Dear Centenary Church Family:

We will gather in our Sanctuary at 10:15 AM this Sunday, November 12, for Worship and Sunday School (Pre-K through 12th Grade Youth). Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will bring a word with the children. We will celebrate the Sacrament of Christian Baptism for Harrison William Pearce and Andrew Thomas Pearce, twin sons of Todd and Julie Pearce, and brothers of big sister Alyson Grace Pearce, who were born on July 5, 2006. My morning Message, The Gift of Passion, will be based on the Gospel reading from Mark 12:38-44. We will also hear the Epistle reading from 2 Corinthians 9: 6-15. The Chancel Choir will sing Make Me a Channel of God’s Peace, a choral setting of the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, composed by Sebastian Temple and arranged for choir by Jane Holstein. Our Celebration of Found Coins will be designated for the Casa Paula Street Ministry for Children in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

Our Sunday morning Adult Study will conclude its series on In the Dust of the Rabbi this Sunday at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room. Adult Study Leader Bob Carlson reminds us that we will begin a new Advent series on Sunday, November 19th:
ADULT CLASS ADVENT STUDY: The Adult Class will begin its Advent Study, “Salt of the Earth: Palestinian Christians in the Northern West Bank,” next Sunday, November 19. The DVD we will be using consists of ten short documentary films made by two Presbyterian missionaries who served in the northern West Bank for more than three years. Through their films we will explore the challenges facing the Christian Church in the land of its birth 2,000 years ago. We will also see the inspiring stories of individual Christians struggling to live their faith in a land where they are members of a minority religion surrounded by Arab Muslims and Jews. Join us for this exciting and timely study, starting next Sunday at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room.

Centenary Book Club meets this Friday, November 10 at 7:30 PM in the Sunshine Room. The group will be discussing The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Written in 2004, this is the author’s debut literary work. The son of a diplomat, the author was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and his family received political asylum in the United States in 1980 after being forced to leave their homeland. This book is an epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, which takes us from Afghanistan in the final days of the monarchy to the atrocities of the present. Critics say that The Kite Runner is an unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father’s servant. The book is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies. We look forward to seeing you there! (There will be no TGIF this Friday, November 10th. Kids’ Night Out will be held on Friday, November 17th at 6:30 PM.)

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

Refreshments: Persons are invited to sponsor the time of coffee and refreshments following our Sunday Worship services in December. Please consider sponsoring a refreshment time and signing up for one of the available weeks 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.

Centenary United Methodist Women still has a number of items for sale. They are on the table outside the church office. These items were made for the Metuchen Fair and will make wonderful gifts for your Christmas giving. There is also one last box of the chocolate pecan caramel candies for $5 each. There is a blue box in which you can place your money. Thanks.

You’re invited to a Pampered Chef Fundraiser Show to benefit CentenaryUnitedMethodistChurch!!

We’re celebrating with Tina Painter at
Centenary United Methodist Church
200 Hillside Ave, Metuchen
And you’re invited!!!
Date: November 18, 2006
Time: 6:59 PM
RSVP to Tina at 732/549-1786 by 11/12/06
Join us for a sampling of easy entertaining ideas and recipes and a fun demo of quality kitchen tools from The Pampered Chef!

This is a chance to get out and see friends and learn some new recipes that might come in handy for the upcoming holidays. And while we’re at it, we just might get some of our holiday shopping done EARLY! Whether you love to cook or not, come join the fun!
Bring a friend or an outside order and get a FREE GIFT!! Door Prizes awarded for Early Bird & Most Friends/Orders Brought

Can’t attend but you’d like to help? Visit www.pamperedchef.biz/123 to place an order. Enter CUMC as the organization. Or just see Tina Painter or Pat Iacone for a catalog.

2006 Church Conference – Sunday, November 19th at 6:30 PM: The Rev. Veronica P. Palmer, Raritan Valley District Superintendent, has announced that the 2006 Church Conference of Centenary United Methodist Church will be held on Sunday, November 19th at 6:30 PM at Centenary. You are encouraged to enter this date and time in your calendars and plan to attend this annual conference of our church.

As required by The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church, and by the laws of the State of New Jersey, official notice is hereby given that at the Church Conference of Centenary United Methodist Church at 6:30 PM on Sunday, November 19, 2006, nominations will be received and an election held for three members of the Class of 2009 of the Board of Trustees. All members of Centenary United Methodist Church are eligible to vote on all matters before the Conference, and to vote in the election of leaders for the new year (except those under the age of 18 are not able to vote on the election of members of the Board of Trustees).

