These remarks were shared at the Lights for Liberty Vigil at Rohner Park in Fortuna CA, organized by Centro del Pueblo on Friday July 12, 2019.
My name is Daniel London and I’m an Episcopal priest from Eureka. I would like to share a poem that I read to my congregation around this time of year when we celebrate the birth of our nation, a nation that was founded upon the Christian and biblical values of equality, liberty, justice, and hospitality. The poem is written by a female prophet named Emma Lazarus who advocated for my Russian Jewish immigrant ancestors and other Jews escaping anti-Semitic violence in Russia in the early 20th century, and who helped my grandparents settle into a new, safe, and healthy life here in the United States.
Emma used her poetic gifts to prophetically remind us all to uphold and practice the values upon which our nation was founded, especially the core value of hospitality, and especially hospitality to vulnerable children. As I often say around this time of year, patriotism without criticism has no head, but criticism without patriotism has no heart. This prophetic poem titled “The New Colossus” helps me to be a true patriot, who is deeply proud of our country’s ideals while also remaining highly critical of the ways in which we fail to uphold them.
As I read this poem, I invite you to stand in body or spirit as you lift your lit candles.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Gracious God, we give you thanks for prophets like Emma Lazarus and Martin Luther King Jr and all the prophets gathered here this evening. May each of these vigils across the country and each candle lit tonight serve as a powerful reminder of our country’s foundational values of equality, liberty, justice, and hospitality. May these lights for liberty remind us and our elected officials to uphold and practice these values; so that might be that city on a hill, a beacon of hope, and a light to the world, glowing with world-wide welcome. And we ask that you keep watch, dear Lord, with all those who weep this night, especially with all the vulnerable children at our border. Protect them and hide them under the shadow of your wings. We ask all this in the Name of your Loving Wisdom. Amen.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 
Nicely said .. love this : “As I often say around this time of year, patriotism without criticism has no head, but criticism without patriotism has no heart.”