Through Centenary Windows • March/April 2026 by Centenary United Methodist Church

To learn more about all of the ministries at Centenary, visit our website (www. centenary-ws.org) or scan our QR code.

Cover and Background Images from our Easter & Palm Sunday 2025 celebration.

FROM THE EDITOR

Are you like me—wondering how it’s possible that the first two months of 2026 have already slipped by? Didn’t we just put up the Christmas tree? Didn’t we just make it through the snowmageddon of 2026? And yet here we are. As the song reminds us, “time keeps on ticking… into the future.”

And so, we arrive at the season of Lent.

Lent invites us into something deeper—a sacred rhythm of repentance and prayer, fasting and self-discipline, reflection and growth, giving and serving. It is a quieter season. A more intentional one. There are no grand celebrations yet—only the journey that leads us toward the cross.

But the journey matters.

Without the journey, we do not grow in faith. Without the journey, we miss the space to sit with longing, to face the unknown, to listen for God in the quiet. Without the journey… there is no Easter morning resurrection celebration waiting on the other side.

Throughout this March/April issue of Through Centenary Windows, we invite you to walk this Lenten path with us—to spend these 40 days and nights pondering and wondering, just as Christ did.

There are so many ways to journey together:

• Weekly devotions drawn from each Sunday’s sermon

• Tuesday Lenten Noontime Music Series

• The Nourish study gatherings

• The sacred movement of Holy Week

• And the joy-filled celebration of Easter morning

Come with us. Be present. Don’t miss this holy and meaningful season.

Along the way, we’ll also celebrate new beginnings—welcoming the newest members into the Centenary family— and we invite you to take part in opportunities to serve and connect. Two annual favorites return this spring: Rise Against Hunger, our hands-on mealpacking event, and our April blood drive, both offering tangible ways to love our neighbors.

During Holy Week, we invite you to fully enter the story:

• Walk the labyrinth in the Auditorium

• Worship Holy Thursday with communion

• Experience the solemn beauty of Good Friday Tenebrae

Don’t stop at the Palm Sunday parade. Walk the whole road. Pause on Saturday. Sit in the stillness.

Because the celebration is coming.

I look forward to seeing you at Centenary.

REV. LARA "WILLIS" GREENE wgreene@centenary-ws.org

A Season of Invitation

The Empty Dark

Oh let me be willing to sit in the empty dark and let the darkness enter me. Let me not pretend to know how it will be. Let me lose my plans, though it terrifies me.

Let me not imagine any better time to practice than now.

Let me be the bowl that sings when touched, the bowl that is content with its own stillness. If I want answers, let me sit with my longing. If I want lessons, let me find them right here. And if it is dark, let me not run from the dark, but lean into it. And if it is light, let me long for the light. Let it enter me. Let me not pretend to know how it will be.

— Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Lent is a season of invitation. We are invited, for forty days, to step out of the ordinary rhythms of life and step into a season that is slower, deeper and more intentional. Beginning with Ash Wednesday and the marking of ashes on our foreheads, we are reminded that we are finite – we are dust and to dust we will return. As Kate Bowler says, “That’s not exactly the kind of thing you’d embroider on a pillow, but it’s the truth we need.” These are the words that invite us to be honest with ourselves.

The church has long described Lent as a journey into the wilderness, echoing Jesus’ forty days in the desert. The invitation into the wilderness is not one we accept lightly. To be honest with ourselves is to lay down the masks we wear and acknowledge what we are carrying – sorrow we have not named, mistakes we wish we could undo, questions that resist tidy answers. Lent calls us to sit with these uncertainties – not to fix or explain them, but simply to remain present with them. To stay with God, even when the way forward is unclear. Lent welcomes us into what might be called a wilderness of ambiguity – a season where we do not rush to easy answers but rather allow our questions, longings and doubts to surface in the presence of God.

The poem, The Empty Dark, reminds us, there is holy work in sitting with what we do not yet understand. Lent invites us not to fear the dark or the waiting. God is present even there, gently forming us in ways we cannot always see.

As we move through these forty days, we are invited to practices that help us dwell more fully in the wilderness: prayer that slows us down, fasting that helps us pay attention, acts of generosity that turn us outward and reflection that opens us to God’s shaping work. These practices are not meant to make us stronger or more disciplined, but more open – open to God’s grace, God’s truth, and God’s transforming love.

