Sunday, May 27 – PENTECOST!Memorial Day Sunday
Dear Centenary Church Family:
On The Day of Pentecost, we come to the end of the Great Fifty Days of Easter and celebrate the birth-day of the Church with the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples in Jerusalem. We will mark this special Festival Day of the Church in our 10:15 AM Worship this Sunday, May 27. Red will be the color of the day…and we invite/encourage you all to wear something red to represent the flames which hovered over the heads of our forebears as they received the power of the Holy Spirit. We will begin with some Spirit-filled Songs for Gathering and with a special Time of Centering for Pentecost. Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will share a Pentecost word with the children…it is rumored there may be balloons involved!!…before they and youth through 12th grade are invited to participate in Sunday School classes. Pastor Bauknight will then bring her morning Message, Burned Alive!, based on the story of that first Pentecost in Acts 2:1-21. We will also share in the reading of John 14:8-17, 25-27. Our Chancel Choir will sing O Breathe on Me, O Breath of God with words by Edwin Hatch, and music a Gaelic Melody, Harmonized by A Gregory Murray, OSB.
Because it is also Memorial Day Sunday, we will conclude our service with the singing of The Battle Hymn of the Republic and offer a Memorial Day Prayer of Remembrance before receiving The Benediction. Our Celebration of Found Coins is for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Emergency Appeal for NJ Flooding. (Because of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, there will be no Junior Choir rehearsal or Centenary United Methodist Youth Fellowship meetings this Sunday, May 27.)
Memorial Day–Church Office/CELC Closed: Just a reminder that the Church Office and the Centenary Early Learning Center (Child Care & Nursery) will be closed on Monday, May 28, in observance of Memorial Day. We wish you a blessed holiday weekend at the traditional opening of the “Summer season.”
2007 Greater New Jersey Annual Conference
One in Spirit, All in Ministry: In the Spirit of Stewardship
May 30 – June 2 at the Valley Forge Convention Center
The eighth session of our Greater New Jersey Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church will be held from this Wednesday, May 30 through Saturday, June 2, 2007, at the Valley Forge Hotel & Convention Center in King of Prussia, PA. Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar will preside at the plenary sessions of the Conference. Giselle Esquivel Cordero, Centenary’s Lay Member to Annual Conference, and Pastor John Painter will attend the Annual Conference sessions. We ask you to be in prayer for the Clergy and Lay Members of the Greater NJ Annual Conference as they gather for “Holy Conferencing.”
Congratulations to our 2007 College Graduates: We are still seeking information about those Centenary members who may have graduated from college this Spring. Please call or e-mail the Church Office (centaryUMC@aol.com) so we may share in the joy of their accomplishments. To date, we have received word of the following graduate:
· Äli Woodfield from Kean University
2007 High School Graduates: We are seeking information about those Centenary members who will be graduating from high school this month. Please call or e-mail (CentaryUMC@aol.com) the Church Office so we may share in the joy of their accomplishments in our July Lamplighter. We will also have a special time of recognition for our high school graduates during our June 17th Service of Worship.
2007 Summer Camp Programs at Aldersgate Center and Pinelands Retreat Center: Information about the 2007 Summer camping programs for children and youth (and some specialized adult and family programs) are posted on the Children’s Ministry bulletin board in the hallway alongside the Sanctuary, near 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 Children’s Ministries Director Cathy Jean Savoia or Pastor John Painter to get additional information about these programs and appropriate registration forms.
Ozanam Shelter Dinner: Centenary will next be serving dinner at the Ozanam Shelter on Monday, June 4. 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.
Summer Worship & Church School at 9:30 AM Begins on June 24th: From Sunday, June 24th, through Sunday, September 2nd, Worship and Summer Sunday School will be held at 9:30 AM. (Except there will be no Children’s Summer Sunday School program on July 1st and September 2nd.) Please make note of this seasonal change in our Worship and Sunday School schedule for the Summer. On Sunday, September 9th, we will resume our Sunday morning schedule with Worship and Sunday School for Pre-K through 12th Grade Youth at 10:15 AM. (The Adult Class will continue to meet at 9:00 AM next year.) Watch for further details in upcoming editions of The Lamplighter.
Some Thoughts for This Week:
God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with. – Billy Graham
“The past should be culled like a box of fresh strawberries, rinsed of debris, sweetened judiciously and served in small portions, not very often.” – Laura Palmer
“Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.” – William Wordsworth
“To make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes the wise and good learn wisdom for the future.” – Plutarch
Hope is something that brings sunshine into the shadows of our lives. It is our link to a better tomorrow. – Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal, Small Miracles (Adams Media Corporation)
The sweetest pleasures are those which do not exhaust hope. – Author unknown
To keep struggling against hate and to practice forgiveness need not mean abdicating one’s rights or renouncing justice. This should be emphasized over and over again. It is part of loving one’s enemy that Christians must remind the “enemy” of justice and right. It is part of loving to speak the truth. – Naim Ateek, from “Justice and Only Justice: A Palestinian Theology of Liberation”
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. – Dolly Parton
Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. – Arthur Somers Roche
Grace keeps us from worrying because worry deals with the past, while grace deals with the present and future. – Joyce Meyer
Prayer for the Week of May 27: Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ, we believe that our lives can be transformed by your energy and heart-warming presence. We are thankful for the times when our lives seem to be paralyzed by fears or old patterns of doing things and you come to us like a flame of new life or a dove of peace. When all else seems to have left us, you come to us in renewal and friendship. We give you our thanks during this time of Pentecost. Amen.
Next Sunday, June 3, 2007:
Service of Confirmation and Reception Next Sunday, June 3: You will want to be present for this special service as we confirm and receive into membership the eight youth who have been participating in the 2007 Confirmation Class. The Rev. Dr. Stanley J. Menking, a retired United Methodist Pastor, and the father of Stephanie Ringler and grandfather of Confirmand Shannon Ringler, will be our Guest Preacher. Come, celebrate, and welcome our newest disciples!
Sun., June 3: 8:45 AM – Confirmation Service Rehearsal (Sanctuary)
- 9:00 AM – Adult Study – The Congregation (Sunshine Room)
- 10:15 AM – Worship and Sunday School (Pre-K through 12th Grade)
Trinity Sunday / Service of Confirmation and Reception
Preacher: Stanley J. Menking Theme: Jesus Is Praying for Us
Lectionary Readings: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Romans 5:1-5
Psalm 8 John 16:12-15
Special Reading: John 17:20-26
- 11:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)
- 5:30 PM – Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
- 6:30 PM – United Methodist Youth Fellowship (Youth Rm./Rm. 20)