Every Ballot is a Prayer
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Then Pilate said to them, ‘So you want me to crucify your king?’ They shouted back, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” — John 19:15 (NIV)
While we are all focused on meetings between Putin and Zelensky, Texas Republican gerrymandering, and Epstein files, the Trump Administration continues it’s march in authoritarianism.
Yesterday, the Trump administration announced new efforts to undermine mail-in ballots and voting machines—measures that strike at the very heart of democracy.1 Let’s be clear: When leaders restrict access to the vote, they are not protecting democracy. They are strangling it.
At its core, voting is not just a civic duty; it is a spiritual act. Each ballot is a prayer whispered into the collective body, a declaration of human dignity and belonging.2 To take away the voice of the people is to deny the image of God in them. The prophets cried out against such injustice, warning rulers who “deprive the poor of their rights” and silence the vulnerable. Suppressing the vote is not clever politics—it is idolatry of power, elevating fear and control over love and justice.
Thomas Merton once wrote, “The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all living beings.”3 When our leaders attack voting rights, they sever the very fabric of compassion. They treat citizens not as neighbors in a shared democracy but as obstacles to be managed, voices to be muted, lives to be discarded. In truth, the measure of a society’s soul is not how well the powerful secure their rule, but how faithfully the vulnerable are heard.
We are standing at a threshold moment. We can give in to despair, shrug our shoulders, and say, “This is just how politics works.” Or we can remember: every time we defend the right to vote, every time we accompany a neighbor to the polls, every time we resist voter suppression, we are participating in God’s dream for justice. The ballot box may not look like an altar, but it is one. To cast your vote is to lay upon it your offering: your hope, your courage, your trust in the possibility of a more just world.
So let us not be silent. Let us organize, accompany, protect, and resist. For in doing so we are not only defending democracy—we are bearing witness to the sacred truth that every voice matters, every person bears God’s image, and every ballot is, indeed, a prayer.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
How does thinking of voting as a spiritual act change the way you approach it?
Where do you see idolatry of power at work in our public life, and how can you respond faithfully?
What concrete steps can you take to protect and expand access to the ballot in your community?
A Prayer for the Day
A Covenant of Belonging
Spirit of Life, Breath of all that is, we gather our longing for justice into this moment of stillness. You have placed within every person a spark of dignity, a voice that deserves to be heard, a dream that deserves to be honored. When fear rises to silence, when power seeks to dominate, remind us that we are bound together in a web wider than nation, creed, or boundary. Our flourishing is shared, our freedom is intertwined. May we have the courage to protect each voice, the compassion to accompany each neighbor, and the vision to see democracy not as politics alone but as a sacred covenant of belonging. Guide our hands, our choices, our communities, that we may walk in truth, act in justice, and live in the great harmony that is your dream for us all. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Tending the Inner Vote
Democracy begins within. Each day this week, pause and listen for the “votes” cast inside your own heart—the fears that try to silence you, the hopes that long to be heard, the values that insist on their place at the table. Give each inner voice a moment of recognition, then ask gently: Which voice carries the wisdom of love? Which voice aligns me with dignity and compassion?
As you move through your day, let small actions become your ballot. A word of encouragement to someone weary, a refusal to spread falsehood, a commitment to speak the truth even when inconvenient—each is a vote cast for the world you long to see.
To root this more deeply, create a small ritual. Place a stone, candle, or other object where you’ll see it daily. Each time you notice it, breathe and whisper: My life is my vote. Today I cast it with love. Let this simple act remind you that democracy is not only a system “out there” but a spiritual practice of belonging you embody in every choice.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
September 4, 5:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.
October 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. Register here!
October 23, 30, November 13, 20 2025, 7pm ET - In Search of a New Story: Reimagining What Comes Next, A 4-Part Online Series with Dr. Matthew Fox, Cameron Trimble, Ilia Delio, Diana Butler Bass, Caroline Myss and other Special Guests. We are living through the unraveling of many old stories—about who we are, why we’re here, and how we are meant to live together on this Earth. As these inherited narratives collapse under the weight of climate crisis, social fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection, the question becomes clear: What story will guide us now? REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/18/trump-mail-in-ballots-voting-machines-2016-midterms
Listen to Senator Warnock speak about voting as prayer.
Statement from his final address, during a conference on East-West monastic dialogue, delivered just two hours before his death (10 December 1968), quoted in Religious Education, Vol. 73 (1978), p. 292, and in The Boundless Circle : Caring for Creatures and Creation (1996) by Michael W. Fox.
This post makes me wonder. Voting is a strategy to attempt to let every voice be hears. However, maybe there is a better way, that we haven't found yet, to give everyone meaningful and appropriate power sharing. I will be wondering what that might look like.
By Nov/26 the true right to vote will be gone unless the people STAND UP. There will be NO DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. The people and democrats had best get off their collective asses NOW.