The Games We Play
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” — Isaiah 2:4
The Olympic Games have been underway now for several days. Many of us watched the opening ceremonies in Milan with a mixture of wonder and longing. The pageantry was beautiful, but what stirred me most was something older and more fragile than the performances themselves: the idea that, once upon a time, people believed it was possible to pause violence long enough to play.
The ancient Olympics were not born out of unity. They emerged from conflict. City-states warred with one another constantly. Yet, for a brief window, they agreed to lay down weapons, travel safely, and test human strength through discipline rather than domination. The truce was imperfect and often broken. Still, the aspiration mattered. It named a belief that competition did not have to mean annihilation, and that human excellence could be honored without requiring someone else’s destruction.
That longing has never left us.
We still want arenas where strength does not turn into cruelty, where difference does not become threat, and where striving does not require dehumanization. We still want rules that bind us together rather than sort us into winners who matter and losers who don’t. We still hope that excellence can be measured without sacrificing dignity.
But the Games have always carried tension. They have never been innocent. Even in ancient Greece, access was restricted. Bodies were ranked. Power decided who could belong. The Olympics have always reflected the moral imagination of the world hosting them.
Which is why they speak so clearly to us now.
We are living in a time when the games we play with one another feel increasingly dangerous. Politics has become a contest where humiliation replaces debate and winning matters more than truth. Economics has become a game where extraction is rewarded and care is dismissed as weakness. Even public life has begun to resemble a zero-sum contest, where one group’s survival is framed as another group’s loss.
The question before us is not whether we will play games. We always do.
The question is which games we are willing to accept.
In the biblical tradition, games of power show up early. Pharaoh treats labor as expendable. Kings turn people into numbers. Prophets interrupt these patterns by naming the cost. They remind the community that strength without restraint leads to collapse, and that societies are judged not by their victories but by how they treat the vulnerable.
That wisdom echoes across traditions. Human beings flourish when limits are honored. We fall apart when domination masquerades as excellence.
The Olympics, at their best, remind us that rules matter. Boundaries matter. Mutual agreement matters. The Games only function because athletes consent to restraint. No one shows up believing that anything goes. No one competes without accepting limits. Without shared rules, there is no contest—only harm. That truth applies far beyond sports.
Our world does not need fewer differences. It needs stronger commitments to shared constraints: to law that protects rather than extracts, to leadership that understands stewardship, and to competition that does not devour the common good. We do not need to stop striving. We need to stop confusing victory with virtue.
What moved me most this week was not the medals, but the moments of mutual recognition: athletes helping one another up, competitors embracing after defeat, the acknowledgment that effort itself carries meaning. These gestures remind us that excellence is not diminished by compassion. It is completed by it.
The Games ask us to imagine a different field of play: One where rules exist to protect life, not privilege power. One where strength is measured by discipline rather than cruelty. One where we remember that human beings are more than instruments in someone else’s pursuit of dominance.
That imagination matters right now.
We are exhausted by games rigged to reward harm. We are weary of systems that treat people as expendable. We are longing for forms of common life that allow us to compete, disagree, and strive without tearing one another apart.
The Olympics do not solve these problems. But they gesture toward something we have not forgotten: that it is possible to pause the violence, to honor effort, and to choose a different way of being human together.
The question this week is not who wins the gold.
It is whether we are willing to change the games we play.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where do you notice competition shaping your life right now—in your work, your relationships, or your sense of worth?
What rules or boundaries help you stay human when striving feels intense or overwhelming?
What would it mean to pursue excellence without requiring someone else’s diminishment?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer for Shared Ground
God of breath and muscle, of effort and restraint, we confess how easily we confuse winning with worth and strength with domination. Teach us the discipline that makes room for life. Form in us a love for limits that protect rather than punish. Help us remember that striving can be sacred when it is bound by care. Give us the courage to refuse games that destroy and the imagination to build ones that honor the whole. May our contests sharpen our gifts, not harden our hearts. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Choosing the Field
Today, choose one arena of your life—work, family, community, or public engagement—and ask yourself a single question:
What rules am I playing by here?
Write them down, not the official ones, but the ones that actually govern behavior.
Then ask which of those rules protect dignity and which quietly reward harm. Choose one small way this week to change how you play.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
February 10, 2026, 12pm ET - My team and I are launching 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. Register here for the onboarding call and to learn more.
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 - Mark your calendars! Matthew Fox and I will be hosting another 4-part series on “Visions for the Common Good.” We are finalizing details now, and the registration page will open soon.
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 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.”
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Wonderfully said....it is not about winning gold...it is about living the golden rule -LOVE.
Good time to be less encumbered with games to prepare for Lent. Thanks.