June 19th is an important day in our family because it's the birthday of our firstborn, son Isaac. I took him out for lunch -literally eating outside and suitably distanced. It was a reminder that he's a great guy.
A lot of us white folk are realizing that June 19th, or Juneteenth, is important for another reason. For years many Blacks have acknowledged it as special because it marks the day in 1965 on which the announcement was made that tens of thousands of African-Americans in Texas had been set free. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Lincoln nearly two and a half years earlier and he had been assassinated by the time in was publicly recognized and enacted in Texas, the final state to do so.
MSS0281-PH037, Houston Public Library, African-American Library at the Gregory School
While this day should be cause for celebration it is also a day of sober reflection, the acknowledgement that 155 years later so much has yet to be done to achieve racial equality and justice in the United States and in countries around the world, including Canada.
With the recent resurgence of Black Lives Matter there has also been a renewed interest in Juneteenth and some have called for the day to be declared a national holiday in the US.
Here is a prayer from Augsburg University Campus Ministry to mark this solemn, joyful, historic day:
Liberating God, we offer a prayer of thanksgiving and praise for your hearing the cries of the oppressed. Bless your name for giving us the victory and freedom over slavery. We in gratitude unite all of our hearts to reflect on where you have bought us from. As we enter this Juneteenth holiday celebration let us remember all of our ancestors who longed to see this day come. Let us sing songs of joy and celebration. God thank you for the freedoms we experience, let us not take for granted at what cost we experience it. May we fill the land with songs of joy and thanksgiving in celebration in remembering your saving grace.
Oh amazing and gracious God, may we all give a moment of silence to “breathe your breath of life”. And In all our times of tribulation and suffering you enabled us to endure, to build character as a people and May we continue the fight for full liberation for all people, for our indigenous siblings. Loving Parent, and always grounded in a hope that did not disappoint. Your abiding love freed us and continues to free us for the sake of your love. May we as a people begin to heal and be reconciled to each other freely in love and justice.
Lord, we can’t fully celebrate while others are in need of liberation from poverty and persecution. We cry out on behalf of the families separated at our borders, as children who are detained in cages cry out for their parents. Send your word, oh God to save and free them.
And Lord after a time of celebrating, give us the strength, motivation, fortitude and courage to continue to fight for social justice, equity, and to dismantle all systems of oppression and supremacy. In hopes that we all shall overcome one day. Amen
Rev. Babette Chatman
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