In honor of Juneteenth, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries invited Dr. Denise Rector to share some thoughts about this federal holiday that many mark as the official end of legalized human enslavement in the United States. For more information on Juneteenth, visit What Is Juneteenth? | HISTORY.

Let’s take a trip back to high school history class:

1. The history of enslaved people on what would become U.S. soil goes back to 1619.
2. The Civil War (1861-1865) was fought over slavery. Those of us who were raised in the deep south grew up learning something different. I was taught that the Civil War was about “states’ rights.” The curriculum never bothered to specify that states were fighting for the right to continue enslaving people.
3. The Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for enslaved people in Confederate-controlled areas on Jan. 1, 1863.
4. Before the Emancipation Proclamation, enslavers followed the law when the law supported slavery. Then enslavers broke the law when the law criminalized slavery; many never told those they enslaved that the Emancipation Proclamation had gone into effect in 1863.
5. In Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, Union troops were the ones who told enslaved people that not only were they free, they had been legally free for nearly two and a half years. The 13th Amendment finally completed the work of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1865.
6. For extra credit: Stream Ava Duvernay’s stunning documentary 13th and learn the history of the short-lived Reconstruction in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ We Were Eight Years in Power.

Juneteenth is one of many portmanteaus necessary to convey the unique Black American experience throughout U.S. pre-history and history.

I am Black, Lutheran and a historian. No surprise that, for me, freedom and identity are mixed in with thoughts about Juneteenth, my bitterness at the denial of freedom, and the amazing gift of justification by grace through faith.

I have a scene in my imagination. Imagine with me: An enslaved young woman in 1863 or 1864 has heard about emancipation and yet has an enslaver and a Confederate soldier (maybe both) standing in front of her, denying her knowledge of freedom, denying emancipation and restricting her freedom physically.

This imagined scene reminds me that freedom isn’t just a concept. It’s not just philosophical.

Freedom is real. Our freedom in Christ is real. There is no earthly parallel, and I will not cheapen Christ’s gift by forcing a parallel out of the Juneteenth event.

Freedom in Christ is what allows me (and you) to answer profound questions and speak truth in difficult spaces. I can rest in the faith of knowing that Christ has given me a more wonderful, more valuable gift than any of the pain or loss of status I may experience. The actions we Lutherans take are a response to freedom in Christ; they are a way of loving God by loving our neighbor, not a way to earn or deserve that freedom (because we will never earn or deserve it).

There may be people who tell you that you are not free. Know, and live, your freedom in Christ. The things that would deny us our freedom lead us to shrink away from the gift and not serve our neighbor. And if we ever needed to be here for each other — to see, hear and love each other — that time is now. Through this, we can celebrate the justice of Juneteenth and serve this world that God, indeed, loves.

Dr. Denise Rector is an instructor at Trinity Lutheran Seminary at Capital University, where she teaches in the History, Theology, and Society division. She recently earned her Ph.D. from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Her dissertation focuses on the pastorate and impact of Rev. Earlean Miller, the first African American woman pastor in the LCA/ELCA. Dr. Rector is contributing to a forthcoming essay collection on Black Lutheranism.

June 17th is Emanuel Nine Commemoration and Day of Repentance. The following are shareable resources you can use within your local context for commemorations, services, and personal development. Further information and resources can be found on the ELCA’s Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine – June 17 webpage.

The following paragraph describing this commemoration could be provided for congregations in resources such as service folders.

Emanuel Nine, martyrs, 2015

On June 17, 2015, Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Lee Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson were murdered by a self-professed white supremacist while they were gathered for Bible study and prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (often referred to as Mother Emanuel) in Charleston, South Carolina. Pastors Pinckney and Simmons were both graduates of the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. A resolution to commemorate June 17 as a day of repentance for the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine was adopted by the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on August 8, 2019. Congregations of the ELCA are encouraged to reaffirm their commitment to repenting the sins of racism and white supremacy which continue to plague this church, to venerate the martyrdom of the Emanuel Nine, and to mark this day of penitence with study and prayer.

