The truth shall____
You know the second half of that. Google knows it too, but you don’t need google to tell you, or me to tell you, or the image on the screen to tell you. Even people who don’t go to church have heard this phrase before. It’s so familiar that, whenever we hear it, we immediately nod our heads in agreement, without even thinking about.
But when Jesus said this, during the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles, some of those who heard him say it objected. “What do you mean, ‘shall set us free?’ When have our people ever been slaves in need of freedom?”
Incredible though it may seem, they appear to have forgotten the whole history of the Hebrews in Egypt, enslaved by Pharaoh, and set free by God through God’s prophet Moses.
Every year, at Passover, they retold the story of God’s people - their ancestors - being set free from slavery.
Apparently they were just saying the words without understanding what they meant. At Passover they could say the words, and tell the story; yet they didn’t even know the story.
Much like people in our own time who go around wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, yet fail to recognize that Christmas celebrates the birth of a poor, brown-skinned Palestinian whose family lived as refugees, and whose ministry was a ministry of good news to the poor and oppressed. People will even fight for the right to say “Merry Christmas,” and get all offended if someone instead wishes them a “Happy Holiday”... and yet the most significant change Christmas brings to their lives is a flurry of consumerism and spending.
I’ll take this a step further. The Passover celebration really was a celebration of freedom. To wish someone a happy Passover is to wish them a happy freedom. Yet these people who objected to Jesus would celebrate Passover without even realizing that freedom is involved at all.
And instead, they developed their own version of what that holiday meant. They developed their own version of the truth.
...Just like so many today who give plenty of lip service to all things Christian, while forgetting or ignoring what the way of Jesus is really all about; people who have replaced the truth of the gospel with their own truth and their own gospel, which isn’t true at all, and which isn’t good news for anyone but them.
Well, this week is not Christmas, or Passover, or the Festival of Tabernacles; but there is a significant holiday for us this week, a holiday known as Juneteeth. And Juneteeth is a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States…
This year marks the 400th anniversary since the arrival of this continent’s first slaves. In 1619, twenty enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. From that time, until Abraham Lincoln gave his emancipation proclamation in 1863 - a period of almost 250 years - slavery was legal in America.
Yet, even though the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, it wasn’t until June 19, 1865 - two and a half years later - that slaves in and around Galveston, Texas were informed that they were free. The arrival of this good news is what Juneteenth celebrates.
Maybe you - like me - were never taught about Juneteenth in school. There’s a lot that we weren’t taught in school. I learned about Juneteeth through the church. Which is appropriate, because for many African Americans, the church has been a place of truth telling, a place of hope, and a place for celebrating freedom, both before and after emancipation.
For us today, a part of the truth-telling involves hearing stories that have been kept from us, or that we have shut our ears to. And I am increasingly discovering that finding the truth requires effort; there are many who would have you believe some alternative version of the truth rather than the actual truth.
I am also discovering that finding truth leads to feelings of discomfort. Truths are often uncomfortable and inconvenient. But without truth, we cannot learn from the past, or work to create a better future. Without truth, we cannot be truly free.
250 years of slavery. This gave way to freedom, but as you know, it was only a partial freedom. Rights and equality were not granted freely. So for the next 90 years, we had segregation - an incomplete form of freedom.
And in the few decades since, we’ve still had the Central Park Five, and Ferguson Missouri, and the continued, present infestation of white nationalism and white supremacy. Even today, there are those who are working to restrict and limit the voting rights of African-American citizens.
I’m still learning about these things. I was born into the privilege of not having to experience any of these things, or even the negative legacy of any of these things.
And I wouldn’t be a preacher of the truth if I didn’t make an effort to learn more about all this.
And I wouldn’t be a preacher of the gospel if I didn’t learn more about and proclaim a gospel of freedom, the gospel proclaimed by Christ.
And I wouldn’t be a Christian if I didn’t commit to loving my neighbor a little better each day, no matter who that neighbor may be, no matter what the color of their skin.
I do hesitate to preach on such things, because I risk accidentally saying the wrong thing, or betraying my lack of knowledge, or making it sound like I know more than I really do, or presenting an incomplete version of the truth due to the privilege I have.
