6:00 AM— New Hope Baptist Church Easter Sunrise Service
(Roosevelt Park at the Gazebo by the Lake)
7:30 AM — Easter Breakfast Sponsored by Children’s Ministries
($3.00 donation requested)
9:00 AM — Easter Children’s Ministries Pageant — Once upon a Caterpillar
10:30 AM — Easter Worship & Sacrament of Holy Communion
Festival Brass and Chancel Choir at 10:30 AM Service
Preacher: John D. Painter (10:30 AM) Theme: A Never-Ending Story
Lectionary Readings: Acts 10:34-43 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Mark 16:1-8 or John 20:1-18
Music — Chancel Choir: Sound the Trumpet by Dale Peterson
11:45 AM — Fellowship Time sponsored by Children’s Ministries
Celebration of Found Coins: Red Bird Mission

Easter Sunday Pageant Rehearsal this Saturday, April 11 at 3:00 PM: Cathy Savoia asks Sunday School children and youth participating in the 9:00 AM Easter Pageant on April 12 to participate in a rehearsal this Saturday, April 11, beginning at 3:00 PM in the Sanctuary.

Lenten Coin Folders
You are encouraged to return your filled 2009 Lenten Coin Folders on Easter Sunday, April 12. You may place them in an offering plate during Worship or mail/bring them to the Church Office at the beginning of next week. Our Lenten Coin Folder offering is designated for support of The Fellowship Fund of The United Methodist Homes of New Jersey. These funds are used by our UM Homes to assist elderly residents whose financial resources have been depleted to remain in residence in our homes. (Note: If you choose to return your coin folder with either a check or paper bills [instead of quarters], our counting team will not be averse to your doing so…but we appreciate your gifts in whatever form they may be shared.) We are deeply grateful for your generous and sacrificial offering during these forty days of Lent.

We Welcome Our Newest Member. Please extend the right hand of Christian fellowship on this Easter Sunday morning and welcome to our newest member of the Centenary United Methodist Church Family:
· Darlene “Dee” Gillet, will be received as a member of Centenary at our 10:30 AM Service on Easter Sunday by Certificate of Transfer from Northside United Methodist Church in Brewster, Massachusetts.

Register Now!
Spring 2009 Spiritual Growth Retreat
April 17-18, 2009
Pinelands Center at Mount Misery in Browns Mills, NJ
Theme: Jesus’ Prayer
Reflections and Conversations Around The Lord’s Prayer
Led by the Rev. E. Randall Bean
Free Registration and Attendance.
Brochures & Registration Forms are in the Narthex
on the small table and in the literature rack.

2009 Summer Camp Programs
Aldersgate Center and Pinelands Retreat Center
Information about the 2009 Summer camping programs for children and youth (and some specialized adult and family programs) are posted on the Children’s Ministries bulletin board in the hallway alongside the Sanctuary, near the Narthex. Children’s Ministries Director Cathy Jean Savoia also has brochures available…and several copies of the brochure are in the literature rack in the Narthex. Please check out the dates and programs to see if your elementary-age child or Junior/Senior high youth may want to participate in a summer camp experience at Aldersgate Center (Swartswood, NJ) or Pinelands Retreat Center at Mt. Misery (Browns Mills, NJ). You may also check out the offerings and register online at either www.aldersgatenj.com or www.mtmisery.com. Scholarship assistance is available through the Church. Please speak with Children’s Ministries Director Cathy Jean Savoia or Pastor John Painter to get additional information about these programs, scholarship assistance, and appropriate registration forms.

Aldersgate Center
OPEN HOUSE 2009
Saturday, April 25 — 2:00-4:00 PM
This is the perfect chance to see what Aldersgate is all about!!! Come check out the camp, meet some of the staff, ask questions, and even make some s’mores. Don’t miss out!!! And for those of you who were there last summer, come see some of the NEW CABINS that have been added.

Pinelands Center @ Mount Misery
RALLY DAY
Sunday, May 3rd — 2:00-5:00 PM
Lots of fun stuff is planned! We will have food, music face painting, boating, tours of the camp… did we mention FOOD !?! One great big BBQ!! While you are there get that registration done for summer camp…plus…Giveaways!! SO SEE YOU THERE!!!!

Annual Interfaith Holocaust Memorial Program
Monday, April 20, 2009 @ 7:30 PM
Sponsored by Metuchen–Edison Area Interfaith Association
& JCC of Middlesex County
We join together in readings and songs to remember all those who perished,
with the promise that we will never forget.
Location: Jewish Community Center of Middlesex County,
1775 Oak Tree Road, Edison, NJ 08820

Save The Date! Applebee’s Fund-Raiser on Wednesday, April 22
Have Lunch and/or Dinner (through 9:00 PM)
at Applebee’s at Edison Crossings on US Route 1
Coupon included in this Sunday’s Bulletin

United Methodist Women: Annual Women’s Communion Breakfast will be held on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 9:30 AM. The speaker will be the Reverend Hyekung Kang, pastor at Mount Horeb United Methodist Church, Warren, NJ. The women from Wesley and New Dover Churches of Edison, and Trinity Church of Highland Park have been invited to join us for this event. Child Care will be provided by either Lynn Colgan or Laura Crisco (our regular Sunday Child Care persons). We usually end our program before noon. You may bring muffins, quiche or fruit. There will be a sign-up sheet in the narthex in a few weeks. However, you may contact either Giselle Esquivel Cordero (732-549-6525) or Sylvia Woodfield (732-549-9042) if you have any questions. The donation for this event is $3.00.

Women’s Sunday will be celebrated on May 3, 2009: Any women (youth & adult) who would like to participate as leaders/readers in the Worship service are asked to contact Lois Hines, Worship Committee Chairperson at 732-549-3910 or by E-mail at loishines@hotmail.com. Women who might wish to sing with a women’s ensemble in Worship that morning are asked to contact Director of Music Ministry Shirley Mosteller: 732-54321-1823; SSMosteller@juno.com.

Sight and Sound Theater: If you are interested in attending a show at Sight & Sound Theater in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area later this Spring, please contact Cathy or Michael Savoia. Reservations need to be made well in advance. There is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in the Narthex on which you can indicate your interest. We will charter a bus to transport everyone. More information will be coming soon about the program. Tentative date is Saturday, June 20, 2009.

Plan Now to Attend
Jazz Worship Service at Centenary
Sunday, April 19th, at 10:15 AM
Featuring the Rev. Dr. Leigh Pezet and his Jazz Ensemble
Instrumental and Vocal Presentations during the Service
Invite Your Neighbors and Friends to This Special Service

Some Thoughts for This Week:

Easter is the truth that turns a church from a museum into a ministry. – Warren Wiersbe

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime. – Martin Luther

The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances. – Robert Flatt

God has no other hands than ours. – Dorothee Sölle, German theologian and writer, Suffering (1973).

Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of.

If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory. – Norman Vincent Peale

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. – Hal Borland

Jesus did not come to make God’s love possible, but to make God’s love visible. – Unknown

The measure of our love is the measure of our sacrifice.

What a tremendous relief it should be … to discover that we don’t need to prove ourselves to God. – Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South Africa

You have freedom when you’re easy in your harness. – Robert Frost

Because of God’s grace, failure is never final. – from a church sign

Love is an image of God, and not a lifeless image, but the living essence of the all-divine nature which beams full of all goodness. – Martin Luther