Pulse 9

A COLLABORATION OF ADVENTIST ACTIVISTS

DECEMBER 2024 ISSUE 9

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS THE REVOLUTION BEGINS WITH CHRISTMAS SELLING THE DREAM (NOT) THE DEATH OF DEI REMEMBERING TONY CAMPOLO HOW TO LOVE YOUR ENEMY

Action Creates Hope

CONTENTS 3

LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

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THE PULSE

7

INSPIRE

8

SPECIAL MUSIC

12

PULSE TRIBUTE

16

WHO WE ARE

17

(NOT) THE DEATH OF DEI

21

REVIEW

22

SPECIAL MUSIC

a time to shine all-the-more brightly

how to love your enemy

stay sane /\ familiar landscape

the revolution begins with christmas

remembering tony campolo

meet some of our contributors

despite recent results, god’s spirit is alive

selling the dream

hope is a​n embrace of the unknown​

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REVIEW the hardest line

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

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A time to shine all-the-more brightly In Matthew 5:14–16, Jesus declares, “You are the

shared a common yearning for something new

light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be

—a message of hope that would uplift them all.

hidden.” In a world facing fear, uncertainty, and

It’s important to recognize that Jesus didn’t

division, these words stand as both a promise and

address only the religious insiders or spiritual

a challenge to us. They remind us that, amid any

elites. He didn’t wait for this crowd to fully

darkness, we are called to be the light of God’s

understand or accept His teachings before

presence—a light that offers warmth, justice, and

telling them, “You are the light of the world.” Let

hope to all.

that sink in! Jesus extended this identity to all

In the wake of Donald Trump's reelection,

who had gathered, proclaiming that everyone,

millions are feeling a deep sense of anxiety about

regardless of background, was God’s light and

the future, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Yet,

was invited to reflect God’s light. This radical

in moments like these, Jesus’ words remind us that

inclusivity stands at the heart of God’s Kingdom

light is often brightest in the darkest times. We are

—a Kingdom that doesn’t shut doors but rather

called to rise above division and despair and to be

throws them open wide to all who seek light and

that light, reflecting an incarnate, inclusive God.

love.

This calling offers not only a path forward, but also a way to pierce through the darkness of this world —a darkness that brings so much pain—by joining in God’s ongoing work of healing and love.

The setting of Jesus’ words on the mountainside paints a powerful picture of radical

He didn’t wait for this crowd to fully understand or accept His teachings before telling them, “You are the light of the world.”

inclusion. Gathered around Him was a large crowd, drawn not only from Galilee but from far-flung regions: Jerusalem, Judea, the Decapolis, and even

Part of what it means to be light in today’s

the areas beyond the Jordan. This was a “mixed

world is resisting the temptation to turn inward

multitude,” a diverse gathering that reflected a

or to give in to anger and bitterness. Instead, we

wide range of backgrounds, beliefs, and social

are called to reach out to those who feel

standings. There were Gentiles, despised by the

marginalized or unseen, especially in this

religious elite, and people from varied ethnicities

moment. Jesus’ message reminds us that light is

and walks of life. Despite these differences, they

not passive; it’s active and visible. As He says,

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

“Let your light shine before others, so they may

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This call to shine doesn’t mean we ignore

see your good works and give glory to your

injustices, nor does it suggest we withdraw from

Father in heaven.” Light shines through deeds of

difficult issues. To the contrary, it challenges us

compassion, justice, and love that extend to all.

to engage with a justice that refuses to

In a time when the world often seems to pit

discriminate, a love that embraces the

people against one another, our call is to lift up

vulnerable, and a compassion that reflects the

the broken, stand with the vulnerable, and

inclusive nature of God. As followers of Jesus,

embody a better way—the way of God’s

we are called to be light-bearers in the here and

inclusive Kingdom.

now, to live as agents of God’s love, and to build a culture where everyone can feel seen and

God’s Kingdom is breaking through, one compassionate act at a time.

valued.

In our compassion, resilience, and commitment to inclusion, we become bearers of the incarnate God’s presence in our communities. In this season of uncertainty, may we embrace the privilege and responsibility of

In our world, many feel overwhelmed by personal and social struggles. They’re seeking a

being light-bearers, offering hope to a world that desperately needs it.

glimmer of light—a kind gesture, an affirmation of worth, a sign that someone, anyone, cares.

Through our acts of kindness, inclusion, and justice, we become God’s light, sending rays of hope into the depths of despair. These acts are reminders to the world that it is not abandoned or forgotten; instead, God’s Kingdom is breaking through, one compassionate act at a time.

