Bluegrass United Church of Christ

We are all part of a body that reaches into desperate and sometimes dangerous places. We are part of a body that reaches around the world. Sometimes we may feel our contribution or our part is insignificant and unimportant. Today we are reminded that every part matters. MESSAGE: "Every Part Matters" by Pam Lee-Miller SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 12: 25-27 Learn more about us at www.bluegrasschurch.org...

There is a lessor for us through the widow of Luke 18 that speaks to equality and justice. MESSAGE: "The Widow Speaks and Calls to Us Today" by Diane Banasiak Vego SCRIPTURE: Luke 18: 1-8 Learn more about us at www.bluegrasschurch.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/bluegrasucc Twitter: www.twitter.com/bluegrasucc Instagram: www.instagram.com/bluegrasucc YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/lexbluegrasucc

All of us want to feel valued, useful, and of worth. As unfair as it can be, sometimes our worth is determined by those who know very little about us. But God, who knows everything about us, knows our true worth. God knows that we are beloved and invaluable - and God loves us that way. When God has a choice, God picks us to be part of the universal plan of goodness. MESSAGE: "Picked" by Kenny Bish...

It's a new year! That means the expectation to set new goals and accomplish new things. What do we do with those expectations, especially when the usual outcome is not so good? We try anyway. And sometimes in trying, we find unexpected blessings along the way. That's part of the Samaritan woman's story. She went to the well one day expecting nothing more than a bucket of water. But that expectatio...

Our Advent series, "The Inn: Housing the Holy" was a worship series designed by the great worshipper Maria McFee. It takes us back to the place where the Great Gift was delivered to us in an unassuming place, among unassuming people. On this Sunday after Christmas, we look back at the season of anticipation, and ahead at the new opportunities ahead. MESSAGE: "Light the Darkness" by Pam Lee-Miller...

Our Advent series, "The Inn: Housing the Holy" is a worship series designed by the great worshipper Maria McFee. It takes us back to the place where the Great Gift was delivered to us in an unassuming place, among unassuming people. On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we take a look at the gift of Love. MESSAGE: "Lovely People" by Kenny Bishop SCRIPTURE: Luke 1: 46 Learn more about us at www.bluegras...

Our Advent series, "The Inn: Housing the Holy" is a worship series designed by the great worshipper Maria McFee. It takes us back to the place where the Great Gift was delivered to us in an unassuming place, among unassuming people. On this third Sunday of Advent, we take a look at the gift of Peace. *There were technical issues with the graphics during this service. Our apologies. MESSAGE: "Comfo...

Our Advent series, "The Inn: Housing the Holy" is a worship series designed by the great worshipper Maria McFee. It takes us back to the place where the Great Gift was delivered to us in an unassuming place, among unassuming people. On this second Sunday of Advent, we take a look at the gift of Joy. MESSAGE: "Giving Joy" by Kenny Bishop SCRIPTURE: Luke 3: 10-11 Learn more about us at www.bluegrass...

Our Advent series, "The Inn: Housing the Holy" is a worship series designed by the great worshipper Maria McFee. It takes us back to the place where the Great Gift was delivered to us in an unassuming place, among unassuming people. We begin the Advent season with Hope, and we take a moment to look at the promise of Hope. MESSAGE: "Making Room for Hope" by Pam Lee-Miller SCRIPTURE: Psalms 25: 4-5...

We spend the first weeks of November talking about the importance of stewardship and supporting the good work of our church. Today we dream about a future that is bigger and more impacting than ever before. We imagine who we can be when we listen to God's calling for our church. When we live into our calling, it is more than we can even dream or imagine. MESSAGE: "More Than We Can Dream or Imagine...

We spend the first weeks of November talking about the importance of stewardship and supporting the good work of our church. Today we look at who we are, what kind of people we are, what kind of church we are. We want to be a people who are moved by love, and a church is known for its compassion and acceptance of those who have been rejected by traditional religion. We want to be a different kind...

We spend the first weeks of November talking about the importance of stewardship and supporting the good work of our church. Today, we look back on the last almost two years of continuing this work through the challenges of the long pandemic. We remember the task of making worship meaningful in a time it was most important. It was possible because the people recognized and stepped up to give. Toda...

