Bluegrass United Church of Christ

We're super excited to have one of the area's most talented and beloved drag queens with us for Pride Sunday Church! Helena Handbasket, known as Anthony Smallwood when not in drag, comes with a message of hope, love, and encouragement to remind us that every day is an opportunity to live in love and give it away. MESSAGE: "LOVE has EVERYTHING to do with it" by Helena Handbasket S...

We resume our series called "Purveyors of Awe."We humans are “meaning-mongers.” Our brains are wired to interpret the ordinary stuff of life in metaphorical ways so that we can make some sense of it all. We long for meaningful lives in which we are more sure about the direction of our lives and about what we are to bring to this world. We yearn for experiences that leave us feeling more...

We resume our series called "Purveyors of Awe."This week we are in awe of wonder: The “wide eye of wonder” creates optimal conditions for awe. When we open our senses to the “extraordinariness of the everyday ordinary,” we have begun the journey to a deeper existence than what resides at surface level. Wonder can be an antidote to anxiety and depression, pulling us instead toward the awe...

This is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost and Pride are more alike than you may think. So many things were happening as Jesus' followers gathered to wait for God's "new" Spirit to come. When it did, the experience and the results not only changed the believers and others that day, it changed our world too, and it has special significance for those who've been marginalized by religi...

This week, longtime BUCC Elder, Deb Core, shares the story of her arrival, not only to her current church home, but her place in life. From an upbringing that settled on a church, maybe for convenience's sake, she followed the circumstances and happenstance of seminary and lay ministry that led her to understand that some theological questions do not have easy answers. The path was not simple,...

This week, we continue our series called "Purveyors of Awe," looking at the awe of beauty. Beauty is complex. We call something “achingly beautiful” when it creates a pathos within us–a sense of something so precious that we want it to last forever, from the plump cheeks of a newborn to the wrinkled face of an elder. But, as we know, we are all mortal and not meant to exist in this bodil...

What does it mean to be in awe? What does it mean to be a purveyor of Awe? Awe is a powerful emotional response that can significantly impact our well-being and perception of the world. As a species, we tend to attend to that which we dread and fear. It helps keep us alive. But now the frequency of bad news is off the charts, and it isn’t keeping us alive; rather, it is quietly draining the life r...

Following Jesus comes with its own set of responsibilities. We are to be influencers for good, doers, of good who make a good difference in our world. Jesus called it being "light" and "salt." and he tells those of us who follow him that we have no choice but to be God's earthly influencers. Today's message is a hopeful reminder of what it means to be salt and light. ME...

Now that Easter Sunday has come and gone, we're left with what to do with the things we've witnessed, the lessons we've learned, the promises we've heard. The work of healing and restoration continues because the impact Jesus made continues. Truth is, Easter hasn't gone anywhere... Easter Lives! MESSAGE: "Easter Lives" by Kenny Bishop SCRIPTURE: John 20:19-3 Learn mor...

Easter is the Christian believer's most sacred moment. It is the reminder again of the promise that Jesus made to his followers and us that he gives all of himself for us - his example, his words, his love, his life, so we can live and love like him - and his promise that we are never alone, that God is always with us, somehow, somewhere, in common ways, in extraordinary ways, God is with us....

Our Lent series, "everything [in] between" is inspired by the Gospel of Luke. This week is Palm Sunday, the time we look at Jesus's entry into Jerusalem and the start of his final week before he is put to death. The celebration that ensues is not of his making. It is spontaneous and is sparked by the people who are sure they have found their liberator. MESSAGE: "The Rocks Know&q...

Our Lent series, "everything [in] between" is inspired by the Gospel of Luke. On this fifth Sunday of Lent, Jesus stops in his tracks to invite himself to dinner at one of the city's most despised people, and he gets a lot of criticism for it. But what happens next is a lesson in what could happen when we take the time to show mercy even when everyone around us thinks it's a bad...

