Dear Centenary Church Family:

Today (November 1) is All Saint’s Day, and at our 10:15 AM (Eastern Standard Time) Service of Worship this Sunday, November 4, we will observe All Saints’ Sunday at Centenary. Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will share a word with the children, after which those in Pre-K through 12th Grade will be invited to participate in Sunday School. Pastor Terrilisa’s morning Message, Saints Among Us, will be based on the Epistle reading from Ephesians 1:11-23 and from the Gospel of Luke 6:20-31. The names of members and friends of the Centenary Church Family who have died since November 5, 2006, will be lifted up for special remembrance, followed by a “Prayer for the Departed Saints.” During the Offertory, our Chancel Choir will sing Saints Bound for Heaven, arranged by Matthew Burton. We will share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, during which the choir will also sing Remember Me by Dana Mengel. Our Celebration of Found Coins for November is designated for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) Emergency Appeal for the California Wildfires (see article below).

Fall Back…
Eastern Standard Time Returns This Sunday, November 4, 2007
Remember to turn your clocks back one hour before you go to bed this Saturday evening, November 3, or you will be an hour early for Church School and Worship on All Saints’ Sunday, November 4. Enjoy the annual gift of an extra hour of sleep J.

UMCOR EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: Many families lost their homes during the raging wildfires that consumed large portions of Southern California in late October. Our United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is on site helping with relief and recovery efforts. Donations to help the area recover can be placed in our Celebration Found Coins barrel during November. Gifts may also be mailed to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, New York, NY 10087. Write “UMCOR Advance #901670, Domestic Disaster Response,” on the memo line of your check. Call (800) 554-8583 to give by credit card over the phone or you may give online at www.umcor.org. One hundred percent of your donation goes to support the relief efforts of this emergency appeal for California wildfires.

TGIF Intergenerational Dinner and Lectionary Discussion and a lot of fun together will meet tomorrow, Friday, November 2, from 6:30-8:30 PM. A barrel offering is taken to defray the costs for the meal and materials. Persons of all ages are invited and encouraged to attend.

Centenary Book Club: The Club will meet tomorrow, Friday, November 2 at 7:30 PM, to discuss Moloka’i by Alan Brennert. Interested persons are invited to join the Book Club or just attend a session that discusses a book that you find yourself interested in. The Club remains open to both men and women who are 18 years of ages and older.

PRAYERS REQUESTED FOR OUR VOLUNTEERS IN MISSION: We lift our entire VIM Team before you for prayer as they depart for Buenos Aires, Argentina, this Saturday evening, and especially while they are serving in the name of Jesus Christ from November 4-10 in Mar del Plata and Balcarce. Pray for traveling mercies as they leave for the USA on Saturday, November 10 and arrive back in NJ on Sunday morning, November 11:
Maria Armington Arlene Gray John Painter
Giselle Esquivel Cordero Carla Gray Sue Poet
Mary Ellen Heim Emily Mochel Michael Savoia
Glenna Gundell Jodi Mochel Cathy Savoia
Kevin Mochel Hazel Srebi
A special time of prayer with the Centenary VIM Team will be held at approximately 4:15 PM on this Saturday, November 3 at the church, as the team prepares to depart for JFK International Airport. You are invited to come and share with our sisters and brothers in Christ in this prayerful send off.

Centenary will be serving dinner at the Ozanam Shelter on Monday, November 5. Please check the information on the bulletin board in the Narthex and sign up to assist with food preparation or serving in November. For further information for this month’s meal at Ozanam Shelter, please contact Sylvia Woodfield 732-549-9042. Thanks.

UNITED METHODIST WOMEN
Campbell Soup Labels – or rather the barcodes- are still being collected. There is a listing of exactly what is collected located on the United Methodist Women’s bulletin board adjacent to the men’s room off the narthex. You can put what you have collected in the basket in the library. These barcodes are sent to the Red Bird Mission in Kentucky, a United Methodist Mission. They use these coupons to acquire educational equipment for their mission school.
PECANS, PECANS, PECANS: United Methodist Women will again be selling pecans, cashews, pistachios, candies, trail mix, etc. this year. So don’t go out and buy any pecans from anyone else. We will have the pecans, etc. shortly for your holiday baking.
MITTEN TREE: Once again we will have our Mitten Tree in the Narthex. Look for it right after Thanksgiving. Bring hats, gloves, mittens, scarves until early December. These gifts will be sent to Red Bird Mission in Beverly, Kentucky – the heart of Appalachia. This is a United Methodist Mission and these gifts are greatly appreciated by the folks who live in the area and go to the Red Bird Mission School.

