Ahead of Juneteenth (June 15, 2022)
As we approach this Sunday, our reading of the scriptures surrounding Pentecost will continue. This week we encounter a reminder of the signs and portents that call us to a different future than the past we have known. It fits marvelously with a new secular federal holiday that many have not yet caught up to: Juneteenth, a commemoration of the day formerly enslaved people in Galveston finally learned of their emancipation, two and a half years after the proclamation.
As with so many holidays, this one is full of pathos. How on earth could it have taken so long for the word to reach them? What kept enforcement at bay? It’s true that it was partly Texas’ distance from federal/union troops. Yet it’s also true that although the white enslavers knew about the emancipation proclamation of January 1, 1863, they made sure those enslaved in their region never heard.
The earliest commemorations of this day took place in churches. Of course they did! Church was one place where unfettered joy could be expressed. Spirituals and the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” were sung everywhere there was a celebration. I remember attending my first Juneteenth back in the 80’s, and being inspired and overwhelmed by the power of remembrance to give hope.
Many may think of Juneteenth as an African American holiday. It is, of course, particularly special! But, let’s be clear: Juneteenth is now a holiday that belongs to all of us and can begin to shape our future together as a future of remembrance and hope. We’ve been caught in the midst of contemporary signs and portents, events we must pay attention to. Some are scary, some are hopeful. All are important in shaping who we are choosing to be as a nation. Just because something is scary doesn’t mean God isn’t working in the midst of it to call us to new visions. As a matter of fact, over my long years I’ve come to the conclusion that God is more often at work in the scary stuff than in the fields of daisies that lull us into complacency.
So I invite you to learn more about Juneteenth and about slavery, racism and contemporary efforts to build a beloved community that moves us closer to God’s hope for us. Do so with joy in your heart, openness in your mind, and salvation in your soul!