We have appreciated being members of Lenten small groups at Nassau Church for the last three years. I have written about that before. A lasting benefit has been that when we have been worshipping at Nassau the last few weeks in person once again, it has been good to get over the feeling of being a stranger.
So when Corrie Berg, an assistant pastor who is in charge of education, asked us to lead a group this fall, we thought about it--I prayed about it--and we decided to give it a try. Our group has now met three times with two more sessions left. We meet on Tuesday evenings from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. This week there were eight of us with three missing and calling in their absences.
Our topic is "The End of the Main Line?" The question mark is important because not surprisingly, our main line church would like to think optimistically. We read a Bible passage from Acts and study that briefly. The following week the sermon is based on that passage. The first week we studied a Pew research survey on church membership showing declines from 2007 to 2014. Then we read Fosdick's famous sermon from the 1920s on "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?" and Martin Luther King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail." Our adult education class led by Heath Carter of Princeton Seminary has been based on those readings. There are questions in a guide based on the readings as well as opening questions to help us get acquainted.
Our group includes one person who was christened in our church in the 1960s and one person who joined two weeks ago. Most of the group are long term members but they don't know each other which is not surprising in such a large congregation. There are no awkward silences in our discussion. Everyone has contributions to make. We have been thankful to have had this opportunity to do something for others in our church and once again, to get to know others better.
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