The Inconvenient Truth About Juneteenth
“What do you mean they’re closed!?” shouted Jenny. Jenny was talking on speaker to Danielle who had just arrived at her gym only to find out they were closed for the Juneteenth holiday. “Yeah, they’re closed! Stupid, right?” Danielle continued, “It’s such a dumb holiday. I mean, who even cares? Anyways, I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do yet. Probably just go for a walk.”
Shelly, a newer employee originally from Houston, shows up to work and is immediately called into her supervisor’s office. “Shelly, I’m going to have to write you up for missing work yesterday. You didn’t call in or anything.” Shelly didn’t understand. “But I thought Juneteenth was a federal holiday. Where I’m from, we’ve always had that day off.” Still in her probationary period, Shelly was on the brink of hyperventilating. “We don’t do Columbus Day or Veteran’s Day, and we definitely aren’t doing Juneteenth. Next time, review our benefits policy or check with me if you have questions.” Shelly left her supervisor’s office perplexed, sitting down at her desk and immediately tackling her inbox full of messages she missed from the previous day.
Joe went back to his editor again in protest. “Just publish them both! People are smart! They understand the difference between the two.” But it was turned down again. Joe wanted the Juneteenth editorial to be included in the same newsletter along with the Father’s Day post. “They didn’t want this new holiday affecting their traditional Father’s Day post in the weekly newsletter. It will have to wait until the next print. Besides, we don’t want to offend our audience. They can be sensitive. It’s a lot for them to take in. Let’s be a little more sympathetic,” said his editor. “But it’s a federal holiday, and waiting until the next print will be AFTER the holiday. Who are ‘they?’ And what do you mean by ‘sympathetic’ anyways? Are you saying our readers are so fragile that they can’t handle the topic?” Joe stuck to his guns. He and his editor settled on the next print publishing a day early, technically on Juneteenth but at the end of business that day which is when it’s normally published.
Sorry For The Inconvenience
The inconvenient truth about Juneteenth is that Juneteenth is inconvenient. At least, that’s what it seems like. If you’re an employer, you’ve got to consider the effects of a “lost” day of employee productivity and its effect to the bottom line, and that can be challenging. Since Father’s Day ranks 34th on a recent list of holiday popularity in the U.S., who wants to to further push us Dear-Old-Dads down the list? And then there are those who see this whole “Juneteenth thing” as a political stunt (what federal holiday didn’t involve politics to get established?), or something irrelevant to them since they don’t even know what it is or why anyone would care to begin with. Juneteenth is simply inconvenient, especially when you have other interests or priorities. But it seems to have worked out great for those using holidays as a way to extend their vacation time.
Somehow, the meaning or idea behind Juneteenth seems lost. The purpose or idea behind Juneteenth is for America to simply consider, acknowledge, honor, and remember the lives of those who lived and died in this country without the freedoms and liberties that others had. At least that’s how educator and activist Opal Lee, known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth” describes it. At an inconvenient 89 years old in 2016, she sought to bring attention to Juneteenth by walking "inconveniently” from her home in Fort Worth, Texas to Washington D.C., garnering 1,500,000 signatures in support. It wasn’t until the inconvenient death of George Floyd in 2020 that we saw a final push for idea to become reality. Dr. King alluded to this in his Letter From A Birmingham Jail. He discusses “the white moderate….who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a ‘more convenient season…’” For whatever reason(s), it seems America hasn’t taken the time to fully consider this. It’s been too inconvenient. Yet in the midst of this, we find blessings in inconvenience.
Ministry Is Inconvenient
Much of Christ’s life and ministry was inconvenient. Even his birth was inconvenient. When he was born, there were no rooms available in the hotels, motels, Holiday Inn’s, or vacation rentals (Luke 2:7, plus a little Sugar Hill Gang for my GenX readers). He inconveniently disappeared when it was time to go home, adding a few extra days to his parent’s travel itinerary, and then had the nerve to say he was taking care of God’s business (Luke 2:41-52). He’s teaching in the synagogue when he inconveniently stops to heal a guy with a withered hand (Luke 6:1-11). Jesus is sleep, and a storm starts brewing. He wakes up to tell the inconvenient storm to be still (Mark 4:34-41). He later steps off the boat, and before he can get his sea legs together, some demon-possessed guy interrupts his plan only to have himself healed and the demons cast out of him(Mark 5:1-3). The disciples felt like Jesus was too busy to be inconvenienced with some little kids. But Jesus was like, “let them come!” (Matthew 19:13-15). Time, after time, after time, if you look at how ministry functioned for Jesus, you often see it happening at the most inconvenient times. Ministry is inconvenient. In fact, ministry and inconvenience are partners. Ministry is rarely convenient. People need help when people need help. Ministry doesn’t always fit our Sunday worship time, small group, or business hours. Ministry is inconveniently messy. In fact, we should plan on ministry being inconvenient.
The Inconvenience of Autism
In my own life is my son and namesake Samuel, who was diagnosed with a more severe form of autism before he turned 2 years old. He’ll be starting his 6th and likely last year of high school soon as a senior (for the third time). We’ve done thousands of hours of therapeutic intervention with him. Meetings, medical appointments, psychiatric evaluations, court-mandated reviews, etc. have had their toll. Couples like my wife and I stand an 80% chance or more of divorcing. Date nights, fellowship invitations, and privacy are inconveniently at a minimum. But somehow, in the midst of all of this, we find blessings in the inconvenience. God somehow takes good care of us in the midst of the chaos. It’s not easy. We don’t have it all together. But it is ministry, and ministry is inconvenient.
Juneteenth (and/or the idea behind it) is inconvenient with many for a number of reasons. It forces the uneducated to learn about it. It requires the complicit to come to terms with it. It may acknowledge the need for repentance. It can call for the necessity of forgiveness. It might call into question injustices of the past and present requiring action. And what about your church, your denomination, your small group, or your ministry? Have you allowed the inconvenience of Juneteenth (or the idea behind it) to impact ministry for the good, or is it just another stupid holiday, political pawn, or profit/productivity stealer?
The Jumped Conclusion
Before you jump to conclusions, weigh this out. Ask the Holy Spirit to provide insight and guidance as you seek to discover what next steps to take or consider. He will give you the truth you need (John 16:13). I’m so glad that the God I serve is always readily available to me, and that I’m never an inconvenience to him. Or if I am an inconvenience, he welcomes it for ministry sake. I believe that truth to be inconveniently loving and accurate, and I’m so glad that Christ inconveniently came down from heaven and died inconveniently on the cross for me. May we find blessing and comfort in the inconvenience.