The 4th and Juneteenth

I want to celebrate the 4th of July and Juneteenth

I want to rejoice in the good principles planted at the foundation of my county- as well as lament how long it took for us to implement those principles for everyone

I want to be grateful for every person who has worked hard to make our country better for everyone- and who is currently doing so in our government, military, school, and neighborhood

I want to have open eyes to see that we will always read history with a bias- but we need to work on course correcting always and forever

I want to be okay knowing I will never fit into the Republican or Democrat party- my life belongs to Jesus and it is impossible to think that either group with always or never have Jesus’ perspective

I want to actively work to bring God’s redeeming story into every area of my life—including my country’s history

I want to work to see more clearly what God desires to do in healing this open wound of our racist past and continuing consequences

Wherever you are on celebrating Independence day, I hope you can see both the bad and the good and want to work toward the better for all

**

I am still working on begin able to appriciate Thomas Jefferson’s part in our Independence while knowing he was an enslaver. An enslaver who regularly raped black women and took decades to free even his own mixed children. I am working to reconcile how my family is referred to as 3/5s a person in the constitution (Article 1, section 2, clause 3). How three-quarters of the founding fathers were enslavers. Those are hard things to hold in the same heart as celebrating Independence Day. Of course it is Biblical to repent of our nations’ historical sins.

I am still working through how I was taught history through a Christian (and sometimes Southern with Confederate leanings) perspective that often glossed over many of the implications of slavery and glorified people (Christopher Columbus, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee) without sharing (much of) the horrific consequences of these same people’s actions. I understand the motivations in how the history was told: but it was still told with a bias. Now when presented with a different perspective on sharing history called Critical Race Theory, I see how it is a different bias, and I understand the motivations.

I am still working on how to untangle and sort out the difference between a Nationalist and a Patriot with all the Nationalists I see calling themselves Patriots. Can I be a Patriot without wearing a MAGA hat? How do Christian Patriots love their country well?

I feel honored to be back in the country for the first year that we officially celebrated Juneteenth. It is a small simbolic step, and we have more to go. We have so many of us hurting from unhealed wounds involving our failings as a country, and it is as important to address these as it is to celebrate the things we got right.