Singing Our Faith: Go Down, CUMC

 Scripture: Exodus 5:1–6:8 (CEB)

This week in our Singing Our Faith worship series, Central UMC welcomed guest preacher Rev. Lemuel Pearsall, Jr. to reflect on the story of Moses, Pharaoh, and God’s unshakable promises. Standing before Pharaoh, Moses demanded freedom for God’s people, only to see their burdens grow heavier — bricks without straw, beatings without mercy, despair without relief. Pharaoh’s arrogance, the Israelites’ frustration, and even Moses’ own doubt all reveal how unbelief takes root in the face of suffering.

Yet God’s response is steadfast: I will bring you out. I will deliver you. I will redeem you. I will take you as my people. I will be your God. Seven promises of covenant love, each later fulfilled in Christ. Rev. Pearsall reminded us that faith is not the absence of questions, but where we bring them. Like Moses, we are invited to groan in the right direction — to lay our pain, doubt, and longing before God, who is faithful even when we are not.

The legacy of the spiritual “Go Down, Moses” echoes this truth: God stands with the oppressed, delivers the enslaved, and calls us to confront the Pharaohs of our own time. Our hope is not in our strength, but in the God who has already said yes and amen through Christ Jesus.

🌀 Reflection Questions:

1. How does the legacy of the Spiritual “Go Down Moses” deepen our understanding of God’s solidarity with the oppressed?
2. What does it mean for us, like Moses, to confront the “Pharaohs” in our lives and communities today?

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Singing Our Faith: Tambourine Theology

Scripture: Exodus 15:1–21 (CEB)

This week at Central UMC, Rev. Sarah Harrison-McQueen invited us to stand on the shores of the Red Sea with the Israelites, who had just witnessed the impossible. Behind them, the waters closed over Pharaoh’s army. Ahead of them stretched wilderness, uncertainty, and freedom. In that liminal moment, the first sound was not a command or a quiet prayer, but music — tambourines and dancing led by Miriam the prophet.

Rev. Harrison-McQueen reminded us that throughout history, music has been the language of liberation. From the songs of enslaved Africans in America to the freedom anthems of the Civil Rights Movement, from the rubble of the Berlin Wall to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, rhythm and song have always carried the power to resist oppression and proclaim hope.

Miriam’s tambourine teaches us that celebration is not frivolous — it is prophetic. Her embodied praise declared that oppression did not have the final word and that God’s deliverance was real. Even in the wilderness, the people carried tambourines because they expected to celebrate. This is tambourine theology: a faith that insists on joy, even before the full story of freedom has been written.

We are invited to live this same way today. Our worship can be resistance, our joy can be a witness, and our embodied praise can become a proclamation that God is still making a way where there seems to be none.

🌀 Reflection Questions:

1. When has God helped you through something that felt really hard or impossible?
2. How can your praise become an act of witness or resistance?
3. What “tambourines” — symbols of joy or hope — are you carrying with you on your journey of faith?

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Singing Our Faith: The Best Is Yet to Come

Scripture: Isaiah 43:15–21 (CEB)

This week at Central UMC, we welcomed guest preacher Rev. Michelle Holmes Chaney, Director for Leadership and Church Vitality for the Northern Virginia District. Rev. Holmes Chaney reminded us that even in the midst of uncertainty and reflection, God is constantly doing something new—sprouting, emerging, and unfolding in our lives and in the world around us.

Through personal stories, memories, and even a Frank Sinatra song, she showed how hope can emerge in both the ordinary and the extraordinary. Like seeds that inevitably sprout when nurtured, God’s new things are always at work, even if we cannot yet see the full bloom.

Rev. Holmes Chaney encouraged us to pay attention to God’s perpetual “now”—a present that is always imminent and filled with possibility. Through trust, faith, and expectation, we are invited to perceive God’s transformative work in our lives, in the church, and in the world. The refrain is simple yet profound: The best is yet to come, and the sun has yet to shine its brightest.

🌀 Reflection Questions:

1. Where in your life, or in the life of the church, do you sense God inviting you to let go of the past in order to make room for something new?
2. What helps you remain hopeful when the future feels uncertain or delayed?
3. What is one thing you can do this week to actively cultivate hope, either in your own life or in someone else’s?