—Daniel Xisto

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

Rightly having enemies is an unsung discipline

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Enemies are not the people we dislike or

of the Christian life. More often than not we

those who are different from us. In the gospel,

abandon the task before we get started; we

enemies are those who make camp on the far

wrongly assume we should not have enemies. But

side of the line that is justice. And God is

the expectation of the gospel of Jesus Christ is

beckoning us—all of us—to join God among the

that we will have enemies. We know this because

oppressed.

Jesus gives us a command to love our enemies.

And in order to love your enemies, you first have to know who they are.

Often people outside the church tell me how they are drawn to Jesus, meek and mild. This

The expectation of Jesus is that we will have enemies.

caricature misses out on the actual Jesus of the Bible, who lashes out against the religious teachers whom he calls false prophets, blind guides, whitewashed tombs, and hypocrites. Jesus’ anger drove the moneychangers from the temple with a whip.

This Jesus teaches us that there are right and wrong ways to have enemies. When we look at Jesus’ life we see that enmity is born when we recognize that the structures of terror and injustice are held up by people. Oppression is enacted by individual human beings, who collectively wash their hands of the matter. Without the participation of people—individuals doing the work—these

In this way Jesus reorients our way of having enemies. We do not arm ourselves with weapons to coerce or threaten enemies of God’s liberation into submission. Instead, we create the world we want.

Actual enemies within On December 8, 2018, Jakelin Caal Maquin, age 7, died in El Paso, Texas, 2,000 miles from the home she fled in Guatemala. She and her father were detained at a remote border crossing in New Mexico. We have yet to see

systems would collapse.

anyone take responsibility for her death.

The Pulse

hands of Jakelin’s death.

Instead, individuals and agencies wash their

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

But there are many individuals who

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Commission hearings in post-apartheid South

contributed to Jakelin’s death. Doris Meissner is

Africa began with confession. There could be no

the enemy of Jakelin. She is the commissioner

hope for forgiveness unless enemies were

who signed off on the 1994 plan to strategically

named first.

push migrants into remote parts of the desert, making the desert a weapon. President Dwight D. Eisenhower is responsible for Jakelin’s death.

He oversaw the coup d’etat in Guatemala orchestrated by the U.S. to overthrow the democratically elected president and install a puppet administration.

In the gospel, enemies are those who make camp on the far side of the line that is justice.

To love your enemies is to help them see the truth about themselves and show them something else is possible.

To love your enemies is to call them out of the world of denial and oppression, of despots and executioners. To love your enemies is to help them see the truth about themselves and show them something else is possible. To love your enemies is to tell them the story of how we

The architects of the Central America Free Trade Agreement that decimated the Guatemalan economy are responsible for Jakelin’s death. White House staffer Stephen Miller is responsible for Jakelin’s death, by whipping up anti-immigration sentiment in the U.S. The border guards who refused to respond to her father’s cries for help are responsible for Jakelin’s death. . . .

We cannot be former enemies until we first

once too were enemies of God and that through the love of God who lived, died, and rose among us, we are now called friends. We have enemies because we hope that one day we might call them friends.

There is nothing emotional or psychological about this change. To turn from enemies to friends means our lives must change. And sometimes this means our jobs, how we make money, how we act in the world must change.

name our enmity, both that we have enemies and that we have been the enemies of others.

This is why the Truth and Reconciliation

—Melissa Florer-Bixler, excerpt from Sojourners magazine Sept./Oct. 2019

The Pulse

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InSpire

UNKNOWN FUTURE Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. —Corrie Ten Boom

STAY SANE Sanity is not about confrontation. It’s about filtering. Having a stable energy and happy life is about saying “no” to crazy people, not about inviting them in and then hoping that confrontations are going to make them sane.

MARTIN LUTHER

MY DECISION I can be changed by what happened to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it.

—Maya Angelou

CLEAR DIFFERENCE My philosophy is: Life is hard, but God is good. Try not to confuse the two.

—Anne F. Beiler

DEFINING ASPECT Who we are is not a matter of the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, or the social media we participate in. Our identities are defined by who we love.

—Daniel Schultz

—Stefan Molyneux

TODAY’S PRESENT God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.

Have you used one to say thank You? —William Arthur Ward

FAMILIAR LANDSCAPE Of my two “handicaps,” being female put many more obstacles in my path than being Black.

—Shirley Chisholm, U.S. Congressperson 1969-1983, U.S. Presidential candidate in 1972

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When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to

in the larger story of Jesus’ birth. It is so

announce that she was “favoured” by God and He

personal, intimate and unlikely. And it also

was with her, but that in her life this would look like

includes some startling claims about what God

an unconventional and unexplainable pregnancy

was about to do through their boys.

that would risk her prospective marriage, her place in her community and potentially even her life, he concluded with the assurance that she would not be alone in this unique predicament. The angel’s concluding words were to direct her to someone who would understand: “What’s more, your relative

On almost any reading of this story and its anticipated outcomes, it was ridiculous.

Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age!

People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail” (Luke 1:36, 37).

Only a few days later—before she would have

While there were undoubtedly other people around them, these two women suddenly had a special bond. While the angel had directed Mary

to face the awkward questions of her fiancé and

to Elizabeth, this was Elizabeth’s moment of

family, as well as the gossip and accusations of the

revelation, as the baby “leaped within her” and

people of her village—Mary “hurried to the hill

the Holy Spirit filled her “at the sound of Mary’s

country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah

greeting” (Luke 1:41). Perhaps before anyone else

lived. She entered the house and greeted

knew of Mary’s secret, Elizabeth immediately

Elizabeth” (Luke 1:39, 40). While the details

recognised the momentous event that was

provided in the story are limited, it is likely that

beginning within her: “God has blessed you

Zechariah and Elizabeth lived in the region of

above all women, and your child is blessed. Why

Bethlehem, meaning that same week-long journey

am I so honoured, that the mother of my Lord

to the south and that Mary would not have

should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the

travelled that far alone.

baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are

But the portrayal of the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is one of the most intriguing scenes

blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said” (Luke 1:42–45).

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

But this was not the only proclamation of this meeting. Prompted by this extraordinary greeting, Mary did not shy away from the claims Elizabeth had made but broke into a song that for its poetry would readily fit into the book of Psalms and for its intent belongs firmly in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets. She acknowledged the blessings of God and the incredible nature of what was happening to them. And she recognised the goodness and power of God that was working to bring change to the world, announcing a new kingdom of reversal that was about to be realised in their world: Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.

How my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour!

For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed.

For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.

He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him.

His mighty arm has done tremendous things!

He has scattered the proud and haughty ones.

He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.

He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful.

For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever” (Luke 1:46–55.

It is a beautiful song of revolution. It is humble and powerful. It is personal and political.

It subverts the assumptions and powers of our world. It celebrates God as active, faithful and great. It is the beginning of a holy uprising.

Except that the song seems absurd. Two peasant women—one old, tired, perennially disappointed, now pregnant and probably feeling the strain in her elderly body; the other an unmarried teenage girl, inexplicably

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and scandalously pregnant, nervous, perhaps fearful but suddenly bursting with confidence and hope—in a small unnamed village in the hills of Judea singing about how their “miracle” boys were going to change the world, begin to undo all the injustices in the world, to challenge the empires and kings of the day, to begin to set the world right. On almost any reading of this story and its anticipated outcomes, it was ridiculous.

That both their sons would lose their lives in the process underlines the farce.

The portrayal of the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth is one of the most intriguing scenes in the larger story of Jesus’ birth.

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Which is why it’s also a demonstration of

confront, and continued to marvel together at

faith and a challenge to our understanding of

the goodness of God and their unlikely roles in

Jesus.

His coming kingdom.

That their song is recorded, that we know

When we re-tell the story of the birth of

their names today is remarkable enough. But

Jesus, we need to remember the perspectives

that this actually was a step toward changing

of these two unlikely but “highly favoured” and

the world has been borne out in history since.

inspired women. In discovering the newborn

Princes have been brought down from their

King and the kingdom He would establish, we

thrones and the humble have indeed been

too will learn to sing songs of faithful revolution

exalted. It is an incomplete project, but their

and holy resistance, which will change us and

song and this story continues to resonate and

change the world around us.

bring change in lives and in places of injustice today.

Luke’s story recorded that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months (see Luke 1:56) before returning home to face her family and community. In the way the story is told, this suggests that Mary would have left Elizabeth only a short time before John was born. Perhaps we see more of their understandings in Zechariah’s song after he listened—unable to talk— to some of their many conversations (see Luke 1:67–79). It must have been an important time for both women, as they talked and prayed together, encouraged and helped each other in what they were going through and would

—Nathan Brown, adapted from Advent: Hearing the Good News in the Story of Jesus’ Birth

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Pulse Tribute

The Baptist pastor and sociologist argued caring for the poor was an integral part of proclaiming the gospel Tony Campolo frequently started his speeches to Christian audiences by telling them three things.

First, he would tell them how many children

conformity. But the best cure for evangelicalism’s ills, he said, was Jesus.

As he travelled relentlessly, speaking to up to 500 groups per year, Campolo urged people to

had died from hunger or malnutrition-related

let their lives be transformed by Jesus. And he

diseases the night before—a number in the tens

told them that if their lives really were

of thousands.

transformed, it would be good news for people

And Campolo would say, “Most of you don’t

who were hungry and oppressed.

give a shit.”

