Now We All Live In The Zone of Interest
by Rabbi Nancy KastenAt the “Jews Against ICE” demonstration outside federal headquarters in Washington, D.C. on February 11, rabbis, cantors,
When the Roman king Numa Pompilius added January and February to the calendar in about 713 BCE, the first month was named for the god Janus — the god of beginnings and gateways. Janus is always depicted as being two-faced: one face looking forward and the other facing backward.
Every threshold in time feels like a crossing over. We look back at where we have been and look forward to where we are going. This is why resolutions are common practice for a new year. We want to be new ourselves in some qualitative way to match the chronological newness.
The prophetic traditions of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures have loftier aims than our usual personal goals for self-improvement. They help us hope for a whole new world that God is promising to bring to pass. Isaiah says, “For behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered, they shall never come to mind” (65:17). The prophet is talking about the experience of exile, along with the people’s suffering and mourning. Instead they will know God’s joy over them and a return to Jerusalem, which represents a renewed social order grounded in peace and justice.
The vision of John in the Revelation, concludes with language that universalizes Isaiah’s words to include the whole cosmos: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more” (21:1). Sin, evil, injustice will have no place in the new creation. And the chaos that the sea represents will no longer threaten humanity.
As we cross into this new year, we may feel as though nothing is new, that chaos still reigns, that sorrow is ever present. It’s not wrong to look backward and name the darkness that persists. This is one face of Janus. Wars and rumors of wars across the globe prove that we have not yet turned our swords into plowshares. Growing wealth inequality proves that we have not yet learned to live with a spirit of abundance that values our shared humanity. The lawless and heartless detention and deportation of our immigrant neighbors prove that we do not yet celebrate difference as a feature of genuine community. As William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
And yet, the promise of new creation is ever before us.
There are two words in the Greek language for new: neos, which is new in time – something brand new that is not connected to anything before it; and kainos, which is new in kind. The biblical vision of new creation is the latter. We are not going to escape this world for a heavenly abode; instead, God is working with us to renew God’s good creation. Our hope is a transformed people in a world freed from injustice, healed from affliction, mended from every kind of brokenness within and without.
This is the forward facing vision we need for inspiration as we look ahead to 2026. Our spiritual traditions teach us that God is with us, actively working to transform us and the world. But we are also taught that God does not work alone. If we want to see the world and ourselves changed for the better, we have to become participants rather than spectators. Our participation makes a difference in things becoming different.
In Dr. Seuss’s children’s book Horton Hears a Who! the gentle elephant Horton spots an entire village of virtually invisible people living on a speck of dust. Whoville is threatened by other animals who don’t believe Horton’s word. The Mayor of Whoville organizes the community to make as loud a noise as possible to signal to the animals that they really do exist and must be protected, because as Horton says, “a person’s a person, no matter how small.” All the screaming citizens of Whoville, along with all their clanging instruments, still could not be heard. Until one Who named Jo-Jo is found, who has been thus far silent. When Jo-Jo at last lets out his mighty Yop! in concert with all the others, Whoville is heard and saved.
If you are feeling small and helpless and are having trouble facing forward with hope, remember what Mother Teresa once said: “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” Like Jo-Jo, add your Yop! Find your voice. Live into this new creation.
Who knows what new you will become in the process? And a new you may just be enough for others to see and hear the new creation coming to be, too.
A poem by Margaret Atwood on water as a metaphor for change.
Learning from nature as we enter a new year.
An organization you should know that is fighting the legal battles for democracy.
CLEAR (Clergy League for Emergency Action and Response) is hosting prayer vigils and providing pastoral support for migrants in Dallas who are coming for their check-ins at the ICE Field Office
by Rabbi Nancy KastenAt the “Jews Against ICE” demonstration outside federal headquarters in Washington, D.C. on February 11, rabbis, cantors,
Faith Commons Friends, Last Friday (January 23), Faith Commons and CLEAR DFW held a press conference at Kessler Park United Methodist Church