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Lent

Holy Week and Easter

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Join us for worship services as we mark the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord.

Services

If you do not already receive our “Worship Links” emails on Sunday mornings, please sign up to receive them during Holy Week:

Holy Week & Easter (email list)

Palm Sunday, April 13, 9:15 a.m. (in-person and live-stream) and 11:00 a.m.

Maundy Thursday, April 17, 7:30 p.m. (in-person and live-stream), a service of Tenebrae readings and Communion.

Good Friday, April 18, 12:00 p.m. (in-person and live-stream), a service of readings of The Way of the Cross, music by our youth, and prayer.

Easter Sunday, April 20, 6:00 a.m. (in-person only), a service at Princeton Cemetery. Driving entrance – Greenview Ave.; walking entrance – Witherspoon Street gate.

Easter Sunrise Breakfast
Join for the Paul Robeson Breakfast immediately following the joint Nassau Presbyterian and Witherspoon Street Presbyterian sunrise service in the Princeton Cemetery. The breakfast will be in the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall following the sunrise service on April 20. For details and to RSVP, click the link below.

Breakfast RSVP

Easter Sunday, April 20, 9:00 a.m. (in-person only) and 11:00 a.m. (in-person & live-stream), Festival celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord.

Flowering the Cross

On Easter Sunday transform a symbol of death into a beautiful reminder of God’s love, on the plaza in front of Nassau Church. Flowers will be provided. You are also welcome to bring cut flowers from your own garden to add to the cross.

Adult Education – Lent ’22 Linked-In Learning Series

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Reading Luke Backwards

Some stories are not meant to be read once and in order. Some stories are meant for us to revisit over and over again. The Gospel of Luke is such a story and our yearly journey through Lent provides an ideal opportunity to remember and learn anew the story of Jesus’s cross and resurrection anew, afresh, and perhaps from a different vantage point.

And so we invite you to read the Gospel of Luke backwards this season. In a world turned upside down by pandemics and politics alike, how might we approach Easter if we start at the foot of the cross, at the threshold of the empty tomb? And what if we end the story where it starts, in the arms of Mary? From the end to the beginning, Luke narrates a good news that transforms a ruptured world.

Audio recordings will be posted below each class description.

Eric Barreto is Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, an ordained Baptist minister, and a Nassau parent. He earned a BA in religion from Oklahoma Baptist University, an MDiv from Princeton Seminary, and a PhD in New Testament from Emory University. Prior to coming to Princeton Seminary, he served as associate professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary, and also taught as an adjunct professor at the Candler School of Theology and McAfee School of Theology.

March 6 | Luke 23:26-40

An Unjust Death

Lent and Easter invite us into multiple stories of the cross and resurrection. Luke’s account of the cross focuses on Jesus’ innocence and his unjust death at the hands of an empire that saw him as a threat to the order it had established. At the foot of the cross then, we meet a Jesus who stands alongside others unjustly and cruelly executed by the machinations of various empires. Thus, we stand at the foot of the cross grieving what we have seen: an innocent person whose life an empire tries to take but whom God redeems. 

March 13 | Luke 20:20-26

Confronting Caesar

In light of Luke’s account of the cross, we can turn afresh to a number of well-known Lukan passages, including Jesus’ famous and often misinterpreted call to “render unto Caesar.” Often, this verse is deployed to encourage us to keep separate the political and the religious. Instead, the story calls us to count carefully what actually belongs to God and how much is left for a Caesar who claims to possess the world. What belongs to God if not everything! And if that’s true, then what is left to give to Caesar?

March 20| Luke 14:15-24

The (Not So) Great Dinner

Luke loves stories about food, about gathering around tables with sinners and righteous alike. Here, Jesus tells a story about what a gathering usually deemed a great dinner, a picture of the feast that awaits us all in paradise. However, the Jesus Luke narrates consistently goes to the margins to find his dinner companions, not as a concession after all his friends have turned down his invitation. That is, this (not so) great dinner teaches us more about what a feast in heaven will not be like.

March 27 | Luke 6:20-26

Blessed Are…

Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain promises nothing less than a reversal of the order of a world that privileges raw power, excessive pride, unrestrained greed by highlighting the poor, the meek, the disinherited as beneficiaries and exemplars of God’s promised reign. Alongside blessing, Jesus also names woe to those who have already received their “consolation.”

