Episode 7 - Walking Humbly: Justice and Spiritual Formation

Episode 7 - Walking Humbly: Justice and Spiritual Formation

What if justice work is not just something we do for the world — but something the world does in us? In the Season 1 finale, co-hosts Dilys Brooks and Nathan Brown sit down with Chris Blake, Dr. Courtney Ray, and Dr. Yi-Shen Ma to explore the spiritual roots of justice, the practices that sustain activists for the long haul, and what it really means to walk humbly with God in a world that desperately needs it. TIMESTAMPS 0:00  Intro & Theme Music 0:10  Host Welcome & Season Finale Introduction 2:40  Is Justice Uniquely Christian, or a Human Calling? 7:26 The Complicated Label of "Christian" — Fear, Trembling & Reclaiming Faith 10:11  Spirituality vs. Religion — Reorganizing, Not Rejecting 14:02  Revival and Reformation — Chris Blake's Case for the Church 17:02  The Loneliness Epidemic & Why Community Matters 19:47  Church as Community Organizing — Sabbath Schools & Mobilization 21:34  Charity vs. Justice — A Crucial Distinction 22:38  Is Justice Work a Spiritual Practice? 24:49  The Beatitudes as Divine Geography — Father Greg Boyle 29:15  What Keeps You Going? Love, Community & the Long View 29:15  The Weight of Justice Work — Burnout, Rest & Black Women's Fatigue 46:46  Spiritual Practices — Learning, Writing, Community & Solidarity 51:26  Advice to Younger Activists — Find Your Lane, Work for God 1:01:29  Season Finale Closing — Do You Want to Be Healed? 1:01:42  Host Sign-Off & Episode Credits LINKS & RESOURCES Books & Works Mentioned Imagine Life — Chris Blake Troubling the Water — Ben McBride (widening the circle of human concern) Letter from Birmingham Jail — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Episode-Specific Resources Resource 1: Physicians for Human Rights [http://phr.org]  Resource 2: Homeboy Industries  CALL TO ACTION Season Finale Challenge Ask yourself the question Jesus asked in John 5:6: Do you want to be healed? And then ask: what is one concrete act of solidarity — not charity, but justice — that you can take this week? Not to fix everything. Just to do your part as a node in the network. Reflect on Charity vs. Justice Look at one cause or organization you currently support. Is it charity or justice work? How might you deepen your engagement from dispensing to empowering? Season 1 Wrap-Up Thank you for traveling through Season 1 of the JustCoz podcast with us. We have covered Adventist history, Hebrew prophecy, the silent church, global climate justice, young adult voices, and now the spiritual roots of it all. The conversation continues — subscribe and stay with us for Season 2. Listener Engagement Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help more people discover these conversations. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Tag us @justlovecollective. Subscribe so you never miss an episode — Season 2 is coming.

Episode 6 - South Pacific Perspectives

What does justice look like through Pacific eyes? In this episode, Rosaline Parker and Pastor Moe Stiles take us into the personal and collective work of decolonization — exploring how culture, faith, and identity shape our engagement with justice, and why the voices of the margins must lead the way. TIMESTAMPS 00:00  Intro & Theme Music 00:07  Host Welcome — Nathan & Dilys 01:54 Guest Introductions — Rosaline Parker & Pastor Moe Stiles 03:14  How Culture Shapes Our Engagement with Justice 10:28  What Decolonization Really Means — and What It Costs 22:55  Prioritizing Justice Issues: The Forgotten Pacific 31:01 The Role of the Church in Justice Work 34:39 Learning About and Telling  Indigenous Stories   38:00 Justice Work as Embodied Work 39:10 Justice Work is Church Work  44:10 Decolonizing Mission Work 51:50 Fa'afetai Tele Lava 54:15 Closing— Nathan & Dilys Guest Links Rosaline Parker — PAEL Network with Micah Australia: Pacific Australian Emerging Leaders Network - Micah Australia [https://www.micahaustralia.org/take-action/pael-network/]  Rosaline Parker — The Root Crop [https://www.instagram.com/_therootcrop/]  Moe Stiles — Crosswalk Melbourne Church [http://crosswalkvillage.com/melbourne]  Resources Referenced * Americanah [https://a.co/d/02DiaV3I] by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — referenced by Moe Stiles * Pasifika for Palestine [https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPS0Y4fD-Is/]— Pacific solidarity group  * West Papua / New Caledonia / Marshall Islands — justice issues highlighted in the episode CALL TO ACTION This Week's Challenge This week, do one act of intentional learning about the Pacific. Look up what is currently happening in New Caledonia, West Papua, Tuvalu or the Marshall Islands. Share what you learn with one person. Curiosity is where justice begins. Connect & Follow * Follow Rosaline Parker and The Root Crop on social media * Visit Crosswalk Melbourne [https://crosswalkvillage.com/melbourne]  to connect with Moe's community * Explore the work of Micah Australia [http://micahaustralia.org.au]   * Read Americanah [https://a.co/d/02DiaV3I] by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — recommended by Moe Stiles * Share this episode with someone who needs to hear these perspectives * Subscribe to JustLove Notes at justlovecollective.org/notes [http://justlovecollective.org/notes]  The JustCoz Podcast is a podcast of JustLove Collective.

