Labyrinth – Prayer Walk
at Centenary UMC on
Wed November 30th from 12-2pm and 7:30-9:30 pm

“Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path… exactly where you are meant to be right now… And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love.”
by Caroline Adams

Labyrinth is an ancient tool used for prayer and meditation. It is not a maze or a puzzle to be solved. You do not get lost in it. It is an intentional prayer walk that one embarks on to find the hearts true home and that is in GOD. There will be 6 stations around the labyrinth guiding us through the journey of Advent. You can walk, you can sit and you can kneel and pray as you feel. Instructions will be provided to guide you through the walk. There will be soft music playing in the background to lead you in prayer. You are encouraged to walk the Labyrinth first and then visit the stations around it. Silence and reverence is appreciated. The Labyrinth walk is for people of all ages. It is free. So come and find the quiet center in the crowded lives we live.

We especially welcome all those who visit Centenary and hope that you will consider making CUMC your church home.

Join us for Worship on Sundays at 10:15 a.m. in the Sanctuary. Worship includes a pointed message from Rev. Anna Thomas or a guest preacher; beautiful music featuring our Chancel Choir, organist Jim Sabo and pianist Jonathan Benjamin, and talented guest musicians from within and outside of our congregation; thoughtful prayer; and welcoming friends. Join us for Fellowship Hour following Worship Service in Room 20, where you can meet and greet members of Centenary’s church family.

Child care is available during Worship Service. For the convenience of parents of infants, there is a Parent’s Room, which includes a changing table and rocking chair, located to the left in the Narthex (ask usher for assistance — they will be pleased to help you). Worship Service can be heard via speaker system in the Parent’s Room.

Jan. 1 - Epiphany/Communion; Scripture Lessons: Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Psalm 148, Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:22-40; Preacher: Rev. Anna Thomas

Jan. 8 - First Sunday after Epiphany/Baptism of the Lord; Scripture Lessons: Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-11; Preacher: Rev. Anna Thomas

Jan. 15 - Second Sunday after Epiphany/Human Relations Day; Scripture Lessons: I Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20), Psalm 139:1-6 & 13-18,  I Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51; Preacher: Rev. Anna Thomas

Jan. 22 - Third Sunday after Epiphany/Ecumenical Sunday; Scripture Lessons: Jonah 3:1-5 & 10, Psalm 62:5-12, I Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20; Preacher: Rev. Anna Thomas

Jan. 29 - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany; Scripture Lessons: Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111, I Corinthians 8:1-13, Mark 1:21-28; Preacher: Rev. Anna Thomas

Be sure to refer back to our web-site for information regarding monthly updates and special services upcoming in 2012.

Rev. Thomas takes over as Centenary’s Pastor following the appointment of Rev. Jisun Kwak as District Superintendent of the Gateway North District. Rev. Kwak served as Centenary’s Pastor for one year.

Rev. Thomas was appointed Pastor at Livingston United Methodist Church in Livingston NJ in July of 2005 after serving for one year in Highland Park, NJ and three years in Union, NJ. In her six years at Livingston, Rev. Thomas, a native of Mumbai, India, became known for her dynamic leadership and passion for mission and ministry. She is recognized as authentic, humble and inclusive in her approach to ministry.

Rev. Thomas’  leadership and dedication to the commitment of the people in the Union United Methodist Church, Union, NJ proved instrumental in helping that church become a vibrant, alive and vital congregation.

Pastor Anna is a graduate of New York Theological Seminary, NY where she earned Master of Divinity degree. She earned both a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry, and Bachelor’s of Education, from Bombay University, India. Before coming to the United States, she was high school teacher in Bombay. She is a fully ordained elder in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, and is the first Asian Indian female to be ordained as an elder in the GNJAC.

Rev. Thomas is married to Sushil Bhujbal, a trained musician. They are the proud parents of son Joshua.

CUMC BIDS “FOND FAREWELL” TO REV. KWAK

Centenary was blessed to have Rev. Jisun Kwak as its pastor for one year. Rev. Kwak served the Centenary congregation with great love and passion, and certainly made her mark at CUMC in her short tenure. A major focus area for Pastor Kwak while at Centenary UMC was to help further CUMC’s role as a “purpose oriented” church, in which it would make a positive impact in the community.

