Dear Centenary Church Family:

We will gather in our air-conditioned Sanctuary at 9:30 AM this Sunday, July 29, as we praise God on this Ninth Sunday After the Day of Pentecost. The theme for the day is The Lord’s Prayer, which will be reflected in our music, readings and prayers. Our Children’s Ministries Director, Cathy Jean Savoia, will bring a word to the children, after which they will be invited to participate in our Summer Sunday School program. Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will share her morning Message, Teach Us to Pray—Us and the Lord’s Prayer, based on the Gospel reading from Luke 11:1-13. We will also hear the reading of Psalm 85. Guitarist Ed Stern will offer What Does the Lord Require of You? (Micah 6:8) by Jim Strathdee as special music during the Offertory. Our Celebration of Found Coins is designated for the Aldersgate Center Capital Campaign, to assist with the proposed rebuilding efforts of Wesley and Asbury Lodges following the recent disastrous fires. Our thanks to Doug & Wendy Woodfield for sharing the future plans for Aldersgate’s rebuilding efforts with us last Sunday following Worship.

I will be attending the 2007 Greater New Jersey Annual Conference (GNJAC) School of Christian Mission, Sing Across the Walls!, at the Hamilton Park Conference Center in Florham Park, NJ, from this Friday afternoon, July 27th through early afternoon, Sunday July 29th. I look forward to attending the study session on Israel / Palestine this year. I expect to lead a study on these important nations at our Sunday Adult Class sometime during the 2007-2008 season. If you need pastoral care during the time I am attending School of Mission, please either call me on my cell phone (201-463-5552), or call Pastor Bauknight on her cell phone (908-419-4101).

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL—July 30 through August 3 from 8:45 AM-12:15 PM Theme: The Sea of Galilee. $12.00 per child. Registration forms are available on the Sunday School bulletin board and tomorrow morning at the opening of VBS. Bring a bathing suit and towel daily. Volunteers Needed: If you can assist in any way during this year’s VBS, please contact Cathy Jean Savoia at 732-826-1921.

Wedding Bells! You Are Invited to join with Lindsey Rae Poet and Jonathan M. Carron and their families as they share in A Service of Christian Marriage at Centenary United Methodist Church next Saturday, August 4, 2007 at 10:30 AM. Jon & Lindsey will be delighted if friends from their Centenary Church Family are able to be present for this joyous occasion.

Christian Love and Sympathy are extended to Christine Rose and her family on the death of her Mother, Elna Rose, on Sunday, July 22, 2007, following a long illness. Expressions of condolence and caring may be sent to Christine Rose at 1202 Merrywood Drive, Edison, NJ 08817-2540.

Opportunity to Participate Available
Heifer International at Overlook Farm
Rutland, MA
August 12-16, 2007

There are still 5 to 6 openings for those youth or adults who would like to participate in the Heifer Project with our Centenary United Methodist Youth Fellowship. This is due to the fact that the project searches for groups of at least 12 (of which we will pay for even if we do not have 12 persons going with us).
We have been able to secure a 4-night/5-day lodging on this 210-acre working farm, which is part of the Heifer International Project. We are expected on Sunday, 12 August 2007, at approximately 3:00 PM and will leave to return to NJ on Thursday, 16 August 2007, no later than 12:00 Noon. We will be in a bunkhouse environment (housing for up to 17 people), spend one evening in the global village, and spend the remainder of our days working on projects that will help benefit the Heifer Project.
Cost: $180.00 (includes all meals, bedding and more while at Overlook Farm). Individuals must be at least 12 years of age.
For more information about Heifer Project International go to http://www.heifer.org/.
Specific information about Overlook Farm is available at http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.201558/.
Interested persons please contact Rev. Bauknight at (908) 419-4101 or by e-mail at REVTDB395@aol.com

Refreshment Sponsors Needed: Persons are invited to sponsor the time of coffee and refreshments following our upcoming Sunday Worship services. Please consider sponsoring a refreshment time and signing up for one of the available weeks on the 2007 Refreshment Chart posted in the Narthex. Thank you for providing hospitality on a Sunday morning.

Centenary will next be serving dinner at the Ozanam Shelter on Monday, August 6. Please check the information on the bulletin board in the Narthex and sign up to assist with food preparation or serving. For further information, please contact Glenna Gundell (732-463-1431) or Mary Ellen Heim (732-548-2587). Thanks.

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.

Pancake Breakfast
Saturday, August 18, 2007

8:00 – 11:00 AM
Centenary UM Church

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

Proceeds will help fund a Mission Trip in November 2007 to the Evangelical Methodist Church in Mar del Plata, Argentina, where we hope to bring materials, supplies, encouragement, and physical labor to an active and growing congregation trying to reach the poorest citizens living off what they can salvage from the city dump. Projects include a radio ministry, facility repairs and renovation, health education, starting a recycling business, a textile project, and leadership training for social and cultural mobilization.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

How many times do we miss God’s blessings because they are not packaged as we expected? – Unknown

Mile by mile, life’s a trial.
Yard by yard, it’s not so hard.
Inch by inch, it’s a cinch. – Proverb

Prayer is an end to isolation. It is living our daily life with someone; with Him who alone can deliver us from solitude. – Georges Lefevre

I understood that in view of my decision to give myself unreservedly to God and my neighbor, it would be absolutely necessary for me to devote space and time to prayer. – Dom Helder Camara

When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree. – Vietnamese saying

The most difficult thing I have ever had to do is follow the guidance I prayed for. – Albert Schweitzer

Every time I think I’m getting old, something else happens. – Lillian Carter

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. – St. Francis de Sales

Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known. – Garrison Keillor

You can’t have everything…where would you put it? – Stephen Wright

Prayer for the Week of July 29: We give you thanks, O God, for the fact that through you we may be part of the grandeur of eternity. We thank you that, even though we may never see the fruits of what we do, we may trust that all is gathered into your all-knowing future and celebrated as part of universal hope. We thank you for your faithfulness to us as we laugh and toil and stay the course. Amen.

Next Sunday, August 5, 2007:
9:30 AM – Summer Worship & Sunday School
The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost / Sacrament of Holy Communion
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: Stuffed Barns
Lectionary Readings: Hosea 11:1-11 Colossians 3:1-11
Psalm 107:1-9, 43 Luke 12:13-21
10:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)

You will be in my thoughts and prayers from Hamilton Park this Sunday morning as you gather for Worship and Christian Fellowship at Centenary.

Shalom, John