Emanuel Nine 10th Anniversary Remembrance | Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton | June 17, 2025

In observance of the 10th anniversary of the tragic shooting of the nine martyr at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC, Bishop Eaton calls on us to “lament the wounds of the sin of racism that sow seeds of fear, division and hatred. Remembering the nine murders in Charleston is a commitment that our church must never forget.”

Additional Resources

• Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine — June 17
• Prayers for the anniversaries of the murders of George Floyd and the Emanuel Nine
• 2025 National Day of Racial Healing
• ADLA Emanuel 9 Resources
• Racial Justice Blog – Emauel Nine 
• Home | Emanuel Nine Feast Day
• EMANUEL – The movie

The following reflection is cross posted from the Minneapolis Area Synod of the ELCA blog. The original post can be found here.

By Bishop Jen Nagel

“When the day of Pentecost had come they were all together in one place . .  . Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them.”  – Acts 2 

May 25th marked the 5-year Angelversary of the murder of George Floyd. That Sunday evening, as part of the Rise and Remember Festival and at the invitation of the ELCA Racial Justice Ministries, I joined a number of you for a fabulous concert featuring Sounds of Blackness and a moving vigil. We gathered beforehand on the steps of Calvary Lutheran Church, just a block south of George Floyd Square. ELCA Racial Justice Director Jennifer DeLeon grounded us for the evening, reminding us that people come to this event holding both memories and hopes, lament and a call to action. If you haven’t been to George Floyd Square lately (or ever), consider making a pilgrimage and ask for a community guide to share this sacred space with you or your group.  

Photo credit: Pastor Melissa Pohlman

The sun was low when the concert ended. Theologian and community leader Jeanelle Austin stepped onto the stage to prepare us for the vigil. Volunteers quietly distributed candles. Now, let’s be clear: These were not the smaller candles we often hold during a Christmas Eve candlelight service, candles that flicker through a few verses of Silent Night and are soon extinguished. Instead, these were large tapers, ready for the long duration of the vigil and all it would include.  

Austin described the plan: With candles lit, Brass Solidarity would lead us north past the spot where George Floyd was murdered, past exhibits and memorials filled with the names and stories of BIPOC individuals from around the country who have been victims of systemic racism and violence. We would turn west and go a block to Say Their Names Cemetery where over a hundred symbolic headstones bear the names of Emmett Till, George Floyd, Philando Castile, Jamar Clark, and dozens more. Anticipating the moment, Austin explained that we should move down into the cemetery and find a headstone where we would “hold space” as the youth and young adult musicians of Kamoinge Strings played several pieces, and then we would close with a prayer.  

Holding space. As the sun set and night came, hundreds of us settled in around the headstones. Some people stood, some sat in the cool grass. Candle flames flickered and wax dripped. Music swelled. It was beautiful and incredibly sad all at once. I held space by the stone of a 17-year-old named Jordan Davis who was killed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2012.  

Holding space means creating a safe — yet also brave — environment in which people, with all our emotions, can be present and remember. I keep thinking of exercise classes and how they remind me to engage my muscles as I move this way or that. Holding space means figuratively engaging our muscles. It takes time. It makes us tired. It can be uncomfortable. If we do it well, we’ll grow stronger, we’ll gain endurance. I find that holding space is often profoundly moving. It’s holy work.  

In times like these, the temptation is strong to move through these anniversaries – this pain, this trauma – passively, without really engaging. Holding space invites us into the vulnerable recognition that the world is not yet as it should be, and we are called to be present, engaged, honest to the grief and all the moment holds, and ready to be part of the change.  

This Sunday we’ll celebrate Pentecost and the Holy Spirit’s movement. We believe that love is stronger than hate, that life is stronger than death, and that together, by the Holy Spirit’s power, we can be part of God’s new creation. That was my prayer as we held space with the sun setting and the candles flickering. That is my prayer today. May it be so.  

