Center Church Podcast

Common Table's January 4, 2026 sermon. Epiphany Sunday - John 1:35-51 // Come and See w/Drew Willson.Cold December flies awayat the rose-red splendor:now the crowning glory breakswhile the whole world wonders....- En el Frío Invernal (Catalonian carol)Gather round! As light dawns on this new year, we read the opening story from the gospel of John in which Jesus and his disciples begin to meet and set out as a team. Let's enter this tender time of new beginnings together. In community, let's come and see what's ready to be revealed.

Common Tables December 24, 2025 Christmas Eve Service of Las Posadas.Let every heart prepare him room! Our Christmas Eve service was an interactive, family-friendly experience of the Christmas story! This shorter worship experience engaged all ages with music, drama, and candle-lighting. While you may not get the full experience, you can listen as we reflect on the Holy Family's search for shelter in the Christmas story. Listen as we ponder and pray for people searching for refuge today as we welcome Christ the holy stranger into our world. As an added bonus that we don't normally include, Rev. Lan Davis Wilson welcomes us to an open table in communion and Brooke Willson sends us with the Benediction.

Common Table's December 21, 2025 sermon. Fourth Sunday of Advent - Matthew 1:18-25 // Unexpectedly Expecting w/Alli Koehler-Masavisut.Common Tabler and justice ministry team leader Alli Koehler-Masavisut guides our reflection on the Christmas story in the gospel of Matthew. How does God's way into the world shake up Joseph and Mary's expectations? How about our own?

Common Table's December 14, 2025 sermon. Third Sunday of Advent - Isaiah 55:1-13 // Home for the Holidays w/Drew Willson.The ancient prophet Isaiah riffs on the good news: the people in exile get to go back home! Yet the Lord is changing expectations for what home and history look like. Let's listen to celebrate why this holy shake-up is a good thing, especially in this holiday season.

Common Table's December 7, 2025 sermon and bonus song. Second Sunday of Advent - Ezekiel 37:1-14 // Good Bones w/Drew Willson with a bonus song written and performed by Drew Willson called Good Bones.The ancient prophet Ezekiel finds himself in a valley of dry bones, and we ponder the desolate places we find ourselves today. Can these bones live? Let's listen to recover a life-giving word for ourselves and our world.

Common Table's November 30, 2025 sermon. First Sunday of Advent - Daniel 3:1, 8-30 // Into the Fire w/Lauren LeggettAdvent begins with a blaze! We lit the first Advent wreath candle as UPSEM graduate and certified lay minister Lauren Leggett led an exploration of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace of the king!

Common Table's November 23, 2025 sermon. Second Sunday of Advent - Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14 // Oh, The Places You'll Stay w/Drew WillsonO come, O come Emmanuelthat mourns in lonely exile here...On Christ the King Sunday (the final Sunday of the Christian year) we read the words of the prophet Jeremiah to God's people exiled in Babylon. Though they'd love to come home, God encourages them to stay! Together, we ponder the strength to stay in difficult places in light of that well-known promise:"For I know the plans I have in mind for you; plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope." -- Jeremiah 29:11

Common Table's November 16, 2025 Sermon. Ordinary Time - Isaiah 9:1-7 // Light in the Dark w/Drew Willson.In preparation for the Advent season, we read the classic expectation text from Isaiah 9 that inspired Handel's Messiah: "For unto us a child is born..." Together, we reflect on Isaiah's vision of people walking in darkness and seeing a great light.

Common Table's November 9, 2025 sermon. Ordinary time - Amos 1:1-2; 5:8-15, 21-24 // Let Justice Roll w/Drew Willson.Election Day is past! No more political ads! With a consequential election in the rearview and plenty of work on the horizon, let's learn from what the prophet Amos has to say about the people of God, public worship, and political life."While we do not believe churches should affiliate with particular political parties, we do encourage churches to speak out boldly on social issues from a Gospel perspective. We further believe churches have a right and a responsibility to educate and equip their members to be effective advocates for justice in the wider world."~ from United Methodist Social Principles, 2025-2028

