Pulse 12

A COLLABORATION OF ADVENTIST ACTIVISTS

MARCH 2025 ISSUE 12

A TALE OF TWO CHRISTIANITIES BEYOND A FETAL POSITION FIND YOUR VOICE AN APPEAL FOR HUMAN DIGNITY AND DECENCY DOING COMMUNITY JUSTICE

Action Creates Hope

CONTENTS 3

BEYOND A FETAL POSITION

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elijah’s 7,000+ go back into battle

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NOTHING WITHOUT STRUGGLE

wielding ethical community organizing

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frederick douglass plows the ground

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NAD APPEAL FOR HUMAN DIGNITY

DOING COMMUNITY JUSTICE

COMMUNITY ADVOCACY CHAMPION jimmy carter, citizen activist

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STAY IN THE KNOW justlove notes /\ justlove book circle

for our immigrant brothers and sisters

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GUIDANCE ON IMMIGRATION RAIDS

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WHO WE ARE meet some of our contributors

know how and when to resist

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INSPIRE

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A TALE OF TWO CHRISTIANITIES

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dreams to reality /\ involved

REVIEW borderlands: the new mestiza

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INSPIRATION COLLECTIVE

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GRATITUDE

social jesus podcast adventist voices

budde’s prophetic homily draws lines

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INTERACT

find your voice; live your conscience

a growing movement of grace

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Heart and Mind

BEYOND A FETAL POSITION In the wake of the 2024 presidential election and its acute disappointment for many, consider the case of Elijah, the prophet. Elijah has been bold and brave for YHWH, facing down the prophets of Baal (I Kings 18:20-40). He has lived in defiance of the royal house of Ahab and Jezebel. And then he must run for his life before the death sentence pronounced by the throne against him (19:1-3).

When we meet Elijah next, he is very frightened. Indeed, he wishes he could die, and so escape his impossible situation vis a vis hostile royal power. Now he lingers alone in the wilderness (19:4). Elijah senses that he is abandoned by the God for whom he has been zealous in his faith and his action. In his self-pity, however, a strange thing happens to him. While his visible world has failed him, he gains access to the invisible world of faith that lives “by the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). An angel, a messenger from that other world to which Ahab and Jezebel have no access, comes to him in his sleep. The messenger issues an imperative of care and nourishment: Get up and eat (v. 5).

He was surprised to discover at hand a baked cake and a jar of water. The messenger does not give him pious talk of either reassurance or imperative. Rather the angel ministers to his elemental, bodily needs…food and water. Elijah eats; he sleeps again. The messenger addresses him a second time: Rise and eat (v. 7).

The intent of sleep and food is to strengthen Elijah and prepare him for a journey. He must go!

He must run to Horeb (Sinai), as though to revisit the founding place and founding event of the covenant people. It is back to his roots! He knew Horeb to be a place where the hidden holiness of God would abide. At the holy mount, he announces himself to be zealous, at risk, and all alone (v. 10). The divine response to his self-pity is a quite fresh exhibit of divine presence without the bombast of the theophany. All Elijah gets is “sheer silence,” as though the force of holiness is too deep and too dreadful for sound or utterance.

Now again, the holy voice questions him: “What are you doing here?” (v. 14). It is as though God would ask him, “Are you still here?” Or “Why are you still here?” Elijah repeats his self-pitying answer. I have been zealous; I am alone; they are trying to kill me!

You can linger here in self-pity only so long and then you must remember your call.

Most astonishing, Elijah does not receive further assurance or comfort. No, he is addressed only with a double imperative: “Go, return.” He has been provided food and assurance. But no more! Now the voice of God moves from assurance to imperative:

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Go back into the fray. Go back to contested politics.

Go back to Damascus, capital city of enemy Syria.

It is amazing how such a singular, inexplicable gesture can reframe our lives.

More than that, engage in political subversion!

Anoint a new king, even while there is no vacancy in the royal office. And then the voice of God concludes, almost as an after-thought: There are still 7000 faithful (v. 19).

You are not the only one. You are not alone.

