Consider donating to the Raritan Valley Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Manville. They have a partnership with Housing Initiatives of Princeton (HIP), one of Nassau’s Mission Partners. HIP received an exceptional grant from Nassau’s Mission & Outreach Committee in January for their transitional housing move-in/move-out days. Often a family is in need of furniture as well as a home. HIP’s partnership with the ReStore helps families furnish their new apartments.
This past summer, the Coordinating Team reported the good news that the family’s asylum applications had been approved. This gave the family the legal right to live and work in the United States and to apply for permanent residency and eventually citizenship.
More recently, the father of the family who is stranded in Dubai has received preliminary approval for his spousal asylum application and an invitation to submit his information for a visa. That could still take a long time to resolve, but the Coordinating Team is hopeful that things are moving in a positive direction.
There is other good news. The second oldest daughter has passed her GED and is enrolled at Mercer County Community College. Her mother and older sister are also enrolled there.
The oldest son is still working at Princeton Orthopedics, and his brother is in the process of enrolling in a commercial pilot training program which will prepare him for a promising career.
We are grateful that they and all the members of the family have been such cheerful and enthusiastic partners in our work together.
We want to recognize the ongoing commitment of the Refugee Coordinating Team, who are walking alongside the Hashimi’s as they continue to navigate immigration, education, and medical systems. Our thanks to them and the other volunteers who have given of their time and resources as part of Nassau’s commitment to support refugees.
We have become aware that some of you may have received emails that appear to be from Dave Davis or other church staff requesting your help. Please be very cautious. Church staff will not contact you asking you to buy gift cards, etc. Church staff emails will always come from a nassauchurch.org email – not a gmail or other address. We have taken steps to encrypt email addresses on our website to prevent this but it seems nothing can completely block determined scammers.
Please DO NOT respond to these emails. Even if you think an email is really from a church staff member, please make independent contact to verify before you make a financial transaction. You can send an email through the encrypted emails on our website or you can call the church and leave a message. We check the messages regularly.
We can all work together to deter this by reporting these phishing attempts through our service providers’ reporting processes. If you have questions, please call or email the church office.
We appreciate that folks want to help and just want to make sure that none of us are taken advantage of. Use a healthy dose of skepticism!
“Telling Our Stories” is a new documentary film that tells of the history and relationship of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church and Nassau Presbyterian Church. It is the story of how two congregations are working to be honest about our past and move forward together standing on our faith and building relationships one by one. It is 37 minutes long and is a must see!!
The bulletin from the October 8 service, linked below, also contains a history of Presbyterians in Princeton since 1755 compiled by members of the churches.
Learn more about the shared history of Witherspoon Street and Nassau Presbyterian Churches. The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Lee Walton, President of Princeton Theological Seminary, will speak and we will view a brief documentary by Bob Meola.
By telling the stories of our shared history over the last 186 years, this project offers a look at the evolution and practice of the Presbyterian faith, in one of the oldest towns in America, through the multicolored lenses of our congregations.
Members of Nassau, Witherspoon and Westminster Presbyterian Churches are creating a coalition of faith groups in Central NJ who are deeply concerned about an exception that was written into the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (in 1874).
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except for those convicted of a crime. We view this exception as morally wrong. It perpetuates the legacy of slavery itself in the form of demeaning involuntary servitude in our prisons. In the long term, it is socially destructive, since the formerly incarcerated are returned to society impoverished and demoralized rather than rehabilitated.
A number of states copied the language of the U.S. 13th Amendment and its inhuman “exception” into their state constitutions. New Jersey does not have such language in its constitution. Nonetheless, our prison system takes advantage of that exception in its use of involuntary servitude.
A diverse group of seven states have now voted to remove that exception through citizen referendums. Rhode Island recently set an example in 2022 by adding this language to its state constitution:
Slavery shall not be permitted in this state.
The New Jersey bills (download and read them below) are similarly worded.
Nassau: Patti Daley (Email)
Witherspoon: Barbara Flythe (Email)
Westiminster: Karen Hernandez-Granzen (Email)
This summer, join us in looking back at the fall session of the Supreme Court. Congregational favorite Larry Stratton returns on July 9 at 9:00 am to guide us through the key rulings that took place.
On the following three Sundays, Nassau members will lead tours of the Princeton area – Princeton Cemetery, local landmarks, and the remarkable sculpture collection that resides on Princeton University’s campus. Each tour begins in the Assembly Room, at 11:15 am. Water bottles and granola bars will be available for all participants.
Adult Education classes will take a summer sabbatical in August and return in the fall on September 10.
