Episodes
Sunday Dec 10, 2023
Advent: Preparing for Peace
Sunday Dec 10, 2023
Sunday Dec 10, 2023
How are we preparing to embody the peace of Christ and live as peacemakers? On the second Sunday of Advent, Weylin Lee connects peacemaking to the practices of rehumanizing others, Being present to decentered places, and adopting a posture of consent. [Mark 1:1-8]
Reflection
- How is love helping me hold on?
- Which parts of life feel like caterpillar soup?
- How am I inviting my community to come near?
Resources
- Article: Welcoming Prayer by Contemplative Outreach https://www.contemplativeoutreach.org/welcoming-prayer-method/
- Poem: Shalom, Her Magnetic Heart Than by Kaitlin Curtice https://www.kaitlincurtice.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Curtice_poems.pdf
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Advent: Hope
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
Sunday Dec 03, 2023
What helps you hold on? On the first Sunday of Advent, Gena St. David wades into the wilderness to grasp onto hope in these challenging times. [1 Corinthians 1:3-7]
Reflection
- How is love helping me hold on?
- Which parts of life feel like caterpillar soup?
- How am I inviting my community to come near?
Resources
- Instagram: @blackliturgies by Cole Arthur Riley
- Article: The Three Elements of Self Compassion by Kristin Neff https://self-compassion.org/the-three-elements-of-self-compassion-2/
Podcast: Swearing Is More Important Than You Think by Freakonomics https://freakonomics.com/podcast/swearing-is-more-important-than-you-think/
Sunday Nov 26, 2023
Indivisible from Justice for All
Sunday Nov 26, 2023
Sunday Nov 26, 2023
How might we re-imagine God’s justice in a restorative framework rather than a primarily punitive one? On Christ the King Sunday, Christopher Mack reexamines scriptures on God’s justice and judgment through a lens of nonviolent theology and restorative justice. [Matthew 25:31-40]
Reflection
- Where are you struggling to see God at work in our divisive, violent, over-consumptive, and destructive world?
- When you long for God to be at work in the world, what values or actions do you hope for?
- How might our hunger for justice reshape our baggage of images of God’s judgment?
Resources
- Book: Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination by James Alison
Sunday Nov 12, 2023
Finding Wisdom
Sunday Nov 12, 2023
Sunday Nov 12, 2023
Finding Wisdom
What does wisdom mean to you? Gena St. David glimpses the wisdom of nature as shared through life, trees, and rain. We are invited to consider how we might find spiritual wisdom in the cycle of connection, disconnection, and reconnection embodied in nature and the life of Jesus. [Proverbs 3:13-20]
Reflection
- What wisdom have you learned by observing patterns in nature?
- Where am I currently working against the wisdom of nature?
- What does nature teach me about the wisdom of Love?
Resources
- Book: On the Brink of Everything: Grace, Gravity, and Getting Old by Parker Palmer
- Meditation: “Personal Weather Report” from Sitting Still Like a Frog by Eline Snell
Sunday Nov 05, 2023
Let’s Not Do This
Sunday Nov 05, 2023
Sunday Nov 05, 2023
Let’s Not Do This
When you think about your story of faith, is there a season where you felt especially burdened by the teachings and ideas around you? Kimberly Culbertson follows up her October 1st message, “Rethinking Priesthood” with a reminder of three areas, Problematic Sexual Ethic, Religious Responsibility, and Disregard for Self, where we should reconsider how religious leaders have set limitations to reinforce their own power instead of offering mercy to the marginalized. [Matthew 23:1-5]
Reflection
- What burden might God be trying to lift from your shoulders this morning?
- What burdensome expectation for others might God be calling you to release?
- How might you lean into the “rest for your soul” that Jesus promises?
Sunday Oct 29, 2023
God Loves Every Part
Sunday Oct 29, 2023
Sunday Oct 29, 2023
God Loves Every Part
What does a hug from God feel like? On this Fifth Sunday, Vanessa Maleare, leads our entire community, including our younger ones from Greenhouse and Zamyn, in a wonder moment. She reminds us that God loves us holistically, including our being, thoughts, and feelings [Genesis 1:1-5, 26-27, 31]
Reflection
- Which song or breath practice might you deepen?
- Where do you desire to feel more free?
- How might song or breath help you decide to wait or move?
