We The People
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country. There are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery. ‘The arm of the Lord is not shortened,’ and the doom of slavery is certain. I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.” — Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July? (July 5, 1852)
This weekend, the United States marks its 250th year. For many Americans, this anniversary arrives with mixed emotions. We know too much of our history to celebrate uncritically. We know that the promises proclaimed in 1776 were denied to Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans, women, immigrants, and countless others whose labor and sacrifice built this country while excluding them from its freedoms.
Many of us carry another fear: that the democratic experiment itself, the fragile and unlikely idea that ordinary people can govern themselves, may be giving way to something darker: authoritarianism driven by greed, resentment, and the concentration of power.
So what exactly are we celebrating?
I keep coming back to the opening words of the Constitution: We the People. Not the president. Not the courts. Not the wealthy. Not the military. The people. Those three words hold both America’s greatest promise and its greatest burden.
On July 5, 1852, standing before an audience gathered to celebrate Independence Day, Frederick Douglass delivered what remains one of the greatest speeches in American history. He exposed the profound hypocrisy of a nation proclaiming liberty while millions remained enslaved.
“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”
The speech is still powerful and painful to read. But Douglass did not end in despair. At the end of his address, after clearly naming slavery’s violence and the nation’s moral failure, he wrote:
“Notwithstanding the dark picture I have this day presented of the state of the nation, I do not despair of this country… I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope.”
Hope. America had yet to fulfill its promise, but he believed that human beings remained capable of doing so.
Abraham Lincoln understood this too. Standing at Gettysburg during the aftermath of civil war, he described America not as something finished, but as a proposition:
“A new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
A proposition. A claim that must be tested. A promise each generation has to decide whether to honor.
Nearly a century later, Langston Hughes returned to the same question. He refused both sentimentality and cynicism. In Let America Be America Again, he wrote:
“America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath— America will be.”
I have been carrying these voices with me as our nation marks its 250th year.
Douglass.
Lincoln.
Hughes.
Each of them knew the American experiment was never about being perfect. It has always been about what is possible.
Maybe that is what we can celebrate this Independence Day. Not our innocence. Not our virtue. Not the myth that we have always lived up to our ideals. We can celebrate the persistent human ability to imagine a fairer society and to work, often at great cost, to make it real.
The Hebrew prophets understood this long before America existed. They knew nations survive not because they are powerful, but because they can still seek truth, repentance, justice, and mercy. They saw that a covenant is not inherited, but practiced.
So maybe the real question this July Fourth is not whether America deserves celebration. Maybe it is whether we, the people, are still able to become the kind of people democracy needs.
Constitutions cannot show compassion. Markets cannot be brave. Governments cannot love their neighbors. Only people can.
After 250 years of striving, failing, repairing, and trying again, I still believe that America’s deepest promise has never been found in our institutions.
It has always lived in us.
We the people.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What aspects of the American experiment do you believe remain unfinished?
Where have you witnessed ordinary people embodying the courage, compassion, and mutual responsibility upon which democracy depends?
If democracy is not merely a political system but a moral and spiritual practice, what is yours to contribute in this moment?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For the People
God of freedom and responsibility, We give thanks for all those who loved this country enough to tell it the truth. For prophets and poets, for organizers and teachers, for neighbors and strangers, for all who have labored to bend our common life toward justice, we give thanks. When we are tempted by despair, grant us courage. When we are tempted by nostalgia, grant us honesty. When we are tempted to believe that democracy belongs to institutions alone, remind us that it has always depended upon the character of ordinary people. Teach us to practice the difficult arts of compassion, truth-telling, shared sacrifice, and hope. And help us become the kind of people upon whom a beloved community might yet be built. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Reading the Covenant
Today, read the opening words of the United States Constitution slowly:
“We the People of the United States…”
Pause after the third word. Consider what those words have meant across 250 years. Who was included? Who was excluded? Who struggled to expand their meaning?
Then spend ten minutes writing your own continuation of the sentence:
“We the people…”
Do not write what America has been. Write what you believe America could still become. Keep what you write.
Democracy survives because ordinary people continue to imagine futures worthy of their labor.
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 7, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are reading our next book, The Glorians by Terry Tempest Williams. 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.
July 14, 11:00 - 12:30pm ET - Community Conversation on The Commons - Margaret Wheatley will be joining me for a conversation on how we build “islands of sanity” in a world that feels increasingly fragile. She has identified five pillars in the architecture of resilient community. For those of us wishing to form and be in healthy community with others in this time, you don’t want to miss this conversation. 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.
June 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.
A beautiful call for all of us attempting to be what we are not yet. But becoming. 🙏❤️🙏
Thank you for your prayers. When I listen to my children say that they do not feel like celebrating the 4th of July this year, it makes me realize how hard we need to try.