Juneteenth Holiday Can Bring Unity

If you wondered why the banks were closed on Thursday, it’s because of Juneteenth. Many people still are figuring out the meaning of Juneteenth and how to celebrate the newest federal holiday.

The black community has long celebrated this day, which points back to June 19,1865. On that date, a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas, to tell slaves the Civil War had ended and they were free. It made the Emancipation Proclamation a reality. “It was a significant step forward in the journey toward racial equality and justice in our nation, one that continues still today,” evangelist Franklin Graham said.

“We can use Juneteenth as a way to acknowledge our past faults, help heal current divisions and move toward a future as a nation more united,” according to The Heritage Foundation.

Renouncing sins of the past, acknowledging inherent faults and moving forward in love is essentially the process of repentance. And whether it’s a nation or an individual, true change must begin with repentance, according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Christians are familiar with this principle in a spiritual sense, because repentance makes their relationships with God possible. But for those unsure how to celebrate Juneteenth, it can be helpful to apply that spiritual principle to America’s racial history. “There can be no turning back unless first there is a conviction that you are going the wrong way,” Billy Graham once said.

Another element in racial reconciliation — as in spiritual reconciliation — is turning toward a new way of living.

“We must humble ourselves, seek him and, yes, truly repent and ‘turn from our wicked ways,’” evangelist Will Graham said. “When — and only when — we do that as the body of Christ, we will truly see the change we so desperately want to see in our nation and world.”

The pursuit of justice and of Christ is even more effective with a group of likeminded people.

“We must demonstrate the unity that we want the culture to mimic and imitate,” said evangelist, author and pastor Tony Evans. “It’s my contention that the church helped cause [racial strife] by not being the church of Jesus Christ that he created, not having biblical unity and often endorsing illegitimate disunity. Therefore, the church needs to be the cure for this problem by modeling unity.”

–Alan Goforth