Central United Methodist Church (Arlington, Virginia) Sermon Podcast

A Journey of Justice: From the River to the Mountain
Follow Me into the Desert
Scripture: Matthew 3:13–17 (CEB)
In Follow Me into the Desert, our journey of justice moves from the waters of the Jordan into the hard, honest landscape of the wilderness. Jesus steps into the river not out of need for repentance, but in faithful obedience—to “fulfill all righteousness.” He enters cold water, vulnerability, and risk, and is named beloved before he is led anywhere else.
This sermon reflects on baptism as both grounding and sending. As heaven opens and the Spirit descends like a dove, Jesus hears words that anchor him for what lies ahead: “This is my Son, whom I dearly love.” Almost immediately, that same Spirit will lead him into the desert—into testing, temptation, and costly faithfulness. Belovedness does not spare him from difficulty; it prepares him for it.
Preached on Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday, this message draws deep connections between Jesus’ baptismal calling and Dr. King’s own journey into the desert places of justice work—marked by patience, suffering, exhaustion, and unwavering commitment to love. Water becomes both symbol and reality: cleansing and danger, life and weapon, promise and protest. Beneath the riverbed, the sermon reminds us, lies a deeper truth—a bedrock identity that sustains us when the road grows dry.
To follow Jesus, we are invited to follow him not only into the waters, but into the wilderness—thirsty for justice, righteousness, care, and love. This is not a solitary journey. The Spirit who descends also sustains, calling the community of faith to create spaces of renewal for those doing hard Kingdom work.
This message invites us to trust God’s timing, to listen for the Spirit’s leading even when it is risky, and to remember that justice does not flow from our strength alone, but from our belovedness.
🌀 Reflection Questions:
Rev. Dr. King said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Jesus waited many years before his public ministry began. How does patience in God’s timing sustain you when justice work feels slow or discouraging?
Rev. Dr. King’s “desert” included threats, jail, and exhaustion. Jesus’ desert would include temptation and suffering. What sustains you when following Jesus into difficult spaces for the sake of love and justice? How can we create spaces where people doing hard Kingdom work can be refueled and renewed?
After his baptism, the Spirit immediately led Jesus into the wilderness. Dr. King wrote, “The ultimate measure of a person is not where they stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where they stand at times of challenge and controversy.” When have you felt the Spirit leading you toward something difficult or risky for the sake of justice? What gave you the courage to say yes—or what held you back?
✨ Listen as we follow Jesus from the river into the desert—grounded in belovedness, sustained by the Spirit, and called to trust that justice will yet roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Support the show

Beloved and Bold: A Journey of Justice: From the River to the Mountain
Scripture: Mark 1:1–11 (CEB)
In Beloved and Bold, we begin our journey of justice at the river—standing with Jesus at the waters of baptism. As heaven is torn open and the Spirit descends, God speaks words that shape everything that follows: “You are my Son, whom I dearly love.” Before Jesus performs a single miracle or teaches a single crowd, he is named beloved.
This sermon reflects on how baptism grounds our identity not in achievement, productivity, or approval, but in God’s declaration of love. Jesus enters the Jordan not because he needs repentance, but in solidarity with a broken and vulnerable humanity. His baptism marks the beginning of a ministry rooted in presence, compassion, and justice—one that consistently stands with those on the margins.
From this moment at the river flows a bold life of resistance to injustice: healing on the Sabbath, crossing social boundaries, restoring dignity to the excluded, and challenging systems of oppression. The same Spirit that empowered Jesus is poured out on us in our baptisms, giving us freedom, power, and courage to live faithfully.
To be beloved, this sermon reminds us, is not a passive identity. When we know we are God’s beloved children, we are freed from proving our worth—and compelled to see others as beloved too. Justice then becomes not an obligation, but an act of love.
This message invites us to remember who we are, to renew our baptismal vows, and to take our first steps in a season-long journey of justice—from the river to the mountain.
🌀 Reflection Questions:
When have you most felt affirmed as God’s beloved, and how can that memory strengthen you in times of doubt?
How does embracing our identity as God’s beloved compel us to notice and respond to vulnerability and injustice in our community?
Our baptismal vow calls us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression. What is one concrete, faithful step you will take this week to live out that promise?
✨ Listen as we remember our belovedness, renew our baptismal identity, and begin a bold journey of justice—empowered by the Spirit and rooted in God’s unwavering love.
Support the show

