Vox Veniae Podcast

How do you know when you are standing on your own sacred ground? Christopher Mack imagines a table where we are not serving our unhealthy fixations and impulses, but are living out of attachment to God’s Inclusive and Transformative Love. [Luke 14:1, 7-14] Reflection  Which strategy for pursuing happiness seems primary for you right now? Who might you share your honest experience of life with this...

Is there an object of place that connects you to prayer? Amy Wolfgang dusts the cobwebs off the ritual of the rosary prayer, from their religious upbringing, infusing it with joy and sacredness in our lives and being. [Revelation 12]   Reflection  Can you take a moment to meditate on the needs of a person or group you might pray for intercession for this week? Where has God invited you into a “que...

What gives people power in Western societies? Eric Robinson cultivates compassion and curiosity around how we relate to power in light of the cross and resurrection, as we seek to embody a multicultural and diverse body of Christ. [Isaiah 11]   Reflection Where is God calling you to lean more into the cross? Where is God inviting you to embrace resurrection? How might you intentionally change one...

What is the difference between an encounter and an interaction? Caroline Cody explores the merciful Samaritan parable through the lens of how we can open ourselves more fully to people we encounter in our paths. [Luke 10:25-42]   Reflection What is a creative way you can show up differently to put yourself more in the way of others? Who might Jesus have pointed to as your “neighbor” if you could a...

What is your life desperate for? Jennifer Cumberbatch of Full Measure preaches about how we our desperate for connection to the life of God and deep relationship with one another, and how Christ embodies this Hope and in-breaking reality.  [Colossians 2:6-15]   Reflection What am I desperate for or about? How would it look to truly be alive without guilt? Can you ask God to restore your hope in Ch...

What needs to be said or done in the world right now? Vanessa Maleare and Brandon co-share a message about how we sync with the Cosmic Christ and one another through a rich understanding of the incarnational and transcendent life of God. Seeing the world through the Cosmic Christ imbues our lives with meaning.  [Colossians 1:15-20]   Reflection What is my Big Idea that feels sacred? How can I conn...

What does it look like to prayerfully open up more fully to both suffering and hope?  Christopher Mack wonders how we attend to the Goodness of God as an invitation to grow in prayerful discernment, empowerment, and liberation. [Colossians 1:9-14]   Reflection What is one way I can grow in attending to God’s Nonviolent Inclusive Kin-dom? Where do I need to grow my endurance for building Beloved Co...

On this 5th Sunday worship, centered around tables and brunch, and inclusive of all ages, Vanessa Maleare reflects on the recent Art Camp and what it means that kids and all of us are created to be creative, just like our Creator.  [Genesis 1:26-27]   Reflection What do you create? What makes you want to create? How might you involve the Creator to become involved in your process? Resource Book: T...

What songs evoke lament and joy for you? Gina Bastone looks at the psalmist’s cry like a mixtape to the heavens, which invites us to companion our grief and imagine how God is calling us to participate in building a new world.  [Psalm 22] Reflection What is causing your lament, what is causing your praise, and how is God showing up in between? What kind of world do you want to build—with our Vox c...

On Trinity Sunday, we conclude our series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looked at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. Today, we consider how God is shaping our leadership for our own lives, our faith community, and the larger world.   [John 16:12-15]   Reflection In...

On Pentecost, we are in the penultimate message in the series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. Today, we consider how God might be inviting us to bear witness to beauty and brokenness, as we humbly listen to one another’s sto...

On the seventh Sunday of Easter, we continue in the series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. Today, we ponder how to be complete in unity by highlighting the unique ways we have been created and called to illuminate God’s Love...

We pick up in our series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. On this sixth Sunday of Easter, we confront transition as an inevitable part of life and consider what it is to wake up to Jesus making a home in our everyday lives. ...

On the fifth Sunday of Easter, we begin a new series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. On this graduation Sunday, we hear reflections from Olaya Hinojosa and Sam Malare about how they are navigating this transition.  [John 13:...

