Dear Folks:

We are in the midst of our Patriotic season. Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4th, Labor Day, and now the new holidays celebrating our armed forces, all celebrate the American Exceptionalism. What falls in between is Juneteenth, our American Passover, celebrating the release from slavery like the Passover celebrates the release from slavery of the ancient Hebrews.  What does it say to you that Juneteenth falls a mere 4 days after the 250th anniversary of the US Army?

It may be hard for us in Montana and Wyoming to be engaged with Juneteenth, because, while slavery has affected all of the US in various ways, here in the west, organizing statehood came after the Civil War, after emancipation. It doesn’t make sense to say Black Lives Matter—of course they matter—in a place less defined by slavery than homesteading and frontier mentality. 

Veterans make up about 6% of our population and active military members make up another 1% of our population.  Black people make up about 13% of our population. What does it reveal about our societal concerns when celebrating release from slavery is much more controversial than celebrating our military conquests and the lives sacrificed to achieve them?

This week, I am struck by the echoes of our scriptures in our modern life. In The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach About Jesus’s Final Days in Jerusalem, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan write, “Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30. It was the beginning of the week of Passover, the most sacred week of the Jewish year. … One was a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives, cheered by his followers. Jesus was from the peasant village of Nazareth, …and his followers came from the peasant class…. On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate…entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Jesus’s procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of the empire” (p.2). The Military Parade on June 15th appears to be an imperial made-for-TV show of military might performed in opposition to the sacred power of freedom from slavery celebrated on Juneteenth (June 19th). 

We have a storied military with sacrifice and success coming in equal measure. We shower pride of country on our veterans, who have often been maligned for their participation in military power. The war dead are honored as heroes, and veterans are honored at their death with the presentation of a flag, a medal of gratitude, a gun salute and taps. The military personnel present the flag and medal to the family “on behalf of a grateful nation”. 

As we celebrate emancipation, we honor the sacrifice and suffering of slaves who built our country. While we recognize our country’s strength through our patriotic and military holidays, in Juneteenth we also celebrate the sacred strength to abolish slavery, claiming that celebrating military power is not the only way to express and embrace historic and brave actions of our country. As a nation, we have the capacity to celebrate both without diminishing one or the other. 

 

Peace,

Pastor Tony