GUEST AUTHOR: Shelley Brooks resides in Harrisburg Pa, and has for the past 38 years ministered to homeless and addicted women and children as the Director in a Christian Mission. Shelley also has pastored a small city church of wonderful believers going on 21 years and spends time publicly speaking and teaching. She enjoys time traveling with her family and most of all- delights in her 8 grandchildren.
“Give honor to where honor is due- Proverbs 3:27”
Some families look to Memorial Day as a time to see local parades, shop the stores for sales; take a day to relax from work ,travel and make it a long weekend, or celebrate with a cookout and the beginning of summer. Other’s take time during this day to pause and to remember. To reflect. To be grateful….
My father and mother were one of those type of families that would not let the day pass without putting flowers on many many graves (known and unknown). We would hear pretty much the same stories every year about those that sacrificed their lives in order for us to be able to live as we do, today. We would hear with gratitude in their hearts about our grandfather in World War I, our uncles and aunt in World War II, and my father’s time in the Navy as a very young man. Over the years, those redundant stories became a part of my understanding of the tremendous sacrifice men and women made for our great nation. My parents were also teaching me the importance of respect, thanksgiving, and honoring others. May 30th, Memorial Day is a day to remember. A day to honor those that sacrificed for your well-being today.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31.”
The same parents also shared the stories from scripture about a man named Jesus. They told me that ‘whosoever believed in him, would never perish, but would have everlasting life’ (John 3:16) . They shared about the good things that he had done like feeding the hungry, healing the sick, making the lame to walk. He was an advocate, a teacher, the flesh of His father, who was our living God. He was judged for spreading love and hope. He was beaten and crucified, but little did those that wanted him dead know, Jesus was God’s only begotten son, and his purpose was to carry our sins with him on the cross to the grave, to conquer death, and offer eternal salvation. He gave those who believed in Him freedom to live with him on earth and after death. Our debt to sin was forgiven. Our debt to death was paid. We could forever be with Jesus in eternity.
What a wonderful honor it is to know and serve our Lord Jesus Christ. He sacrificed His life, so that I could live. He gifted me salvation. We honor and celebrate Him through belief, obedience, worship and serving one another. Through worship and praise we honor Him. Through our obedience to love, we honor him. Through service to one another, we honor and glorify him. This is our testimony to the world as believers and followers of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. If His name is lifted up (honored), he said, “I will draw all men unto me” (John 12:32). When we honor our Lord and Savior others will know that we are Christians by our love. (John 13:35)
He who the Son sets free, is free indeed (John 8:36)
January 1, 1863, enslaved and free men and women of African descent gathered where they could, in churches praying and awaiting news that the Government of the United States had made the Emancipation Proclamation a law. Slavery would be abolished in this nation. At midnight all enslaved human beings in the south were legally free. This was called “Watch Night Service”, which still occurs throughout African American churches December 31 at midnight. The state of Texas resisted the Emancipation Proclamation until some 2000 soldiers traveled to Galveston Bay, Texas. “The army announced that the more than 250.000 enslaved black people in the state were free by executive decree” (National Museum of African American History and Culture).
This occurred on June 19, 1895. And for 157 years African Americans demonstrated their thankfulness that God had heard their prayers by honoring and celebrating June 19th or Juneteeth.
What human being wants to be taken from their family, their loved ones, their land…to be dehumanized, starved, tortured? This is opposite of what we know of scripture.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release to those who have been imprisoned. (Isaiah 61:1).
The prophet Isaiah spoke these words long after God had delivered the Hebrews from bondage and slavery at the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt (Exodus 9). God had a plan and a purpose for His people. And to this day, those people still honor and celebrate their freedom from bondage every year with a Seder Meal of remembrance and a week of thanksgiving. The Jewish (Hebrew) people call this Passover. The angel of death ‘passed over’. They went from slaves to God’s people. That is what, today Jesus does for those that accept his as their savior. We pass out of ‘darkness, into His marvelous light’. And we remember and celebrate his death and resurrection through the Sacraments of Communion.
Americans, not just African Americans—followers of the hope found in Jesus Christ celebrate Juneteenth because it marked a day in history that emancipated slavery. It recognizes the contributions that slaves and free people made to the building of our nation in the midst of having absolutely nothing but faith in a man named Jesus. It forces those of us, today, that love. and worship. and teach. and preach the love of Christ… to LIVE it……just as Jesus commands of us…everyday…… with one another! Whether it be in church, or a parade, or a sale at a local store, or just taking a moment…..to remember. To reflect and to honor.
Give to all persons therefore that which is due to them- tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom, fear to whom fear, honor to honor. (Romans 13:7)
