Nassau Presbyterian Church Adult Education

Nassau Presbyterian Church
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We invite you to join us in deep learning and spiritual reflection. Our goals are to create community, teach the biblical story, and respond to the challenge of the gospel in our world today. Come, be fed so that you may be sent.

  1. 3D AGO

    For Such a Time as This: Christian Existence in our Current State of Emergency

    How do we live faithfully amid rising authroitarianism and the erorsion of democratic culture? Hanna Reichel draws on scripture and historical examples to explore spiritual grounding, communal discernment, and Christian courage in challenging times. (c)2026 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email). Hanna Reichel is the Charles Hodge Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. A ruling elder in the PC(USA), Reichel also serves on the Theology Working Group of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional is their first book for a wider audience.

    48 min

  2. FEB 15

    Christianity, Modernity, and the Karen People of Burma

    Karen Christians have creatively shaped their ethnic identity on their own terms—contextualizing the Christian faith within their particular cultural setting and using religion to strengthen their collective status. In 1828, the Karen were an agrarian, nonliterate people living in upland villages. By the turn of the twentieth century, they had become a literate and partly urban community deeply engaged in education, the military, commerce, and politics. The embrace of Christianity both accompanied and reinforced the development of a distinct Karen ethnic identity. (c)2026 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email). Pum Za Mang is Associate Professor of World Christianity at Myanmar Institute of Theology. He earned his M.A. from Princeton Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. from Luther Seminary. He has published widely—contributing book chapters, journal articles, and reviews in Asia, Europe, and North America. His research focuses on Burmese Christianity, and he is currently a visiting scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary.

    44 min

  3. FEB 8

    Faith In Action: The Danish Church

    Today Denmark is often described as one of the happiest countries in the world, with a robust economy, universal health care, and tuition-free universities that even provide stipends for students. Yet Denmark’s churches are now strikingly empty. What happened? Is the church simply asleep, or is it hiding in plain sight? Ed Madsen explores the story of the Danish church across three centuries and what it reveals about faith and cultural life today. (c)2026 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email). Ed Madsen, a 30-year member of Nassau, has assembled a book inspired by a bundle of his parents’ letters—preserved for half a century under his grandfather’s thatched roof in Denmark. He has written for various Christian publications, has been published in The Bridge, the journal of the Danish American Heritage Society, and has crafted new lyrics for two Danish hymns.

    46 min

  4. FEB 1

    Understanding the Miracle Stories in the Gospel

    Was Jesus an actual historical person, or a literary figure? What sources offer evidence that he lived—and why is Elaine Pagels persuaded by that evidence? From there, we explore how to understand the Gospel miracle stories: walking on water, healings, raising the dead, and, above all, the two miracles Christians have wrestled with for centuries—the virgin birth and the resurrection. How might we read these stories today with both faith and critical insight? (c)2026 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email). Elaine Pagels is the Harrington Spear Paine Foundation Professor of Religion Emerita at Princeton University, and a widely respected scholar of early Christianity. Her groundbreaking research — especially on the texts of the Nag Hammadi Library — has helped reveal the diversity of early Christian beliefs and challenged long-held assumptions about Christian origins. Her best-known works include The Gnostic Gospels (National Book Award winner), The Origin of Satan, and Why Religion? A Personal Story. Since stepping down in September 2024 after over four decades on the Princeton faculty, she continues to write, lecture, and contribute to the public conversation about faith, history, and meaning.

    43 min

  5. JAN 18

    Journeys of Faith: Christianne Bessières Lane

    Christianne is a mom, wife, and musician. She with her flutist husband, John, has been a member of Nassau Presbyterian Church since 2003, and sang in the Adult Choir for several years before the gifts of her two children. Now that her children are in school, she gratefully uses her gifts to create more music to serve God and beautify the world. Christianne has developed a musical and spiritual practice of creating rounds or canonic settings of biblical and other religious texts. (c)2026 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email). Each January, our meaningful tradition of intergenerational education brings together Middle School, High School, and Adults of all ages to share in food, fellowship, and the stories of God at work in our community. Over light breakfast and good conversation, we listen for the ways faith is lived, deepened, and discovered across generations. This year’s speakers offer a remarkable range of voices from within our own congregation—voices shaped by ministry, creativity, and leadership.