What is Divine goodness inviting us into? On the fourth Sunday of Easter, giving his last homily as a pastor at Vox, Weylin Lee recalls moments of Divine goodness through the restoration of contemplation, comfort through solidarity, and mercy through nonviolence.  [Psalm 23]   Reflection Where can I make space to reflect in stillness and truly rest? How might I practice presence with those experie...

What is that thing you just can’t help but do? On the third Sunday of Easter, Vanessa Maleare sifts through our lives in search of our precious and peculiar calling as she juxtaposes our journey with Peter’s call to be God’s Presence in the world.  [John 21:15-19]   Reflection What is written on your rock? What are you being called to in this season? What are you being called out of this season?

How might we be tempted to over-identify with our politics in unsettling times? On the second Sunday of Easter, Nic Acosta fasts from being “that guy” in regards to seeing everything solely through a political identity and challenges us to question how a purity psychology of politics might subtly supplant our love for Christ and neighbor.  [John 12:1-8]   Reflection Has purity thinking affected ho...

How does Easter invite us to live into the unexpected experiences of rebirth? On Easter Sunday, Weylin Lee beckons us to the Risen Christ through unexpected loss, listening to unexpected voices, and reimagining unexpected hope.  [Luke 24:1-12]   Reflection How might the places of loss in our lives be generating rebirth? What unexpected voices are inviting us to disrupt our lens of normalcy? How mi...

How might we put our nonviolent resistance into words? On Palm Sunday, Gena St. David draws inspiration from both the nonviolent example of Jesus and the nonviolent practice during the civil rights era on how we might resist dehumanizing evil and injustice.  [Luke 22:47-54]   Reflection How might we draw courage from Jesus’ response to violence? How might you practice nonviolence toward yourself t...

How might some of our unquestioned core beliefs keep us from growing in the Life of Christ? On the fifth Sunday of Lent, Christopher Mack wonders how we might jump off the treadmill of unfulfilled dreams and imagine what arrival at purpose and belonging in the Life of Christ looks like. [Philippians 3:7-14]   Reflection Are there some dreams for your life that seem ill-fitting in light of the life...

How does being made new connect with peacemaking? On the fifth Sunday of Lent, Christopher Mack considers what is required for healthy new growth in our lives and community. [Philippians 3]   Reflection Are there some dreams for your life that seem ill-fitting in light of the life of Christ? Does understanding the love of God we experience and extend to others as cruciform invite you to reexamine...

What does it look like for us to care for one another’s pain? On the third Sunday of Lent, Gena St. David and Weylin Lee bear witness to pain & injustice, collaborative peacemaking, and hope. [Isaiah 55]   Reflection Where do you notice scapegoating inside us and between us today? Who is “an opponent” you might wish to get to know better as a person? How are you becoming a source of “unexpecte...

Are you longing to fit into empire or for belonging in the Kingdom of God? On the second Sunday of Lent, Kimberly Culbertson contrasts the allure of empire to the way we show up to protect one another in the Kingdom of God. [Luke 13:31-35]   Reflection Where might God be inviting you to challenge the status quo of empire and lean more into a kingdom mindset? In this season of Lent, how are you cre...

What do we need to let go of in order to bear good fruit in our lives? On the first Sunday of Lent Christopher Mack looks to Jesus’ triumph over evil, injustice, and suffering as opening a way for us to ground pain in Divine Love . [Luke 4:1-13] Reflection As we begin Lent, is there a place where you feel acutely depleted or empty? Where do fears, resentments, and insecurities threaten to block yo...

What do you feel separate from in your life? On this Transfiguration Sunday, Lilly Ettinger reminds us that creative transformation often comes in times when we experience great challenge and turmoil. [2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2]   Reflection In what ways do we struggle with “veils” that obscure our understanding of God and ourselves? How might you open yourself to Jesus’ transformative work in an are...