Sunday, February 24, 2008 – The Third Sunday in Lent
Dear Centenary Church Family:
We will gather in our Sanctuary for Worship at 10:15 AM on this Third Sunday in Lent, as we continue our Lenten journey from Wednesday’s Ashes to Easter’s Lilies. Our Junior Choir will sing The Gospel Train, a traditional African-American Spiritual arranged by Shirley W. McRae. Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will share a word with the children, after which Pre-K children through 12th Grade youth will be invited to participate in Sunday School classes. My morning Message, Insiders and Outsider, will be based on the narrative of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:5-42. Our Chancel Choir will sing Truly My Soul by Billing/Dilsner. Our Celebration of Found Coins will be designated for the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference Media Center.
The CUMYF presents
Dinner and a Movie
When: Saturday, 23 February 2008
Where: Centenary United Methodist Church
Time: 5:30 – 8:30 PM
Feature Movie: The Game Plan
(with Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson)
Dinner to include Tacos, Enchiladas, Spaghetti, Salad, Beverage and Dessert/Snacks for the Movie
Donation: Adults $10
Children 10 AND Under $4
Please CALL the Church Office by early tomorrow morning (732-548-7622) so we know how many to expect and prepare for!
ADULT CLASS OFFERS SPECIAL LENTEN PROGRAM: Join us at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room this Sunday, February 24, as we discover the real inspiration behind the customs, symbols, and special music that have come to mean so much during the Easter season. Learn about the tradition of Sunrise Services, and the story behind the great Easter hymn Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. The resource we are using for this study is Ace Collins’ book, Stories Behind the Traditions and Songs of Easter.
The Art of Muriel Harris at Centenary During Lent: We are blessed during the 2008 Lenten Season to have a number of Muriel Harris’ collages adorning the walls of our Sanctuary. You will want to take time to pause on the Sundays during Lent—or at other times you are in the building—to view these special works based on the indicated biblical passages, and reminding us of the themes of creation, liberation and justice. Muriel Harris, a long-time member of Centenary UMC, has received many awards and high recognition over the years for her artistry. Although in recent years she has endured the loss of much of her eyesight to age-related macular degeneration, Muriel Harris continues to create new art using a number of different media. Some of the paintings in our Sanctuary represent her recent work in the more “tactile” media. We are grateful to Muriel Harris for sharing the gift of her art with us once again this year.
Wednesday Evening Lenten Bible Study
Behold the Lamb of God
Through March 19 @ 7:30 PM
Pastor John Painter is leading a six-week Wednesday evening Lenten Bible Study from 7:30-8:30 PM continuing through Wednesday, March 19. The focus of the study will be Behold the Lamb of God based on the readings from the Revised Common Lectionary.
Copies of the Lenten Bible Study text, Behold the Lamb of God, are available in the Church Office for those who will be participating in this series. As part of your Lenten discipline, you are invited to bring your favorite translation of the Bible and your copy of Behold the Lamb to participate in the readings and discussion on these Wednesday evenings in Lent. Weekly attendance, while desirable, is not required…please come as you are able.
Kids’ Night Out — Friday, February 9 from 6:30-8:00 PM
Ice Skating at Roosevelt Park
($10.00 for skates, snacks & drinks; $8.00 if you have your own skates)
Adult Class Offers The Case for Easter: For the three Sundays leading up to Easter (March 2, 9, and 16), we will be investigating the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. Of the many world religions, only one, Christianity, claims that the founder returned from the grave. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very cornerstone of Christianity. But a dead man coming back to life? In our sophisticated and science-minded age—two thousand years after the first Easter—can we still take such a claim seriously? As our primary resource of this study, we will be using Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection. The author was educated at Yale Law School and was the award-winning legal editor of the Chicago Tribune and a spiritual skeptic until 1981. He also has written The Case for Christ and The Case for Faith.
United Methodists Respond to “Super Tuesday” Storms
United Methodists are helping communities in four states recover from a series of tornadoes that killed at least 59 people in one night.
A rare midwinter storm spawned the tornadoes that struck the U.S. South on February 5, flattening homes and businesses. Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky all suffered fatalities, with Tennessee experiencing the highest death toll at 32, according to news reports.
United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is working with the areas affected by the storm and has sent out some emergency grants, said the Rev. Tom Hazelwood, UMCOR’s domestic disaster coordinator. Early response United Methodist teams were involved in debris cleanup on the afternoon of February 7 in areas that were open to volunteer workers.
Your gifts may be placed in the offering plates at any Worship service during February. Please make your checks payable to Centenary UM Church and write “UMCOR Super Tuesday Tornadoes” on the Memo line of your check. (Or place cash offerings in an envelope labeled “UMCOR Super Tuesday Tornadoes”.) You may also mail your gifts to the Church Office (200 Hillside Avenue, Metuchen, NJ 08840) or directly to UMCOR at P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write “UMCOR Advance #901670, Super Tuesday Tornadoes” on the Memo line of the check. Credit-card donations can be made by calling (800) 554-8583 or online by clicking on any of the “Give Now” links at http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umcor.
The ClothesLine Ministry
Centenary Has Responsibility in March 2008
The ClothesLine Ministry is about to undergo some major changes. You at Centenary have been dedicated partners with this project; now we hope you will understand the needs for adaptation, have patience with us, and share your thoughts and suggestions.
