Sunday, July 9, 2006The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost

Dear Centenary Church Family:

Greetings from Arlington, VA, where Tina and I have been enjoying several days of touring in Washington, DC, after an enjoyable four day stay at Rehoboth Beach, DE…which was founded as a Methodist Campground in the latter part of the 19th century. While we did not join the estimated half million people gathered at The Mall Tuesday evening for the Independence Day festivities and fireworks, we were able to view the aerial displays from across the Potomac in Arlington and were impressed with their brilliance and magnitude. (We also saw a holiday fireworks display on the beach at Rehoboth on Sunday evening.) In the past two days we’ve had the opportunity to visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Library of Congress, Capitol Hill and The Mall, and the National Museum of Natural History…all venues we would recommend to any of you should you visit our nation’s capitol. One thing we have discovered is the ease of mobility in this great center using the clean and efficient Metro system. This morning we are leaving for Kill Devil Hills, NC, where we look forward to spending the next week along the beach on the Outer Banks.

Centenary will gather in our air-conditioned Sanctuary this Sunday at 9:30 AM for Worship and Summer Sunday School. Cathy Savoia will offer a special message for the children before they are dismissed for Sunday School. Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will bring her morning Message, Lord, It’s Still There, based on the Lectionary readings from 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 and Mark 6:1-13. Our Celebration of Found Coins is designated for the Aldersgate Center Capital Campaign, offering financial assistance to this wonderful facility for camps, conferences and retreats as they seek to rebuild following two devastating fires in the past several years.

Refreshments: Persons are invited to sponsor the time of coffee and refreshments following our Sunday Worship services. Please consider sponsoring a refreshment time and signing up for one of the available weeks in late July and August on the 2006 Refreshment Chart in the Narthex. Information on what you need to provide is available from Pastor Painter or by speaking with Millie Pleuler (732-750-4434). Thank you for providing hospitality on a Sunday morning.

“FIESTA”—Vacation Bible School—July 31 to August 4, 2006
WANTED: Caring and loving people who enjoy working and having fun with children. Also to help guide children on their Christian Journey through Vacation Bible School. We are in need of teachers and youth workers who speak English and/or Spanish. This year’s VBS will be a dual language program that models God’s love in all our friends and neighbors in all that we say and do. “FIESTA” will be held Monday, July 31 through Friday, August 4, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and includes Hot Bible Adventures, Chadder’s Drive-in Theater, Cactus Crafts and Missions, Maraca Munchies, Grande Games, and Sing and Play Ole’. Our FIESTA Finale will be on Friday, August 4th at Noon. Child Care will be provided for younger children, age 1 through 3 years old. Registration is $12.00 per child; $30 per family of 3 or more. For more information and registration please call the Church Office at 732-548-7622 or Cathy Savoia at 732-826-1921.

THE CLOTHESLINE
August is almost here again—Centenary’s opportunity to assist some very needy mean, women and children of our community by giving our clothing and our time. On August 13th we will be at Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen in New Brunswick distributing clothing from The ClothesLine, our old school bus/mobile closet.

During the month of July please bring your clean, gently used summer clothing (no stains, holes, missing buttons, broken zippers, ring-around-the collar, etc.) for all shapes and sizes of men, women and children. Place your bags at the end of the hallway across from the Counting Room. On Sunday, July 30th, immediately following Worship and Fellowship Time, we need volunteers in the Youth Room to sort and size each item so that they can be loaded onto the bus for an orderly distribution.
The following is a list of things our clients need (please remember: no winter clothing—we’ll ask for that in October or November—storage space and volunteers to sort continue to be our major obstacles):

Shorts, jeans and casual pants T-shirts and tank tops
Blouses and polo shirts baseball caps
Sneakers, sandals, casual shoes sheets (please mark sizes), pillowcases, towels

Children’s summer clothing—infant through teen (at the moment we have none!)
It is an enormous help if you either stick a piece of masking tape, with size, on each item or write size and gender on outside of bags (e.g. men’s T-shirts, size medium; girl’s summer clothes, size 5/6).

The barrel offerings during June will be used to purchase new socks and underwear for which the clients are extremely grateful.
Sunday, August 13th (2:00-4:00 PM): Distribution at Elijah’s Promise Soup Kitchen, 18 Neilson Street, New Brunswick.

Sign-up sheets are in the Narthex for both the July 30th sorting time and August 13th distribution at the Soup Kitchen. PLEASE! PLEASE!! Many, many people are depending on us… Thank you, Tookie Bacon

Next Sunday: July 16 — 9:30 AM Summer Worship & Sunday School
Youth Sunday: Members of our United Methodist Youth Fellowship will lead the Worship Service. The Morning Message will be The Word in Film…
(There will also be a special film offered for the children during the Summer Sunday School session following Children’s Time in Worship)
Lectionary Readings: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 Ephesians 1:3-14
Psalm 24 Mark 6:14-29

Some Thoughts for This Week:
Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden. – Corrie ten Boom

Arguments never settle things, but prayer changes things.

Anger is only one letter short of danger.

Worry is wasting today’s time
To clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities
With yesterday’s troubles.

Courage is fear that has said its prayers. – Dorothy Bernard

It is better to die for something than to live for nothing.

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime. – Reinhold Niebuhr

It is when we forget ourselves that we do things that are remembered.

All God asks is our attention. – W. B. Yeats
A great deal of what we see depends upon what we are looking for.

A belief is something you hold.
A conviction is something that holds you.

Sermons “Podcast” on Our Web Site: In addition to being available in print, the Pastors’ weekly sermons are now available as a “podcast” on our Web site. You may listen to each Message as it was delivered in Worship Service. Go to www.CentenaryUMCnj.org to explore this and other new features and links. Our thanks to Web servant Ernie Agtarap for providing this on-line ministry of Centenary.

Painters Away Until July 15: Tina and I will be in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, for the next seven days, before returning to Metuchen sometime on the evening of Saturday, July 15th. During my absence, our 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 (cellular) or 908-245-1529.
You will be in Tina’s and my thoughts and prayers this weekend as you gather for Worship and Summer Sunday School at Centenary.

Shalom, John