News & Announcements

Rev. Dr. Ronald M. Braxton, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, March 7, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 63: 1-9. A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. 1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.9 They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
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The Commentary on the scripture provides the background in which David, a young lad before he was king, had become a great warrior in Saul’s court. King Saul was jealous about David being a better warrior than he was. His mind was playing tricks on him – stable one minute, in a rage the next; he kept trying to kill David – he even sent an army after him. He seemed to be suffering from bipolar disorder, or maybe he was dealing with the early onset of Alzheimer’s. In any event, David fled into the desert to escape King Saul’s wrath. There, he moved from place to place. He needed food, shelter, water; he was afraid for his life; he was dehydrated and hungry. In the scripture, David is recalling what this experience in the desert was like. He equates his hunger and thirst to a hunger and thirst for GOD.

Brothers and Sisters, we are living in a big world – big accomplishments, big portfolios, big master bedrooms, big screen TVs, big appetites, March Madness, the SUPERbowl, MEGAmillions – not just the lottery: POWERBALL. We live in a robust, big-craving society. We measure our churches by the size of the building, the choir, the membership, the usher board, the pastoral staff. We don’t talk about country churches anymore. The only thing that matters is the MEGA-church, not the size of our ministry. The scripture provides insight on how the presence of God in your life can more than satisfy your hunger and thirst.

1. Only the presence of God in your life can satisfy your hunger and thirst. I submit that our quest for the “big” things is actually a craving for a BIGGER GOD. We are vulnerable creatures, always searching. Ours is a “bipolar” world – sunshine one day, blizzard, earthquake, tsunami-type waves the next . Exercising every day – then your heart stops. At a point, in the midst of all this craving for BIG things, the only thing that will matter is a God who is accessible.

In verse 5, the Psalmist says his soul will only be satisfied with the richest food – such as a prime rib so tender you don’t need a knife. Only God can satisfy your craving for such things. What would your world be like if you just hungered and thirsted for the presence of God in your life? “Blessed are you when you hunger and thirst for God,” for only He can satisfy your craving.

2. God not only satisfies your big hunger and thirst, but when you seek Him, He provides more than you can ask for. The Psalmist found himself drinking the glory of the generosity of a living God. I thought I was living big, but I’m really living now. We don’t know joy until God shows up in our lives. We don’t know joy in our lives until we can declare “He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.”

If you take the first step outside your door, God walks with you the whole way. He has already gone ahead and will be where you are trying to get to. Psalm 23: “He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies…my cup overflows.” When God shows up in my life, my cup runs over. When God is present, I can reach up through this wilderness and praise Him.

When God is present in your life, it’s time to show praise, to bring forth refreshment, to CELEBRATE. Because He has always stood up for me, I’m not going to wait for the doctor’s report, for Congress to pass a healthcare bill, for the renovations to be complete; I’m going to show praises while the scaffolding is still up, while the floors are still being worked on! After all I’ve been through – after I’ve been “sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes level to the ground” – when I look back over my life and see how good God has been to me, I know it’s time to shout!

Guest Minister: Rev. Geoffrey Tate, Jr., Pastor
St. Mark AME Church, Wilkinsburg, PA
Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, February 28, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture Lesson: Nehemiah 1:1-9 “Nehemiah’s Prayer”: 1The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.  3 They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”  4 When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 5 Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.  8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
As sinners, we are born in debt; not financial debt, but debt due to the mistakes of others. Someone in our family lineage didn’t “do right”. Then the descendants inherited it, and they passed it down to the next generation – a generation that can choose to CORRECT it, or hand down the debts of the past to the NEXT generation.

Most people run from the prospect of trying to correct the mistakes of the past. But before we can build on our future, we must learn from our past mistakes and failures. It is a lonely path, filled with hurt and pain, and dark places we would rather forget.

Some of us are unable to move forward because of what someone said or did to us – our father walked out, our mother had her own agenda and was not focused on us as a child. But we can CHOOSE to: 1) stay defeated, or 2) rise above our situation.

