Nassau supported Valentina in her year of service in New Orleans from 2012 to 2013 as part of the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program. Valentina was kind to send us a note about her experience and asked that we share it so that other young adults would also consider spending a year in service and intentional living as YAVs.
Young Adult Volunteers hitting the water on their spring retreat
My YAV year (2012-2013 in New Orleans) was an incredible experience for me. It brought me to a brand new city that I’ve been lucky to call my home for the past four years. I made some of my closest friendships through PCUSA’s Young Adult Volunteer program and owe my current job to the experience and connections I made during that year. One of the key parts of the YAV program is its infamous “intentional community” living. As hard as it is to live intentionally in a house with other Christian young adults, it is even more valuable. I learned so much about myself. I know that sounds generic, but it’s true. Living in an intentional community taught my confidence and communication. It showed me the importance of honesty in communication and honesty to your own emotions – two things that are widely ignored in the “real world.” Without this experience, I know I would be in a much different place right now and much less prepared for social, emotional, and spiritual success.
Valentina with her housemates enjoying a parade in New Orleans
It’s so great to read about the connection between Nassau and the YAV program. I actually didn’t know the extent of Nassau’s on-going support to the program. Nassau should get credit for most of the success of my YAV year. It would have been a lot more difficult to complete the program without the support, both financial and (more importantly) spiritual, provided to me by the church. Nassau Presbyterian has also been a part of the feeling of “home” for me. As I keep moving forward and become involved with other congregations in other presbyteries, it’s such a comfort to know that I can always come home to Nassau.
Best,
Valentina
Read more about Nassau’s support for young adults in mission here.
Sign up now for the Nassau Study Trip to Greece with Drs. Beverly Gaventa and Jacqueline Lapsley from May 23 to June 6, 2017.
Join us as we follow Paul’s steps in Greece! Drs. Beverly Gaventa and Jacqueline Lapsley will serve as biblical scholars-in-residence as we explore places the Apostle Paul preached and taught from May 23 to June 6, 2017. The trip will take us by land and water to places like Thessaloniki, Athens, Philippi, Patmos, and Crete.
Sign Up
Our trip is being arranged by Academy International Travel Service. Access their Trip Overview page with the group code nassau2017 and the password journey.
The cost is $4,235 ($5,719 with airfare). The price is based on a group of 25 participants. Registration is only open to Nassau Presbyterian Church members and friends/family members until October 31, 2016, when we will open it up to other churches and religious institutions. A deposit of $500 is required at the time of registration, fully refundable up to 90 days before departure (February 22, 2017).
Passports
Passports must be current and should be valid for at least six months from the date of return from the trip (December 2017). As part of the registration process you will be asked to upload a scan of the signature and photo pages of your passport. Visas are not required for US citizens traveling to Greece but one is required for Turkey. Instructions for this are on the Academy Travel website under “Trip Tips” where you will also find helpful information on baggage, electricity, recommended clothing, shopping and local currencies.
Contact
Contact Lauren Yeh (609-924-0103 x106) with any registration-related questions or issues.
Princeton University’s Community Action Week at Westminster Presbyterian Church
Insiya Essani, PU Class of 2020
Princeton University Pace Center’s Community Action Week (CAW) allows first year students to work with local organizations in small groups of ten to fifteen students guided by trained group leaders. The incoming students of the Princeton University Class of 2020 were invited to live at Westminster as they took part in serving our community. Westminster has been hosting CAW for 13 years. In the past, 100 to 150 PU students participated. This year Pace Center maximized student participation by reaching over 523 students. Their primary focus is to increase the number of students who are aware of the communities that surround them.
The CAW Education Trenton: Nurturing Bright Future group worked in conjunction with the Westminster Church and Community Life Center to help facilitate two events: the annual Back to School Supplies Giveaways and Carnival. These events invite over 1,500 families via door to door fliers, fliers at local schools, and personal calls to participate and take advantage of the resources offered by the church and community center.
Westminster leaders dedicated the first day of CAW to orienting the students. This included visiting the Bethany Garden, the War Memorial, and the South River Walk Park. David Byers helped design this national award winning park which sits above the Route 29 tunnel, and incorporates the history of Trenton via multiple double arches and granite markers.