Common Table's November 9, 2025 sermon. Ordinary time - Amos 1:1-2; 5:8-15, 21-24 // Let Justice Roll w/Drew WillsonElection Day is past! No more political ads! With a consequential election in the rearview and plenty of work on the horizon, let's learn from what the prophet Amos has to say about the people of God, public worship, and political life."While we do not believe churches should affiliate with particular political parties, we do encourage churches to speak out boldly on social issues from a Gospel perspective. We further believe churches have a right and a responsibility to educate and equip their members to be effective advocates for justice in the wider world."~ from United Methodist Social Principles, 2025-2028

Common Table's November 2, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - 1 Kings 19:1-18 // On Saints, Silence, and Speaking Out w/Drew WillsonAll Saints Sunday is a special day to gather and give thanks for our dearly departed. They loved us into being, they revealed to us how to love and live, and so they encouraged us to become saints ourselves.We celebrated the communion of saints as we remember the dead: those people of every time and place in the universal church, in our congregation at Common Table, and in our personal lives.

Common Table's October 26, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - 1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:1-13 // Holy Spaces w/Meredith McNabbWe welcomed the Rev. Meredith McNabb as our guest preacher. She guided our reflection on what makes for holy spaces as we consider both Solomon's temple of old and the structures we create today. Together let's discover the kind of holy space we crave as we gather for holy communion around the table.

Common Table's October 19, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - 1 Samuel 16:1-13 // Time for a Change in Leadership w/Drew Willson.In the Bible, does God get involved in human politics?If so, does that mean that God blesses all of our human politics?We consider Samuel's story in 1 Kings 13: though Samuel has anointed Saul as the first king of Israel, the Lord tells him that it's time for a change in leadership. Together, let's explore the intersection of God, politics, and where holy change begins.

Common Table's October 12, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - 1 Samuel 3 // Calling Ghosts w/Drew Willson.With Halloween approaching, listen to the story about the only character who ever appears as a ghost in the Bible! We reflect on the legacy of ghosts in America: what still haunts us today, and how we can take part in healing.

Common Table's October 5, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Exodus 16:1-18 // Bread for the World w/Drew Willson.On this World Communion Sunday, we're mindful of the many gifts and cultures that make up the Body of Christ. In a time of heightened nationalism, border sensitivity, and partisan animosity, we identify with a greater community. Come take your place at the table that breaks down barriers, transforming enemies into neighbors and strangers into friends. We sing together:Blessed are those who, from this table,live their lives in gratitude!Taste and see the grace eternal!Taste and see that God is good!

Common Table's September 28, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-12 // Counter-intuitive w/Drew Willson.Listen as we reflect on lunch counter sit-ins for civil rights and God calling Moses from the margins to set people free. With injustices piling high in the daily news, let's reconnect with our own calling to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Common Tables September 21, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Genesis 28:10-22 // Changing Journey w/Drew Willson.We look through the lens of Jacob's story in Genesis 28 to consider how we change. We live in a time of polarized, partisan, even petrified perspectives. How might we draw on a different dream of this world? How might we be freed to breathe, move, and change?

Common Tables Sept 14, 2025 Sermon. Ordinary Time - Genesis 21:1-3; 22:1-14 // The Right Sacrifice w/Drew WillsonAfter another week of heart-rending national news, we gather to do some hard, hopeful, healing work. We tackle one of the toughest texts in the Bible—God's call to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac in Genesis 22—as we reckon with violence in our world. In the name of all that is holy, how will we find a different way?

Common Tables Sept 7, 2025 sermon*. Ordinary Time - Genesis 1:1-2:4 // The Oldest Story Anew w/Drew Willson.Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.Where would we be without the bar-fueled wisdom of Semisonic's "Closing Time"? How would we ever know when it's time to move on?Listen as we begin the narrative lectionary, our September-to-May journey through the full narrative arc of the Bible. Appropriately, we're starting with the creation story in Genesis 1. We explore how this story of beginnings developed after some painful endings for God's people.If you've experienced endings of your own and you're ready for new beginnings, come take part in a fresh telling of the story with us.*Note: due to technical errors in production, some parts of the sermon were not captured. If you would like to read the sermon's full manuscript, you can do so here: https://www.commontablerva.com/090725-manuscript

Common Tables Aug 31, 2025 sermon // Ordinary Time - Revelation 21:1-6; 22:1-5: Revelation from the Cheshire Cat w/Drew WillsonAt Common Table we pray for Minneapolis, ponder endings and new beginnings, and explore the Book of Revelation with wisdom from the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. We live in surreal times, so let's lean in together.

