Not Demoralizing: Re-moralizing
Reflecting On One Year of Clergy Vigils at Dallas ICE HQ
“No, it’s not demoralizing....it’s re-moralizing...”
This is a quote from my dear sister Rabbi Nancy Kasten in a recent Dallas Morning News interview when asked to reflect back on our work and ministry with CLEAR DFW over this past year.
Today, we commemorated a year of clergy vigils at the Dallas ICE Field Office. And this quote from Nancy was speaking to my Spirit.
“not demoralizing....re-moralizing.”
I cannot think of a better way to incapsulate the role we believe our big, beautiful group of interfaith DFW clergy is playing in our city.
In a time of deep demoralization of our people...we find this work RE-moralizing to ourselves...and we believe it is doing the same for the beautiful people of Dallas, Texas.
Not in some condescending/preachy way. But in a somber, yet hopeful, way...reminding us of the best our faith traditions have to offer us as individuals and a nation.
Our nation needs to find its moral conscience.
To become re-moralized.
We all become demoralized from time to time (including me, during many of these past eight weeks...) and WE need to be re-moralized.
Re-moralizing means...
The Golden Rule, lived out...not the Ten Commandments plastered on a wall.
The Great Commandment, lived out...not recited as lip service.
Taking seriously the hard call of faith traditions to love the stranger.
50 years of Jerry Falwell and other evangelical Christians fairly well ruined the word “moral” in our culture.
It got dumbed down to rote rules about personal behavior. And, sure, personal behavior matters.
But how we...all of us a a whole behave...how our government behaves on our behalf...this matters more.
Respect for due process matters and when we call for it, we are re-moralizing America.
Loving the migrant and stranger like our own citizens matters...because it’s what our scriptures teach...so when we remind our nation of this...we are re-moralizing America.
Naming the harm of narcissist leaders who trash talk anyone who disagrees with them re-moralizes America.
Calling out the harm of ICE....the harm to migrants and frankly the cultural harm to ALL Americans that they are causing right now, re-moralizes America.
Reminding us all that how we treat “the least of these” matters more than how we treat the wealthy and powerful (Jesus said that, actually...)...this re-moralizes America.
Saying to all Americans who are waking up to the horrors of this administration: “No...you are not crazy or imagining it...this IS happening...and it IS different.” That is re-moralizing.
There is a calm centeredness that comes from knowing you are living from deep core values. This is what CLEAR DFW does, in all that we do.
And so: What a holy moment today.....as we grieved, lamented, yet also celebrated victories along the way (like Hutchins....)
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT TODAY.
I am so blessed by all the wise leaders in CLEAR. We are effective BECAUSE we trust each other and respect each other...the way American leaders should.
Copious pictures below...almost none of them taken by me.
God bless you all.