News and Announcements

The Men’s Choir of MAMEC sang at The Washington Folk Festival at Glen Echo Park on June 6, 2010.  This was their fifth year participating in this annual event.

Metropolitan’s Breast Cancer Awareness ministry, “Josephine’s Sisters”, participated in the 2010 Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure. The ministry is named in memory of Josephine Hawkins (1948-2006).

Tags: Josephine's Sisters, Race for the Cure, Women's Ministry

Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Braxton, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, June 6, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture Lesson: Luke 7:11-17 11-15 Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession—a woman’s only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, “Don’t cry.” Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I tell you: Get up.” The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother. 16-17They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful—and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, “God is back, looking to the needs of his people!” The news of Jesus spread all through the country. The Message Bible translation

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Most of us have lived through some desolate places in life. Illness, chronic pain, death of a loved one, financial disaster, loss of a home, loss of employment, break-up of a long term relationship, violence, child abuse – all are circumstances that shatter a private world. Over the last two weeks, all I have been able to think about is the status of the oil leaks in the gulf and the people who are most affected by it, praying that they fare better than the victims of Hurricane Katrina. I pray that they are not left in a desolate place.

In the scripture, Jesus ministers to a woman in a desolate place. In the village of Nain, he shows compassion for a woman whose son has died. She has no husband; and she is on the way to bury her only son. In those times, widows were in a tenuous status; their fate was left to the remaining male members of their family. If there were no male members of the family to take care of them, they were moved to the margins of society. The scripture provides three lessons for us when we are in desolate places in life.

1. Take comfort that there is no desolation that blinds you from the sight of God. You may not be able to see God, but He has his eyes on you. Jesus knows all about our troubles, he will guide us til the day is done. There’s no friend like the lowly Jesus; no, not one, no not one. You can look to the life of Jesus and see in him the goodness of God. In the text, God shows compassion for the outcast. He demonstrates his ability to reach into our suffering and hurt. The same power that resides in God resides in us. The woman is suffering a pain worse than death. Jesus instructs her: Stop your weeping! He commands the dead corpse to rise and he gives the boy back to his mother.

2. In your desolate place, you have more power and strength than you know. You have the same power that Jesus has. Use your power and command those mountains: Get outta my way! Stand firm; stand bold; stand defiant in your desolation. There is no secret what God can do; what He’s done for others He will do for you.

3. When God blesses you in your desolate place, let your voice of praise and thanksgiving be distinctive. When God enters your desolate place, he restores you, picks you up, and breathes new life into your dead situation. Don’t let anyone or anything drown out your praise and thanksgiving when Jesus opens doors for you. Don’t be afraid to say: Thank you God! Thank you for the food on my table! Thank you for moving the mountains out of my life! Thank you, Lord, in my desolate place!

Don’t wait til the Lord brings you out of your desolate place. Praise Him now. Don’t wait until you get a new job. Don’t wait until you get a new house after you’ve lost your old house. Don’t wait until he delivers your child off those drugs. In your rough places, raise your hand and shout: Hallelujah!

Tags: Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Braxton, Sermon Notes

Please attend a Hat Show and Sale to benefit Metropolitan AME’s Global Ministry.

Date: Sunday, June 27, 2010
Time: 12:30 pm
Location: NEA Bldg, 16th & M St NW
Price: $35

Tags: Mother Daughter Tea, Women's Ministry

Date: Saturday, June 19, 2010
Time: 11:00am – 3:00pm
Location: University Club, 1135 16th Street NW, Washington, DC
Where: Washington DC
Cost: Adults; $30 and children under 12 $15
Contact:
Geoffrey Tate (President) at 202 320-0571
Richard Corley (VP) at 294-7222
Isiah Dupree (Treasurer) at 301 452-8078

Tags: Father's Day, Mighty Men of Metropolitan

“Wow! Look at God!”
Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Braxton, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, May 23, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture Lesson, John 14:8-17, 25-27 and Acts 2: 1-4. 8Philip said, “Master, show us the Father; then we’ll be content.” 9-10″You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don’t understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?’ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I don’t just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act. 11-14″Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can’t believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I’ll do it. That’s how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I’ll do. The Spirit of Truth1 5-17″If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you! ***25-27″I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught. *** Acts 2: 1-4, A Sound Like a Strong Wind 1-4 When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. The Message Bible translation

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This is Pentecost Sunday. I was moved by the prospect of the subject “Wow! Look at God!” Have you ever had a moment in your life when God just broke through every obstacle in your way, then delivered even MORE than what you had expected, so you knew it had to be God? Like receiving a diagnosis of inoperable cancer, but when you went back to the doctor, the doctor noticed that the cancer had shrunk and he was being scheduled for surgery.

A “wow” event is an answer to a long-desired prayer. Such as the deliverance of a wayward child; a breakthrough at just the right time; an unexpected blessing you never dreamed of. You know it was nothing but God.

There is a lot of truth to the hymn: “God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.” I declare these “wonders” to be “wow” events.

In the scripture, it’s fifty days since Jesus’ resurrection; the disciples had come together in the place where they had last seen him. They were not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen. There was a sound like a strong wind, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks. The powerful manifestation of the spirit of God filled the room. Wow! Look at God!!

