This Sunday at Centenary:
December 14, 2008 – The Third Sunday of Advent /
Annual Sunday School Pageant

9:00 AM – Sunday School Pageant Rehearsal (Sanctuary)
9:00 AM– Adult Study: A Christmas Carol Bible Study (Sunshine Room)
10:15 AM– Worship: Annual Sunday School Christmas Pageant
A Night in Bethlehem
Written by Ellen S. Bunnell
Presented by our Centenary Sunday School Children and Youth
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Psalm 126 John 1:6-8, 19-28
11:30 AM– Fellowship Time Sponsored by Children’s Ministries (Room 20)
11:45 AM – Music Committee (Music Room)
12:00 PM– Centenary Youth Fellowship Christmas Party

A Night in Bethlehem—Christmas Pageant—During Worship on December 14: Lights, Set, Action! A full rehearsal will be held on Saturday, December 13, at 1:00 PM. Hear the festive music…wander through a bakery and marketplace shops. Meet shepherds who can’t wait to share a remarkable story. Please join us in a Hands-On Bible Times Event AND HAVE SOME FUN.
Food Collection—This Sunday, December 14
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 #4, #5 & #6…not 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

Attention Centenary Youth: Sunday, December 14 @ 12:00 Noon: Youth Christmas Party! Lunch together will be followed by ice skating at Roosevelt Park. Plan to bring at least $10.00 with you for ice skating rentals.

A Christmas Carol—Friday, December 12 @ 6:30 PM
Our Children’s Ministries program will provide dinner and a movie. Come and see the classic story A Christmas Carol. Menu: salad, soup and sandwiches. A barrel offering will be taken.

Centenary Book Club – Friday, December 19 @ 7:30 PM
Book for Discussion: Atonement by Ivan McEwan. Centenary Book Club continues to seek members. Men and women ages 18 and older are invited to come and join us. The Book Club meets on the 2nd Friday of each month, unless otherwise noted, at 7:30 PM in the Library. Come, read, discuss and enjoy.

2009 Offering Envelopes Are Now Available
Weekly offering envelopes for 2009 are available on a table in the hallway under the Mission bulletin board. Please check the boxes and take your packet of envelopes (arranged alphabetically) home with you…and please take a packet for a neighbor or friend, if you see it still there. Mailing out these offering envelopes costs quite a bit per set, so by taking them with you, you assist us greatly in reducing mailing costs. If you do not find a packet of envelopes with your name on them and wish to have a set, please notify the Church Office, and Sue Brownlow, our Financial Secretary, will prepare a set for your use. We encourage everyone to use these envelopes to share their gifts with the church as it makes it much easier for our financial teams to maintain accurate giving records throughout the year. Thank you.
Have You Returned Your 2009 Financial Commitment Card?
The financial support of everyone at Centenary is imperative if we are to meet our ministry and mission goals for 2009. If you have returned your Financial Commitment Card indicating your pledge for the coming year, thank you. If you have yet to return your Commitment Card indicating your intention to share from your resources, we request that you do so as soon as possible. Additional Commitment Cards are available from the ushers during Worship each Sunday, and from the Church Office. Thank you for your faithful support of our shared ministry.

The 2009 Deluxe Christian Family Appointment Calendars
for Centenary United Methodist Church
Please pick up a copy for your use at home or work, and you may want to take an extra calendar or two to share with neighbors and friends. We are grateful to Costello-Runyon Funeral Home for again providing these beautiful calendars to the congregation.

Refreshments for 2009
Persons are invited to sponsor the time of coffee and refreshments following our Sunday Worship services in 2009. Please consider sponsoring a refreshment time and signing up for one of the many available weeks on the new 2009 Refreshment Chart in the Narthex. Information on what you need to provide is available on the information sheet attached to the Refreshment Chart. Thank you for providing hospitality on a Sunday morning.

