“Plarn” is plastic yarn made from repurposed plastic shopping and newspaper bags and can be used to make sleeping mats for those experiencing homelessness. Nassau is partnering with our Interfaith Stitchers for Peace and Trenton Area Soup Kitchen to make “plarn” sleeping mats for their clients who are in need of a sleeping surface that is more comfortable than pavement, a hard floor, or a simple cot. It takes 500 bags to make one mat.
Join us and:
1) Collect clean, dry grocery store plastic and newspaper bags and bring them to the church where bins are ready outside the church office.
2) Use the written instructions to cut bags, tie them together, and create a plarn ball and drop them in the bins outside the church office.
3) Use the instructions to crochet / knit mats on your own.
4) Learn to do it all and attend one of our workshops on Sundays:
Sep. 8: 10:15–11:15 am & 12:00-1:00 pm, Niles Chapel
Sep. 15: 10:15–11:00 am, Niles Chapel
Sep. 15: 12:15–1:30 pm with the Senior Adult Lunch, Assembly Room
Sep. 22: 10:15–11:00 am, Niles Chapel
We are once again joining with Westminster Presbyterian Church, our partner church in Trenton, to provide 200 backpacks filled with essentials for local kids.
Please stop by Nassau Church and choose an item or two to donate from our Back-to-School display on the Great Wall. Thanks to the generosity of Princeton University Class of 1974, money has already been donated to purchase the backpacks for this fall! If you would like to make an additional financial contribution, this will be used by Westminster to handpick toys for young people in their community.
Supplies and monetary donations can be dropped off in the church office through Sunday, August 18. Make checks out to Nassau Presbyterian Church, noting “GetSET” in the memo line. Donations can be made online HERE, choose “Get Set – Westminster” in the Fund drop down box. Thank you!
All supplies and money collected at Nassau Church during the back to school drive will be donated to the GetSET program at Westminster Church.
Heritage Tour
The Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society is honoring 29 African American establishments in Princeton. The locations will be designated by Heritage plaques that will give a brief history of the establishment. The first four Heritage plaques will honor the four churches in the Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood. Saturday, August 10, there will be a walking tour of the four churches to unveil the plaques with a brief history and blessing by the churches’ ministers. The schedule for the tour is as follows:
9:45 — Leave from the Waxwood apartment building at 35 Quarry Street – walk to Birch Avenue (For those who do not want to walk from this location, you may meet us at Morning Star Church of God in Christ.)
10:05 — Gather at Morning Star Church of God in Christ
10:25 — Walk up Witherspoon Street to gather at Mt. Pisgah AME Church
10:45 — Walk to next block to gather at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church
11:05 — Walk to Green Street toward John Street to gather at The First Baptist Church of Princeton
For those who wish to rest and have a cool drink and refreshments, you are welcome to walk from the First Baptist Church to 30 Quarry Street. For church members who prefer to stay at their church until the tour arrives, we will meet with you when we arrive at your church.
Witherspoon Partnership Summer Reading
The Witherspoon Church–Nassau Church Joint Mission Collaboration Committee will be reading Radical Reconciliation, Beyond Political Pietism and Christian Quietism by Allan Aubrey Boesak and Curtiss Paul DeYoung over the summer. The congregations of both churches are invited to join in the reading of this important book to promote a common language around reconciliation.
Visit Nassau’s Myanmar Mission Partner
Lois Young and Sue Jennings are leading a trip to Myanmar this fall on behalf of Nassau’s international mission partner Cetana. The date of the tour is October 9-20. Somewhat shorter than in previous years, the tour will nevertheless include visits to Cetana teaching sites in Yangon as well as Inle Lake, Bagan, and Ngapali Beach. Excluding international airfare, the approximate cost will be $3500 per person double occupancy, including lodging, internal transportation via bus and air, all meals, sightseeing, and baggage transfers.
Crossroads Theater to Feature Play about Paul Robeson
Crossroads Theater’s (New Brunswick) opening season will feature a play about Paul Robeson. Witherspoon Street Presbyterian is gauging interest for a group trip to the theatre on Saturday, September 14, at 3:00 p.m (cost approximately $50 per person). Please contact Michelle Peal () before August 25 to reserve your seat with the group.
Stephanie Patterson, Madelyn Patterson, and Loretta & Bob Wells are traveling in August to Malawi, Africa, on a friendship trip with our mission partner, Villages in Partnership. Help fill their “extra” suitcases! Requested items include:
– Shoes (flip-flops and soccer cleats most appreciated)
– Toothbrushes and toothpaste
– Unscented soaps
– Light-weight blankets
– Crayons
Place goods in the collection bin in the church office by Sunday, July 28. Please also keep Barbara Edwards and the July medical mission team in prayer along with the August friendship trip and all our mission partners in Malawi. Thank you!
We are once again joining with Westminster Presbyterian Church, our partner church in Trenton, to provide 200 backpacks filled with essentials for local kids.
