The Strongman and the Towel
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” —John 13:5
Yesterday, the Secretary of Defense spoke to the military to announce a new initiative. The military will start testing male service members for testosterone deficiency. The program is being called the “High-T Department of War.”1 Honestly, I thought I was hallucinating when I read about this.
We are at war with Iran. American service members are risking their lives, while Iranian families are mourning their dead. Every day brings the risk of the conflict growing. Yet, at this moment, the leader of the world’s most powerful military has chosen to talk about testosterone.
At first I wanted to dismiss this announcement as absurd (which it absolutely is), but doing so would overlook what is really happening.
During his time in office, DoD Secretary Pete Hegseth has pushed a specific idea of strength. He has taken women and Black officers off promotion lists, argued that women should not serve in combat, enforced male physical standards, and often talked about lethality. Now, testosterone has become part of the Pentagon’s public image.
This is not just a set of policies by an unqualified and unserious man. It is an entire ideology being forced upon the US military. This view sees the ideal warrior as male, tough, aggressive, physically dominant, and usually white. It treats empathy as weakness, sees differences as flaws, and thinks restraint is a sign of weakness. Leadership becomes about who is the strongest man in the room.
Every empire eventually creates stories to justify its violence. Rome praised conquest. European colonial powers claimed racial superiority. Fascist movements promoted images of strong men, obedient bodies, and pure nations. The strongman always claims that more force will save the world.
The thing is…Jesus offered another image.
On the night before his execution, he took off his outer robe, tied a towel around his waist and knelt before his friends. He washed their feet.
This was not giving in to tyranny. Jesus had stood up to religious leaders, challenged imperial power, and knowingly faced the violence ahead. He was brave, but his courage was never about dominating others. He did not need anyone beneath him in order to know who he was.
This might be the clearest difference between real strength and machismo. Strength is able to serve, while machismo needs to rule. Strength protects those who are vulnerable, but machismo looks down on vulnerability. Strength is confident enough to share power, while machismo pushes out anyone who might challenge the order.
The towel Jesus wore shows how false the strongman’s image really is.
Jesus understood that real power is measured by how much it can protect, repair, and restore. He knew that true leadership takes courage to tell the truth, accept responsibility, and resist the pull of violence. He saw that tenderness and courage go hand in hand.
Countries around the world need this kind of leadership now more than ever. We need leaders who know that war is not a stage for performing masculinity. Every order affects real families. Every missile brings grief. Every careless escalation puts people in danger who will never stand behind a podium.
The real issue is bigger than whether testing for testosterone is medically helpful. The real question is what kind of people we become when our government treats masculinity as a weapon and sees domination as a virtue.
The Christian tradition makes a bold claim: the clearest sign of divine power is a man kneeling with a towel, washing the feet of those who will soon leave him.
Maybe this is the kind of strength we need to find again.
…The strength to serve without looking for praise.
…The strength to protect without trying to control.
…The strength to grieve without feeling ashamed.
…The strength to admit fear without letting it take over.
…The strength to reject the strongman’s lie.
The world does not need more men who are desperate to prove their power.
It needs people who are strong enough to kneel.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where have you absorbed the lie that strength must look like domination?
Who has shown you another way, a strength rooted in compassion, humility, or service?
What would it look like for you to carry a towel into the places where others are reaching for power?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For True StrengthGod of quiet courage,
When the world glorifies domination, teach us the strength of compassion.
When fear tells us to harden our hearts, make them more tender instead.
Save us from confusing power with violence, certainty with wisdom, and control with love.
Give us the courage to tell the truth, to protect the vulnerable, and to serve without needing applause.
May our lives resemble the Christ who knelt with a towel more than the rulers who stood with a sword.
God of quiet courage, When the world glorifies domination, teach us the strength of compassion. When fear tells us to harden our hearts, make them more tender instead. Save us from confusing power with violence, certainty with wisdom, and control with love. Give us the courage to tell the truth, to protect the vulnerable, and to serve without needing applause. May our lives resemble the Christ who knelt with a towel more than the rulers who stood with a sword. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Carry the Towel
Today, choose one hidden act of service that no one will notice.
Do laundry without mentioning it. Write a note of encouragement. Make a phone call to someone who is lonely. Pick up litter in your neighborhood. Let someone else receive the credit.
As you do, remember that Jesus did not reveal God’s power from a throne. He revealed it with a basin, a towel, and hands willing to serve.
Go and do likewise.
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.
July 23, 2026, 2-3:00pm ET, Join Rev. Lisa Bryant for a six-session community of practice called “Imagining God with Julian of Norwich” inspired by Julian of Norwich’s The Showings, in Mirabai Starr’s vivid and accessible translation. Together, we will encounter Julian’s remarkable vision of divine love and explore what her wisdom might awaken in our own lives, spiritual practices, and understanding of God. You can learn more and sign up here.
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.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/15/us-military-testosterone-screening-hegseth
We surely do not need more war testosterone. What is needed are towels of compassionate truth to extinguish the strong man illusions before it is too late.
And believe me when I say that the women, and girls of the world do not need more strong men testosterone.
Kneeling not only happens when washing feet, but also in gardening, in looking for lost coins, in searching for lost sheep, in welcoming strangers and prodigals, in joining children at their level, in shedding tears of loss or joy, and more? Another gift of kneeling is that sometimes the one kneeling needs help getting up, an invitation to others to join in the effort to serve and rise. A t-shirt I sometimes wear has the message, “We rise by lifting others.” May it be so.