April 3 | Luke 4:1-13

Power & Justice: Temptation in the Wilderness

Following on the heels of Jesus’ baptism and a voice from heaven naming him God’s beloved child, the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness. There, Jesus faces temptation, supported by the Spirit and the belief that God was with him. At the center of the temptation account is Satan’s promise to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, kingdoms Satan now controls. Jesus’ faithful response is an invitation to ponder the shape of power and how we might hone our expectations of God’s good reign.

April 10 | Luke 1:39-56

A Believer, A Prophet

We end where Luke’s narrative begins: with Mary’s faithful consent and her prophetic declaration. Typically, we read about Mary’s choice and her song in the Christmas season. In light of Good Friday’s cross and Easter’s promise of resurrection, how might Mary’s bold belief help us meet Jesus once again? This story will remind us of Mary’s faithful teaching of Jesus, the anguish and grief she must have experienced throughout Jesus’ life, as well as one of the sources of the prophetic and prayerful proclamation of God’s transformative kingdom that marked Jesus’ own ministry.

Lent and Easter 2020

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In Lent and Easter we observe the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We examine our discipleship, scrutinize our Christian journeys, and acknowledge our need for repentance, mercy, and forgiveness.

Join us in worship and community this season.

Throughout Lent

Small Groups
Offering fellowship and community, Small Groups are studying The Shape of Salvation in Luke. Learn more and find a group.

Lenten Devotional
Don’t miss our church-wide, daily Lenten Devotional. Members and friends of the church have written meditations on Scripture to accompany us through the season of Lent. Read it here.

Lenten Home Dinners
“Come to the table of grace. Come to the table of love. Come to the table of peace.” You are invited to a Lenten Home Dinner with Communion. These casual, welcoming groups are a lovely practice for this season of Lent. Extend the table and expand your fellowship this Lent. Learn more and sign up.

Easter Memorials
We remember and honor our loved ones by giving towards the Easter Sunday tulip display and brass ensemble. You can pick up an Easter Donation Card from the church office or email Sarah Finbow by April 5, 2020.
Wednesday, Feb. 26
 Ash Wednesday Noon Communion Worship
12:00 p.m., Niles Chapel
Lenten Craft Fair
4:00–6:00 p.m., Assembly Room
Saturday, Feb. 29 Jazz Lent Service
5:00 p.m., Sanctuary
Sunday, Mar. 1 Lent I Communion Worship
Luke 1:5-25
Sunday, Mar. 8
 Lent II Worship
Luke 4:16-30
Sunday, Mar. 15
 Lent III Worship Youth Sunday
Luke 7:36-50
Sunday, Mar. 22
 Lent IV Worship
Luke 8:26-39
Sunday, Mar. 29
 Lent V Worship
Luke 19:1-10
Thursday, Apr. 2
 Nassau at Windrows Communion Worship
3:00 p.m., Windrows Wilson Gallery
Sunday, Apr. 5
 Palm Sunday Worship
One Great Hour of Sharing
Luke 13:1-5
Tuesday, Apr. 7
 Nassau at Stonebridge Communion Worship
3:00 p.m., Stonebridge Auditorium
Thursday, Apr. 9
 Maundy Thursday Communion Worship
7:30 p.m.
Friday, Apr. 10 Good Friday Noon Worship
12:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 12 Easter Sunrise Worship
6:00 a.m., Princeton Cemetery
Easter Worship
9:00 and 11:00 a.m.
Luke 23,24
Breaking Bread Easter Worship and Feast
6:30 p.m., Niles Chapel
7:30 p.m., Assembly Room

One Great Hour of Sharing 2020

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On Palm Sunday, April 5, we will take up a special offering “One Great Hour of Sharing.”

Sharing God’s Love with Our Neighbors-In-Need

in a world of disaster, hunger, and oppression

Millions of people lack access to sustainable food sources, clean water, sanitation, education, and opportunity.

The three programs supported by One Great Hour of Sharing – Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People – all work in different ways to serve individuals and communities in need. From initial disaster response to ongoing community development, their work fits together to provide people with safety, sustenance, and hope.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance  
Restorers of Streets to Live In
Works alongside communities as they recover and find hope after the devastation of natural or human-caused disasters

Presbyterian Hunger Program  
Share your Bread with the Hungry
Takes action to alleviate hunger and the systemic causes of poverty so all may be fed

Self-Development of People 
Loose the Bonds of Injustice
Invests in communities responding to their experiences of racism, oppression, poverty and injustice and educates Presbyterians about the impact of these societal ills

One Great Hour of Sharing lets us come together to open our doors — as well as our hearts — to share the love of Christ through our ministries of justice, compassion, and joy.

