“You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin.” — Leviticus 19:36, NRSVUE

brown and beige weighing scale — Photo by Piret Ilver on Unsplash

Yesterday, the United States government launched a new website called America.gov.1 It sounds like good news. The federal government already runs more than 29,000 websites, and anyone who has tried to use Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, passports, student loans, or federal grants knows how confusing it can get. America.gov uses artificial intelligence to pull all that information together into what the government calls a single “front door” to federal services. In the future, people might use it not just to find information but also to do things like renew passports or sign up for Medicare. This is the kind of problem artificial intelligence should help solve.

Then reporters started asking the new system questions:

Who won the 2020 presidential election? America.gov answered that Joe Biden won. It explained that official federal sources found no widespread fraud that changed the outcome.

Reporters asked about President Trump’s impeachments and criminal conviction. The system answered those questions too.

But while the public launch was still happening, something shifted. America.gov stopped answering some of those questions and started saying it could not answer “political questions.” AP reporters saw some of these changes as they happened.2

This worries me for reasons that go beyond whether a chatbot gives the right answer. The government wants us to trust this tool. That’s the main point. Instead of searching through dozens of agencies, people are being invited to use one digital front door and ask for help. If the project works as planned, we might end up trusting it with even more important interactions with the government. So trust isn’t just a side issue for America.gov. The whole project depends on it.

The Hebrew scriptures use an old image to show what happens when something meant for trust is corrupted: a scale.

“You shall have honest balances, honest weights,” Leviticus commands.

Proverbs says that “a false balance is an abomination to the Lord.”

This might seem like an oddly ordinary topic for scripture. With all the things God could care about, why focus on a merchant’s scale? It’s because the scale made everyday life possible.

Picture an ancient marketplace. I bring grain, and you bring money. We might not know each other or share a family, village, religion, or history. But we don’t need total personal trust to do business, because we both trust the measure between us.

In a way, the scale doesn’t really belong to either of us. It belongs to the relationship between us.

That’s why the Torah and the prophets take dishonest weights so seriously. A merchant who secretly changes the measure does more than just cheat one customer. He takes something meant for everyone’s benefit and twists it for himself.

The prophet Amos was angry about this. He spoke out against merchants who wanted to “make the ephah small and the shekel great,” changing the measures so deals always worked in their favor. Their scales still looked the same and seemed fair, but the tool itself was no longer honest.

That image fits the times we’re living in. America.gov could become a powerful public tool. An older person confused about Medicare should be able to ask a question and trust the answer. A veteran trying to figure out benefits shouldn’t have to become an expert in government rules. Someone applying for a passport shouldn’t need to sort through six websites just to find the right form.

But a common instrument remains useful only as long as people believe the measure does not change according to the interests of whoever happens to be holding it.

This issue is bigger than artificial intelligence. We rely on shared tools in many parts of life. Until recently, we trusted our institutions to work for the common good. For example, we trust the National Weather Service to warn us about hurricanes, even if it’s bad for business. We trust public health agencies to report disease outbreaks. We trust the Census Bureau to count people fairly. We trust the National Archives to keep records, even if they might embarrass those in power. These institutions help millions of strangers work together.

The theologian Walter Brueggemann often talked about biblical economics as neighborliness.3 He said resources, institutions, and social systems should be judged by how well they help our neighbors, especially those with less power. When shared resources are treated as private property for personal gain, they become tools for taking advantage, not for building relationships.

This is especially important when the shared resource is information. The government holds a lot of information about us. It collects data, keeps records, and certifies facts. More and more, artificial intelligence will be the way we access that knowledge.

So the people building these systems have a special moral responsibility. They are the ones looking after the scale.

I don’t know yet what America.gov will turn into. The people behind it say it’s being built with privacy in mind, and right now, there’s no sign it’s being used for surveillance. The executive order says agencies keep control of their own records and the platform doesn’t create a central federal record system. We should keep an eye on these promises as the platform develops.

But what happened during its first hours should concern us. A public instrument began giving answers drawn from government records. Some of those answers became politically inconvenient. Then the instrument changed.

Maybe there’s a technical reason for what happened. But the main principle is already clear. Public trust is a kind of shared wealth. It belongs to everyone. Governments inherit it from generations who built strong institutions that strangers could rely on. Once that trust is broken, a press release can’t just fix it.

Ancient merchants knew how easy it was to cheat by pressing a thumb on the scale.

The prophets saw the bigger danger.

In time, people stop trusting the scale.

And then, something more valuable than the grain is lost.