You have allies and comrades and colleagues in the hard combat you face. What follow in the narrative is the tale of Naboth’s vineyard and the continuing indifference to prophetic insistence.

Elijah is sent back into the risky fray where he must oppose the royal house and its lethal posturing.

Back into the battle This narrative occurred to me as I pondered the outcome of the election and the way in which the forces of humane justice and generative peace-making have been routed in a vote of this kind. My first inclination is one of self-pity and a sickening sense of loss and failure. My propensity is to imagine that the good Lord of History might have done better to prosper our good efforts at humane justice.

So I imagined us as participants in this ancient scene. We may, for a moment, claim the role of Elijah for ourselves. We may imagine ourselves, abandoned and left alone in an exercise in self-pity. We do well to acknowledge such a moment in our self-awareness, even if the sense is fleeting. And then, we may quite innocently imagine the good gifts of God given to us in our neediness. They are likely to be given to us through human mediation, through those who care for us and wish us well. Such food as a “baked cake” and “a jar of water” might be a gesture, a note, a casserole, an embrace, a kind

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word, anything that signifies solidarity in way that may relieve our sense of abandonment. If this case applies to you, I urge to you to seek out such support and affirmation. It is amazing how such a singular, inexplicable gesture can reframe our lives as we find ourselves on the glad receiving end of grace generously mediated to us. In the narrative the reception of food and care comes first.

There are others who stand alongside in solidarity.

Only then, after that, comes the haunting question “What are you doing here?” What are you doing in this place of self-pity and weeping discouragement? The question in its ancient form and in its present articulation is in fact an assertion: “This is not your rightful place.” You do not belong here in self-pity. The prophet is permitted the luxury of twice asserting that he is abandoned. But the holy voice of God has turned from answer to imperative: Go and stand on the mount before God (v. 11).

Go, return to Damascus (v. 15).

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Go back to your proper place; you can linger here in self-pity only so long and then you must remember your call and perform your responsibility. So Elijah is freshly dispatched back to his dangerous work. He is dispatched by the one who has lordly authority for him. The only assurance he is offered is that there are others--7000--who stand alongside in solidarity. It took a while for the prophetic mandate to come to fruition. It often does.

Only later: Elisha anointed Jehu king of Israel, this prompting a violent upheaval in Israel (II Kings 9:6). The prophetic narrative is part of the slow but certain articulation of divine intent in the public process.

Go back into the fray.

I am writing this the morning after the election. I must confess I am more than a little dismayed this morning. I am inclined to think a good bit about myself and my convictions. As I reconsider that about myself, I imagine that some of you, readers, have the same sense of self. In such a circumstance, this remarkable prophetic narrative yields some suggestions to us: It is all right to engage in self-care, to be on the receiving end of gracious presence.

There is a limit to the length of time we are to linger in such self-regard; We are, sooner or later, dispatched back to the good work of humane justice.

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Like the ancient prophets, we are dispatched back to the good work entrusted to us. It is the work of peace-making. It is the work of truth-telling. It is the work of justice-doing. It is good work, but it requires our resolve to stay it, even in the face of the forces to the contrary that are sure to prevail for a season. We are in it for the long run, even as the Holy One is in it for the very long haul, from everlasting to everlasting. We do not ease off because it is hard. We are back at it after the election.

—Condensed from Church Anew, November 6, 2024. Walter Brueggemann is a prolific author and esteemed theologian.

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NOTHING WITHOUT STRUGGLE Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand; it never has, and it never will.

—Frederick Douglass

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AN APPEAL FOR HUMAN DIGNITY AND DECENCY

The North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church issues an appeal for human dignity and decency for our immigrant brothers and sisters

January 31, 2025 There are many in the United States who are afraid for their futures, and for the lives of family members. As a Christian denomination in the U.S., the Seventh-day Adventist Church supports the rights of all persons, no matter their country of origin — the equal rights provided in the U.S. Constitution and fair treatment as immigrants and refugees in this country.

As members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we believe that “we are all equal in Christ, who by one Spirit has bonded us into one fellowship with Him and with one another; we are to serve and be served without partiality or reservation” (Fundamental Belief No. 14).

