News and Announcements

Presiding Elder Louis Charles Harvey
December 18, 2011

Rev. Dr. Louis-Charles Harvey, Presiding Elder, 2nd Episcopal District, AME Church
Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, December 18, 2011
www.metropolitaname.org

Scripture: Matthew 1:20-22, Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). NIV Version

This is the 4th Sunday in Advent. This time last year, we celebrated Advent by worshipping over at the Madison Hotel, due to the renovations that were underway. I preached that the glory of this “present house” would be greater than the glory of the “former house” – the former Metropolitan AME Church.

Metropolitan AME is a church in which there are many “departed saints”; many of you were baptized in this church; some of you are the 3rd, 4th, or 5th generation of families worshipping in this church. From the souls of sinners come shouts of praise and thanksgiving as we “Celebrate the Birth of Christ in a New House.”

God does not only specialize in physical building, but also in spiritual restoration. God established a covenant with His people, and He wants us to build a new spiritual house. Matthew says it took 40 years and two generations, but God’s covenant to his people was fulfilled. In order to fulfill the covenant, God had to lay His divinity down, and take on human flesh, and dwell among us.

In this season of Advent, the scripture reminds us to do several things:

1. REPENT. Metropolitan, today you celebrate Christ in a “new house”. But we must be prepared to make this house a BETTER house. In order to make this a better house, we have to do what God tells us to do. Tell Him: “Jesus, I want you to come into my heart and renovate me; I need a new foundation, for my own foundation is leaking.”

2. REMEMBER. Remember what God has already done for you. Remember that He was my companion when I needed Him to walk with me; to talk with me. He separates the wheat from the chaff. .

3. REJOICE. Rejoice because Jesus is Emmanuel – which means “God is with us”. Emmanuel means he is always present and accounted for. I can rejoice, in my brokenness, in my disappointment; when the storms of life knock me down; when dark nights, pain and illness overtake me – I can rejoice because God is with us.

Repent, remember, and rejoice because you’ve got something that the mortgage company cannot repossess. Rejoice! “This joy I have, the world didn’t give it, and the world can’t take it away!”