On the second day, Princeton students and three CA leaders helped organize the annual free backpack and school supplies giveaway for Get SET students, and church children. Mary Beth Charters brought a car filled with backpacks and school supplies from Nassau. We are all very grateful to Nassau, Wright Memorial, Westminster Presbyterian churches, and individuals who donated beautiful backpacks filled with lots of school supplies! This event also included playing board games and doing educational activities, thereby, allowing incoming students to gain a more personal interaction with the children.
The second event was the carnival. This event included traditional carnival games, free prizes, face painting, dancing, and a moon bouncer. CAW students wore funky hats and led the entire event. The sounds of laughter and eyes filled with excitement were clearly evident. At both events children registered for the Get SET After School Program, and adults registered for The English as a Second Language School at Westminster.
“An education at Princeton University emphasizes leadership, and I have realized that being a leader does not mean having a glorious title or changing the world, but rather a true leader is one who is able to embody humility and works with his or her own community before aiming to change the whole world. Two such leaders are Pastor Karen Hernández-Granzen and Linda Konrad Byers who work WITH the community instead of FOR the community. Their work is a constant reminder that for long term improvement it is vital to be a member of the community and to embrace the positivity present within the community rather than constantly highlighting only the negativity,” said Denay Richards.
Many students are leaving this experience inspired to come back and continue to work with the Get SET program and the community throughout the course of their education at Princeton. This opportunity will be a constant reminder of effective leadership as students embark on their academic journey.
UPDATE from Cetana Educational Foundation:
Cetana on the Move. . .
Thanks to some generous donors, the Cetana English Proficiency Center (CEPC) in Yangon is moving to new quarters. Construction is underway on Cetana’s new school in downtown Yangon. When the move takes place later this fall, there will be more space for more students, a location within the transit hub, and a fresh, open, and attractive environment for learning. Cetana students and staff are excited and eager to make the move. Building out on the third floor of the teeming Theingyi Market involves turning a derelict, loft-like space into a modern, efficient school. Cetana will have four 25-student classrooms, a reception area, director’s office, administrative space, teachers’ room, computer lab, library and a small kitchen. Surprisingly, the rent for our new location will be substantially less than the center’s previous quarters.
Furnishings are what will make the new school truly welcoming. The two informal spaces–student lounge and teachers’ room–should be areas that encourage sociability, with comfortable sofas and chairs. Projection equipment would be an important teaching tool; internet connections would let teachers and students get online and access a variety of online learning tools. These important refinements will support casual interactions and learning in and outside the formal classroom setting. If you would like to help Cetana with this wish list, please consider a contribution. Donations can be made online at https://cetana.org/donate/
And in Kanpetlet. . .
The Cetana-Metta Partners English language program in Kanpetlet, Chin State, Myanmar, which Nassau Church mission funds are supporting, is making progress. U Ba Win, who came to speak at Nassau Church last summer, was in Kanpetlet this past spring with a former Bard student, Aung Mon. They interviewed teachers in the local public school and assessed their fluency in English in order to design specific training to suit their abilities. An intensive training, directed by an American ESL trainer and Myanmar trainers, will take place in March 2017. In addition to teacher-training opportunities, there is a critical need for more teaching aids—textbooks, grammar and vocabulary books, and audio-visual materials. With funding from Nassau Church, Ba Win and Aung Mon were able to take copies of the government textbooks so that each child has a copy. (The government supplies only a textbook for each teacher. ) Additional workbooks and other teaching materials are being sent from time to time.
Come on October 7 to Celebrate the Partnership
The mission committee hopes members of the congregation will come celebrate the Nassau Church-Cetana mission partnership the evening of October 7 at 6 pm in the Assembly Room. Aung Tun, a former Cetana scholar and new Cetana board member, who now works for the Asia Development Bank, will talk about the country’s progress toward democratic reform. Rangoon Restaurant, in Philadelphia, will provide a classic Burmese meal of Ohn no Khao Swe, and we will also have a chance to thank Nancye Fitzpatrick and Bob Hendrickson, both of whom traveled to Burma with Lois and Jack Young and have remained committed to Cetana. Tickets for dinner and the talk are $25, and all proceeds from the event will benefit Cetana students. Advance reservations are necessary. Contact Sue Jennings (609.683.4435; ).