Then: “What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said ‘shit’ than the fact that thousands of kids died last night.”

Campolo, a progressive Christian leader who courted controversy challenging evangelicals to see caring for the poor as an integral part of

He told them that if their lives really were transformed, it would be good news for people who were hungry and oppressed.

proclaiming the gospel, died on November 19. He was 89.

Campolo popularized the term red letter Christian—a reference to the way the words of Jesus are printed in many New Testaments—as an alternative to evangelical. He felt an alternative was needed because evangelicals had turned their backs on the good news, embracing right wing politics and comfortable, middle-class

“I surrendered my life to Jesus and trusted in him for my salvation, and I have been a staunch evangelical ever since,” Campolo wrote in 2015. “I believe the Bible to have been written by men inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit. I place my highest priority on the words of Jesus, emphasizing the 25th chapter of Matthew, where

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

Jesus makes clear that on Judgment Day, the

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The backlash was quick. Campolo was

defining question will be how each of us

sharply criticized by white people in his

responded to those he calls ‘the least of these.’”

congregation, who said he was going to hurt real

A Baptist pastor and sociologist, Campolo

estate value and the reputation of the church.

attributed this vision to John Wesley. In a 2003

It was eye-opening for the young minister. “I did

interview with Christianity Today, Campolo said

not expect that Christian people could be so

he studied the founder of Methodism in a class

openly racist,” he said.

on “Christian classics” when he was a student at

Campolo left the church to get a doctorate

Eastern College (now a university). He realized

in sociology and took a teaching position at

Wesley’s social activism wasn’t distinct from his

Eastern in 1964. At the school, Campolo started

conversion but deeply connected.

getting students to volunteer with children in Philadelphia, first with college resources and then with his own organization, the Evangelical

Campolo regularly clashed with Christian conservatives for what he saw as their misplaced priorities.

Association for the Promotion of Education (EAPE). Shortly after it was founded, the EAPE helped start a school in the Dominican Republic and another in Haiti.

Campolo regularly clashed with Christian conservatives for what he saw as their

“The Wesleyan vision was warm-hearted

misplaced priorities. He consistently argued

evangelism with an incredible social vision,”

that Christians should support a political

Campolo said. “Out of this conversion grows the

agenda that would help the poor.

great Wesleyan revival with all of its social

“There are 2,000 verses of Scripture that call

consciousness, attacking slavery, championing

upon us to respond to the needs of the poor,”

the rights of women, ending child labor laws.”

Campolo said. “And yet, I find that when

Born a second-generation Italian immigrant in

Christians talked about values in this last

1935, Campolo had his first taste of social

election that was not on the agenda, that was

conflict in the church while growing up in

not a concern. If you were to get the voter guide

Philadelphia. His family attended an American

of the Christian Coalition, that does not rate.”

Baptist congregation in West Philadelphia, but it

Campolo launched Red Letter Christians, a

shut down when white people fled the city and

network for Christians with [progressive]

their African American neighbors for the

politics, with fellow Eastern alumnus Shane

suburbs. Campolo’s father, Anthony Campolo

Claiborne. The network grew to include 120

Sr., decided not to follow. Instead, he took his

affiliated organizations and churches, as well as

family to a Black Baptist church nearby, and

a popular podcast, an annual gathering, and

they worshiped there.

social justice campaigns, such as events where

As a young pastor in his 20s, Campolo faced

Claiborne and a Mennonite blacksmith invite

racism in the church again. He was working in a

people to turn firearms into garden tools in

congregation near Valley Forge, in Pennsylvania,

fulfillment of Isaiah 2:4.

when General Electric opened a new research headquarters in the area, triggering a housing shortage. Black people in particular had trouble finding places to live. Campolo started pushing local leaders to fix the problem and soon found himself the head of a council working on fair and affordable housing.

—Excerpt from “Dead: Tony Campolo, Champion of ‘Red Letter’ Christianity” by Daniel Silliman, Christianity Today, November 2024

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

Tony Campolo February 25, 1935 – November 19, 2024

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Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

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

This month’s issue is sponsored by Adventist Peace Fellowship.

(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 and Critiquing Film. He has also served as academy teacher, editor of Insight magazine, author of many books and articles, and pastor of two small churches.

NATHAN BROWN Is book editor at Signs Publishing, based near Melbourne, Australia. He is author of 21 books, including Advent (a devotional book for the Christmas season) and Do Not Be Afraid (the devotional book for 2025, published by Pacific Press in North America).

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.

DANIEL XISTO Serves as the Administrative Pastor at Azure Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church in Southern California, as well as the Peace Church Coordinator for Adventist Peace Fellowship.

