Wednesday’s Message
June 17, 2020
June 19th, also known as Juneteenth, is a holiday in many states including Ohio. I did not know this until very recently. I saw the name “Juneteenth” on my cell-phone calendar and had no idea what it was. It turns out that it marks a significant day in the history of our country.
On June 19, 1865, the United States government through the presence of Union General, Gordon Granger, announced to African-American slaves in Galveston, Texas, that they were free. Two months had passed since Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, Virginia, to Union General U. S. Grant. Two and one-half years had passed since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln. Granger’s announcement touched off a celebration which has been remembered annually for 155 years.
At first, the holiday was observed by African-American families in the south. Early celebrations were accented by prayers, songs, and food. Beginning with Texas in 1980, states began to declare the day to be a holiday. Ohio did so in 2006. I am embarrassed to publicly admit my ignorance about Juneteenth as it has been an Ohio holiday for fourteen years!
This year, Juneteenth stands as one of several reminders for me of the cultural- racial divide that exists in our country. I was first confronted with my personal racism when I was a student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. I was blessed to have the Reverend Doctor Rudolph Featherstone as my advisor and as one of my teachers. Dr. Featherstone is an African-American. He had been active in the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. He was instrumental in teaching me about personal and systemic racism and revealed some of my many blind spots concerning those matters.
Before Dr. Featherstone peeled me like an onion, I was somewhat aware of the racial issues that antagonized the country. After all, I was a child of the 60’s. But I was aware of them through the experience and filter of a middle-class white male. It wasn’t until I was an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Columbus in the 1980’s that I began to gain a better understanding of how racism infiltrates everything.
A colleague of mine in the City Attorney’s Office, an African-American woman, shared with me about the distrust of law enforcement that is pervasive in the black community. She was a law-abiding citizen who had never been in trouble and yet she did not drive her car without the fear of being stopped and interrogated. Her concerns puzzled me at first since that was not my experience at all. And there lies the rub. Our experiences are different depending on race, class, gender, gender identification, nationality, religion, class, sexual orientation and any other category that might define us.
As much as we might try to stand in the shoes of another it just is not going to be an exact fit. In so many ways our different histories, experiences, and expectations based on who we are and from whom we come, impact our thoughts and actions and consequently our lives, and the lives of others. Black activist and scholar, Cornell West, wrote a book entitled “Race Matters.” Those two words say it all. Race matters in everything because people make the differences that exist amongst people matter. That fact is at the heart of our sin.
Even within a fairly homogenous community differences between people are noticed and impact how they are treated. Systems of class and caste are evidence of this. I have learned from family members in Mexico that within that culture lighter skin is preferred over darker. We can always find something to be the basis for separating ourselves from others. Differences become the grounds for distaste, distrust, and even disgust of the other. That is human nature and it is the nature of sin.
Another significant date which stands as a reminder of the effects of the sin of racism is June 17th. Five years ago, on that date, a white supremacist killed nine African American people at a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, through the Churchwide Assembly, responded with the adoption of a social policy resolution, “Condemnation of White Supremacy and Racist Rhetoric,” which states: “As persons called to love one another as God has loved us, we therefore proclaim our commitment to speak with one voice against racism and white supremacy. We stand with those who are targets of racist ideologies and actions.” In a letter dated May 29, 2020, written in response to recent high profile murders of Black Americans, the bishops of the ELCA signed a letter which stated in part: “As church, together we must work to condemn white supremacy in all forms and recommit ourselves to confront and exorcize the sins of injustice, racism and white supremacy in church and society and within ourselves as individuals and households.”
As Dr. Featherstone once taught me, such lofty aspirations must start with personal reflection and honesty. The Bible teaches me the same lesson. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8) Whenever I hear someone proclaim that they are not racist, I think of Dr. Featherstone. Whenever I hear someone deny the existence of systemic racism in the United States, I think of Dr. Featherstone. “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:22-23) Racism along with all of the other “isms” is alive in the human nature and the important first step for us is to acknowledge that fact and only then constructively, and in love, confront its effects.
Even the church is not free of the impact of racism. Nearly 60 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. observed that, “it is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning.” That indictment of the church, which persists in our time, is convincing evidence of the power of sin.
When Dr. Featherstone unearthed my racism he refused to leave me in the depths of despair which comes with judgment. With him there was always a concluding word of grace. That is a godly attribute. “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) Thank you Dr. Featherstone and thank you Jesus.
“Sin boldly” is an interesting statement attributed to Martin Luther. My interpretation of that saying is that we are to understand that we human beings are sinners who are supposed to strive toward living the most moral and upright lives that we can in accordance with God’s word and God’s will. We are to do so knowing that even our best efforts will fall short of perfection. Our imperfect actions will always be influenced by many external factors that shape our opinions and biases. Nevertheless, we are to press on guided by God’s word, and love God and neighbor to the best of our abilities.
When we recognize our limitations and the blinders that keep us from clearly seeing the big picture of race relations in a diverse America; when we see that race matters in every aspect of life; when we feel the sting of judgment owing to our brokenness and the relief that comes with confession and God’s grace; and when we give our best effort to love impartially; then we will be sinning boldly with regards to race and life. ——————————————————————————-
Lift Every Voice and Sing (ELW 841)
The following is from PBS – Black Culture Connection: Many people are surprised to learn that “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was first written as a poem. Created by James Weldon Johnson, A new stage was created like those at https://multilevelmodularstaging.co.uk/, as it was performed for the first time by 500 school children in celebration of President Lincoln’s Birthday on February 12, 1900 in Jacksonville, FL. The poem was set to music by Johnson’s brother, John Rosamond Johnson, and soon adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as its official song. Today “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is one of the most cherished songs of the African American Civil Rights Movement and is often referred to as the Black National Anthem.
Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand.
True to our God,
True to our native land.
Peace and blessings,
Pastor Bill