Karen McLean has lived and worked for over thirty years in the Princeton area where she is well known as an artist, photographer, and teacher. In 1980, McLean founded Highland Studios in Hopewell, New Jersey, offering classes in art and digital photography. McLean graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting. Having completed her first oil painting at the age of five, she has continued to produce fine art images in various media to the present day.
She states, “my work is inspired and influenced by a combination of early icon painting, medieval illuminated manuscripts, 16th century Flemish painting, and details of Japanese screens from the Edo period. Using subjects found and photographed in Nature, I first make archival prints on heavy Watercolor paper, later working individually on the prints with a mixture of pastels and metallic & other acrylic paints, especially gold and copper. The original photograph provides the naturalistic and realistic detail I am seeking to contrast with the abstracted space and surface movement rendered in gilding. For the viewer, the gilding provides the possibility of a constantly changing experience of light on the pictorial surface.”
Westminster Conservatory Noontime Series
Thursday, October 20, 12:15 PM
Westminster Conservatory at Nassau will continue at 12:15PM Thursday, October 20, with a performance by the Dulcian Reed Trio. Melissa Bohl, oboe; Kenneth Ellison, clarinet; and Zachary Feingold, bassoon, are all members of the Westminster Conservatory faculty. The recital will take place in the Niles Chapel and is open to the public free of charge.
The program on October 20 comprises Rustiques by Joseph Canteloube and an arrangement of music from Giuseppe Verdi’s Traviata for reed trio.
On the November 17 Westminster Conservatory at Nassau recital Carol Comune will perform her own compositions for solo piano.
Mark Loria in Recital
Sunday, October 30, 2:00 PM
Our organist, Mark Loria will be presenting an organ recital at Nassau on October 30, 2PM, in the Sanctuary. His program will include the works of French and German masters, including the Suite for Organ, op. 5 of Maurice Duruflé.
Classes at 9:15AM in the Assembly Room unless otherwise noted.
Economic Inequality and Health in the US: What is Going On?
Angus Deaton
Anne Case
October 2
What are the potential economic causes and consequences of the increasing mid-life distress and rising death rate among white Americans between 1999 and 2013? Angus Deaton and Anne Case identified this alarming trend in 2015, a change that reversed decades of progress in mortality and was unique to the United States; no other rich country saw a similar turnaround. The trend was especially sharp for those with only a high school education. Come and ponder what is going on and what might be done.
Angus Deaton is Dwight D. Eisenhower Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School where he has taught for over thirty years.
Anne Case is the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Economics Department at Princeton University.
1st Corinthians In-Depth
George Hunsinger
9:15 AM, Maclean House, ongoing through May 21
George Hunsinger returns for the 20th year to lead this verse-by-verse examination of the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians. 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).
Mass Incarceration
Jonathan Shenk, moderator
October 9
The skyrocketing prison population over the past 25 years has become a bi-partisan issue with both Republicans and Democrats looking for ways to reduce the prison population and address racial disparity within the criminal justice system. Consider the challenges faced by those returning from prison into their communities, and discover tangible, hands-on opportunities to minister to those who are caught up in the prison system.
Jonathan Shenk is a member of the New Brunswick Presbytery’s Mass Incarceration Task Force and the Princeton/Trenton chapter of the Campaign to End the New Jim Crow. He is a member-at-large of the New Brunswick Presbytery, regularly worships at NPC, and has served as a volunteer prison chaplain.
Mary Beth Charters has been a member of NPC for 20+ years and is an active member of the Campaign to End New Jim Crow and Not in Our Town Princeton.
William (Bill) Stoltzfus is an elder at Nassau Church and member of the Mission and Outreach Committee. His focus is urban mission and interfaith outreach in the context of teaching and tutoring.
Who Is Jesus in Asia?
Chikara Saito
Sundays, 9:15 a.m., in the Music Room
October 9 – 30
Who exactly is Jesus in Japan? What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ for the Dalit in India? We will examine texts — hymns, sermons, essays, books — from our sisters and brothers in Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, and the Dalit, as we attempt to understand who Jesus is within these Christian communities.
October 9: Encountering Jesus in Japan
October 16: A God in Pain?
October 23: Missional Presence of an Aisan in Asia
October 30: Kagawa Toyohiko’s Meditations on the Crucifixion
Chikara Saito is a second year Master of Divinity student at Princeton Theological Seminary. Chikara grew up in Japan and had numerous opportunities to worship and work with Christians throughout East and Southeast Asia. You can connect with Chikara via email: .
American Perceptions of Muslims and Terrorism
Christopher Lojek
October 16
Is the American military and our political attention focused more on regional players (Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia) or on Muslims and ISIS? Come and examine the conflicts in the Middle East in a broad context, focusing on asking the right questions. Unless we understand what the problems are, we will struggle to answer the big questions.
Christopher Lojek is a Presbyterian from the First Presbyterian Church in Moorestown, NJ. He currently works in Emergency Communications, attempting to expand into nuclear facilities and mitigation projects to assist the state in getting better prepared for natural and human-made disasters.