“We maintain our allegiance to the biblical principles of equality and dignity of all human beings in the face of historic and continuing attempts to use skin color, place of origin, caste, or perceived lineage as a pretext for oppressive and dominating behavior. These attempts are a denial of our shared humanity and we deplore all such aggression and prejudice as an offense

to God” (Seventh-day Adventist Church statement “One Humanity: A Human Relations Statement Addressing Racism, Casteism, Tribalism, and Ethnocentrism”).

It is inhumane and robs people of their God-given dignity in Christ to have policies that make them afraid to go to church and school because of the threat of being deported.

The Bible declares that in Christ there is neither Jew nor gentile, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female — all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). We are one humanity. Dehumanization and margination by law or the implementation of the laws or policies are diametrically opposed to the Bible.

Therefore, it is inhumane and robs people of their God-given dignity in Christ to have

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policies that make them afraid to go to church and school because of the threat of being deported.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America encourages its churches and schools to be warm and welcoming places for all people.

All are created by God and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

These attempts are a denial of our shared humanity.

In light of the fact that we have a shared humanity, in light of the fact we all are created equal, in light of the fact we should love our neighbor as ourselves, and in light of the fact that Jesus said, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40, NIV), our appeal is for us, as Adventists, to show our immigrant families that we love them by lifting up our voices and standing by their side in these times of uncertainty.

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Our appeal to our policymakers and government leaders is found in The Seventhday Adventist Church Manual (p. 92): “All are in search of wholeness. All are gifted, needed, and treasured. All are created in the image of God with an inherent dignity regardless of any limitation they may have.”

Therefore, let our laws and the implementation of our laws treat all of God’s children, who are created in His image, with the dignity and decency they deserve.

G. Alexander Bryant, President Kyoshin Ahn, Executive Secretary Judy R. Glass, Treasurer/CFO

—Guidelines for pastors and school leaders, through the document "Guidance on Immigration Enforcement Activity on Church and School Property," from the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists Office of General Counsel, can be found by clicking here.

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WOULD YOU HARBOR ME? Sweet Honey in the Rock

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InSpire

Show up, show up, show up, and after a while the muse shows up, too. —Isabel Allende

INVOLVED

FALSE CHOICE

When you do nothing you feel overwhelmed and powerless.

But when you get involved you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.

If Christianity is false, it is not important. If Christianity is true, it is infinitely important. What it can never be is moderately important.

—C. S. Lewis

There was a time when evil did not exist, and there will be a time when it no longer exists; but there was never a time when virtue did not exist and there will never be a time when it does not exist. For the seeds of virtue are indestructible.

—Evagrius the Solitary (AD 345-399)

At the center of our moral life and our moral imagination are the great models of resistance; the great stories of those who have said “No.” —Susan Sontag

—Maya Angelou

FOREVER

SUBLIME RESISTANCE

MORAL RESPONSIBILITY One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

DREAMS TO REALITY If I dream alone, it is only a dream. If we dream together, it is the beginning of reality.

—Dom Helder Camara

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Special Music

A TALE OF TWO CHRISTIANITIES The controversy around Bishop Mariann Budde’s prophetic message to Trump at the National Cathedral’s inaugural prayer service is a big deal, and it should be. It’s still making international news, and I’m writing this from Argentina where I’m preaching to about 2,000 evangelical Christians, many of whom are looking on in dismay.

This is not just about an isolated incident. What we are seeing is a tale of two Christianities. It’s why we now have T-shirts that say, “I’m a love your neighbor Christian, not a storm the Capitol kind.”

There are competing narratives of what the Christian faith is fundamentally about and what our priorities should be as followers of Jesus. And of course, it is also about race and patriarchy. We can’t forget the largest group of Trump supporters were white evangelicals at over 80% and the largest demographic of Trump’s opposition were Black women, many of whom are also deeply committed Christians. It is no coincidence that the Bishop is a woman; after all, nothing stirs the ire of Trump more than a woman in authority, even when she embodies humility and grace as Bishop Budde does.

