Central United Methodist Church (Arlington, Virginia) Sermon Podcast

Disciples Formed by Jesus Christ
Series: Forward Through the Flame
Scripture: Ephesians 4:11–16 (Common English Bible)
The Trinity has been called Christianity's greatest mystery: one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For centuries, Christians have wrestled with how to describe this mystery, often discovering that every explanation eventually falls short.
But what if the Trinity is not primarily a puzzle to solve?
In this message, Rev. Sarah Harrison-McQueen explores Paul's vision in Ephesians 4, where the mystery of the Triune God becomes the pattern for Christian community. Rather than focusing on abstract theology, Paul challenges the church to become a community shaped by the very life of God—a community marked by unity, mutual care, spiritual growth, and love.
Drawing on the ancient Christian concept of perichoresis—often described as the "divine dance" of the Trinity—this sermon invites us to imagine the church not as a collection of individuals gathered in the same place, but as a living body connected to one another and to Christ. Just as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in perfect relationship, Christians are called to participate in a community where every person matters and every gift has a purpose.
Paul reminds us that disciples are not formed in isolation. We are equipped, encouraged, and strengthened through one another. Each person has unique gifts to contribute, and the church flourishes when every member discovers their place in the body of Christ.
This message also reflects on the many "winds" that seek to pull us off course—anxiety, fear, misinformation, division, and cultural pressures—and how a community rooted in Christ provides the stability needed to grow in faith and maturity.
Ultimately, discipleship is not about perfectly understanding every mystery of God. It is about becoming the kind of people who reflect God's love through our life together.
Reflection Questions:
• Verse 16 says the body grows as "each one does their part." What is one gift, skill, or way of showing up that you bring to this community that no one else brings quite the same way?
• The perichoresis, the divine dance, describes a community where no one is passive or irrelevant. What would it look like for you to be more fully present and engaged in the life of this congregation?
• Paul warns against being "tossed and blown around" by every wind. What is one voice, pressure, or fear in your life right now that tries to pull you away from who you actually want to be?
The Triune God remains a mystery beyond our full understanding. Yet through Christ, we are invited into a community of grace, purpose, and belonging—growing together as disciples formed by the love of God.
Support the show

Disciples Empowered by the Holy Spirit
Series: Forward Through the Flame
Scripture: Romans 5:1–5 (Common English Bible)
Two hundred and eighty-eight years ago, John Wesley attended a small gathering on Aldersgate Street in London after years of striving to earn God’s favor through discipline, morality, and religious devotion. But on that evening, while listening to Martin Luther’s preface to Romans being read aloud, Wesley encountered something he had never fully known before: the assurance that God’s love was not something to achieve, but something to receive.
He later described the experience with the now-famous words: “I felt my heart strangely warmed.”
In this message, Rev. Jan Phillips explores the connection between Aldersgate and Pentecost—two moments where the Holy Spirit transformed ordinary people through the experience of God’s grace. One came with wind and fire in Jerusalem. The other came quietly in a small meeting room in London. Yet both reveal the same truth: the Holy Spirit changes hearts, strengthens communities, and empowers disciples for courageous living.
Drawing from Romans 5, we reflect on Paul’s vision of a faith shaped not by avoidance of suffering, but by transformation through it. Suffering produces endurance. Endurance forms character. Character gives rise to hope. This hope is not shallow optimism, but the deep assurance that God’s love has been poured abundantly into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
This sermon also explores a distinctly Methodist understanding of grace—not as a single emotional moment, but as a lifelong journey. Grace awakens us, forgives us, transforms us, and continually reshapes us into people who embody the love of Christ in the world.
We are reminded that the Holy Spirit does not work in isolation. Pentecost happened in community. Aldersgate happened in community. And the fire of faith is sustained as believers encourage, strengthen, and kindle one another toward love, courage, and hope.
To follow Christ is not simply to know about God—but to be transformed by the living presence of God through the Holy Spirit.
Reflection Questions:
• Romans 5 says suffering produces endurance, character, and hope. Where have you seen that progression in your own life?
• Wesley described his Aldersgate experience as his heart being “strangely warmed.” How would you describe your own experience of God’s love becoming personal rather than just intellectual?
• The Holy Spirit fell on the disciples together, not alone. How is this community essential to your own spiritual fire?
Hearts set on fire by grace do not remain passive—they burn brightly, warm others, and help transform the world into the beloved community God intends.
Support the show