UPDATE from Villages in Partnership:
In July, Stephanie Patterson traveled to Malawi to witness the difference that Villages in Partnership (VIP) is making in the lives of people there. Stephanie was immersed in the partner villages, hearing stories such as how a goat given by VIP, made possible by a $50 donation, could change the life of a family and allow them to put an iron sheet roof on their house or send a child to school. Thank you to everyone who contributed items for the trip. Stephanie was able to see in the faces of the villagers how the support of Nassau Presbyterian, along with God’s grace, is impacting the quality of life, and immense amount of gratitude the people of the Sakata region of Malawi have for every gift, no matter how small. They were very much appreciated!
Liz Heinzel-Nelson, Director of Villages In Partnership and Stephen Heinzel-Nelson Pastor of Allentown Presbyterian Church will be preaching and teaching at Nassau Presbyterian Church on Sunday, September 25, 2016. Mark your calendars.
At Nassau, we like to see for ourselves the fruit of our gifts and commitment to VIP as a mission partner. Watch this video for the great need, the important work, and the loving Malawians who put helping each other above all else. Stephanie Patterson (summer of 2016) and Joyce MacKichan Walker (summer of 2015) saw firsthand what it means to walk hand-in-hand with sisters and brothers in Christ.
For more information on Villages in Partnership and ways you can help or get involved you can contact Loretta Wells at or http://villagesinpartnership.org/
Ephesians 1:15-23
David A. Davis
September 11, 2016
September 11, 2001, was a Tuesday. That first Sunday after, September 16, of course we were in here for worship. I wrote about that remarkable Lord’s Day worship years ago and I described it like this: “It looked like Easter morning at the church that Sunday. There were no extra flowers but the pews were packed. People went looking for a church that morning. It was like Easter without the trumpets. Joy was nowhere to be found. The events of the Tuesday before turned that Lord’s Day into something like the dark side of Easter, not quite the antithesis of Easter. But it was Good Friday content with Easter Sunday crowds.” People weren’t just looking for a church, they were searching for some comfort, looking for a place to weep, trying to make some sense, find some sense where there was none to be found. Nobody came for answers, they came to pray, to be together, to remember, to try to sing, and to be anointed within by the very tears of God. September 16, 2001, we came here searching with our hearts, looking with our hearts, the eyes of our hearts.
So when the Apostle Paul gifts the reader of Ephesians chapter one with the poetic image of “the eyes of the heart” — I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know God, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which God has called you – when Paul writes about “the eyes of your heart,” you don’t have to be a biblical scholar to grasp, to get, to sort of know deep down what it means — that your heart has eyes.
Ephesians 1:18 is the only time the expression appears in scripture. The eyes of your heart. For some the notion of a heart with eyes, that wisdom and revelation and enlightening would be a matter of the heart rather than the mind must be unsettling. The King James translates it “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened.” Another contemporary translation puts it like this, “May God enlighten the eyes of your mind.” One New Testament scholar offers his own translation in his commentary: “May your spiritual eyesight be enlightened.” Spiritual eyesight? Really? You don’t have to know Greek to read opthalmous and cardias in the passage. It is the eyes of your heart. Eyes and heart. Perhaps Professor Clifton Black puts it best, “so that the eyes of your heart may light up.”
“I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know God, so that, as the eyes of your heart light up, you may know what is the hope to which God has called you, what are the riches of God’s glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of God’s power for us who believe, according to the working of God’s great power.” That you may know, with the eyes of your heart, God’s hope, God’s glory, God’s power. God put this power to work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. Paul’s just singing now. It’s a hymn here in Ephesians chapter 1. Just like Colossians — He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. Just like Philippians — therefore God has highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name. In the middle of the Apostle’s prayer for the faithful at Ephesus, in the middle of his pastor prayer, as he prays for their hearts to have eyes, he starts to sing the doxology.
