Dear Centenary Church Family:

This Sunday – July 20, 2008 – The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
9:30 AM – Worship and Summer Sunday School
Children’s Message: Pastor John Painter
(Summer Sunday School for children following the Children’s Message)
Sacrament of Christian Baptism for Sarah Jasmine Kanchi
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: If…Then
Lectionary Readings: Genesis 28:10-19a Romans 8:12-25
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Special Music: Pianist Roselyn Giordano Prelude in C-Major by J. S. Bach
Celebration of Found Coins: Centenary UM Youth Fund
10:30 AM – Fellowship Time

Food Collection—This Sunday, July 20: 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

2008 Vacation Bible School—“Power Lab”—August 4-8 – 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
· Registration is $15.00 per child. Children’s groups will be made up of mixed ages. Children will learn that Jesus gives us the power to be thankful, help others, be brave, live forever, and tell others about God. The program includes science experiments.
· Helpers Wanted to Share in Teaching, Assist with other Tasks. Please contact Cathy Jean Savoia for information or to sign up. 732-548-7622, Ext. 12 or (H) 732-826-1921.
· VBS Donations Wanted: bottled water; small-boxed raisins; seltzer water; apples and oranges; ice pops; yogurt; 6 boxes baking soda; 6 squirt bottles; 6 plastic pails; 6 hula hoops, balloons.

You 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.
(Please Note: Most of the Sundays in August and in September are available…)

College Bound and Looking for a Refrigerator or Microwave?
Hazel Hampden’s niece recently graduated from college, and she has a refrigerator and microwave available for any college student who might wish to purchase these items at a reduced rate. Both are in excellent condition, as Hazel’s niece only used them for a little over a year. The refrigerator is a 3.1 cu. Ft. capacity Frigidaire model (18’ deep x 18-1/2” wide x 32” high). The microwave is 1.1 cu. Ft. capacity. These items are being sold for $50.00 and $20.00, respectively. If you are interested, please contact Hazel Hampden at 732-602-2139.

Centenary will next be serving dinner at the Ozanam Shelter on Monday, August 4. Please check the information on the bulletin board in the Narthex and sign up to assist with food preparation or serving. The August Menu: Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Corn on the Cob, Green Beans, Cupcakes, and Ice Cream. For further information, please contact Glenna Gundell (732-463-1431) or Mary Ellen Heim (732-548-2587). Thanks.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Blueberry Pancakes
Plain Pancakes
Waffles
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon and Sausage

Orange and Apple Juice
Coffee, Tea, and Milk

Saturday, August 9, 2008

8:00 AM – 11:00 AM

Only $7.00 per person
Children 10 and under – $5.00

Proceeds will be designated to support a proposed November 2008
Volunteer-in-Mission Trip to either Mississippi or the Midwest to work with our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) in flood/tornado repair and relief.

Centenary United Methodist Church
200 Hillside Avenue, Metuchen, NJ
732-548-7622

Please faithfully use your offering envelopes during the Summer, and at every possible opportunity to help with the progress our Church is making in underwriting our ministry and mission this year. God is good to us, and one by one we can make a difference in sharing the gospel story, if we work together in the days ahead.
Thank you in the name of Jesus Christ for making ministry possible.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

What was hard to bear is sweet to remember. – Portuguese proverb

Friendship is honey–but don’t eat it all. – Moroccan proverb

It is a cardinal principle of discernment that the Lord always speaks in peace, even if he is rebuking or chastising those he loves. – Thomas H. Green

The Christian is not one who has gone all the way with Christ. None of us has. The Christian is one who has found the right road. – Charles L. Allen

I think that that anything you can do that helps to alleviate this huge gaping gap between the rich and the poor will eventually make the world a more peaceful place. – Susan Sarandon

Life’s most challenging opportunities are often brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems. – Charles Swindoll

It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out—it’s the grain of sand in your shoe. – Robert Service

The pearl of justice is found in the heart of mercy. – Catherine of Siena

When you dig another out of their troubles, you find a place to bury your own. – Anonymous

The heaviest thing we can carry is a grudge.