Text SHARING to 56512 to receive a link to resources to learn more about how your gift to One Great Hour of Sharing makes a difference, or visit www.pcusa.org/oghs

Questions? Contact us at 502-569-5047 or email

PC(USA) Special Offerings
100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202

TOGETHER, WE BECOME THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD.

Before a hunger emergency struck Somalia, Hawo Abdi and her husband were successful herders near their country’s border with Kenya.However, two years of intensive drought parched the land to the point that they could no longer raise the camels, cattle, sheep and goats that supported them. As her family faced economic ruin, Abdi’s husband died. She was two months pregnant with the couple’s fifth child. Desperate to feed her children, Abdi felt she had no choice but to make the two-day journey to a camp for internally displaced persons to ensure the safety of her four young children and unborn child. Against the background of Somalia’s civil war, the journey was fraught with danger, including the possibility of attack from armed groups and assault. “We had nothing to take with us, and we had to beg for water,” she says. Abdi’s mission to bring her children to a safe refuge was successful. Now she and her children receive a monthly allocation of rice, beans, cooking oil and sugar that One Great Hour of Sharing gifts help provide. While their day-to-day life remains difficult, Abdi and her children, including her new baby, are safe and nourished. “The food aid has improved the living conditions of my family,” she says. “I was able to feed my starving children.”Sadly, Abdi’s story is not unique. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 5.4 million people in Somalia are food insecure, and another 2.6 million people are displaced. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) partners with Kaalmo Relief and Development to provide food aid to people in the camp. “We are very grateful for your contribution,” says Mohamed Ahmed Iriri,

Kaalmo’s director. “It will help us a lot in fighting the hunger and poverty affecting our people in Somalia.”One Great Hour of Sharing gifts are helping to address famine and extreme hunger through PC(USA) partners in other countries, including Northern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. These partners help with emergency food assistance and address the underlying causes of hunger and homelessness for the millions of people struggling to maintain their very existence.In Isaiah 58, the prophet calls us to be “repairers of the breach, restorers of streets to live in,” to care for the hungry, the weak and the vulnerable. Through One Great Hour of Sharing, we extend shelter to those who have no place to stay, food to those who are hungry and compassion to those who have pain—be it physical, emotional or spiritual. Together, we become the household of God; and all are welcome. Won’t you join us with a gift to One Great Hour of Sharing? Because when we all do a little, it adds up to a lot.

Let us pray,

God of refuge, gather us into your household. Under your roof, let us meet together at your table of grace to be fed with good food. Grant us the dream of your world where all are fed, all are housed and all have the dignity you granted from the beginning. May our gifts begin to build this dream. Amen.

Lenten Home Dinners 2020

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Come to the table of grace. Come to the table of love. Come to the table of peace.

You are invited to a Lenten Home Dinner with Communion. These casual, welcoming groups are a lovely practice for this season of Lent. Extend the table and expand your fellowship this Lent.

Sign Up Online:
Sign Up!

For more information or to find out how YOU can host a dinner this Lent, email Corrie Berg.

Find out more about Lent and Easter at Nassau Church this year.

Adult Education – Lent 2019

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During Lent our Small Groups, Adult Education, and Sermons will all be focused on the same passages from Luke’s “travel narrative” (9:51-19:28). Come, be linked in for Lent.

All classes 9:30 a.m. in the Assembly Room unless otherwise noted

Download the Lent brochure: AE Lent 2019

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Read more about: Small Groups

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Listen/Read: Sermon Journal

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March 3

Lenten Practices in the Early Church

Mary Farag

9:15 a.m., Assembly Room

Today churches follow different Lenten practices, but in antiquity historians find even more diversity. How did the Christian liturgical cycles come to include a forty-day period of Lent? What was the purpose of Lent? What does Lent have to do with Holy Week and Pascha?

Mary K. Farag earned her Ph.D. in Ancient Christianity at Yale University and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Early Christian Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. She has published articles on late antique liturgical and monastic practices of Egypt.

 

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March 10 – April 17

Questioning Jesus

Shane Berg

9:30 a.m., Assembly Room

Join us for study and discussion of texts from the Gospel of Luke in which Jesus responds to questions from his followers and those he meets as he makes his way to Jerusalem. We’ll explore how Jesus teaches, challenges, and comforts in his answers. While the small groups will be studying the same passages, the adult education class will allow for a deeper dive into the historical, social, and theological context of these passages in the Gospel of Luke.