There are a number of great people in our history who did not allow their realities to hinder their destiny – people like Harriet Tubman – whose determination led to her discovery of a pathway to freedom; she took 19 trips on what we know as the “underground railroad”. And Jarena Lee who, despite the injustices within the church, went on to become the first female AME preacher. Frederick Douglass, the forerunner of the abolitionist movement; dynamic speaker and writer, publisher of the North Star newspaper, advisor to President Abraham Lincoln, who helped to change voting rights for former slaves. There’s Rosa Parks, Bishop Vashti MacKenzie (first female AME Bishop), and of course Barack Obama, the first Black President of the United States.

No matter who we are, we are all living in the aftermath of our family’s inheritance. But your destiny is not determined by the negativity of your past. You can rise up from the oppression and depression of your past.

Listen to the words of Nehemiah’s prayer for his people (verses 5-9): 5 Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.  8 “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’

Nehemiah’s name means “comfort of the Lord”. The lesson of Nehemiah’s prayer is: acknowledge, reflect, learn, and move forward. He had to reflect on the past before he could move forward.

Nehemiah teaches: As we reflect on our past, we must carry our concerns to God in prayer. Don’t blame a person who may have been responsible for your pain. Nehemiah asked God to forgive his father, and his father’s fathers, and himself. The lesson we must learn from Nehemiah is to forgive those who hurt us in the past. Don’t walk around upset because of what your Daddy did, what your Mother didn’t do, the neighborhood you grew up in. Take a lesson from Nehemiah and “cast all your cares upon the Lord.”

In his book, Up From Slavery, Booker T Washington tells the story of the coarse shirt made of flax that slaves were forced to wear, and the agony he endured as a slave boy the first time he had to put on a new flax shirt. Aware of his little brother’s discomfort, his older brother broke-in Booker T’s flax shirt for him.

Brothers and Sisters, Jesus tried on your flax shirt for you. He loves you so much. He put on your flax shirt and he carried that flax shirt all the way to Calvary, dragging your burdens, your sins, and your distress with him.

You can remain defeated, or you can choose to rise above the disparity of your situation. No matter what life brings your way, know that you can be “more than a conqueror”.

We were all BORN IN DEBT; we have all fallen short. But Jesus paid our debts of sin and we walk in victory!

Rev. Dr. Marie P. Braxton, Asst Pastor
Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, February 21, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture Lesson: Luke 4:1-13The Temptation of Jesus  1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.  3The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”  4Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’”  5The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”  8Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”  9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written:  ” ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”  13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

The scripture Luke 4:1-13 is a traditional reading for the first Sunday in Lent. The passage, addressing the temptation of Jesus, is a widely used and familiar text. The setting is the wilderness of the Judean desert, near Jerusalem. Jesus was led to the desert by the Holy Spirit where he was tested for 40 days. In the Bible, 40 days represents a very long time. He had been on a food fast, and he was very hungry. In the scripture, which is titled “The Temptation of Jesus”, Jesus underwent at least three tests from the devil during that 40 day period.

1. The Test of Self-Sufficiency. Test #1, is found in verse 3 where the devil says: “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” The devil is so cunning; he acts as if he cares about Jesus’ hunger. But Jesus replied: “Man does not live by bread alone.” The temptation of test #1 is: SELF SUFFICIENCY – meaning that you think you can depend on yourself and your own resources. We tend to think of self-sufficiency as a virtue; we teach our children to be self-sufficient. But beware: self-sufficiency is a sneaky temptation. If you make it your altar, if you make it your exclusive aim, you have no need for your family, no need for your church, no need for your community, no need for GOD. You are worshipping SELF. You must surrender yourself to God; you must trust Him, rely on Him. You must beware of the temptation of self-sufficiency.

2. The Test of Power. Test #2 is found in verses 5-7: “The devil led Jesus to a high place; he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and said: ‘If you worship me, I will give you power over all these kingdoms.’” The temptation of test #2 is the temptation of POWER. In our daily lives, we usually want power on a smaller scale than what is represented in the scripture. I wish I had power over where my husband leaves his shoes, all lined up in our bedroom instead of in our closet. I wish I had power over the rush hour traffic, with a lane all to myself. In the scripture, Jesus answers the devil with a quote from Deuteronomy 6:13: “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord and serve Him only.’” Only God is almighty, all-knowing, ever-present, perfect, righteous, just, true, and everlasting. As the hymn goes: “God is the joy and the strength of my life…He is my all and all.”

