ASSETS (Singles) will meet for lunch on Wednesday, February 20, at 1:00 PM at the Green Mill.  If you have questions, please contact Betty Somers at 651-633-4127.

Deborah Fellowship (women of all ages) will meet for breakfast and fellowship at Baker’s Square in Roseville Friday, March 7, at 8:30 AM. Contact Nancy Ness, 651-483-3663.

Men’s Club Dinner Program March 17 at 6:30 PM.  Vern Eidman, who is a professor at the U of M and a member of Centennial, will be speaking on "The Expanding Bio-Fuels Industry: What Does it mean for Minnesotans?".

Men’s Retreat March 7 - 8.  Fun, food, fellowship, and reflection with other guys...Friday supper to Saturday lunch at Carondelet Center in St. Paul.  Sign up at the Welcome Center.

Piecemakers meet at 9:30 AM Wednesdays at the church for craftwork. Contact Donna Hedblom at 651-633-4191.

Prime Timers Irish Pot Luck and Game Night.  Friday March 14 at 6:30 PM.  Sign up in the Welcome Center.
Married Couples Group next meeting is March 15 at 6:30 PM.

S.O.S. (Slightly Older Singles) Extra Chalkboard Capers at Irondale High School, Saturday April 5 at 1:00 PM.  Tickets are $5.00 and your check is your reservation.  Please mail check by February 25.  If you have questions, contact Barbara Stone at 651-653-4296 or Corky Donaldson at 651-765-0046.

UMW “Challenges in Addressing Abuse Later in Life” on Thursday, March 6 at 10:00 AM presented by Char Thompson. 

Women’s Breakfast Fellowship meets Wednesdays at Byerly’s, 7:00-8:00 AM. Contact Thelma Boeder, 651-489-2604.

Women’s Night Out (women of all ages in fellowship) will be gathering at Bakers Square on March 3 at 6:30 PM. Contact Wendy at wendylucas@comcast.net.

Young Adult Ministry (Ages 18 -35, singles & married with no children) Dinner March 7 at
6:00 PM.  Contact Kelly Swanson at 651-633-7644 or kswanson@centennialumc.org.

Remember in Prayer

   Steve Koehn, Todd Lewis, Carter Nerhaugen, Eric Nevalainen, and Perry Olson who are in active military service.  Steve is at a base in Korea, Todd and Eric are now home from Iraq, Carter is in Iraq, and Perry is at Fort Wainwright in Alaska.

We remember
John H. Landis who passed away on December 13, 2007.
Harland Hedlund who passed away on February 1, 2008.
Isabelle Brown who passed away on February 3, 2008.

We celebrate
The baptism of Eleanor Leah Gay, who was baptized on February 3, 2008.

The birth of Pate Robert St. Louis who was born February 5, 2008.  Pate is the son of Joshua and Liz St. Louis, and grandson of Linda Melcher.

Praying through our
Membership Rolls
Our prayers for each other empower us and create joyful bonds of love!

• Betty Thrift
• Mabel Tietz
• David, Ann, Andy, & Jenna  Tillmann
• Winifred Tillmann
• Andrew Tjernlund
• Lauren Tjernlund
• Viet, Amy, Alex, & Aaron Tong

COULD YOU USE A LITTLE HELP FOR AWHILE?
or
ARE YOU A CAREGIVER WHO NEEDS TIME AWAY FROM HOME OCCASIONALLY?

Your Care Team at Centennial is available to serve you with tasks such as spending time with one who is homebound, shopping, driving, providing a few meals or helping out in some other way.To requestservice or to get more information, call either Julia Nordling, Parish Nurse or a pastor at 651-633-7644, or
Erma and Verne Comstock at
651-604-0646.
Also, Steve Torgrimson has organized a group of men who will help with tasks that involve lifting, assembling, climbing, etc. (those things most of us should not be doing on our own!)For these "handyman" tasks, call Steve directly at 651-653-1649.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY 2008 Even thoughlandscape outside is still painted a cold white, plans are already beginning for this next summer’s building projects. Habitat began it's outreach in Minnesota in 1985 and Centennial joined forces shortly thereafter. Now, in conjunction with 13 other churches, we are an ecumenical building team called the Holy Hammers. This spring and summer we will be helping to create an affordable home in the Twin Cities area in an effort to address the ongoing issue of affordable housing for low income families. Our efforts and those of many similar volunteers have resulted in the construction of over 700 houses to date in the Twin City area and well over 200,000 homes worldwide. More details will be coming as well as a chance to sign up to be part of the effort. Questions? Contact Jack Griffin @ 651-633-8571

Believe in Mission work but unable to travel too far away? ’t get a whole week off of work but want to help out? This summer, the Centennial Mission Team hopes to offer a short mission trip to provide flood relief in Southeastern Minnesota.First, we need leaders to help plan this meaningful opportunity! Interested members are encouraged to contact Karensa Fischer at 651-489-8777 or Lauren Wendt at lwendt@centennialumc.org.

