"We dare to imagine ourselves beyond the original wounds of slavery, colonization, genocide and displacement from our land, cultural memory, and tradition…We reclaim the power, resilience, and innovation of our ancestors…to embody their wisdom across centuries and generations is to continue their legacy of freedom and healing.” – Cara Page and Erica Woodland, Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care, and Safety
The African American spiritual, “There is a Balm in Gilead,” reminds us of the freeing power when one finds healing. This Juneteenth, United Church of Christ congregations are invited to discover the healing balms that can still “make the wounded whole” and “heal a sin-sick world” today.
Racial Justice Ministries and Join the Movement toward Racial Justice invite you to honor and celebrate Juneteenth this year by remembering and discovering the healing practices that sustained freedom in the bones of our ancestors, before and after emancipation. Through music and prayer, poetry and art, reflection and ritual, may we find a medicine bundle, a poultice, a libation, that teaches us the sound of freedom, echoing from legacies of healing and singing futures of wholeness.
The Rev. Velda Love, minister for Racial Justice and lead for Join the Movement campaign, noted that Juneteenth serves within many African American communities as their Independence Day as opposed to July 4. Its reach, though, is growing throughout the country as more congregations and communities learn about the history and join in on the celebration — and the work that is still to be done to ensure freedom for all.
“The movement for equity and full inclusion remains on the hearts and minds of each generation. Juneteenth is a day of remembrance that will continue for generations to come,” said Love. “Our commitment as a family of faith is to come together and remember that the freedom and liberation of African Americans is tied to the liberation and freedom of our siblings who cannot experience life without war and suffering across globe.”
Rev. Love envisions “congregations remaining on a journey of living into God’s vision” of full inclusion beyond June 19: “We are all created in the image and likeness of God. There is no hierarchy within the human family. There are no superior people groups. African Americans have sacred stories that are historical, contemporary and beautiful. We can all thrive and live into the abundance of God’s grace and love when we open our hearts for the kindom of God to manifest today on earth. That’s what I envision. May it be so.”
Click here for Juneteenth resources.