The Baptist Church in the Great Valley

09/07/2026

This Sunday, 9/13/2026, is Installation Day for Pastor Rebecca at The Baptist Church in the Great Valley. The service is at 2:00 p.m. NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO MORNING SERVICES. All are welcome to share in our great joy as we commit ourselves to one another and ask God's blessing on our shared ministry. BCGV.org We are a Welcoming and Affirming, American Baptist Congregation.

09/03/2026

August 30, 2026 Sermon, “When Life Becomes Prayer” https://youtu.be/VZwvYisLy7A
This morning’s scripture is from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, chapter five, verses 14 through 22. Paul encourages his friends in this way: “we urge you brothers and sisters . . . rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
What is prayer? It is simultaneously one of the pillars of our faith, and it is one of the most illusive parts of our faith. Prayer creates a plethora of questions for us like how do we pray and does prayer even work? Are words necessary when we pray? Are we allowed to pray for certain outcomes? Is prayer supposed to sharpen our hearing, or God’s?
And what about the other side of prayer, the response from God? The divine response to prayer remains in the eyes of the beholder. What sounds like an answer to one person sounds like silence to another. Only you can say whether God answered you.
This is the final installment of Pastor Rebecca's series of sermons inspired by "An Altar in the World" by Barbara Brown Taylor.
BCGV.org Join us in online worship Sundays at 9:00 a.m. (link is on the top of our website homepage) or in person at 10:30 a.m. We are a Welcoming and Affirming American Baptist Church. All are truly welcome!

08/27/2026

How old do you need to be to remember “tired blood?” 🤣

08/27/2026

Feeling a little run down?
Years ago, they called it “tired blood.”
Maybe what’s tired today is your spirit.
We are a welcoming community. Friendly, kind people, supporting one another and doing what we can for our community. Music, conversation, and time to reconnect with what matters.

Fortify your spirit. Strengthen your community.
Come spend a Sunday morning with us.
There’s a place for you here.
The Baptist Church in the Great Valley
945 N. Valley Forge Road, Devon, PA
Info at BCGV.org

🎵 Music: “Walking the Duck” by Doug Organ
Music from

08/26/2026

August 23, 2026 Sermon, “Faith in the Face of Pain” https://youtu.be/nPb1bQ-GcP0

Our scripture, from the beginning of the book of Job, chapter 16, relates Job’s suffering through a series of specific, if at times metaphorical, events and their consequences. His pain encourages him to “wrestle with God” in this passage as he curses the day he was born and defends the justice of his cause.
There are, perhaps, moments in all of our lives when we feel this way: when the pain is too much and we cry out to God. But, like Job, God offers us space to cry out, to debate and question, and to wrestle. There is no clear formula for how pain will change us, but it will.
This sermon was the next in our summer series on Barbara Brown Taylor's book "An Altar in the World" A Geography of Faith," that covered the practice of encountering others.
We are a Welcoming and Affirming American Baptist Comgregation in Devon, PA. We welcome you to join us Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. via Zoom and at 10:30 a.m. in person. Visit our website for details. BCGV.org

Rev. Rebecca Driscoll Mygatt is pastor of the Baptist Church in the...

08/18/2026

August 16, 2026 Sermon, “The Liturgy of Labor” https://youtu.be/CZtPw_S1UlE
The scripture this morning relates the creation of the Garden of Eden and of Adam and Eve from Genesis 2: 4-22. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it,” Genesis tells us. And then, God fashioned a companion for the man from one of his ribs. Together, the two “earthlings” toiled in the garden.

The idea that physical work like this is meaningful, beneficial, and good has been woven into Christian tradition and practice. Thus, manual labor is shaped into a liturgy, a ritual, a practice, just as prayer, and worship, and service are. It is not a punishment, but a way to participate in the life of faith. And through labor, we are once again connected to the cycle of life, to the spark of creation.
bcgv.org A Welcoming and Affirming American Baptist Congregation. Join us for online worship Sundays at 9:00 a.m. (link on our website) or at 10:30 a.m. in person. All are truly welcome.

