The Cost of Belonging
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”— Julian of Norwich
I have been noticing how much grief sits in my body lately. My friend, Julie, noticed that I am still struggling with a cough weeks after getting the flu. “Grief sits in our lungs,” she said. So it does.
The grief I carry—we carry—does not attach itself to only one story. It gathers. A headline here. A conversation there. A policy announcement that lands harder than it should because our nervous systems have already absorbed too much. People pause longer before answering simple questions. We are tired in a way sleep does not fix.
I keep returning to a core theological conviction that has shaped my entire view of life, the heart of my own deepest belief: everyone and everything belongs.1
In Genesis, on the final day of creation, God looks at all that has been made and calls it tov meod — very good. Not creature by creature, graded and approved, but the whole of it together. The goodness is communal. Existence itself is blessed before anyone proves worth, productivity, or citizenship. Belonging comes first.
That is why this moment hurts the way it does.
The current administration is openly building policies that remove people from the circle of belonging. Families who have lived here for years lose status overnight. Legal protections disappear by announcement. The Department of Homeland Security now recruits agents through an accelerated forty-seven-day training cycle — a number chosen for symbolism, not readiness — and sends wounded and wounding men into neighborhoods to enact that policy with force. The system produces exactly what it was built to produce: fear, escalation, and the steady normalization of exclusion.
This is not only political conflict. It is the deliberate practice of un-belonging.
Something inside us recognizes the violation immediately. Belonging is not an idea we agree to; it is a relationship we live inside. When someone is cast out, the whole fabric strains. Like trees joined underground by living roots, harm travels. We feel it in our bodies because we are still connected.
Un-belonging begins as fear, then becomes policy, and eventually becomes identity. A system organizes itself around exclusion and must keep finding new outsiders to sustain its coherence. Remove the enemy and the structure collapses, so the enemy must always be recreated. The cruelty stops being a means and becomes the glue.
No wonder the grief feels constant. We are not only witnessing harm. We are living inside a worldview that requires it.
Christian medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich did not declare “all shall be well” because the world had become kind.2 She wrote those words after plague, violence, and social collapse — and her claim rested on something the chaos could not touch: nothing exists outside the love that holds it. Not even the parts of humanity that terrify us.
Meister Eckhart taught that the soul meets God where it remains open and undefended.3 The armored self cannot encounter the divine because it refuses relationship. Domination always promises safety. It always delivers isolation.
God, in every honest tradition, remains vulnerable to creation — moved, grieved, responsive. The divine life does not harden even when the world does. That is not weakness. That is the most subversive force there is.
So the question before us is not whether we grieve. It is whether we will let grief close us or keep us open. Whether we will let this moment teach us to harden — to decide certain people deserve our indifference, to mirror the exclusion back toward those who practice it — or whether we will refuse that transformation, even when it costs us.
The grief we carry is not weakness. It is evidence of connection. It is belonging refusing to die.
Remaining human in a time that rewards hardness is simple to name and difficult to live. But we cannot afford to become people who need others to disappear in order to feel secure.
So we stay present. We tell the truth about harm. We pursue accountability. And we refuse to let our hearts organize themselves around exclusion — even now, especially now.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where have you felt the strain of un-belonging recently — in your own life, your community, or the wider world?
When you feel fear or anger, what helps you stay open rather than hardening toward others?
What would it look like this week to practice accountability without surrendering compassion?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer for Soft Hearts in a Hard Time
God of all that is tov meod, You called the whole creation good before any of us earned our place in it. We confess how easily fear convinces us to shrink the circle. We protect ourselves by deciding who matters less. We armor our hearts and call it wisdom. Keep us human. When the world rewards cruelty, give us courage to remain tender. When exclusion feels safer, anchor us in belonging. When grief feels heavy, teach us that it is love refusing to disappear. Strengthen those who are targeted. Guard those who stand in danger. And soften those who have forgotten how to see their neighbor. Hold us inside Your wide mercy until we remember how to hold one another. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
The Circle Exercise
Today, draw a small circle on a piece of paper. Inside the circle, write the words:
“Who I naturally include.”