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Singing Our Faith: Directions for Singing

This week at Central UMC, we welcomed guest preacher Brian Lamb from Wrights Chapel UMC in Ladysmith, VA. A seminary-educated public high school business teacher pursuing ordination, Brian brings a unique vision for ministry in the public schools — serving God and students where faith and daily life meet.

Drawing from John Wesley’s timeless “Directions for Singing,” Brian invited us to see worship music not as a battleground between “traditional” and “contemporary,” but as a living expression of God’s renewing work. Just as the psalmist turned the old story of the Exodus into a new song, God continues to make all things new — even in our music.

Through personal stories of worship transitions, seasons of spiritual dryness, and moments when God’s presence broke through in unexpected ways, Brian reminded us that styles may change, but God’s love remains constant. The question is not whether we prefer the organ or the guitar, the hymn or the praise chorus, but whether we are open to God breaking down the barriers — in music and in life — that keep us from deeper communion with Him.

🌀 Reflection Questions:

• What barriers keep you from fully connecting with God?
• How has God refreshed your faith during dry or difficult seasons?
• How can we invite others into a relationship with God in ways that are relevant to their lives?

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Singing Our Faith: Ubi Caritas Deus Ibi Est

Scripture: Psalm 107:1–7, 33–43 (UMH 830)

This week at Central UMC, we welcomed guest preacher Rev. Joanna Dietz, a deacon who ministers in the community—often at farmer's markets and public gatherings—where she makes visible the steadfast love of God.

Rev. Joanna invited us to reflect on Psalm 107, a rich song of thanksgiving and reversal: deserts become springs, the lowly are lifted up, and the weary are led to a place to dwell. Through the lens of monastic life—from the chants of the Benedictines to the humble service of the Franciscans—we explored the tension and balance between personal holiness and social holiness.

We learned how the early monks not only memorized all 150 psalms through chant but also lived out their faith through daily labor, hospitality, and care for the poor. Their monasteries became oases in the wilderness—places of song, prayer, and service.

Rev. Joanna reminded us that in today’s world of doomscrolling, division, and despair, we are still called to create oases of community and compassion. Like the psalmists, we name the desert places—loneliness, hunger, injustice—and trust in God’s transforming love to bring about healing and abundance. Each of us is invited to consider the places we’re called to act, speak out, and stand in solidarity with those on the margins.

This is the rhythm of grace: worship and justice, prayer and protest, solitude and service. The question is not just How is it with your soul? but also How is it with your neighbor?

🌀 Reflection Questions:

1. Are you spending time in scripture and prayer with God and allowing your heart to be transformed to see the world through God’s eyes?
2. How is God calling you to action in response to the fear and scarcity mentality with love, grace, and abundance?
3. How can you live your life balanced by personal holiness with social holiness as you seek solidarity with those who need one with privilege to speak to those in power against injustice?

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Singing Our Faith: The Still Center

 Scripture: 1 Kings 19:8–16

This week at Central UMC, we turned to the story of the prophet Elijah—a man who stood against injustice, called down fire from heaven, and then found himself hiding in a cave, burnt out and afraid. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah flees to Mount Horeb, the same sacred ground where Moses once met God, and there, in the quiet, he encounters the divine—not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, but in the sound of sheer silence.

Pastor Sarah led us through a powerful reflection on the "still center"—a space of sincere, grounded faith in a noisy and chaotic world. Drawing inspiration from The Swan, a serene musical interlude tucked inside a satirical symphony, we explored how God calls us not to match the noise of the world but to embody grace and stillness within it.

In a time of performative religion, relentless news cycles, and spiritual fatigue, we were reminded that God's voice often comes not in spectacle, but in silence. Elijah’s story reminds us that we’re not alone, that faith is passed from generation to generation, and that God is still speaking—quietly, but powerfully.

🌀 Reflection Questions:

1. How do you feel God’s presence in small or quiet moments?
2. Where in your life are you experiencing noise right now?
3. How might you create space this week to listen for the still, small voice of God?

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🎶 Faith That Sings: Songs of Heaven and Resistance

 Scripture: Hebrews 11:1–16

This week at Central UMC, we turned to the stirring words of Hebrews 11—a chapter sometimes called the “Hall of Faith”—to reflect on the kind of belief that doesn’t just survive adversity but sings through it. Through the stories of Abraham, Sarah, Noah, and others, we were reminded that faith is not wishful thinking—it is confident assurance. It's the ability to live as if God’s promises are already true.