DAY ON THE HILL is Thursday, March 13.  Join the tradition of Centennial members as they meet with other Minnesota faith groups advocating for peace and justice at the annual Joint Religious Legislative Coalition’s Day on the Hill.  Be inspired by our keynote speaker Bishop Sally Dyck and meet with your legislators.  Become better educated on issues such as Children’s Health Care, Poverty, and Minimum Wage.  Register online at www.jrlc.org.  OR registration forms are available at the Welcome Center where you may also sign up to carpool with other church members.  Registration cost is $25 ($15 student).  AFTER March 5, it is $40 ($25 student).  You may contact Amy Mammen at amymammen@msn.com or Lauren Wendt, lwendt@centennialumc.org.

Bishops Resolution The Church & Society Committee invites your attention to our United Methodist Bishop’s recent Resolution calling for the cessation of hostilities and reconstruction of Iraq; and for United Methodists to pray for peace, to be peacemakers by word and deed, and to care for all impacted by war.  The text of the Resolution is carried on our Centennial web site and there is an article in our current Centinel.  Please contact a member of our committee or call the church office if you are interested in joining with us to respond to this Resolution.
Jim Sentz, Chair 763-785-2731

“Senior” Prom is April 5.  A night of live music and dancing for anyone 65 years and beyond!Looking for a fun night out with music from greats like Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller?Join the Centennial high school youth as we host our first ever “Senior” Prom. Cruise-themed evening begins at 5:30 PM.Come dressed formally or in cruise ship attire.Dinner begins at 6:00 PM followed by the incredible music of the big band, Moonlight Serenaders with dancing from 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM. Tickets are $15 per person.All proceeds go toward our high school summer mission trip to New York City.The Senior Prom is open to the public, so throw on your cruise ship or formal wear, grab a friend, and set sail with us on Saturday, April 5th!Contact Kelly Swanson to buy your tickets at kswanson@centennialumc.org or
651-633-7644.

Centennial Formal Dinner and Swing Dancing evening 6:00 PM on Saturday April 26.  The high school youth at Centennial will host a dinner/dancing party for people of all ages.Whether you are a family of 8, or a single person in your 20’s this night is for you!Live music will accompany dinner, followed by basic swing dancing lessons.If you have never done swing dancing before, or if you are an old pro, you are invited to come and dance with us.6th grade students and older are welcome to the formal dinner and 5th graders and younger will be served a less formal dinner upstairs with childcare and entertainment provided.So bring the whole family!Tickets are $15/person or $45/family.Contact Kelly to buy your tickets!

Pastors’ Keyboard

 Try an Experiment

    I have to admit it.I’m pretty excited.We have 14 people taking the step of faith called church membership this month.From Rally Sunday through the end of December 2007 we averaged about 83 more people in Sunday worship than we did during the same time in the previous year.And we averaged 100.11 at the Well, our new evening service, during that time.We have plenty of work left to do, but it’s a great start—hats off to all of the people who are making these things possible!

    Here at Centennial we don’t expect everyone to have the same kind of experience of God. In fact, we figure that God is big enough so that having different experiences of God is the norm.Can we invite people to this kind of church?To this kind of God?You bet we can!

    Now sometimes we church folks get so close to the church that we can’t see it through the eyes of people outside the church.Martha Grace Reese, in a book I’m reading (recommended highly by our Bishop Sally Dyck!) called Unbinding the Gospel, encourages people like us to try an experiment: Ask non-churchgoers to talk with you to get their point of view.Ask them:

• Have people ever invited you to their church?
• What did you think when they asked you?
• Did you go?
• How did it feel?
• If you didn’t go, why not?

So - if you talk to someone, and they give you some good feedback about these questions, how would you build on how we do church?How we do Sunday School/FaithWalk classes?Coffee time? Fellowship groups?Spiritual growth groups?Mission teams?

How is God leading you to help do this? To help touch people’s lives?What’s the poem? Christ has no hands but ours…

Trusting in God’s abundant grace and wisdom with you,

Brian

Thank you

   Thank you for your prayers, your thoughts, your visits, and your companionship.  Thank you for your friendship, not only for the past few months of Shirley’s life but for everything you have given her over her entire lifetime.  She drew a great deal of strength from her friends here at Centennial UMC and from the faith you helped her nurture.  Words alone cannot express our gratitude.  Thank you so very, very much from the family of Shirley Bruss.

   A special thank you Jimmy Crist and Lindsay Nevalainen for all their hard work on the “crossword” artwork for this months bulletins and brochures.