Thanksgiving Altar Decorations on November 18th
On Sunday, November 18th, 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 17th, from 10:00 AM—12:00 Noon. (You may also leave them in the Church Office during the weekdays immediately 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 (732-819-8540) 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 17th (or you may bring them with you to the Worship service on November 18th). We plan to have the children bring these additional gifts forward at the beginning of the service.
After our morning worship service and the afternoon service of Dreaming Fellowship Church on Sunday the 18th, 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.

Food Collection—Saturday, November 17 and/or Sunday, November 18: Please bring cereals, staple food items in plastic jars or cans, and paper products to share with persons in need in our area. We are deeply grateful for your generous sharing. Please see the article about our Thanksgiving Altar above.
Special 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

Turkeys for Thanksgiving
Please help us to respond to the request from our special senior citizens in Perth Amboy again this year. Supermarkets are offering free turkeys. Donated turkeys should be brought to the Church by 10:00 AM on the morning of Monday, November 19. Last year we gave over 50 turkeys; let’s see if we can do that again this year!!! Have questions or need further information? Contact Mary Ellen Heim (732-548-2587) or Glenna Gundell (732-463-1431) after November 11. Thanks for your generous sharing!

Community Interfaith Thanksgiving Service
Tuesday, November 20th @ 7:30 PM
Congregation Neve Shalom in Metuchen
The Metuchen-Edison Interfaith Clergy Association will sponsor an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service on Tuesday, November 20th, 7:30 PM, in Congregation Neve Shalom, 250 Grove Avenue, Metuchen. The service will be composed of two parts: a discussion led by members of different faiths on the subject of “Diversity in Middlesex County: Less Conflict, More Collaboration.” Rabbi Gerald Zelizer of Congregation Neve Shalom will moderate the discussion which will include brief statements by Imam Rauf Zaman, Muslim Center of Middlesex County, and Reverend Richard Ruch, Reformed Church of Metuchen, and will invite discussion from lay participants in the audience. The second part of the service will include prayers and readings of Thanksgiving from different religion traditions, choirs, drum, and other musical presentations. A reception will follow the service to which everyone is invited. 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.

ClothesLine Ministry: New Inventory Needed!
Because it’s hard for each local church group to collect all needed items, the ClothesLine Ministry has put together a list of continuously needed items. These are items which the ClothesLine can use on a regular basis:
· Blankets (we gave away over 500 last year) and Sleeping bags
· Towels and sheets
· Jeans/casual pants for all
· t shirts for all
· In season kid’s clothes
· Work boots, casual shoes and sneakers for all.
All items should be in very good—gently-used condition, clean and free of rips/tears. Items may be left in the hallway across from the Storage/Counters’ Room at Centenary.
—Thank you, The Clothesline

Refreshment Sponsors Needed: Persons are invited to sponsor the time of coffee and refreshments following our upcoming Sunday Worship services. Please consider sponsoring a refreshment time and signing up for one of the available weeks on the 2007 Refreshment Chart posted in the Narthex. Thank you for providing hospitality on a Sunday morning.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love, are the two greatest proofs, not only of goodness of heart, but of strength of mind. – William Hazlitt

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. – Edith Wharton

Do the right thing—it will gratify some people and astonish the rest. – Mark Twain

I thank You God for most this amazing day; for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes. – e.e. cummings

As our body cannot live without nourishment, so our soul cannot spiritually be kept alive without prayer. – St. Augustine

We cannot sow seeds with clenched fists. To sow we must open our hands. – Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Christ in a Poncho

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. – Corrie ten Boom

You can’t break a bad habit by throwing it out the window. You’ve got to walk it slowly down the stairs. – Mark Twain

The highest wisdom is loving kindness. – The Talmud

Where others see but the dawn coming over the hill, I see the soul of God shouting for joy. – William Blake

Reformation is turning over a new leaf;
Regeneration is receiving a new life.