3. The Test of Invulnerability. Test #3 is found in verses 9-12. The devil leads Jesus to Jerusalem, quoting Psalm 91: 11-12, he says: “If you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here; if you are truly the son of God, the angels will protect you.” The temptation of test #3 is the temptation of INVULNERABILITY. Some of us think our health, our wealth, our assets, etc. have made us invulnerable. But now we are facing unemployment, foreclosure, loss of healthcare, etc. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be invulnerable? To not be exposed to life’s hurts and disappointments? In fact, it doesn’t matter who we are or what we have: we will all experience trials and tribulations, good and bad days, rough mountains, storms. But through it all, I have learned to trust in Jesus. Jesus responded to this 3rd temptation quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” After that, the devil finally backed off, and went away.

This famed passage warns us to be wary of the temptations of self-sufficiency, power, and invulnerability. But take a look at verse 13: “When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left Jesus alone until an opportune time.”

Don’t get too comfortable thinking you have defeated the devil, because HE WILL BE BACK. He will be back with more lies to tell, to rob and steal. You can go through your fasting, praying, singing, and shaking him off, but he will be back to attack you at your weakest point. He will come back and attack you through your husband, through your wife, through your children, through your grandchildren, through your friend, through your neighbor, through your boss.

And when he comes back, when temptation comes, be sure you are anchored – in the Lord, in worship, in prayer, in the Bible.

Rev. Ronald E. Braxton, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church, Washington, DC

Sunday, February 14, 2010

www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture 17A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. 18Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” 19“O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” 20So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. 21Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”“From childhood,” he answered. 22“It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” 23“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” 24Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” 25When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. 28After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” 29He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”

Jesus invited Peter, James and John to go with him onto a mountain where the three disciples witnessed Jesus’ “transfiguration”.  Jesus’ face began to shine; his garments glowed; Elijah and Moses appeared.  The scripture text begins immediately after Jesus’ transfiguration, when Jesus and the three disciples leave the mountain and join the other 9.  The other 9 disciples had been out among the people ministering, teaching, and healing.  A father had brought his son to the 9 disciples so they could heal the boy of his affliction – he appeared to be possessed by demons, causing him to thrash about, gnashing his teeth and foaming at the mouth.  When Jesus arrived, the man approached him, asking him to heal his son.  He said:  “Father, I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”

The disciples wrestled uncomfortably with why they could not heal the boy.  The boy’s father asked Jesus: “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”  Jesus said: “If? Everything is possible for him/her who believes.”  The boy’s father replied:  “I do believe; but help me to overcome my unbelief.” The Gospel of Mark lays out the foundational issues that Jesus’ disciples, like all humans, wrestled with:  faith in God and faith in their own ability to access God in their daily living.

The scripture tells us how to handle mountains that loom over us in our daily lives.

1.             Never be so spiritually inept that you cannot admit that, in your own humanity, you experience faithless times in your life.  There is a “Doubting Thomas” in each of us.  Yes, I believe, but there is a part of me that borders on unbelief.  The disciples even queried why.  As strong as we think our faith might be, mountains sometimes loom larger than our faith.  Yes, I believe, but God help me in my unbelief!

2.             Let the mountain draw you closer to God.  Take your eyes off the mountain and focus on God.  Jesus’ garments were still glowing from his transfiguration, but the boy’s father did not recognize the power right in front of him!  All the father could see was his son and the demons.  The mountain can overshadow your hopes and dreams.  Take your eyes off the situation and focus on Jesus; focus on the power of God who can do all things.  Say, yes, I believe, but God help me in my unbelief!

3.             Some things can only be accomplished by prayer.  We can do some things; there are some mountains we can move by ourselves.  But there are some mountains we cannot move on our own. There are some things in our lives that only God can move. All we can do is pray, pray, pray non-stop.  Never doubt that prayer can conquer every mountain, every trap, every obstacle on your path.  Fall down on your knees and keep on praying.  God moves mountains; through prayer you can conquer anything.  God may not choose to move the mountain out of your way, but prayer will give you everything you need to deal with your mountains. 