Resources
- Film: Inside Out by Disney’s Pixar
- Poem: Broken Record by Michael Moynahan SJ
Sunday Oct 22, 2023
Theology of Making
Sunday Oct 22, 2023
Sunday Oct 22, 2023
Marcus Clarke, Resident Artist at Vesper, enters into a conversation with Weylin Lee exploring how art articulates and forms us along our spiritual journey, and encourages us to see our various callings as part of exercising our God given creativity. [Genesis 1:1-5, 26-27, 31]
Reflection
- How are we invited to practice creativity and co-create with Creator?
- How might our practice of making invite healing and restoration?
- How might we explore our own expression of creating and making?
Resources
- Website: Studio Delmar. The artistic practice of Marcus Clarke
Sunday Oct 15, 2023
What is Collective Discernment?
Sunday Oct 15, 2023
Sunday Oct 15, 2023
What is Collective Discernment?
How do we create a community of equals that resists becoming a cult of personality… that resists celebrity culture? Gena St. David wraps up our fall series on non-hierarchy by inviting us to recall the wisdom we’ve gained from each of our teaching team’s perspectives and practicing collective discernment by listening deeply to the Spirit, our bodies, and to on another as we navigate community conversations and practices. [Philippians 2:1-2]
Reflection
- What questions are alive inside me today?
- How might I practice listening deeply to the Spirit, my individual body, and others?
- Which voices do I tend to elevate above others?
Sunday Oct 08, 2023
Dreaming in League with God
Sunday Oct 08, 2023
Sunday Oct 08, 2023
How do we exercise power effectively and holistically? Christopher Mack examines different organizational models and what characteristics might characterize a faith community moving beyond non-hierarchy. [Philippians 4:1-7]
Reflection
- In a crisis, where do you tend to look for safety, control, or influence?
- How might you seek a “loyal companion” to help facilitate an impasse in your life?
- Is there a practice for right-sizedness you feel drawn to this week?
Resources
- Book: Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations by Frederic Lafloux
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Rethinking Priesthood
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
What hesitancies do you have when you consider yourself in relation to priesthood? Kimberly Culbertson explores how we are invited to be hope carriers, resource facilitators, and sacrificial relators as we live out a shared calling. [1 Peter 2:4-5, 9]
Reflection
- How have you been called out of darkness into marvelous light?
- How has God wired you to be part of creating spiritual space for others?
- How does interdependence change the way you view priesthood?
Resources
- Book: Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans
Sunday Sep 24, 2023
Engaging Tension with Humility
Sunday Sep 24, 2023
Sunday Sep 24, 2023
How can we grow from engaging tensions in our world? Vanessa Maleare shares her story of being shaped by tension in living out her calling, while reflecting on the story of Peter living in the tension of past failure and present affirmation. [John 21:18-22]
Reflection
- Where in your life are you fleeing from tension?
- Which of these unresolvable tensions calls to you the most??
- Which of the unresolvable tensions feels most pressing to engage in personally? Corporately?
Resources
- Book: Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
Shared Leadership as Resistance
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
Sunday Sep 17, 2023
How is a practice of shared leadership resistance against oppressive and harmful structures? Weylin Lee vulnerably reflects on the journey of Vox from hierarchy toward non-hierarchy and how this practice is a form of resistance. [Philippians 2:1-8]
Reflection
- Who are the voices we need to include at the table?
- In what ways might you practice love with the most vulnerable?
- What areas of power and privilege are we invited to let go of?
Resources
- Podcast: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill by Christianity Today
- Book: When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community from Emotional and Spiritual Abuse by Chuck DeGroat
- Book: A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture by Scot McKnight & Laura Barringer
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
A Posture of Non-Hierarchy
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
What has been your experience of (non)hierarchy in faith communities? At the beginning of our Fall vision series, Gena St. David interrogates our relationship to power and experience of hierarchy in light of a nonviolent messiah who embodied humility. [Philippians 2:5-8]
Reflection
- What are the strengths and shadows of hierarchy?
- How might I practice embracing myself, and others?
- Do I tend to overutilize or underutilize my power?
Resources
- Podcast: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill by Christianity Today
- Book: When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community from Emotional and Spiritual Abuse by Chuck DeGroat
- Book: A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture by Scot McKnight & Laura Barringer
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
The Peculiarity of Expired Dreams
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
How do you work through your expired dreams? On the eve of our Fall vision series, Christopher Mack ponders how setbacks, dead ends, failure, and loss shape our spirituality. How might we see ourselves and one another with new eyes of hope, imagination, and solidarity for the journey ahead? [Exodus 3:1-15]
Reflection
- How have you been shaped by expired dreams?
- How might you cultivate humble awareness to see the unexpected in the ordinary?