Shane Berg, Executive Vice President of Communication and External Relations at Princeton Theological Seminary, earned his M.Div. degree from there and his PhD in New Testament and Ancient Christianity from Yale University. In his teaching and research, Dr. Berg strives to read the New Testament faithfully and well by paying special attention to its context in ancient Jewish thought and culture.

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Click the passage for the week to read it on BibleGateway.

March 10

Luke 9:51-56

“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

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March 17

Luke 10:25-37

“Who is my neighbor?”

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March 24

Luke 10:38-42

“Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?”

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March 31

Luke 13:22-30

“Lord, will only a few be saved?”

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April 7

Luke 17:20-37

“When is the kingdom of God coming?”

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April 14

Luke 18:18-30

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

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Small Groups – Lent 2019

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Questioning Jesus

During Lent this year we will explore the questions people put to Jesus while he is on the way to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51-19:28). Small Groups are available Sunday through Thursday nights, then join us Sunday mornings for Adult Education and Worship for further perspectives on these same passages.

Be linked in for Lent.

In the Gospel of Luke the evangelist gives us a rich and lengthy account of Jesus and his disciples making their way to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, during which Jesus will be arrested and crucified. One of the recurring themes of this so-called “travel narrative” is Jesus responding to questions that are put to him by various figures in the story–his disciples, members of the crowd that is often gathered around him, and even his dear friends.

Small Groups will focus on these texts in a way that encourages participants to reflect deeply and personally upon them and even to wrestle with them. The goal is to engage the text each week in a way that shapes and nurtures our own faith in the safe, welcoming context of a small group. How does Jesus respond to hard questions from his community? Come learn the questions, wrestle with the answers and build relationships in our community.

Sign Up

Sign up in Fellowship beginning Sunday, February 17, or online beginning Tuesday, February 19.

Beginning Sunday, February 24, Participant Guides will be available for pick up in Fellowship on Sunday morning or in the church office during regular business hours. Or download the file here: Small Group Study Guide Lent 2019 (pdf)

Available Small Groups

Groups meet weekly for six weeks unless otherwise noted. The small groups with spaces available are listed below.

Complete catalogue: 2019 Lent Small Groups (pdf)

Sundays, Mar. 3 – Apr. 7, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
Room 202, Nassau Presbyterian Church

Mani Pulimood, leader

Mani has been worshiping at Nassau Church for the last 10 years with his wife, Monisha, and two sons, Nikhil and Philip. He has authored a book, Spiritual Dimensions–Musings on Life and Faith. One of his favorite ministries is online evangelism. You can find him on Twitter: @ManiPulimood

Tuesdays, Mar. 5 – Apr. 9, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

Seminar Room 1060, Princeton Theological Seminary Library (25 Library Place, Princeton)

Cynthia & Jim Moorhead, leaders

Cynthia, a long time member of Nassau church, has taught 3 and 4 year olds for many years in both the Dietrich Johnson Nursery School and on Sunday morning during the church school hour. She is a mother and a grandmother.

Jim, an ordained minister, is also a long time participant in the life of Nassau. Now retired, he taught American church history at Princeton Seminary.

Tuesdays, Mar. 5 – Apr. 9, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Hage Home, Princeton

Jade Hage, leader

Jade has been grateful to call Princeton her home for the past year and a half. During the week she spends her days teaching the greatest hits of English literature at Princeton International School of Math and Science, and on Sunday mornings you can find her in the choir loft. Participating in small groups has helped shape Nassau as Jade’s home away from home, and she is thrilled to be taking on a new role as facilitator.

Thursdays, Mar. 7 – Apr. 11, 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Seminar Room 1060, Princeton Theological Seminary Library (25 Library Place, Princeton)

John Parker & Jeff Kuhn, leaders

John is a writer by trade and a long-time member and current Ruling Elder of Nassau Church. He is grateful for the witness of Nassau Presbyterian Church to the eternal word of God and for the mission of this church to the community and the world.

Jeff is a deacon and has been a member of Nassau Church since 2008. After having participated in a number of small groups, this is his first time as a co-leader.

Thursdays, Mar. 7 – Apr. 11, 7:30-9:00 p.m.
Conference Room, Nassau Presbyterian Church

PHOTOGRAPHING QUESTIONS

Ned Walthall, leader

This Spring Sacred Art will use photography to imagine how the questions posed to Jesus in Luke and his responses to them impact our own lives. There will be a field trip, a movie night, and other larks.
No special equipment or skill is required: only imagination and a willingness to have some fun.

Ned has been a member of Nassau Church since 1987. He is a Deacon and has led these small groups on the Sacred Art of Photography since 2016.