After the homily, we got an unsurprising reactionary rant from Trump calling Budde a “so-called Bishop” and demanding an apology, and, of course, the other usual suspects chimed in on the evangelical right — Charlie Kirk, Sean Feucht, Franklin Graham. But their rhetoric is getting remarkably more hateful and dangerous. Even I was stunned to hear Feucht, who I thought could no longer surprise me, respond with such reactionary Trump-like venom, calling Bishop Budde names like “witch,” “crazy woman” (he repeated that one many times), “God-hater,” “demonically inspired” – all in a matter of seven minutes.

He needs Jesus, but it’s time to stop pretending he is actually a follower of Jesus.

All that because an Episcopal Bishop had the gall to say that every person is made in the image of God, and that we should show compassion to children and to immigrants and

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refugees, both indisputably central themes throughout the Bible’s Old and New Testaments.

New and not new On the one hand, this collision of Christianities is not new. Frederick Douglass named this reality over 100 years ago: “Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference — so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.”

This is what is new, and noteworthy. The cult of Christian nationalism now has an evangelist — Donald Trump. Trump is not an evangelical Christian by any historic measure and fails any basic test of theological orthodoxy (as seen in many interviews when asked about personal salvation or the Bible). Even so, he has become an evangelist for the heretical cult of white supremacy that is trying to camouflage itself as Christianity.

Anyone offended by Bishop Budde’s homily will be even more offended

by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

The obvious problem, as evidenced in the service this week and the surge of hateful responses from Trump-evangelicals, is that MAGA’s version of Christianity doesn’t look or sound like the Jesus of the Gospels — who blessed the poor and the peacemakers, the meek and the merciful, who insisted we love our enemies and turn the other cheek, who commanded his disciples to sell their possessions and give the money to the poor.

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And, yes, who said that when we welcome the stranger, we welcome him because whatever we do to the “least of these” we do to Christ. That’s the Gospel of Jesus … and it looks very different from the gospel of Trump.

And it is the Gospel of Jesus, not Trump, that Bishop Budde so powerfully preached this week.

Whether they admit it or not, it was Jesus, not an Episcopal Bishop, who offended them. It should be said that anyone who was offended by Bishop Budde’s two-minute homily will be even more offended by Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

It is getting harder and harder for reasonable Christians, even moderate and conservativeleaning evangelicals, to defend Donald Trump and his cold-hearted policies and rhetoric. Many who advocate for persecuted Christians around the world, like the evangelicals I am with this week, cannot defend Trump’s anti-immigrant policies that contradict the deep compassion they feel in their hearts for their refugee neighbors.

To riff off Douglass, between the Christianity of Trump and the Christianity of Christ, we recognize the widest possible difference — so

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wide, that to receive the one as good, pure and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt and wicked. I can see no reason to call this Christianity — except the most deceitful one.

And using Jesus as a tool for political power is the most deceitful one.

Trump has turned the seven deadly sins into a way of life, made a mockery of the fruits of the Spirit and regularly betrayed the core tenets of the Sermon on the Mount. He needs Jesus, to be sure, but it’s time to stop pretending he is actually a follower of Jesus. There comes a point when, in the words of Jesus, “We cannot serve two masters.” Christians cannot follow Trump and Jesus.

Between the Christianity of Trump and the Christianity of Christ, we recognize the widest possible difference.

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about love and mercy … let’s not call it Christianity. If it’s not good news to the poor … let’s not call it Christianity. If it’s not about welcoming the stranger … let’s not call it Christianity.

If this were another era of history, church leaders and bishops would undoubtedly call for an emergency council, like the one in Nicea in 325 CE, and there would probably be a heresy trial. In a world with 2.4 billion Christians and more than 30,000 Christian denominations, that’s trickier to pull off. But the good news is we don’t need a council or a heresy trial to reach a verdict. A tree is known by its fruit. An apple tree doesn’t need a sign to tell you what it is. If it isn’t like Jesus, it isn’t Christianity.

The cult of Trump doesn’t even pass the sniff test — it doesn’t smell anything like Jesus or bear any of the fruits of the Spirit — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. There is nothing “Christ-like” about it.

