By Father Casey

Yesterday, President Biden signed into law a bill making June 19 a federal holiday. Better known as Juneteenth, on this day we commemorate the arrival of emancipation in Texas in 1865, two years after President Lincoln’s proclamation. Though the event occurred in Texas, it has been celebrated by people in many states as representing the end of slavery and the birth of freedom for Black Americans in the South. It was, of course, an incomplete and vulnerable sort of freedom, subject to the opposing, sinful forces in our society that have resisted true equality even to this day, but the day has a profound significance nevertheless, and it is right to be celebrated.

I’m proud to say that Transfiguration didn’t need the urging of a federal law for us to observe Juneteenth as a holiday. Last year the Vestry designated that the office would close in observance of Juneteenth. So, I hope you won’t mind not being able to reach the staff in their offices today, as they have the day off.

I must admit that Juneteenth is not a day I gave much thought growing up. It was probably included in my eighth grade state history textbook, but I don’t remember us spending much time on it. This is true for most people I ask, who also don’t remember being taught much history that primarily involved or affected Black Americans. This is precisely why our current debate over history education is so important. There is a growing awareness that many of the stories we inherited about our state and nation are more legend than history, and our obsession to make the past seem perfect caused us to bury many painful truths about the wrongs of our ancestors.

But as Christians, we understand that knowing the past is key to understanding who we are today and becoming who we are meant to be. The story of our salvation in the gospels only makes sense when we hold it up against the stories of mistakes, violence, and evil elsewhere in the Bible. Right now in our weekend worship we’re journeying through the books of Samuel, hearing again the stories of a deeply flawed Israel and its equally flawed rulers. As Mother Rebecca reminded us at the end of her sermon last weekend, these stories are not just about “those people, over there, back then,” but also “about us, here, now.” Because when we look carefully at these stories, we realize that the same traps that lured Samuel, Saul, David, and the rest continue to bedevil us all these years later.

When we disregard history because it is painful or unflattering, it only hurts our ability to be people of virtue today. True, we cannot change the evils of the past, but we must do all we can to ensure those evils stop hurting people today. True, we cannot change history, but we must do all we can to right the wrong that have lingered into the present. It’s our responsibility to make things right whenever and wherever it’s possible. That is what “loving our neighbor as ourselves” looks like in real life. Not just feeling bad about what happened back then, but letting those feelings fuel our pursuit of goodness now.

So if you are a lover of freedom, I hope you’ll pause to honor Juneteenth this weekend. All those years ago our nation righted a tremendous wrong. The work isn’t over, though. There are still plenty of wrongs to right – as a world, as a country, as a state, and in our own lives. I pray God may give us the courage we need to look honestly at the past in order to be the people who can make a better future.