A Vision for Juneteenth
Celebrate and Lament: A Juneteenth Vision for the People of God
My latest piece is about navigating the complexity of the moment. With Juneteenth this week, I explore how, in America’s 250th year, things are off.
A few years ago, a Juneteenth party in Alabama taught me something I keep coming back to: freedom is meant to be celebrated at a table, together, out loud.
But this year, the celebration comes with a real weightiness. We are grieving communal loss, and many of us have lost vision for our lives and our communities. So I want to give you hope in the midst of difficulty.
How do we experience and enjoy freedom in exile?
Jeremiah told the displaced people to build, to plant, and to seek the welfare of the city. That is the Juneteenth story. And it is ours.
My new piece for Our Daily Bread Voices is up, on how we celebrate and lament at the same time, and three practices for carrying the vision forward: Build. Plant. Gather.
I also made a soundtrack for it. Twenty songs of grief and joy, from Mahalia Jackson and “Wade in the Water” to Maverick City and Tye Tribbett. Read it, then put it on.
Link to the essay and the playlist below. We carry it together.
For the city.