Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
a quick historical note on Juneteenth

a quick historical note on Juneteenth

Last updated on: June 24, 2022 at 9:40 pm by Rev. Jared V. Ingle

a quick historical note on Juneteenth 2022-06-24T21:40:39-04:00 Rev. Jared V. Ingle

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

St. Moses the Black of Ethiopia

With all due respect Happy Juneteenth!
Morning readings include Psalm 137

Please remember the people of God really can relate to the plight, and so can many Christian faith groups from the beginning of the church until now (globally) who fell under persecution.

Why do you think many of the church fathers who were driven into hiding deep in Africa were called desert fathers?

Yoav-Dothan-Saint-Moses-Bishop-annunciation-chapel-melkite-patriarch-jerusalem-public-domain

Yoav Dothan | St. Moses among other Bishops | Annunciation Chapel of the Melkite Patriarch of Jerusalem | 02.13.09 | public domain

There are various reasons, but scholars believe there is an obvious common reason among many of the narratives as you may guess.

for ex. 4/5 of the portraits above do not really look caucasian, including St. Moses

As a caveat: Let it be known very early church history does not have much evidence of the church persecuting her own. Others persecute the church. In fact, early Bishops are Theologians often writing letters to each other personally (not just to the church or to society, or against heretics). Some are the forerunners of commentators or systematic Theologians. However, the practical letters and correspondence of many Bishops serves as collaborative evidence that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, and for possibly 3-4 centuries afterwards. To clarify, the church maintains level ground at the foot of the cross. It’s on us. So do not dismiss what we read from the fathers, even if we only have a few letters from some of them.

consider the digression of groupthink that can possibly lead one group to persecute another

Is it fueled by one group elevating itself over another?

If we can’t speak of persection in our common narrative as Christians (when martyrs have always been considered instant saints) then we are fools because we do not believe in God who sees everyman with no respect for any man above another. Psalm 14.1; Romans 2.11 (NIV)

The fool says in his heart,
“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, their deeds are vile;
there is no one who does good.

For God does not show favoritism.

Favoritism is a compound noun from a root noun transliterated respecter of persons. It can be transliterated word-for-word in this way, or with the general thoughts favoritism or partiality.

we might even venture to say God doesn’t show bias

So this is a little note today from our common heritage, because I consider many of the early church fathers to be my mentors, just as much as I do those who set the stage for the Great Reformation and beyond.

I’m grateful America has come to recognize what the people of God and the church has taught. I pray we keep days like Juneteenth in front of us continually.

By the way, as far as I can tell, St. Moses the Black from Ethiopia has a tremendous life change when he becomes an adult Christian. He commits to pacifism to engage in societal change. Perhaps he and someone like Martin Luther King, Jr. would love to have a conversation.

I wish I could take more time to compare writings and speeches from two or three world changers, but this is just a quick note, especially when there are so many other teachers to tune in to. I just want to point out from my vantage point on history, it’s the same conversation at times (maybe even the same newsreel every week or weekend) if we don’t learn from history. On the other hand, praise God for days like today when we can remember as a nation, times have changed. Again, may we keep it in front of us.

GIF credit (and it’s quite an iconic, unique GIF I think) | Pastor Josh Pennington, M.Div., D.Min., PCG Central Assistant General Bishop

Josh Pennington | humility icon St. Moses the Black (Ethiopian) | public | 07.13.22

Similar writings in Ethics & Society

Early Church

Majority World Church

Previous Post

June 17, 2022

only possible to humble faith, Micah 6.8 | ethics, pt. 3

Next Post

June 23, 2022 i'm going to have to start working with these scripts

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Communion Cruz Ingle Crystal Ingle Early Church Engaging Culture Ethics & Society Family Formation History In Dialogue Jared & Crystal Kingdom of God Majority World Church Mateo Ingle Messenger College Mission Narrative Pentecostal Church of God Prayer Shepherding The Sermon The Writings Theology Theology & Psychology Traverse City Uncategorized Vernell Ingle Word Study

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 May 2017 March 2017 March 2014 February 2013 January 2013 October 2012 July 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 August 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What event occurred immediately after Jesus died?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A great flood An earthquake split the land The temple curtain tore The sun turned red