Further information about our 2006 Church Conference is included in the November Lamplighter. A list of those persons to be newly elected to positions of leadership at our 2006 Church Conference will be included in the additional bulletin insert on Sunday, November 12th.

Community Interfaith Thanksgiving Service
Tuesday, November 21st @ 7:30 PM— TempleBethEl in Edison
The annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Service sponsored by the Metuchen-Edison Interfaith Clergy Association will be held on Tuesday, November 21st at 7:30 PM. This year the service will be held Temple Beth El @ 91 Jefferson Boulevard in Edison. The Rev. Dr. Ronald Owens, Senior Pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Metuchen, will be the keynote speaker for the evening. The Rev. Kathleen Cardy Tice, Senior Pastor of the Stelton Baptist Church in Edison is the Chair of the event.
Numerous clergy of all faiths will participate in the service, together with several choirs and congregational singing. Refreshments will be served following the service. Congregation Beth El is located off US Route 1 south, near the Wick Shopping Center; Jefferson Avenue runs south from Plainfield Avenue at the light for the Wick Plaza Center. We trust many from Centenary Church will want to join with worshipers from the churches, synagogues and mosques of the Metuchen and Edison area to participate in this service of celebration and thanks to God.

Thanksgiving Altar Decorations on November 19th: On Sunday, November 19th, Thanksgiving Sunday, we will again decorate our altar with fruits and vegetables as part of our harvest celebration and thanksgiving to God for the abundant blessings we have received. We ask that you donate some of your favorite fruits and/or vegetables, bringing them to the Narthex on Saturday, November 18th, from 10:00 AM—12:00Noon. (You may also leave them in the Church Office during the weekdays prior.) If you would like to help us arrange these gifts on the altar on that Saturday morning, please let the Church Office or Worship Chairperson Chris Rose know.

In addition, we will be accepting donations of canned goods and non-perishable foods (Thanksgiving Meal trimmings; cereals, peanut butter, etc.) Saturday morning, November 18th (or you may bring them with you to the Worship service on November 19th). We plan to have the children bring these additional gifts forward at the beginning of the service.

After our worship service on Sunday the 19th your gifts will be removed from the altar, packaged, and distributed to families for whom provisions for a Thanksgiving meal will be particularly challenging this year.

Thanksgiving Day Dinner—November 23 @ 12:30 PM: All are welcome! Please sign up on the reservation sheets in the Narthex so we can have an accurate count for the meal. Thanks, Cathy & Michael Savoia (732-732-826-1921).

Some Thoughts for This Week:

Pride is the only poison that is good for us when swallowed.

God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere. – Timaeus of Locris

Duty makes us do things well, but love makes us do them beautifully.
– Phillips Brooks
The trouble with little sins is that they don’t stay little.
In Christ, God comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable.
We die by living to ourselves; We live by dying to ourselves.
Eternity is not something that begins after you are dead. It is going on all the time. We are in it now. – Charlotte P. Gilman
The first sign of senility is to believe we have all the answers.
Prayer for the Week of November 12: We give you thanks, O God, that the life of faith is far from ordinary. We thank you that it stretches us in unexpected ways, giving us a picture of possibilities far beyond where we have been. We thank you that Jesus pointed to vulnerable people as being among those who carried in their lives the hope for us all, and that he challenged our complacencies. We thank you that the risks of living Christ’s life are outweighed by abundance that visits us when we join him. Thanks be to God for the exciting way before us. Amen.

Next Sunday, November 19, 2006: The Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost /
Thanksgiving Sunday / Stewardship Sunday / Bible Sunday
8:45 AM – Confirmation Class (Room 20)
9:00 AM – Adult Class – Salt of the Earth
10:15 AM – Worship & Sunday School (Pre-K thru Senior High)
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: Relax
Lectionary Readings: Joel 2:21-27 1 Timothy 2:1-7
Psalm 126 Matthew 6:25-33
11:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)
2:00-5:00 PM – United Methodist Youth Fellowship
District Youth Gathering (Bridgewater)
5:30 PM – Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
5:30 PM – Staff-Parish Relations Committee (Sunshine Room)
6:30 PM – 2006 Church Conference (Sanctuary)

I look forward to sharing with many of you in study, Worship and fellowship this Sunday at Centenary.

Shalom, John