But I’ll take that risk, because it’s important to at least strive for truth, and strive for a kingdom in which there truly is neither slave nor free; a kingdom where all are equal, where all are one, in Christ.
And so, I’m currently reading a biography called Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer prize in history. Holy cow, it’s a long book! - but fascinating.
Most of you have heard of Frederick Douglass. They do at least mention him in history classes these days.
I had heard about him, and even mentioned him in papers and essays I wrote in seminary.
But to read his life-story is an eye-opening experience into what slavery was like, and the effort he and others took to abolish it, and to secure the right to vote, and to bring about equality.
And it helps put into context the racial challenges that continue today, and how we continue to live with the legacy and the effects of 250 years of slavery, which are manifested in unequal employment rates, unequal rates of home ownership, unequal access to health care, unfair sentencing in the courtroom, unjust profiling by police, and even, now, a racist in the White House, who refuses to condemn white nationalists, and continues to mistreat immigrants and refugees, and who is pushing for a citizenship question on census forms that, according to NPR, would “redraw voting districts in a way that favors Republicans and white people” [from an NPR article by Hansi Lo Wang, 6/5/19].
And maybe you’ve seen or heard about the new four-part documentary about the Central Park Five, titled “When They See Us,” telling the story of five young kids wrongly accused and imprisoned despite their innocence. It’s very powerful, and exposes painful truths about racism.
Juneteenth is a reminder of the legacy of slavery and white supremacy in this country, which continues in our own time.
But Juneteenth is also a celebration. It’s a celebration of freedom. It’s a celebration that, despite all this, our country - and African-Americans in particular - have continued to push forward, to meet the struggles they face head-on, with determination, with hope.
And it is appropriate to celebrate Juneteenth in church.
Dr. Charles Taylor, professor at Edgewood College in Madison Wisconsin, wrote a book called The Church and Juneteenth. A recent email from our Disciples Home Missions office included an excerpt from that book which explains how the church has been and remains important to the celebration of Juneteeth.
Dr. Taylor writes that “the church has [always] been the foundation of the black community. During the horrific days of slavery it provided relief and nourishment for the soul with its promise of a better life after death. The church gave the slave dignity and assured him he was equal in the eyes of God. Despite his earthly condition he was loved and valued as a person of God no matter how difficult his burden became or unbearable his suffering was...
It was this religious faith that sustained the slave and enabled him to endure his bondage...
In their churches, enslaved men and women displayed a dignity and stateliness that survived the slave owner’s dehumanizing oppression...
[The church also] served as a launching pad for black leadership and was involved early on in working for liberation. Many free blacks in northern churches participated in the Underground Railroad, raised money for freedmen after the Civil War, and helped keep the black community intact.
The importance of the black church cannot be overstated. It was, and perhaps still is, the single most important institution in the black community. It permitted self-expression and supported creativity at a time when it could have meant death. An example is found in the spirituals, gospel and other forms of music that helped blacks explain and endure their sojourn in America. Blacks were able to use their churches to hone organization and leadership skills useful in the economic, social and political development of their community. It’s no accident that Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson and a host of civil rights leaders got their start through the black church.
The Black Church provided a haven from the daily oppression slaves faced, but after freedom it was also the center of social activities including the sponsorship of the annual Juneteenth Celebration.”
I am thankful to be part a church that is doing its best to preach truth and help preachers like me preach truth. We in the Disciples of Christ have made it a priority to be an a pro-reconciling, anti-racist church.
We know there is racism and prejudice in every corner and in every aspect of our society, including the church. And we are working to discover our own racism and our own prejudice, and to tell the truth about our own racism and our own prejudice, so that we can move ever closer to the truth, and ever closer to complete freedom.
Yes, it is difficult work. Yes, it makes us uncomfortable. Regional efforts to support the diversity of our 100 congregations and to increase diversity of campers at church camp have met with resistance. Our regional Youth Immersion Ministry was developed to help young leaders in our region have difficult but necessary conversations about race and hopefully help guide us all forward.
It’s not easy to talk about race, and to explore racism in our past and in our present. But we do it, because we are called to search for truth, and only truth will set us free.