In the Book of Judges, the prophetess Deborah, through the power of prayer, moved Barak on Mt. Tabor and to defeat an army that was 10 times greater than his own.  Without prayer, a molehill can turn into a mountain. Through prayer, with a little bit of faith, just the size of a mustard seed, you can say: “Mountain, get out of my way!” Jesus will give you the power.

Rev. Ronald E. Braxton, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church, Washington, DC
Sunday, January 31, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture:  Psalm 71:1-6: 71:1 In you, O LORD, I have taken shelter! Never let me be humiliated!71:2 Vindicate me by rescuing me!Listen to me!  Deliver me! 71:3 Be my protector and refuge, a stronghold where I can be safe! For you are my high ridge  and my stronghold.71:4 My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked, from the hand of the cruel oppressor!71:5 For you give me confidence, O Lord; O LORD, I have trusted in you since I was young. 71:6  I have leaned on you since birth; you pulled me from my mother’s womb. I praise you continually.

Life has a way of testing our relationships – with each other, and with God – and it spares no one.  It sometimes leaves us in troublesome, unsettling, difficult places where everything we depend on is turned inside out. We become distressed, and stressed.  But in the scripture, despite all the pain and devastation he is experiencing, there is no doubt in the Psalmist’s mind about his relationship with God.  Five times, the Psalmist refers to God as “my God.”  He knows that his relationship with God is the only REAL thing that he can lean on. 

Regardless of the type of storm you are going through, be clear about your walk, your relationship with God.  No matter what you are going through, be clear in your mind that God is undergirding you.  Jesus was very clear in the end about his relationship with God.  At the end, he said:  “You wait here.  I need personal time with my God.  I need to work this out with God.”  There comes a time in your life when only God and you can work it out. There comes a time when you need somewhere you can go and cry out: “My God! My God….”

God brought you through the last time; and He will bring you through again.  In his book, the Norwegian biblical scholar Sigmund Mowinckel takes a different take on Psalm 71; he suggests that the Psalmist is not necessarily in a crisis at the time of his writing.  Rather, Mowinckel’s take is that the Psalmist is seeking protection FOR THE FUTURE.  He is asking God to “be there for me the NEXT time, just like you have been my rock in the past”.  The Psalmist has CONFIDENCE IN GOD; he knows that God is the God of the next time; that God is the God of tomorrow.  Because of your relationship with God, there ought to be confidence that your God of yesterday will be your God of tomorrow. When you look back over your life at the last time the Lord saved you, you can be secure about the future. I put my confidence in the same God who brought me through the last time.

Be confident; praise God, and CELEBRATE.  Finally, Psalm 71 is not a lament, but a CELEBRATION of the God of the next time.  The Psalmist says: “My praise is continually of you…because you are God; you have known me from my birth; you have been there in my hard times”. He is saying, Lord, you have been my rock in a weary land. You woke me up yesterday.  You did for me what I couldn’t do for myself. I am praising you, not because of what you’ve done but because of what you are doing.  I am praising you for the next time.  The next time I can’t see my way, I want you to be my rock in a weary land.  And when that next time comes, you ought to be able to cry out:

Father, I stretch my hands to Thee,
No other help I know;
If Thou withdraw Thyself from me,
Ah! whither shall I go?

What did Thine only Son endure,
Before I drew my breath!
What pain, what labor, to secure
My soul from endless death!

The God who blessed you, who brought you through the last time will bring you through the next time.  When you look back over your life, didn’t He bring you through?  Didn’t He make a way for you? The same God who delivered you the last time will bring you through the next time. Be confident…praise God…and CELEBRATE.

Rev. Lewis M. Anthony, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan Wesley AME Zion Church
Guest Speaker, Metropolitan AME Church, Washington, DC
Sunday, January 24, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org

Scripture: Psalm 84:5-7 5 – Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. 6As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of spring; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. 7They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.

Psalm 84 is a testimony of a man who is excited about his pilgrimage to the sanctuary of God. He is so excited about his journey, about being in the space where God resides. Some people come to the house of God to be seen, but I am glad just to get my foot in the door. Verse 10: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness”.

The Psalmist goes on to explain that: “A walk with God is not a walk without difficulty, anxiety, or pain. But blessed is he whose strength is in the Lord while he is passing through the valley of Baca.” Every one of us will be in the valley of Baca if we live long enough. Can you imagine being in a place where you have tears…but no Kleenex; pain…but no medicine; frustration…but no relief. But if your strength is in God, you will walk through the valley of Baca and turn that valley experience into a thing of praise!