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door. – Unknown

If life seems flat, accent it with the salt of God’s grace.

Next Sunday, November 11, 2007:
6:05 AM – VIM Team Arrives at JFK International Airport
9:00 AM – Adult Study — Jews and Christians (Sunshine Room)
10:15 AM – Worship and Sunday School (Pre-K through 12th Grade)
The 25th Sunday After Pentecost / Stewardship Sunday
Preacher: Terrilisa Durham Bauknight Theme: Stand Firm: He’s Coming
Lectionary Readings: Haggai 1:15b-2:9 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21 Luke 20:27-38
11:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)
12:30 PM – Dreaming Fellowship Church Worship, SS, Fellowship
(Sanctuary, Parenting Room, Chapel, Room 20, Sunshine Room)
5:45 PM – Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
6:30 PM – CUMC Youth Fellowship (Youth Room)
New Adult Class Study: “Jews and Christians—A Journey of Faith” Begins November 11: Centenary’s Adult Class will get an early start on the Advent Season when it begins a new six-week study called Jews and Christians—A Journey of Faith, next Sunday, November 11, at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room. The study will use the acclaimed documentary film of the same name to explore the common beliefs, traditions, and rituals shared by Judaism and Christianity. The video examines how contemporary Jews and Christians perceive each other, confront prejudice and stereotypes, and how they can understand and respect one another despite their differences. Among the questions addressed are: What do Jews believe? What do Christians believe? How has Judaism influenced Christianity? What caused the parting of the way between Jews and Christians? How do we build interfaith understanding? It is sad that two great religions that both claim Abraham as their father and share a common legacy have, over the last two thousand years, shared a history that is rich in trouble. Join us, beginning Sunday, November 11, as we confront the often inaccurate perceptions that Jews and Christians have of one another, and become more aware of how deeply our beliefs and traditions are intertwined. (Note: The final session of our four-week Adult Class study on Israel-Palestine will be held this Sunday, November 4, at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room. Bob Carlson will lead a discussion of the challenging video Children of the Nakba.)

Prayer for the Week of November 4: God of the dreamer and the dream, you place in our midst prophets of hope and visions of peace. We give you thanks for those who have walked before us heralding a new hope. For Moses and Miriam, Elijah and Amos, Mary and John the Baptist. For Martin Luther and John Wesley, Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross, for Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. We give you thanks that you still set hope ablaze in our hearts, that you are the planter of seeds behind our visions, that you are the voice behind our words of protest, that you are the nudge behind our deeds of compassion. For prophets past and visionaries yet to come, we give you thanks. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Prayer for the Week of November 11: Risen life springs up before our eyes, and our souls are filled with thankfulness. In all the earth we see the signs of the creativity of God and its power to transform our lives. In Jesus Christ we have the living witness to astonishing possibilities, for every age and in each one of us. With grateful hearts we give thanks to you, O God. Amen.

Pastoral Coverage while Pastor John Painter is in Argentina (from 5:00 PM Saturday, November 3, through Noon on Sunday, November 11) will be provided by Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight. If you have need for pastoral care during this time, please call the Church Office during regular hours (9:00 AM-1:00 PM weekdays) or call Pastor Bauknight directly at 908-419-4101.

My access to the Internet and to E-mail will be quite limited while our Volunteer-in-Mission Team is in Mar del Plata, Argentina, next week. It is quite likely I will not be able to send my regular weekly E-pistle to you toward the end of the week. Therefore, I have included the prayer for the week of November 11…and you will also find the information above about our Service of Worship and other activities on Sunday, November 11. Our thoughts and prayers will be with you from Argentina as you gather this Sunday for study, Worship and Christian Fellowship at Centenary…at just about the time that we anticipate arriving in Buenos Aires. Thank you for your prayers for the VIM Team as we share in mission and ministry with our sisters and brothers in Christ in Argentina next week.

Shalom, John