Dear Centenary Church Family:

“We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessings” in our Sanctuary at 10:15 AM on this Thanksgiving Sunday, November 19th. The children of our church will enter during this opening processional hymn bearing gifts of food for our distribution to families in need. Michael Savoia will bring a word to the children before those in Pre-K through 12th grade are dismissed for Sunday School classes. My morning Message, Relax, is drawn from Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-33. We will also hear a reading from the Prophet Joel 2:21-27. During the Offertory time, our Chancel Choir will sing two Thanksgiving anthems: Now Thank We All Our God by J. S. Bach, as arranged by Michael Larkin; and, Sing to the Lord by Alec Rowley. As the choir is singing, you will be invited to bring your offerings and your 2007 Commitment Cards forward to the Altar Table for presentation and blessing. (Ushers will also be available to receive offerings and Commitment Cards from persons who are not comfortable walking up to the Chancel area.) Our Celebration of Found Coins is designated for the Casa Paula Children’s Street Ministry in Mar Del Plata, Argentina.

Reminder: Kids’ Night Out is this evening (Friday, November 17) at 6:30 PM at the Church.

Thanksgiving Altar Decorations Needed Tomorrow: This 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 tomorrow (Saturday, November 18th), from 10:00 AM—12:00 Noon. If you would like to help us arrange these gifts on the altar on 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.

ADULT CLASS ADVENT STUDY: The Adult Class will begin its Advent Study, “Salt of the Earth: Palestinian Christians in the Northern West Bank,” this 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 this Sunday at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room.

Attention for Those Donating Turkeys for Thanksgiving Assistance: Turkeys need to be brought to the church by 9:30 AM on Monday, November 20th. We are deeply grateful for your donations, and hope to donate 35 Thanksgiving turkeys and all the fixin’s this year to elderly residents in Perth Amboy. Please contact Mary Ellen Heim for further details (732-548-2587). Thank you.
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

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).

Community Interfaith Thanksgiving Service
Tuesday, November 21st @ 7:30 PM — Temple Beth El 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 choirs, liturgical dance groups 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.

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.
Spiritual Angels: As noted in The Lamplighter, we are looking to begin our Spiritual Angels this month. Parents interested in having your children participate in this activity should forward the child’s name to Rev. Bauknight at RevTDB@aol.com, by placing a note in her mailbox at the Church Office, or by mailing it to P.O. Box 1561, Cranford, NJ 07016-5561. Information sheets are available upon receipt of a name and/or names. In addition, individuals interested in being spiritual angels should forward your name to Rev. Bauknight as well. The program is scheduled to begin later this month and continue through June.

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.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

We learn to play by playing; we learn to live by living;
We learn to pray by praying; we learn to give by giving.

A rejected opportunity to give is a lost opportunity to receive.

Before me, even as behind, God is, and all is well. – John Greenleaf Whittier

We don’t need more strength than the strength God gives us.
We don’t need more knowledge than we already have.
All we need is the will to do what needs to be done.
-Charles Swindoll
I believe in God like I believe in the sun, not because I can see it, but because of it all things are seen. – C. S. Lewis
Only if we’re faultless do we have a right to look for faults in others.
Prayer must come not from the roof of the mouth,
But from the root of the heart.

Prayer for the Week of November 19: How good it is to join in prayers of thanksgiving and songs of praise! You have been good to us, gracious God! For sunshine and rain, for the labors of all who harvest the grain, we pour out our gratitude. You have dealt wondrously with us so that we have more than we need. Dwell with us now that we may not only be inspired to share but also prompted to work for a more just world in which all your children have enough to eat and reasons for joy. Amen.

Next Sunday — November 26, 2006: The Last Sunday After Pentecost/
Reign of Christ/United Methodist Student Day
9:00 AM – Adult Class – Salt of the Earth
10:15 AM – Worship & Sunday School (Pre-K thru Senior High)
Preacher: Terrilisa Durham Bauknight Theme: A King and Kingdom to Come
Lectionary Readings: 2 Samuel 23:1-7 Revelation 1:4b-8
Psalm 132:1-12 John 18:33-37
11:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)

I look forward to sharing with many of you in Study, Thanksgiving Worship and Fellowship this Sunday morning at Centenary.

Shalom, John