Common Tables Aug 24, 2025 sermon // Ordinary Time - Psalm 23: Get In A Good Rut w/Drew WillsonYou prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows!As school resumes and a new year unfolds before us, come take your place at Christ's table of reconciliation!

Common Tables Aug 17, 2025 sermon // Ordinary Time - Luke 19:1-5 // Summer Symposium w/Rev. Dr. LaKeisha CookWe welcome the Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook, executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and the final guest of our Summer Symposium worship series! Dr. Cook led our reflection on the story of Zaccheus, whose life is transformed when Jesus calls him down from a sycamore tree to host holiness in his home (Luke 19).

Common Tables Aug 3, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Psalm 143:1-10 // Summer Symposium w/Taylor HarrisDo you ever find yourself asking in tough times, "How did I get here? What is my life supposed to look like? Do I need a different story?"Listen to our Summer Symposium guest Taylor Harris, author of This Boy We Made: A Memoir of Motherhood, Genetics, and Facing the Unknown. With Taylor as our guide, we join the soulful struggle of the psalmist who cries out:I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like dry land. Answer me, Lord—and quickly! My spirit is failing.- Psalm 143:6-7Hear a strengthening word for all who are weary and in need of good news!

Common Tables July 27, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time | Ephesians 4:1-24 // A Summer Symposium Conversation w/The Honorable Stephanie A. Lynch & Drew Willson

Common Tables July 20, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Acts 9:1-22 // Summer Symposium worship series w/Rev. Lan Davis Wilson

Common Tables July 13, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Luke 1:39-55 // Summer Symposium worship series w/Claire Hitchins,  RISC Associate Organizer.

Common Tables June 22, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Acts 4:1-22 // In Between w/Drew Willson

Common Tables June 15, 2025 sermon. Ordinary Time - Acts 2:42-47 // Farewell w/Stephen Poore

Common Tables June 8, 2025 sermon. Pentecost Sunday - Acts 2:1-17 // The Kairos Moment w/Drew Willson

Common Tables June 1, 2025 sermon. The Seventh Sunday of Easter - Luke 24:33-53 // Questions and Wonder w/Drew Willson

Common Tables May 25, 2025 sermon. The Sixth Sunday of Easter - Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21 (CEB) // The Code You Live By w/Drew Willson

Fifth Sunday of Easter - Acts 15:1-18 at Common Table: Binding and Loosing w/ Stephen Poore

Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 8:26-39 at Common Table: Waiting for an Opening w/ Drew Willson

Third Sunday of Easter Acts 6:1-7 at Common Table: Unity w/ Stephen Poore

Second Sunday of Easter Luke 24:13-35 at Common Table: Mansplaining vs. the Proustian Moment w/ Drew Willson

Holy Week Luke 24:1-12 at Common Table: Easter w/ Stephen Poore

Holy Week Luke 19:29-44 at Common Table: Palm Sunday w/ Drew Willson

Lent 5 Luke 18:31—19:10 at Common Table: The Unexpected  w/ Tony Lancaster

Lent 4 Luke 16:19-31 at Common Table: What we Value  w/ Victoria Fitzgerald

Lent 3 Luke 15:1-32 at Common Table: Prodigal Parties w/ Stephen Poore

Epiphany Luke 13:31-35 at Common Table: How to Save a Civilization w/ Drew Willson

Epiphany Luke 10:25-42 at Common Table: Holy Disruption w/ Stephen Poore

Epiphany Luke 9:28-36 at Common Table: What to Make of the Mountaintop? w/ Drew Willson

Epiphany Luke 7:18-33 at Common Table: The Alternate Kin(g)dom w/ Drew Willson

Epiphany Luke 7:1-10 at Common Table: Worthiness w/ Victoria Fitzgerald

Epiphany Luke 6:1-11  at Common Table: Mercy & Holiness w/  Stephen Poore

Epiphany Luke 5:1-11  at Common Table: Deeper Water w/  Drew Willson

Epiphany Luke 4:14-30  at Common Table: Obedience w/  Stephen Poore

Baptism of the Lord Sunday Luke 3:1-6, 21-22  at Common Table: Lessons Underwater w/ Drew Willson

Second Sunday after Christmas Luke 2:41-52  at Common Table: Changing w/ Stephen Poore

Christmas Eve Luke 2:1-20  at Common Table: Repeat the Sounding Joy w/ Drew Willson