Jesus, Justice, and Flipping Tables

Deconstruction & Juneteenth?

Believe it or not deconstruction and Juneteenth are more connected than you might think. At Refuge, we follow Jesus into hard conversations, especially when it comes to justice, truth, and repentance. This week’s message starts to dig into what it means to deconstruct harmful beliefs, examine our history, and root our faith in love and liberation.

This message isn’t just a history lesson —it’s a call to action. We’re sitting with difficult truths, expose the harm of the past, and re-learn how our faith should push us to respond. Deconstruction and Juneteenth teach us that love, justice, and mercy require honesty, repentance, and courage.

Why Deconstruction Matters

When we talk about deconstruction, we’re not talking about walking away from our faith. We’re talking about diving deeper into it! It’s the process of peeling ack layers of our traditions and theology to find the heart of Jesus. If you’ve every questioned, doubted, evaluated or even let go of anything; you have deconstructed.

In this message, Pastor Nicole walks us through how deconstruction helps us love others well. We look at the way harmful theology, like a pro-slavery theology, shaped the church’s past. Asking ourselves: what are we still carrying? What systems, beliefs, or behaviors need to be dismantled?

What Juneteenth Tells Us

Juneteenth is a celebration, but also a sobering reminder. It marks a day of freedom for the last of the largest enslaved population in Galveston, TX. This day of freedom coming more than TWO YEARS after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Why the delay? Because people in power ignored it. Believing their right to enslave PEOPLE trumped their dignity and humanity.

This is where deconstruction and Juneteenth overlap. Both force us to confront what has been ignored for far too long. Both call us to name the injustice, challenge systems, and dig deeper. And both ask us: how do we make things right?

Jesus Deconstructed

Jesus was a table flipper. He confronted religious leaders who used God and scripture to justify oppression! ^{A little louder for folks in the back!!}

Jesus confronted religious leaders who used God and scripture to JUSTIFY OPPRESSION!!

Jesus called out injustice happening in sacred places. And he tore down barriers that man had put up to keep people from God.

Jesus’ ministry was deconstructing and dismantling harmful systems to rebuild something better. To rebuild on the foundation of love for God and love for ALL PEOPLE! From the women at the well, to healing on the Sabbath, to over turning tables in the temple — Jesus didn’t just preach love. He embodied justice!

Following Jesus means following his example. This means calling our systemic racism, repenting for our silence and complicity, and working toward liberation for ALL PEOPLE!!

How We Respond

So what does all this mean for us , in this moment in history? It means we can’t celebrate Juneteenth without acknowledging the truth that racism and white supremacy still exist. In our culture, in our country, and even our churches. It means white Christians have to DO WORK!

Thank you!

Black Creators to Follow

Books to Read

• The Cross and the Lynching Tree – James H. Cone
• Sister Outsider – Audre Lorde
• I‘m Still Here – Austin Channing Brown