Stay Awake
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“The world will not be saved by what we know — but by how deeply we grieve, how fiercely we love, and how unrelentingly we act.” — Adapted from Parker Palmer
We are watching the president of the United States unravel in real time — impulsive, incoherent, visibly detached from reality — while those around him manage the spectacle rather than the nation. In four hours on Monday night, he posted more than 160 times on his social media platform.1 At a televised cabinet meeting, he appeared to drift in and out of consciousness.2 He unleashes hate-filled tirades laced with racist venom.3 His speeches ramble through half-finished thoughts and decades-old grudges. Little of this would matter if he were a private citizen. But he is not. His fragility is now fused with the machinery of the state.
That is where compassion becomes complicated. If this were simply a story of a man’s decline, we might meet it with empathy. But when that decline manifests as policy — as the (latest) racist deportation of Somali refugees, the halting of immigration from nineteen countries, the pardon of the former Honduran President convicted of drug trafficking, the invalidation of another president’s actions by fiat, the murdering of Venezuelan citizens resulting in likely war crimes — the consequences move from tragic to catastrophic.
Scripture is full of stories about leaders who lose their way. Saul loses his bearings and calls his own paranoia “obedience.” Pharaoh hardens his heart even as his empire cracks. Nebuchadnezzar looks upon his own kingdom and declares, “Is not this great Babylon that I have built?” Every generation has its version of this story: power detached from humility, authority unmoored from wisdom, spectacle replacing substance. The prophets did not treat such moments as political crises. They treated them as spiritual ones.
When governance becomes theater, cruelty often becomes its script. Every system that depends on stability — courts, diplomacy, civil rights, social trust — is decaying under the weight of this one man’s chaos. What begins as absurdity ends as harm.
The temptation in moments like this is either paralysis or denial: to say “it’s all politics,” or to hide inside distraction until it passes. But something deeper is at stake. This is about truth itself and our capacity to recognize when it’s being hollowed out. Hannah Arendt warned that authoritarianism depends less on the control of information than on the erosion of discernment: when people can no longer tell what’s real, they surrender the will to act.
That is the spiritual crisis of our time — not just political dysfunction, but moral anesthesia. We stop feeling what we should feel. We normalize what should still shock us. We scroll past the grotesque and call it Thursday.
Jesus warned of this in language both tender and terrifying: “Be awake, for you do not know the hour.” Stay awake. Stay human. Stay responsive to what is real.
To stay awake now is an act of resistance. It begins with seeing clearly, speaking truthfully, and tending to the communities that still remember what integrity feels like.
Our work is to hold the moral center when power loses its mind, to refuse contempt, but also to refuse compliance. To remember that dignity is not bestowed by office or title; it’s maintained by conscience and courage. We need to be saying out loud: “President Trump is not well. This is not normal.”
History will not just ask what we believed in this season. It will ask what we protected.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where in your own life or leadership do you recognize the temptation to mistake control for wisdom, or dominance for strength?
What practices help you stay awake — emotionally, spiritually, morally — when the world feels chaotic or absurd?
How might communities of faith and conscience serve as centers of discernment when public truth is collapsing?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Clarity
Holy Presence, steady us when power trembles. When authority becomes spectacle, remind us that truth does not depend on title. When leaders lose themselves, help us not to lose our way. Grant us the courage to stay awake, the patience to discern, the mercy to see even the broken as human, and the resolve to protect those they endanger. May our clarity be our compassion, our faith our fidelity to what is real. Keep us from hatred. Keep us from despair. Keep us human. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
The Discipline of Seeing Clearly
For one week, practice naming what is real — aloud.
Each morning, before engaging news or social media, speak three simple truths you know to be solid: something about the world, something about your values, something about your calling.
When you read or hear distortion later in the day, return to those truths. Notice what happens to your body when you do.
The goal is not withdrawal from the world’s noise but resistance to its anesthesia.
Seeing clearly is a spiritual practice. Truth-telling is prayer in motion.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
January 6, 13, 20, 2026 - Protest and Action Chaplaincy Training with Rev. Anna Galladay. This live, online training offers a framework for providing compassionate, grounded spiritual care during protests, advocacy gatherings, and social movements. Learn more here.
January 15, 2026, 7-8pm EST - FREE Online Webinar: When the Internet Hurts: The Hidden Online Dangers Facing Our Teens and How Faith Communities Can Respond, Join me in conversation with Sharon Winkler, survivor parent and nationally respected youth online-safety advocate. Sharon’s son, Alex, died at age 17 after experiencing cyberbullying and algorithmically targeted pro-suicide content. Since then, Sharon has dedicated her life to helping parents, educators, and faith leaders recognize online dangers and build safer communities for young people. Register here.
February 11th and 25, 2026 - Join Our “Building a Culture of Leadership Within Congregations” Cohort facilitated by Rabbi Benjamin Ross and me! A two-session course for ministers and faith leaders ready to strengthen how their congregations and ministries identify, develop, and support leaders. Learn more here.
July 19-24, 2026 - Join me and amazing co-facilitator, Victoria, on retreat in the back-country of beautiful Wyoming. The Art of Wilding is a 5-Day Expedition for Women Leaders. We will spend the week reconnecting to nature, exploring our inner landscapes for change, and engage the wisdom of spiritual teachings. Click here to learn more.
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.
Our world gets more dangerous by the hour and it is not because of Trump, it’s because America is allowing Trump and his gang to continue with this reign of terror. Until America really and truly stands up for what is good, they will continue to debase the world.
Thank you Cameron. I think we must also be very aware of How we protect. Let us all focus on our intentions for our world, with a singular eye toward the good that is emerging at the edges of this cultural disintegration. Let us keep looking, praying, and lifting together, Knowing that as communities of faith, love, and compassion, a new and better world is growing. How will we know this is what is growing? Because this is what we are planting.