Jesus sowed his seed in our hearts, then off he went…. He knew things would not be ideal. There were the birds and the droughts, the weeds and the insects, the parasites and the blights. But there was also the power of the seed itself. – Joseph G. Donders, teacher and chaplain at the University of Nairobi, Kenya

Your work is to discover your work and then, with all your heart, to give yourself to it. – Buddha

The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation. – Corrie Ten Boom

The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread. – Mother Teresa

The value of consistent prayer is not that God will hear us, but that we will hear God. – William McGill [adapted]

It is never too late to become what you might have been. – George Eliot

Pastor John Painter will be attending the 2008 Greater New Jersey Annual Conference (GNJAC) School of Christian Mission, Living the Sacred, at Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ, from Friday afternoon, July 25 through Sunday morning, July 27.
Pastor John will be participating in the Conference Study: Faithful Witness: United Methodist Theology of Mission, which is being taught by the Rev. John Edward Nuessle, the author of the book for this study and an Assistant General Secretary of the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. While Pastor Painter was serving as Dean of Students and Director of Admissions at Drew Theological School (1974-1977), John Nuessle was a seminary student at Drew as well as a Student Assistant Pastor at Livingston United Methodist Church, which John & Tina Painter attended for the three years they were residing in Livingston.
The Cooperative School of Christian Mission is sponsored by the United Methodist Women of the Greater NJ Annual Conference, with additional support from the GNJAC. The School offers a unique opportunity for local church laity and pastors to engage in a concentrated weekend of study, action, worship and fellowship around current mission themes. The studies that are being offered this year include I Believe in Jesus; Israel/Palestine; Giving Our Hearts Away: Native American Survival; and, Faithful Witness: United Methodist Theology of Mission.

Next Sunday – July 27, 2008
9:30 AM – Worship and Summer Sunday School
The Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost
Preacher: George Watt, Jr. Theme: Climbing Higher
Lectionary Readings: Genesis 29:15-28 Romans 8:26-39
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Special Reading: Judges 6:11-16
10:30 AM – Fellowship Time
The Rev. George Watt, Jr. will be the Guest Preacher at Centenary Next Sunday, July 27, while Pastor John Painter participates in the 2008 School of Christian Mission. Rev. Watt is no stranger to many at Centenary, having preached here previously, and also having served as our District Superintendent from 1966-1971.
Rev. Watt began his ministry 60 years ago in the former Northern New Jersey Annual Conference, when he was ordained Deacon in 1948 and appointed to serve as the Associate Pastor at First Methodist Church in Plainfield. In 1950 he was ordained Elder and appointed as Pastor of Hilton Methodist Church in Maplewood (1950-1956); Simpson-Grace Methodist Church in Jersey City (1956-1962); Caldwell Methodist Church (1962-1966); Superintendent of the Southern District (1966-1971); and, Ridgewood United Methodist Church (1971-1984). From 1984-1992, Rev. Watt served as the Conference Treasurer and Director of Administrative Services for the Northern New Jersey Annual Conference.
Though he retired from the “active ministry” in 1992, Rev. Watt has remained active on the staff of the Morristown United Methodist Church, and frequently preaches in churches throughout the northern area of New Jersey. He and his wife, Dorothy, reside in Convent Station, NJ. We look forward to welcoming the Rev. George Watt, Jr. to the Centenary Pulpit on July 27.

Prayer for the Week of July 20: We give you thanks, dear God, for the gift of your presence. We thank you for being accessible to us, for not being aloof from all you have created. Thank you for prayer, this gift of speaking, listening, and trusting that you desire to be in relationship with us. We thank you for our times of worship, for those spiritual experiences that are different from all the other hours of our week. Thank you for tending to our lives with your great love and for granting us glimpses of your nature through Jesus Christ. Accept our gratitude in Christ’s name. Amen.

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

Shalom, John