Dear Centenary Church Family:
This Sunday, October 7—World Communion Sunday, will be a very special service at Centenary as we will be united in worship with Pastor John Wonyung Choi, Assistant Pastors Nathan Hwang and Tae Moon Jung, and the members of Dreaming Fellowship Church, the Korean-language congregation with whom we have recently entered into a shared facility-relationship covenant. This will truly emphasize and underscore the international spirit of “…the Church which Jesus Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races,” as our Baptismal Covenant reminds us. Our Service will begin at 10:15 AM with some time of sharing celebrations and concerns, prayer and the singing of Make Us One as we center ourselves for Worship. I will offer a time of conversation with the children, following which children and youth in Pre-K through Grade 12 will be invited to participate in Sunday School classes.

After the reading of the two Scripture lessons–Luke 24:28-35 and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26–members of the Dreaming Fellowship Chorus, under Pastor Hwang’s direction, will bring us a special Anthem, My Life Is Changed. My Message, Christ Our Lord, Invites You…, will focus on the invitation to us all to come to the Table of Christ. Pastor Hwang will then teach us a special Korean hymn of praise, We Are One in Christ. Our Chancel Choir will sing Panis Angelicus (O Lord, I Give You Praise) by César Franck, as edited, arranged, and translated by Patrick Liebergen. We will celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion together. You will be invited to consider coming forward at the end of the service to share a word of blessing to and for the congregation in a language other than English. As in prior years, that World Benediction will be a simple phrase—The peace of God be with you—but what a gift to receive it in the many different languages represented within our congregation! We will then conclude our Worship with the singing of a verse from God Be with You till We Meet Again. Our Celebration of Found Coins is designated for the 2007 CROP Walk for World Hunger on October 21. Immediately following our Worship service, we will all join together for an International Pot-Luck Luncheon. Please see additional details about the lunch and other aspects of our service in the paragraphs below:

You are encouraged to come to Worship wearing clothing that reflects your national or ethnic heritage. It is wonderful to look out over the congregation and to see how we reflect both the multiversity and universality of the people of God.

We are asking each household (individual and/or family) to bring a special loaf of bread to our World Communion Service on October 7. It may be a loaf you or another member of your family prepares and bakes at home; it may be a special loaf you select to purchase from a bakery. During the Celebration of Found Coins Pastor Painter will invite you to come forward with your offerings and also place your loaves in large baskets at the foot of the Altar. We will be using four different loaves of bread for our Communion serving at four different locations in the Sanctuary—representing “the four corners of the world.” We will bless all of the loaves and then distribute them back out to the congregation at the conclusion of the service. In this simple way you may enjoy the gifts of one another symbolized through these many different kinds bread. If there are loaves remaining when the service is concluded, we will arrange for them to be shared with people in our area who may be blessed by the gifts of our bread.
Flags: There will be a colorful display of flags from 150 nations around the world in our Sanctuary, thanks to a special gift from our Children’s Ministries program.

Finally, everyone is invited to share together in an International Pot-Luck Lunch following Worship. We invite you to bring a dish to share reflective of your heritage. In a congregation like Centenary, composed of persons from a variety of different cultures—along with our sisters and brothers from Dreaming Fellowship Church—we anticipate a delicious opportunity to sample food from a wide variety of cuisines. Come at Christ’s invitation to share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion and “International Table Fellowship” at Centenary on Sunday, October 7.

TGIF Intergenerational Dinner and Lectionary Discussion and a lot of fun together will meet on Fridays, October 5 & 12 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: Friday, October 5 at 7:30 PM in the Sunshine Room: The Book under discussion will be The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography by Sidney Poitier. We welcome new members, male or female, ages 18 years of age and older. Interest, questions or the need for other information can be directed to Pastor Bauknight at (908) 419-4101, by e-mail at REVTDB395@aol.com, or by leaving a message at the church office.

Metuchen Country Fair—This Saturday, October 6: This is our only United Methodist Women and Methodist Men fund raising activity so we need all the help we can get. We will need help early in the morning setting up (7:00-9:00 AM), working at our booth later in the morning and afternoon and then we will need help cleaning up (after 3:00 PM) and bringing unsold items back to church. It is a lot of fun and you get to see all your neighbors on Main Street! Help is needed between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM with selling at both the UMW Craft booth and at our Library booth. We especially need assistance with the Library booth since Lovina Garbochesky will be very limited in what she is able to do. Help is being requested in two hour increments: 9:00-11:00 AM, 11:00 AM-1:00 PM; and, 1:00-3:00 PM, if possible. (You’re welcome to offer assistance for more than one two-hour period if you are able and willing to do so.) And help will also be needed with cleaning up and transporting items back to the church after 3:00 PM. If you can help for any period of time, please contact Sylvia Woodfield at (Home) 732-54549-9042 (Please leave a message if Sylvia is out…which) or on her Cell phone: 732-500-6379. Sylvia will also be at the Church Office tomorrow morning (732-548-7622), substituting for Mary Kay Dangremond. Thank you for your response. Many hands make light work!

Books for Sale: The Church Library will be having their usual book sale at the Metuchen Fair. If you have some books you wish to contribute to their sale please bring them in and leave them by the table outside the library. They will need help also early in the morning to set up and also to help at the table selling the books and then cleaning up in the afternoon.

Mark Your Calendars! “Variety Night at Club Centenary” Saturday, October 13th at 7:00 PM This fun event will feature a stand-up comedian, song-writer/poet, magician and jazz pianist and desserts will be served. Sponsored by our Music Ministries.

