This is the worship/sermon archive.        Here is the March/April Newsletter. Here is our YouTube Channel with our newest worship videos.

Maundy Thursday Video is posted as is Easter. New videos will be posted each Sunday at 9:30. At that time the video starts and people will watch it together and able to chat in real time during the video. If you join the video after 9:30 you will join the video already in progress. After the first viewing, anyone can watch the video on demand. And you can share it with anyone. Also, there are additional video that can be found on our YouTube Channel. There are bloopers and the video with Duane Wheeler’s photos. Check it out.

Thoughts to share.I posted the link to Easter Worship on my own Facebook page. I do not often do that. It seems like self promotion, which is just really hard for me. But I did. And I was surprised by people from my past lives responded. A childhood friend, High School, a college roommate, former youth group members, former parishioners, students, and even a beloved colleague all connected.  I have to say, it felt really good to know that the message meant something to them.
Same has been true about the Flowering Cross. Having invited people to add to it while in front of the church, people have accepted the invitation and done so. Irene took a picture on Tuesday, which I posted on the Sharon town Facebook page. And people have liked and shared that picture. I added some text to the picture that said: “May seeing this remind you that life, color, and joy ALWAYS returns. It may start off kind of rough and splintery. Even ugly. But we can change what is. We offer what we have. If you want to add to this, PLEASE know that you can.”
  I am also reminded of the old commercial that said calling on the phone was the next best thing to being there. I have been able to talk to several of you in the last month because I know you are home, I am too, and I save some time not driving to Sharon. [In vaguely related news, I am trying to figure out where my time is spent when I am in Sharon. I guess I do more worship prep than I thought. I mean, Leon can not take up more than 1-2 hours a week!] I have started these weekly Pastoral Letters because I want to make sure people are connected to God, each other, and me. And I am important because I represent the church, God, and our faith. I am not what is important. I hope when you see me, hear me, taste my bread, feel my hug that you can see through me and connect with the Holy Spirit that binds in love. I am not being humble here. This my call/job – not be a cult like leader where everything revolves around me. Through me to God. 
Paul wrote the earliest Pastoral letters. They are filled with comments about the doings of the church he is writing to. Some personal comments to people and some praising of God. HE would largely use them to talk theology. Clarifying, correcting, chastising [huh, alliteration in a three set totally by accident] he wrote what he thought people needed to hear. But they were passed down and are still passed down because they helped people be connected. Aware of something wider and larger than their own hometown and local congregation. We have today more ways to communicate but they are doing the same thing. Email is fast and cheap and includes color pictures. Same with Facebook and the website. Youtube videos can quickly share moving pictures which are exciting and moving to a wide range and number of people, but at a cost of time and money. U.S. Postal Service does the same, but with cost and time. A Flowering Cross on our front porch that people can interact with and see as a sign of hope is really one more way for us to connect and communicate. 
Keep connected with each other. Maybe find a new person to be in touch with. My prayer is that when we do this we will see through the person and find the oneness we have in God. AND that they will see the same through you. Powerful stuff this connecting. And with that power we can be in this time of pandemic and move through it into a more Whole and Holy tomorrow. My prayer.
Mark
Wash your hands!

Please let me know when you have prayer requests.

I will include them in these Pastoral Letters. Same is true of Spirit Sightings. Let’s face it. Life is really odd right now. A lot of this isn’t feeling real. And there is awareness that we might catch the virus, which is unsettling. And before I launch into a redo of my sermon, “Discombobulated”, let me say that any sort of disruption is best confronted with a reminder that God is our foundation and our hope. Simply saying, ”God IS God” can help us let the chaos of life spin without us being spun. Spirit Sightings are affirmations that Go IS God and always will be. Sharing them is one of the best things we can do because we share God and our faith. This strengthens us all.

These are the prayer requests from a week ago:
Mark Pitton​ Prayers for Emily who is a nurse in Burlington’s Critical Unit.Alice McDonald​Pray for friends in NYC.
Sunnie Mcphetres​ Claire and all others who work in health care, especially with the elderly
James Fisk​ For all the truckers who are the life blood of providing the essentials needed across this country.
Sunnie Mcphetres​ Delivery people who are now working 15 hour days
For Darlene Miller in the hospital with suspected blood clot in leg.

These were the spirit sightings from a week ago: 
Sunnie The quiet when walking outside in my backyard
Alice yesterday was our daughter’s birthday. We had a wonderful time “chatting” on our cell phones.
Sunnie Mom saw a Mallard on Joanne’s little pond
Alice Lots of birds singing!
Jim Walked 2 miles this morning, fresh air, birds, a squirrel….there is nothing like it.!
Paula Howes – Hi all, sitting quietly in the morning, drinking coffee and seeing my birds at the feeder and a pair of Mallards on our pond are my spirit sightings; also having Roger safely with me.
take care all
Vicki Eastman – Love hearing the birds and seeing trees and bushes staring to change colors getting reading to lead out.
Phyllis – Song birds on a near-by tree and the quack and honks of ducks and geese on the river.
New Sightings:
Mark:Flowers are beginning to pop up. I am finally relaxed enough to appreciate Spirit Sightings again. The response from Sharon and congregation to the Flowering Cross. 
And Jim has had more early morning walks along a brook with the sun coming up. 

Mark Pitton​ Prayers for Emily who is a nurse in Burlington’s Critical Unit.
Alice McDonald​Pray for friends in NYC.
Sunnie Mcphetres​ Claire and all others who work in health care, especially with the elderly
James Fisk​ For all the truckers who are the life blood of providing the essentials needed across this country.
Sunnie Mcphetres​ Delivery people who are now working 15 hour days
For Darlene Miller in the hospital with suspected blood clot in leg.

Thanks for Keeping Sharon Church in your thoughts.
No really. Please mail pledges and financial support to the church. Since I mentioned costs above, let me line them out. I weekly mail out 19 of these letters, each with a postal stamp. The videos are made because the church bought a video camera and memory card for about $120. We also now have a Zoom account (used in Bible study and maybe later for additional meetings) that will be $15 a month. All of that has meant staff time for Alice and I. Alice of late has been wrestling with our bulk emailer in an existential quest. She won the last round but lost on a technicality (she achieved the change but it did not work the way we thought it would). I have learned about video cameras, video editing, video publishing (to a new YouTube account), Using zoom and hosting Zoom for Bible study and trying to help others use it in a way that wont make them howl at the computer. And then content for letters, Bible studies, and worship. I mention all of the time spent because staff gets paid, thus is a part of the costs for the communicating and connecting of the last month. So please send in your pledged commitments and financial support. 

A Time for Worship
Videos of worship will be posted onto YouTube. YouTube is not a special program or computer app. If you have internet, you can go to the YouTube web page [youtube.com] and see the video. You can check it all out now. Click this link and it will take you to the YouTube channel for Sharon Congregational UCC in Vermont. You will see past videos there and this is where new ones will appear. Please note, new videos will be released on Sunday at about 9:30. At this time the video starts and people can chat amongst themselves. People who join between 9:30 and 10:10 will join the video already in progress. After the fist showing, the video is “on demand” for every one.
If you hit the “Subscribe” and the bell Icon then YouTube will let you know when knew videos arrive. But I will tell you as well via Facebook, these letters, and website.
Thanks to Irene for letting me know about the Choir’s CD of anthems. One was included for Easter and more will be used.
Mark