Though our goal remains the same—to provide free clothing for the needy men, women, and children of Middlesex County—our method of distribution must change. Several events occurred simultaneously making the modification more a “Divine intervention” than a choice. First, the number of clients has exploded (50 people when we started this project in 2001, now 150 children and 350 men and women at each distribution), thus preparing the clothing for so many, and stocking the bus, has become an enormous job. Secondly, our 34-year-old bus made it clear on her January 27 trip to Elijah’s Promise (through loud rattling, clanking protestations) that she is ready to retire.
And lastly, the Puerto Rican Action Board (PRAB), a social service agency primarily serving Hispanic families, located at 90 Jersey Avenue in New Brunswick, has donated a large space in the rear of the building out of which we hope to have two areas, one for storage and sorting, the other a place where our clients may come to choose the items they need to make their lives a bit easier.
We are presently cleaning and organizing the new space, planning to open for the first distribution on Thursday, March 13 from 2:00-4:00 PM for men and again on Friday, March 14 from 2:00-4:00 PM for women and children. (We cannot have access to the building on weekends at this point.) Free shuttle buses which run on weekdays in New Brunswick will be helpful to our clients. For those who are unable to get clothing during the above hours because of jobs, etc., special arrangements will be made either through the PRAB or social services at Elijah’s Promise.
Centenary United Methodist and St. Luke’s Episcopal Churches in Metuchen will be our test congregations as we journey forward. We will need volunteers for sorting and marking clothes as well as volunteers to assist the clients find their clothes and help with check out and bagging. We realize that many people who have lent a hand in the past may now be unable due to work and daytime commitments. Be assured that we have valued your support of this project; perhaps after a few months we will be able to have Sunday hours.
Please sign up on the available sheet in the Narthex at Centenary to indicate you are available to assist with sorting and distributing on Thursday, March 13 and or, Friday, March 14, from 2:00-4:00 PM. Or you may call the Church Office (732-548-7622). Please sign up or call by March 6. It will be helpful to know approximately how many volunteers will be assisting on March 13/14. Thank you in advance for your continued support of this important service.
—Tookie Bacon, ClothesLine
P.S. We are unable to accept any clothing donations until April, then only spring/summer items. Our clients greatly appreciate the consideration we have shown them by giving quality clothing – clean, no stains, tears, broken zippers, missing buttons, etc.
Persons are invited to sponsor the time of coffee and refreshments following our Sunday Worship service. Please consider sponsoring a refreshment time and signing up for one of the many available weeks on the 2008 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.
Persons are invited to sponsor flower arrangements for our Worship services. The 2008 Flower Chart is posted in the Narthex. Floral arrangements cost $25.00 each week to sponsor. (Please make your check payable to Centenary UM Church and write “Altar Flowers” in the Memo line.) 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.
Hold the Date:
Saturday, March 8, 2008
6:00PM
Centenary United MethodistChurch
Join the Volunteers in Missionfor a
MYSTERY DINNER
and
Learn about their ArgentinaTrip
Free Will Offering will be taken
Some Thoughts for This Week:
I pray for knowledge and experience of divine love everywhere around me and within me… I try to see the divine love from which each person springs. – Anne Lamott
Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. – Rainer Maria Rilke
It is difficult to make a person miserable who feels a kindred spirit to the great God who made him. – Abraham Lincoln [adapted]
Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice. – Henry Ford
I am only one, but I am still one; I cannot do everything, but still I can do something, and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. – Edward Everett Hale
Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done. – C.S. Lewis
I understand that what I’ve been blessed to do is a part of God’s plan. And as long as I please Him, then I’m pleased. – Denzel Washington
Life is always worthwhile to the person who can laugh, love and lift.
The highways of life are full of flat squirrels who couldn’t make up their minds. – Unknown
Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. – Andrew Murray
God who governed the world before I was born shall take care of it when I am gone. My part is to improve the present moment. – John Wesley [adapted]
A person does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint. – Albert Schweitzer [adapted]
When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance. – Joel Osteen
Integrity and character are developed by using two small words—Yes and no.
Next Sunday — March 2, 2008:
9:00 AM– Adult Study – The Case for Easter (Sunshine Room
10:15 AM – Worship & Sunday School (PreK Children through 12th Grade Youth)
The Fourth Sunday in Lent / One Great Hour of Sharing / Sacrament of Holy Communion
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: The God Who Is with Us
Lectionary Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 Ephesians 5:8-14
Psalm 23 John 9:1-41
11:45AM– Fellowship Time (Room 20)
5:45 PM– Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
6:30 PM– Centenary UM Youth (Youth Room / Room 20)
Prayer for the Week of February 24: God of blessings and bounty, we are grateful when we believe we have enough. Teach us when to want less and to find contentment in all circumstances. Thank you for those who have taught us to know such contentment, especially Paul, your apostle, who could look at his sufferings and be thankful because the suffering created endurance; who could see endurance as a shaper of character, and character as the source of hope. Such maturity is not yet our gift, and we pray you will guide us to such truth. Thank you for seeking us out and claiming us as your children, for bringing us together into this fellowship, and for nourishing us with words of life. You have the words of eternal life, and you feed us with that which satisfies the deep needs of our soul. We give you our thanks in Jesus’ name. Amen.
I look forward to sharing with many of you in study, Worship and Christian fellowship on this Third Sunday in Lent.
Shalom, John