The Truth Will Set You Free

On Impeachment Eve -- Tuesday night December 17th -- hundreds of rallies were held around the country in support of the impeachment of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. I was honored to be asked to speak at the rally being held here in Los Angeles ... but didn't make it back in time due to weather delayed travel home from Alabama. Here is what I would have said if I'd gotten back in time:

We stand together tonight and in solidarity with over 600 rallies happening around this great nation of ours -- in witness to the strength and power of the aspirational goal which we call the American dream: the dream of a nation where liberty and justice is not just a pledge we make but a reality we live.

As a priest and pastor, I stand here tonight claiming the promise my faith teaches me in the words of John 8:32 … and that promise is “the truth will set you free.”

My brothers and sisters and gender fluid siblings, the truth that will set us all free is the truth that nobody is above the law.

The truth that our House of Representatives will be voting on tomorrow is the truth that that the oath to protect the Constitution against all enemies -- foreign and domestic – does not come with an asterisk that reads “*unless the enemy is the President.”

And the truth that we must continue to hold sacred is the truth that our sister Margaret Mead spoke when she said “Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Over 200 years ago the founders of our nation were those people as they imagined the great democratic experiment that is the American dream. And we stand on their shoulders tonight as we rise to resist the shameful and systematic efforts to dismantle that democracy before our eyes.

May the truth that sets us free sustain us in the struggle and give us the strength and courage to continue to be the change we want to see as we commit to protect our Constitution against all enemies – including the President.