Israel-Palestine Adult Study—October 14, 21, 28 & November 4: The Sunday Morning Adult Study will focus on Israel & Palestine for four weeks, beginning at 9:00 AM on October 14. Pastor John Painter will lead the first three sessions (October 14, 21 & 28) and Bob Carlson will lead the final session on November 4, while Pastor John is in Argentina with the Volunteer-in-Mission team from Centenary. Pastor John attended the study on Israel-Palestine at the 2007 Greater New Jersey Annual Conference Cooperative School of Christian Mission this past July.

The resource for this study is Israel-Palestine: A Mission Study for 2007-2008 by Stephen Goldstein. A limited number of copies have been ordered and are available to Adult Study participants through the Church Office (and at the class sessions) for $9.00 apiece. Come and share in this important study of this critical area of the world in the Centenary Sunday Morning Adult Study at 9:00 AM on October 14 through November 4 in the Sunshine Room.

FAREWELL OPEN HOUSE FOR MILLIE PLEULER
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20TH – from 2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
IN THE SUNSHINE ROOM AT CENTENARY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

Some of you may have heard that Millie Pleuler will be leaving our area and moving to Florida to live with her daughter and son-in-law, Connie and Don Milone.

Millie will be leaving by October 24. This Open House will give you an opportunity to say your farewells to Millie, tell her how much you will miss her and remember good times we have had together.

We will have a Remembrance Scrapbook which we will give to Millie. If you wish to send a note, letter, or perhaps a picture or two to be included in this book, please send it in to the church not later than Wednesday, October 10th. You can mail it to the Church or give it to Stephanie Ringler at church today as she will be composing the Scrapbook.

There will be some light refreshments and punch and coffee and tea. If you are able to provide some of the refreshments or help in any other way, please contact Sylvia Woodfield (732) 549-9042.

2007 Church Conference – Sunday, October 21 at 5:30 PM: The Rev. Veronica P. Palmer, Raritan Valley District Superintendent, has announced that the 2007 Church Conference of Centenary United Methodist Church will be held on Sunday, October 21 at 5:30 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 5:30 PM on Sunday, October 21, 2007, nominations will be received and an election held for a vacancy in the Class of 2009 and for three members of the Class of 2010 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 (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 2007 Church Conference will be included in the weekly Worship bulletins.

2007 CROP Walk ? Sunday, October 21 at 12:30 PM: The Metuchen-Edison 2005 CROP Walk for World Hunger will begin with sign-in and registration at 12:30 PM on October 21, and “Step-Off” on the Walk at 1:00 PM from First Presbyterian Church in Metuchen (to which all walkers will return at the end of the walk). Envelopes to secure sponsors for the 2007 CROP Walk are presently available through the Church Office. We need persons who are able to walk and those who can sponsor walkers, and others who can offer support as needed… Please speak with Pastor John Painter for additional information or to offer your assistance.

Acolytes Needed: Young persons in the Fourth Grade and above who are interested in serving as Acolytes in Worship are invited to contact Acolyte Coordinator Leslie Hale (732-906-8581) or the Church Office (732-548-7622 or CentaryUMC@aol.com) to receive information and to sign up to serve on a specific date this fall/winter. Pastor Painter and others from our Worship Committee will be available to assist any new Acolytes to undertake their important responsibilities. Those who have served as Acolytes previously are especially encouraged to place their names on the sign-up sheet in the Narthex.

All Saints’ Sunday, November 4, 2007: At our 10:15 AM Service of Worship on November 4 we will name and remember those members and friends of the Centenary Church Family who have joined the Communion of Saints since last November. If you have loved ones or friends who have died since November 5, 2006, and you would like their names lifted up in memory during our All Saints’ Sunday Service, please provide that information to the Church Office by Wednesday, October 31, so that they may be included. You may leave those names with Mary Kay Dangremond by phone during regular Church Office hours (9:00 AM-1:00 PM weekdays), or provide them to the Church by E-mail (CentaryUMC@aol.com ), Fax (732-548-6256), or regular mail.

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:

The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduced yourself to had life not done it for you. – Kendall Hailey

The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: “What are you going through?” – Simone Weil

You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience. – Stanislaw J. Lec

We are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside… True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.

God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, “I love you.” – Billy Graham

Happiness comes when you believe in what you are doing, know what you are doing, and love what you are doing. – Brian Tracy

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people. – Victor Borge

Patience is also a form of action. – Auguste Rodin

I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm. – Calvin Coolidge

Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed. – St. Francis de Sales

That’s what happens when you’re angry at people. You make them part of your life. – Garrison Keillor

Next Sunday, October 14, 2007:
9:00 AM – Adult Study — Israel-Palestine (Sunshine Room)
10:15 AM – Worship and Sunday School (Pre-K through 12th Grade)
The 21st Sunday After Pentecost / Laity Sunday
Preacher: Giselle Esquivel Cordero Theme: “Who Do You Say That I Am?”
Lectionary Readings: Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 2 Timothy 2:8-15
Psalm 66:1-12 Luke 17:11-19
Special Readings: Exodus 3:1-15 Matthew 16:13-20
Isaiah 6:8
11:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)
12:30 PM – Dreaming Fellowship Church Worship, SS, Fellowship
(Sanctuary, Parenting Room, Chapel, Room 20)
5:45 PM – Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
6:30 PM – CUMC Youth Fellowship (Youth Room)

Prayer for the Week of October 7: O God, we thank you that Jesus knows our hardest journeys and that our cries to you are never scorned. We are grateful for the prophets of old who dared to shout their pain into the universe, trusting in a God who would hear them and carry their feet toward faith. Thank you for moments when we glimpse another hope and a new future, gifts that lift our faith and call us on. Amen.

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

Shalom, John

John D. Painter