Episode 5 - Young Adult Voices: Justice in a New Generation

What does justice look like through the eyes of a generation that grew up online, came of age in 2020, and refuses to accept that the world can't be better? Co-hosts Dilys Brooks and Nathan Brown sit down with three young adults — a congressional staffer, a medical student, and a political studies student — for an honest, inspiring, and occasionally uncomfortable conversation about faith, justice, hope, and what the next generation really wants from the church and the world. TIMESTAMPS 0:00  Intro & Theme Music 00:53  Host Welcome     00:54  Guest Introductions 02:24 Journeys towards Justice — Pax, Ashley & Alanah  06:06 Defining Justice — Three Perspectives 08:47  How Does Justice Connect with Faith? 11:41  Is This the Faith You Grew Up With? 2020 as a Turning Point 16:12  Who Inspires You? John Lewis, Tim Keller, Taylor Cassidy & More 19:57  What Do You Wish Older People Knew About Your Generation? 26:03  Algorithms, Segregation & the Hunger for Authenticity 30:29  Platform Moment — Educate to Liberate, Senior Thesis & the Medical Student Club 35:02  Closing — Learning to Listen 35:40  Host Sign-Off & Episode Credits Organizations & Projects Mentioned Educate to Liberate — Nonprofit bringing critical policy education to underfunded public schools  Congressional Black Caucus Foundation — cbcfinc.org [http://cbcfinc.org] Episode-Specific Resources Educate to Liberate contact/website: Educate to Liberate [https://www.educatetoliberateacademy.com/about-5]  CALL TO ACTION This Week's Challenge Find someone in your family, church, or community that you have some friendship with but who is from a different generation — whether older or younger. Ask them some of the same questions we asked Pax, Ashley, and Alanah. Ask them: how do they see and experience the world differently than you? How might their formative experiences have been different from yours? And what are the justice issues they are passionate about? For Young Adults You are not too young, too inexperienced, or too small to make a difference. Pax, Alanah, and Ashley are proof. Find your lane and get in it. Listener Engagement Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help more people discover these conversations. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Tag us @justlovecollective. Subscribe so you never miss an episode — new episodes every two weeks. EPISODE CREDITS Dilys Brooks — Co-Host & Content Producer Nathan Brown — Co-Host & Editorial Feedback Beverly Maravilla Jaramillo — Scheduling Coordination & Guest Confirmations Sam Gungaloo — Audio Engineer & Web Content Manager Corban Rosspencer — Mix & Master Music Lumber Down — Intro Music, licensed via Riverside FM Palms Down — Outro Music, licensed via Riverside FM The JustCoz is a podcast of JustLove Collective.