Sharing Shoestrings
Monique Misenga Mukuna
Antoinette Muleka Tshisua
October 16
12:00PM, Assembly Room
Come for an eye-opening visit with leaders of Woman, Cradle of Abundance, a non-profit in the Democratic Republic of Congo founded and run by an ecumenical group of Congolese women to address violence against women and female poverty. Hear about the rescue of destitute children, girls trapped in force prostitution, widows living with HIV/AIDS – amazing stories of people empowered to take hold of their own lives with dignity.
Monique Misenga Mukuna is the president and a church leader who has served at the local, regional, and international levels while supporting herself and her family as a teacher and business woman.
Antoinette Muleka Tshisuaka is director of medical work, a nurse, teacher, and leader of the Association of Widows of her denomination.
What Does the U.S. Supreme Court Do?
Keith E. Whittington
October 23
The U.S. Supreme Court is an important component of the government, but it is far less visible than the elected branches. With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court is at a turning point, and so understanding what it does and the politics surrounding the Court and judicial appointments is particularly important now. Come and explore the history of the court, what it does, what role it plays within the constitutional and political system, and the politics currently surrounding it.
Keith E. Whittington, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University, has published widely on American constitutional theory and development, federalism, judicial politics, and the presidency. He is the author of numerous books and articles including Political Foundations of Judicial Supremacy: The Presidency, the Supreme Court, and Constitutional Leadership in U.S. History.
Faith and Politics through Presbyterian Eyes
Joyce MacKichan Walker, moderator
October 30
Join a panel of Nassau’s own and friends as Presbyterians identify election issues of particular importance, and describe how one’s Christian faith guides action and advocacy in the political arena. Joyce MacKichan Walker will serve as moderator as we frame our dialogue with Seeking to be Faithful: Guidelines for Presbyterians in Times of Disagreement.
Panel members are:
Daniel Migliore – Emeritus Professor of Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Daniel and Margaret have been worshiping at Nassau for many years!
Mark Herr – Head of Corporate Communications of Point72 Asset Management, headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Mark has been a member of Nassau for 30 years.
Shari Oosting – Program Administrator at Continuing Education at Princeton Theological Seminary, and a graduate of the seminary. Shari and family have been at Nassau for about 6 years.
Ephesians 2:1-22
David A. Davis
September 18, 2016
“But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which God loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” It’s a difficult piece of scripture to read out loud. It’s a long sentence. The sentence actually continues one more verse: “so that in in the ages to come God might show the immeasurable riches of God’s grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus… But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which God loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in in the ages to come God might show the immeasurable riches of God’s grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” The length isn’t the tough part; it’s that abrupt insertion, that phrase that interrupts the grammar, that affirmation that Paul seems to blurt out in the text. How are you supposed to vocalize that?
By grace you have been saved. Stuck right in there in the middle of that long sentence. It’s not just awkward to read out lout, it’s kind of awkward period. Clunky, jarring. “But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which God loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The New Revised Standard Version that I read to you uses punctuation marks for assistance to the reader. A dash before and after to set the phrase apart. Other translations use parentheses. One breaks up the long sentence, uses an exclamation point, and makes it an imperative: You have been saved by God’s grace! One of my living, breathing sources down the street assures me that that grammar in Greek doesn’t make it any easier. While it doesn’t seem to be the case that some later author or scribe came along and inserted the phrase or transcribed it in the wrong place, it is nonetheless abrupt in the Greek text as well. In fact the Greek has the dashes as well. By grace you have been saved (with a yell). By grace you have been saved (with a whisper). By grace you have been saved (slowly).
Think how a composer, a playwright, a novelist, a poet may tag or foreshadow something important early in a piece of work. An image is casually introduced only to become fraught with meaning as the play moves on, the narrative develops, the poem peaks. The cellos play just a few bars that stand out early but that tune comes back to dominate the melody and moves through the orchestra the rest of the way. Perhaps what we have here in Ephesians is Paul’s offering of a theological foreshadowing. It’s a tag, a teaser for what comes more beautifully, and a whole lot smoother, a verse later: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God… It’s just that there’s nothing all that subtle or artful about how Paul introduces it here in Ephesians 2. By grace you have been saved.
Imagine the father who takes his child along on a shopping trip to prepare for mom’s birthday. Cards, a cake, some presents from both husband and daughter. On the way home they talk about keeping the secret until the birthday dinner the next day when Grandma was coming over. That excited four-year-old doesn’t get two steps into the house before she shouts out, “Mommy, mommy we got you a watch for your birthday!” Excitement can be better than surprise. Maybe the Apostle Paul just couldn’t hold back when it came to that theological exclamation that rests at the core of the gospel. By grace you have been saved.