The congregation of Centenary wishes Rev. Kwak well in her new role as a District Superintendent of the Gateway North District , with the knowledge that  Jisun will always be part of the CUMC family.

“Rev. Kwak has been a great pastor and has demonstrated the empowerment of laity.  …  She is a servant leader who always places heart and mind together in her decisions.  I am deeply impressed by her leadership as a member of the Executive Committee of the Primary Task Team,” Bishop Devadhar said in his announcement.

Rev. Kwak joined the Centenary family as its pastor on July 1, 2010, replacing the retired Rev. John Painter. Rev. Kwak previously served as pastor at United Methodist Churches in Mendham, NJ, and Thiells, NY. With her appointment as a District Superintendent, Rev. Kwak will serve as a member of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference Cabinet.

In his announcement, Bishop Devadhar noted that Rev. Kwak wrote that she ” … care(s) about life because life is the most wonderful gift from God, that is the reason I became a pastor … I would like to help people to live their life with the feeling of greatness and excitement.”

Bishop Devadhar also announced the appointment of Rev. Wayne Plumstead as District Superintendent of the Palisades District, also effective July 1, 2011. Rev. Plumstead previously served churches well at Lower Berkshire Valley, Bayonne, Arlington, Jersey City, Bloomfield and as coordinating pastor for Montclair.

In his announcement, Bishop Devadhar said, “both Rev. Kwak and Rev. Plumstead have been strong supporters of children, youth and young adult ministries, the Taize pilgrimage, and the ministries of all persons. I am delighted to have both of them as our newest colleagues of the cabinet and I am confident that both districts and the conference will be blessed by their leadership.”

A teenager whose name is Robin wrote a letter to her youth pastor.

Let me read the letter:

During the sermon, I started this letter on the back of the church bulletin. Mom caught me and tore up the bulletin, so I’ll have to start over. Writing letters helps me stay awake during pastor Gooch’s sermons….

Anyway, I’ve been wondering: Do you think it’s possible to be a Christian without knowing much about God? I know I’m supposed to be a good Christian, but I’m not sure I’d recognize God if God walked into the room right now. How do you know what God is like? Some people call God Father; but I don’t like to think of God as Father, because my dad and I never got along, and he’s not even around anymore. If God is like my father, I’d rather not get acquainted…

Do you ever wonder about God? What is God like for you? I don’t even know what to call God. What do you think?

Mom says I ask too many questions. But I think it’s OK to ask you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Love, Lobin.

PS: After Mom tore up the bulletin, I stayed awake by counting the number of bricks in the wall in back of the pulpit. I counted 134.

Well, I am sorry we don’t have bricks for you to count here in our sanctuary while I am preaching. I will have to check the back of your bulletin later.

What is God like for you?

Why was Moses so eager to know God’s name?

In the biblical tradition a name told about the person. Thus, to know God’s name would be to know what God was like; how God acted; how God communicated; who God was, is and will be.

In Exodus 3:14, God reveals the name. The name is what God wants the covenant people to know about God. The name is I AM. In Hebrew, it is YAHWEH. What does this name, YAHWEH, I AM, tell us about God? The Biblical scholars suggest that the name YAHWEH is kin to the Hebrew verb to be. In Hebrew, the verb to be carried the power of both the present and the future tense; so the divine name not only points to what God is doing but also to what God Will do. I AM WHO I AM is one translation; I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE is also an appropriate translation.

So, God is not a temporary God. God will keep on keeping on; God will be tomorrow as well as today.
The name of God also underlines God’s freedom. God is defined only by God, so God acts as God chooses to act; I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE. According to some Biblical Scholars, YAHWEH is a way of saying, I cause. God has freedom to be and do and act and create and cause. Now, let us think about some biblical names and images for God. The Bible is filled with names for God.

In the Old Testament, common names for God are Yahweh (I AM), El Shaddai (God of the mountains, God Almighty), Adonai (Lord), and Elohim (it could be translated as God ‘above’ qods).

In Mark 14:36, Jesus used the Aramaic word abba when he prayed “remove this cup from me.” Abba is a term of familiarity much like the English word daddy. While the names Jehovah (Lord) and King imply a quality of awe or distance; abba implies that God is approachable or close. Jesus was willing to establish a non-typical name for God in order to express his own relationship with the divine. As Jesus did, developing your own images and names for God is very important because, they do make a difference in how you feel about God and what you expect of God.