- Where are you trying on your own, where you might need to invite others in?
Resources
- Book: Does God Have a Big Toe? Written by Marc Gellman and illustrated by Oscar de Miejo
- Song: Defying Gravity by Stephen Schwartz from Wicked: A New Musical
- Article: The Ghosts of Archer City by Michael J Mooney
Sunday Aug 27, 2023
Mercy to Your Bodies
Sunday Aug 27, 2023
Sunday Aug 27, 2023
How do we show mercy to our bodies as God does? Gena St. David juxtaposes a living sacrifice with the death dealing ways we often do violence to our bodies. She explores how showing mercy, as God does, to our bodies through gentleness, rest, and healing is an act of worship. [Romans 12:1-2]
Reflection
- Where is God inviting me to try softer this week?
- What prevents me from resting when I need to?
- Whose help could I ask for in my healing process?
Resources
- Book: Try Softer: A Fresh Approach to Move Us out of Anxiety, Stress, and Survival Mode--and into a Life of Connection and Joy by Aundi Kolber
- Book: Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
- Book: My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
Extending the Table
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
Sunday Aug 20, 2023
What would it look like for us to create more space at the table? Weylin Lee looks at an encounter between Jesus and the marginalized to consider how we move beyond our biases, prioritize mercy over convenience, and disrupt negative peace. [Matthew 15:21-28]
Reflection
- How are you invited to decolonize your view of Christ and your faith?
- How might you offer a unique voice and story in our collective work of advocacy?
- What does a nonviolent response look like for you in response to someone else's violence?
Resources
- Book: Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji & Anthony G. Greenwald
- Book: Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haga
Monday Aug 14, 2023
Promise Keeper
Monday Aug 14, 2023
Monday Aug 14, 2023
What hope might you create space for in order to stay close to God’s promises? Virginia Cumberbatch opens up about audaciously holding on to hope through seasons of challenges, disappointments, and injustice. [Psalm 105:1-5]
Reflection
- What would it look like to create space to reflect on the promises God has kept?
- How can the uncertainty or mystery of our human condition embolden us in our faith and purpose?
- What promises have you dismissed or declared obsolete that God might be calling you to resurrect and reclaim?
Resources
- Book: Joy Hunter by Alexis Jones
- Book: Shoutin’ In the Fire: An American Epistle by Danté Stewart
Sunday Jul 30, 2023
Rallying Cry of Resistance
Sunday Jul 30, 2023
Sunday Jul 30, 2023
How might we respond when we feel powerless, unsupported, and at a loss for words? Christopher Mack points to the Apostle Paul’s understanding of Spirit crying out with us for compassion and renewal. [Romans 8:26-32]
Reflection
- How do you handle moments when you find yourself speechless?
- How can we continue to bear witness as God’s subversive global family?
Resources
- Book: Romans Disarmed by Sylvia Keesmaat & Brian Walsh
- Art: Wintered Field by Jason Yarmosky
- Book: Roman for Normal People by J.R. Daniel Kirk
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
Creation & Trust
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
Sunday Jul 23, 2023
What might it mean to have a nonviolent relationship with the rest of God’s creation? Gena St. David explores how the nonviolence of Jesus and the Apostle Paul’s hope that ‘creation itself might be set free’ could impact our relationship to all of creation. [Romans 8:20-25]
Note: Speaker Gena St David invites curiosity about how the nonviolent practice of Jesus applies to our food and environment, while acknowledging a diverse community like Vox is going to include multiple perspectives. Conversations about plant-based eating must include sensitivity to those recovering from disordered eating and those living with food insecurity or in food deserts. Our hope as a community is to continue to collaboratively explore multiple ways of practicing nonviolence with all of creation.
Reflection
- What can we do today to help creation be free?
- How is our pain like creation’s pain?
- What does a trusting relationship with creation look like?
Resources
- Book: The Nonviolent Atonement by J Denny Weaver
- Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Sunday Jul 16, 2023
Reimagining Growth
Sunday Jul 16, 2023
Sunday Jul 16, 2023
How does reflecting on God’s abundance impact your willingness to consent to God’s movement in your life? Weylin Lee considers a parable of Jesus on growth. How might we reimagine our relationship to God’s abundance and how we expand our lives beyond ourselves? [Matthew 13:1-9]
Reflection
- How might consenting to God’s abundance facilitate your growth?
- Where have you experienced growth even in rocky and thorny seasons?
- What are some ways we can be active beyond ourselves?
Resource
- Poem: The Facts of Life by Pádraig Ó Tuama