06/19/2026
A Juneteenth Prayer by the Ohio River
By Bishop Hee-Soo Jung
O God of Exodus and freedom,
we stand by the Ohio River
and remember Juneteenth,
June 19, 1865,
when the news of emancipation
finally reached Galveston, Texas,
and enslaved people heard
that bo***ge did not have the last word.
We remember the long delay of justice,
the stolen labor,
the broken families,
the unnamed graves,
and the songs of faith
that carried our ancestors
through the night.
We remember this river
as more than water.
The Ohio was a crossing place,
a boundary between slavery and freedom,
a road of trembling courage
for those who fled northward
through darkness, prayer,
and the hope of God.
Lord, we give thanks
for the enslaved who endured,
for the freedom seekers who crossed,
for the witnesses who resisted evil,
and for every Black life
whose dignity could never be erased.
Let Juneteenth teach us
that freedom proclaimed
must become justice practiced.
Let memory become gratitude,
gratitude become repentance,
and repentance become repair.
Teach this nation to remember truthfully,
to celebrate humbly,
and to walk courageously
from slavery’s shadow
toward your beloved community.
May the Ohio River preach again:
no chain is stronger than your justice,
no empire deeper than your mercy,
and no wall can stop
a river called freedom.
Amen.