And friends, the good news is that we do not remain in the wilderness forever. The wilderness is never God’s final word. We accept the Lenten invitation trusting the promise that after every wilderness comes life. When our Lenten journey comes to its close, we will gather in the light of the resurrection – carrying with us the wisdom, humility and hope born in the wilderness, trusting that the God who meets us in dust and uncertainty is the same God who calls us into resurrection life.

Walking the wilderness with you,

Ash

Wednesday Worship at Centenary

February 18, 2026 • Noon & 6:15PM

HAVE YOU MISSED A RECENT SERMON?

Below are links to the most recent sermons at Centenary. You can always watch via our YouTube page or the Sermon Archives page on the Website.

January 4

"Rethink Time" Ecclesiates 3

January 25

"What's Our Business? "

Jeremiah 2:13 & Philippians 4:11-13

January 11 "A Defining Act" Luke 3:21-22

January 18 "God Believes in You" Isaiah 49:5-7 & John 1:29-42

February 1

"Contented People Use Trials as Opportunities" James 1:2-4 & Romans 5:3-5

February 15 "In All Things" 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

February 8

"Here Be God" Matthew 6:25-34

February 22 "Father, Forgive Them..." Luke 23:32-34

BAPTISMS & NEW MEMBERS

We celebrate baptisms and new members by welcoming you in Christian love as you grow your faith every day.

...we renew our covenant faithfully to participate in the ministries of the church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness, that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

MEMBERSHIP AT CENTENARY

We are eager to share Centenary’s story with you. Please contact Rev. Oliver Helsabeck (336-724-6311 ext. 1357/ohelsabeck@centenary-ws.org) for more information about the membership process or to schedule a time to meet.

Cole & Meredith Calva Easton and Everett Michael

Kathie Eppert

Chase & Mary Chandler Morten Nellie Bassett

Grayson & Caroline Robertson Wyatt

Text of graphic by Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications.

REV. OLIVER HELSABECK ohelsabeck@centenary-ws.org

ON THE JOURNEY TOGETHER

As we journey through

the sacred season of Lent, we are invited into a time for prayer, repentance, reflection, and renewal. Lent is not only a solitary journey into self-examination, but it is also a shared walk toward the cross. And that is where congregational care can be a defining expression of who we are as a congregation. Lent reminds us that we do not walk this road alone.

Lent is honest. At Ash Wednesday, we hear the truth about our mortality: “Remember that you are dust.” Lent tells the truth about our humanity and suffering in a broken world. But, it also tells the deeper truth that Jesus meets us in those places.

In a season where the church reflects on Christ’s forty days alone in the wilderness, we commit to accompanying one another in our own lonely places.

Author and speaker Brené Brown writes: “Rarely can a response make something better. What makes something better is connection.” That is the heart of congregational care: connection rooted in Christ.

things: the person who slips out quickly after worship, the caregiver who looks exhausted, the widow approaching an anniversary of loss, the family quietly navigating challenges.

Care begins with attention. In a culture

active participation in following Jesus as he leads us.” Sometimes following Jesus means slowing down enough to see who is hurting beside us. Scripture calls us to “bear one another’s burdens.” During Lent, that call feels especially important. Some burdens are readily seen – illness, job losses, grief. But other burdens may be hidden – loneliness, anxiety, regret, spiritual emptiness.

As we share in those burdens, we see that congregational care is not limited to our ministry team or a small group of volunteers. It is the shared responsibility of the whole church. A handwritten note. A simple text message. A quiet prayer. A handmade cross shared from our Healing Hands Ministry to hold through Lent in prayer and beyond. These small acts become holy means for connection and to meet one another’s needs.

Lent asks us to slow down. Congregational care encourages holy attentiveness – to connect with Christ and one another. When we intentionally become more observant, maybe we begin to notice subtle

that seems to ignore or hide pain, the church can be a place that notices. We do not rush to fix. We do not offer platitudes. We offer presence. And presence is profoundly found in Lent. Jesus did not rush past suffering or ignore it; he entered into it.

