Nassau Presbyterian and Trinity Episcopal Church are partnering to collect 10,000 pounds of much needed supplies for Arm in Arm’s three food pantries!
Arm in Arm’s inventory is running low due to reduced government allocations and decreased produce donations after a difficult harvest season. Carolyn Biondi, Arm in Arm’s Executive Director, says “Our shelves still have food on them, but our selection is not robust, and the situation could deteriorate further as we run down our inventory. It would be incredibly helpful to have a community effort between our founding and strongest supporting congregations to fill our shelves and store rooms.”
A list of needed items is below. Please bring your donations to the Conference Room on Sunday, December 9 and Sunday, December 16. There is also always a bin inside the ramp door for Arm in Arm food pantry donations. Thank you for the continued support of Arm in Arm, especially as we work to make sure families have food for the holidays!
Download a printable copy of the food list Shopping List (pdf) or pick one up at the church.
The season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ into the world. Our Adult Education series this month will increase your joy and understanding of Christmas. We begin with an introduction to all of the seasons of the Christian calendar; we gather around the piano to sing carols; we study the incarnation in Renaissance art; we learn about Mary; and finally, we reflect on poetry inspired by events in the season of Advent.
All classes 9:15 a.m. in the Assembly Room unless otherwise noted
The first Sunday of Advent begins the Christian (liturgical or church) year. Perhaps you didn’t celebrate Advent as a child and have questions about it. Or maybe you just wonder who decides what color of cloth is on the communion table each Sunday. Come learn about the design, the colors, and the celebrations of the church year that order our life together.
Carol Wehrheim is clerk of session at Nassau. For over 30 years, she wrote and edited Christian education resources organized by the Christian year.
We welcome the Christ child into our hearts once again. Come gather around the piano with Noel Werner and sing all your old favorite carols. Good food, good company – a joyful start to the season.
Noel Werner has been the Director of Music at Nassau Presbyterian Church since 2006.
George Hunsinger returns for the 21st year to lead this verse-by-verse examination of Colossians. 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).
Much happened in theology, culture, and the arts during the time of the European Renaissance, a period in the history of art which has always held a special place in the hearts of American art lovers. Last Advent we looked at the artistic representation of the Incarnation theme in earlier Christian images. This year we will focus on the intriguing development of the theme in Renaissance art, Italian and Northern European. This development reflects the interest in new modes of painting (e.g., the use of perspective) but also new attitudes toward the natural and the social world as it was experienced by the individual artist, and a broadening of the spiritual dimension.
Karlfried Froehlich, a native of Saxony, Germany, moved to the United States in 1964, taught at Drew University and, from 1968 to 1992, at Princeton Theological Seminary, where he held the Benjamin B. Warfield chair in church history. Karlfried is an active member of the Lutheran Church (ELCA). 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.
This class is not recorded because of the heavy use of imagery in the presentation.
Mary’s role in the Christmas story is both central and complicated. Join us as we revisit the story of Mary, how it is narrated in Scripture and how it has been interpreted.
Eric Barreto is Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, an ordained Baptist minister, and a Nassau parent.
The story that unfolds in Advent has inspired generations of musicians, artists, preachers and poets. We will explore five contemporary poems with very different interpretations of the events of the season. We begin with the Magnificat –“My soul doth magnify the Lord” – Mary’s ecstatic response to the Annunciation — and read Denise Levertov’s “Annunciation,” Madeleine L’Engle’s “After Annunciation,” and Mary Jo Salter’s “Advent.” We continue with T.S. Eliot’s “Journey of the Magi” and conclude with an Advent poem by our presenter Roz which is influenced by the collective body of work of the other poets. You will see how each poem is colored by the poet’s place in history, as well as the juxtaposition of religious imagery with details of ordinary life.
Rozlyn Anderson Flood is a Philanthropic Advisor in the Office of Gift Planning at Princeton University. She is also a poet and is currently assembling a chapbook manuscript for publication. She has previously been published in The Harvard Advocate and served on its editorial board. She has worked as a trusts and estates attorney and wealth management executive on Wall Street, and is an expert in estate and philanthropic planning. She also served on a number of non-profit boards with a focus on civil rights, social service and higher education, and is currently on the Advisory Board and Fundraising Committee of the Paul Robeson House of Princeton. At Nassau Roz serves as a ruling elder, sings second alto in the Adult Choir and is a member of the Worship and Arts Committee.