Episode 4 - The Silent Church Speaks

The church has a choice: keep the peace, or make it. In this episode, co-hosts Dilys Brooks and Nathan Brown sit down with theologian Dr. Zdravko Plantak — author of The Silent Church — and young adult Ezekiel Teo to ask the question that has never been more urgent: why is the church so often silent in the face of injustice, and what will it take to finally speak up? TIMESTAMPS 0:00  Intro & Theme Music 1:00  Host Welcome & Episode Overview 3:00  Personal Connection to JustLove's Mission 5:00  Guest Introductions — Dr. Zdravko Plantak & Ezekiel Teo 7:00  The Story Behind The Silent Church — London, Homelessness & Phil Collins 12:00  How the Book Was Received by the Church 16:00  Ezekiel's Discovery of the Book & Its Continued Relevance 20:00  The Kingdom of God: Now and Not Yet 25:00  What Do We Mean by "Church"? Corporate vs. Local Community 29:00  The Church's Official Statements — More Active in the 80s and 90s 33:00  Peacemakers vs. Peacekeepers — A Word for Church Leaders 38:00  Zach's Hopeful Vision: Students Carrying the Mantle Forward 42:00  Closing — A Church That Acts, Not Just Speaks 44:00  Host Sign-Off & Episode Credits Featured Book The Silent Church: Human Rights and Adventist Social Ethics — Dr. Zdravko Plantak (Macmillan Press, 1998) People & Works Referenced This Episode Jürgen Moltmann — Theology of Hope John Brunt — Now and Not Yet (Kingdom of God concept) Dietrich Bonhoeffer — "Who is Jesus Christ for us today?" Phil Collins — "Another Day in Paradise" (cultural prophets) Bob Dylan — "Blowin' in the Wind" Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles) — Social loneliness and community Ellen White — Kingdom of Grace and Kingdom of Glory Proverbs 31 — Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves Luke 4 — Jesus' Nazareth Manifesto Matthew 24–25 — Signs of the times and caring for the least Chuck Scriven, Roy Branson, Doug Morgan — Adventist justice scholars Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — The Danger of a Single Story (referenced by Dilys) CALL TO ACTION This Week's Challenge Ask yourself: Is my church keeping the peace or making it? Then identify one issue in your local community where your faith community could move from silence to action — and take one step toward making that happen, however small. Book Recommendation Read The Silent Church by Dr. Zdravko Plantak — and ask what has changed since 1998, and what hasn't. EPISODE CREDITS Dilys Brooks — Co-Host & Content Producer Nathan Brown — Co-Host & Editorial Feedback Beverly Maravilla Jaramillo — Scheduling Coordination & Guest Confirmations Sam Gungaloo — Audio Engineer Web Content Manager Corban Rosspencer — Mix & Master Music Lumber Down — Intro Music, licensed via Riverside FM Palms Down — Outro Music, licensed via Riverside FM The JustCoz is a podcast of JustLove Collective.

Episode 3 - Adventist Pioneers as Social Reformers

What if the church we know today was built on a foundation of radical social justice — and then forgot it? Historian Dr. Kevin Burton joins co-hosts Dilys Brooks and Nathan Brown to uncover the surprising, inspiring, and sometimes uncomfortable truth about early Adventism's role in the American anti-slavery movement — and what it means for who we are called to be today. KEY QUOTES "What were the pioneers thinking?" "Ellen White said we are reformers." "We need to be the good Samaritan." "If we have a problem with any human being out there in the world, then we are desecrating God himself because we are created in his image." "I cannot be silent. That is actually a sin." TIMESTAMPS 0:00  Intro & Theme Music 0:56  Guest Introduction — Dr. Kevin Burton 0:57  Why Study History? 2:42  Why Study Adventist History?  4:40  How History Shapes Identity 6:08  How Do We Balance Who We Were? 7:44  Justice and the Adventist Church 12:00  The Impact of Adventism on the Anti-Slavery Movement 14:00  Apocalyptic Abolitionism — The Book 23:00  Methodology: Prosopography & Cross-Archive Research 29:00  Long Anti-Slavery Movement  33:46  How We Lost This History — WWI and the Conservative Turn 39:00  The Two-Horned Beast Doctrine & America in Prophecy 49:00  How the Saints Are Receiving This Work 53:00  Personal Transformation Through Research 60:00  Closing — An Invitation to Get Into Good Trouble 1:01  Host Sign-Off & Episode Credits Featured Book Apocalyptic Abolitionism — Dr. Kevin Burton (forthcoming) People & Works Referenced This Episode Ellen White — "We are reformers" (recurring theme in her writings) Joseph Bates — Adventist founder and anti-slavery activist Uriah Smith — Editor of the Adventist Review; called slavery "the prime mover" Joseph & Sarah Clark — Early Adventist evangelists in the post-Reconstruction South A.G. Daniels — General Conference President; racial segregation in Washington D.C. Jan Loughborough — One of the first Adventist historians Doug Morgan — Adventist historian; work on race and the church Michael Campbell — Adventist historian; Adventism and fundamentalism Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — "The Danger of a Single Story" (TED Talk) Matthew 25 — "Whatever you have done for the least of these" Luke 10 — The Good Samaritan Revelation 13 — The Two-Horned Beast and America in prophecy CALL TO ACTION This Week's Challenge Sit with this question from Dr. Burton: What does my faith mean if I remain silent in the face of injustice? Then take one concrete step — however small — to act on the answer. As our Adventist pioneers understood, silence is not neutral. Book Recommendation Pre-order Apocalyptic Abolitionism by Dr. Kevin Burton [https://nyupress.org/9781479839469/apocalyptic-abolitionism/] — and add it to your JustLove Book Circle reading list for 2026. Leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify to help more people discover these conversations. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear it. Tag us @justlovecollective. Subscribe so you never miss an episode — new episodes every two weeks. The JustCoz is a podcast of JustLove Collective.