Rev. Milly Silencio border crossing pilgrimage started when she was 3. Her mom made an audacious decision to cross over from Peru to the US to protect her child. Abraham and Sarah made an audacious decision to pack up and take the whole clan to move across borders. Jesus himself made an audacious decision to cross over to our broken, corrupt world which did not welcome him. Listen to each of their stories and discover your calling as a faithful ezer.  See the pain, the corruption, and the needs. Be the empowering ezer presence assisting them to have their longings met.

What has been your pilgrimage/ journey with God?

How is it similar or different to Abraham or Sarah’s story?

Miluska E. (Milly) Silencio is many things. As an educator, a spiritual advisor, a mentor, and a Dreamer. She founded Hoping Greatly, where she uplifts others through her story of resilience as an undocumented immigrant and co-founder of IVCF alumni of the Mentor Movement. Milly is a licensed clergy with the Evangelical Covenant Church and the former Executive Pastor at Reconcile Brooklyn. As a writer, she contributed her story Restaurando Esperanza in “Keeping the Faith: Reflections on Politics & Christianity in the Era of Trump & Beyond.” She is also an active contributor to My UndocuLife. She is a board member of WOW! In her free time, she can be found catching up on shows with her hubby, having piña colada cheers with friends, and coaching over a delicious NYC meal discovery. More about her journey can be found at hopinggreatly.com.

The Persistent Widow Speaking Truth to Power

What do you imagine the widow to be like? Young? Old? Frail? Bold? In this episode, Bonnie Lin highlights how widows have been an important part of Jesus' life and ministry. In this parable, Jesus features a widow to emulate the fullness of the Kingdom of God as she boldly speaks up, speaks out, and speaks truth to power. The widow represents those without power, without status, without a voice, and neglected by the governing system. She is pitched against a powerful judicial system that does not fear God nor upholds justice.  Have you at times felt too weak, too small, too scared, and powerless in the face of justice?

One of the examples Bonnie Lin brought up was the growing Anti-Asian hate crimes, we find that as bystanders can make a difference by speaking truth to power. In living out the ezer community, Bonnie Lin introduces us to the 5Ds bystanders can do when witnessing a hate crime.  Applying the widow’s experience, Bonnie Lin takes us deep into Jesus' parable to explore how the persistent widow caused the powerful unjust judge to feel like he was about to be KO'd in a boxing match.

Bonnie Lin is a PhD Candidate in Practical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she has developed and taught a course on educational strategy in conflictual contexts, co-led the Asian American Theology and Ministry Colloquium, and directed research and designed learning tools for ministry innovation and antiracist initiatives. Her work brings together biblical hospitality, culturally responsive pedagogies, and restorative practices.

What does economic justice look like in ezer communities? How is it described in the bible? Erika Dayle Siu describes it with one word, koinonia. Koinonia is identifying neighbors as those in need of your help. It is contributing, participating, and sacrificing oneself for another in tangible ways such as sharing resources, time, and energy. It is about expanding our social circles to people of different religions or traditions, caring for animals and nature. In what ways is our world designed according to the principle of koinonia? In what ways is it designed to exclude and foster inequality? How can we be different and live within this world in the spirit of koinonia?

Erika Siu is the Deputy Director of the Think Tanks project at the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She most recently served as Secretariat Director of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation. She has an interest in fiscal policy and sustainable development. Erika is a graduate of Florida State University (BS, JD), Yale University (MDiv), and New York University Law School’s Graduate Tax Program (LLM). Erika lives with her husband Simon and two children in Chicago, Illinois and loves a good swim in Lake Michigan.

Hagar, legacy or troublemaker? In the history of storytelling, Hagar has been highlighted as a troublemaker, quarrelsome, home wrecker, and mother of evil. However, upon in-depth study of Hagar’s journey, Krystin Bruan finds a rich portrait of Hagar for us to ponder and celebrate. Hagar models important biblical themes and prophecies of OT and NT. Her voice in the wilderness unveils God’s heart and guidance for the vulnerable. Hagar comes out of the wilderness armed with hope, God’s promises, protection, and courage. Trusting in God's leading, she returns and remains in a community where God is her ezer and is ultimately sent out in blessing with her son Ishmael.

Krystin is passionate about cultivating creative vibrant communities for the greater social good. She loves working with artists, college students, and young professionals to develop healthy spirituality. A creative producer and communicator by trade, she has launched startups, guided social enterprises, served local churches, and led nonprofits in Madrid, Shanghai, and NYC. You can typically find her gathering people around a table, obsessing over stationary, or dancing salsa. She is currently pursuing her graduate studies at Fuller Theological Seminary and is the Chair of WOW!'s Board of Directors.