What is God like for you? What would you draw if I ask you to draw your own image of God on the paper?

What is God like for you?

Today, I would like to share with you one of my personal images of God. Does anyone like bike-ride? You know, this coming Saturday, some of you are going to bike riding. This reminded me of one summer afternoon. Ed Nelson, one of my previous church members of Mendham, took some of us to bike ride to a beautiful mountain near Delaware river on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Poor Ed could not enjoy the bike ride for I was not on everyone’s level. So many times, he needed to stop and wait for me. I even fell down with my bike on a rough path because, often times, I forgot about what I was supposed to be doing because the beautiful nature got my heart. I was busy looking around the beauty. Ed was very patient. He did not rush me to catch up with the group or try to teach me how to ride better. He would just wait when I struggled or when I needed some time to stop to look around and fall into a deep thought. And I saw God there.

When I was in the senior high, I saw God as my observer, my judge: keeping track of the things that I did wrong so as to know whether I merited heaven or hell when I die. I recognized while I was wrestling with my bike that day, it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride. But it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that God was in the back helping me pedal.

I don’t know just when it was that He, my God, suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since—life with my Higher Power. God makes life exciting! But when He took the lead, all I could do was to hang on! He knew delightful paths, up mountains and through rocky places and at breakneck speeds. Even though it looked like madness, He said, “Pedal!” I worried and was anxious and asked, “Where are you taking me?” He laughed and didn’t answer, and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into adventure.

When I’d say, “I’m scared,” He’d lean back and touch my hand. He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance, love and joy. They gave me their gifts to take on my journey, our journey, God’s and mine. And we were off again. He said, “Give the gifts away; they’re extra baggage, too much weight.” So I did to the people we met, I found that in giving I received, and our burden became light.

At first I did not trust Him in control of my life. I thought He’d wreck it. But He knows bike secrets—knows how to make it lean to take sharp corners, dodge large rocks, and speed through scary passages. And I am learning to close my mouth up and pedal in the strangest places. I’m beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant Companion. And when I’m sure I just can’t do any more, He just smiles and says, “Pedal!” “Go on, I’m with you!”

For me, God is dearly beloved Companion who is my source of true love and joy, my hope and strength, who gives me the light of life, enlightening the darkness of my heart, who laughs and, sometimes, cries with me, who comforts me like a Mother, guides me like a Father, helps and supports me like a Friend.

What is God like for you?

Following our worship service, join us for fellowship time in Room 20. Also on Sundays, the Adult Education Class meets at 9:00 a.m. in the Sunshine Room. Sunday School Class meets regularly during Worship Service. (For more information about Sunday School and Adult Education classes, access “Education” from the Main Menu bar above).

Sunday, April 17 (10:15 a.m): Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Preacher: Rev. Jisun Kwak

COMING UP THIS WEEK AT CENTENARY UMC:

Thursday, April 14/Choir Rehearsals: Handbell Choir Rehearsal, 7 p.m.; Chancel Choir Rehearsal, 8 p.m. in the Choir Room.

Friday, April 15/T.G.I.F: Join us for our inter-generational gathering in the Sanctuary. For more information, contact the Church Office at 732/548-7622.

Sunday, April 17/Women’s Small Group Meeting: Sunshine Room, 2-4 p.m.

Rev. Terrilisa Durham Bauknight has served as Assistant Pastor at Centenary United Methodist Church since 2003. As Assistant Pastor, she is a regular participant in Sunday Worship, and also serves as a teacher in the Adult Education Class. She is also active in Women’s Ministry, the Centenary Book Club, the Higher Education Ministry Team, Youth Ministry and participates on a number of committees.

While she has served as Assistant Pastor since 2003, Pastor Bauknight’s relationship with CUMC reaches back to 1997. At the time, she served as Pastor of the Bethel Mission A.M.E. Church, which came to worship in CUMC’s Chapel due to their parish being sold.  Pastor Bauknight is an ordained minister of the A.M.E. church, having received her Elder’s Orders in 1995. She presently serves Centenary in a voluntary capacity.