Pastor Sarah guided us through a powerful reflection on how faith has always found expression in song—especially in traditions like Southern Gospel, where music born from suffering becomes a vision of resistance. We explored how singing about heaven is not an escape from reality but a prophetic protest against the brokenness of the world. From enslaved people lifting their voices in hope to revival tents filled with trembling hearts and triumphant songs, we are part of a great chorus that believes heaven is coming—and is already breaking in.

As part of our Singing Our Faith series, this service invites us to sing not just for joy, but for justice. To let our music proclaim a better world, even when we cannot yet see it.

🌀 Reflection Questions:

• What does it mean to have a faith that not only endures suffering but also resists it?
• How might our church reflect a heaven-rooted hope that works for justice in the present?

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🕊️ Sent and Still: A Taizé-Inspired Service

Scripture: Luke 10:1–11

This week’s worship service at Central UMC took a contemplative turn as we explored the rhythms and spiritual practices of the Taizé Community, an ecumenical monastic movement in France devoted to prayer, simplicity, and reconciliation. Pastor Sarah introduced us to the story of Taizé’s founding, its daily rhythms of prayer and reflection, and the spirit of unity that continues to draw thousands of pilgrims there each year.

Our scripture reading comes from Luke 10, where Jesus sends out 72 disciples in pairs—not to work alone, but to rely on community, hospitality, and trust in God’s provision. The reflection, originally shared with pilgrims at Taizé, challenges us to embrace the mystery of being “sent” not with certainty, but with trust, humility, and openness to those we meet along the way.

As part of our Singing Our Faith series, this service invited us into silence, sacred listening, and shared reflection. In a world of noise and speed, Taizé reminds us that the Spirit still speaks—especially when we slow down enough to hear.

🌀 Reflection Questions:

• Have I ever brought some peace to a difficult situation?
• What helps me believe that Jesus himself is present there?
• How do “being sent” and having to make choices in life fit together?

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Tending the Flame

 Scripture: Leviticus 6:8–13

In this week's message, Pastor Sarah draws from the rarely-visited book of Leviticus to uncover profound truths hidden within ancient temple rituals. Centering on the command to keep a continuous fire burning on the altar, the sermon invites us to reflect on the fire of God’s presence in our own lives—how it burns, how it flickers, and how we are called to tend it daily.

We explore the theological significance of the burnt offering and how it symbolized repentance, reconciliation, and the transforming grace of God. Pastor Sarah weaves in personal stories from summer camp, testimony circles, and even theological debates between traditions, showing how the work of salvation is not a single moment, but a lifelong journey of grace.

As part of our Singing Our Faith series, this message reminds us that salvation isn’t transactional—it’s transformational. The fire of God’s love is not confined to a temple altar but lives within us, shaping us through daily acts of mercy, justice, and love. We are not only saved—we are being saved and will be saved.

🕊️ Reflection Questions:

• How do you understand salvation in your life right now? 
  
  
• We often talk about being “saved,” but what does it mean to you that we have been, are being, and will be saved? 
  
  
• How does that shape your relationship with God and with others?

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Praying at the River

 Scripture: Acts 16:13–15

In this week’s message, Pastor Sarah takes us to the riverside in Acts 16, where Paul meets Lydia—a bold and generous woman whose open heart and courageous faith helped birth the first church in Philippi. Drawing from personal stories of outdoor baptisms and the unexpected grace that flows in those holy moments, we explore how prayer, like music, often happens best in community and in rhythm.

As part of our Singing Our Faith series, this sermon reflects on how our faith—like a good bluegrass jam—calls us to play in time, tune our hearts, act with courage, and join in harmony with others. Through the story of Lydia’s baptism and hospitality, we are reminded that our faith is not meant to stay private. It flows outward, impacting our homes, our churches, and our world.

Whether you're new to faith or have been on this journey for decades, this message invites you to reflect on your own baptismal calling and what it means to live it out together. There's room for every instrument—and every heart—at the river.

🕊️ Reflection Questions:

• Scripture says, “...the Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly.” When in your life have you experienced a moment of spiritual openness like Lydia? What helped prepare your heart?
• Lydia’s response to the gospel was immediate and public when she and her household were baptized. How do you respond when you sense God moving? What helps you say yes quickly and fully?
• Lydia’s faith affected not only her but her entire household. How does your faith impact the people around you?

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