Author Archives: Mark Pitton

This Sunday

Organ in background and table with candles in foreground

The sermon title for this Sunday, January 21, is “Tables as Idols”. The scripture will be John’s story of the temple tables being over turned (2:13-25).

 

The Annual Meeting for Sharon Congregational Church will happen after worship this Sunday. Annual Reports will be received and a vote on the budget will be taken.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve Services

coverThere will be a 4:00 service on Christmas Eve. We will light the Advent Candle. We will sing Carols. We will hear the Christmas Story and use a manger scene to tell it.

We call it a Family Service. But if you like a lessons and carols and few candles, you will like this service at any age.

We hope you will join and see what our new Minister will do.

 

There will also be a 7:00 service on Christmas Eve. do you see cover

This one is filled with music from our choir, the lighting of our Advent Wreath, a retelling of the Christmas story, and a brief message from the Minister about how any of this might be important. He says it will be brief. And he has been pretty good, so we are inclined to believe him.

We will also receive an offering. We will use this in the coming year when there are needs in the Sharon Community that we can help with. We like to think that most of what we do helps Sharon, but here we are talking about direct aid to people.

Advent wreath IMG_21006We will also be having a service at 9:30 in the morning. This is actually our regular Sunday service. It just happens that it is on Christmas Eve Day and so is technically a service on Christmas Eve. Kinda. Please join for this too if you would like. We will sing some Carols, light the Advent Candle of Love, and other churchie stuff. And coffee hour. Which is usually pretty good. And some good people. And it would be good if you were there too.

December Pastor Pen

Pastor’s Pen

So, it is that holiday season that runs from before Thanksgiving, through Advent and the 12 days of Christmas, and includes New Year’s Eve. About a tenth of the year is during this time!
And it is time a time of Ho Ho Ho, fa la la la la, and making merry for many people. But not all people. Or not for all of it. It can be a tough time of the year for many people.
There are a lot of reasons for this: holiday stress (family, finances, time), grief that someone is dead, (there is like a 1 in 12 chance that a loss or tragedy actually happened during this season so there is an anniversary of loss during this time), job loss seems to happen a lot, short days, and the cultural expectation of everyone being a Bob Cratchit and not a Scrooge just seems to highlight when we get the blues. The colored lights of the season might even make these blues a deeper shade.
So, if you find that you can not deal with all the merriment, don’t.
●        Do not fake happiness; it takes energy to put on the holiday face. Be honest that you have a case of the blues. You are allowed. Save the energy for living your life.
●        Do not hide from all the merriment. Maybe avoid some (especially when it seems forced like New Year’s Eve), but do interact with people who will let you be honest. Sunday Worship should be that. Helping at the Church Supper can too.
●        Balance that interaction with taking time for yourself. Balance your eating and exercise. If you drink, remember chemically it is a depressant. If you need a drink, don’t. If you have one, enjoy it.
●        Do not let yourself stew in your own thoughts. Talk with me, a counselor, or someone you know who will listen without judgement. It can help to simply tell someone that you miss a tradition, your kids, the way things use to be, or a person.
●        Be mindful of your management of time and finances. Don’t let our culture (family, neighbors, ‘them’) push you past what you decided to do. It won’t make you happy.
●        And yes, pray. Be contemplative. You do not need words. Watching the night sky thinking about God’s creation. Use your creativity being mindful of God. I will not say this will cure all things. But it helps and puts you in the hands that will hold you with love. Relax and enjoy it.
NOW, if you are like Buddy the elf, please remember that others are not. Don’t roll your eyes because someone does not act like they had extra sugar in their hot chocolate. Don’t try to jolly them into a round of Ho Ho Ho or poo poo their mood. Scrooge lost his love. It hurt and he was changed from that loss. Bob Cratchit had love in his life. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, was able to love his uncle who was a scrooge. When Ebenezer was transformed, it was to these two that he turned. They had let him mutter bah humbug, and never let go of their relationship or hope for transformation. Steadfast loving kindness. You can allow others their scrooge mood while waiting for their Ebenezer to reappear. Actually, that is kinda Christian.
That is how I see Jesus acting and who I know God to be. And I feel the need to say this: Love everyone.
Especially love yourself, no matter the mood.  Let the Spirit transform us into someone even more loveable. ‘Tis the season.
Mark

November Pastor’s Pen

Pastor’s Pen

I took two years off from pastoral leadership before arriving here in Sharon. It allowed several good things to happen. After a respectful time, I attended church again at Bethany. I cannot tell you why or what was different, but I found it inwardly satisfying to be in worship. It stabilized my whole day. Sometimes a couple of days.

One of the things I discovered was how much I like giving an offering. The plate never goes to a minister leading worship. Giving money in worship is a very different thing than giving money to the church. It could truly be called an act of worship. It transformed the money giving thing from something that could be done with Rotary, medical research, or shopping from catalogue. The money wasn’t sent, it was given and blessed and dedicated to God. After nearly 30 years of envelopes given in the office or sent at the end of the year, my money again became an offering. Same money, but completely different.

And I liked it.

Years before during a pledge/stewardship effort at my church, Amy and I decided to significantly increase our pledge. I am not sure now that we even had a reason for doing it. But I gotta tell ya’, it was really cool. I would get a smile on my face just thinking about it. I still do. I stretched my neck/wallet out there and trusted it would be okay. It was okay. It gave me a real thrill to be that courageous and faithful.

And I liked it.

So, try something new with this year’s pledge. Find some way of reminding yourself that your pledge is an act of worship or an expression of faith. Figure out what might help you remember that this money is not dues paid to a club or a donation to a charitable organization. Remember that this is not giving so you get something in return. This is some glorious expression of thanks, honor, or tribute to who God is in your life. This is something awesome!

I will pray that find that awesomeness. But work with me here. Try anythingnew that makes sense to you. Sure, a real jump in your giving could do that. Writing a few word prayer (thanks for-, sorry about-, help with- ) or just a message to God on the check or envelope might be cool. Giving an offering before you pay any bills is a classic reminder. If you need to give outside of worship time, try just touching the offering plate and saying, “thanks” to God. But SOMETHING to make sure that this is a part of your spiritual life.

Next year at this time let me know what you did and what it was like. I will be praying that you say,

“I like it!”

Yours,

Mark