9:00 AM — Adult Study – Nooma Video Series
10:15 AM — Worship & Sunday School (Pre K through 12th Grade)
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: Abiding in God’s Love
Lectionary Readings: Acts 8:26-40 1 John 4:7-21
Psalm 22:25-31 John 15:1-8
Children’s Message: Pastor Keith Swatzel
Music—Chancel Choir: The Gift of Love by Hal Hopson
Celebration of Found Coins: Joy to the World Heifer Project
11:30 AM — Fellowship Time
11:45 AM — Junior Choir Rehearsal
11:45 AM — Centenary Youth Fellowship Car Wash
11:45 AM Youth Fellowship Car Wash (Side/Rear Parking Lot)

REMINDER: Centenary United Methodist Youth Fellowship
Mother’s Day Car Wash Immediately Following Worship on Sunday.

T.G.I.F. (To-Gether Intergenerational Fun)—Friday, May 8th at 6:30 PM: Come join the fun for dinner & Lectionary discussions. A barrel offering is taken.

Centenary Book Club—Friday, May 8th @ 6:30 PM at the Menlo Diner in Edison: Our book selection for May is Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky. This is the story of a couple who have their first child who is unmistakably African-American in appearance. Discovering the heritage of this child tears the couple and a family apart as family history on both sides is explored. If you like to read, then we invite you to come and join the Centenary Book Club. The Club is open to women and men ages 18 and older.

Information Requested About Our 2009 College and High School Graduates: We are seeking information about those Centenary members and friends who will be graduating from college and high school in May or June. Please call or e-mail (CentaryUMC@aol.com) the Church Office so we may share in the joy of their accomplishments in our June Lamplighter. We will also have a special time of recognition for our high school graduates during our June 14th Service of Worship.

Mendelssohn Concert— Next Saturday, May 16 @ 7:30 PM
We will offer a concert on Saturday, May 16th in honor of the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn’s birth. It will feature Aaron Abramowitz, Alison Williams, David Iskowitz and Shirley & Steven Mosteller in piano, instrumental and vocal music by the composer and is at 7:30 PM in the Sanctuary. Our past Anniversary concerts have been quite successful. Please come support our Music Ministry with your presence and your donations.

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 many available weeks on the 2009 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.

Plan to Partake! Applebee’s Fund-Raiser on Wednesday, May 20
Have Lunch and/or Dinner at Applebee’s at Woodbridge Center Mall
Centenary will receive 10% of your food bill
Coupon included in May Lamplighter, in Sunday’s bulletin
and available on our Web Site: www.CentenaryUMCnj.org

Flower Arrangements: Persons are invited to sponsor flower arrangements for our Worship services. The 2009 Flower Chart is posted in the Narthex. There are several Sundays coming up that are available for sponsorship. Floral arrangements cost $25.00 each week to sponsor. 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.

Looking for a Few Good Men for Sunday, June 7: We are putting together a Men’s Chorus to sing on June 7 for Men’s Sunday. Rehearsals will be held following Worship on Sundays May 17, 24 & 31, as well as a brief run-through before the service on June 7. If you can make at least 2 rehearsals, please join us. We had a great turn-out last year! See Shirley Mosteller for more information.
Male Worship Leaders & Readers are being recruited for the Worship Service on Men’s Sunday, June 7. Men and youth interested in serving are invited to contact Pastor John Painter.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Blueberry Pancakes
Plain Pancakes
Waffles
Scrambled Eggs
Bacon and Sausage
Orange and Apple Juice
Coffee, Tea, and Milk

Saturday, June 6, 2009
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 2009
Volunteer-in-Mission Trip to North Carolina to work with our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) in flood repair and relief.

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

United Methodist Women
CAMPBELL SOUP LABELS and other related products - We are still collecting these labels for the Red Bird Mission. There have been BIG changes to the Labels program. 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, in Beverly, Kentucky, is a Mission Project of the United Methodist Church. The latest newsletter from the Red Bird Mission says they expect to be able to acquire a van in 2009 with their 1,600,000 points received from all the Labels that they received for the last two years.

DO YOU KNIT, CROCHET, OR ANY OTHER CRAFT?? It is not too early to think about doing something for the Women’s booth at the Metuchen Fair. The Metuchen Fair is the first weekend in October and we need many items to sell at the fair. If you have any ideas or can make some items for the fair, please talk to Sylvia Woodfield (732-549-9042) and give her your suggestions. If you have an idea for a craft, let her know and we can arrange for a workshop so that others may share in the craft.

2009 Summer Camp Programs
Aldersgate Center and Pinelands Retreat Center
Information about the 2009 Summer camping programs for children and youth (and some specialized adult and family programs) are posted on the Children’s Ministries bulletin board in the hallway alongside the Sanctuary, near the Narthex. Children’s Ministries Director Cathy Jean Savoia also has brochures available…and several copies of the brochure are in the literature rack in the Narthex. Please check out the dates and programs to see if your elementary-age child or Junior/Senior high youth may want to participate in a summer camp experience at Aldersgate Center (Swartswood, NJ) or Pinelands Retreat Center at Mt. Misery (Browns Mills, NJ). You may also check out the offerings and register online at either www.aldersgatenj.com or www.mtmisery.com. Scholarship assistance is available through the Church. Please speak with Pastor John Painter to get additional information about these programs, scholarship assistance, and appropriate registration forms.

Sight and Sound Theater: If you are interested in attending a show at Sight & Sound Theater in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area, please contact Cathy or Michael Savoia. Reservations need to be made well in advance. There is a sign-up sheet on the bulletin board in the Narthex on which you can indicate your interest. We will charter a bus to transport everyone. More information will be coming soon about the program. The date for this activity is Saturday, June 20, 2009.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today. – William Allen White

Only God holds the future, and when you have found God, you might not know what your future holds, but you will have the blessed security of knowing who holds you now and forever. – R. G. LeTourneau [adapted]

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like. – Will Smith

You have made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when you plant shade trees under which you know full well you will never sit. – Elton Trueblood [adapted]

All I really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt! – Lucy, Peanuts

Not only does understanding the gospel of the grace of God provide a proper motive for us to share our faith, it also gives us the proper motive and means to live the Christian life effectively. – David Havard

God promises a safe landing, but not a calm passage.

My feets is tired, but my soul is rested. – Mother Pollard, An elder in Martin Luther King Jr.’s church during the Montgomery Bus Boycott, responding to King’s concern that she was too old to keep walking.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear. – Mark Twain

Life is like a mirror. If you frown at it, it frowns back. If you smile at it, it returns the greeting. – Herbert Samuels

A good way to lessen your own troubles is to attend to the troubles of others.

Courage does not always roar. Sometimes it is a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, “I will try again tomorrow.” – Mary Anne Rodmacher

The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be… The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is not fair to ask of others what you, are not willing to do yourself. – Eleanor Roosevelt

God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a walk. – Meister Eckhart

Bible texts are best read with a pair of glasses made out of today’s newspaper. – Dorothee Sölle, German theologian and writer, from Justice in an Unjust World, by Karen Labacqz.

Why is knowing what to put first one of the last things we discover?