Or think of two falling in love. It’s one of those “O.R. conversations,” as in “our relationship.” Amid the back and forth and circling around and attempts to clarify feelings and stomach knots and butterflies in the heart, one of the two says it, kinds of sneaks it in, less like a blurting out, more like air squeaking out of a balloon: “I, I love you.” Maybe Paul was searching for the right phrase, stumbling for the right way to say it, trying to describe all that God has done for us in Christ. By grace you have been saved. Yes, yes, I said. That’s right. So he comes back to it with confidence. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
Paul drops it in here in the middle of that thought, that long sentence about the great love with which God loved us. But he could have interrupted a whole lot of other places too. God has put all things under Christ’s feet and has made Christ the head of over all things for the church — by grace you have been saved — which is body, the fullness of him who fills all in all… But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ — by grace you have been saved… For Christ is our peace… In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord — by grace you have been saved — in whom you also were built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. Maybe Paul was introducing the memorable phrase as a refrain of the faith, a rallying cry, a chant to pass on to your children. Like “USA, USA” or “JETS” or “Bruuuuce,” as in Bruce Springsteen. Passing that kind of stuff on to your kids. It’s just good parenting. “Saved by grace. Saved by grace. Saved by grace.” Of if your texting, “SBG”!
You remember that the Apostle Paul is the one who crafted the most complex and coherent of theological arguments in Romans. And the Apostle Paul is the one who created the beautiful ode to love in I Corinthians (though it had nothing to do with marriage). Paul made those list of spiritual gifts and the sins of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. And he so artfully describes his own struggle, and his own faith, and his own conversion. In the annals of New Testament criticism, scholars have debated whether Paul wrote Ephesians or whether it was one his followers. Here this morning the intrigue is much simpler. It’s about these awkward, dropped in, abrupt, urgent, parenthetical few words that ought to at least give us pause. By grace you have been saved.
Presbyterians have forever run their meetings and process discussions and decision-making by Robert’s Rules. When calling for the vote, the moderator says, “All in favor, please say, ‘Aye.’” It’s a simple way to offer an affirmation, to say yes. “Aye.” It’s a common answer in a crossword puzzle that links saying yes with Scottish, Celtic heritage. There’s nothing like several weeks on the Island of Islay in Scotland to change forever how you think, how you hear, how you experience a simple “aye.” To say that it is a common expression among those we talked to on Islay would be an understatement. To conclude that it is a synonym for “yes” is just not enough. It is “yes” and “excuse me” and “you bet” and “of course” and “what” and “awesome” and “dude” and “mate” and “I can help you” and “over here” and “please” and “thank you” all rolled into one. Whenever I was struggling to understand in a conversation after church or at the pub or in the checkout line, I always knew what someone meant when they said “aye”… even though it means so much and so many things. Maybe I’m all wrong but it seems like an expression that comes from a deeper place, deeper within, deeper in culture, deeper in context.
I was standing with the funeral director next to the open grave as the bap piper started to play. He had led us from the church up the hill to the cemetery as we followed the casket. Now the committal was finished and he was playing again as folks shared hugs and tears all around. He was a very young piper and close to the family. I learned later it was his first time playing at a funeral. As I watched and listened, I realized he was crying. He was playing the bagpipes through tears. I said to the funeral director in a soft voice, “Have you ever seen a piper cry like that?” He shook his head no, never took his eyes off the young man, never looked at me, and said, “Aye.” It was like he was saying “my, my, my” or “Lord have mercy.” Aye.
God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which God loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. An affirmation for Paul that wells up inside, comes from deeper, ignores the rules of grammar. Rather than blurting it out, or sneaking it in or dropping the mic, what if it’s more like a surprising groan, a kind of guttural affirmation about God’s love and mercy that comes from deep within, one of those expressions that leaves the lips and someone says, “You know I can hear you, right?” By grace you have been saved. Kind of prayer-like. Aye.
Princeton, West Windsor, Montgomery, Bucks County, the University, the Seminary. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but you and I live in communities where there is no shortage of opinion about pretty much everything. When we first moved to Princeton, I coached Little League with a guy who told me “Princeton is a town where people have lots of opinions and the time and inclination to express them.” Most of us, if we’re honest, fit right in. And we could all benefit from a rule-breaking, grammar-shaking reminder that it is only by God’s grace, that it is nothing other than God’s grace, that without God’s grace… by grace you have been saved. Aye.
It’s not only the new students around here that bask in the glow of an admissions office stamp of approval. Every one of us walks the campus of our lives trying to be smart enough, rich enough, connected enough, fit enough, hip enough, liberal enough, conservative enough, organic enough. We could all benefit from an abrupt, guttural reminder that it is only by God’s grace, that it is nothing other than God’s grace, that without God’s grace… by grace you have been saved. Aye.
An urgent, interrupting, intrusive, disturbing, awkward groan that attests to God’s mercy and love for you. You don’t have to understand it, or figure it out, or explain it. You don’t have to be right, or particularly pious, or sign on the dotted line of beliefs A to Z. For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. You and I, living to God’ glory. And it is only by God’s grace, it is nothing other than God’s grace, without God’s grace… by grace you have been saved. Aye.
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.
