Guarding a Single, Fragile Story
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Remember your history, your long and rich history. I am God, the only God you've had or ever will have…” — Isaiah 46:9
When a government begins disappearing humans, erasing archives, controlling universities, upending the global economy and censoring museums, it is not simply an administrative act—it’s a spiritual one. A ritual of amnesia. A signal that the system can no longer tolerate the truth of its own origins.
These are not neutral moves. They are desperate attempts to guard a single, fragile story—a story where some always belong and others never have. It’s a story polished to look like virtue but rooted in conquest, exclusion, and fear. Vanessa Machado de Oliveira teaches in Hospicing Modernity,1 that when the “house of modernity” feels like it’s burning, its inhabitants often double down on control. They barricade the exits, paint over the smoke, and convince themselves that anyone who says “there’s a fire” is the real threat.
We’re watching this unfold in real time. The government is deporting people without due process.2 Naval leaders ban books about Black history and gender identity while claiming to fight antisemitism.3 Federal agencies threaten universities for hosting protests that question power.4 Anyone who invites nuance or complexity is labeled “divisive.” Here’s the paradox: the ones who cry “division” the loudest are often the ones digging the trench.
This is not about disagreement. It’s about domination. Domination always begins by narrowing the range of what we’re allowed to remember.
Gratefully, truth is resilient. It hides in songs and stories and sacred texts. It lives in the memories our ancestors whispered and in the bodies of those still rising. Even when suppressed, truth becomes compost—feeding new generations who refuse to forget.
So what do we do?
We cultivate the inner scaffolding to hold grief without collapse.
We strengthen the relationships that keep us from isolation.
We notice when we’re pulled toward reactivity, and we return to presence instead.
We become, as James Baldwin once wrote, “witnesses to the truth”—not in perfection, but in courage.
There is no going back. That’s okay because we were never meant to live in someone else’s story. It’s time to write a new one.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where have I felt pressure to forget or silence my own memory, history, or identity?
What stories have shaped my sense of “truth”? Are they expanding or constricting my soul?
How might I lovingly but firmly resist the pressure to conform to a single narrative?
A Prayer for the Day
For the Keepers of Memory
Spirit of Truth,
when the winds of falsehood howl,
help us become rooted oaks, not swaying reeds.
When history is redacted,
let our hearts remember what our ancestors could not say aloud.
When power tells us to look away,
give us the courage to witness,
the tenderness to hold grief,
and the strength to walk forward in love.
Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Becoming a Sanctuary of Truth
Choose one small practice to become a living archive of truth. It might be writing down a family story that’s rarely told. Or reading a banned book. Or lighting a candle for a people, a culture, or a memory being silenced.
Let your body be involved—stand, kneel, walk, stretch—as you honor what the dominant story tries to erase. Speak aloud names that have been forgotten. Make space for complexity. Offer your breath to the winds of honesty, not as confrontation, but as deep remembrance.
Let this be your quiet resistance. Let this be your altar.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
May 19-22, 2025 - Preaching and Worship FREE Online Summit: From war to genocide to a global climate crisis to a nation that perpetuates racism, misogyny, transphobia, and more from the highest office in the land, how do we prepare a sermon, a liturgy, a song, a prayer? Learn from some of our best preachers. REGISTER HERE.
June 4, 2025, 12pm ET - Jeff Chu has written a new book on a topic close to my heart: Soil! The title is “Good Soil: The Education of an Accidental Farmhand.” I am so pleased to be interviewing him. Together, we’ll explore what it means to cultivate “good soil” in our lives, our communities, and our spiritual practices. I hope you will register. Your registration includes a copy of his new book.
July 20-25, 2025 - The Art of Wilding: A 5-Day Expedition in Wyoming for Women Leaders. Click here to learn more. Only one spot left!
August 11, 2025, 2pm ET - Dr. Andrew Root and I will be hosting a 6 part series on Spirituality in the Secular Age based on his research. The dates are August 11, 18, September 8, 15, and October 6, 13. Mark your calendars! More on this soon.
September 4, 4:30pm 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 15-18, 2025 - Converging 2025: Sing Truth Conference (all musicians invited!) at Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, OH. 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.
https://decolonialfutures.net/hospicingmodernity/
https://apnews.com/article/abrego-garcia-maryland-father-deported-el-salvador-6de340ac95f2abb5fd3688fc1679fd66
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/us/politics/naval-academy-banned-books.html
https://apnews.com/article/college-federal-funding-trump-a236cc302fa773e5ddd91661f61593a9
Wow! Truth-telling—- and Hospicing book does a great job; thanks for this!
I read this after reading yesterday’s article in the Guardian by Naomi Klein Astra Taylor on “The Rise of End Times Fascism.” I highly reflecting on that article in light of your meditation today. Especially helpful for me is this from you today “Gratefully, truth is resilient. It hides in songs and stories and sacred texts. It lives in the memories of our ancestors whispered in the bodies of those still rising. Even when suppressed, truth becomes compost — feeding new generations who refuse to forget.”
I am so glad, also, that you have found Hospicing Modernity and the Gesturing Toward Decolonial Futures Collective. These voices are a part of the resilience of truth, which also comes to us in wind and waves and cries out to us - the very rocks and hills cry out. Rachel Donald over at Planet: Critical has just released another report from Columbia, where rare earth mines, dams, and solar and wind farms are displacing indigenous peoples now just as the coal mines and fossil fuel infrastructure in past years. International commercial projects of vast scale are scouring the land and sucking up the water resources. This to feed the so-called “green transition” in the Global North. The ecocide and genocide continue unabated around the world. Shallow political discourse in the USA and elsewhere hides the simply truth that rape, pillage, and plunder are increasing. As Abraham Lincoln wrote to Minnesota Governor Ramsey in 1862: “Necessity knows no law.” Ramsey later spoke to the state legislature, stating that the indigenous people “must be exterminated of forever be driven beyond the borders of the state.” Now we are doing this all over the planet. The truth is being told, but the churches right now are obscuring the truth.may God help us to be like Jesus, who spoke truth to power and who loved the poor and oppressed.