Dear Centenary Family,

Advent is here! This is an exciting time of the year. I hope you will take time to review our stewardship letter included in this edition of our email. This coming Sunday, November 27, our service will conclude with an invitation to prayer at the altar. This is a great opportunity to express gratitude to God for all of God’s blessings. It is also an opportunity to spiritually prepare for the season of Advent and ask God to come to each of us in some new, life-giving way. Some of us may have our pledge cards ready to present and you are invited to present that during this time of prayer on Sunday. You may also make your pledge online (please see the letter you received in the mail for instructions, or click on the buttons below). And some may simply make a covenant with God about how you will express your generosity in the year to come.

I want to invite you join us in an Advent Study. We will meet beginning on Thursday, December 1 at 7 p.m. on Zoom. I’m working on a sermon series based on the Gospel readings from Matthew entitled “Characters of Christmas.” Each week we’ll look at the gospel reading with a focus on one of the characters in the text to see what we might learn about Advent and Christmas from them. This Sunday's text is Matthew 24:36-44. My title is A Christmas Card from Noah. (more information below)

Thanks for the outstanding response to our “Bring in the Harvest” effort. And thank you to our Staff Parish Relations Team, and to all of you for all you did to affirm the work of our staff here at Centenary this past Sunday. I think I speak for all of us in saying, “Thank you for your kindness and generosity.”

I’m praying that we all know more of Christ’s love and the world as we make this Advent journey together!

Peace,

Matt

Sundays at 10:30am

In person and online.

Facebook is back! We have added our Sunday morning worship livestream back to our Facebook page. Facebook is able to have automated close captioning which we hope will be helpful! Unfortunately, we do still have issues with Facebook muting some of our music. This doesn't always happen, but if you choose to watch our live stream through Facebook, please be aware that we have no control if the audio cuts out during the musical portions. 

We now also offer a live stream of the worship service on our website. This does not have closed captioning or the wonderful interactive opportunities of Church Online , but it does offer an easy way to watch the service on your phones.

We continue to recommend Church Online as our preferred viewing platform.

It offers the best viewing experience, along with opportunity to chat with our

online community and access the bulletin and Bible with one click!

Do you enjoy sending

Christmas cards?

We have two ways to spread

the love and joy of the season.

We will send Christmas greetings to our military Veterans at McGuire Hospital again this year. There will be a box located at the entrance to the Sanctuary for your cards, which will be delivered to the hospital on December 18. Please address the envelopes with: To a Veteran, To a Hero, To a Brave Person, etc. Inside the card please thank them for their service to our country, their devotion to freedom, their sacrifice, admiration for their service, etc. Please sign your card.  Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge these women and men after all they have done in service to our country. 

We also have the opportunity for you to share the holiday spirit with our own homebound congregation members. We have a mailing list with 15 addresses and also have a limited supply of Christmas cards. If interested in spreading the joy of the season in this way, please contact the church office.

An Advent Journey

Characters of Christmas

Our Wednesday morning Bible study will take a break and we invite you to join us for a Zoom Bible study each Thursday evening during Advent as we take at look at he Characters of Christmas. We will see what we can learn about preparing our hearts for Christmas from some of the people, some well-known, others less so, who find their way into the story of Advent and Christmas. Each Thursday, we’ll talk about the Gospel readings from Matthew we’re using in Sunday worship. An email will be sent out each Wednesday with the Zoom link.

• December 1 - Noah and John the Baptist - Matthew 24:36-44 & Matthew 3:1-12
• December 8 - I Don't Like Advent - I'm Ready for Christmas
• December 15 - Joseph - Matthew 1:18-25
• December 22 - Mary - Luke 2:1-20

Join us Sunday mornings following the 10:30am worship service. We gather in Fellowship Hall.

This week's episode:  While Jesus and Matthew prepare the content of the big sermon, the disciples spread the word while fighting amongst themselves. A high-ranking Sanhedrin member is shocked by Shmuel's reports on Jesus. John wonders whether anyone will come to hear the sermon.

Online Giving Made Easier

To make online giving even easier, we are introducing a QR code for our online giving webpage. Simply scan the QR code with your smartphone’s camera or QR reader and you are ready to go. You do not need an account in Realm to give! You can give one time or set up recurring giving from our giving page. The QR code will be available in the “Upcoming Events” area of the bulletin. Thank you for your support of the many ministries here at Centenary.

We are truly

blessed to work

at Centenary!

This wonderful community of caring and thoughtful people makes it easy to come to work and it is a joy to be in ministry with you all! Thank you for such a special morning and for the generosity of this congregation!

~The Staff at Centenary

Thank You!

Because of you generosity, Bring in the Harvest was a success. The carloads of groceries were delivered to Sherbourne UMC Food Pantry.!