After the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension into heaven, the final concern of the disciples was, what would happen when Jesus was no longer physically present? John 14 tells us Jesus had already answered this question: “The ones who believe in me will do greater works than these. From now on, whatever you ask in my name – whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing – I will do it.”

1. Don’t ever be afraid to ask God for anything. Seek God first for everything in your life. There is nothing too big or too trivial. When stuff happens, we turn to every other resource. The Bible says seek first God, and all other things will be added unto you. God will step in. When does God answer? How does God answer? Why does God answer? You gotta ask God those questions, but when your request lines up with the perfect will of God for your life, God always answers “Yes!”

2. There ought to be a door in your life that you can open and personally experience God’s touch. God has an uncanny way of opening a door in our lives that we alone have personal access to. That’s a “wow” moment, when God decides to enter. You ought to have a “secret closet” – some refer to it as a “sacred closet” – a private space in your life and your house in which you can sit and meditate and reflect. Sometimes the door opens through a scripture, sometimes through a familiar line of a hymn, causing you to look back on how the Lord brought you from where you used to be.

3. God will show up in those “wow” moments. God has entered into the space where you are. Sometimes there is the miraculous “wow” – the “God blows your mind” wow. The “out of the ordinary” wow.

God can defy all your logic. It’s not always a “big bang”, yet it is still compelling, exhilarating, surprising, shocking, startling. It comes in different forms. Like the sheer joy when you discover that you made an error in your bank account that worked out in your favor. When the doctor’s diagnosis turns out to be not as bad as you thought it was. When you look at the graduation of that child you never thought would get through high school.

When you think about the goodness of God, sometimes all you can say is: Wow!

Tags: Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Braxton, Sermon Notes

“Living Above Transition and Change”
Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Braxton, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, May 16, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture Lesson Act 1: 1-11–To the Ends of the World 1-5Dear Theophilus, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles, the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but “must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon.” When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?” 7-8He told them, “You don’t get to know the time. Timing is the Father’s business. What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.” 9-11These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared—in white robes! They said, “You Galileans!—why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly—and mysteriously—as he left.” The Message Bible translation

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After the crucifixion and the resurrection, Jesus’disciples knew what it meant to live life daily in transition and change; there was never a dull moment for them. In the scripture, Jesus is about to leave the men he had been coaching for the past three years. They were filled with anxiety. They had somehow gotten through Jesus’ crucifixion; then they had to get through the resurrection; then he presented himself alive over a period of 40 days. Now, Jesus is taken away again, creating another moment of fear and frustration, and yet another transitional moment.

None of us is a stranger to change; transitional moments are constant. Before long, we come to realize that “if it ain’t one thing, it’s another”; it’s “here we go again” – losing people in our lives that we love; losing jobs; losing homes – transitional moments. It often seems as if we are living from heights…to depths….to heights.

In the scripture, the disciples watched as Jesus “was taken up and disappeared into the clouds.” Has life ever caught you in a moment and left you speechless? Has there ever been a moment when all you could do was just stand there and look? This event (of Jesus ascending into heaven) will linger in the disciples’ minds for the rest of their lives. The last picture they would have of their life with Jesus would not be one of suffering; the last picture would be of their glorious, triumphant Lord rising triumphantly into heaven, having overcome every obstacle, every shackle.

The message from the scripture is this: Keep your eyes fixed on the glorious, resurrected, exultant Jesus. When you encounter hell on earth, fix your eye on the triumphant Jesus. Throughout your life, you will always have to deal with transition and change, ups and downs, “questions marks” and “whys?”. But you don’t have to live in the cemetery. You don’t have to live faithless, without a paddle or a boat. Fix your eyes on HIM, and He will give you the courage and the strength to overcome every challenge. There will be moments when you wonder, “Is Jesus absent from my life?” There will be moments when it seems, Jesus is absent, so it takes a tremendous FAITH to weather transitions. It takes enormous faith to live through these moments.

The disciples wanted something to hold onto; they wanted to know what was going to happen tomorrow, after Jesus left. But Jesus said “You don’t get to know that.” You have to muster up every ounce of faith you can muster or you will end up drowning in your own misery and suffering. I don’t what they say on TV; I don’t care what the palm reader told you: you don’t get to know about tomorrow until you get to tomorrow.

It takes a whole lot of faith to get up in the morning, to deal with that child when you KNOW he’s on drugs. It takes a whole lotta faith to grin and bear it, to keep on smiling, to say “yes” when you want to say “no”. It takes a whole lotta faith to keep from telling people where to go. My dear mother lived every day on faith, not by faith, but on faith. She used to get up in the morning singing: “There is no secret what God can do, what He’s done for others, He will do for you!”

If you want to live through life’s changes and transitions, if you want to live your life above gloom, live every day anticipating a blessing. No matter how hopeless things seem,, when you go to bed tonight, anticipate a blessing! When you wake up tomorrow morning, anticipate a blessing!

Tags: Change, Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Braxton, Transition

The June 7 edition of Jet Magazine covers our church’s restoration efforts to save our historic building.

View the PDF. 

Donate to the Capital Campaign.

Tags: 11 Most Endangered, Capital Campaign, Restoration