Sunday, April 26, 2009 –The Third Sunday of Easter / Heritage Sunday /
9:00 AM — Adult Study – Nooma Video Series
10:15 AM — Worship & Sunday School (Pre K through 6th Grade)
Preacher: Keith A. Swatzel, II Theme: Family Feud
Lectionary Readings: Acts 3:12-19 1 John 3:1-7
Psalm 4 Luke 24:36b-48
Children’s Message: Pastor John Painter
Celebration of Found Coins: Red Bird Mission
Music: Chancel Choir – A Navaho Prayer by Cary John Franklin
11:30 AM — Fellowship Time(Room 20)
11:45 AM — Women’s Chorus Rehearsal (Music Room)
6:30 PM — Centenary Youth Fellowship (Youth Room)
This Sunday is Native American Ministries Sunday
This Sunday, April 26, 2009, is Native American Ministries Sunday. This is the day that all United Methodist Churches around the country celebrate the gifts and contributions of our Native American brothers and sisters by collecting a special offering. (Offering envelopes were sent with the April edition of The Lamplighter and will be in Sunday’s Worship bulletins.) This offering is celebrated yearly on the Third Sunday of Easter to nurture mission with Native Americans around the country and to provide scholarships for United Methodist Native American students and seminarians.
Half of the funds collected on this Sunday go to the general church and the other half stay in our annual conference to support our Native American Ministries. Our conference has only one Native American congregation, Fordville St. John United Methodist Church located in Bridgeton, NJ. Rev. Roy E. Bundy is the pastor and Patricia R. Rossello is the Lay Member of this local church. During the past quadrennium the conference had supported the work of the Committee on Native American Ministries (CONAM) in their various endeavors. Native American members of the committee have been supported to participate at various Northeastern Jurisdiction and national workshops and meetings. CONAM is working with our Conference Ministries Team to develop a strategic plan to expand Native American Ministries in our conference.
The following are some of the goals that CONAM has been planning according to the four areas of focus of the denomination:(1) Support the Flying with Eagles program, a comprehensive curriculum designed for Native American young people who are selected in their communities by their elders as having the attributes of “natural leaders.”; (2) Strengthen and support the programs of Fordville St. John UMC; (3) Identify places in our conference with a high volume of Native American population and provide “Listening Posts” with the purpose of promoting future fellowship groups or future congregations; (4) Search for ways of how to support Native American people as they face the challenges of poverty and lack of access to health care.
We urge you to share generously in this second mile offering this Sunday and support our Native American Ministries throughout our United Methodist connection and in our conference. This summer, the School of Christian Mission, sponsored by the United Methodist Women, is providing for the second time, a class on Native American Ministries. You are welcome to take this class and learn more about Native American cultures. If you need further information, please contact Rev. Lyssette N. Pérez at (732)359-1040 or lperez@gnjumc.org.
ADULT CLASS STUDIES NOOMA SERIES THROUGH MAY 24
For the Sundays following Easter (through May 24), members of the Adult Study are 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.
Kid’s Night Out @ Centenary – This Friday, April 24, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
United Methodist Women: Annual Women’s Communion Breakfast
This 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 is a sign-up sheet in the Narthex. 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. Help is needed this Friday night (April 24) between 8:00 & 8:30 PM to set up tables for the Communion Breakfast. Please let Sylvia Woodfield know if you can be available to lend a hand…or be at the church that evening. Thanks.
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!!!!
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.
CHURCH WOMEN UNITED OF METUCHEN-EDISON will meet on Friday, May 1 at 12:00 Noon at the First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen, Woodbridge Ave., Metuchen, for a covered dish luncheon. Everyone should bring a covered dish to share (no desserts – the officers of Church Women United are supplying those).
T.G.I.F. (To-Gether Intergenerational Fun)—Fridays, May 1st & May 8th at 6:30 PM. Come join the fun for dinner & Lectionary discussions. A barrel offering is taken.
Centenary Book Club—Friday, May 8th @ 7:30 PM in the Library: Our book selection for May is Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky. This is the story of a couple who have their first child who is unmistakably African-American in appearance. Discovering the heritage of this child tears the couple and a family apart as family history on both sides is explored. If you like to read, then we invite you to come and join the Centenary Book Club. The Club is open to women and men ages 18 and older.
DO YOU KNIT, CROCHET, OR ANY OTHER CRAFT?? It is not too early to think about doing something for the Women’s booth at the Metuchen Fair. The Metuchen Fair is the first weekend in October and we need many items to sell at the fair. If you have any ideas or can make some items for the fair, please talk to Sylvia Woodfield (732-549-9042) and give her your suggestions. If you have an idea for a craft, let her know and we can arrange for a workshop so that others may share in the craft.
Information Requested About Our 2009 College and High School Graduates: We are seeking information about those Centenary members and friends who will be graduating from college and high school in May or June. Please call or e-mail (CentaryUMC@aol.com) the Church Office so we may share in the joy of their accomplishments in our June Lamplighter. We will also have a special time of recognition for our high school graduates during our June 14th Service of Worship.
Looking for a Few Good Men for Sunday, June 7: We are putting together a Men’s Chorus to sing on June 7 for Men’s Sunday. Rehearsals will be held following Worship on Sundays, beginning in mid-May, as well as a brief run-through before the service on June 7. If you can make at least 2 rehearsals, please join us. We had a great turn-out last year! See Shirley Mosteller for more information.
Male Worship Leaders & Readers are being recruited for the Worship Service on Men’s Sunday, June 7. Men and youth interested in serving are invited to contact Pastor John Painter.
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.
New Web Site Opens Doors to Worship, Service
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)—Listen to “There Will Be a Day” by Jeremy Camp. Discuss ideas to improve health care. Find ways to heal the planet at a congregation near you. There are thousands of ways to be church in the world, and United Methodists do not want to miss any of them in an innovative Web site inviting a new generation into a life of faith and service. Backed by a national advertising campaign, The United Methodist Church on April 20 launched www.tenthousanddoors.org. The site is part of the denomination’s Rethink Church campaign, which is using nontraditional methods to reach young adults and others in relevant ways.
Some Thoughts for This Week:
The Bible is a harp with a thousand strings… Play on all of them, keeping them in their places in the divine scale, and you will hear heavenly music all the time. – William P. White
O Lord, you have made us very small, and we bring our years to an end like a tale that is told. Help us to remember that beyond our brief day is the eternity of your love. – Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971), American Theologian
We are not a success in life if we go through life earning nothing but money.
When you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all. – Edward O. Wilson
When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. – John Muir
We are called to assist the earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own — indeed, to embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder. – Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, political activist, and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
My father taught me that only through self-discipline can you achieve freedom. Pour water into a cup and you can drink. Without the cup, the water would splash over. The cup is discipline. – Ricardo Montalban
You were made by God and for God, and until you understand that, life will never make sense. – Richard Warren
When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. – Kahlil Gibran
Go the extra mile.
It’s never crowded.
When you judge others, you do not define them, you define yourself. – Earl Nightingale
It is not repentance that saves me; repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in Christ Jesus. – Oswald Chambers
People want to know how much you care before they care how much you know. – James Hind
God does not comfort us to make us comfortable only, but to make us comforters. – Dr. John Henry Jowett
I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up to the heavens and say there is no God. – Abraham Lincoln
As long as people use tactics to oppress or restrict other people from being free, there is work to be done. – Rosa Parks