You Are Mine, and I Am Yours
Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31–34 (CEB)
Theme: Wesley Covenant Prayer · Covenant Renewal
In this sermon, You Are Mine, and I Am Yours, Pastor Sarah Harrison-McQueen reflects on God’s promise of a new covenant—one written not on stone tablets, but on human hearts. Drawing from Jeremiah’s vision of covenant renewal and the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer, she invites us to rest in the truth that our relationship with God is grounded not in what we do, but in who we are: God’s beloved people.
This message explores the deep reassurance of covenant faith—that even when humanity falters, God remains faithful. Through Jesus Christ, God fulfills the promise of a new covenant, one marked by grace, forgiveness, and presence. Communion becomes not a transaction, but a vow of relationship, reminding us that we belong to God, and God belongs to us.
At the heart of this service is the Wesley Covenant Prayer, a prayer that can feel both beautiful and challenging. Its words ask for trust in seasons of abundance and emptiness, action and rest, praise and suffering. Yet this prayer is not a resolution to “do better,” but an invitation to remember and celebrate a relationship already sustained by God’s grace.
Whether you are new to faith or have been walking with Christ for many years, this sermon offers space to reflect, renew, and rest—listening again for God’s promise spoken over our lives: You are mine, and I am yours.
🌀 Reflection Questions:
As you read the Covenant Prayer slowly, what words or phrases stand out to you?
Which parts of the prayer feel easy to say—and which feel difficult? Why?
Looking at your whole life, what might God be asking you to stop, continue, or begin as part of this covenant relationship?
✨ Listen as we reflect on covenant, grace, and belonging—and as we renew our trust in the God who writes love on our hearts and walks with us through every season.
Support the show

Sacred Doing: Reflecting the Sacred
Scripture: Isaiah 52:7–10; Matthew 2:13–23 (CEB)
In this Christmas sermon from our series Reflecting the Sacred, we turn to Sacred Doing—the call to embody God’s presence through acts of justice, mercy, and solidarity in a suffering world. Drawing from Isaiah’s vision of beautiful feet that carry good news and Matthew’s account of the Holy Family fleeing violence and fear, Pastor Christina Hart-Perkins invites us to consider what faith looks like when it must move, risk, and respond.
Jesus’ life begins not in safety or certainty, but in displacement. Forced to flee as a child refugee, Jesus is formed in solidarity with the vulnerable, the grieving, and the displaced. His story confronts us with the reality that fear still breeds violence, that suffering persists even in holy seasons—and yet, God continues to break through with comfort, redemption, and hope.
This sermon reminds us that God does not stand apart from human suffering but enters fully into it. Sacred doing is not about grand solutions or easy answers; it is often as simple—and as costly—as showing up, bearing witness, and refusing to let evil have the final word. We are called to be the messengers Isaiah describes: people whose lives carry good news, whose steps lead toward peace, and whose presence reflects the sacred even in the hardest places.
🌀 Reflection Questions:
Jesus begins life as a vulnerable child who must flee for safety. How does this shape the way you see vulnerable people today?
What might “sacred doing” look like in response to fear, injustice, or suffering today?
What does it mean for us to dedicate ourselves to reflecting the sacred in all we do?
✨ Listen as we reflect on fear and faith, suffering and solidarity, and the invitation to become God’s agents of grace, peace, and healing in the world.
Support the show

Sacred Knowing: Reflecting the Sacred
Scripture: Matthew 1:18–25 (CEB)
This week in our Advent series Reflecting the Sacred, we turn our attention to Sacred Knowing—the quiet, often overlooked awareness of God’s presence woven into the ordinary fabric of our lives. Drawing from Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth, Pastor Christina Hart-Perkins invites us to see the story through the eyes of Joseph: a man whose faith is revealed not through words, but through steady, faithful action.
Joseph’s story unfolds in uncertainty, risk, and disrupted expectations. Faced with a future that no longer made sense, Joseph listens for God not in spectacle, but in a dream—and responds with obedience that costs him comfort, reputation, and control. In naming the child Jesus, Joseph claims a sacred calling: to embody Emmanuel, God with us, not in grand gestures, but in daily faithfulness.
This sermon reflects on the profound truth that God’s saving presence is not confined to holy places or extraordinary moments. God walks among the pots and pans, the schedules and carpools, the disappointments and the mundane rhythms of life. Jesus—fully divine and fully human—meets us exactly where we are, saving us not after we have it all together, but in the midst of our becoming.
Sacred knowing helps us look beneath the surface of our lives to discover that even obedience, disruption, and ordinary labor can become holy ground. Advent reminds us that we do not need to escape the world to find God—God has already come to us.
🌀 Reflection Questions:
When I quiet my mind, where is God calling me?
As my schedule grows fuller with the approach of Christmas, where do I find peace, and how might I carry that peace to others?
✨ Listen as we reflect on Joseph’s faith, the holiness of the ordinary, and the deep truth that God is with us—and saves us—in every moment of our lives.
Support the show