SubscribePreserving honored history and sacred space
I passed by the Metropolitan A.M.E Church about a month ago while walking to an impromptu meeting with a friend in downtown Washington. I noticed the scaffolding covering the left front of the red brick building and wondered about the work taking place. When I worked around the corner from the church, I often strolled by and glanced at the banners announcing special services.
Now I know the story behind the construction activity. The sacred and historic space completed in 1886 by a diligent and determined group of African Americans is undergoing massive renovation to repair water damage, a collapsed ceiling and stairwell, and its stained-glass Episcopacy Window. Meanwhile, the doors remain open as worship services and church business continue.
It could cost upwards of $11 million to repair the damage to the church hailed as the National Cathedral of African Methodism. The church’s plight has landed it on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2010 list of most endangered historic sites, according to an announcement made today.
It is important that this sacred national treasure be preserved for so that it will continue to carry out its mission of doing God’s work in the nation’s capital and the world. That’s what matters here.
“From anti-slavery leadership in the mid-19th century to AIDS education and voter registration projects today, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church has been not just a major center of worship but an institution at the forefront of the civic, cultural and intellectual life of African Americans,” remarked trust president Richard Moe in a written statement. “The church is sadly illustrative of many historic urban houses of worship that are in danger of being lost forever.”
Frederick Douglass worshipped there and has a brass-colored nameplate on the pew where he sat. In 1894, a year before he died, Douglass delivered his last speech, “The Lessons of the Hour,” elaborating on “the so-called, but miss-called, negro problem.” You can read this important speech here.
The voices of other historic and contemporary persons of note also have reverberated through the sanctuary of this Victorian-Gothic style church. Former President Bill Clinton twice held official pre-Inaugural prayer services there.
I was in the crowd standing outside the church five years ago when the national funeral service was held for civil rights matriarch Rosa Parks. A hush fell over the crowd as Ms. Parks’ wooden casket was ushered through the front doors of Metropolitan A.M.E. The 2,500-seat sanctuary filled quickly with dignitaries and regular folks, as others waited soberly outside for hours during the service and even joined in singing “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “We Shall Overcome.”
I feel a connection with Metropolitan A.M.E. and its rich history. On occasion, I have attended services at the church. When I was training director at the Washington Post, we rented classroom space for our week-long writing seminars for reporters and editors.
During certain times of year on Fridays, the church opened its doors to downtown lunch-goers, offering some of the best fried fish you’d ever want to taste. My colleagues and I enjoyed some great meals and conversations there.
Metropolitan is rooted in the proud legacy of the African Methodist Episcopal Church founded by Richard Allen in 1787, and it holds a special place in the life of the District of Columbia and the country. It is a “national treasure,” senior pastor, Ronald E. Braxton, told the Post. “You’re not restoring the building for a particular people, or a particular denomination, you’re restoring the building to preserve American history.”
And to further the work of God that our ancestors faithfully began and this current congregation continues.
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