08/11/2026

August 9, 2026 Sermon, “Say No. Live Yes.” https://youtu.be/9MUGLtbCImc
Pastor Rebecca read two short scripture passages today. The first, Luke 4: 16 - 21, relates the young Jesus's reading from a temple scroll and equating his mission on earth with Isaiah’s. The second, Exodus 20: 8 -11, reminds us to recall the Fourth Commandment’s charge to “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.”
Jesus becomes “fully alive” as he realizes his vocation in life to love God and to love neighbor. And by resting on the seventh day and calling it holy, God created a “palace in time” in which we might rest. Even if we cannot do this for a full day, it is worth putting down our work and resting in God’s embrace, trusting in the presence of the holy to restore our soul.
This is the sixth sermon in a series based on Barbara Brown Taylor's book, "An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith."
YOU are an important part of the community we wish to encounter and serve. Please feel welcome to join us for online worship via Zoom at 9:00am Sundays. The link is at the top of our website homepage. If you are in the neighborhood, we also have in person worship at 10:30am on Sundays. We are a Welcoming and Affirming American Baptist congregation. BCGV.org

Rev. Rebecca Driscoll Mygatt is pastor of the Baptist Church in the...

08/05/2026

August 2, 2026 Sermon, “Encountering Others” https://youtu.be/QvIVNHgJoLg
In Matthew 25: 34-40, Jesus charged his disciples to turn toward one another, reminding them, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me . . . Truly I tell you, just as you did this to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”
Therefore, it was up to them, part of their responsibility as disciples, to serve and be served in community this way. This community was expansive and inclusive, part of Jesus' practice of "encounter." As twenty-first century Christians, we are invited to reclaim this kinship, to take on the spiritual practice of encountering one another, of building community together, of seeing God’s image in every face.
This is the fifth sermon in a series based on Barbara Brown Taylor's book, "An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith."
BCGV.org. You are an important part of the community we wish to encounter and serve. Please feel welcome to join us for online worship via Zoom at 9:00am Sundays. The link is at the top of our website homepage. If you are in the neighborhood, we also have in person worship at 10:30am on Sundays. We are a Welcoming and Affirming American Baptist congregation.

Rev. Rebecca Driscoll Mygatt is pastor of the Baptist Church in the...

08/01/2026

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our Church Family, we packed 30 backpacks for the children of backstretch workers at Parx Racetrack. We also had extra school supplies that will be used to meet children's needs throughout the school year. Pictured here are the church members who packed the backpacks and Rev. Rick Bunker, Chaplain, PARX Racing & Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and his assistant Jafet Herrera accepting the backpacks and extra supplies from Mary Ann Robinson, Acting Chair of the Board of Mission. (You can see the Racetrack's barns and stables in the backgound.)
Like-Share-Join us in our Mission activities. BCGV.org We are a Welcoming and Affirming American Baptist congregation.

08/01/2026

July 26, 2026 Sermon, "Getting Lost”
https://youtu.be/rXXgf-NKvjc
In Mark 1: 12-13, Jesus is driven into the wilderness, where he is tempted by Satan and waited on by angels. Many other biblical characters became lost, in a way. Adam and Eve were when they left Eden. Noah as he endured the flood. Hagar and Jacob and Elijah, to name three more. And, of course, John the Baptist as he too wandered in the wilderness.
So, if we become lost at times, we come from a long line of faithful ancestors whose stories tell us that getting lost doesn’t mean the end of us. It could just mean the making or the remaking or the beginning or the revealing or the unfolding or the forming of us. BCGV.org We are a Welcoming and Affirming, American Baptist Congregation. Join us at 9a.m. via Zoom or in person at 10:30a.m. every Sunday. The Zoom link is at the top of our website.

Rev. Rebecca Driscoll Mygatt is pastor of the Baptist Church in the...