No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome at First Congregational Church of Blue Hill.
If you are visiting us for the first time, please allow us to extend our warmest greetings. We are an open and affirming congregation of the United Church of Christ. Sunday Worship services are available in-person, via Zoom and live stream on Facebook. While masks are no longer required, we do ask that everyone mask while singing. We look forward to having you join us in worship.
Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! First, another reminder to set your clocks back tonight! Secondly, a quick mention of the opportunity to gather in the sanctuary on Monday evening at 5:30, to pray for our nation. On the eve of the election, we may pray for peace, for safety, comfort, liberty, and justice for all.
During our worship tomorrow, we will remember all the saints that have come before us in our service of All Saints’ Sunday. We will lift up the names of those we have loved and lost, and we will celebrate the sacrament of Communion, which reminds us that we are all united in spirit through Jesus Christ, and that we will meet again. This is the good news and I look forward to worshipping with you.
Grace to you and peace, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! I am looking forward to being with you in worship very much! We can know that this is a place and a people where we live into our best selves, trusting that we look with a similar vision. Vision is at the core of our lessons for the weekend, with the story of Blind Bartimaeus and of God’s mercy. How we understand the possibilities for our lives and how we enhance the possibilities for others’ lives is tied to our understanding of both–of vision and of God’s mercy. So, in this season in which we too often are asked to look at the ways we see things differently, let’s come together in worship, celebrating the way we are seen as one by the One who made us.
This Sunday in worship we will explore how a change in perspective can change us – or at least change our understanding of who God is and how God is present and working in our lives and in this world. In our scriptures we hear first from the Hebrew Scriptures God’s response to Job’s searing questions concerning why, since he (Job) has done all he can to live a righteous life in accord with God’s commandments, he has suffered so much? In Mark’s Gospel from the New Testament we see how Jesus responds to James’ and John’s request to sit at Jesus’ side when he comes into his glory. What are our responses when we human beings come face to face with what we don’t know or don’t understand? Many of you know I’m never without questions! I’m looking forward to being with you and exploring together!
Grace and peace to you, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! Join in celebrating new members this weekend, with delight in that moment and hope the word of the day! We can confidently say this, even when we pass through difficult times. It was true for the Psalmist, and it was even true for Job, whose calamities are the stuff of legend. So, too, is his faith. Our relationship with God, perhaps like all our good relationships, allows for our questions and our occasional frustrations as we walk together through this gift of life. In our worship together, we learn and grow in our faith, even as we wrestle with life’s challenges. Join us, in celebration, in prayer and song, and in our asking the hard questions.
Grace and peace to you, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! In a time of global unrest, it seems especially fitting that we recognize World Communion Sunday this weekend. We will gather around a common table, celebrating our unity–with each other and with our neighbors, our family of God around the world. Maren Tirabassi has written a helpful introduction to this “holiday,” which I share with you to include the same invitation.
“Those who are blessing and receiving the sacrament at home, please prepare a slice or small loaf of bread, corn tortilla, or rice cake or what is sacramental and joyful to share and a cup or small cups of juice — perhaps grape or cranberry — or wine, with or without alcohol, or coffee, or coconut water all of which are used in worship in different places. In addition, you are invited to spend this week praying for a country in the world which is not your own. Often on this occasion we celebrate the “world” in a particularly generic “global” way rather than actually thinking about real places. For the days [following] World Communion Sunday choose one country to pray for – it may be in the news or may be one that you have visited or may be part of your ethnic heritage or may be one with a cuisine you find delicious or a writer or artist who inspires you. There is no right or wrong choice. Read an online article on this country – its history, its products, its religious heritage, the challenges it faces right now, certainly including how it stands in this [particularly fraught time.] Learn a word in one of its languages – maybe peace or gratitude or blessing. Google translate is a helpful resource and includes an audio pronunciation feature. You might even find a recipe to make sometime this week. This too will be communion.”
We also welcome to worship tomorrow guest musician Bill Schubeck to join our new Music Director, Tina Spencer Dreisbach and her husband, Paul.
Grace and peace to you, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! Grace and peace . . . what we all long for from each other as well as from our Creator. I want to share with you the words (by David Sparks) to the anthem the choir is sharing tomorrow morning. In this unsettling time, with war being waged on too much of God’s good earth, we look for our hearts to be eased and to learn new ways forward in faith. God’s word is and always will be love. What are the stories from scripture that we continue to tell so that all humanity may learn this in a way that sustains? How, indeed, may we be saved? Blessings and peace, Lisa
Unsettled world, where people long to find their way, to feel secure, from lives of turbulence and rush we come, to seek your peace, our God, your word to hear, our faith to live.
Unsettled world, where money rules and greedy systems call the tune: for strength to keep our values straight we come, with trust in you, O God, your word to hear, our faith to live.
Unsettled world, where angry poor from grinding need at affluence stare, with tears and thirst for truth and right we come, with longing in our hearts, your word to hear, our faith to live.