Pastor and author Eugene Peterson said: “The way of Jesus cannot be imposed or mapped – it requires an

At Centenary, we are planning a new ministry in congregational care to ensure that all needs are met for connection – a laity ministry of visitation by congregational care ministers. In the coming months, volunteers will form an intentional ministry for visitation. Author Henri Nouwen wrote: “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice or solutions, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.” In a church our size, this team will be an extension of our ministry team as the hands, feet, and encouragement of Christ. If you sense a calling to connect with others by

sharing your gifts of compassion and caring through this intentional ministry of visitation, please let me know.

Many of us observe Lent by intentionally giving something up. But, in place of what is given up, we are also invited to take something on. Perhaps this Lent we might:

• Take on the discipline of checking on someone who lives alone.

• Take on the practice of praying intentionally for someone who is struggling.

• Take on serving in one of our many congregational care ministries.

• Take on writing notes or sending texts to those who cannot attend worship regularly.

• Take on the opportunity to ask Shining Light to share a Centenary Cares bag with a family facing a challenging time.

• Take on referring someone who needs a listening ear to Stephen Ministry.

When we deliberately look beyond ourselves and give ourselves away, something happens. Compassion

deepens. Hope grows. Christ becomes more visible.

This season, consider how God may be inviting you to care for others:

• Who in our congregation needs encouragement?

• Who has experienced loss or significant change recently?

• Who might simply need someone to sit and listen?

If you are the one carrying a burden, let this also be your invitation: you do not have to carry it alone. Reach out. Contact me and allow the church to help through one of our congregational care ministries. Participate in the surveys for possible support groups through our church’s website. Share your prayer requests. Allow others to walk with you. And then, when we finally arrive at the empty tomb, my prayer is that we will be a community shaped by compassion, strengthened by shared burdens, and ready to proclaim: Christ is risen indeed. And that is the hope we all need.

Laugh, live, and celebrate God’s love,

Stay Connected with Centenary

REV. KATE MAY kmay@centenary-ws.org

Relationships During the Season of Lent

This year during Lent

I am thinking about relationships. It started in December. Looking at Christmas cards and feeling disappointed in myself for not doing a better job of maintaining relationships with people I love, people who have made me who I am today, and people who are helping me to be the person I will be tomorrow. Sometimes it feels like a lot of effort to maintain those relationships, but have you ever noticed what I’ve noticed? When I put the effort in, my return on investment is so much greater!

So this year during Lent I am going to work on putting more effort in maintaining relationships, with my friends, with my family, and especially with God. As I write this I’m not sure what that is going to look like, hopefully I’ll have a plan by Ash Wednesday (I totally thrive with a deadline!), but either way I hope to hang onto this idea that relationships take effort to maintain, but it is so worth it!

And as I think about this, a children’s ministry layer gets added on top. I was reading a post that talked about protections for children related to technology. What I loved about this particular article was the perspective it took. Instead of focusing on the specifics of these protections it pivoted and shared, “Children don’t thrive simply because danger is reduced. They thrive because something good is present.” (1000 Hours Outside by Ginny Yurich). I would argue that a huge part of that something good is relationship. Relationship with friends, family, grown

ups who care but aren’t related, and God.

So as I think about my own growing relationships during Lent I know that I am privileged to have relationship with some amazing kids because it is my calling and my profession and when I come up with my Lenten strategy these kids are going to be a part of it. But I wonder if you might consider joining me this Lent in investing in relationships with the kids in your life. Don’t feel like you have one? Reach out and I can help make an introduction. But I don’t want to ask you to join me on an adventure and not help you pack your backpack!

The first thing to put in your backpack is this Deck of Cards. This is a set of 40 days (same number as the days in Lent!) that include a verse of scripture and a question to chat about. Use these cards with the kids in your life. Talk about them over a meal, or in the car, or text them, or Facetime and ask them. Make sure to answer the question for yourself, too, because the best thing we can do is show the kids in our lives that we are still learning and growing too. I know I certainly don’t have everything figured out yet!

The second thing to put in your backpack is a copy of "The Jesus Story Book Bible" by Sally Lloyd Jones and and "This Calendar of Stories." Maybe the question cards aren’t the right fit and the kids in your life are a little younger. Try reading the stories of our faith together! Talk together about the questions each story leaves you with or what feelings it brings up.