Pastor Bauknight is the fourth and youngest child of Rev. Paul D. and Lois P. (Durham) Bauknight, and was born and raised in Cranford, N.J.  She received her undergraduate degree from Thiel College (Greenville, PA) where she had a double major in sociology and religion, and earned her Masters in Counseling from Slippery Rock University. Pastor Bauknight attended Drew University, and Princeton Theological Seminary, before receiving her Master’s of Divinity from New York Theological Seminary. She is also a certified teacher of Special Education (K-12), as well as middle school and high school social studies and elementary education (K-5). She will begin her 7^th year as a teacher in the Essex County Vocational Schools in 2010.

Married to Reginald G. Harmon, Pastor Bauknight is the mother of two daughters, Maria P. Crecca and Shaina N. Harmon, and also the proud grandmother of Kyle Brandon and Nikko Douglass.  She enjoys reading, cooking, and writing poetry in her free time. She looks forward to the day when she can open a Christian Supper Club and a Scripture Tea Room in the future.

God can use your pain
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13

In our Hebrew lesson this morning, the writer begins by quoting Proverbs 3:11 12,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

When Lydia, my daughter was 6 years old, she told me that she wanted to take a piano lesson. She said that she wanted to play the piano like a concert pianist, and she pretended to play like a concert pianist before me. So I arranged the piano lessons for her. Exactly after two lessons, this cute little Lydia, in a very disappointed and upset voice, told me that she would like to quit the lesson. I asked her why.
She said,
“Mom! I took “two” lessons already. Two!!
How come I cannot play as well as those concert pianists??”

There is a young man who is worse than Lydia. This young man decided he wanted to be a boxer. After the first lesson of being sore and swollen, scratching his head, the battered youth asked to his coach. “Well, sir, I was wondering if I could take the other twenty-five lessons by correspondence?”

One of the lessons of life you and I have probably learned is that you can’t take the course of hard knocks by correspondence.
You’ve got to hang in there and learn your lessons the hard way.

Today’s text from Hebrews is about discipline.
It’s an important lesson for many reasons.

FOR ONE THING, DISCIPLINE IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF A SUCCESSFUL LIFE.

Some of us rebel against the idea of discipline.

In the children’s book Frog and Toad Together, Frog bakes a batch of cookies.
“We ought to stop eating,” he and Toad say, as they keep eating.
“We must stop,” they resolve, as they eat some more.
“We need willpower,” Frog finally says, grabbing another cookie.
“What is willpower?” asks Toad, swallowing another mouthful.
“Willpower is trying very hard not to do something you want to do very much,” Frog says.

Frog discusses a variety of ways to help with willpower–for example, putting the cookies in a box, tying the box shut, putting it high up in a tree–but Toad points out (in between bites) that this won’t work. They could still climb the tree and untie the box. In desperation, Frog finally dumps the remaining cookies outside on the ground: “Hey, birds!” he calls. “Here’s cookies!”
“Now we have no more cookies,” says Toad sadly.
“Yes,” says Frog, “but we have lots and lots of willpower.”
“You may keep it all,” Toad replies. “I’m going home to bake a cake.” (1)

Most of us can relate. Willpower is tough.
We know we ought to be more disciplined, but our hearts are not in it.
Personal discipline is one of the keys to success in life.

But that’s not the kind of discipline the writer of Hebrews is talking about. He is using the word discipline much as we might when we say “we discipline our children.”

How were you disciplined as a child?

Some of us had harsh discipline; some of us had less.
And, of course, each generation thinks the other was a little misguided in their discipline. Older members of our congregation will relate to one person’s observation of the modern family, “A modern home is one where everything but the kids can be controlled by a switch.”

Some of you perhaps grew up in homes where a switch did control you and your siblings. I wonder if some of us were more lenient in the way we raised our kids than we were raised ourselves. I know those of you who have grandkids are probably more lenient with them than you were with your children.
Some people, when they think of discipline, immediately think of punishment. Maybe this is why we resist discipline so much–we associate it with another proverb, “Spare the rod and spoil the child.”

If you focus on discipline as punishment, you will miss what the writer is saying. What is the aim of discipline?

The aim of discipline is to help us grow into mature responsible adults. Our goal is to help our child develop the strength and discipline needed to be a successful adult.
Keep this goal in mind as we read this passage from Hebrews.

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

That’s a mouthful right there.
“The Lord disciplines those he loves.”

Here is where the difference between punishment and discipline is important. You may punish a child you do not love, but you will not discipline a child you do not love. Do you see the difference?
It’s too much work, too much stress, to seek to discipline a child you do not love. You may spank them, out of anger. But that’s not discipline. That’s a way of venting your frustration; it has no real goal of helping the child learn and grow. It’s a lot easier to ignore a child than it is to lovingly help that child grow into a responsible human being.