    Thank you to the 10 members of this year’s Winter Mission Trip. The team traveled to Lake Charles, Louisiana to assist families devastated by Hurricane Rita.Be sure to ask the following people about their experience during this ministry:
Don & Mary Hopkins
Jeff Lee
Lois & Kerwin Brown
Liz Murray
Darrell & Judith Nelson
Kay & Dick Halbmaier

Welcome to Sharon Follingstad, our new choir accompanist.  She has been with us since January 2, 2008.  More information about her will be in the next Centinel.  Please make her feel welcome.

Parish Nurse Notes

    Remember having chicken pox as a kid?  The itching, painful blisters that appeared on various parts of your body? dabbing calamine lotion on your skin to relieve the itch? staying home from school?  Well, now that you’re all grown up you can experience it again in the form of Herpes Zoster, or as it is commonly known-Shingles.

    Shingles is caused by the same bacteria (varicella-zoster) as the chicken pox.  After you’ve had the chicken pox as a child, the virus remains in your body, waiting to erupt again (or not).  Potential causes of a flare up of Shingles include age over 50, stress or trauma to the body, having a weakened immune system due to another disease such as diabetes or HIV,  and of course having had chicken pox.

    When the disease is ready to reactivate, it follows the nerve fibers out to the skin and erupts into the painful blisters. A red rash may occur just prior to the blisters.  Generally the outbreak is limited to one side of the body a patch of skin on the torso or back, or one side of the face.  Before the skin erupts, you may feel like you have the flu (with no fever), become sensitive to light and experience a tingling or itching sensation on a particular part of the body.  While the blisters are present and until they are healed its imperative to stay away from others since this is the time you can easily spread the virus to those who are not yet immune from it.  The rash may take 2-4 weeks to heal and may vary in intensity.  Keeping the rash area clean as directed by your physician is vital for preventing an additional bacterial infection.  Antiviral and corticosteroids, along with pain medications will help keep the disease under control.

    A new vaccine for Shingles, Zostavax, was licensed in 2006.  Studies done by the Center for Disease Control showed that the vaccine prevented disease in over half of people 60 years or older. It is given as a one time injection under the skin.  Check with your physician to see if you would be a candidate for this vaccine and if the cost will be covered by insurance.

In Partnership with Lyngblomsten,
Julia Nordling

Merck Manual, CDC and Mayoclinic.com

Think Summer – Think Camp!

On Sunday, March 2, we will be sharing the good news about United Methodist Camps. Visit the display in Linden Court. Pick up a copy of the 2008 Minnesota Annual Conference Camp booklets and read about the over 150 camp experiences offered for all ages (adults, too!) and interests. Horse camp and tree house camp continue to be very popular, as do the mini camps for younger elementary children. There are a variety of sports camps and arts camps for children and youth.

We want camp to be affordable for everyone and will give a $25 campership to all children and youth from our congregation who request it (additional help is available if there is financial need). Turn your completed camp registration form in to the church office, along with your deposit, and we will send it in with the campership. Most camps also offer an additional “Early Bird Discount” of $10 if the total fee is paid by May 15.

If you have questions about camp and which experience might be the best fit for your child, feel free to call the office and talk with Donna Draeger. We will keep an updated list on the bulletin board so you can see who is going to camp and when!

Four-Week Disciple Bible Study on John with Pastor Brian
Wednesdays during Lent at 7:00 PM on February 20, 27 and March 5 , 12.  Come, experience Jesus in the gospel of John during study and conversation with others.  No Bible experience needed - just an open heart and mind.  Some preparation is needed each week- cost is $9 for manual and materials.  Sign up at the Welcome Center.

Session titles and scriptures:
1. Would You Believe It?  (John 13 - 14)
2. What Time Is It? (John 15 - 16)
3. Look Out! (John 17- 18)
4. Believing Without Seeing  (John 19 - 20)

Singers invited for Choir Concert - If you like to sing and would like to participate in the Chancel Choir concert on April 6, please join us. All singers high school age and up are welcome. We'll be performing John Leavitt's Requiem, which is in English! Rehearsals are Wednesday evenings 7:30 - 8:15 in the choir room beginning Feb. 13. (No Requiem rehearsal Feb. 20.) For more information, contact Bob Nienaber at rnienaber@centennialumc.org or 651-633-7644.

Sunday Worship Schedule
  9:00 AM  Worship
10:00 AM  Fellowship Time
10:30 AM  Worship and FaithWalk
  5:00 PM  The Well

Next Centinel Deadline:
February 25, 2008
Sunday Bulletin Deadline:
12:00 Noon on Wednesdays

*Scholarships are available and confidential for Centennial sponsored events. Please contact one of the pastors. Contact Child Care Supervisor-Coordinator, Jean Moline, by leaving a message at 651.633.7644 ext. 38 or emailing hewle002@tc.umnc.edu at least 48 hours before an event. If there are no calls, child care will not be provided.