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Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

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Despite recent results, God’s Spirit is alive

Here in the divided states of America it feels as

what Trump or Vance did or said during their

if we’re witnessing the death of DEI—dignity,

bumbling campaign—they would have won. No

empathy, and integrity. That’s in addition to, of

viable If onlys exist.

course, diversity, equity, and inclusion. While at it, we could slam the books on discipline, ethics, and intelligence. We peer around. The room is bleak.

The voices are murmuring. The air is fetid. The curtains are closing. The patient is flatlining.

My sister, Janine, who was a poll worker for the

We feel as if we are witnessing the death of DEI—dignity, empathy, and integrity.

election and is not Jewish, told me afterward that she was “sitting shiva.” She admitted, “My faith in humanity disappeared.” Elsewhere, fingers point and Monday morning quarterbacking is the national sport. Stunned people sit in clumps. News programs implode. Millions reach numbly for phones or remotes to binge watch. Couples stir their coffee. Dog walkers shuffle into the night and stare past Ursa Major. Silently we wonder, Are people really that dense and shamelessly amoral?

Is half the country actually FOR monotony, inequity, and exclusion?

Life is complicated. People had reasons they voted for Trump, so we hear, including simply wanting “a change.” The day after the election, I reached two astonishing conclusions. In retrospect,

An anonymous Black podcaster summed up: “It’s a master class in White privilege. Trump can’t say enough racist things to be a racist. He can’t commit enough crimes to be a criminal. He can’t fail enough times to be a failure. He can’t say enough stupid things to be stupid. The idea of him overshadows any reality. The ‘Christian savior’ who doesn’t know the Bible, the adulterer who screws porn stars and steals from charities.

It’s the promise of the protection of Whiteness he represents.”

What now?

Yet, realities remain. The country’s judicial

it really didn’t matter what Harris or Walz did or

and educational systems/nuclear

said during their excellent campaign—they would

strategies/health and welfare benefits/press

have lost. It also really didn’t matter

briefings will be soon in the hands of a

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

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self-centered, delusional, simplistic, vengeful

labels the prevented and the persecuted. Jesus

megalomaniac. And not just Elon Musk.

calls these the poor in spirit, the mourners, the

As happened on January 6, 2021, a phalanx of marauders preps for storming the halls of political

humble (Matthew 5:3–5).

We all grieve differently. On the cold slab of

power—this time legally. Entire social safety net

postmortem deconstruction, it’s tempting to

structures and legal safeguards are apparently in

withdraw far beyond being netizens who decide

jeopardy, some for the sake of tax breaks for

to limit our media consumption. A few of my

wealthy individuals and corporations. Grossly

friends are moving to other countries, which is

underqualified and highly suspect candidates for

fine. Yolanda and I are staying. We will not allow

offices have already been tapped. Timothy Snyder,

Donald J. Trump to steal our joy.

author of On Freedom, writes that “citizens,

Scripture commands, “Be angry but do not

regardless of how they voted, need now to check

sin” (Ephesians 4:26). We must never lose our

their attitudes. This is no longer a post-electoral

anger against injustice, and in fighting dragons

moment. It is a pre-catastrophic moment.”

we must take care never to become one. This legit battle is difficult, with many setbacks.

We will not allow Donald J. Trump to steal our joy.

That’s why the Apostle Paul contends, “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

By contrast, to wander down the paths of evil

This is not to say that the vast U.S. government

is verifiably easy. Hannah Arendt reported for

is flawless and carries no need of multiple reforms.

The New Yorker in 1961 on the war crimes trial of

However, reforms should not arrive on the backs of

Adolph Eichmann, the Nazi operative responsible

people who are already poor, ill, and marginalized—

for organizing the transport of millions of Jews

those whom Ben McBride in Troubling the Water

and others to their deaths in concentration

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camps. Arendt found Eichmann an ordinary

Desmond Doss had agreed to shoulder a gun, if

bureaucrat who was “terrifyingly normal,” wishing

Merikay Silver had accepted the inequity of

only to advance his career in the Nazi

second-class status, if Eleanor Roosevelt had

bureaucracy. Eichmann’s evil acts were

surrendered to threats, if Nelson Mandela had

connected to his disengagement, owing to an

harbored toxic bitterness, if Alexei Navalny had

“inability . . . to think from the standpoint of

caved to corruption, there would be much less

someone else.” He lacked empathy. Eichmann,

light in this world. We cannot embrace the

she concluded, was a clueless follower. As a

triumph of hate or the success of lies.

result of Arendt’s findings, she coined “the

“We are perplexed, but not driven to despair”

banality of evil.” Even “normal” people can

(2 Corinthians 4:8). Darkness will not consume

commit, or assent to, horrible actions.

our thoughts. Whatever is true, honorable, just,

More than ever Defiant optimism and courageous love characterize the true followers of God. Together, in our mutual resolve for love and justice, we are

pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Philippians 4:8, 9).