Turning the World Upside Down
Series: Defying Limits
Scripture: Acts 17:1–9 (Common English Bible)
In Acts 17, Paul and Silas are accused of “turning the world upside down.” It was not meant as praise. It was a warning—a charge leveled against people whose faith was disrupting the assumptions, systems, and power structures of the world around them.
This sermon explores how that same accusation became part of the Methodist story.
Drawing on the witness of the early Methodist movement, we remember a people who were mocked, threatened, and attacked because they refused to accept a world shaped by exclusion, inequality, and indifference. From the riots in eighteenth-century Wednesbury to the courage of unnamed Methodists who stood between violence and the vulnerable, these stories reveal a faith rooted not in respectability, but in transformative love.
At the center of this message is John Wesley’s definition of a Methodist: someone pursuing “universal love filling the heart and governing the life.” Not love as sentimentality or private feeling, but love as a governing principle that shapes every decision, every system, and every relationship.
This sermon challenges us to ask what it would mean to embody that kind of love today. A love that confronts injustice. A love that refuses to leave people behind. A love willing to disturb the peace when peace is built on harm.
The Ascension was not the end of Christ’s mission, but the moment that mission was handed to the church.
And the work of turning the world upside down continues now.
Reflection Questions:
 Wesley defined a Methodist as someone pursuing “universal love filling the heart, and governing the life.” Where does that definition challenge you most personally? 
 Jesus left the mission to us at the Ascension. What is one specific place where you feel called to turn the world upside down with God’s help? 
The gospel has never been about preserving the world as it is—but participating in God’s work of transforming it.
Support the show

Methodist Mavericks
Series: Defying Limits
Scripture: Joel 2:28–29 (Common English Bible)
What happens when the Holy Spirit refuses to follow human permission structures?
In Joel 2:28–29, God declares a radical vision: the Spirit will be poured out on all people—sons and daughters, young and old, servants and leaders alike. In this vision, spiritual authority is no longer reserved for the elite, the ordained, or the officially recognized. God’s Spirit moves freely, without checking credentials first.
This sermon, Methodist Mavericks, explores what it means when God calls people before institutions are ready to affirm them. Across the history of the church, there have always been those who experienced this tension firsthand—people called by God but delayed, resisted, or dismissed by the systems around them.
We hear the story of Jarena Lee, who carried a call to preach for eight years before being recognized. We encounter Richard Allen and the founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, born out of a refusal to accept dehumanizing treatment in worship. We see Anna Howard Shaw, who expanded her calling beyond the limits of both church and profession to address deeper systems of injustice. And we remember others in the Methodist tradition who refused to confine the movement of the Spirit to institutional boundaries.
Together, these stories reveal a consistent truth: the Spirit is not controlled by structure, status, or permission. God’s calling often arrives before recognition does.
This sermon invites us to consider where the Spirit may already be moving in our lives—before approval, before affirmation, and before we feel ready. The question is not whether God is speaking, but whether we are willing to respond when the Spirit moves beyond what is expected.
Reflection Questions:
 Jarena Lee felt called to preach for eight years before anyone gave her the chance. Have you ever felt strongly that God was calling you to something, but others said no or not yet? What helped you remain faithful in that waiting? 
 Richard Allen and early leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church grounded their dignity in God rather than human approval. When you experience rejection or exclusion, how does your understanding of your worth in God shape your response? 
 Anna Howard Shaw discovered that her calling required stepping beyond institutional approval. Where might God be inviting you to use your gifts even without official permission or recognition?
Support the show

Breaking Systems of Harm
Series: Defying Limits
Scripture: Galatians  3:26-29 (Common English Bible) 
In Galatians, the Apostle Paul confronts a crisis in the early church: lines are being drawn about who belongs and who does not. Cultural expectations, religious traditions, and social pressures are reshaping the gospel into something smaller, more controlled, and less inclusive than what Christ proclaimed.
Paul responds with urgency, insisting that in Christ there is no longer division by status, identity, or background—all are one.
In this message, Rev. Jan Phillips invites us to reclaim that vision through the Wesleyan idea of “being more vile.” Far from its modern connotation, this phrase describes a willingness to resist respectability, challenge harmful systems, and bend social expectations in order to ensure that more people experience the love of God.
Drawing on Methodist history, we remember both the courage and the failures of the church. There were moments when Methodists stood boldly against injustice—challenging systems of harm and advocating for the marginalized. But there were also moments when the church chose comfort, influence, and acceptance over faithfulness, reinforcing the very divisions the gospel seeks to dismantle.
To be “vile” in this sense is not about disruption for its own sake, but about a refusal to let exclusion have the final word. It is a call to recover a faith that is willing to be uncomfortable, to tell the truth about harm, and to act in ways that reflect the radical inclusivity of Christ.
This sermon invites us to examine the systems we participate in, the lines we have drawn, and the ways we might be called to break them—for the sake of a more just, inclusive, and Christ-centered community.
Reflection Questions:
Are there ways that you think The United Methodist Church is still losing its vile-tality today?
How might we apply our General Rule to “do no harm” here in Arlington, VA?
What systems might we challenge in order to build a more inclusive, equitable, and wholistic table for all God's people?

The call of Christ has never been about maintaining systems—but transforming them. 
Support the show