You know the second half of that. Google knows it too, but you don’t need google to tell you, or me to tell you, or the image on the screen to tell you. Even people who don’t go to church have heard this phrase before. It’s so familiar that, whenever we hear it, we immediately nod our heads in agreement, without even thinking about.
But when Jesus said this, during the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles, some of those who heard him say it objected. “What do you mean, ‘shall set us free?’ When have our people ever been slaves in need of freedom?”
Incredible though it may seem, they appear to have forgotten the whole history of the Hebrews in Egypt, enslaved by Pharaoh, and set free by God through God’s prophet Moses.
Every year, at Passover, they retold the story of God’s people - their ancestors - being set free from slavery.
Apparently they were just saying the words without understanding what they meant. At Passover they could say the words, and tell the story; yet they didn’t even know the story.
Much like people in our own time who go around wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, yet fail to recognize that Christmas celebrates the birth of a poor, brown-skinned Palestinian whose family lived as refugees, and whose ministry was a ministry of good news to the poor and oppressed. People will even fight for the right to say “Merry Christmas,” and get all offended if someone instead wishes them a “Happy Holiday”... and yet the most significant change Christmas brings to their lives is a flurry of consumerism and spending.
I’ll take this a step further. The Passover celebration really was a celebration of freedom. To wish someone a happy Passover is to wish them a happy freedom. Yet these people who objected to Jesus would celebrate Passover without even realizing that freedom is involved at all.
And instead, they developed their own version of what that holiday meant. They developed their own version of the truth.
...Just like so many today who give plenty of lip service to all things Christian, while forgetting or ignoring what the way of Jesus is really all about; people who have replaced the truth of the gospel with their own truth and their own gospel, which isn’t true at all, and which isn’t good news for anyone but them.
Well, this week is not Christmas, or Passover, or the Festival of Tabernacles; but there is a significant holiday for us this week, a holiday known as Juneteeth. And Juneteeth is a celebration of the end of slavery in the United States…
This year marks the 400th anniversary since the arrival of this continent’s first slaves. In 1619, twenty enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia. From that time, until Abraham Lincoln gave his emancipation proclamation in 1863 - a period of almost 250 years - slavery was legal in America.
Yet, even though the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on January 1, 1863, it wasn’t until June 19, 1865 - two and a half years later - that slaves in and around Galveston, Texas were informed that they were free. The arrival of this good news is what Juneteenth celebrates.
Maybe you - like me - were never taught about Juneteenth in school. There’s a lot that we weren’t taught in school. I learned about Juneteeth through the church. Which is appropriate, because for many African Americans, the church has been a place of truth telling, a place of hope, and a place for celebrating freedom, both before and after emancipation.
For us today, a part of the truth-telling involves hearing stories that have been kept from us, or that we have shut our ears to. And I am increasingly discovering that finding the truth requires effort; there are many who would have you believe some alternative version of the truth rather than the actual truth.
I am also discovering that finding truth leads to feelings of discomfort. Truths are often uncomfortable and inconvenient. But without truth, we cannot learn from the past, or work to create a better future. Without truth, we cannot be truly free.
250 years of slavery. This gave way to freedom, but as you know, it was only a partial freedom. Rights and equality were not granted freely. So for the next 90 years, we had segregation - an incomplete form of freedom.
And in the few decades since, we’ve still had the Central Park Five, and Ferguson Missouri, and the continued, present infestation of white nationalism and white supremacy. Even today, there are those who are working to restrict and limit the voting rights of African-American citizens.
I’m still learning about these things. I was born into the privilege of not having to experience any of these things, or even the negative legacy of any of these things.
And I wouldn’t be a preacher of the truth if I didn’t make an effort to learn more about all this.
And I wouldn’t be a preacher of the gospel if I didn’t learn more about and proclaim a gospel of freedom, the gospel proclaimed by Christ.
And I wouldn’t be a Christian if I didn’t commit to loving my neighbor a little better each day, no matter who that neighbor may be, no matter what the color of their skin.
I do hesitate to preach on such things, because I risk accidentally saying the wrong thing, or betraying my lack of knowledge, or making it sound like I know more than I really do, or presenting an incomplete version of the truth due to the privilege I have.
