Dear Centenary Church Family:

This Sunday, August 20th, we will gather at 9:30 AM in our air-conditioned Sanctuary for Worship and Summer Sunday School. Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will bring a special message for the children. My morning Message, Jesus, the Bread of Life III, will be drawn from our continued reading of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John (Specifically John 6:51-58). We will also share in the Epistle reading from Ephesians 5:15-20. Baritone Lester Gesteland will offer a special arrangement of Softly and Tenderly by Will Thompson, Anne Murray & Tommy West. Our Celebration of Found Coins will be designated for the Metuchen-Edison Interfaith Clergy Association, to be used to assist persons in our area with short-term emergency needs.

Refreshment Sponsors Needed!: Persons are invited to sponsor the time of coffee and refreshments following our Sunday Worship services. Please consider sponsoring a refreshment time and signing up for one of the available weeks on the 2006 Refreshment Chart in the Narthex. Information on what you need to provide is available from Pastor Painter or by speaking with Millie Pleuler (732-750-4434). Thank you for providing hospitality on a Sunday morning.

Food Collection Today—This Sunday, August 20th: Please bring cereals, staple food items in plastic jars or cans, and paper products to share with persons in need in our area. We are deeply grateful for your generous sharing.

Baby Food Appeal for Amandla Crossing: Thank you for bringing jars of baby food to share with the infants at Amandla Crossing, a transitional residential center operated by Middlesex Interfaith Partners with the Homeless (MIPH). The number of young children at Amandla is presently higher than normal and the need is great…and you are encouraged to drop off additional jars of baby food in the basket in the Narthex during the week and this Sunday. Thank you.

Katrina Recovery Appeal set for August 27
The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church has established a new Bishops’ Appeal—Bishops’ Appeal for Hurricane Response. On August 27 we will receive an offering for the Katrina Appeal during our Celebration of Found Coins. August 29 marks the first anniversary of Katrina’s disastrous landfall on the Gulf Coast.

The primary purpose of the appeal is to provide support in impacted United Methodist Annual Conferences for clergy compensation, reconstruction of property, and other related needs. Katrina is not over. Please join the efforts to restore our congregations, parsonages and mission facilities.
We mourn with our brothers and sisters their great losses while we embrace this opportunity for United Methodists to show commitment to our faith and to one another. Together we can restore mission and ministry while moving into a strong future. Please open your hearts and your wallets to the Katrina Church Recovery Appeal. Your donations will help to:
· Restore hurricane-damaged United Methodist facilities;
· Pay salaries for clergy while their congregations cannot do so or until pastors can be reappointed or relocated to another church;
· Establish new congregations or consolidate existing ones in storm-ravaged areas;
· Renew church-based community ministries such as day-care centers and feeding programs; and,
· Provide worship necessities—Bibles, hymnals, robes and so forth—to churches in need.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
· Saturday, September 9 – 6:00 P.M. — DOWN EAST FEAST
Our Annual Lobster or Steak Dinner — Salads, Corn, Desserts and Drinks
Lobsters — $17.00 Steak (Filet Mignon) — $13.00
Children — Hot Dog or Hamburger — $3.00
Watch the weekly Church Bulletin for opportunities to help with this fun event!
· Saturday, September 16 – 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 or 4:00 P.M.—
GARAGE SALE AT CHURCH
We will participate in the Metuchen Town-wide Garage Sale. This will be a time for you to bring your treasures (we don’t want junk) and let us sell them and the church budget will receive the proceeds. What a good way to sort out your treasures and let us sell them!

You may bring your items to church starting after worship on Sunday, September 10 and Monday through Friday, September 11-15 between the hours of 9:00 A.M. and 12:00 Noon. If you need someone to come and pick up your items, please let Sue Brownlow or Sylvia Woodfield know. We will need help in sorting and pricing items during these times. We will need help on Saturday the 16th with the actual sale—especially some strong persons. There will be a sign-up sheet in the narthex.

For more information about either the Down East Feast or the Garage Sale,
please call either Sue Brownlow (732) 494-9217 or Sylvia Woodfield (732) 549-9042.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was. – Dag Hammarskjold

Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. – Mother Teresa
The gospel is not something only to go to church to hear -
but to go from church to tell.

Life takes on new interest when we invest our lives in others.

A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved.
Anyone can find fault; It takes maturity to find the good.

When you arise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive – To breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. – Marcus Aurelius
Life is filled with endings, but every ending is a new beginning.

NEXT SUNDAY, August 27: 9:30 AM – Summer Worship & Sunday School
The Sacrament of Christian Baptism
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: Jesus, the Bread of Life IV
Lectionary Readings: 1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43 Ephesians 6:10-20
Psalm 84 John 6:56-59

I look forward to sharing with many of you in Worship and Fellowship this Sunday.

Shalom, John