What Are We Becoming Loyal To?

A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble

“Whenever you are in doubt… recall the face of the poorest and the most vulnerable person whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to them.” — Mahatma Gandhi

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

News outlets keep covering the conflict with Iran. The US administration insists the Strait of Hormuz is under control, but the costs of the war, both financial and human, keep going up. Billions have been spent in just a few days. Civilians have already been harmed. Ecological damage is spreading. More violence is being justified as strategy.

This week we also learned that 4.3 million people in the US have lost their access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.¹ The administration is celebrating that people have been “moved off” the program because of fraud, even though documented fraud rates remain below 1%. Research shows the real truth is they made the process for applying impossible for people to access.

Now we learn that hidden within the latest budget reconciliation bill is $1 billion dollars in taxpayer money for security features in Trump’s ballroom.² They said the billionaires were going to pay for it. Guess not. It seems to me that $1 billion would go a long way toward feeding 4.3 million people who are now going without.

Through all of this, I keep thinking about a note Mahatma Gandhi wrote shortly before he was killed in 1948.

“Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the most vulnerable person whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to them. Will they gain anything by it? Will it restore them to a control over their own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj (freedom) for the hungry and the spiritually in need?”

Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.”³

In today’s world, that question can almost sound naive.

Modern power often relies on distance. The people who make decisions about war are not the ones carrying children through ruined streets or searching through hospital debris. Those talking about shipping routes, military moves, and economic effects are not the ones living without electricity, medicine, or safety.

Distance turns human suffering into abstraction. Once that happens, almost anything can be justified. People become “collateral damage,” “acceptable losses,” or “strategic realities.” The language grows cleaner while the reality grows more brutal.

Spiritual traditions have always pushed back against this way of thinking.

The Hebrew prophets warned about societies that protected wealth and power but left the vulnerable behind. Jesus closed the gap between God and suffering when he said, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” The Buddha kept reminding people to show compassion, because suffering that is ignored only grows.

Time and again, these wisdom traditions point us back to those who are suffering the most. Vulnerability reveals the true condition of a society. What we are willing to sacrifice reveals what we truly worship.

That’s why Gandhi’s words feel so important right now. They cut through ideology and force us to ask simpler and more difficult questions: Will this action help the vulnerable? Will it restore dignity? Will it give people greater agency over their lives?

If the answer is no, we should at least be honest about the choices we are making.

The danger of empire is not just violence. It is moral inversion. A society slowly reorganizes itself until domination appears responsible, greed appears rational, and endless militarization appears normal. When this reorganization becomes deeply rooted, people stop noticing the contradiction.

But sometimes, a voice cuts through and reminds us that we can still see things differently. Gandhi’s words do that. So do the prophets. So do all the people in history who refused to judge human worth by power, nationality, wealth, or usefulness in strategy. They remind us that vulnerable people are not barriers to political life. They show us whether our political life still has a soul.

That is the real question we face right now. It’s not just about which policies we support or reject. It is about whether we still know how to recognize human dignity when power asks us to look away.

We are in this together,

Cameron

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Reflection Questions

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1. Whose suffering becomes easiest to ignore in the systems we participate in every day?

2. Where do you notice abstraction distancing you from the human consequences of political or economic decisions?

3. What would change if the vulnerable truly became the measure of our public life?

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A Prayer for the Day

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A Prayer For Moral Clarity

Spirit of Love,
the world is loud with power, strategy, and fear.

It is easy to lose sight of the human beings beneath the headlines.
Easy to speak in abstractions while others carry unbearable costs.

Keep our hearts from growing numb.

Teach us to see clearly.
To resist the temptation to value power over dignity or wealth over human life.

When we are overwhelmed by the scale of suffering,
return us to what is still possible:
compassion, courage, honesty, and care for one another.

Help us become people who remain close to the vulnerable
instead of turning away from them.

Amen.

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Spiritual Practice

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Restoring Proximity

Today, pay attention to the language surrounding conflict, politics, and power. Notice when human beings disappear behind statistics, categories, or political arguments.

Choose one current issue that feels overwhelming and spend time learning about the actual people living inside it. Read a first-person account. Listen to someone directly affected. Look at photographs slowly instead of scrolling past them.

Then sit quietly for a few moments and ask yourself Gandhi’s question:

Will the choices being made help the most vulnerable?

Do not rush to answer.

Let the question stay with you throughout the day.

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Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…

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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.

May 11, 2026, 7-8pm ET - “Art as Resistance” on the Commons. My dear friend Rev. Shawna Bowman and their colleague Rev. Anna Kendig Flores are offering an incredible online experience of engaging creatively around the role of the artist in movements for social justice and human rights. In this session they will be exploring collective power, and Shawna will demonstrate creating art with wheat paste (whatever that is…I will be learning with you). I hope you can attend. It’s free and such a gift to your spirit. Register here.

May 27, 2026, 12pm ET - FREE WEBINAR - I will be hosting an online experience titled “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination: A live experiential webinar with Jackie Sussman." Jackie, a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.

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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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.

My colleague, Dr. Tim Eberhart, is offering a summer course that I wish I could take! Regenerative Mission & Ministry: Ecological Practices for Land Repair is a 7-week course for those seeking to integrate eco-theological reflection, earth-based spiritual wisdoms, and regenerative design principles for land repair. Participants will journey as a community of learners through a cultivated curriculum that incorporates selected readings, video instruction, ecological practices, and more aimed at healing social and ecological relations for the sake of mutual flourishing. It starts on June 3, so sign up soon if you’re interested!

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The University of Victoria (UVic) offers an online course, A Meta-Relational Approach to AI. The course is designed for participants who are interested in thinking about AI in ways that challenge modernity’s extractive programming patterns in both humans and machines. The next cohort starts in NEXT WEEK. Registrations are open.

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EcoAmerica and Blessed Tomorrow have created a Climate Film Series to ground climate action in faith within communities. Each 20-minute video comes with a FREE discussion toolkit featuring scripture, prayer, reflection questions, and practical actions you can take right away. Watch the series. https://blessedtomorrow.org/faith-climate-film-series/

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My colleagues at The Hartford Institute for Religion Research released new findings Friday showing American congregations have made measurable gains since the pandemic — but the picture is complicated. The report, “Signs of Rebound Amid Uneven Recovery: The Changing Congregational Landscape,” draws on a national survey of 7,453 congregations conducted between September and December 2025.

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The team over at Political Research Associates are hosting a webinar titled, “Challenging the Christian Right: Rifts & Strategies.” It will be on May 14 at 1pm ET. You can register 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.

1. https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-snap-food-stamps-fraud-rollins-1a964909ae5cb808813a6478bbfa5f65

2. https://apnews.com/article/ballroom-congress-security-white-house-trump-ece6c330833639e087abf24703113f82

3. Mahatma Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, Vol. II (Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1958), 65.