It’s time to reclaim Jesus and our faith from those who would like to use Jesus as a cover for their bigotry. It is time to follow Jesus, not Trump.

This is not about who we like better or align with politically. It’s not about choosing Team Budde or Team Trump. It is about two competing versions of the Christian faith. It’s not about left and right, but what it really means to be faithful to Jesus.

Failing the tests The word “Christian” means “Christ-like.” If it doesn’t look like Jesus, and it doesn’t sound like Jesus … let’s not call it Christianity. If it’s not

—Shane Claiborne is the co-founder of Red Letter Christians. Condensed from a Religious News Service article on January 24, 2025.

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InterAct

FIND YOUR VOICE Or Use Someone Else’s

Society is awash with causes, messages, and campaigns that seek to address its seemingly intractable problems. Just look at the groups recently targeted in the United States as the president embraces lies to remake the nation in his own image: immigrants and refugees (of course), civil and public service workers, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, prisoners and detainees.

Apathy and inactivity are not options. But neither can we singlehandedly right every wrong nor fight every foe. We have to pick our battles, choose the best weapons for maximum effect.

Here is a list of some better-known advocacy organizations. See if there’s a chapter near you.

Find an organization in your community whose mission and passion matches your own. Your school and/or church friends can join a community organization already in existence or start your own to meet a need in your community. Speak up and act up.

Equal Justice Initiative

American Civil Liberties Union

EJI.org

ACLU.org

The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to

When the ACLU was founded in 1919, its

ending mass incarceration and excessive

primary focus was free speech. Combating

punishment in the United States, to challenging

discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity,

racial and economic injustice, and to protecting

or gender has been a focus of the ACLU since

basic human rights for the most vulnerable

the civil rights era in the 1960s. Criminal justice

people in American society.

is another long-standing goal of the ACLU,

Founded in 1989 by Bryan Stevenson, a

focusing on constitutional issues such as

public interest lawyer and bestselling author, EJI

excessive punishment and the right to an

provides legal representation to people who

attorney. Immigrant rights, for undocumented

have been illegally convicted, unfairly

immigrants in particular, is an area of the law for

sentenced, or abused in state jails and prisons.

which the ACLU frequently acts as an advocate.

It challenges the death penalty and excessive punishment and provides re-entry assistance to formerly incarcerated people.

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Habitat for Humanity Habitat.org Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit housing organization working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in approximately 70 countries. Habitat’s vision is of a world where everyone has a decent place to live.

Habitat works by building strength, stability, and self-reliance in partnership with families in need of decent and affordable housing. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Habitat for Humanity also advocates to change policies and systems to improve access to adequate affordable housing.

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Matthew Shepard Foundation MatthewShepard.org On October 7, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a 21year-old gay student at the University of Wyoming, was brutally attacked and tied to a fence in a field outside Laramie, Wyoming and left to die. On October 12, he succumbed to his head wounds in a hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.

In the aftermath of Matt’s death, his parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, started the Matthew Shepard Foundation to honor his life and aspirations. The initial purpose of the foundation was to teach parents with children who may question their sexuality to love and accept them as they are.

Since its formation, the Foundation has helped pioneer the country’s first federal hate

Amnesty International AmnestyUSA.org Peter Benenson, an English barrister, founded Amnesty International in 1961. In a

crimes legislation with the passing of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. It continues to work to ensure safety, visibility, and inclusiveness for the entire LGBTQ+ community.

newspaper article entitled, “The Forgotten Prisoners,” he wrote: “Open your newspaper any day of the week and you will find a story from somewhere of someone being imprisoned, tortured, or executed because his opinions or religion are unacceptable to his government.”

Human rights are abused or denied every day. A global rollback of human rights sees world leaders pushing hate, attempting to erase rights protections, committing crimes against humanity, and enacting policies that deepen inequality.

Amnesty International works for a world in which every person enjoys all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

—Stephen Chavez

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“All are welcome, all are loved..”