Please stop by Nassau Church and choose an item or two to donate from our Back-to-School display on the Great Wall. Thanks to the generosity of Princeton University Class of 1974, money has already been donated to purchase the backpacks for this fall! If you would like to make an additional financial contribution, this will be used by Westminster to handpick toys for young people in their community.
Supplies and monetary donations can be dropped off in the church office through Sunday, August 11. Make checks out to Nassau Presbyterian Church, noting “GetSET” in the memo line. Thank you!
All supplies and money collected at Nassau Church during the back to school drive will be donated to the GetSET program at Westminster Church.
The Earth is the Lord’s: Climate Change and Environmental Justice
A summer program for youth grades 6-12 sponsored by Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church
Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church Outdoor Worship and All-Church Picnic
Sunday, July 14, 2019
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
SPECIAL NOTE FROM WITHERSPOON- CHANGE OF LOCATION
Due the flash flood on Thursday evening, the Van Nest park is unable to be cleaned sufficiently.
We have been blessed to find a new location which is larger and has more parking, closer access for seniors at the West Windsor Community Park located at Bernt Midland Blvd / Slayback Road, Princeton Hightstown Road (571). http://www.wwparks-recreation.com/parks/wwcommunity.html
The amenities at West Windsor Community Park include basketball, soccer, skate and bike park, tennis courts, football fields, and a playground. We will have games as well. Come with an appetite to fellowship and have fun.
Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday!
Please let Sarah Finbow (, x107) know if you plan to attend by July 8, 2019 so that we can give accurate numbers.
Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church would like to invite members of Nassau to join us on a trip to the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC on Saturday, June 29. The cost per person to cover the trip (bus and museum tickets included) is $90 per person.
We will leave at 7:00 am from Princeton in the parking lot for the Billie Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve off of Mountain Avenue between Route 206 and Bayard Lane, returning to the same location at 9:00 pm.
The Museum includes artifacts, short films, panoramas, technology-enhanced exhibits, and a biblically themed restaurant (foodies should definitely check it out!). It tells the story of how the Bible came to us, illustrates the culture, and of special interest is a current exhibit called “The Slave Bible: Let the Story Be Told.”
Please make your reservation for this trip ASAP as seats are filling up. To reserve your spot, contact Audi Peal (908-938-9573, . Checks should be made payable to “Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church” with “Museum of the Bible” on the memo line, and mailed on or before Wednesday, June 19, to:
Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church
124 Witherspoon Street
Princeton NJ 08542
Bethany Community Garden Party – Saturday, June 29
You are invited to the 7th annual Bethany Community Garden Party, on Saturday, June 29, from 2:00 – 6:00 pm at 426 Hamilton Avenue, Trenton. The Garden Party celebration will include honoring Westminster partners an open mic, spoken word, drumming, and dancing from 4:00–5:00 PM. Light refreshments will be provided by ArmInArm and The Bonner Foundation.
Designed by David Byers, the Bethany Community Garden is a project of the Bethany House of Hospitality, and the produce goes to their residents and neighbors and also to clients of ArmInArm.
My YAV experience in Peru is and always will be an experience I will not know how to put into words. Even though it has been almost a year since my return from Peru, it still is something I am processing and probably will continue to process for many years.
I served as a YAV in Huanuco, Peru, a small city north east of Lima. I was working at Casa Del Buen Trato Hovde, a nonprofit center for women and girls who were victims of sexual abuse and/or domestic violence. It is actually the only shelter like this in all of Peru. Working alongside the psychologist, I organized and lead workshops on topics such as self-esteem, trauma, healing, etc., yoga and meditation classes, and was just a person that the girls could come and talk to. What I experienced there gave me so many new and different perspectives on life, privilege, and so much more. I am so grateful for all the amazing people I met throughout the year, including my host family, fellow YAVs, the girls at the shelter, the women I worked with, and so many more.
I first heard about the YAV program through Nassau church in high school. I remember hearing about it and thinking what an incredible opportunity it was. About six years later, I ended up applying. Nassau church helped me throughout my entire application and fundraising process. I could not have done it without their support. Returning to Nassau after my YAV year and being able to lead a talk and discussion about what my year was like was such a surreal experience. I am so grateful to have a place like Nassau church that continues to feel like home no matter where I am in the world and I look forward to returning in the future.
Blessings,
Katie
Read more about Nassau’s support for young adults in mission here.
