for word to spread
Dear First Pres SLO Family,
Greetings to you, and grace and peace in the name of the one who came to set us all free.
Sometimes it takes a while for word to spread. Our modern communications and 24-hour news cycle can make us forget that not all that long ago, news traveled very slowly. When the Civil War ended it took two weeks for the news to arrive in Europe. Just 18 years later, in 1883, the massive eruption of a volcano on Krakatoa (in Indonesia) was in European and American newspapers the same day.
When the American Civil War ended on April 9th in 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation was finally settled law in every state in the Union. Still, that news took more than two months to reach slaveholders in Texas—whether it was poor technology or intentional disobedience is a question for another day.
The news of the war’s end and the final freeing of all slaves reached Galveston, Texas on June 19th in 1865. “Juneteenth,” as it has come to be called, is a celebration of that date of liberation, when the owning of human beings as property was officially abolished. Here’s how the Union general, who brought troops to enforce the law, made the announcement:
"The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
Like I said, this was more than two months after the end of the war. Sometimes it takes a while for word to spread.
Juneteenth is both a celebration and a reminder. We celebrate today because after 300 years of slavery and a bloody Civil War, America finally took a major step toward living into the promise of its founding leaders. It’s a reminder, too, that the job isn’t finished yet. Seeing other people as worthless (and worth less) is a sin that denies our central belief that every person is created in the image of God. Juneteenth can look back at a glorious moment in history, but it also forces us to see the job that remains to be done.
We all know, if we pay any attention to the news at all, that slavery and the oppression of people still happens in our country. It can’t be a problem of technology—no way anyone could use that as an excuse. Racism isn’t genetic, it’s a choice. The people who use and abuse and imprison people are fully aware of what they’re doing, they just choose to continue in that wickedness.
Jesus tasked his followers with spreading his message of love and grace and forgiveness to the very ends of the earth (that’s poetry there—Jesus knew the earth was round). They started in Jerusalem and spread north to Samaria, and then over into Asia and beyond. The sharing of the gospel that started 2000 years ago is what brought each of us to the faith—you’re reading this because of what those first apostles and followers did. Isn’t that amazing?
Part of that message was that every single person has value—every human being is meant to live and thrive in peace, free from the fear of being enslaved by another person.
Jesus tasks us with pressing that message in the places where it needs to be heard. There are times when it takes longer in some places than in others, but the calling is still the same. Sometimes it takes a while for word to spread, but that doesn’t mean that we stop trying.
Let this Juneteenth be a reminder that God sent his son with a message of reconciliation and liberation.
Let this Juneteenth also be a reminder that now it’s our job to spread that word, even when it takes a little extra time.
Blessings to you and yours, and to those who still live in any kind of bondage.
Pastor John
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Upcoming Preaching Texts
June
23 Luke 5:1-11 “Fishing and Other Sports”
30 John 21:15-19 “When We Screw It Up”
July
7 Second Kings 22:1-2 and 11-13 “Institutional Memory Loss”
14 Ruth 1:15-18 “Burning Bridges, Building a Life”
21 Mark 1:21-26 “An Unlikely Messenger”
28 Amos 7:7-17 “Bad News Bearer”