Discipline is a means of helping a child be all he or she can be.

The writer continues:
“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

THE WRITER IS FOCUSING ON ENDURING HARDSHIP.
He is dealing with the question why bad things sometimes happen to good people. He is helping us see that not all hardship is bad. The writer is not saying that hard times come directly from God. So many people have been damaged by the notion that God plays havoc with our lives, rewarding us when we are good and punishing us when we are naughty. That’s not what the writer is saying.
This is a hard world. But that does not mean that God has picked us out specifically to endure pain and suffering. Some of our problems we bring on ourselves through undisciplined living.
But there are many tragedies in life that just happen.

We were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Perhaps we inherited a defective gene, and all the clean living in the world would not have kept it from causing us problems.
Perhaps someone else acted irresponsibly and we suffered because of it. But God has not picked us out to punish us. Jesus ended that controversy for all time when he said,
“God sends his rain on the just and the unjust.”

WHAT THE WRITER IS SAYING IS THAT, WITH GOD’S HELP WE CAN LEARN FROM OUR HARDSHIP.
The writer is helping us re-frame our painful experiences.
Look at hardship not as something sent to destroy you.
Rather look at it as a means of becoming a stronger person.

Could God remove hardship from us?
Yes, in the same way He could have taken the cup of suffering from Jesus on the night he was betrayed.
The truth of the matter is that all of us learn things best the hard way./

Nancy Guthrie begins her book HOLDING ON TO HOPE with these words:

“Two weeks after the neighbor’s house burned down, I gave birth to a daughter we named Hope . . .”
Hope was born with a fatal genetic disorder.
She lived slightly more than six months.

The experience was devastating for Nancy and her husband. Guthrie writes,

“Early on in my journey, I said to God, ‘Okay, if I have to go through this, then give me everything. Teach me everything you want to teach me through this. Don’t let this incredible pain be wasted in my life!’”
She continues, “God allows good and bad into our lives and we can trust him with both. Trusting God when the miracle does not come, when the urgent prayer gets no answer, when there is only darkness–this is the kind of faith God values most of all.” (2)

She’s right.
This is the kind of experience that produces spiritual giants.
Be careful when you thank God for never giving you a burden to bear.
Sometimes those burdens produce blessings.

If you’re battling with a terrible hardship right now, whatever it might be, here’s what I want you to pray.
“Lord I know you’re with me, and that you won’t leave me. If possible, I would like this cup taken from me, but, if not, then help me learn from it. Make me a stronger person because of it.
Help it ultimately to make me more like Jesus,
in whose name I pray. Amen.”
Remember, God didn’t cause your pain,
but God can use your pain.

If you let Him, God will help you be all God has called you to be.

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time,” says our scripture for the day, “but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

That is the goal.
Then our hardship will not have been in vain.

——————————————————————
1. Ortberg, John, The Life You’ve Always Wanted ( Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002).
2. Holding On to Hope, Tyndale, 2002.

DISCIPLINE
Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13

Object: a strainer or a sieve

Good morning, boys and girls. I raided the kitchen again this week and brought something that’s pretty handy. Do you know what it is? It’s a strainer. A strainer is used to separate the good food from the stuff you don’t want to eat. For instance, how many of you like spaghetti? To cook spaghetti noodles, you boil them in water. But you don’t keep the water, do you? You pour it out. You put the spaghetti noodles in the strainer and let the water flow down the drain. You can also use a strainer when you wash fruits and vegetables. You put the fruits and vegetables in the strainer and pour water over them. The water and the dirt wash right down the drain, while the fruits and vegetables stay in the strainer. See, the strainer helps us to separate the good food from the stuff we don’t want to eat, like noodle water or dirt.
Did you know that tough times, sad times, are like God’s strainer? When we put fruits and vegetables in the strainer to wash them, what gets washed away? The dirt, right? When we go through tough times and sad times, it washes away the “dirt” from our character—our selfishness, our fear, our meanness. God made us to learn and grow from our tough times. We can grow to become the people God wants us to be. Remember the next time you go through a tough time that this is a chance for God to wash the “dirt” out of your life. God will give you the strength and the hope to make it through.