A MESSAGE FROM THE REV. J.C. AUSTIN: A LOT TO CELEBRATE
This weekend has several notable dynamics to it that I want to highlight.
First of all, Sunday is Father’s Day. Like Mother’s Day, it’s a day in which we celebrate the fathers in our lives, especially our own fathers if we are able. We give thanks for their dedication, their love, their strength and tenacity and sacrifice, and their grace in raising us.
But Father’s Day is also a complicated and even difficult day 
for many people. For some, it is a day when grief makes a special and pronounced visit, as they remember a father who has died. For others, it is a day of particular pain because of family history or current tensions. This Sunday, we will be touching on all of these threads in the prayers during the service. So, whatever Father’s Day brings up for you, there is a place for it in our worship this Sunday.
Second, Monday is Juneteenth, and the Church will be closed in observance of that holiday (the Preschool will be open). Juneteenth is a relatively new federal holiday, but it is an important one. It celebrates the proclamation by a Union Army general in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865 that the U.S. government had freed the enslaved people in the Confederacy. Texas, being the most remote state of the Confederacy, was the last place where they were unaware that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.
And so we celebrate this day as a crucial day in the history of the United States in terms of repudiating the sin of slavery and living more fully into the promises and ideals of freedom in our founding documents. If you don’t know much about Juneteenth, which has been celebrated since 1866 (!), I commend the resources of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture to you, which you can access here at this link.
And finally, this weekend is a personal celebration for me with my son Liam’s graduation from high school and some festivities surrounding that, so I will not be in worship this Sunday but will look forward to seeing you all after the weekend!
Grace and Peace,
J.C.