The hosts of an upcoming TBN special say Juneteenth (June 19) is a holiday that’s “as American as apple pie and Chevys” and is filled with biblical themes that Christians of all races should celebrate. TBN is scheduled to broadcast Juneteenth: A Conversation of History and HealingG The show will air Monday, June 17 at 8pm ET as host Rick Rigsby travels across America to uncover stories of redemption, justice and healing and examine the role the church has played in them.
Celebrated annually on June 19th, Juneteenth is a new national holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States and has been celebrated by parts of the black community since the late 1800s. It became an official Texas holiday in 1979. The holiday was created on June 19, 1865, when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce that all of the state’s approximately 250,000 slaves were freed. Their arrival came about two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
“This is not just a Black holiday, it’s an American holiday,” Rigsby told Crosswalk Headlines. “What I really want people to know is that history is sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly, sometimes flat, sometimes uneven. … They’re the threads that make up a tapestry. This is an American holiday worth celebrating. Why? Because the Lord is being glorified. Because injustices are being discussed and addressed. And that’s a good thing.”
Rigsby said TBN’s special is filled with stories of hope and healing, as the award-winning journalist traveled to Crownsville, Maryland, to attend a memorial service for more than 500 black patients who went missing from a segregated psychiatric hospital in the 1900s.
The memorial included prayer, healing and people of all races coming together.
“The most likely answer is that these 500 were live medical experiments,” he said. “… Just because something doesn’t appear on our most popular podcast, just because something doesn’t appear in the opening segment of Lester Holt’s Nightly News doesn’t mean it’s not happening.
“There are traces and spaces of healing and reconciliation across America,” he said.
Americans too often “don’t want to have difficult conversations,” he says, and Rigsby envisions a return to a time when Americans could engage in difficult conversations with civility and respect, as they did during his childhood in California in the 1960s.
“There was an incredible amount of diversity in my neighborhood,” Rigsby said. “There were Hispanics, Filipinos, white people, black people. There was an age range. There were women and men. And somehow they came over to my parents’ house. And they argued all night, and I noticed something interesting: At the end of the night, they stood up, they shook hands, they hugged each other, and they looked forward to the next argument. That’s what’s missing now.”
Juneteenth is filled with biblical themes, he said.
“Imagine living in the 1800s. You have no voice, no rights, your feelings don’t matter at all. Every day, every hour, every minute is slavery.” you Being mocked, you Despised, you Being exploited, you I was beaten, you You are hurt. But you hold your head up, persevere, and pray. You have the courage to believe that God can deliver.“ He said, “Then one summer, two years after Emancipation, 2,000 people from the most unlikely place, Galveston, Texas, marched into your city and said, ‘You are free.‘
“‘Thank you Lord, we are free. Let us worship and celebrate.‘ I can’t help but think of the children of Israel, I can’t help but think of Paul’s letter: “You are no longer slaves to your flesh.”
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Lakshmiprasad S
Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