Our Lent series, "everything [in] between" is inspired by the Gospel of Luke. On this fourth Sunday of Lent, Jesus shares a parable about a tree that is struggling to do what it was planted to do. The tree's owner wants to cut it down to make room for a more productive tree, but the gardener wants to nurture it, give it the care it needs to flourish and produce fruit. He wants to giv...

Our Lent series, "everything [in] between" is inspired by the Gospel of Luke. On this third Sunday of Lent, we find Jesus mixing and mingling with a group of undesirables and taking a lot of criticism from the church leaders for it. Jesus didn't deny that his crowd was the best society had to offer, but he didn't back away from his desire to be among them. As a matter of fact, he...

Today is the second Sunday of Lent and we continue our Lent series "everything [in] between." This week we peek in at a gathering where Jesus and his disciples stopped in at the home of Martha with her sister Mary. One is busy making a meal and the other is just sitting and visiting. In many translations of the story, Jesus says that “Mary has chosen the better part,” which has been used...

Today is the first Sunday of Lent and the beginning of our Lent series "everything [in] between." We begin with the parable Jesus told about the Good Samaritan. The parable begins and ends with the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and the answer is surprisingly, “the stranger.” The Samaritan, whose place of worship and customs are different from the lawyer who questions Jesus, is both a s...

You know what usually pops into your head when someone refers to the "F" word. We don't talk about it a lot in church, but maybe we should. It's important to our everyday life, our sanity, our spirit, our wellbeing, our relationships. The bible has a lot to say about it, so we're going to take a look at how we can incorporate it into our lives, for our own sake, and for the s...

Sometimes the best relationships, the best experiences, the best memories, come from those unexpected encounters, those moments we didn't plan for, but left us changed for the better. This Sunday we're looking at one such encounter as we examine that bizarre exchange between Moses and God, with a blazing bush between them. Moses was forever changed, and so was history. Join us as we enjoy...

This Sunday we will explore the Sermon on the Plain found in Luke 6. In the story, Jesus had stepped away to the mountain to pray; when he came down, it was to be on the same level as those who had gathered - he wanted to be on the same level with them - and he began to preach. He reminded his disciples and the others who had gathered that God is in the midst of every encounter they'd experien...

Tony Campolo was known for his big stories. As a dynamic preacher and a sought-after speaker, he was always asked to share from his experiences because he was really good at it. One of his most beloved stories is about a sermon he heard that gave him hope for the future. "It's Friday, but Sunday's Coming" is that kind of story. It reassures us that the moment we're in may fee...

We all agree that our nation is in a scary and unprecedented time. Only a few days into the new presidential administration and our emotions are already exhausted. We know from experience the turmoil and upheaval that we can expect these next four years. Politics that uses Jesus for power but denies his mission and message is not new, but seeing the abuse on full display has left many of us angry...

This Sunday is extra special as we hold our first baptism of the new year. We also reflect on Jesus' own baptism and the Spirit's affirmation to him that he was marked by God's love. We ask ourselves what it means to be marked by God's love and how we might be changed if we commit that truth to our own self-worth. Where might that message lead us as individuals, partners, and frien...

Most of us have grown up with the notion that when the magi came to see Jesus, it was a cordial call, or maybe a sign that even those who practice foreign religions find him to be other worldly or divine. As best we can tell though, their reasons were probably more selfish than that. Maybe they were interested in him for other reasons entirely. MESSAGE: "We Need THAT Kind of Epiphany” by Kenn...

Welcome to the fourth Sunday of Advent. As we continue to journey with some of the people and characters who were important to the Advent story, today, we get to know the magi who traveled from the East, through Herod's palace, to Bethlehem. The "star" finally led them to a place of joy, but the journey was nothing less than a big deal and a big adventure. MESSAGE: "There'll be JOY!” by Kenny Bish...

Welcome to the third Sunday of Advent. There's a part of the Christmas story that is often overlooked. A man named Simeon had been promised by God that he would not die until he had seen the Christ child. And a woman named Anna had spent most of her old age waiting at the temple for his arrival. Their promises came true when Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus came to the temple for his cleansing. W...