It’s Juneteenth! Juneteenth, also known as "Freedom Day" or "Emancipation Day," commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. On September 22nd, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation effectively ending slavery on January 1st, 1863; however, the Proclamation had little effect in the State of Texas until two and a half years later. It was on June 19th, 1865, that Union General Gordon Granger read General Orders No. 3 to the people of Galveston, Texas. Long celebrated and observed in Texas, as of 2021 Juneteenth is now a federal holiday.

On this Juneteenth Sunday at Wildflower, Simone invites us to the past, to look within, to look around, and to look forward as we cultivate joy, through song, movement, and reflection and imagine a world. A world of freedom, a world of hope, and a world of dreams.

Informed by the arts, prayer, meditation, and the healing practices of Laughter Yoga and Afro Flow Yoga, Simone Monique Barnes is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, educator, and lay minister. She currently works part time in community ministry for a faith-based non-profit supporting elementary school age children and their families in East Austin. She also teaches Laughter Yoga, a body-mind practice that began more than twenty-five years ago in Mumbai, India, knowing that a smile is the shortest distance between two people, and that joy practices sustain us in hard times. Simone was born and raised in New York City, and has called Austin, Texas home for over ten years. She is a certified Laughter Yoga Teacher and Afro Flow Yoga teacher-in-training.

Children and Youth will be meeting in person in our summer classes after being present in the sanctuary for the first part of the service.