But I’ll take that risk, because it’s important to at least strive for truth, and strive for a kingdom in which there truly is neither slave nor free; a kingdom where all are equal, where all are one, in Christ.
And so, I’m currently reading a biography called Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer prize in history. Holy cow, it’s a long book! - but fascinating.
Most of you have heard of Frederick Douglass. They do at least mention him in history classes these days.
I had heard about him, and even mentioned him in papers and essays I wrote in seminary.
But to read his life-story is an eye-opening experience into what slavery was like, and the effort he and others took to abolish it, and to secure the right to vote, and to bring about equality.
And it helps put into context the racial challenges that continue today, and how we continue to live with the legacy and the effects of 250 years of slavery, which are manifested in unequal employment rates, unequal rates of home ownership, unequal access to health care, unfair sentencing in the courtroom, unjust profiling by police, and even, now, a racist in the White House, who refuses to condemn white nationalists, and continues to mistreat immigrants and refugees, and who is pushing for a citizenship question on census forms that, according to NPR, would “redraw voting districts in a way that favors Republicans and white people” [from an NPR article by Hansi Lo Wang, 6/5/19].
And maybe you’ve seen or heard about the new four-part documentary about the Central Park Five, titled “When They See Us,” telling the story of five young kids wrongly accused and imprisoned despite their innocence. It’s very powerful, and exposes painful truths about racism.
Juneteenth is a reminder of the legacy of slavery and white supremacy in this country, which continues in our own time.
But Juneteenth is also a celebration. It’s a celebration of freedom. It’s a celebration that, despite all this, our country - and African-Americans in particular - have continued to push forward, to meet the struggles they face head-on, with determination, with hope.
And it is appropriate to celebrate Juneteenth in church.
Dr. Charles Taylor, professor at Edgewood College in Madison Wisconsin, wrote a book called The Church and Juneteenth. A recent email from our Disciples Home Missions office included an excerpt from that book which explains how the church has been and remains important to the celebration of Juneteeth.
Dr. Taylor writes that “the church has [always] been the foundation of the black community. During the horrific days of slavery it provided relief and nourishment for the soul with its promise of a better life after death. The church gave the slave dignity and assured him he was equal in the eyes of God. Despite his earthly condition he was loved and valued as a person of God no matter how difficult his burden became or unbearable his suffering was...
It was this religious faith that sustained the slave and enabled him to endure his bondage...
In their churches, enslaved men and women displayed a dignity and stateliness that survived the slave owner’s dehumanizing oppression...
[The church also] served as a launching pad for black leadership and was involved early on in working for liberation. Many free blacks in northern churches participated in the Underground Railroad, raised money for freedmen after the Civil War, and helped keep the black community intact.
The importance of the black church cannot be overstated. It was, and perhaps still is, the single most important institution in the black community. It permitted self-expression and supported creativity at a time when it could have meant death. An example is found in the spirituals, gospel and other forms of music that helped blacks explain and endure their sojourn in America. Blacks were able to use their churches to hone organization and leadership skills useful in the economic, social and political development of their community. It’s no accident that Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson and a host of civil rights leaders got their start through the black church.
The Black Church provided a haven from the daily oppression slaves faced, but after freedom it was also the center of social activities including the sponsorship of the annual Juneteenth Celebration.”
I am thankful to be part a church that is doing its best to preach truth and help preachers like me preach truth. We in the Disciples of Christ have made it a priority to be an a pro-reconciling, anti-racist church.
We know there is racism and prejudice in every corner and in every aspect of our society, including the church. And we are working to discover our own racism and our own prejudice, and to tell the truth about our own racism and our own prejudice, so that we can move ever closer to the truth, and ever closer to complete freedom.
Yes, it is difficult work. Yes, it makes us uncomfortable. Regional efforts to support the diversity of our 100 congregations and to increase diversity of campers at church camp have met with resistance. Our regional Youth Immersion Ministry was developed to help young leaders in our region have difficult but necessary conversations about race and hopefully help guide us all forward.
It’s not easy to talk about race, and to explore racism in our past and in our present. But we do it, because we are called to search for truth, and only truth will set us free.
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