Happy Juneteenth Living Word Church! What's Juneteenth you may be wondering? I'll explain... On June 19th, 1865, the blacks slaves living in Galveston, Texas received great news...they were free!! Approximately two and a half years earlier, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which legally ended slavery in the United States. And finally on June 19th the amazing news reached everyone who was enslaved in the U.S. Junteenth is the oldest commemoration celebrating the ending of slavery in our nation. Today, I will be celebrating Juneteenth in a variety of ways. I will be ordering some food from one of my favorite African restaurants in Worcester: Accra Girls! And I will be watching the "13th Amendment" on Netflix with my fiance to further educate ourselves on the continued struggle for freedom and justice that is occurring in our nation, as racial minorities particularly black men are incarcerated at incredibly disproportionate rates in our nation. We will also continue to pray that God's kingdom of love, freedom, peace, racial reconciliation and justice will continue to come to our nation and world. Please join us in prayer. And let's continue to listen to, learn from, lament with, love one another and take a lead in modeling God's Kingdom during this time. These five "L" actions are all described in this statement against racism from our district within the Assemblies which you can read here:
For an additional perspective on this issue here is a video produced by Dr. Scott Larson who is the head of Straight Ahead Ministries, one of our long-time ministry partners within Worcester: https://www.straightahead.org/race
Scott has been faithfully ministering to youth in the juvenile justice system for many years. In this video, he and others talk about issues such as "White Privilege" and systemic racism particularly within the justice system, which is the major theme of the "13th Amendment" documentary.
Talking about freedom & slavery, I want to invite you all again if you haven't signed up already to consider joining us next Saturday, June 27th for a seminar to raise awareness on Human/Sex Trafficking. Again, this is totally free and will be held via Zoom from 10am-12pm. Here is the link to register: https://forms.gle/1jTZZSAPXSVFxZwb9
Finally speaking about freedom, I invite us all to meditate upon this passage from Galatians 5:13-15 which speaks to our freedom in Christ & loving our neighbors: "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other."
Love Your Neighbor, Pastor Daniel