Today we remember our saints, those we've loved and have gone on to eternity. We reflect on the blessings they've been to us, and the blessings they've left with us. We do not forget. We always remember. MESSAGE: "Remembering" by Pam Lee-Miller SCRIPTURE: Philippians 1: 3 Learn more about us at www.bluegrasschurch.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/bluegrasucc Twitter: www.twitter.com/bluegrasucc Inst...

Christian congregations around the world are joining together today to celebrate World Communion Sunday. The prayer is for peace, and the challenge is to begin the movement here and now - with us. MESSAGE: "It Simply Cannot Begin With Me" by Pam Lee-Miller SCRIPTURE: Matthew 5: 9 Learn more about us at www.bluegrasschurch.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/bluegrasucc Twitter: www.twitter.com/bluegras...

Words are important. Over the course of our nation's history, some of our most challenging moments have found us in need of words to comfort us, calm us, help us grieve, and to inspire us. Many of our national leaders have stepped up as leaders should and offered that kind of support. In September of 2015, a gunman joined a prayer group at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, and opened fire....

Back in the early 2000s, Lee Domann wrote a song from personal experience about the regret he was feeling for bullying a classmate as a kid. The song, "Howard Gray," ended up becoming somewhat of a catalyst for anti-bullying campaigns all across the country. Today, Kenny tells the story of the song, and how that bullied kid was more God-like than anyone could have guessed. MESSAGE: "Howard Gray" b...

Today is World Communion Sunday. Christians around the world join each other around the table of welcome and inclusion, something that Jesus taught his followers, and something we believe should be our guiding principle today. MESSAGE: "Radical Inclusion" by Pam Lee-Miller SCRIPTURE: Luke 14: 12-14 Learn more about us at www.bluegrasschurch.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/bluegrasucc Twitter: www.t...

The scriptures challenge us as believers to be God's change agents in the world, to do all we can to make the world a better place, especially for those who have been wounded. To be effective in that charge, we must realize that we are here to be salt-seasoning to bring out the God-flavors of the earth, and we are the light the brings out the God-colors in the world. MESSAGE: "Salting and Lighting...

Many of us grew up in a very strict church and religious environment. The rules of our faith told us what we were allowed to do and what we weren't, and the "do not" list was usually pretty long. Now that we have examined and have a better understanding of who God is and what God expects from us, we've discovered that if there are any rules, they can be best summed up with Jesus' own words, to lov...

Anyone old enough to remember knows where they were on September 11, 2001. They remember the morning being interrupted and the rest of the day being consumed with horrific reports of hijacked planes and catastrophic deaths and heroes in action. In today's message, Kenny shares the words of a friend, Tim Brumfield, who lived that day on the ground, in real-time in New York City. In the end, the hor...

The Covid pandemic has taken a lot from us. The most important and the most tragic has been the lives we've lost as a result of the disease. We've had to do without many other things this last year and a half, and one of the most meaningful has been the loss of human interaction and human touch. There is so much that can be gained and felt when we're able to touch one another - when we can embrace...

Jesus had a special relationship with Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. The story that Pam shares with us today is one of pain and loss, death and resurrection. Even as close as they were, Jesus hesitated before responding when he heard that Lazarus had a sickness that was about to take his life. Why did he wait? Why did he hesitate? Pam is about to tell us. MESSAGE: "Unbound and Unbinding"...

Sometimes we may struggle with God's methods, especially when we look back at the episodes of the First Testament. We preach about a God of love, but the bible also includes stories of a god that seems to endorse violence to achieve the best end. Pam Lee-Miller leads us into a discussion about reconciling that God with what we believe about a loving and merciful God. MESSAGE: "We All Need A Warrio...

The politics of recent years has exposed divisions and disagreements that many of us didn't know existed, or at least not as intensely. People who once got along, or simply agreed to disagree, have found themselves at impassioned impasses. Some once close family members and friends have walked away from longtime relationships. The Covid pandemic has caused even more tension as the debate over mask...

Kenny shares a Max Lucado story he read many years ago about a parakeet named Chippy. All was well in Chippy's world until the day he was swallowed up by a vacuum cleaner. That was the day that Chippy stopped singing. These days, we sometimes find it hard to sing. When the headlines regularly speak of violence, turmoil, and suffering, if we sing at all, it's because we've made ourselves push the n...