We talk of worship, but then we don’t do it. Worship is both a noun and a verb: it is what I am; and it is what I do. There are two times when you must worship: 1. When you feel like it; and 2. When you don’t. In Haiti, after the earthquake those who could get up and go to church did.

Even when they are in the valley of Baca, some folks don’t worship; they look at worship as something to do on the 1st and 3rd Sunday. You are either in a storm, coming out of one, or on your way into one. Who is in the storm with you? God has not promised that the skies will always be blue; that there will be sunshine without rain; joy without sorrow; peace without pain. Surely, there will be toil and temptation. He has promised strength, rest, life, grace, help, and undying love. When you go through the dry place, there is hope for weeping eyes: there is a well in Baca. God will make a way in a dry place. Moses can tell you about a well in Baca. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego can tell you that God made a well in Baca. Esther was a little girl who rose from poverty to the palace because God made a well in Baca. A preacher grew up impoverished; people nailed him to some wood; but God made a way in Baca. In Baca, there is hope for weeping eyes. Hope is when you trust that God will meet you in your dry place; when you know that He will turn your dry place into a place of spring.

William Cowper’s dry place was the inspiration for the famous hymn: “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”. Cowper grew up in church, but he struggled with depression and doubt. During a time when he experienced a dry place in his life, he became so desperate that he decided he did not want to live any longer. He was in London and he grabbed a taxi (actually it was a buggy cab back in those times) and told the driver to take him to the Thames River so he could drown himself. A thick fog came down and, after driving around lost for a while, the cabbie gave up and told Cowper to get out and find it himself. Cowper got out and wandered through the fog, finding himself at a familiar doorway: he realized it was the doorway to his own house. Believing that God had sent the fog to keep him from killing himself, he was inspired to write: “God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.”

Confused Christians need to know that there is a well in Baca that gives refreshment in dry places. The well is not filled with fame, not with title or position, nor with money. Rather, it’s a “fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.” (William Cowper)

There is no need to go to the analyst when you are in a dry place. Instead, do what your ancestors did: they built this church on sweet potato pies, and washing white folks’ laundry while singing: “Father, I stretch my hands out to thee, whence cometh my help.”

Will you experience a dry place? Yes. Will you experience distress? Yes. But if the world cuts your budget, God will budget the cuts. He promised: “Come what may, I’ve got a well in a dry place for you.”

There is hope for weeping eyes, the kind of hope that is not found in the pharmacy. You won’t find this hope in the comforts of money, title or position, but in that place our ancestors sang about near the cross.

This is the word of God for someone in this room who is in a dry place. No matter what you have done, nothing has worked. He put you in a dry place so you could find out that He can make a way out of no way. This is God’s word for his people in a dry place.

Rev. Ronald E. Braxton, Senior Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church
Sunday, January 17, 2010
www.metropolitanamec.org  

Scripture: Psalm 18: 1-6

1I love you, O Lord, my strength.2The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies. 4The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 5The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. 6In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

We are surrounded by so many events right now – the earthquake in Haiti, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Social Justice Month – and our church is an active participant in these efforts. I would like to acknowledge the important work of the ministries of our church – ministries such as the Mighty Men of Metropolitan, who are actively involved in recovering the lives of men and women who are in prison or coming out of prison through the Daniel Alexander Payne Reclamation Program (“DAPRP”, pronounced “DARP”). The Mighty Men are also ministering to young men who are incarcerated at the Oak Hill Youth Center, and they are ministering to ex-offender fathers to help them to become good viable parents and role models to their children through their Fatherhood Initiative Program. The Mighty Men are God’s way of showing up in the rubble places of other men’s lives.

The scripture in Psalm 18 shows us how, no matter how devastating a situation might be, God shows in the “rubble places” of our lives – the places that are broken, from physical and emotional devastation, quakes, confusion. The scripture shows us how God always shows up in these rubble places of our lives, and how He always shows up on time.