And God has put all things under Christ’s feet and has made Christ the head over all things for the church, which is Christ’s body, the fullness of Christ, who fills all in all. The last line in the hymn of praise. Christ’s feet, Christ’s head, Christ’s body. As one commentator puts it, Christ who is over the church is also in it and fills it. The fullness of God resides in him, and from him the Body of Christ is constantly supplied with and by Christ’s presence. As Professor Black puts its, “Christians [as the body of Christ] are conduits of Christ’s immeasurably redemptive power: the church is the very body of his fullness that fills all things with loving goodness.”
The church as Christ body bearing the fullness of his love to the world. Even as Paul breaks into song, his prayer for the body of Christ continues. Yes, it’s doxology but it’s also discipleship. His song, his prayer, is praise and it is praxis. Singing, praying, promising that the body of Christ would carry his fullness into the world. When the eyes of your heart light up with God’s hope, God’s glory, God’s power, according to Paul, as the follower of Christ so transformed by his fullness, how can you not turn and baptize the world with his grace and mercy. The fullness of him who fills all in all. Christ alone is head of the church and he also fills it. It is one thing to give up on trying to wrap your head around the world and its seemingly never-ending chaos, but with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you can still give a witness to the wonders of his love, you can still pass forward the selflessness of his compassion, you can still bear his light every day in your corner of life. It’s the discipleship in doxology, knowing that when it comes to God’s hope, God’s glory, God’s power, and the very fullness of Christ, you and I actually have a part to play.
Just this week I was taking my dog out for a walk on what was yet another sweltering early evening. I ran into one of our next-door neighbors. I hadn’t seen him since we had returned after being out of the country for two months. It was clear right away he didn’t know we had been gone. After I told him, he said, “So you have missed this unbearable summer.” I thought he was talking about current events, the news, all that has been going on since I have been away from you. He was actually talking about the weather, the heat, the humidity. When the confusion became clear to both of us, he responded with a wave of his hand and a wipe of his brow, “Ah, the news, we will always have the news,” he sighed. His was a tone of resignation, even detachment. Maybe that was his only means of coping with the sweltering tensions and the tragic grief and the terror unleashed and the disheartening partisanship of the summer of 2016. At some point this summer I imagined standing before you on this morning and making a lighthearted reference about “not much going on while I was away.” The problem, of course, is that there is absolutely nothing lighthearted about it, about any of it.
Some will know that one of Nassau’s members, Dave Kershner, was in charge of the development of the One World Observatory that now stands at the top of One World Trade Center. The exhibit begins in the lobby of that skyscraper as you pass through video presentations of those who built the new building and you see displays of the rock foundation upon which the structure was built. In the moving voices and tears of architects and iron-workers and carpenters, a visitor can’t miss the symbolism of strength, determination, honor, spirit, hope, and life rising out of despair and death, one person, one heart, one voice, one life at a time. Of the many, many things the fifteenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, means for us, and for families that still grieve, and for this nation, and for the world, maybe one piece is that today can also serve to lend a perspective to the oppressive summer of 2016, that from a firm foundation new understandings can arise and that hope can still rise out of despair and that unity among our leaders doesn’t have to be lost forever.
When I think back to this summer of reading the news and being so far away from you, it wasn’t the preaching that I missed. I preached the whole month of July in Scotland. Honestly, some of those other Sundays I was quite relieved to not have to stand up here and offer a gospel word. “Ah, the news, we will always have the news.” For the Christian, that resignation, that detachment, that defeatism in the face of the world’s darkness isn’t really an option… Because of the fullness of Christ and his promise that our hearts would see his light, that the darkness shall never overcome that light, that our hearts would see our salvation, which God has prepared in the presence of all people, that our hearts would see the very face of Jesus in hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, that our hearts would see what the Apostle Paul called “a more excellent way”.
What I missed this summer was you and I putting our hearts together, searching, looking, with the eyes of our hearts. Because God has promised us that Christ is here above us, here with us, here within us, in all of his fullness. And that we, the Body of Christ, shall always be anointed, comforted, fed, and sent by that same fullness. That the eyes of our hearts will light up with God’s hope, God’s glory, God’s power. It’s not just that God has promised us; it’s that we’ve experienced it. Over and over again. Right here, when we are together, in worship, in this place.