Love never ends. We will grant space for

stronger. “Encourage one another and build up

grieving. The battle and quest for dignity,

each other” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Now, more

empathy, and integrity live on.

than ever, we need JustLove Collective.

Christianity is, after all, the seeds of resurrection.

The room is bleak. The voices are murmuring.

The air is fetid. The curtains are closing.

Politicians and citizens at every level, in every locale, need to grow a conscience and a backbone. (Both of which Eichmann lacked.) If Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges had merely acquiesced to segregation’s majority rule, if

—Chris Blake

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ReView Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans Jane Marie Atria Books, 2024

I snapped my book shut when she knocked on the door and walked in with her broad smile.

Enter my doctor, whom I’ve been seeing for the past 20-ish years. Today’s visit was to follow up on the recent tweaks to my migraine meds we’d made last time I saw her.

“Oh, what are you reading?”

I showed her my borrowed copy of Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans (2024) by Jane Marie, and told her about you wonderful readers of Pulse, and how our radical progressiveness connects to our faith. She nods approvingly. I tell her that this book details multi-level-marketing schemes and that I’d just finished the chapter about the founder of Amway.

“Did you know, he used to soak rusty nails in tea and call it an iron supplement?” I ask my doctor incredulously.

She shakes her head in knowing disbelief. She goes on to tell me that supplements are tricky because “overdoing supplements that you don’t need is literally flushing money down the toilet.

You just pee them out!” I tell her that someone once tried to convince me to ditch my thyroid medication that she prescribed me in favor of the essential oils that they (not a doctor) were shilling.

“Well, what did you say?”

“I said heck no!” I replied.

“Thaaaaank you!” she said with a chuckle.

Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans chronicles and exposes pyramid-structured (multi-levelmarketing) companies as shams that do not

deserve your time or money—companies like Pure Romance, Avon, Tupperware, and Amway.

These businesses prey upon vulnerable people, mostly women, promising them financial freedom while bleeding them of what money they do have.

The original pyramid scheme definition is “companies where distributors were compensated primarily through recruitment bonuses and sign-up fees as opposed to sales of actual product to an end consumer outside the organization.”

I’m sure I’m not alone in admitting that I have experienced this firsthand. You buy the “startup kit” thinking, Sure, maybe I’ll make a few bucks. You buy your monthly minimum and sell nothing. Maybe you even upgrade to the “Rewards Program.” And before you know it, you have a cabinet full of product that represents an amount of money that you don’t have the courage to calculate. Your upline “friends” say things like “People who fail are negative thinkers” and “You have to want it enough” or “You really should invest in your business more.”

Snap out of it.

Stop believing the lies.

This is not going to make you rich.

For those of you still reading, the migraines are currently under control, thanks to my wonderful doctor and the medication she prescribed. I didn’t even have to recruit any friends to get what I needed. I’m winning.

—Marcia Nordmeyer

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HOPE IS A​N EMBRACE OF THE UNKNOWN​

Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times Your opponents would love you to believe that it’s hopeless, that you have

Special Music

no power, that there’s no reason to act,

undergone, both wonderful and terrible, are astonishing.

This is an extraordinary time full of

that you can’t win. Hope is a gift you

vital, transformative movements that

don’t have to surrender, a power you

could not be foreseen. It is also a

don’t have to throw away. And though

nightmarish time. Full engagement

hope can be an act of defiance, defiance

requires the ability to perceive both. The

isn’t enough reason to hope. But there

21st century has seen the rise of hideous

are good reasons.

economic inequality, perhaps due to

In 2003 and early 2004, I wrote a

amnesia both of the working people who

book to make the case for hope. Hope in

countenance declines in wages, working

the Dark was, in many ways, of its

conditions and social services, and the

moment—it was written against the

elites who forgot that they conceded to

tremendous despair at the height of the

some of these things in the hope of

Bush administration’s powers and the

avoiding revolution. The attack on civil

outset of the war in Iraq. That moment

liberties, including the right to privacy,

passed long ago, but despair, defeatism,

continues long after its “global war on

cynicism and the amnesia and

terror” justifications have faded away.

assumptions from which they often arise have not dispersed, even as the most wildly, unimaginably magnificent things came to pass.

