Dear Centenary Church Family:

We will gather in our air-conditioned Sanctuary at 9:30 AM this Sunday, August 27th, for Worship and Summer Sunday School. Michael Savoia will bring a special message to the children before they are dismissed for Sunday School time. We will share in the Sacrament of Christian Baptism for David Adekunle Balogun and John Adedayo Daini. My morning Message, Jesus, the Bread of Life IV, based on John 6:51-69, will conclude our consideration of Jesus’ sayings from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel. We will also receive the Epistle reading from Ephesians 6:10-20. Tenor soloist Joel Sorensen will offer The Lord Is My Light by Frances Allitsen. Our Celebration of Found Coins will be designated for the Bishops’ Appeal for Hurricane Response (Please see the information below.)

Please Note: Because of the Labor Day holiday, there will be no Summer Sunday School session for children on next Sunday, September 3rd.

Katrina Recovery Appeal Offering This Sunday
The Council of Bishops of The United Methodist Church has established a new Bishops’ Appeal—Bishops’ Appeal for Hurricane Response. We will be receiving an offering for the Katrina Appeal this Sunday during our Celebration of Found Coins. Tuesday, August 29th 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.

New Sunday Morning Schedule at Centenary on September 10th
Approved by our Church Council in the spring, on the recommendation of our Children’s Ministries program, our new schedule will change the time for Sunday School classes for pre-K children through 8th grade youth. These classes will be held during Worship: Dismissal to classes will come following the Children’s Time in the Worship service (approximately 10:45 AM). Classes will conclude between 11:30 and 11:45 AM. We hope this will make it more convenient for families of children and Middle School youth to participate in Worship and Sunday School. At the same time, our Sunday Morning Adult Class and Senior High Youth Class (grades 9-12) will continue to meet at 9:00 AM. Infant and Child Care will be available beginning at 9:00 AM so that persons with young children may continue to participate in the Adult Class.

Please note the changes in our Sunday morning schedule, effective Sept. 10th:
9:00 AM – Adult Class and Senior High Youth Class
10:15 AM – Worship and Sunday School Classes for Pre-K through 8th Grade (Sunday School classes begin following Children’s Time in Worship)
Our Children’s Ministries Director, Cathy Savoia, will provide additional details and support to the Sunday School during the opening weeks of September. Because of the commitment required of those who will be teaching, Cathy is also seeking additional volunteers to assist as they are available to provide for a rotation of teaching teams for the Sunday School. Please speak with her and offer your services as you are able.

DOWN EAST FEAST — Saturday, September 9 @ 6:00 P.M.
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
See the insert in Sunday’s Church Bulletin for opportunities to help with this fun event!
For more information about the Down East Feast, please call either
Sue Brownlow (732) 494-9217 or Sylvia Woodfield (732) 549-9042.

TWO NEW STUDIES BEGIN IN SEPTEMBER
India & Pakistan Adult Study begins on September 10th at 9:00 AM – This “mission study” on India and Pakistan presents the richness and diversity of the cultures of these two countries, and explores key issues common to both, including gender issues, poverty, child labor, population, caste, illiteracy, religious extremism, globalization, and the complexities of the border conflict over Kashmir. “A handful of women” organized for mission in 1869 sent Isabella Thoburn and Clara Swain to India, a story that is at the core of United Methodist Women’s mission with women, children and youth. Since 2006 is the 150th year of Methodist mission, ministry and heritage in India and Pakistan, this study is a fitting reminder of mission that is at once global and local—a mission that is rooted in the local, but whose wings are stretched across the globe.

In July Pastor Painter participated in the India & Pakistan course offering at the 2006 School of Christian Mission, and he will look forward to sharing this study with you. The five-week India & Pakistan study will continue through Sunday, October 8th. Copies of the study text, India & Pakistan by Glory Dharmaraj, will be available to those who wish to use them during the study. We invite everyone to come and participate in this first Adult Study of the fall at 9:00 AM on Sunday mornings in the Sunshine Room.

Becoming Jesus’ Prayer Study begins September 13/14: At the 2006 session of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference, Bishop Devadhar encouraged every local United Methodist Church to engage in a reflective study of the book Becoming Jesus’ Prayer: Transforming Your Life Through the Lord’s Prayer by Gregory V. Palmer, Cindy M. McCalmont and Brian K. Milford. Pastor John Painter will facilitate weekly studies of this book beginning on Wednesday, September 13th at 7:30 PM and on Thursday, September 14th at 9:30 AM. The sessions will be identical each week, and offered on Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings, to provide flexibility for persons to be able to participate. Each weekly session is designed to last for one hour. Becoming Jesus’ Prayer invites readers to take a new look at the Lord’s Prayer—words so familiar to Christians, yet often muttered without thinking. Each chapter of the book features a story, some theological reflection, discussion questions for the group, guidelines for weekly prayer at home and corporate prayer, and hymn suggestions. It is a rich resource and a wonderful guide for a deeper involvement in prayer in general and in the Lord’s Prayer in particular. I invite you to join with me as we explore Becoming Jesus’ Prayer together. Copies of the book are presently available in the Church Office for those who plan to participate in one of the study sessions.

GARAGE SALE AT CHURCH
Saturday, September 16 – 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 or 4:00 P.M.
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 the Garage Sale, please call either
Sue Brownlow (732) 494-9217 or Sylvia Woodfield (732) 549-9042.

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.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

The world says, The more you take, the more you have.
Christ says, The more you give, the more you are. – Frederick Buechner
A person is no fool who gives what he cannot keep
To gain what he cannot lose. – Jim Elliot
Do not follow where the path may lead;
Proceed in faith where there is no path,
And leave a trail for others to follow. – Ralph Waldo Emerson [Adapted]

The church is a society of sinners -
In fact, the church is the only organization in the world
In which membership is based upon the single qualification
That the candidate shall be unworthy of membership.
-Charles C. Morrison [Adapted]
Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be,
Since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be. – Thomas a Kempis

We should take care not to make the intellect our god;
It has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.
- Albert Einstein

Children learn more from models than from critics.
-Joseph Joubert [Adapted]

Next Sunday, September 3 — 9:30 AM – Summer Worship & Sunday School
The Sacrament of Holy Communion / No Children’s Sunday School
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: A Passionate God
Lectionary Readings: Song of Solomon 2:8-13 James 1:17-27
Psalms 49:1-2, 6-9 (or Psalm 72) Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Worship will be held at 9:30 AM on Sunday, September 3rd. (Because of the Labor Day weekend, there will be no Children’s Worship/Sunday School program on September 3rd.) Our new 10:15 AM Worship and Sunday School schedule begins on Sunday, September 10th.

I look forward to sharing with many of you in Worship and fellowship on this final Sunday of August 2006.

Shalom, John