ELCA Racial Justice Ministries and ELCA African Descent Ministries invites you to join us at the Rise & Remember Festival in Minneapolis, MN. The 3-day, annual event “exists to hold in remembrance George Floyd and those we have lost unjustly to the pervasive impacts of systemic racism. Activities focus on education, empowerment, healing, celebration, and our collective pursuit for racial justice and equity.”

We hope you will join us for the gospel concert and candlelight vigil on Sunday, May 25. We will meet in front of Calvary Lutheran Church (clchurch.org) at 5 pm.

If you plan to attend, please let us know by completing this short, 6-question survey:  https://forms.office.com/r/d3ZW4T7iWs

In honor of Juneteenth, ELCA Racial Justice Ministries invited Dr. Dianne R. Browne, Ph.D., CFLE, CSE, Chair of the ELCA New Jersey Synod’s Anti-Racism Team to share some thoughts about this federal holiday that many mark as the official end of legalized human enslavement in the United States. For more information on Juneteenth, visit What Is Juneteenth? | HISTORY.

I am from the Northeast, so I never celebrated Juneteenth as a young person. I knew about it because my maternal grandmother was from the South. My grandmother and mother shared stories about our history and their lived experiences. At first, I was disinterested, but their conversations helped me to understand and appreciate the ongoing struggle for racial justice and equity.

Let us talk about Juneteenth in that context. The Emancipation Proclamation was enacted in 1863. On June 19, 1865, two years later, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, the army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state were free by executive decree.

Younger generations may dismiss Juneteenth as history—it happened in the past, so why is it important? Share with them that it is sankofa. That word, which comes from the Akan people of Ghana, means learning from the past to move forward in the future. We are still learning from that dream deferred in 1865. We learned to have hope, to keep moving forward and not to be deterred in our efforts for racial justice.

Talk about Juneteenth! These conversations give fodder for the never-ending quest for a sometimes elusive racial justice and equity. Know that Juneteenth was freedom overdue; that the color red, including red food on Juneteenth, is significant, as it represents the blood shed during the transatlantic slave passage; that barbecues at Juneteenth celebrations offer foods that may be representative of what was brought to Texas by the enslaved Yoruba and Kongo people in the 19th century. Keep learning and preaching to folks younger than you!

On Juneteenth, as during the Jim Crow and civil rights eras, folks had to wait. In their waiting they were compelled to do something: to keep on pushing and to act by motivating others until the dream deferred was expedited.

The Bible encourages us in our actions. Micah 6:8 calls to us in this quest, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (NIV).

We know that racial justice is good and that action is needed to bring it to fruition. Encourage younger generations to press on. We are still in the struggle against a socialization that has embodied both personal and public white supremacy for generations. We are still questing for racial justice and equity, a dream deferred. We can get closer to that justice and equity through courageous intergenerational conversation.

A quote from James Baldwin sums it up: “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.”

Dianne R. Browne, Ph.D., CFLE, CSE, Chair, ELCA New Jersey Synod Anti-Racism Team

Dianne Browne is a retired educator and trainer. Her work has focused on racial and reproductive justice, family life, and equity and inclusion. She is chairperson for the New Jersey Synod’s anti-racism team and facilitates discussions for its Transforming White Privilege curriculum. She is a member of St. Luke Lutheran Church in Willingboro, NJ.

References:  National Museum of African American History & Culture

To commemorate the 9th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Emanuel 9 – Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, Daniel Lee Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson, our beloved siblings in Christ who were murdered by a self-professed white supremacist and ELCA parishioner while they were gathered for Bible study and prayer at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church (often referred to as Mother Emanuel) in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015 – Desta Goehner, Board President of the ELCA Association of White Lutherans for Racial Justice to share some thoughts about this day of repentance.