– Galatians 3:28

sdakinship.org

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DOING COMMUNITY JUSTICE

Wielding Power for Ethical Community Organizing

The attraction of the sanctuary can become a seduction. The sanctuary can be exploited and used to create false catharsis instead of authentic hope. The liturgy can be a vehicle for entering a disembodied drama instead of an incarnational vision. The sanctuary may serve only as a comfortable substitute for the harsh realities outside its walls. A mystery religion may be the result, void of any power to impact the world as it is.

Biblically speaking, the preeminent activity of the church is in the public arena, not in the sanctuary. The Holy Spirit calls and gathers the church and sends the church into the world with the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit takes the church into the public arena so that the church can be the church.

The church enters the public arena because it is mandated to do so by the Great Commission of Jesus. The church is sent by its Lord to “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing

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. . . . and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” This commission has nothing to do with church growth. The primary concern of the church in the public arena is not to find more members to fill the pews of the sanctuary.

The church is sent into the public arena with the ethical imperatives of Jesus. The church is to proclaim the kingdom of God over against the kingdoms of the world. The church is to make disciples who actually live by the teachings of their Lord.

Jesus’ Great Commission has nothing to do with church growth.

Faith-based organizing power Organizers make note of Rollo May’s thesis in his book Power and Innocence, which claims that most people seek innocence to avoid the responsibility of power. They contend that

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those who avoid power out of fear of being corrupted are probably doing so to avoid the high cost of having power: conflict, controversy, ridicule, defeat. Those exercising such avoidance to remain “innocent” are making a virtue out of their cowardice. According to organizers, power does not corrupt; power attracts the corruptible. Good people sit on the sidelines, wrap themselves in virtue, and allow other people’s values to dominate society.

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We find that we cannot run away from power once we take the ethical teachings of Jesus seriously. These teachings draw us into a life of compassion and righteousness that seeks justice. On an interpersonal level, perhaps we find no tension. We visit the sick and imprisoned, shelter the homeless, and feed the hungry without conflict. But what happens when we begin to analyze why people are imprisoned, homeless, hungry, poor in a society of immense wealth? We begin to thirst for justice. This thirst for justice can lead us into the public arena.

Good people sit on the sidelines, wrap themselves in virtue, and allow other people’s values to dominate society.

—Condensed from Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing by Dennis A. Jacobsen, pages 14, 38-40.

Organizers know that power comes from essentially two sources: organized people and organized money. Political parties, unions, banks, corporations, and the media wield power because they have organized people and/or organized money. Congregation-based community organizations working in low-income neighborhoods may not be able to organize millions of dollars, but they can organize sufficient money to hire professional organizers and to be independent of governmental control.

Social change is the product of power applied effectively in the public arena.

People of faith often find themselves with ambiguous and conflicting feelings about power.

We see that Scripture has no single word about power. It is dishonest to focus only on those biblical passages about power that serve our interests. We disdain the corrupting influence of power, but we equally disdain the corrupting influence of powerlessness. We hate how evil uses power to destroy people. But we also know that it takes power to rise up against such evil.

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MAKE ROOM In a democracy, power comes from forging alliances, and building coalitions, and making room in those coalitions not only for the woke but also for the waking.

—Barack Obama, in a Democracy Forum speech on Dec. 5, 2024

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COMMUNITY ADVOCACY CHAMPION –Kevin Mattson

Jimmy Carter Oct. 1, 1924 – Dec. 29, 2024

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Stay in the know Recent Additions

ISSUE 15

JUSTLOVE NOTES 01/24

ISSUE 15

Discover JustLove Notes—a twice-monthly Substack offering illuminating the vibrant intersection of faith, justice, and love. Each issue features curated book recommendations, evocative music, and thought-provoking articles designed to inspire your spirit and empower meaningful change. Join us on this journey of discovery and transformation.

JLC BOOK CIRCLE Join us for a quarterly, live book circle hosted by the JustLove Collective, to explore transformative ideas. Our inaugural session read Troubling the Water by Ben McBride, where we unpacked themes of justice, faith, and renewal.. Our next discussion takes place on March 8, 2025, at 3:30 p.m. PST, when we will engage with Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination. This session invites us to reimagine faith as a force for social transformation.

