Not My Holiday?
16 June 2021
Do you ever feel like an imposter at certain holidays?
You’ve heard me recall that my neighborhood growing up was racially and ethnically diverse. If you walked west from my house, the proportion of Irish Catholics surged. So St. Patrick’s Day was a big deal. Chicago actually dyes the Chicago River green in honor of the festivities. Each March 17, Irish flags festooned my little league baseball diamonds of John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, honoring the nation’s first president with strong Irish Catholic connections. But while my parents (sometimes) reminded me to wear green to school, I felt like a bit of a phony compared to my Catholic schoolmates with Irish last names like O’Sullivan, Murphy, Riley, and O’Connor.
Likewise, late-May through mid-June is a time when many of us might query how we should feel and think about three important dates. On one hand, some folks might internally be wrestling with the following hesitations:
- “Memorial Day? No one in my immediate family died while serving our country.
- Juneteenth? No one in my immediate family is African American.
- Pride Month? No one in my immediate family is LGBTQ.”
But what if ALL these dates are opportunities for ALL of us to grow both as Christians who see all people with no dividing walls (Galatians 3.27-29) and Americans who value “liberty and justice for all?”
For instance, even though no one in my extended family died while serving in the military, I use Memorial Day to teach our children that, while the world’s a wonderful place, it’s also a tough place, that, from time to time, certain forces will try to rise up and treat other humans in very disturbing ways. And in the course of our country’s history, we’ve had brave folks willing to die ensuring the rights and dignity of not only U.S. citizens, but those around the world. So, we take time to remember them with honor, gratitude and reflection.
Secondly on this point, June is known as PRIDE month. It’s a chance to teach our kids that our family members and friends whose sexuality is different than the majority, have often felt like marginalized 3-strikers (as we’ve explored in sermons) who have not been afforded the opportunity to fully experience our country’s value of pursuing what makes for a happy life and the Bible’s value of covenantal relationships.
Thirdly, this week our country acknowledges a day more of us are learning about: Juneteenth. First recognized on June 19, 1865, it celebrates President Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. Yes, we celebrate emancipation, but we also take a big gulp of humility and sorrow that our country NEEDED a day to do this, because we were actually enslaving each other, the repercussions of which still exist today in some measure. In the same spirit, we remember this month that 100 years ago, 36 square blocks of African American businesses, churches, schools and homes were burned to the ground in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
So let me suggest we are not IMPOSTERS for any holiday or special occasion our country acknowledges. Each special day is a ripe opportunity for all of us to explore afresh Jesus’ Great Command, “to love God by loving people.” True, at first we might not see a direct connection, like I didn’t with St. Patrick’s Day before I heard the amazing story of St. Patrick. But in a spirit of prayer and humility, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, and Pride month, can each, in their own ways, be special opportunities of growth and meaning for all of us. Collectively, our prayer is that we are becoming a “more perfect union” as our fore parents hoped.
Let me close by sharing this link to one of the wonderful songs our friends from St. Mark’s Lutheran helped lead this past Sunday in COS worship. It’s called “Move On” and captures the Holy Spirit’s persistent hope for humanity. That after wars, persecution, or lack of tolerance, we would be willing to “move on up” with Gracism into the brighter future God has in store for us. Enjoy!
Acknowledging special days and moments with you,
Pastor Fritz
Click on the link above to listen to the music from St. Mark’s Lutheran Church