For more ELCA resources visit:  Commemoration of the Emanuel Nine — June 17 – Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (elca.org)

See also:  Establishing_June_17th_as_Emanuel_9_Commemoration_and_Day_of_Repentance.pdf (elca.org)

Worship Resources:  Prayers_Litanies_Laments_Emanuel_Nine_Commemoration.pdf (elca.org)

As I gather with my congregation every Sunday for worship, my heart often turns to the Emanuel Nine. On June 17, 2015, nine faithful Black Christians were tragically shot and killed during Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. This day stands as a somber reminder of the devastating consequences of racial hatred and violence.

What weighs heavily on my heart is the realization that the perpetrator, someone who grew up in a Lutheran congregation like mine, could commit such a heinous act. It compels me to confront uncomfortable questions about the environments and influences that shaped him — the people he interacted with at home, at school, at church and at work. He was one of us.

This is why White Lutherans for Racial Justice exists within the ELCA. We recognize our collective responsibility as white members of a predominantly white denomination to address the systemic racism that permeates our congregations, our synods, our institutions and our own hearts. The ELCA has issued resolutions, statements and apologies, but we have done very little to repair the ongoing harms caused by racism.

The burden of dismantling racial injustice cannot fall solely on the shoulders of people of color. As a white person, I must actively engage in the work of racial justice and equity. Yet I often shy away from relinquishing my power, my influence, my comfort. I’ve been conditioned to fear discomfort and confrontation, but I cannot allow that fear to paralyze me.

I have succumbed to this fear many times and certainly will again. I have also been the person to ask the hard questions and have felt the repercussions of that. Whiteness tells me to crawl back into my enclave, but my faith calls me out of that space. I trust that the Holy Spirit will lead and guide me as I lament and repent of my participation in white supremacy as a white, liberal, progressive Lutheran cis woman.

Whiteness exerts immense pressure, but I must not let it crush my resolve. I have witnessed how the weight of whiteness has led white leaders to falter, inflicting harm upon others without adequate accountability or restitution. We must acknowledge the risks inherent in naming injustice and asking hard questions that challenge harmful systems and processes.

We need each other in this journey toward racial justice. We need relationships that hold us accountable, that challenge us to confront our biases and privileges. Who are you building relationships with that offer different perspectives? It’s through these connections that our hearts change.

We must follow the leadership of people of color within our church, amplifying their voices and advocating for change. As we approach the 2024 United States presidential election, we cannot wait until after the fact to take action. Black and brown lives are at stake every day, not just during moments of political turmoil.

Commemorating June 17 as a day of repentance within the ELCA is a meaningful step toward acknowledging the legacy of racism within our church. But our work doesn’t end there. Racial justice is not an abstract concept; dismantling the structures of inequality that perpetuate racism requires tangible action. Join us in this ongoing journey toward racial justice. Together we can create a more just and equitable world where the lives of Black and brown people are valued and protected.

Reach out to your ministry leaders and ask them to include prayers of repentance in worship, and use resources on the ELCA Racial Justice website. Invite your congregation to use these resources in worship, in Bible study, on social media and in newsletters. And then notice whether your congregation commemorates June 17. If they do, express your support! If they don’t, gently inquire why not and advocate for change.

We believe in the power of community and the transformative potential of collective action. White Lutherans for Racial Justice welcomes people at all stages of their racial justice journey. Join us!

Bio: Desta Goehner is president of the Association of White Lutherans for Racial Justice and the Director of Thriving Leadership Formation, with 27-plus years of serving in different expressions of the ELCA. She is a trauma-informed spiritual director and a professional Enneagram coach for people and teams in ministry, specializing in conflict resolution, facilitation, leadership and spiritual formation. Desta’s work is dedicated to fostering racial justice, personal growth and healthy, anti-racist leadership in faith communities. For more about her visit linktr.ee/destag.

For more information on The Association of White Lutherans for Racial Justice visit: website|Facebook