One Sunday after worship in one of the congregations I served this summer, a big burly man came up to me. He had a wonderful flow of white hair, a beard, and this weather-worn red face. He had to be either a sea captain or Santa Claus. He took both my hands in his and as he thanked me for the service, for the sermon, he said, “Now could you please just talk slower and use less words. You’re American, you know.” Then he got teary and with his voice breaking, he said, “There’s just so much there, you have to give us time to take it all in.” He wasn’t talking just about the sermon, of course. He was talking about the gospel. He was talking about God’s grace. He was talking about the fullness of Christ. God’s hope. God’s glory. God’s power. And one man’s yearning for the eyes of his heart to light up again and again and again.
Westminster Conservatory Noontime Series
Thursday, September 15, 12:15 p.m.
with Music for Solo Piano by American Composers
On Thursday, September 15 the fifteenth season of Westminster Conservatory at Nassau will begin with a recital of music by American composers for solo piano. Clipper Erickson, the soloist, is a member of the teaching faculty at Westminster Conservatory. The recital will take place in the Niles Chapel at 12:15 and is open to the public free of charge.
Erickson will perform the Ballad, opus 6, of Amy Beach; David Finko’s Sonata no. 3, excerpts from Eight Bible Vignettes by Nathaniel Dett, and two movements from Rodeo by Aaron Copland, “Corral Nocturne,” and “Hoedown.”
On October 20 Westminster Conservatory at Nassau will present the Dulcian Reed Trio, Melissa Bohl, oboe; Kenneth Ellison, clarinet; and Zachary Feingold, bassoon.
New School for Music Study
Sunday, September 18, 2:30 p.m.
The New School for Music Study begins is 2016-2017 recital series with an All Chopin recital at Nassau Presbyterian Church. The recital will take place on Sunday, September 18 at 2:30 p.m. and features five of the NSMS faculty members performing some of Chopin’s best-loved compositions. Join us for an afternoon of beautiful music!
In early July, 10 of us went to NorthBay Adventure on the Chesapeake Bay. It was a hot week with non-stop music, excitement, and general craziness. What happens when you pile up zip-lines, whip-cream, sailing, and banana chasing? Check it out the video. Throughout the week we were challenged to believe in the good work that God as accomplished in Christ and to dare to live a life of faith as we follow Jesus. Want to see life to the fullest? Check out all the week’s videos.
ASP in Kentucky
Appalachia Service Project
From July 10-16, 33 of us drove to Warfield, KY for a week with Appalachia Service Project. At three work sites we worked on roofs, floors, insulation, tiling, stairways, water lines, and hearts. We had so much fun with sawzalls, speed squares, and each other as we lived a simple life of service and ministry. God was good and worked on us too and we’ve all come home freshly built for the things God is calling us to. Special thanks to our awesome adult leaders who discovered that a touch of heaven can be had in overalls and safety glasses. And very fine work by everybody at “Nassau Tool & Equipment.”
Beyond Malibu
Beyond Malibu
Far away in the Coast Mountains of B.C., 14 of us from Nassau got lost in the alpine wilds of granite and glaciers. And yet, led by the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and Nassau Intern Travis Niles, we safely summited Mount Albert and made it back home again. Hopefully you’ve seen some pictures, seen the glow in a hiker’s eyes, and perhaps have been inspired to take a step beyond your ordinary routine. In grace and community we sang on the summit, prayed in the shadows, and basked in the rising of the son. And then we came home exhausted and slept.
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
Lauren J. McFeaters
September 4, 2016
Freedom comes in many shapes and sizes. Madeleine L’Engle tells an old legend about Judas, that after his death, Judas found himself at the bottom of a deep and slimy pit.
For thousands of years he wept his repentance, and when the tears were finally spent, he looked up, and saw, far into the distance, a tiny glimmer of light.
After a time, he began to climb up toward the light. The walls of the pit were dark and wet, and time and time again he kept slipping back down.