Please note: there will be no Adult Education Class on June 2
June 2
Nassau Goes to Westminster
[ezcol_1third]Join us at 11:00 a.m. at the Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1140 Greenwood Ave, Trenton, to worship God and celebrate the Nassau-Westminster Mission partnership. This is an annual event, and we encourage participation by making this a emphasis of our educational ministries on this day. An opportunity for fellowship follows worship. If you need a ride, or can take someone in your car, sign-up HERE.[/ezcol_1third] [ezcol_2third_end][/ezcol_2third_end]
June 9
Martin Tel
Joy to the World: A Reappraisal of Isaac Watts’ 1719 Psalter
Oscar Wilde once said “there seems to be some curious connection between piety and poor rhymes.” In fact, for many Presbyterians in the 18th century, beautiful lyrics were considered suspect. In such an environment, Watts’ Psalter set off alarm bells with lines such as Joy to the world the Lord is come and Jesus shall reign where’er the sun. Denominations split over the question of singing these paraphrases in church. In this 300th anniversary year of Watts’ revolutionary Psalter, we will consider some of these well-loved texts and the impact that they have had on Presbyterian worship through the centuries.
In 1615 Galileo Galilei’s Letter to the Grand Duchess Cristina argued for the compatibility of science and scripture, or at least for the relative autonomy of each body of knowledge. Come learn more about Galileo’s treatise and discuss the various ways in which the relationship of science and scripture is treated in the present day.
11:30am, Assembly Room (following the Congregational Meeting in the Sanctuary)
Paul Rorem
An Introduction to St. Augustine’s Confessions
The Confessions of St. Augustine, one of the most influential books of the Christian tradition, recalls important events of the author’s life, including: life with his devoutly Christian mother in rural 4th century Algeria; his struggles with human desires, his eventual renunciation of secular ambitions and marriage; and the recovery of his Christian faith.
Writing before the publication of the King James Version of the Bible, William Shakespeare relied for the most part on the Geneva Bible. Rather than turning to scripture as a source of truth or meaning as earlier dramatists did, we find him treating scripture like any other source. Come learn how Shakespeare explores the tensions about the authority of scripture that dominated so much of public life in the century after Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses.
Storm Center Report:
Ethical Reflections on the US Supreme Court’s 2018-19 Term
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once observed that the U.S. Supreme Court is a “storm center” of political controversy. This session will focus on several of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions including: census questions about citizenship; the constitutional status of religious symbols on public memorials; gerrymandering of legislative districts; out-of-state wine purchases; double jeopardy in state and federal prosecutions; and other critical cases.
Political and Constitutional Crises in Historical Perspective
In the midst of a political crisis, people tend to think nothing could be worse. Join us for a look back at previous occasions in American history when democracy, or even national survival, was threatened, perhaps an even greater threat than today.
American political rhetoric is increasingly filled with cries of constitutional crisis. What does constitutional crisis even mean, and how would we know if we were in one? When does political dysfunction, disagreement and scandal signal more fundamental problems with the constitutional order, and what are the dangers of declaring a crisis prematurely?
Before Thy Throne of Grace: A Celebration of Spirituals and Poetry
Come enjoy the liberating power and uplift of African-American spirituals, interspersed with readings from a classic of American poetry, God’s Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse, by James Weldon Johnson. Best known as the author of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” Johnson was also an author, educator, lawyer, poet, diplomat, newspaper columnist, songwriter and civil rights activist. In 1927, he wrote and published God’s Trombones as a tribute to the old-time preachers he had heard in his childhood. Noel has paired dramatic readings of the poems by Cecelia Hodges with spirituals which we will sing together in response to hearing these engaging and inspiring verses.
Cecelia B. Hodges, an Elder at Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, has followed academic and theatre pursuits as Instructor at Talladega College, Associate Professor of Speech and Dramatic Art at Douglass College , Rutgers University, and as English Department faculty and Assistant Dean of the College at Princeton University. She has certificates of study from Birmingham University (England) and the University of Ghana at Legon and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University. Her theatre experience is as a member of casts at the Penthouse Dance and Drama Theatre, the Players Company, Theatre of NJ, etc. Currently she is a member of OnStage Seniors: a Community Project of McCarter Theatre, is the Founding Director of the Witherspoon Verse Speaking Choir, and has been a member of many committees at the church. She is grateful that “God is good all the time”.
Political and Constitutional Crises in Historical Perspective, Pt. 2
In the midst of a political crisis, people tend to think nothing could be worse. Join us for a look back at previous occasions in American history when democracy, or even national survival, was threatened, perhaps an even greater threat than today. Just us for Part 2 of this popular class!
August 18
Karen Brown & Friends
VIP: Villages in Partnership
Villages in Partnership (VIP), one of Nassau’s major mission partners, has created an enduring collaborative partnership with the people of Sakata, Malawi – one of the poorest regions in one of the poorest countries of the world. VIP focuses on six key development needs: water, food security, education, health care, infrastructure, and economic development. Come learn about this work from members of this summer’s VIP trips.
Hear from Azing Chin, a child of Nassau Church, about her year of service as a Young Adult Volunteer with the PC(USA). Len Scales will interview Azing about her experience, and we will consider together how Young Adults lead the Church in doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with our God.
Read reflections of former Nassau YAV’s on our website:
