Via Zoom and YouTube Live
Each Sunday in January, we will have a different speaker at 9:30 am. Please check out our descriptions below for instruction on how to join. Miss a speaker or want to re-watch? Please click here to visit our speaker archives.
Please use this link to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84971749555
Webinar ID: 849 7174 9555
Modern telescopes and space probes are revealing an awe-inspiring universe of beauty, activity, mystery, and inspiration. This presentation will show how current and upcoming telescopes and probes are gearing up for a decade of incredible new discovery that can expand our sense of wonder, praise, and gratitude.
Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist and speaker who studies star and planet formation in our galaxy using radio, infrared, and optical telescopes. She also directs the Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Please use this link to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84971749555
Webinar ID: 849 7174 9555
This PDF is designed to accompany the presentation, and is explained therein.
2020 will be known as the year of the coronavirus. But for Dr. Mark Denison, coronaviruses have been his focus for more than 30 years. Dr. Denison was the first to discover the virus’ ability to “proofread” itself for mutations, a groundbreaking revelation for the field and his driving force to research antiviral treatments that could defeat it. His presentation will provide some essential background on the nature of coronaviruses as a basis for understanding how they develop and evolve, the origin of COVID-19, and an explanation on how mRNA vaccines—such as those by Pfizer and Moderna—work. There will be ample time for questions from those attending.
Dr. Mark Denison is a world-renowned researcher of coronaviruses at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The Denison Lab at Vanderbilt also conducted trials on the drug Remdesivir. He is a professor of pediatrics, and director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Disease, as well as a Presbyterian elder and member of Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville, TN.
Please use this link to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84971749555
Webinar ID: 849 7174 9555
The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Western world was in crisis. The frenzy of social media frenzy and reality television politics is only the surface. There is a deeper reality: one of drift, repetition, and dead ends. In his recent book, The Decadent Society Douthat explains what happens when a rich and powerful society ceases advancing—how the combination of wealth and technological proficiency with economic stagnation, political stalemates, cultural exhaustion, and demographic decline creates a strange kind of “sustainable decadence,” a civilizational languor that could endure for longer than we think.
Ross Douthat is a columnist for the New York Times op-ed page. He is the author of To Change the Church, Bad Religion, and Privilege, and coauthor of Grand New Party. Before joining the New York Times, he was a senior editor for the Atlantic. He is the film critic for National Review, and he cohosts the New York Times’s weekly op-ed podcast, The Argument. He lives in New Haven with his wife and three children.
Please use this link to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84971749555
Webinar ID: 849 7174 9555
U.S. Navy Rear Admiral (ret.) Margaret Kibben is the new Chaplain to the House of Representatives. She is a dynamic spiritual leader and strategic-level consultant with more than thirty years of experience in enhancing the resiliency and well-being of the organizations she serves. Prior to this new position, Margaret served as Lecturer in the School of Engineering at The Catholic University of America.
As Chief of Chaplains for the U.S. Navy, she served as a trusted advisor to senior military officers on leadership development, providing a unique, pragmatic perspective in how personal and professional value systems translate both within their command and throughout the world. She holds a deep belief that the integrity of each leader affects the health, welfare, and capability an organization and guides executives on instilling a culture in their organizations that supports enterprise goals.
Please use this link to join us: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84971749555
Webinar ID: 849 7174 9555
While the Middle East is often on the world’s mind, the Middle Eastern Church is not. Yet there has been a faithful community that has had an uninterrupted presence in Egypt since Pentecost.
Anne Emile Zaki is Assistant Professor of Practical Theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary, Cairo Egypt. She is a graduate of Calvin College (BA, Psychology and Sociology), Calvin Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and the American University in Cairo (MA, Sociology and Anthropology). She is currently a Ph.D. student in practical theology at Fuller Theological Seminary.
We'll be kicking off our Fall Sunday School classes on September 13. You are invited to join in!
This fall four classes will meet online via the Zoom platform, beginning at 9:30 am and ending between 10:30 and 10:45 am, in time for livestream worship from our Sanctuary at 11:00 am. Check out each course description and you'll find the Zoom link to join at the bottom of each. We hope to see you there! For more information, please contact kteems@nationalpres.org.
Companions on a Journey: Walking with God in Service, Mission and Justice
Nancy Fox, Parish Associate, teacher
Guided by Bible study, primarily in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, along with contemporary readings, we will discuss our personal journeys in mission, service, and racial and other justice issues. We will explore personal, organizational and structural reconciliation ministry in the context of God’s reconciling and unifying activity in the world. We will support each other in strengthening the foundational practices that enable this challenging work of following Jesus, such as prayer, community, confession, examination of conscience, lament and others.
Following Jesus Together with the First Christians.
Quinn Fox, Associate Pastor for Discipleship, teacher
Following an examination of the Scripture passage on which the Sunday sermon is based, we will discuss in small groups its importance for our individual lives and the life of the church in our call to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ together in God’s world. This year’s sermon series will feature the story of the first Christians and their leadership of the church in the initial decades following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. In the fall we will explore the birth of the church as recorded by Luke in The Acts of the Apostles, building on last year’s study of Luke’s Gospel. We will then study the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, the most important of his New Testament epistles.
Majoring on the Minor Prophets: Doing Justice, Loving Kindness, and Walking Humbly with God
Currie Renwick, NPC Member, Teacher
The only thing minor about the Minor Prophets is their length! In these twelve short books at the end of the Old Testament, we will hear God speaking not only to the people of ancient Israel and Judah, but also to us. We will listen for God’s message of judgement, justice, love, and mercy, a message as relevant in today’s difficult times as it was 1500 years ago. There really are some major lessons that we can learn from these Minor Prophets!
The Progressive Century: Church History in the Modern Era
R.V. Seep, NPC Member, teacher
The “Progressive” or Long century between the French Revolution and World War I saw itself as an age of progress, presenting a plethora of challenges to traditional Christian faith. Modern science emerged and presented intellectual challenges to the faith. Political revolutions unleashed new hopes of power in reach of common people, along with new demands that it be so; ideologies arose that repudiated faith, labeling religion as the “opiate of the people,” demanding its repression, and offering utopian visions of society Industrialization with global implications, immigration that greatly heightened societal tensions, and massive income inequality stirred the pot of unrest. Imperialism, with blatant racist and cultural superiority assumptions, stamped European dominion around the globe, leaving numerous quagmires for subsequent generations.
Yet Christianity spread geographically and numerically more than it ever had. The gospel was proclaimed far and wide and its social implications pressed much more vehemently than in earlier eras. Hundreds of native languages were reduced to writing and translations of the Bible and Christian literature prepared. Mission schools were opened around the world, pioneering educational efforts in Third World countries. Orphanages, hospitals, and clinics, where thousands were sacrificially cared by dedicated believers, were opened in numerous countries. Led by Christians, efforts were made to eradicate human slavery on a global scale, raise the status of women, reform prison systems, provide for universal educational opportunities, and reform labor practices.
Learn how this age not only framed the dynamics of our current era but offers rich insights into our current situation.
Our preaching and teaching follows Jesus' life as told in the Gospel of Luke.