to your own context.