We are in this together,

Cameron

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Reflection Questions

What institutions or shared sources of information do you depend upon precisely because you trust that they will serve the public rather than the interests of whoever temporarily controls them?
Where have you experienced the loss of trust in a person or institution, and what did it take—or would it take—to restore that trust?
What “scale” has been entrusted to you in your own life or work, and what practices keep you from putting your thumb on it when doing so would benefit you?

A Prayer for the Day

A Prayer For Keeping the Measure Honest

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when published

Holy Mystery,

You taught our ancestors
to keep honest weights
and trustworthy measures.

Teach us again.

Guard the things we hold in common
from the grasp of private power.

Give integrity to those
who tend our records,
our knowledge,
our institutions,
and the tools through which
we understand our common life.

When truth is inconvenient,
give us courage to leave the measure unchanged.
When power tempts us
to tilt the scale,
make us faithful to the neighbor
standing on the other side.

May what is held in trust
remain trustworthy.

And may we become worthy
of the trust placed in us..

Amen.

Spiritual Practice: Tend Your Scale

Think about one place in your life where other people depend upon you to be trustworthy.

Perhaps you supervise employees, manage money, teach students, care for someone’s confidential information, lead a congregation, raise children, publish information, or simply have a relationship in which another person trusts you to tell the truth. That is your scale.

For today, pay attention to the moments when you are tempted to tilt it slightly in your own favor. Notice when you leave out a detail that makes you look worse, apply a rule differently because you like someone, present information selectively, take credit that should be shared, or tell a story in which your motives appear considerably purer than they probably were.

Don’t shame yourself for noticing. Catching the thumb moving toward the scale is the practice.

Then remove it. Tell the fuller truth. Apply the same measure. Give the credit. Correct the impression. Protect the confidence.

Trust is rarely built through heroic acts. It accumulates through hundreds of moments when we could have taken advantage of another person’s dependence upon us and chose not to.

At the end of the day, consider the people who trust your scale. Their trust is something you hold for them. Treat it accordingly.

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Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…

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October 6, 2026 - 12:30 - 1:30pm ET - FREE ONLINE BOOK CLUB - For the next 5 weeks, I am hosting a book club where we will read Fr. Gregory Boyle’s “Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times.” Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, has spent decades building community among people whom society has often discarded. In Cherished Belonging, he draws on those relationships and stories to explore what might happen if we stopped sorting people into categories of worthy and unworthy, us and them. Don’t worry if you don’t have time to read the book. We always have incredibly rich conversations. All are welcome. RSVP 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 a 24-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. REGISTER for the first session HERE!

October 15, 2026, 7-8:45pm ET - I will be joining Jackie Sussman for an online session on practicing eidetics as a part of our “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination” monthly series. Eidetic Imagery is a powerful tool for pastors, denominational leaders, coaches, and spiritual directors working with others, and for individuals seeking deeper integration and healing in their own lives. Jackie is a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, and 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.

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.

November 10, 7-8:30pm ET - I’ll be joined by theologian, writer, and professor Dr. Debra Rienstra for a special ONLINE conversation on Refugia Faith. In ecology, refugia are small places where life survives amid disruption, pockets of resilience from which life can eventually regenerate and spread. Debra invites us to consider what this might mean spiritually in an age of climate instability, political turmoil, institutional decline, and profound uncertainty. What if our congregations, communities, relationships, and even our own lives could become refugia, places where courage, compassion, beauty, wisdom, and possibility are protected and cultivated for whatever comes next? I hope you’ll join us for this timely and deeply hopeful conversation. REGISTER HERE!

December 15, 7-8:30pm ET - FREE WEBINAR - I will be joined by Dr. Charissa Mikoski, Assistant Professor of Research and Hartford Institute for Religion Research for a presentation on “The State of American Congregations: What the Latest Data Tell Us.” This webinar explores findings from the 2025 Faith Communities Today survey, including changes in worship attendance, congregational vitality, finances, volunteering, programming, and leadership. It will also examine what more than 24,000 individual attenders tell us about participation and their experiences of congregational life. Together, these findings offer a picture that is neither simply one of decline nor one of revival, but of significant change and uneven recovery. REGISTER HERE.

Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…

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The Convergence Music Project has scheduled the fall conference on October 7-10, 2026 in Louisville, Kentucky. We will sing new community songs created specifically for this time in our history and explore together how the songs we sing in worship (and beyond) can empower and encourage us as we live out the biblical call to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.” Learn more here.

Every Monday, 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.

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1

https://www.gsa.gov/about-gsa/newsroom/news-releases/gsa-joins-the-white-houses-national-design-studio-in-unveiling-americagov-09292026

2

https://apnews.com/article/ff86fcb161c1fe89538d6ecb294ea353

3

Walter Brueggemann, Money and Possessions (Westminster John Knox Press, 2016)

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