The Courage to Stay Awake
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’” —Matthew 26:38 (NRSVUE)
Yesterday, our online book club at The Commons began a new book. For the next six weeks, we’ll read Sarah Wilson’s latest, I Eat the Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World.1
Early in the book, Wilson shares the story of Admiral James Stockdale, the highest-ranking American naval officer captured during the Vietnam War. Stockdale spent nearly eight years as a prisoner of war, facing repeated torture and never knowing if he would survive or see his family again.
Years after Stockdale was released, author Jim Collins asked him which prisoners had not survived captivity.
“That’s easy,” Stockdale replied. “The optimists.”
Some prisoners told themselves they would be released by Christmas. When Christmas passed, they hoped for Easter, then Thanksgiving, and then another Christmas. In the end, Stockdale said, “they died of a broken heart.”2
Stockdale wasn’t saying hope is dangerous. He warned against optimism that ignores reality. He believed he would survive, but he never connected that faith to a specific rescue date. He accepted two hard truths at once: his life still had meaning, and his situation was harsh.
Most of us find it hard to hold both truths. We want to hear that everything will be okay. We want to believe the Strongman in the White House knows what he is doing, even when the evidence says otherwise. We trust our political institutions to protect democracy, even as we see their safeguards weaken.
We tell ourselves that our health care, education, agricultural, and economic systems are simply going through a difficult period. We hesitate to consider that some may be coming apart.
The truth about the environment is also harder to ignore. For generations, we have used more than the Earth can replace. We have acted as if forests, oceans, soil, animals, and the atmosphere would never run out. Now, weather is changing and ecosystems are being disrupted. Some results of our choices can’t be undone. Our children and grandchildren will have to live with them.3 That truth is heartbreaking.
Of course, we want to hope our way out. We want to believe an election, a new technology, or a brave leader will fix everything. Maybe our real fear is that if we face the truth, we’ll be overcome by despair.
Sarah Wilson asks if the opposite could be true. What if facing the truth could bring us back to life? What if we stopped waiting for rescue and started asking how we want to live together now?
Jesus faced a moment like this in Gethsemane. He knew the authorities were coming for him and understood what the Roman Empire would do. He didn’t pretend his faith would protect him from suffering.
“I am deeply grieved, even to death,” he told his disciples. Then he asked them to remain with him and stay awake.
Those words feel especially powerful to me now. Jesus didn’t ask his friends to solve the problem. He asked them to stay with him in the hard truth of that night.
But the disciples fell asleep.
Maybe sleep was the only way they could escape. I get that. Some days, I’d rather scroll, shop, work, plan, or get upset about something small than sit with the grief of what’s happening in our world.
Jesus keeps calling us back: Stay awake with me. Staying awake doesn’t mean living in fear all the time. We don’t have to take in every report of suffering or carry the whole world’s pain. That kind of watchfulness will wear us out.
Staying awake means not letting ourselves be comforted by lies. It means grieving what we’re losing and being honest about what our way of life has cost other people, other species, and the Earth.
Then, within that truth, we look again at the life still here. A friend’s face. A ripe tomato. Baby goats. Children making up a game with rules no adult can follow. The amazing fact that, in such a huge universe, we have this short chance to be alive together.
Wilson reminds us that we were never promised endless comfort, unlimited growth, or mastery over nature. We were given life. We were given the capacity to love, to wonder, and to find beauty in a wounded world.
This is where faith and optimism are different. Optimism depends on things getting better. Faith can exist even in situations we would never choose. Faith doesn’t say when rescue will come. It reminds us that God is already here in the midst of the mess.
God is with us in both our grief and our joy. God is with those who are scared, tired, and overwhelmed. God is alive in every act of courage that stands up to cruelty, every community learning to share, every artist making beauty, and every child discovering that the world still holds wonder.
We might not be able to bring back the world we once knew. But we can still choose how we live in the world that’s coming.
Today, think about one truth about our world you’ve been avoiding. You don’t have to take in everything at once. Sit with that one truth gently. Let yourself grieve without rushing to feel better.
Then go outside. Touch the bark of a tree. Listen for a bird. Notice something alive that you didn’t make and can’t control.
Ask what love asks of you now, here in this beautiful and broken world.
Stay awake.
Stay tender.
Seek Love.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where are you relying on optimism because the truth feels too painful to face?
What helps you remain awake to suffering without becoming overwhelmed or numb?