Flower Arrangements for 2009
Persons are invited to sponsor flower arrangements for our Worship services beginning on January 4, 2009. A new 2009 Flower Chart has been posted in the Narthex. Floral arrangements cost $25.00 each week to sponsor. Information is available from our Flower Chairperson, Linda Serentino (732-940-2135) or by calling the Church Office. Thank you for providing these beautiful tributes for our Sunday services.

Christmas Eve at Centenary
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
7:00 PM — Christmas Eve Service for the Young of Heart and Spirit
Special Children’s Message, Junior Choir Sings; Carols and Candle lighting
Preacher: Keith A. Swatzel, II
11:00 PM — Christmas Eve Service of Carols, Candlelight and Holy Communion
Chancel Choir and Soloists; Congregational Carols and Candle lighting
Preacher: John D Painter Theme: The Bethlehem Wall
Lectionary Readings: Isaiah 9:2-7 Titus 2:11-14
Psalm 96 Luke 2:1-20

Acolyte Training
Sunday, January 11, 2009, at 11:45 AM. If you are interested in being an Acolyte and are in the 4th grade or higher, please attend this very important training session.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

I believe in person to person; every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment. – Mother Teresa

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. – Helen Keller

I wish I could keep in mind that God can provide, God will provide, and God does provide. – Marie Gubbels, as cited in A Woman’s Spirit by Karen Casey

The opposite of love is not hate but indifference. – Elie Wiesel

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.
If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone. – Chinese proverb

Procrastination is a favorite hiding place. – Denis Waitley

One of the greatest labor-saving inventions of today is tomorrow. – Vincent T. Foss

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. – William James

You can find on the outside only what you possess on the inside. – Adolfo Montiel Ballesteros, La Honda Y La Flor

It’s never crowded along the extra mile. – Wayne Dyer

If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. – Moshe Dayan, Israeli military leader and politician (1915-1981)

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, and quietly building new structures. – John F. Kennedy, as cited by Nancy Hull-Mast in Our Best Days

It doesn’t happen all at once…. You become. It takes a long time. – Margery Williams

We need to have a mindset of letting God use us to make somebody else’s life better. When we do that, then there’s a joy released in us that we’re not ever going to get anywhere else. – Joyce Meyer

I gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which I must stop and look fear in the face…I say to myself, I’ve lived through this and can take the next thing that comes along. – Eleanor Roosevelt

No gift is a substitute for yourself.

Forgiveness means giving up all hope of a better past. – Landrum Bolling

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. – Winston Churchill

Blessed are the simple of heart for they shall enjoy peace in abundance. – Thomas à Kempis

Next Sunday at Centenary – December 21, 2008
The Fourth Sunday of Advent / Chancel Choir Cantata

9:00 AM – Adult Study: The True Christmas Story (Sunshine Room)
10:15 AM– Worship & Sunday School (Pre-K through 12th Grade)
An Advent Cantata: Candles & Carols: A Service of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love
by Mark Hayes & Pamela Martin
with Chancel Choir, Orchestral Ensemble, and Congregational Singing
Lectionary Readings: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:46b-55 Luke 1:26-38
11:30 AM– Fellowship Time (Room 20)
11:45 AM– Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
6:30 PM– Carols & Cookies (Sanctuary)
Next Sunday, December 21, 10:15AM Candles and Carols: A special lessons and carols service featuring instruments, choir, and congregational singing.
Next Sunday, December 21, 6:30PM Carols & Cookies: A community carol sing in the sanctuary followed by refreshments featuring a “cookie exchange.”

Prayer for the Week of December 14: Lord, we are waiting. We’ve been waiting for a long, long time; waiting for love that breaks down hostile walls, and light that brightens darkened minds; waiting for peace that always seems at hand, yet never quite arrives; waiting for abstract qualities like truth and justice to become concrete: the Word made flesh, dwelling among us. Lord, thank you for Advent, for this time of preparation that makes the waiting all worthwhile. Amen.

I look forward to sharing with many of you in Study, Worship and Christian Fellowship on this Third Sunday of Advent at Centenary.

In Christ’s Love, Pastor John