9:00 AM — Adult Study – Nooma Video Series
10:15 AM — Worship (No Sunday School Classes at 10:15 AM on April 19)
Special Jazz Service of Worship featuring Leigh Pezet and his Ensemble
Lectionary Readings: Acts 4:32-35 1 John 1:1-2:2
Psalm 133 John 20:19-31
11:30 AM — Fellowship Time
11:45 AM — Women’s Chorus Rehearsal
6:30 PM — Centenary Youth Fellowship

Celebration of Found Coins: Red Bird Mission

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

The Rev. Dr. Leigh Pezet is the Pastor of the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in Chappaqua, New York, as well as a noted saxophonist and composer. He attended New Jersey City University, Union Theological Seminary, Drew University Theological School and the American Institute of Holistic Theology. He also studied flute and solfeo with the legendary Cuban bandleader, Maestro Alberto Socarrasa. Dr. Pezet has played with a variety of jazz, Latin American and popular musical groups both in the metropolitan Detroit and New York/New Jersey areas. He has been performing and composing jazz liturgical music for more than 30 years. Several of his liturgical jazz compositions have been published and were featured in a documentary video, The Art of Worship, produced by The Riverside Church in New York City. We will look forward to welcoming Leigh Pezet and the members of the jazz ensemble to Centenary on Sunday morning with gratitude for the sharing of their special gifts of music with us in Worship.
Leigh Pezet Soprano Saxophone Ron Naspo Bass Violin
James Shipp Vibraphone Rogerio Boccato Percussion

Sunday’s Jazz Worship Service will be dedicated to the Memory of Lily Elster, on the first anniversary of her birth and death on April 19, 2008.

Food Collection—This Sunday, April 19: Please bring cereals, staple food items in plastic jars or cans, and paper products to share with senior residents in Perth Amboy. We and they are deeply grateful for your generous sharing.
Special Appeal for Diapers and Infant/Toddler Food for Amandla Crossing: Your assistance is needed to provide diapers (sizes #3, #4, #5 & #6…and pull-ups) and infant & toddler food for children at Amandla Crossing. Please bring the items to Centenary and leave them in the boxes provided in the Narthex. Thank you. —Your Mission Committee

Friday evening, 21 members of our Centenary Church Family will travel to Pinelands Retreat Center in Browns Mills, NJ, to begin the 24-hour Spiritual Growth Retreat on the theme “Jesus’ Prayer: Conversations and Reflections Around the Lord’s Prayer” led by my dear friend the Rev. E. Randall Bean. Please hold our small group in your prayers for traveling mercies tomorrow evening, and on Saturday evening as we return home, and for an inspirational time together in retreat.

ADULT CLASS STUDIES NOOMA SERIES THROUGH MAY 24
For the six Sundays following Easter (April 19 through May 24), members of the Adult Study will be viewing and discussing six recent releases in the “NOOMA” series of short films, which has been changing the way people experience spirituality. Each 10-14-minute DVD uses experiences of our lives to teach about the fullness of life through Jesus by tackling issues like forgiveness, discipleship, unconditional love, anger, and how we use our time. We invite you to join us for any or all of these programs every Sunday at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room.

The Jubilation Ringers from Allentown, PA will offer a concert of handbell music at Wesley UMC, 1500 Plainfield Ave, South Plainfield, NJ today, Sunday, April 19, at 4:30 PM. Tickets are available for $15 for adults and $10 for students/children from Lisa McCall at 908-769-1179, or from the Wesley church office at 908-757-2838, or at the concert this Sunday afternoon. United by commitment to their faith, their music, and each other, the Jubilation Ringers spread good will through the unique art of English handbell ringing.

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

Lenten Coin Folders
If you have not done so yet, you are encouraged to return your filled 2009 Lenten Coin Folders as soon as possible. You may place them in an offering plate during Worship or mail/bring them to the Church Office. 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 the forty days of Lent.

Plan to Partake! 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 will be included in Sunday’s Worship Bulletin
and is available through the Church Office

United Methodist Women: Annual Women’s Communion Breakfast
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 chorus in Worship that morning are invited to attend rehearsals following Worship this Sunday, April 19, and on April 26 in the Music Room. For further information, please speak with 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. The date for this activity is Saturday, June 20, 2009.

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!!!!

Some Thoughts for This Week:

Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. – Dr. Laura Schlessinger

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose. – Lyndon B. Johnson

The Christian community is the Easter community.
Our preaching is Easter preaching,
Our hymns are Easter hymns,
Our faith is an Easter faith. – Karl Barth, 20th Century German theologian

Let there be no pride or vanity in the work. The work is God’s work, the poor are God’s poor. Put yourself completely under the influence of Jesus, so that he may think his thoughts in your mind, do his work through your hands, for you will be all-powerful with him to strengthen you. – Mother Teresa

When the wind blows hard on a tree, the roots stretch and grow the stronger. Let it be so with us. Let us not be weaklings, yielding to every wind that blows, but strong in spirit to resist. – Amy Carmichael

We fought injustice wherever we found it, no matter how large, or how small, and we fought injustice to preserve our own humanity. – Nelson Mandela

God cushions our hurting hearts with soft pillows of comfort and hope. – Judy Gordon

Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. – William James

Our common humanity is more important than all the things that divide us. – Mairead Corrigan, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and cofounder of the Community of Peace People in Northern Ireland.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I…I took the one Less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction of being loved for yourself, or, more correctly, being loved in spite of yourself. – Victor Hugo

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. – Barbara Johnson