Coming back to the text more than a dozen tumultuous years later, I believe

Memory of joy and liberation can become a navigational tool, an identity, a gift.

its premises hold up. Progressive, populist and grassroots constituencies

Worse than these is the arrival of

have had many victories. Popular power

climate change, faster, harder and more

has continued to be a profound force

devastating than scientists anticipated.

for change. And the changes we have

Hope doesn’t mean denying these

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realities. It means facing them and addressing

and hope shine out of them and what real

them by remembering what else the 21st

changes have emerged because of them, even

century has brought, including the movements,

if not always in the most obvious or

heroes and shifts in consciousness that

recognisable ways.

address these things now. This has been a truly

Change is rarely straightforward. Sometimes

remarkable decade for movement-building,

it’s as complex as chaos theory and as slow as

social change and deep shifts in ideas,

evolution. Even things that seem to happen

perspective and frameworks for large parts of

suddenly arise from deep roots in the past or

the population (and, of course, backlashes

from long-dormant seeds. A young man’s

against all those things).

suicide triggers an uprising that inspires other uprisings, but the incident was a spark; the

Unpredictable change Social, cultural or political change does not work in predictable ways or on predictable schedules. The month before the Berlin Wall fell, almost no one anticipated that the Soviet bloc was going to disintegrate all of a sudden (thanks to many factors, including the tremendous power of civil society, nonviolent direct action, and hopeful organising going back to the 1970s), any more than anyone, even the participants, foresaw the impact that the Arab spring or Occupy Wall Street or a host of other great uprisings would have. We don’t know what is going to happen, or how, or when, and that very uncertainty is the space of hope.

This has been a truly remarkable decade for social change and deep shifts in ideas for large parts of the population.

Those who doubt that these moments matter should note how terrified the authorities and elites are when they erupt. That fear signifies their recognition that popular power is real enough to overturn regimes and rewrite the social contract. And it often has. Sometimes your enemies know what your friends can’t believe. Those who dismiss these moments because of their imperfections, limitations, or incompleteness need to look harder at what joy

bonfire it lit was laid by activist networks and ideas about civil disobedience, and by the deep desire for justice and freedom that exists everywhere.

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It’s important to ask not only what those

Total victory has always seemed like a

moments produced in the long run but what

secular equivalent of paradise: a place where all

they were in their heyday. If people find

the problems are solved and there’s nothing to

themselves living in a world in which some

do, a fairly boring place. The absolutists of the

hopes are realised and some joys are

old left imagined that victory would, when it

incandescent and some boundaries between

came, be total and permanent, which is

individuals and groups are lowered, even for an

practically the same as saying that victory was

hour or a day or several months, that matters.

and is impossible and will never come.

Memory of joy and liberation can become a navigational tool, an identity, a gift.

It is, in fact, more than possible. It is something that has arrived in innumerable ways, small and large and often incremental, but not in that way that was widely described

People in official institutions devoutly believe they hold the power that matters, though the power we grant them can often be taken back; the violence commanded by governments and militaries often fails, and nonviolent direct-action campaigns often succeed.

and expected. So victories slip by unheralded.

Failures are more readily detected.

Together we are powerful And then every now and then, the possibilities explode. In these moments of rupture, people find themselves members of a “we” that did not until then exist, at least not as an entity with agency and identity and potency; new possibilities suddenly emerge, or that old dream of a just society re-emerges and—at least for a little while—shines. Utopia is

Paul Goodman famously wrote, “Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society that you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now!” It’s an argument for tiny and temporary victories, and for the possibility of partial victories in the absence or even the impossibility of total victories.

sometimes the goal. It is often embedded in the moment itself, and it is a hard moment to explain, since it usually involves hardscrabble ways of living, squabbles and, eventually, disillusion and factionalism. But also more ethereal things: the discovery of personal and collective power, the realisation of dreams, the birth of bigger dreams, a sense of connection that is as emotional as it is political, and lives that change and do not revert to older ways even when the glory subsides.

Sometimes the earth closes over this moment and it has no obvious consequences; sometimes empires crumble and ideologies fall away like shackles. But you don’t know beforehand. People in official institutions devoutly believe they hold the power that matters, though the power we grant them can often be taken back; the violence commanded by governments and militaries often fails, and nonviolent direct-action campaigns often succeed.

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The sleeping giant is one name for the public;

Together we are very powerful, and we have

when it wakes up, when we wake up, we are no

a seldom-told, seldom-remembered history of

longer only the public: we are civil society, the

victories and transformations that can give us

superpower whose nonviolent means are

confidence that, yes, we can change the world

sometimes, for a shining moment, more powerful

because we have many times before. You row

than violence, more powerful than regimes and

forward looking back, and telling this history is

armies. We write history with our feet and with

part of helping people navigate toward the

our presence and our collective voice and vision.

future. We need a litany, a rosary, a sutra, a

And yet, and of course, everything in the

mantra, a war chant of our victories. The past is

mainstream media suggests that popular

set in daylight, and it can become a torch we

resistance is ridiculous, pointless, or criminal,

can carry into the night that is the future.

unless it is far away, was long ago, or, ideally, both. These are the forces that prefer the giant stays asleep.

