Dear Centenary Church Family:

We will gather at 10:15 AM this Sunday, September 16, 2007, to celebrate and praise God on the 16th Sunday After Pentecost. Michael Savoia will share a special word with the children, after which we will share in the dedication of our faithful 2007-2008 Sunday School Teachers and Staff. We will be join together in the administration of the Sacrament of Christian Baptism for Preston Christopher Masigla, infant son of Ponciano & Arlene Masigla. Assistant Pastor Terrilisa Durham Bauknight will bring the morning Message, What If You Were the Lost One?, based on the readings from the Gospel of Luke 15:1-10 and the prophet Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28. Our Chancel Choir will sing Amazing Grace/Pachelbel’s Canon by Jean Anne Shafferman. Our Celebration of Found Coins for September is designated for the Volunteer-in-Mission Trip to Mar del Plata, Argentina, on November 3-11.

Food Collection—This Sunday, September 16: 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. 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

Wanted: Children’s Sunday School Teachers for 2007-2008 – Are you looking to help guide a child through their spiritual journey, and become the happiest person around? Working with children can be very exciting and uplifting. Join us, and become a part of the Centenary Sunday School Team. Contact Cathy Savoia for more information: 732-826-1921 or 732-548-7622 x12.

Centenary Book Club: Members of the Club are reading Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, and we will use this as the basis of our discussion for our first session tomorrow, Friday, September 14, 2007, at 7:30 PM in the Sunshine Room. The Book Club looks forward to any and all who wish to join, male or female and 18 years of age.

BECOMING PASSIONATE DISCIPLES OF JESUS IS ADULT CLASS STUDY: How passionate are you about your walk with Jesus? Do you think of yourself as a church “member” or as a “disciple” of Jesus Christ? Why is it often easier to be excited about hobbies, sports, homes, and occupations than about our Christian faith?

Centenary’s Adult Class is viewing a video series called Walk As Jesus Walked: Making Disciples. We meet each Sunday at 9:00 AM in the Sunshine Room. The series features Ray Vander Laan, whose video tours of the Holy Land are the next best thing to being there. In this series, we will travel to archaeological sites in Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) that few people ever see, where the geographical and historical contexts of the Bible take on powerful relevance for modern believers.

A gifted historian and teacher, the Rev. Vander Laan delivers a powerful message in each episode of the Bible’s timeless call to Christians of every generation to impact the culture they live in. Join us as we follow in the footsteps of the earliest Christian disciples as they loved the Messiah with all their heart, all their soul, and all their might–every moment of every day.

Centenary
Open House Sunday
Please join us for our Fall Open House Sunday
September 23, 2007
@ 10:15 AM

Join us on this day for fellowship, fun & food
An opportunity to get to know your
Centenary family and its ministries.

Please invite your family and friends
to join us for this exciting event.

Bring an extra special cake, pie or other treat
to share with our new visitors during coffee hour.

Bishop’s Songfest!—Sunday, September 23, 2007, 3:00 to 5:00 PM @ Ocean Grove: When we sing O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing at the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove on September 23, 2007, we want to mean that literally! Don’t miss this opportunity to lift your voice in praise to God as we gather again as an Annual Conference. We will begin at 3:00 PM and the Songfest will be filled with songs of praise and thanksgiving from every corner of the world, hymns, anthems, and special music celebrating the great diversity of God’s global family. Pastor John Painter and others will be attending, and you are invited to contact him about riding to ocean Grove together on September 23.

Reminder: Kids’ Night Out–Friday, September 28, 2007 from 6:30-8:30 PM at Centenary

ART AUCTION
Saturday, September 29, 2007
7:00 PM Preview — 8:00 PM Auction

Door Prizes – Silent Auction – Refreshments
Tickets Are Available at $10.00 per Person
See Glenna Gundell Sundays following Worship
or Call the Church Office to Reserve
732-548-7622
All profits from the Art Auction are to provide support for resources
to be used for the work of the
Volunteer-in-Mission Trip by Members of Centenary
to Mar del Plata, Argentina, November 3-11, 2007

Centenary will next be serving dinner at the Ozanam Shelter on Monday, October 1. Please check the information on the bulletin board in the Narthex and sign up to assist with food preparation or serving in October. For further information, please contact Glenna Gundell (732-463-1431) or Mary Ellen Heim (732-548-2587). Thanks.
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.

United Methodist Women News: Metuchen Fair—Saturday, October 6: October will be here before we realize it. Don’t let your hands and brains go on vacation. Use them to make some items for the United Methodist Women to sell at their table at the Metuchen Fair. This is our only fund raising activity so we need all the help we can get. If you need patterns for knitting or sewing, please see Sylvia Woodfield or Millie Pleuler. Watch the Bulletin for details of upcoming workshops we will have for the Metuchen Fair.

Some Thoughts for This Week:

We are supposed to forgive everyone; everyone includes ourselves. – Denis Waitley

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. – Carl Bard

Fear not for the future, weep not for the past. – Percy Bysshe Shelley

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there. – Charles Kettering

Spend 80 percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday. – Brian Tracy

I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love. – Henry Ward Beecher, Quoted in How Shall We Live by Joan Chittister, OSB.

There are two kinds of people: those who do the work, and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there. – Indira Gandhi

Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to know God. – Andrew Murray

Bitterness and an unforgiving spirit can be likened to you taking poison and expecting that someone else would die from the effect. Forgiveness is about setting the prisoner in your heart free only to discover that all along, you had been the real prisoner. – ‘Tope Popoola

God can’t hand you anything new until you let go of what you’re holding. My Mind Is Out to Get Me by Dr. Ron B. (Copyright 1994 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.)

Yesterday is so far in the past I can’t see it; tomorrow is too distant in the future to be seen. So I’ll take a good look at what I can see—today. My Mind Is Out to Get Me by Dr. Ron B. (Copyright 1994 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved.)

Next Sunday, September 23, 2007:
9:00 AM – Adult Study — Walk As Jesus Walked (Sunshine Room)
10:15 AM – Worship and Sunday School (Pre-K through 12th Grade)
The 17th Sunday After Pentecost / Open House Sunday
Preacher: John D. Painter Theme: Welcome Home
Lectionary Readings: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 1 Timothy 2:1-7
Psalm 79:1-9 Luke 16:1-13
11:30 AM – Fellowship Time (Room 20)
12:30 PM – Dreaming Fellowship Church Worship, SS, Fellowship
Sanctuary, Parenting Room, Sunshine Room, Room 20
3:00 PM – Bishop’s Songfest @ Ocean Grove Great Auditorium
5:45 PM – Junior Choir Rehearsal (Music Room)
6:30 PM – CUMC Youth Fellowship (Youth Room)

Prayer for the Week of September 16: We thank you, Jesus Christ, that you sat with those whom others rejected. We give you thanks that we may acknowledge our own humanness because we believe that you will not turn away from us. We thank you that you never give up searching for all those who are lost, including us, who also have times when we are left behind. Thank you for your gentleness and strength, O Christ. Amen.

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

Shalom, John