1. God Will Show Up in the Rubble Places.

God Showed Up in David’s Rubble Places. Psalm 18 is a Psalm of David’s cry out to the Lord to deliver him from his enemies; to deliver him from the hands of King Saul who was determined to destroy David. King Saul was determined to end David’s life after making several attempts. Psalm 18 shows how the Lord delivered David from Saul’s attacks on his life. God showed up in David’s “rubble places”. The message from the scripture is that you can always depend on God to show up in your rubble places.

God Showed Up in the Rubble Places of the Segregated South. Rev. Martin Luther King wrote of the dilemma he faced after he had completed his residency requirements for a PhD, and needed to find a job while he wrote his doctoral thesis. He was torn in several directions: should he accept a teaching position, a deanship, or a position in administration? Should he pursue the pastorate, or should he pursue a career in education? If he pursued the pastorate, should he accept an assignment at a church in the north, or in the segregated south? He confessed that “I resented segregation”. However, he also felt that some of those who had been educated in the north should “return to the south to assist in changing the landscape. So I went back to Montgomery.” Dr. King soon discovered that God was in the rubble of the segregated south.

God is Showing Up in the Rubble Places of the Men, Women and Youth Who have been Incarcerated. I mentioned the work of the Mighty Men of Metropolitan’s DAPRP program, and their laudable efforts to help men and women coming out of prison to reclaim their lives. This morning, some of the Mighty Men are not here because they are helping to organize the worship services at the Oak Hill Youth Center. They have partnered with the District of Columbia and the Federal Government through the CSOSA program to help men and their families to reclaim their lives upon release from prison. Through their efforts, we have brought 34 affiliate churches into this program for the combined purpose of: 1) strengthening the family unit, and 2) recovering the lives of men coming out of prison. In order to prevent recidivism, the Mighty Men’s DAPRP program provides job training, mentoring, counseling, and other services. This is an example of how God has shown up in these rubble places.

God is Showing Up in the Rubble Places in the Earthquake in Haiti. Across the globe, money, health supplies, water, and food are being shipped to Haiti. Billions will be spent to help to rebuild the poorest nation. We see men and women feverishly digging through the rubble to rescue lives during a critical 72 hour window; uncovering both the dead and the living. We see rescuers coming out of the rubble PRAISING GOD for the miracle of lives that were spared in the rubble. Through the rubble in Haiti, the world will uncover and discover God because God shows up in the rubble places.

Unlike the preacher who attributed the devastation in Haiti to God, I will never believe that God was just waiting to “dump” on His creation. We are all subject to hurricanes, and wickednesses of our own doing – lack of healthcare, social and economic injustice – are as devastating as any natural disaster. If all we have to depend on is us, if all we have to depend on are our own natural resources, we are in trouble.

If you have ever been there in the rubble places, no matter how bad it gets in your life, you must never forget the lesson from our ancestors: GOD IS A ROCK. This is a message for the people of Haiti: death and destruction might to be all around you, but God is there in those rubble places.

2. God Always Shows up, and He is Always on Time.

Some time ago, I visited Martin Luther King’s house in Montgomery, Alabama. Though it was probably a fine house in its day, it is actually a modest, one story house. There is a little kitchen; there is plastic on the furniture like our grandmothers used to have. Dr. King said he spent all night in that little kitchen, calling to the Lord for direction and help. In the scripture, David says: “In my distress I called out to the Lord”. The familiar hymn goes: “I prayed…I cried all night long…until I head the Lord”.

In Haiti, the 72 hour window is closing now; the workers have moved from rescue to recovery. The people are living among the dead bodies, with no places to relieve themselves. Some might ask: why is God so slow to answer?

Many of the men and women coming out of prison are coming back home with no jobs. Some might ask: Why is God so slow to answer?

In our own personal rubble situations – diabetes, cancer, HIV AIDS – we might ask: Why is God so slow to answer?

Brothers and Sisters, when we cry out from our rubble places, God moves in mysterious ways, and He is always right on time. How else could China, Cuba and America come together to answer Haiti’s cry of distress? How else could an African American president call upon his Democratic AND Republican predecessors to come together to rescue a broken nation wracked by earthquakes?

When we cry out to God, God hears our cry; He moves through the rubble, in His own way, in His own time. God rebuilds from rubble places. It may seem that God isn’t moving fast enough, but God is using the time in the rubble places to rebuild humanity. God is in all of these things.