Are neither of these things the right items to equip you for your adventure of investing in relationship with the kids in your life? Think about what you love to do together and simply do more of that.

Join me this Lent in intentional relationship maintenance and offering good things to the kids in your life! Click on the links below for the resources mentioned in my article.

1000 Hours Outside-Guardrails Aren’t Enough. Kids Need a Better Invitation, The Skinny with Ginny- #11; by Ginny Yurich

Deck of Cards

The Jesus Story Book Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones

This Calendar of Stories

LEARN MORE

ABOUT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY AT CENTENARY BY VISITING OUR WEBSITE OR SCANNING THE QR CODE.

Making Things Right Again: Understanding Atonement

This spring as we journey through Lent

WEDNESDAY EVENINGS THROUGH MARCH 25

Dinner at 5:15PM • Programming at 6:00PM

Dr. Christopher Franks, Associate Professor of Religion and Philosophy at High Point University and ordained elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, will lead us in exploring the different ways that Christians understand Jesus' life, death, and resurrection as atonement, a way to mend the broken relationship between God and humans.

LEARN MORE

ABOUT NOURISH BY VISITING THE CHURCH WEBSITE OR SCANNING THE QR CODE.

TAMMY POLLOCK tpollock@centenary-ws.org

Beloved and Delighted In

Then one day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John there in the Jordan River. The moment Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending on him, and a voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; you are my Delight.”

Mark 1: 9-13

I must confess

to you how much I enjoyed the snow that we’ve recently had! I know, I know it’s not for everyone. It complicates

life. It causes activities to be canceled. School to either be called off or pivoted to remote learning. It forced all of us to worship online. It is hard on our neighbors who find their homes on the street. It isolated us, for a

long period of time. But what I LOVE about a snowstorm is that it quiets the world for just a moment as the snow falls. Things outside are muffled and there is a palpable peace. You get to stay in your pajamas a little

longer, and it forces us to rest, to slow down, to just be. Which in the world we live in can be a gift!

One of the things I love the most about being a youth minister is when I get to sit across the table from our church babies. To listen to their stories about their lives. To hear about what’s happening at school, band, sports, or dance. When they talk about the things they have been doing with friends and who they might secretly have a crush on. But also, what I realize is they are all so busy, and I often

marvel at how in the world they keep up! As good as all the things can be (and mostly are), what I know is that too much is simply too much. I see the worry, anxiety, and strain on their mental health. If I am honest, I worry about our church babies and their friends.

Last year as part of our parent’s Read Along Series we read the book “Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic and What We Can Do About It” by Jennifer Breheny Wallace. Ms. Wallace explores the destructive, high-pressure, “toxic achievement culture” impacting our youth and parents. Through her research we learn a framework for fostering resilience by ensuring our youth feel they matter for who they are, not just their achievements...who they are, NOT just their achievements.

So, I wonder, as we enter into this season of Lent. As we read about Jesus’s baptism and how he immediately goes from hearing the voice of God saying, “You are my beloved Son; you are my Delight” into the desert to be quiet, to fast, to enter into conversation with God, what the invitation might be for us? I wonder, as Jesus was still wet with His baptism water, then goes right into the dust of the desert, what is it we might learn? Jesus knew who He was and whose He was. Rather than run out of the Jordan River right into the chaos of ministry, Jesus sought to be alone and be quiet to center Himself.

Sometimes we feel like we must earn time away from everything. If we

simply get all the homework done, the scholarship applications in, the summer jobs applied for, and the many other details that demand our attention... then we can step away and be still. But what if, instead, we started first by being quiet, resting, listening for the ‘still small voice of God’ and then going out to do what God created us to do?

By now, all the snow has melted here in Winston. And the days of being hunkered down in our homes for a few days have passed. We are right back at all the things once again. My hope, however, as we seek to honor and live into a holy Lent, is that perhaps we can be more like Jesus. Remembering who we are, ‘Beloved and delighted in’, simply because we are who we are and not what we do or how well we do it. And that the invitation for us all is to go into these forty days into the desert with Jesus. Following so close behind Him that the dust of his feet covers us.

LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUTH MINISTRY AT CENTENARY BY VISITING OUR WEBSITE OR SCANNING THE QR CODE.