The bill to make Juneteenth a national holiday is a salve for a wounded nation and a balm for the national soul. It seeks to codify into law what has already come to pass in many places, including Irvington, where Juneteenth celebrations have recently been embraced. Juneteenth, a celebration of African American Arts and Culture, was brand new to the village of Irvington last year, as well as to many of us at church, myself included. As a fledgling event, organized on very short notice by Kelli Scott and sponsored by St. Barnabas, it more than fulfilled its promise and purpose. It struck a chord with the Village Trustees, who made it an annual celebration in the village; and it rang true for the vestry, for our young people and for members of our congregation in search of a salve and balm at a time of national protest, trauma and loss.
The organization and sponsorship of the Second Annual Juneteenth Celebration has been embraced by a broad constituency, including the Juneteenth Planning Committee, the PTSA Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Irvington Activists, Commemorate, Historic Hudson Valley, ArtsWestchester and again by our own church. It promises to be a fantastic event with live music by Nkumu Katalay and the “Life Long Project” Band, African dancers, Afro-Caribbean food trucks, artisans and their various wares. The event will also include a moderated panel discussion about the legacies of slavery, speeches by state and local elected officials, an invocation by yours truly and a talk by award-winning, Yonkers-based artist Vinnie Bagwell.
I look forward to seeing many of you there as we lend our spiritual and practical support to this life-giving commemorative celebration. May it be but a foretaste of the longed-for hope and commonly held desire for racial equity and justice for all.
Onward in the Spirit,
This past Sunday in my sermon I leaned heavily on the wisdom of Anne Lamott as I explored the nature of mercy as it relates to the practices we immerse ourselves in during Holy Week. Here’s her definition of what mercy looks like: “Mercy is radical kindness. Mercy means offering or being offered aid in desperate […]
Back in the 50’s and 60’s, it was thought that 500-year-old church divisions could be healed if churches reached across denominational lines and got to know each other. This was an exciting time for the churches in Irvington, as all the fundamental theological issues between the Protestant, Catholic, and Anglican Churches were on the way […]
In my message last week, I wrote of an emerging sense of optimism shared by our church leadership that church life can once again take on the semblance of normality. This past week, Bishop Dietsche shared his own sense of optimism in a letter entitled, “Return of the Common Cup.” He wrote, “…with the waning […]