What the US Supreme Court Is Stabilizing As Normal
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” — Hebrews 13:2
Yesterday, the Supreme Court announced several decisions that, when considered together, reveal a bigger picture than any single case could.
In one case, the Court let the administration continue with major restrictions on asylum protections while the legal process goes on. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, used a memorable metaphor: “A guest does not arrive in a house when he knocks on the front door.”1 Instead of viewing an asylum seeker as someone using a legal right to seek protection, the metaphor turns them into a guest waiting to see if the homeowner will let them in.
That same day, the Court made a very different decision about firearms.2 It ruled that privately owned property open to the public cannot assume guns are banned. Unless the owner clearly posts restrictions, people can bring firearms inside.
The Court also made a third decision about Roundup, a weedkiller whose main ingredient, glyphosate, some scientists have linked to cancer. The Court decided that because the product is federally approved, its maker is protected from some state lawsuits about warning labels.3 A jury had given damages to a man who got non-Hodgkin lymphoma after years of using Roundup, but that decision has now been overturned.
Most legal analysis will treat these as unrelated cases.
I don’t think they are.
Courts do more than just interpret laws. Over time, they help shape how we think about right and wrong. They show us whose fears matter, whose suffering is recognized, and what we owe each other. When we look at yesterday’s decisions together, they show us a vision of society that we should pay close attention to.
First, they redefine who stands at the threshold.
Justice Alito’s metaphor is important because thresholds themselves are important. In Scripture, a doorway is more than just part of a building. It is where a society shows its true character.
Abraham welcomed three strangers under the oaks of Mamre before he knew they carried God’s presence. Israel is told many times to remember the stranger, since they were once strangers in Egypt. Jesus says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” The author of Hebrews writes, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
The biblical question is never, Who owns the house?
The biblical question is always, Who is standing at the door, and who are we becoming by the way we receive them?
Second, these decisions redefine whose vulnerability matters.
An asylum seeker escaping violence must wait outside the door. A firearm, on the other hand, is allowed to cross it. A gardener who thinks years of chemical exposure caused his cancer now has a harder time seeking justice.
These are very different legal issues, but they share a similar moral logic. The law always decides whose vulnerability should be protected and whose suffering is accepted as part of keeping the system going.
The prophet Amos saw this long ago. He criticized the powerful of his time, writing, “They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals… they trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth” (Amos 2:6–7).
The prophets did not usually start with abstract ideas. They started by asking a tougher question: Who pays the price?
Third, these decisions redefine who gets to name reality.
The Roundup decision is not just about pesticides. It is about who has authority. When scientific groups disagree, whose evidence matters? When local juries hear testimony about harm, whose judgment prevails? When communities suffer and powerful institutions deny it, who gets to say what is really happening?
Every society depends upon many witnesses. Scientists. Physicians. Journalists. Judges. Juries. Historians. Neighbors. Healthy societies do not ask all of these voices to agree. They depend upon their conversation. When fewer people are allowed to define what is real, society loses its ability to correct itself.
Walter Brueggemann wrote, “The dominant culture is grossly uncritical, cannot tolerate serious and fundamental criticism, and will go to great lengths to stop it.”4
That idea has become more important to me over time. The prophets were not mainly predicting the future. They helped people see the present in a new way. They questioned the stories told by those in power and insisted that there was another way to look at the world.
Maybe that is our calling too. Every generation inherits institutions. Every generation inherits stories about who belongs, whose lives matter, and what kind of society is possible.
Our job is not just to accept those stories. We need to ask if these stories reflect the heart of God. Before injustice becomes normal, it first becomes something people can imagine. Before a society changes its laws, it changes the stories it tells about itself.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Every society tells stories about who belongs and who does not. What stories have shaped your own imagination about strangers, neighbors, and those who are vulnerable?
Where do you see today’s legal, political, or economic systems placing the burden of suffering on those with the least power?
Walter Brueggemann writes that the work of the prophet is to nurture “an alternative consciousness.” What might it look like for your congregation, family, or community to become such a place?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For a Different Imagination
God of Abraham, who came disguised as a stranger, God of Moses, who taught your people to remember their own wandering, God of Jesus, who crossed every boundary we built, Keep our hearts from becoming so accustomed to power that we no longer recognize compassion. Give us eyes to see those whom the world renders invisible. Give us wisdom to question the stories that diminish human dignity. Give us courage to build communities where justice and mercy meet at every threshold. May we never confuse legality with righteousness, or power with truth. Teach us again how to become your people. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Crossing the Threshold
Today, pay attention to thresholds. Notice every doorway you cross.
The entrance to your home.
The door of your office.
The grocery store.
The church.
The coffee shop.
Each time you pass through one, pause for just a moment and ask yourself:
Who would feel welcome here?
Who might hesitate before entering?
Who has the power to decide?
At the end of the day, choose one threshold in your own life that you can make more welcoming.
Perhaps it is inviting someone to lunch. Perhaps it is introducing yourself to a new neighbor. Perhaps it is opening your table, your schedule, or your attention to someone who has been standing at the edge of your awareness.
The prophets remind us that societies change long before laws change. They change when ordinary people begin practicing a different way of belonging.
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.
June 30, 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.
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.
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-immigration-trump-d36d0092617c7115780c06de38e2000f
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-guns-hawaii-trump-c5dbdf945bc870f70a03455f5eb1dec7
https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-roundup-monsanto-a7f054d80919f98bdfc5190013a8f6f1
Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, 2nd ed. (Fortress Press, 2001), p. 13.
Thank you Cameron. This makes all the right points. The Supreme Court is not a just body! I am very sad as it sinks in that our country is no longer who it was (or in many cases pretended to be). We no longer welcome the "tired and poor" and we are no longer the liberators of Europe - American soldiers passing out Hershey bars. We've sold our soul for greed and hubris and it's sickening. THEN I take five minutes and look at the Obamas and their beautiful welcoming Presidential Center and see how they embody love for neighbor (this place does not hallow the past but instead plans for the future) and I am assured that there are indeed some good people left on this earth. We cannot give up.
You have written an exposé on what I call the creeping Red Tide, the insidious takeover of American life by a determined minority.