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Dear Members:
Please find below a statement from the African Methodist Episcopal Church Council of Bishops:
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Council of Bishops
African Methodist Episcopal Church
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Resurrection: The Big Truth
For the past 18 months, the United States has been haunted and stymied by what journalists were finally prepared to say, that a lost election had not been stolen. They named it the “big lie.” I’ll not use this space to rehearse the details we know all too well. Some politicians, however, have been willing to forfeit their credibility in support of it. With the repeated fealty to the big lie came strategies to overturn the election and to put democracy at risk. These matters morphed into violent mob action; persons were prepared to commit murder in the place presumed to be the citadel of Democracy.
State legislatures, armed with misinformation entered Critical Race Theory into the political fray. Lies, conspiracy theories were summoned to challenge the truth about the legal and social implications of racial, economic, and social disparities baked into the United States Constitution and public policies. It is taught in some law schools in the United States — not in colleges, or high schools, and certainly not in elementary schools. But the “big lie” about CRT went forth fast and furious. Laws were passed to prevent the teaching of a subject that does not exist.
This weekend, Christians around the world are celebrating and proclaiming the “Big Truth.” Resurrection meant that the death certificate of Jesus signed at Calvary on Good Friday would become the birth certificate of the Church at the empty tomb, Early Sunday Morning! Indeed, the Big Truth is the reason the Church exists (the African Methodist Episcopal Church included); it is the reason we still exist.
Though admittedly not a biblical scholar, Queen Elizabeth, II had this to say about the meaning of the Resurrection of Jesus at the height of the crisis of the pandemic. It was purportedly her first-ever Easter speech, “Easter is not canceled;” she said; “indeed we need it as much as ever. The discovery of the risen Christ on the first Easter Day gave his followers new hope and fresh purpose.”
N. T. Wright, noted for his liberal stances as theologian and New Testament scholarship offers “When Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, he rose as the beginning of the new world that Israel’s God had always intended to make. That is the first and perhaps the most important thing to know about the meaning of Easter.” Wright argues forcefully that “the only possible explanation for the rise of Christianity and for its taking the shape it did was that Jesus of Nazareth, three days after being thoroughly dead … was found by his followers to be thoroughly and very bodily alive again.”
Even in this time of denominational crisis, where fears and anguish prevail, confusion and lost trust abound, taking matters into our own hands just to be doing something, we seem to have forgotten or forsaken the reality of the Big Truth of the Resurrection.
From the moment of learning of the death-dealing crisis, denominational leaders began the arduous task and lengthy process towards a commitment to restore, restructure, reorganize, and to build back better while also cooperating with appropriate government authorities to bring to justice anyone who violated our collective trust. Such work requires patience.
We are a people of the Book. Thus we glean from it lessons to bless both mind and heart. The Gospel of Luke, for instance, provides details about two death scenes. The first is Lazarus. Perhaps, like Lazarus, we should be stinking by now, the result of physical corruption. It’s what happens to anything dead. Mary and Martha knew enough about biology to fully face what they knew to be true, that after a few days, no matter how much they loved and admired their brother, “he stinks.” It happens in the kitchen, fruits and vegetables and unrefrigerated meat will begin to decompose. So, after a spell of serious sickness, they buried Lazarus; and after the murderous brutality of the Crucifixion, they buried Jesus. By our standards, that should have been the end of it. It was not.
Luke’s depiction of those scenes speaks volumes about our own reactions in a crisis of faith (in systems and persons who have served us well). We see the actions of those who “were there when they crucified my Lord.” Like the people who were driven to kill Jesus, they could not wait. It would be Passover soon; it would soon be sabbath; they couldn’t wait. We also see the hesitance of His followers concerning the Big Truth when we should be seeing celebration. The disciples, even members of the council of apostles, assumed that the crisis of His death was the end. It was not. They even began thinking about the next phase of their lives, rather than their loyalty to the mission and ministry to which they had been called by name.
Luke describes the aftermath of these funerals that were announced too soon. The women, those who first discovered the empty tomb, were not believed and were summarily dismissed. Then there was the careful inspection of the empty tomb, by Peter and the apostles, to satisfy their intellectual curiosity. It was not sufficient enough to make them believers. Only a direct encounter with the Living Christ would convince them of the Big Truth. Jesus lives! Only such an encounter would restore their shattered hopes. May it be so again with us this Resurrection Sunday.
It should be remembered that Resurrection was never about mere resuscitation, pumping air into a corpse, to make it return to being what it always was, but renewal. Renewed was a word Paul used to describe his experience with the risen Christ. This will be the test of our faith, not hanging our hopes on something imaginary, but something extraordinary. The veracity of our faith and our fluent God-talk are not proven in fair weather, but in crises, and in storm.
It is true that our church, the AME Church, hit a season of discontent. We have been the victims of a crime, and these several months have been like a hard winter that came in full contrast to the sweltering heat of the dog days of summer. But the Big Truth sustains us yet. Spring is here. Spring has always been the trusted analogy, the perennial example of Resurrection Truth.
By God’s Grace, and the splendid help of a phenomenal team of intelligent, resourceful, experienced professionals, we shall come from this testing better than we have ever been. The lessons we have learned, and continue to learn, will give us GPS-type guidance for the next part of our forward journey.
Divine breath will raise us from the corruption of death and distrust, like nature being rejuvenated after its season of death-like dormancy.
The Resurrection is the Big Truth. Because of it, “we have a future and a hope.”
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing!
And so shall it be with us. Promise made, promise kept! We have individually and collectively been through enough to ask the rhetorical question, “won’t He do it?”
Updates
A Message on AMEC Retirement Services
The AME Church continues to actively work with law enforcement to investigate a possible financial crime committed against our community, and specifically retirement plan participants. The church is a victim, and we have been working daily to find the truth. We are committed to restoring for each plan participant their full investment plus interest. At this time, distribution payments have resumed and are being made as scheduled. We remain grateful for the patience and support of the AME Church community as we grapple with the devastating news that our church and, specifically, retirement plan participants have been the victims of this crime.
For official information about the possible financial crime impacting retirement plan participants, please visit https://www.ame-church.com/news/important-update-on-amec-retirement-services/.
Please direct questions to general inquiries@amecnational.org. If you are a plan participant, please direct account questions to participant_inquiries@amecnational.org.
Grace and Peace,
Bishop Adam J. Richardson, Senior Bishop
Bishop E. Anne Henning Byfield, President of the Council of Bishops
Bishop Ronnie Brailsford, Secretary
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| Peace,
Rev. Dr. Jeffery B. Cooper
General Secretary/CIO
Senior General Officer
African Methodist Episcopal Church
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| P.O. Box 331028 - 1720 Scovel Street - Nashville, TN 37208
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