— Excerpt from Rebecca Solnit, “‘Hope is a​n embrace of the unknown​’: Rebecca Solnit on living in dark times,” The Guardian, July 15, 2016.

Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

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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 / December 2024 / Issue 9

Seventh-day Adventist Kinship International sdakinship.org

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Pulse / JustLove Collective / December 2024 / Issue 9

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ReView The Hardest Line: The story of Midnight Oil Written and directed by Paul Clarke, 2024

I had been a long-time casual fan of Midnight Oil and their idiosyncratic frontman Peter Garrett. But in a gap between harsh COVID restrictions in early 2021, I was among about 13,000 people at an outdoor show—one of the largest crowds of any kind in Australia that year—as part of the iconic Australian band’s “Makarrata” tour. Devoted to highlighting the invitation for a renewed relationship with Australia’s Indigenous peoples contained in “The Uluru Statement from the Heart,” this tour and album featured a number of Indigenous musicians sharing the songs and stage with Midnight Oil. One of the things I took from this remarkable show was a new curiosity about Garrett, who was 45 years into musical career and in his late 60s at that time, but still singing about things that matter, speaking out in support of various justice causes, and continuing to give opportunities to younger musicians. I wanted to be that when I grew up.

Not so much the enigmatic frontman of an iconic rock band, but someone who will continue to speak and create in ways that matter as long as I am able, and to support others in doing so.

So I read his memoir—Big Blue Sky—and took a deeper dive into the back catalogue of the band. I found a passionate musician and

advocate, who coincidentally was born at Sydney Adventist Hospital. His early life was personal tragedy and music became the way he found a place and voice in the world. Like any band, Midnight Oil had their hits and misses, both musically and politically, including their famous performance at the closing ceremony of Sydney’s Olympic Games in 2000. And Garrett also was circumspect in reflecting on his time— featuring both successes and failures—as a member of Australia’s parliament and government minister (2004–2013), during which time the band took a hiatus, before regrouping in 2017 and their final world tour in 2022.

Filmed over those final years of the band’s life but drawing from footage across their career, The Hardest Line is a powerful introduction to the band and their environmental, peace, and justice activism, from touring outback Australia to performing in protest on the street in front of the Exxon building in midtown Manhattan. Of course, for those already fans, it is primarily a celebration of all things Midnight Oil, pulling together many aspects of their story that have been told previously in various forms.

But this new documentary added one significant and intriguing element to my

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understanding of Midnight Oil and their career.

After their initial success in Australia, built on the hard work of travelling and playing countless gigs around the country in the early 1980s, they struggled to continue and grow that success in the wider world. There were a couple of false starts with recording albums in the UK, but it was a tour through central Australia, primarily visiting Indigenous communities that gave them new perspective and inspiration.

got on the bus and we were shuttled all around the United States and Canada and Europe,” comments drummer Rob Hirst of their extensive touring that began in 1988. Midnight Oil found its greatest and broadest success when most particular, when finding inspiration on the margins, listening to the dispossessed, and literarily amplifying their voices to the wider world in the work of justice. This is “the hardest line” of the documentary’s title— borrowed from their song, “Power and the Passion”—refusing the easier path and instead taking uncompromising, sometimes uncomfortable and even seemingly unsuccessful stands for justice, and in pursuing their own way of creating music, sometimes in tension with the existing music industry.

As the story of such a long-standing band, The Hardest Line is a significant contribution to the recent cultural history of Australia and beyond, touching on many of the issues that have engaged activists around the world over that time. Whether it introduces you to Midnight Oil or reminds us of some of their biggest songs, this documentary prompts us to reflect on the role of the creative activist and the faithful calling of sustaining this focus over the seasons, successes and frustrations of a lifetime. That’s still what I want to be when I grow up.

Almost counter-intuitively, engaging with Australia’s Indigenous peoples and unique country sparked their biggest global hits and international tours.

Almost counter-intuitively, engaging with Australia’s Indigenous peoples and unique country sparked their biggest global hits and international tours, including “Beds are Burning”—a song about the dispossession of Indigenous peoples—“The Dead Heart” and “Blue Sky Mine.” But, as Garrett comments, Diesel and Dust was not only their most successful album, it was, “much more important[ly], an addition to our way of thinking and feeling and seeing that we never otherwise would have had” that “made us, I think, better people.”

“We were caught unaware that our songs about Aboriginal people in Australia would find [such] an audience overseas—and then we

—Nathan Brown

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