Westminster Conservatory at Nassau Thursday, November 15
On Thursday, November 15 at 12:15 p.m. the seventeenth season of Westminster Conservatory at Nassau will continue with a performance by High Winds, a woodwind trio consisting of Katherine McClure, flute; Melissa Bohl, oboe; and Kenneth Ellison, clarinet. The performers are members of the Westminster Conservatory teaching faculty.
The program on November 15 comprises the Trio in G Major by Franz Joseph Haydn, Aubade by Paul de Wailly; Suite for Three Treble Winds by Sparre Olsen, Nocturne by Marius Flotius, and The Old Man is Dancing by local composer Samuel Livingston. The first public performance of the Livingston work will take place at the November 15 recital.
After a pause in the month of December Westminster Conservatory at Nassau will resume on January 17, 2019 with a performance by Kenneth Ellison, clarinet; Dezheng Ping, violin; and Larissa Korkina, piano.
These recitals take place in the Niles Chapel of Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street in Princeton. They are open to the public and free of charge.
Please join us Sunday, November 18 at 2:30 p.m. at Nassau Presbyterian Church for a recital of piano music featured in movies. Families will enjoy recognizable music from some of their favorite movies, including Aladdin, The Greatest Showman, La La Land, and MORE!
This recital is great for children so please invite your friends!
These recitals take place in the Sanctuary of Nassau Presbyterian Church, 61 Nassau Street in Princeton. They are open to the public and free of charge.
The chaperones are ticketed on these flights and we would prefer the entire group travel together; before you choose a different flight schedule contact Mark Edwards:
July 17, 2019: Newark Airport to Paris (Orly), Level Airlines #8010 departs 10:40pm, arrives 12:00pm (+1 day)
July 29, 2019: Paris (Orly) to Newark Airport, Level Airlines #8009 departs 6:15pm, arrives 8:40pm
Standard coverage is $29 per person, this fee is already calculated into the trip fee.
Trip cancellation/interruption insurance is an additional 4% of the total trip cost as reported by you. Contact Lauren Yeh if you are interested in purchasing this insurance.
Final Payments and All Completed Forms are Now Due!
Please bring them to the church office during regular business hours or before worship on a Sunday morning, or mail them to:
Lauren Yeh
Nassau Presbyterian Church
61 Nassau Street
Princeton, NJ 08542
Sunday, May 5 – Organizational Meeting
On Sunday, May 5, we will meet for lunch and a brief organizational meeting in Room 302/303, after the second service (12:30-1:30pm). Gather with your work team, learn about the project you’ll be working on, talk about what to pack, what to expect – get to know the 50+ other members of this year’s ASP Trip!
If you cannot make this meeting, please contact Mark Edwards (, 609-933-7599).
ASP 3 S’s (Sensitivity, Safety, and Stewardship) ASP 3 S’s
Be prepared to sign the ASP Trip Covenant (the whole group signs the same document, text below) – sign on “Forms Day” April 7, at the Organizational Meeting in June, or contact Lauren Yeh
Complete ASP Online Registration
Complete ASP Volunteer Statement but do not sign it, VolRegStatement-Group7875 (pdf) – note, this is a 2 page document!
(all the details you need for the online registration are on this form)
Final Payment (contact Lauren Yeh if you are unsure of the amount due)
ASP Covenant Text:
A covenant is a promise or vow made between two parties. In Genesis, God took Abraham outside one night and showed him the stars in the sky. God promised that Abraham’s descendants would be as many as those stars and that from those descendants would come a Savior. We now know that the promise was kept in the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ.
ASP covenants to our groups that we will do everything we can to facilitate a meaningful service opportunity. We will provide a center facility and staff; we will fulfill all the details that must come together to make a significant mission experience for our volunteers. As a part of the faith walk through service, ASP asks volunteers to enter into a covenant with ASP. Volunteers are asked to abide by the “Expectations, Rules, and Regulations” that make communal living and working successful. ASP also asks that volunteers abide by additional rules that may be given at their particular center.