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WHO WE ARE Pulse is the monthly digital magazine of JustLove Collective.

This month’s issue is edited by Chris Blake and sponsored by Rebecca Wang Cheng and Charles Scriven. (Thank you.)

Designed by Jeffers Media.

Unless indicated otherwise all Bible references are from the New Revised Standard Version.

CHRIS BLAKE Is professor emeritus at Union Adventist University where he taught English and communication courses, including Conflict and Peacemaking along with Critiquing Film. He has also served as editor of Insight magazine, author of many books and articles, and pastor of two small churches.

STEPHEN CHAVEZ Is a writer and editor, retired after a career in pastoral ministry and as an assistant editor of Adventist Review.

MARCIA NORDMEYER Is a circulation/reference associate at Union Adventist University's library in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is happily married to Jeremy. Their two children are encouraged to read banned books.

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ReView

I SEE YOU

Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza If we are to believe Mark Twain when he famously wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness,” one may panic at the cost of fuel, regret not taking a collegiate year abroad, and feel a twinge of anxiety from of recent airline tragedies in the headlines. For me, all of the above are true. Also true is that my public library card takes me on all kinds of wild adventures, and it is free. Praise the Lord.

Gloria Anzaldúa takes us on a glorious journey in Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza. Anzaldúa shares her perspective from a lifetime of juggling Native American and Mexican cultures while living in the United States.

Generational traumas from both sides, paired with modern sentiments toward Mexican immigrants, give the self-described Chicana a heightened sense of vulnerability for herself and her immediate community.

Through the book we explore cultural and religious symbology and traditions that are profoundly intertwined with her Mexican identity. Readers can identify the aspects of these traditions that directly conflict with her deeply valued feminism. As a Mestiza (“mixed woman”), she shares the reality of belonging nowhere and everywhere and how Chicanas must carry a tenacious will to thrive in inhospitable social climates.

Speaking directly to white people, Anzaldúa reveals that many men and women of color do not want to deal with white people at all. Period.

It is emotionally exhausting because too often people who are white are silently judgemental or parading a disingenuous friendship in order to soothe their own feelings of “white guilt.” A popular collective belief is that even the most well-intentioned white people need to focus on

eradicating racism from themselves and people like them. Anzaldúa, however, believes that white people can be successful allies. To do so, they must be willing to set aside any feelings of entitlement and learn the “other” culture via literature, art, poetry, folk tales, and history to rid themselves of their fears and ignorance.

Good allies also admit that our history together is ugly; they are willing to live in humble truthtelling. Then, we can all start to heal.

As a Mestiza, she shares the reality of belonging nowhere and everywhere.

You may, like me, be limited to libraryenabled travel in twelve-minute increments while your cherubs participate in a structured debate over control of the television, or after an orderly bedtime routine in which each precious tooth is meticulously brushed with only one gentle reminder. Your magical quiet reading time may be in the morning while your darling angels get up and prepare for themselves a well-balanced low-sugar breakfast and select an outfit appropriate for the current elements.* Whenever you do get the chance for leisurely reading, I hope you get to take a little trip that shows you someone else’s humanity with clearer eyes.

—Marcia Nordmeyer

ORDER

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INSPIRATION COLLECTIVE Podcasts we just love

A House on Fire: This Adventist Peace Fellowship podcast series is based on the excellent book on race and racism

Red Letter Christian Podcast: Christian commentary on the way of Jesus in the world today

Adventist Voices: Weekly podcast and companion to Spectrum designed to foster community through conversation

Adventist Pilgrimage: A lively monthly podcast focusing on the academic side of Adventist history

The Social Jesus Podcast talks about the intersection of Jesus, faith, and social justice today

Just Liberty: A fresh, balanced take on religious liberty—where justice and liberty meet

Pulse / JustLove Collective / March 2025 / Issue 12

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Gratitude As we launch, we are particularly grateful for every contribution to JustLove Collective. Donations are tax-deductible. Though we are a global movement of volunteers, we do need to pay for expenses related to this magazine and to the Summit. For more information, please see our website at justlovecollective.org

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