But finally, after great effort, he reached the top and as he dragged himself into a room; he saw it was an upper room; and he saw people, people he knew, people seated around a table.
And Jesus said to Judas,
“We’ve been waiting for you, Judas.”
“We couldn’t begin until you arrived.” (1)
Freedom in Christ sets us free.
For Judas, freedom came in the form of Love, a Love that liberated with forgiveness, lifted restraints, set at liberty a life, and gave him joy.
Today we travel to the Galatians: New Christians for whom Christ’s love has liberated with forgiveness, lifted restraints, set at liberty life, but who find no joy in their freedom.
Instead the Galatians are held captive by unending arguments about the law and food and circumcision – all outward skirmishes taking a lead over inward peace with Christ – all biting and devouring one another rather than living in the commandment they have yet to accept: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
For Paul, whose Gospel message is the unbound and unrestrained life lived in our Lord, the Galatians’ fighting is the outward and visible sign of their ongoing captivity.(2)
Freedom comes in many shapes and sizes. Paul knows freedom in Christ. Perhaps more than most. He’s lost physical freedom many times. He says:
I’ve been imprisoned in toil and hardship, hunger and thirst, cold and exposure.
Five times I have received forty lashes less one.
Once I was trampled with stones.
Three times I have been shipwrecked.
I’ve been in danger from rivers … robbers … my own people.(3)
I’ve known the incarceration of illness, ill-health, and disease.(4)
The wonder of Paul is his ability to find liberty in Christ in the midst of captivity.
Frederick Buechner puts it like this: There was hardly a whistle-stop in the Mediterranean world that Paul didn’t make it to eventually. He planted churches the way Johnny Appleseed planted trees. And whenever he had ten minutes to spare, he wrote letters.
He browbeat, coaxed, comforted, and cursed. He bared his soul. He ruminated and complained. He theologized and arbitrated. He inspired and gloried. And everything he said, wrote, did (from the Damascus Road on) was an attempt to bowl over the human race as he’d been bowled over.(5) The day Paul found freedom in Christ was the day nothing became impossible.
And this is why he is so distraught over his beloved Galatian Church. They’ve taken the gift of salvation and turned it into a reason for self-indulgence and immaturity. For freedom Christ has set us free, yet we, insist on our own way.
It’s obvious what happens to our lives when we try to get our own way all the time; when our wills run riot, and our pleasure-seeking knows no bounds. Without living in Christ and through Christ, our days turn into one big roulette wheel of “Choose Your Fortune!” Paul lays it out for us – what we become without freedom leading the way:
A stinking accumulator of mental and emotional garbage
A cheater for grades and advancement
A selfish grabber of attention and limelight
An instigator of crisis and drama
How about our:
Trusting in cutthroat competition and magic-show religion
Or our vicious tempers and frozen hearts
Our withholding of encouragement and praise
Unrestrained need for judgment, gossip, and slander.(6)
But freedom comes in many shapes and sizes. What happens when we set aside our burdens and live as those set free? Why God grants such calm and simplicity, such serenity, much the same way fruit appears on a tree. Amazing things happen, in the blink of an eye we grow up and mature. We gain:
An affection for others and a willingness to stick with things
Acts of compassion trip from our hearts
We cultivate a conviction that holiness permeates all people and conflicts have resolutions
We find ourselves with loyal friends and we become healthier companions
Our manipulation and over-control fades away and we’re trustworthy, honorable, and dependable
We have no need to force our way into other’s lives
And our ability to forgive ripens to overflowing (7)
You see, for those who belong to Christ, there’s not one detail of life that he will not set free so that we might belong to God body and soul. Living our days in that kind of freedom is like:
Looking up and seeing (far in the distance) a glimmer of light
And climbing up to light,
And when we reach the top,
We find ourselves at the Table,
With people we know,
And Jesus turns and looks at us and says:
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
“And we couldn’t begin until you arrived.”(8)
1. Madeleine L’Engle as cited by James T. Moor. A Place of Welcome. Luke 7:36-50. Day1, A division of the Alliance for Christian Media, Atlanta, Georgia, June 17, 2007.