Audio recordings will be posted below each class description.
This session will summarize the U.S. Supreme Court’s major rulings from the October 2022 term regarding student loan debt forgiveness, environmental regulation, affirmative action in college admissions, public accommodations and free speech, religious accommodations, copyright laws and artwork, tax debts and public takings, union strikes and property, and other critical topics. The discussion will not only report on the holdings and arguments of the majority and dissenting opinions, but also explore analytical and interpretive themes from the decisions. Moreover, the class will discuss the role of the judiciary in the constitutional order.
Lawrence M. Stratton is Professor of Ethics and Constitutional Law and Director of the Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leadership at Waynesburg University in Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in Christian Social Ethics and M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, and his B.S. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. As a Field Education Intern at Nassau Presbyterian Church during his M.Div. studies, he deepened his exploration of American Constitutional Law in relation to insights from the Christian Faith.
A walk of about 2 miles to locations associated with memories of indigenous people, slaves, some 18th and 19th century Presbyterian presidents/pastors, and other notable people, including Betsy Stockton, Paul Robeson, and Albert Einstein.
Gordon Thomas is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at NJIT, retired physicist at Bell Laboratories, hiker, swimmer, and runner, as well as a 37-year member of our church, where he is a pre-K teacher and recently a tenor. He has led informal walking tours of our area several times, inspired by our Men’s Bible Study group and by our group that works with the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church to bend the moral arc of justice.
Explore the backyard of Nassau Church, home to one of the country’s most significant collections of 20th and 21st century sculpture. Join Elizabeth Steel, Princeton Seminary doctoral student studying art and theology, for a tour of sculpture on the campus of Princeton University. During an easy, one-mile stroll, we’ll view several pieces, consider how each work interacts with scripture, and reflect on what that may mean for our own faith.
Elizabeth Steel is continuing her studies at Princeton Theological Seminary as a PhD student after earning an MDiv and an MA in Christian Education and Formation in 2022. With a BA in art history from the University of Virginia, she is currently exploring the capacity art holds for theology reflection and formation. She grew up in McLean, VA and didn’t anyone could be anything other than Presbyterian until high school.
Princeton Cemetery was established in 1757 and has been in active use as a community burial ground ever since. We will tour the older part of the cemetery and learn a bit of Princeton History. Join us to hear about notable residents, observe the evolving ways Princetonians have been memorialized and learn some bits of cemetery trivia.
Linda Gilmore is the business administrator of Nassau Presbyterian Church. She joined the staff in 2002 and added the administration of the cemetery to her duties more recently. She has enjoyed learning more about the non-business side of the cemetery and looks forward to sharing this with others.
Every September the new school year brings excitement and lots of new goodies. This year students will be returning from virtual or hybrid learning during the pandemic to the more familiar routines of the schoolhouse. In any event, the supplies add up. In 2022 the average family spent over $270 per student, just too much for many families in our area.
We are joining with Westminster Presbyterian Church (WPC), our partner church in Trenton, to provide 150 backpacks filled with essentials for local kids. WPC will distribute the school supplies in partnership with Trenton Music Makers, the Apostalic Church, LALDEF, and Sprout University of the Arts.
Please bring new backpacks to worship on Sunday mornings and place them in the marked basket in the narthex.
To fill the backpacks, we have found that monetary donations go the farthest so that Nassau can purchase grade-specific school supply packs in bulk. Thank you for giving as you are able to help make sure students in Trenton are better prepared for the academic year ahead.
Monetary donations can be made by check or online. Make checks out to Nassau Presbyterian Church, noting “School Supplies” in the memo line and drop in the collection plate or mail to the church office. Use the button below to donate online, choose “School Supplies” from the drop-down Funds box.
Every gift helps better prepare children for the year ahead with needed school supplies and with the knowledge that the wider community is cheering them on. Thank you!
Our upcoming congregational day of service at Loaves and Fishes at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Trenton, will take place on Saturday, August 19.
Volunteering for Loaves and Fishes, whether it’s donating food, personal care items, money, or time, is an opportunity to be fed and to join our community of faith in action. We do what our Lord asks of us.
As we prepare meals, serve, and clean up, we are serving our most vulnerable neighbors, and if you can take a moment to breathe on that busy day, you’ll find that you are being filled and sustained, too.
Our initial plans this year are to provide 200 hot meals to our dinner guests. As they leave that day, each guest will each receive a bag with another dinner meal, a bag lunch as well as personal care items. Please consider serving those who need a little extra assistance.
Take this opportunity to serve God and enjoy the community of Nassau Church.
Contact Scott Harmon (email)