Below are my welcoming remarks at “A Juneteenth Sacred Resistance Concert,” sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles’ Program Group on Black Ministry, the H. Belfield Hannibal Union of Black Episcopalians, Episcopal Sacred Resistance – Los Angeles, and St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church/ San Lucas de las Montañas in La Crescenta, our host. The Rev. Canon Jaime Edwards-Acton of Sacred Resistance and St. Stephen’s Hollywood described his ministry to the families of those seized in ICE’s workplace raids. The Rev. Guy Leemhuis, the St. Luke’s vicar, and Gabriel Gonzalez led the award-winning members of the Enchanted Forest Band, accompanied by Vision, through ten numbers, including “Resucito (He Rose),” “El Derecho de Vivir en Paz,” and “Pastures of Plenty,” a Woody Guthrie medley adapted by Ana Lia Downs Sanchez.
Today is our annual reminder of work left undone and debts unpaid.
When a Union general proclaimed in Galveston 160 years ago today that the enslaved people of Texas were at last to be considered free people, the Civil War was over – the so-called Confederacy had ceased to be. But in the far reaches of Texas, they acted like nothing had happened until the troops arrived.
The law was one thing. What people could still get away with was another. Saying people were free was one thing. Treating people with dignity was another. Saying people finally had to be paid for their labor was one thing. Coming up with two centuries’ back pay was another.
Proclaiming the good news in Galveston was one thing. Living up to the standard of the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is another. This year, in the United States, when it comes to broken promises, Galveston is the crossroads of Intersectionality.
Saying liberty and justice for all is one thing. It’s one thing to say that all people are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But tell that to our trans and non-binary siblings today. Tell it to people of African descent whose narratives have been erased from government websites. Tell it to immigrant workers who have been living in our country and paying their taxes for 30 years only to have their government call them criminals and send masked men to deport them.
Our faith is that at the beginning of all things, we were created to be free. Our civic myth is that July 4, 1776 is the birthday of United States freedom. The events of June 19, 1865 remind us that the good news of freedom travels slowly. Tonight, with our voices raised and toes tapping, here’s hoping the road to the promised land feels just a little shorter. God bless you, and a blessed Juneteenth.
