This Is Not Winning

A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble

“What does it profit a nation to gain the world and lose its soul?” — Mark 8:36 (paraphrase)

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Photo by Henrikke Due on Unsplash

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If you’re feeling tired, overwhelmed, or even numb lately… you’re not alone.

For eight months, we’ve watched a presidency unfold that some call “winning.” The rhetoric is triumphant, the headlines constant, the pace disorienting. But for millions in this nation—and billions beyond our borders—what we are living through feels less like victory and more like violation.

We see cruelty being normalized.

We see corruption being rewarded.

We see power being used not to serve the common good, but to benefit the few—at the expense of the many.

It can feel disorienting. That’s no accident. The constant stream of shocking actions and dehumanizing rhetoric is designed, in part, to wear us down, to make us forget, to make us believe this is just the way things are now.

But you have not forgotten. Here’s just some of what’s happened in recent months:

• Over 1,500 January 6th insurrectionists were pardoned and released from jail while the Justice Department attorneys who led the cases were fired.

• Over 8,000 Social Security workers were fired, throwing the agency into chaos and setting the stage for privatization.

• The DOGE team stole Americans’ personal data under the ruse of combating “waste, fraud and abuse,” the results of which have proven to cost the nation more than it saved.

• Medicaid recipients must now re-qualify every six months, creating barriers that will result in millions losing coverage.

• Union protections for hundreds of thousands of federal workers were stripped, weakening worker rights and wages.

• Public schools were defunded, while taxpayer dollars flowed to whites-only and religious academies.

• Gun violence continues unchecked, making the U.S. one of the only places where bullets are the leading cause of death for children.

• Research into mRNA vaccines—once promising for cancer and other diseases—was halted.

• Affordable college was eliminated, leaving over $1.5 trillion in crushing student debt.

• USAID was shut down, leading to the death of millions by pulling back humanitarian aid and opening space for China and Russia to step in.

• The US President launched a crypto scheme that has profited his family billions and opened a pathway for countries to pay bribes directly to him (and then there is the Qatar jet).

• Military aid to Ukraine is withheld while public support for Vladimir Putin grows.

• The Federal Reserve Board and Bureau of Labor Statistics saw key leaders intimidated and fired for delivering and implementing economic data the administration didn’t like.

• The home of former national security advisor John Bolton was raided in clear retaliation for Bolton’s public critiques of the adminstration.

• Military presence was/is deployed in American cities—including targeting threats against states with Black-led leadership.

• Green energy funding was frozen, sidelining climate action.

• Unqualified FOX “News” loyalists were appointed to the courts, including individuals with serious ethical and criminal allegations.

• Due process for immigrants was further dismantled, while ICE now serves as a personal policing force answering only to the executive branch with a budget larger than nearly every nation in the world.

• Independent media, law firms, and dissenters have been intimidated, silenced or forced to pay bribes to the Trump family.

• The Justice Department has been converted into the personal lawfirm to prosecute Trump’s critics.

• White Christian nationalism has been unleashed and legitimized at the highest levels.

• The military has been politicized in ways the founders explicitly warned against.

• Americans have been pitted against each other, with race, religion, and fear used as weapons.

If this list feels like too much, that’s okay. It is too much.

Here’s what I want you to know: you are not crazy for feeling heartbroken, angry, or afraid. You are not alone for wondering how we got here, or where we go next. And you are not powerless.

There’s an old word in our sacred traditions: repentance. It doesn’t mean shame. It doesn’t mean wallowing in guilt. It means turning. Turning away from harm. Turning back toward what matters. Turning toward life.

We are a nation in need of repentance, not in a punitive way—but in a healing way. We’ve strayed too far from the values we say we hold. Our soul—the very essence of who we are and want to be—is on the line.

You don’t have to carry the whole burden. But you can help us remember.

You can speak the truth when others fall silent.

You can resist the pull to numb out or look away.

You can choose to act with love, even when the world feels like it’s unraveling.

We may not control the winds that are blowing, but we can still choose our direction.

We are in this together,

Cameron

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Reflection Questions

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• Where do you feel the weight of this moment most deeply?

• What values or memories remind you of the kind of country—or community—you want to live in?

• Who is someone you trust to talk about these things with? What might it look like to share honestly?

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A Prayer for the Day

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A Prayer for the Crossroads

Holy One,

God of justice and fierce love,
We stand at a crossroads.
So much has been broken. So much continues to unravel.
Give us the clarity to see what is happening,
The strength to resist despair,
And the courage to speak and act with conviction.

Do not let us forget our neighbor.
Do not let us forsake the common good.
Do not let us be lulled into complicity.
May we be people who remember, repent, and return.

Amen.

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Spiritual Practice

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Reconnecting to the Moral Compass

Set aside 15 minutes. Find a quiet space and a piece of paper or journal.

Write down the values that matter most to you. Not the ones others expect—but the ones that live in your bones.

Then, for each one, ask yourself:

• Where do I see this value showing up in the world?

• Where is it being threatened?

• How can I embody it more clearly in my own life?

This is not about fixing everything.

It’s about remembering.

And sometimes, remembering is the first act of resistance.

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Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…

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September 4, 5:30pm ET - I will be collaborating with the Anderson Forum for Progressive Theology to host a conversation with Thomas Jay Oord on Open and Relational theology. It’s a FREE event. Register here.

October 23, 30, November 13, 20 2025, 7pm ET - In Search of a New Story: Reimagining What Comes Next, A 4-Part Online Series with Dr. Matthew Fox, Cameron Trimble, Ilia Delio, Diana Butler Bass, Caroline Myss and other Special Guests. We are living through the unraveling of many old stories—about who we are, why we’re here, and how we are meant to live together on this Earth. As these inherited narratives collapse under the weight of climate crisis, social fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection, the question becomes clear: What story will guide us now? REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

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.

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If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.