2. J. William Harkins. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Vol. 3. Eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, 186.
3. 2 Corinthians 11:24-27.
4. 2 Corinthians 12:7.
5. 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.
6. Galatians 5: 19-21 adapted from Eugene Peterson’s The Message. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1993.
7. Galatians 5: 22-25 adapted from Eugene Peterson’s The Message. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1993.
8. Madeleine L’Engle as cited by James T. Moor. A Place of Welcome. Luke 7:36-50. Day1, A division of the Alliance for Christian Media, Atlanta, Georgia, June 17, 2007.
The Adult Education Committee invites you to participate in Parker Palmer’s free, 45-minute course on ChurchNext.tv between September 5 and 19.
We are in the midst of what may be the most polarizing and contentious elections in recent U.S. history. Many observers note that the political rancor and rhetoric has reached all time highs, injecting unprecedented fear, division, and unease into our culture.
How do we make sense of this? How do people of faith respond? How do we remain calm and centered amidst our difference and tension, taking our roles as peacemakers, and even prophets, seriously?
Parker Palmer
Educator, author, and activist Parker Palmer has a few ideas. He has written extensively on faith and democracy issues. In this course, he offers thoughtful insight into how we might approach divisive political issues with grace and grit.
Classes at 9:15AM in the Assembly Room unless otherwise noted.
Tolerance in an Intolerant Age: What Should Christians Say?
John Bowlin
September 11
Can we tolerate commitments we despise, activities we consider unjust, persons and lives we find harmful or vile? We are told that tolerance is a virtue, that a liberal democracy requires a tolerant citizenry, a people who can live among differences they cannot endorse, that they might even consider abhorrent. But we worship a God of justice, truth, and love. Can we be faithful to this God while tolerating injustice and enduring falsehood? Can this response to difference bear witness to this God’s love? John Bowlin, the Stuart Associate Prof. of Philosophy and Christian Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary, has been a member of NPC since 2008, along with Mimi, Nicholas, and Isaac. He teaches moral theology, and started thinking about toleration after attending a cockfight in Collinsville, OK, in May of 2000.
Young Adults in Ministry
Emily Kent & Alyson Kung
September 18
Come and hear how two college graduates serving as PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteers have worked with the homeless, women, and children. Then examine the various issues, challenges, and joys they encountered. This is their first time to present their story to a congregation. Alyson and Emily spent the last year in South Korea serving the city of Daejeon through teaching English, working in a women’s shelter, a homeless shelter, and a soup kitchen. As Young Adult Volunteers they learned about the culture and political atmosphere of South Korea with a critical eye towards US involvement. Nassau Presbyterian sponsored their work and calls them friends.
Our Artist in Residence
Armando Soso
September 18
9:15 a.m., Music Room
“Through my weaving, I work to expresses my dreams, my memories, the overlapping cultural influences of my life in the United States, and my aspirations for the future. The traditional elements repeated in different forms throughout my textiles are a means of connecting with, celebrating, and preserving the rich and fascinating Guatemalan culture of my childhood.” Armando Sosa was born into a weaver’s family in Guatemala. As a young boy he was given the task of guarding newly dyed threads drying on the grass of the riverbank; by the age of sixteen he was working on a compound-harness loom. Now a resident of the Princeton area, his tapestries are exhibited widely and he was named “Artist of Exceptional Ability” by the United States Government.
1 Corinthians
George Hunsinger
Beginning September 25
9:15 a.m., Dining Room, Maclean House
George Hunsinger returns for the 20th year to lead this in-depth Bible study, which continues a verse-by-verse examination of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. After a review of the earlier chapters, he will pick up at Chapter 14. The Corinthian congregation wrestles with doctrinal and ethical issues in conversation with their “founding pastor” Paul. Within his correspondence, Paul offers us compelling good news in his understanding of the cross, the resurrection, worship, and life together in Christian community.
Entry to Maclean House, the yellow house next door to the church building, is through the rear garden door. Bring your own Bible or pick one up underneath the flat screen monitor on the first floor of the church near the kitchen.