Have each volunteer read the ASP “Expectations, Rules, and Regulations,” the 3 S’s: Sensitivity, Safety, and Stewardship, and the ASP Safety Manual before signing.
The world we live in today is one where faith is used mostly to stop progress and to keep the United States from changing. Our history, however, reflects a completely different story. From the first European settlers to the American Revolution, to the expansion of the suffrage, abolition, and Civil Rights, faith groups and faith-led activism have driven this country forward. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King might have said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, but it bends only because people pick up the mantle and bend that arc. This session will highlight several major incidents in the American political story where faith-drive activism expanded the circle of moral concern and moved us closer to realizing the Kingdom of God here on earth.
William Field is active in religious and academic circles. He is an Associate Teaching Professor of Political Science at Rutgers University where he lectures on the topic of religion and politics, among other things. He is president of a small congregation of the United Church of Christ in Monmouth County, served for a decade on the UCC’s regional governing body, and went to Germany as a delegate of that body to give a talk on Nationalism, Populism and the Church, here he offered insight into how European and American churches are and should be responding to the rising threat of xenophobia and extremism.
Ongoing through December 16
no class November 18 or 25
In-Depth Bible Study: Colossians
George Hunsinger
9:15 AM
Maclean House
George Hunsinger returns for the 21st year to lead this verse-by-verse examination of Colossians. 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).
Jesus, Race & Incarceration:
Why Our Faith Prevents Us from Looking the Other Way
Mary Beth Charters, Jonathan Shenk
Does the life and teaching of Jesus offer any insight on the current climate of racial tension and burgeoning rates of incarceration in our country today? Do white people of faith have any responsibility or culpability regarding our nation’s history of slavery and Jim Crow oppression? How does faith intersect with activism? There are more African Americans under correctional control today than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War. Mary Beth Charters and Jonathan Shenk will speak to these issues and to how race and incarceration have shaped their personal faith journeys, life, and activism.
Mary Beth Charters an ordained elder, is a recent graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, and is currently serving as resident chaplain at RWJ University Hospital, New Brunswick. She is a retired educator after 30+ years in school, medical and psychiatric facilities working with diverse ages, populations, and needs.
Jonathan Shenk is a former associate pastor at Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church, Princeton Junction. For the past 12 years he has been the owner of Greenleaf Painters, a house-painting company. In addition to his business involvement, he is a certified spiritual director and an advocate for transforming the U.S. criminal justice system.
Nassau Church in the World: Trends and Current Commitments
Dave Davis
A look back at where we have been and where we are now related to the church’s footprint in our community and in the world. Pastor Davis will present some history and track recent changes in our Mission and Outreach spending while discussing the intent and the discernment that impacts our spending beyond the walls of the church. If you want to know how Nassau Church spends its mission dollars, this presentation is for you!
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.
According to a report published by the Anti-Poverty Network of New Jersey, structural racism and poverty create “a multiplicity of injustices” directly and indirectly affecting the education, housing, employment, legal protections, health and hunger of people of color living in poverty. Panelists from Nassau’s Trenton partners will provide concrete examples of the multiplicity of injustices endured by the people that they serve in Trenton and Princeton and how their programs, activism and advocacy work together to help eradicate these injustices.
Adriana Abizadeh serves as the Executive Director at the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF). LALDEF’s organizational mission is to defend the rights of the Latin American community, facilitate its access to health care and education, and advance cross-cultural understanding within the Mercer County region. After a BA in Political Science from Rutgers University, she completed a master’s degree in Public Policy at Drexel University.
Carolyn Biondi serves as the Executive Director of Arm In Arm. Prior to joining Arm In Arm, Carolyn held positions in development, data management and program evaluation in community health care, child welfare and emergency shelter settings. She is currently working toward a second master’s degree, this one in Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Karen Hernández-Granzen serves as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Trenton. She also has leadership roles in the Arts, Music and Culture Committee of the City of Trenton, the Princeton’s Civil Rights Commission, the United Mercer Interfaith Organization, the Bethany House of Hospitality, and the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund. She was the inaugural 2017 Community Partner-in-Residence, of the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, Princeton University. She is a 2018 PCUSA Women of Faith Award recipient.
