Dear Centenary Church Family:

On this Sunday, February 11, members and leaders of our Centenary United Methodist Youth Fellowship will plan and lead our 10:15 AM service of Worship. Our Harris Ringers will offer a medley of African-American spirituals as everyone gathers for Worship. Lois Hines and members of the CUMYF will share in a special message for the children…after which the children may depart for Sunday School classes. Our youth will also bring the morning Message, The Rich Family in Church. The Scripture readings for the morning are Jeremiah 17: 5-10 and Luke 6:17-26. Our Chancel Choir will sing an arrangement of the Spiritual Gonna Be A Great Day by J. Paul Williams/Joseph M. Martin. Our Celebration of Found Coins will be designated for the Greater NJ Annual Conference Media Center.

Kids’ Night Out and TGIF will meet together for a Family Night on Friday, February 9 from 6:30-8:30 PM. Featuring Rockin’ & Rollin’ with Mr. Danny Adlerman. A barrel offering is taken to defray the costs for the meal. Persons of all ages are invited and encouraged to attend.
Centenary Book Club—Saturday, February 10 @ 9:30 AM in the Sunshine Room: This month’s book selection is Mary Called Magdalene by Margaret George. This novel portrays the life of the mysterious figure of Mary Magdalene, “Apostle to the Apostles,” and companion to Jesus. Margaret George creates a new portrait of one of the most controversial figures in biblical scholarship: a strong, independent woman, given to visions and gifted with a unique faith in Jesus and his message. All are welcome.

Charles Wesley Tercentennial Concert—February 18: A United Methodist-related concert at New York’s Lincoln Center will honor hymn writer Charles Wesley as it raises funds for relief work. The 2007 Wesley Choral Festival, presented by Music Celebrations International, commemorates the 300th anniversary of Wesley’s birth. Events will culminate with a concert at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 18. All proceeds from the $35 to $55 ticket sales will go to the United Methodist Committee on Relief’s landmine removal program in Angola. To order tickets online, visit http://www.lincolncenter.org/show_events_list.asp?eventcode=13723 or call Center Charge at (212) 721-6500.

The Annual Ash Wednesday Service of the Centenary, New Dover and Wesley United Methodist Church congregations will be held on February 21 at 7:30 PM. This year’s service will be held at Wesley United Methodist Church in Edison. Pastors Darryl Duer (New Dover UMC), John Jung Kwon (Wesley UMC), Terrilisa Durham Bauknight and John Painter will share in leading this annual service marking the beginning of Lent. The choirs of the three congregations are preparing special music for this service. During the service there will be an Imposition of Ashes. There will be a time of fellowship and refreshment in following the service. Child Care will be available. Everyone is encouraged to come and share in this special service, as we begin our 40-day Lenten journey to Calvary’s Cross and the Garden of Resurrection.

Lenten Wednesday Evening Bible Study: Pastor John Painter will lead a five-week Wednesday evening Lenten Bible Study from 7:30-8:30 PM beginning on Wednesday, February 28, and continuing through Wednesday March 28. The focus of the study will be The Passion Narratives of the four Gospels. As part of your Lenten discipline, you are invited to bring your favorite translation of the Bible and participate in the reading and discussion.

Food Collection—Sunday, February 18: 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.

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

Scholarship Opportunities: Information about scholarships and loans available to United Methodist students in higher education is now available. A flyer listing many of these scholarships has been posted on the bulletin board in Room 20. In addition, an extensive booklet—The United Methodist Loans and Scholarship Program—is available on the literature rack in The Library. Please contact Pastors Bauknight or Painter for any additional information about these scholarship and loan programs.

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER is Friday, March 2, 2007. Church Women United of Metuchen-Edison will be celebrating this day with a program beginning at 1:00 P.M. in Centenary United Methodist Church. The women of First Presbyterian Church of Metuchen will present the program and the women from Centenary will provide the refreshments. Come and join with women of other faiths in our neighborhood and around the world. Come and join us!

COMMUNION BREAKFAST for the women of Centenary, Wesley and New Dover Churches will be held on Saturday, March 17, 2007 at 9:30 A.M. at Centenary. The leader will be the Rev. Linda Humphries of Hamilton, NJ who will help us ‘stretch our faith’. We will need help with setting up tables and providing food for the group. If you can help in any way, please let Millie Pleuler, Giselle Esquivel-Cordero or Sylvia Woodfield know.

CAMPBELL SOUP LABELS: We are still collecting these labels for the Red Bird Mission. There have been BIG changes to the Campbell’s Labels program. Campbell’s no longer accepts the front panel of soup can labels. The part of the label that we need is the UPC section along with the Labels for Education symbol. Please check out the UMW bulletin board (in the area near the Men’s Room) for more information on how these labels need to be collected. There is a basket in the Church Library to receive your labels. The Red Bird Mission is a Mission Project of the United Methodist Church in Beverly, Kentucky. This mission has been able to acquire several vans for transporting students along with computer equipment and other educational supplies through this Labels for Education program. Thanks in advance for your participation.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

You can’t always beat what is difficult in your life. Sometimes you have to let it win and shout hallelujah anyhow. – Bebe More Campbell, 72 Hour Hold (Knopf)

Those who would learn to serve must first learn to think little of themselves… Only those who live by the forgiveness of their sin in Jesus Christ will think little of themselves in the right way. They will know that their own wisdom completely came to an end when Christ forgave them. – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. – Mahatma Gandhi

You start preparing when you’re thirty for the person you’ll be at eighty. – Janice Clark

How much longer am I going to think about my hair more often than about things in the world that matter? – Anne Lamott from Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. – Maori proverb

Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn. – Charles Wesley

The world is not moved only by the mighty shoves of the heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker. – Helen Keller

Prayer for the Week of February 11: Come, bless our lives as well as our small gifts, O God. Put us on your shoulders that we may see the world afresh, then lift us down and turn our minds toward renewed action for justice. Warm our hearts if they have become cool with complacency and stir up in us a sense of urgency if we have stayed our hands with easier options, while others starve and weep and wait for enough. Show us their faces as we wait before you, O God. Amen.

Next Sunday At Centenary–February 18, 2007:
9:00 AM – Adult Class (Nooma Series)
10:15 AM – Worship and Sunday School (Pre-K through 12th Grade)
Transfiguration Sunday
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: A Glimpse of Glory
Lectionary Readings: Exodus 34:29-35 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Psalm 99 Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)
11:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)
5:30 PM – Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
6:30 PM – United Methodist Youth Fellowship (Youth Rm./Rm. 20)

Painters on Vacation: Tina and I are still in central Florida for our mid-winter vacation through next Tuesday afternoon, February 13th. During my absence, Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight is “on-call” for pastoral care emergencies. Please contact the Centenary Church Office if you have need of pastoral care. Or when our Church Office is closed, you may contact Pastor Bauknight at 908-419-4101 (cell).
You will be in our thoughts and prayers as you gather for Study, Worship and Christian Fellowship this Sunday at Centenary.

Shalom, John