George Hunsinger is Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
Nassau in Malawi
Liz Heinzel-Nelson
September 25
Jesus’ call to care for the poorest of the poor led Liz Heinzel-Nelson and her family to live for a year in Malawi, Africa. While there she met Sydney, one of the one million orphans living in the 4th poorest country in the world. When she returned in 2009 she helped to found Villages in Partnership (VIP), a Christ-centered non-profit organization working to lift Sydney and 19,000 others out of extreme poverty. Liz will share stories, strategies, challenges, miracles and how the gospel is powerfully changing lives today. Liz Heinzel-Nelson is Executive Director of VIP. She grew up in Princeton, younger sister to Loretta Wells, and now lives with her family in Allentown, New Jersey. She leads teams to Malawi several times a year. Nassau partners with VIP to empower thriving village life.
Offering an opportunity for fellowship and love in a world ever more in need of the Kingdom of Heaven, Small Groups return to Nassau this October with a wide range of themes.
What good is your faith when you are too afraid to read the news?
How are American Creation myths relevant in an election year?
What do we have to do with white privilege?
What can we do about the New Jim Crow?
How did six women change the world of the New Testament?
Overwhelmed by it all? Pick up your coloring book or learn how to photograph what you care about.
Groups meet weekly for six to ten weeks. Sign up on My Nassau above or during Fellowship. Books are available for purchase in the church office during regular business hours or during Fellowship.
While the PDF includes all of the Fall 2016 offerings, the small groups listed below are the ones with spaces available.
Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear, by Scott Bader-Saye
Sundays, 9:15-10:30AM 9/25-11/27 (new members are always welcome)
Room 202, Nassau Presbyterian Church
Linda & John Gilmore, and Keith Mertz, leaders
Linda and John Gilmore, and Keith Mertz, have participated in and led small groups for many years. Linda is the Business Administrator at Nassau Church. John is senior vice president, chief operating officer, and treasurer of Princeton Theological Seminary. Keith Mertz is an engineer for Lockheed Martin.
The American Creation Myth (reading A Mercy, by Toni Morrison)
Sundays, 12:15-1:45PM 10/2-11/20 (BYO-Lunch)
Room 202, Nassau Presbyterian Church
Melissa Martin, leader
Melissa Martin is a third-year student at Princeton Theological seminary and an Adult Education intern at Nassau. She also works in the church office as the Administrative Assistant for Pastoral Care. Between her many responsibilities, she loves to sneak in a good novel, because she finds that in those books her big theological questions are explored in a refreshingly human way.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30PM 10/4-11/15
Shenk Home, Princeton Junction
Jonathan Shenk, leader
Jonathan Shenk is a member of the New Brunswick Presbytery’s Mass Incarceration Task Force which seeks to educate and engage member congregations to bring healing to a destructive system. He is also a member of the Princeton/Trenton chapter of the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow and has served as a volunteer prison chaplain.
Enriching Our Faith with Calm and Color
Wednesdays, 10:00-11:30AM 10/5-11/9
Conference Room, Nassau Presbyterian Church
Lauren J. McFeaters, leader
Lauren McFeaters is an Associate Pastor at Nassau and a lover of all things faith-filled, mindful, and visual. Lauren is working on a pastoral project integrating the powerful balance and restoration found in Celtic crosses and pattern.
Do What You Have the Power to Do: Studies of Six New Testament Women, by Helen Bruch Pearson
Thursdays, 9:30-11:00AM 10/6-11/17
Music Room, Nassau Presbyterian Church
Joyce MacKichan Walker & Kristie Finley, leaders
Joyce MacKichan Walker is the Minister of Education at Nassau. Kristie Finley is the pastor of Abundant Grace Dinner Church, a PC(USA) 1001 New Worshiping Communities, and the project coordinator for the Confirmation Project, a Lilly Endowment funded grant studying confirmation across five Protestant denominations.
The Sacred Art of (Your) Photography
Thursdays, 7:30-9:00PM 10/6-11/10
Conference Room, Nassau Presbyterian Church
Ned Walthall, leader
Ned Walthall has been a member of Nassau Church since 1987 and is the geeky guy you see taking pictures at coffee hour.
