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Grainger
Browning at Preaching with Power:
PHILADELPHIA (March 18, 2004) – "Sometimes God takes you back to take you forward," the Rev. Dr. Grainger Browning of Fort Washington, MD, preached to parishioners gathered at Hickman Temple African Methodist Episcopal Church last night. Browning was the sixth of seven presenters for this year’s 22nd annual edition of Preaching with Power, an initiative of the Urban Theological Institute of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Browning preached on Exodus 14:15: "The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.’" Moses had been questioning why the Lord had led the Israelites out of Egypt to be trapped between the Red Sea and Pharoah’s Egyptian army. At that moment the journey into the wilderness looked indeed to Moses like a step backward to ward the grave. But the Lord challenged Moses to "go forward" and see the salvation of the Lord. Browning told the story of two gangster rappers. More than two years ago one accused the other of not being "authentic." The accusing rapper removed his shirt to reveal the evidence of bullet holes, proving he had a real gangster background.
"As part of the body of Christ, we need to look at ourselves for spiritual evidence. Would the evidence convict you?" he asked his listeners. "God moves in mysterious ways," Browning said. Moses was born "at risk. Moses, with his Hebrew roots, grew up in the house of Pharoah and then was moved from being a Prince of Egypt to where God wanted him to be," leading the Israelites. "God rose up in him and put him on the side of people against the side" he had once been a part of. He said that has happened to African American leaders throughout history like W.E.B. DuBois. "How about you?" he addressed the congregation which included many seminarians. "Maybe you have been part of corporate America, and something rose up in you and now you are going to seminary. Moses was once in Egypt, but not of Egypt. You may have been in but not of something." As the Lord urged Moses to have the courage of his convictions, so Browning urged the congregation on, his message increasingly energized. He warned his listeners not to become fearful along the way when they don’t see the evidence right away to inspire their confidence. "Moses saw the bush burning but not consumed. In the kingdom of such a time as this, God’s people will not be consumed," he said. "Go back where you came from, rooted in the culture of your people. God knows and sees what you don’t. But you’ll see it when you get there." He movingly depicted the resurrection of Jesus as evidence of God’s glory. "We can do it because we have Holy Ghost Power!" he said.
In a brief workshop concluding the evening, Browning responded to seminarian questions. Asked to explain the dramatic growth of the congregation he serves, Browning explained that it has helped that Ebenezer AME Church is in an area where the African American population is rapidly growing. He added that it is important "to be kind to the people you serve and meet the people where they are, not where you are." He described how when he first arrived 20 years ago, he had once anointed "empty seats in the congregation and prayed over those seats that they might be filled." They have been. Ebenezer now has more than 10,000 members when it once had 17. Browning added that he could no longer be as personal to all of his parishioners as once was possible with a smaller church. But he said that Bible studies are an important breeding ground when parishioners rally to his side in ministry. "That’s where they discover their gifts and become empowered to do ministry to others that they have a vision for," he said. Browning also urged the seminarians "to be themselves" when they preach, and focus on their own distinctive gifts in their preaching style, rather than imitating the messages and approach of others they admire.
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