What We Are Being Asked to Accept
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” — Psalm 11:3
It is hard to know where to begin with the news this week.
The administration has deployed ICE agents into major airports across the country. Officially, they are there to support security operations as staffing shortages strain TSA. But ICE does not screen passengers. That is not their function. Their presence changes the environment of the airport. It introduces a different kind of authority into a space that has been, until now, civilian.
MAGA architect, Steve Bannon, described this move as a “test run” for how ICE could be used during elections.1 Whether or not that plan materializes, the statement reveals how some people close to power are thinking. Federal enforcement is no longer confined to its traditional role. It is being positioned more broadly within public life.
At the same time, economists are raising serious concerns about trading activity tied to the war with Iran.2 There is credible reporting suggesting that people with access to information about military escalation, and then de-escalation, may have used that knowledge to place highly profitable trades. If that is true, it means that decisions with global consequences are also generating private financial gain for those positioned close to or within the Trump Administration. We call that insider trading, and it’s a federal crime.
These are different developments, but they point in the same direction.
The boundaries that organize public life are shifting. Agencies designed for one purpose are appearing in new contexts. Decisions that affect millions of people are intersecting with opportunities for private profit. The distinctions that once helped us understand how power operates are becoming harder to trace.
This is how systems change, not through a single announcement, but through a series of moves that, taken together, alter the landscape.
Each step can be explained on its own: a staffing shortage, a security need, a market response. But over time, those explanations accumulate into something more consequential.
They redefine what is normal.
I find myself paying attention to that word. Normal is not a neutral category. It is something we learn. Something we absorb. Something we adjust to, often without noticing when the adjustment begins.
Five years ago, the presence of federal immigration enforcement inside airports would have raised immediate questions. The idea that war-related information might be used for private financial gain would have been treated as a crisis demanding urgent accountability.
Now, both arrive as part of the daily flow of news while we are being asked to absorb more, more quickly, with less time to process what it means.
There is a cost to that.
When we lose clarity about where one function ends and another begins, accountability becomes more difficult. When enforcement, governance, and profit begin to overlap, it becomes harder to see who is responsible and who is benefiting.
Scripture does not offer a blueprint for navigating a modern political system, but it is clear about one thing: the health of a community depends on its ability to name what is happening within it.
Clarity is not the same as certainty. It does not require us to have every answer. It requires us to see without distortion. To recognize when something has shifted. And to resist the pressure to accept that shift without question.
We are all holding such grief these days. Grief for the ways power is being exercised without accountability. Grief for how quickly we are expected to adjust. Grief for a culture that is losing its ability to pause and ask what kind of society it is becoming.
People of faith are not asked to stand outside this moment. We are asked to show up. To tell the truth about what we see. To refuse the quiet drift into accepting what we know is not right.
This Saturday, that means something concrete.
Across the country, people will gather for No Kings protests as a public act of witness, a way of saying that power is not beyond question, and this country does not belong to one person.
I hope you will be there because there are moments when clarity has to move beyond reflection. It has to take shape in public.
This is one of those moments.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What have you begun to accept as “normal” that would have felt concerning not long ago?
How do you stay attentive without becoming overwhelmed by the volume of information?
What helps you remain grounded in reality when the environment feels unstable?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer for Clear Sight
God of truth, In a time when the ground is shifting, steady our vision. Help us to see what is happening without distortion, without avoidance. Give us the courage to remain attentive, even when it would be easier to look away. Protect us from becoming numb to what diminishes life. And guide us in the work of living truthfully in the world as it is. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Naming What Has Changed
Take ten minutes today to reflect on the past few years. Write down three things that once felt unusual or concerning that now feel routine. Do not analyze them. Simply name them.
Then ask yourself:
When did this begin to feel normal?
What helped me adjust to it?
This is about awareness. We cannot respond to what we no longer recognize.
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.
March 31 and April 7, 2026, 7-8:30pm ET - Rev. Dr. Matthew Fox and I will be hosting another 4-part series on “Visions for the Common Good.” This series will include sessions with David Abram (cultural ecologist), Lynne Twist (global activist), Randy Woodley (Cherokee scholar and wisdom-keeper), and yours truly! All sessions are recorded, and you will get the link if you can’t make it. Learn more here.
March 26, 2026, 7–8:30pm ET – FREE WEBINAR - I’ll be joined by Ruth Dearnley, OBE, Founder and President of Stop the Traffik (London), for “Stop the Exploitation of Children: Disrupting Human Trafficking at Its Source.” As Board Chair of Stop the Traffik USA, this work is deeply personal to me. We cannot rescue our way out of trafficking; we must prevent exploitation by disrupting the systems and financial flows that profit from vulnerability—and congregations can play a powerful role in building community resilience. Ruth will share how technology and data are exposing trafficking networks globally, and how congregations can lead local awareness and prevention campaigns that reduce vulnerability and protect children. I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and register here.
March 28, 2026 - No Kings Protest! We are marching again. Mark your calendars and find the nearest protest site. Make your protest signs. Knit your red hats. Get your water bottles and sunscreen ready. We head back into the streets for peaceful protest on behalf of a more just world. I'll see you out there. 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.
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.
Each spring, Jewish clergy, musicians, and community leaders gather at Hava Nashira, a long-running conference devoted to the sacred practice of communal singing in Jewish life. Participants learn how music, chant, and shared prayer can deepen spiritual life and strengthen community by helping whole communities lift their voices together. I love that this exists in the world, and that my friend, Cantor Rosalie Will, helps lead it. If your path is in the Jewish tradition, check it out.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peace filed a shareholder resolution with Palantir asking the company to publish a human rights impact assessment. Palantir is the AI software behind ICE, predictive policing, algorithm-determined drone killings, merging of private health data, and more. The sisters released a video explaining why they filed the proposal. They are now reaching out to Faith Leaders and asking them to sign the petition in support. The signatures need to be collected by/before March 23.
I have just discovered the coolest group! The All We Can Save Project grew out of the powerful climate anthology All We Can Save and has become a growing network of people committed to climate courage and community leadership. Their work reminds us that responding to the climate crisis isn’t only about policy or technology; it’s also about cultivating the relationships, imagination, and moral courage needed to protect and restore the living world. Check them out here: https://www.allwecansave.earth/
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/5797390-bannon-ice-airports-2026-elections/
Who wins/profits from
war/insider trading games,
from shifting ground/rules?
...
May we not lose sight
of what is true, real, right, light.
No Kings protests might!
I’ve lived in the US for forty five years, first as a stranger and alien and now as a citizen.
I was always told by people I respect that the system of government was essentially self regulating, the pendulum swinging back and forth between left and right.
I no longer believe that to be true.
Corruption of truth has become corruption in everything: character, morals, law and justice.