Then draw a larger circle around it and write:
“Who God includes.”
Spend a few minutes noticing the difference.
Do not judge yourself. Just notice.
Before the day ends, take one small action that moves your life closer to the larger circle — a conversation, a prayer, a refusal to dismiss someone, an act of protection.
Belonging grows through practice.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
February - My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. I will be leading a book study on Brian McLaren’s book, Life After Doom, that starts on Feb 17. Join the community here.
February 19, 2026 (next session) - On Feb 5, Margaret Wheatley and and I launched a new online course called “Leading with Spirit,” a six-session journey into soul-grounded leadership designed to deepen your trust in guidance, nurture perseverance, and rekindle imaginal wisdom for our fractured world. It’s not too late to join. Take a look at the course outline. We are really excited and hope you can join! Scholarship are available if needed. Learn more here!
March, 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.
March 17, 23, 31 and April 7, 2026, 7-8:30pm ET - Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox and I will be hosting another 4-part series on “Visions for the Common Good.” This series will include sessions with David Abrams, Randy Woodley and Lynne Twist! All sessions are recorded, and you will get the link if you can’t make it. Learn more here.
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.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
The need for us to persevere and contribute grows ever more challenging as the horror and cruelty escalates, created by leaders with “malevolent incompetence.” Dr. Margaret Wheatley is offering a “Bundle for Good” for shipping within the U.S. She will send you seven copies of Perseverance, and one copy of her book of poems, Opening to the World as It Is. She’s including the poetry book as another means to support you personally. You can learn more here.
The Convergence Music Project is hosting a songwriting event on March 19-21, 2026 in Nashville. No songwriting experience is required, so feel warmly welcome even if you've never written a song before. There will be plenty of content also to further educate, inspire, and develop the gifts of advanced songwriters as well. Learn more.
So many of us are inspired by all that is happening in Minneapolis, even if we are horrified by what the federal government has unleashed in that city. Here is a great article breaking down the “Blueprint for Resistance.”
Millions of people are seeking training in becoming Legal Observers for their communities vulnerable to ICE. Here is a recorded training that is helpful produced by the team at No Kings. If you know of other trainings, please post in the comments below.
The phenomenal team of “Singing Resistance” has gifted all of us a songbook of protest songs that groups are now using across the world. Here is the link. I am marching around my house singing these throughout the day. My dogs are very confused.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
My friend, Lynne Twist, often credits Buckminster Fuller, her mentor for many years, with saying something similar but with a slight difference. He implored us “to build a world where everyone and everything belongs.” Buckminster Fuller spent his entire life trying to make the world work for a hundred percent of humanity in the shortest time possible without offense to the environment or to anyone.
Julian’s writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving English-language works attributed to a woman. They are also the only surviving English-language works by an anchoress.
Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox gifts us ongoing insight from Eckhart’s teaching through his daily meditations: https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2022/06/10/eckhart-on-the-spark-of-the-soul-continued/
I was especially moved by the idea that grief itself can be evidence of connection rather than weakness, a refusal of love to disappear even when the world hardens. The call to remain open, tender, and human in a time that rewards exclusion feels deeply faithful and deeply costly, echoing the Gospel’s insistence that belonging precedes worth. I’ve been writing about that same sense of being held within a love larger than our divisions and fears, and I’d be honored if you read my reflection here: https://theeternalnowmm.substack.com/p/eternal-love?r=71z4jh
We need to keep reading and hearing these words daily so that we remember who we are and why we belong. Those of us who are older know exactly where we’ve come from, how life has been for us in this country, but our young people, our children have not experienced it long enough and will be formed in their developing years by this evolving ‘new norm’. Your daily words help us to keep focused, and to stay strong. Thank you.