Juneteenth

Monday is Juneteenth!

On June 19, 1865, about two months after the Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Va., Gordon Granger, a Union general, arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved African Americans of their freedom and that the Civil War had ended. General Granger’s announcement put into effect the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been issued more than two and a half years earlier, on Jan. 1, 1863, by President Abraham Lincoln. So, Juneteenth represents more than just a formalized notice of victory over the Confederacy, but an actual declaration of freedom on the ground. 

Today the Juneteenth national holiday commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. Celebratory traditions often include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs and the reading of works by noted African-American writers. Some Juneteenth celebrations also include rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties and historical reenactments.
 
Jelani Greenidge, contributor for Covenant Companion, writes “Now even though Juneteenth was recently established as a federal holiday, celebrations like Juneteenth are more than just political theater. As followers of Jesus, they’re part of our spiritual heritage. Both the longing for freedom and the celebration of its arrival are circular rhythms with echoes of the Jewish Passover feast, where the children of Israel remembered God’s deliverance from the hand of the Egyptian pharaoh. All throughout the Old Testament, we see story after story of God’s faithfulness to God’s covenant people, who often experienced victory and deliverance against formidable odds. In truth, many of the idioms and much of the language from the American Civil Rights Movement invoke those Old Testament texts, the struggles of God’s people as they sojourned through time, facing not only military pressure from neighboring armies but eventually exile and oppression from foreign occupation.
 
So, while Juneteenth does not have a place on the liturgical calendar, it does represent an opportunity for us as a church to raise an Ebenezer, a tangible sign of God’s miraculous providence as we’ve experienced it thus far. As the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” remind us, “through many dangers, toils and snares, we have already come.” As followers of Jesus, we welcome the opportunity to give thanks to God.

If you’d like a good resource to introduce yourself or your kids to Juneteenth, we have found both of these videos are a good start:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWBlikh8A2E
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8icqK_KUtQY

Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation