Happy Juneteenth: Gather the Generations

Rev. AndreaGrace's Family

Today - the United States celebrates a national holiday: Juneteenth. The name is an abbreviation of June 19th. It commemorates the day the last enslaved people in Texas were emancipated. For Rev. AndreaGrace, it's a day to celebrate the richness of the Black American culture... and to pray for true freedom for dark-skinned people in our country.

Gather the Generations: The What, Why and How of Intergenerational Engagement

Rev. AndreaGrace's forthcoming book, Gather the Generations: The What, Why and How of Intergenerational Engagement, begins with this Letter to the Reader:

Letter to the Reader

Gather the people,  consecrate the assembly;

bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.

Judeo-Christian Scriptures Joel 2:16

Dear Reader,

My beloved father-in-love, Walter, gathered his grands, my four sons, and shared this story:

Each day, Grandma Mandy, my great-grandma, would gather all her grands including me. On weekdays, she would read us one chapter of the Bible and on Sundays, two chapters. Grandma was born a slave and was taught to read so that she could read the Bible to the master’s children. When the emancipation happened, Master Weaver granted each family a plot of land near one another so that their families could stay together.

When Walter’s time with us was drawing to a close, my husband, Herb, and I brought the boys to see Granddaddy. We made a family-tree. Along with people’s names, we included adjectives about them. Dad turned to me and shared: “Grandma Mandy’s daughter, Grandma Lizzie…. Well, she was like you! She always had something for the kids to do.”

Reflecting upon these experiences, I came to appreciate the similarities between my husband’s family of origin and mine – the values of multigenerational togetherness and interdependence, of faith, of en-joying the giftedness and presence of each person, of passing on values.

I learned all this in my home. Then, I studied it in school. Then, I practiced it in my career.

What I’ve come to know: each of us has the opportunity… and the responsibility to intentionally unite the generations: in our families, in the organizations where we serve, in our workplaces, in our communities and beyond. The relationships are not just nice…. But truly necessary.

Like Grandma Mandy, we can gather the generations. In doing so, we teach. We learn. We share the ups and downs of life. We are supported. We are connected. We give and we receive. We love. We are stronger, together.

With peace, gratitude, joy and hope -

AndreaGrace

Let's Pray:

Oh Divine Love -

You who are known by so many names and images-

we lift up to You our country and our world.

Thank you for the freedoms we know.

Thank you for our ancestors - especially those who shared love and faith.

Please come with Your healing and grace

empowering each of us to experience true liberation

and to do what we can to help liberate one another

and the systems in which we live and work and have our being.

Inspire us to unite the generations in our own lives.

Fill us with Your creativity and courage

that we may build your kin-dom on earth.

May our leaders choose to create policies and practices that affirm life, peace, inclusion and LovingKindness for all.

In Your many holy names we hope and pray and trust.

Amen.