    48 min

  6. JAN 11

    Journeys of Faith: Dave Davis

    Dave Davis is the senior pastor of Nassau Presbyterian Church, where he has served since 2000. He earned his Ph.D. in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary and taught there for several years as a visiting lecturer. His scholarship focuses on preaching as a corporate act and the active role of the listener. Before coming to Princeton, he served for fourteen years as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Blackwood, New Jersey. Dave is the author of A Kingdom You Can Taste and Lord, Teach Us to Pray and has served on the boards of the Presbyterian Foundation and the Princeton YMCA. He has preached widely in the U.S. and internationally, including in South Africa and Scotland, as well as at the Calvin Symposium for Worship and on the campuses of Harvard and Duke. Each January, our meaningful tradition of intergenerational education brings together Middle School, High School, and Adults of all ages to share in food, fellowship, and the stories of God at work in our community. Over light breakfast and good conversation, we listen for the ways faith is lived, deepened, and discovered across generations. This year’s speakers offer a remarkable range of voices from within our own congregation—voices shaped by ministry, creativity, and leadership. Come for the breakfast snack, stay for the wisdom, humor, creativity, and witness of your fellow Nassau pilgrims. All are welcome as we begin a new year listening for God’s faithfulness among us. (c)2026 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email).

    51 min

  7. JAN 4

    Journeys of Faith: Felipe Paz

    FELIPE PAZ: Revolutionary prone human being, enthusiastic, curious and passionate. Seeks to make everyday a day worth living and the lives of those around better. Traveler of cultures and traditions. Loves to climb, ski, snowboard and put theology into practice. Fútbol is life! (c)2026 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email). Each January, our meaningful tradition of intergenerational education brings together Middle School, High School, and Adults of all ages to share in food, fellowship, and the stories of God at work in our community. Over light breakfast and good conversation, we listen for the ways faith is lived, deepened, and discovered across generations. This year’s speakers offer a remarkable range of voices from within our own congregation—voices shaped by ministry, creativity, and leadership. Come for the breakfast snack, stay for the wisdom, humor, creativity, and witness of your fellow Nassau pilgrims. All are welcome as we begin a new year listening for God’s faithfulness among us.

    42 min

  8. 12/21/2025

    Stories of Gratitude and Blessings

    As we come to the final days before Christmas, Maria LoBiondo will share tales from the oral tradition that highlight the themes of humility, compassion, and joy found in Mary’s song/prayer in Luke’s gospel, the Magnificat. Come hear tales that reinforce our connections to people around the world and to each other, and offer possibilities for reflection on the deeper meaning of how we welcome the Divine in our lives. (c)2025 Nassau Prebyterian Church. All rights reserved. For permission requests, contact Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, NJ, (609-924-0103, email). Storyteller Maria LoBiondo delights in sharing the old tales — myths, folk and wonder tales — as well as literary tales with listeners of all ages. She believes these stories create a world of their own as they unfold in the telling, connecting us with previous generations and with each other today. Her engaging style and lively expressions have enchanted listeners for more than 30 years, including congregation members at Nassau Presbyterian, where she has told folk tales, interpretations of Tolstoy’s works, and Henry van Dyke’s classic, “The Other Wise Man.” Maria’s approach is shaped by the belief that stories—whether ancient or contemporary, simple or profound—carry the power to form us, guide us, and bring us closer to one another and to God. Her Advent storytelling tradition, in particular, has become a beloved part of Nassau’s seasonal rhythm, offering the congregation a chance to enter the mystery and joy of Christ’s coming through the beauty of story.

    48 min
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We invite you to join us in deep learning and spiritual reflection. Our goals are to create community, teach the biblical story, and respond to the challenge of the gospel in our world today. Come, be fed so that you may be sent.

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