Written By Lou L.
The Emancipation Proclamation, Juneteenth, and Grace Church’s Civic Engagement ministry. What is the common thread that binds them together, and how do they reflect the increasing revelation of God’s truth?
To answer that question, let’s go back to the that auspicious day in our country’s history when America finally realized true freedom for all. On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation stating that slaves in states “in rebellion” were forever free! He based his authority as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. Because it was a temporary war measure, it was later passed as the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. While this was a binding rule of law in 1863, slavery persisted in the southern states. As the Civil War progressed, slaveholders even shipped their slaves to the furthermost southern state: Texas. Is this not how our spiritual lives progress? 1 Timothy 2:4 reminds us: God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” While God desires this, too often dark forces keep us enslaved to sin, ignorant of spiritual freedom and driving us away from our Creator. But that is not the end of this epic tale. Three short weeks after the end of the war, on June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger spearheaded the effort to free nearly 400,000 freed men living as slaves in Galveston Texas. His purpose was to spread the Emancipation Proclamation. His order declared “… all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights.” For many this was revolutionary news. Until then, there were still many slaves in America that didn’t know they had been given their freedom.
The first celebration of Juneteenth in America took place, one year later, on June 19, 1866. Major General Granger brought truth to those men and women still remaining in darkness, and in return this increased revelation brought freedom. 2 Corinthians 4:6 says “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”* From 1865 to 1978, civil rights laws were passed and a greater revelation of the Image of God (Imago Dei) was being experienced in many places in America. Since the founding of Grace Church by Pastor Ron Tucker in 1978 our congregation has held an appreciation for all people, of every ethnicity or color. We have always known that the Imago Dei of a person and their walk with our LORD makes us all the same. For many, this is apart of what makes Grace Church such a unique and inspiring place.
In order to understand this more, let’s take a look through the eyes of one of our longest-standing members, Joe Turner. Joe became a member of Grace Church 40 years ago – shortly after Grace Church was birthed. As a young boy, raised by his grandparents, he remembers a trip from his home in Conway, Arkansas to Chicago, Illinois. Back then there was a heavy insistence on segregation throughout the society. Bathrooms and drinking fountains were designated for use by skin color. There were also many restaurants that required blacks to go to the rear of the establishment or enter through the back door for service. Sadly, as a child going to church with his grandparents, he even remembers preferential treatment being given to the white members of the church. Growing into adulthood, Joe saw the more obvious forms of prejudice erased, but often an intangible barrier remained. He never felt totally free to engage in church activities as openly and genuinely as he would like.
Joe’s grandparents, who experienced generations of prejudice, also shared these memories with him. Joe learned that his great-great-grandfather, Papa Moes, was a slave. Using his wits, Papa Moes escaped slavery by using a pepper shaker to sprinkle pepper on the railroad tracks to throw off the hounds trying to track him. Joe carried all these stories in his heart, and while he felt connected to his church through his upbringing, he couldn’t help wonder if there was a congregation where he could focus on his personal walk with the LORD, uncompromised by worries about skin color. A church where Satan’s lie that we are defined by our skin would be rejected! Joe wanted a place where he could feel he was a true equal, where everyone serves according to 1 Peter 4:10-11 that says: “Each has received a gift, use it to serve one another… in order that everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”
After much searching, Joe proudly reports that he found what he was looking for in Grace Church. And this is exactly what all of us desire to protect, and to preserve, and to show the world: People loving each other for who they are, not what they look like or what tribe they belong to. For we are all one people, one tribe in Christ. Today, the Civic Engagement Ministry, that seeks to reach out to the public, is continuing the tradition that has always been a vital component of the church and the only key to success for our nation: the belief that all men are created equal in the eyes of our LORD and defined by their reflection of His glory! May we all keep this truth in mind as we continue walking in salvation.
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed
into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
*Note: For a more in-depth story about the origins of Juneteenth, check out the Epoch Times’ article The Untold Story of Juneteenth by Tim Barton.