Where do you still encounter beauty, wonder, or tenderness in this wounded world?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Keeping Us Tender
God of this beautiful and breaking world, keep us awake. When the truth feels too heavy, sit beside us in the weight of it. When we reach for easy assurances, give us the courage to see clearly. When grief closes around our hearts, keep a small opening for wonder. Teach us to notice the life still here: the bird calling from the trees, the hand reaching for ours, the laughter rising in an uncertain hour, the stubborn green shoot breaking through hard ground. Save us from the fear that makes us cruel. Save us from the despair that tells us nothing matters. Save us from the comfort of lies. Make us tender enough to grieve, brave enough to love, and faithful enough to remain present. Remind us that we are not abandoned. You are here in the ache. You are here in the beauty. You are here among us,still creating life. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Stay Awake to What Is Alive
Set aside fifteen minutes today and go outside without your phone. Find one living thing—a tree, a bird, a patch of grass, an insect, a garden—and give it your full attention.
Notice its color, movement, texture, and relationship to the life around it. Resist the urge to name, photograph, or explain it. Simply remain present.
As you pay attention, hold one difficult truth about the world in your heart. Do not try to solve it or push it away. Let grief and beauty exist together.
Before you leave, ask: “What does love require of me now?”
Carry the question with you. If an answer begins to emerge, take one small step toward it.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
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. Join the community here.
July 28 - September 1, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are reading our next book, “I Eat The Stars” by Sarah Wilson. We will meet each Tuesday for 6 weeks. It’s such great fun. I hope you will be a part. All are welcome! RSVP HERE.
August 6, 2026, 7-8pm ET - FREE EVENT - Join me in conversation with Rev. Natalia Terfa about her new book, “It All Counts: Finding God Beyond the Boundaries.” What if the moments you’ve been taught don’t “count” spiritually are actually where God is waiting to be found? Many of us were handed a version of faith that divided life into sacred and secular, holy and ordinary, faithful and doubtful. But what if those boundaries were never real? Whether you’ve left church, stayed in it, or find yourself somewhere in between, this conversation will offer fresh language for a faith that is expansive, embodied, and deeply human. REGISTER HERE.
September 8, 2026, 7-9pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - I’ll be hosting a powerful online gathering on The Black Madonna: Sacred Wisdom for a World in Crisis with Matthew Fox, Alessandra Belloni, and Christena Cleveland. We will explore the Black Madonna as a symbol of resilience, liberation, sacred feminine wisdom, and healing in a fractured world through conversation, story, music, and spiritual reflection. If you feel drawn toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Feminine and the ancient traditions that continue to nourish movements for justice and wholeness, I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and REGISTER HERE.
October 6, 2026 - 7-8:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - Matthew Fox and I are teaming up again to launch a series called Journeying with the Mystics. The mystics have always emerged in times of uncertainty. They appear when old certainties are crumbling, when institutions no longer provide easy answers, and when people find themselves longing for a deeper experience of the Sacred. Join us for an 18-session exploration of the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Hildegard of Bingen, Kabir and Rumi, Meister Eckhart and more. This is more than a lecture series. It is an invitation into a living spiritual journey. REGISTRATION COMING SOON!
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
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.
Dr. Timothy Snyder, the author of On Tyranny, has publicly released the first lecture of a ten-lecture course he taught at the University of Toronto this past year. The course is called “Hitler and Stalin Today.” He is offering this as a public resource for students, researchers, and anyone interested in understanding the relationship between history and contemporary democracy. Follow his posts here or watch on YouTube.
July 29, 2026, 12pm ET - ONLINE WRITING GROUP - My dear friend, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, is leading a writing group open to all. This is a simple and spacious writing circle for people who want time to listen inwardly and put words on the page without overthinking, performing, or polishing. Meryl offers a prompt designed to invite reflection, imagination, and attunement to what is already alive within you. The practice honors writing as a way of listening, of letting images, memories, questions, and insights surface in their own time. Learn more here.
My friends over at Spiritual Wanderlust have some of the coolest classes. One I am particularly drawn to is their Celtic Spirituality School where you get to learn from people like John Philip Newell, Ilia Delio, Carl McColman, Sharon Blackie, and more. Read more about their program.
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.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/808096/i-eat-the-stars-by-sarah-wilson/
https://www.jimcollins.com/media_topics/The-Stockdale-Paradox.html
https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/2026-calculation/
Good morning, Rev. Cameron and thank you. We have the "right now," "the right here," and as the apostle Paul says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"