The story of Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz is not a story about romance, dating or marriage. It is an inspirational story about acknowledging disruptions of life and grieving together the loss, pain and anger we face. Victoria Chu shows us how the three movements of Naomi, Ruth and Boaz inspire an outpour of self-giving hesed love that impacts their community as they move through the grief process together. Currently, in our world, we are seeing pain in the pandemic, violence, polarization, and various tragedies. Where do you see a hesed movement?

Victoria Chiu has an MA in Counseling from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. She is a Bilingual (Mandarin, Cantonese) play therapist for children and families experiencing grief, trauma, neglect, and attachment issues. She is currently seeing clients through Redeemer Counseling Services in Manhattan and is working towards her doctorate in marriage and family therapy (MFT).  Victoria loves hiking, biking, puppies, and the cello.

Biblical womanhood as subordinate or inferior is not what we find in the bible. Through a long journey with the women of Exodus these past two years, Drea Hairston now highlights Miriam’s place of honor among the Patriarchs. Through Miriam, we can see how her presence in Moses' life reminded him of his true identity, enabling Moses the bold faith to oppose the Pharaoh. Drea shares from her own journey the challenges and various resources both she and her community have engaged with the search for God's wisdom in aspects of decolonization such as gender equality and the equality of all people. What does the ezer mentorship of Miriam reveal to you in your journey? What are some areas we need greater liberation in our own lives? What could you do to be in communion with those whom the world has not liberated?

Drea Hairston is a pastor at Church! of Park Slope, a small community church in Brooklyn striving to be a collective body learning and following Christ together. She is a wife and mother of four children and received her MA degree from City Seminary in the midst of the pandemic. Listen to her previous teachings: Shiphrah & Puah: Midwives of Justice and Partnership Across the River.

How does the way we know and understand the attributes of God help us be a community of ezers?  In this podcast, Jessica Brooks introduces us to the Reader-Response Theory revealing the difference in how our interpretation of God's word through the western cultural context is very different from the ancient Hebrew context of seeing and ascribing value to the 'ezer' attribute of God. Jessica helps us to see how Moses went through spiritual formation, protection and accountability through his ezer (helper) community. Zipporah's ezer actions protected and propelled Moses into his calling as a prophet of God while Jethro and his community were a model for his priestly calling. Who are you protecting, guiding, and holding accountable in your ezer community?

Jessica Brooks graduated with an M.Div. from Nyack College's Alliance Theological Seminary in 2017, with a focus on Bible, Theology, and the Hebrew Bible. She completed ThM in Church History from Princeton Theological Seminary. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in Intercultural Studies at Columbia International University focusing on church history. Her undergraduate work was at Howard University, where became a disciple of Jesus.

We are in the midst of a community crisis where significant disruptions to our way of doing life together have traumatically impacted on our sense and definition of community. How can mentoring be one way to intentionally reimagine community? As Rachelle Verdier walks us through 3 pairs of mentoring relationships: Ruth and Naomi, Elijah and Elisha, Mary and Jesus, we see how God tethers people together in various mentoring relationships for their good and his greater redemptive narrative. These relationships of grace, reciprocity, and redemption opened the way of returning to, realization of, and redefinition of community. How can the mutual dedication expressed in these intentional friendships help us bring about the power, impact, and blessings of a vibrant ezer community?

Rachelle Verdier is a lifelong learner and educator. Rachelle has been teaching in NYC public schools, coaching educators, creating resources for adult learners, and providing professional development opportunities for over 20 years. She has aspirations to use her skillset to help people discover and excavate their authentic identities. Listen to her previous WOW! teaching- Lydia: The Power of Choice from October 2021.

Bottoms Up! God does not operate in a top-down down institution of justice, but bottom-up. His justice comes through His mercy, love, and righteousness. Rev. Ajung Sojwal takes us to the public space where the Syrophoenician mother and Bartimaeus engage with Jesus in a conversation revealing their deep sense of personal agency in partnership with God to bring about the work of justice that blesses others. Listen to this episode and see how faith plays a role in opening our imaginations to a world of restorative justice that is bottoms up!

Rev. Ajung Sojwal is the rector of St. George’s Church, Hempstead, in the Diocese of Long Island. Ajung was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of NY in 2006. She is particularly interested in understanding what radical hospitality means for the Church today. Her home is open for fellowship with home-cooked meals. Ajung is married to Milind, an ordained minister from India, they have two adult children.