Vox Veniae Podcast

Green Pastures and Dark Valleys

Weylin Lee, Kristy Robinson and Joe Arenella reflect together on how they are receiving and integrating Psalm 23 in the context of how this past year has invited them into the green pastures and dark valleys [Psalm 23].

Reflection

1. What are the green pastures you're invited to remember from this past year?
2. How have you seen glimpses of God's grace and hope in the midst of the valley?

Restoration

Naomi Jackson reflects on how Jesus' interaction with his disciples after resurrection invites us to our own experience of restoration [Luke 24:36-48].

Reflection

• How do we see the marks of death we see in ourselves? And how have they been transformed?
• How do you need to reintroduce yourself to your community?
• Where do you need to experience restoration?

Jewish Lives Matter

Rebecca Wheeler-Waltson invites us to locate ourselves in the story of Nehemiah and how it plays out in ways that’s familiar with what’s currently happening in our country [Nehemiah 2:1-8].

Reflection

• Where would you place yourself in this account? As the exiled? The emperor? Or an eyewitness?
• As you ponder what's happening in this country today (anti Asian hate, Darin Chauvin trial), can you see the exiled, the emperor, the eyewitnesses?  What response is the Spirit stirring in you?

Unexpected Resurrection

On Easter Sunday, Weylin Lee reflects on how the unexpected nature of Jesus’ resurrection invites us towards groundedness and good news [John 20:1-18].

 

Reflection

• How have we been accompanied in the losses we have experienced?
• How are we invited to a path of healing and restoration that Jesus offers?
• What restorative work are we being invited to participate in?

 

Practice

1. Reflect on losses and accompaniment.  Hold space for both the unexpected losses and the ways you were accompanied. Write out all the unexpected losses this past year has brought. List the names of those who have accompanied you in them.
2. Observe the gardens around us.  Notice and observe the gardens and natural landscape around us.  Sit with and reflect on the restoration that is happening through our plants.  How are we invited to a path of healing and restoration that Jesus offers us?

 

Resources

1. 1. Film: Feels Good Man

• • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEiqZWw5vYs

 

The God Who Groans

Rachael Clinton Chen reflects on the groaning work of God as we enter Holy Week and how we’re invited to look for Jesus in our story of ache [Mark 15:25-39].

 

Reflection

• Will you let Jesus, the Messiah, enter your ache this Holy Week? 
• Where hope feels weary or foolish, will you let God (and others) groan with you and for you?

Resources

1. 1. Instagram: @aapi.liturgy

• • • https://www.instagram.com/aapi.liturgy/

 

New Covenant

Sarah Berson reflects on what a new Covenant means for us and how the love of God is available for all of us even in the midst of the challenging year we have been collectively navigating [Jeremiah 31:31-34].

 

Reflection

• What grounds you?
• What are you moving from? What are you moving toward?

Practice

• Think about the mile markers from this last year.  Think of a safe person you can share your year with. Offer to listen to another person's story of what this year has been.

Poison and Its Remedy

Title: Poison and Its Remedy

James Alison reflects on how Jesus’ death undoes the world of sacrifice from within [John 3:14-21].

Reflection

• Is Jesus’ death really a sacrifice?
• How did Jesus’ death undo our whole world of judgment and condemnation built on sacrifice?
• The little word “so” in the most famous verse in the Bible has two possible meanings. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son”. Or “For God loved the world in this way: that he gave his only Son”. Which do you think John meant, and why?

Lent: Embodiment

Weylin Lee reflects on how even though we typically fast and deny our body during Lent, we might also be invited to connect with our bodies and practice embodiment to connect with God [John 2:13-22].

Reflection

1. How are you invited to embody disruption towards injustice this Lent?
2. What are the "thin places" you can explore and experiment with this Lent?

Practice

1. Embodying disruption. Make space and sit with our deeper responses to injustice. How might we embody disruption that’s in alignment with God’s heart for the oppressed? How might we give space to our anger to disrupt unhealthy patterns and injustice?
2. Explore “thin places”. Experiment and explore what the thin places are for you in experiencing God's presence.  Discover God's embodied presence in people and places we haven't considered before.

Disorientation

Matt Inman reflects on how disorientation invites us to create space to honor both our hardship and a deepening gratitude and love.  Erin Inman and Jason Ikpatt also share reflections from their own experiences [Mark 8:29-33].

 

Reflection

• What experiences do you find most difficult to validate or legitimize? 
• Where were you most surprised by where love or connection showed up for you this past week?

Waiting as We Wait

Jennifer Cumberbatch reflects on how we wait as we wait in the liturgy of our lives during this season of Lent [Malachi 3:1-4].

Reflection

• What areas are you called to act as priest and mediator in your spheres of influence?
• What areas are you invited to expand the kingdom of God?

 

Resources

1. 1. Song: And He Shall Purify (Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration)

• • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vyOk09uxUc

1. 1. Song: Hallelujah Chorus (Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration)

• • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGbXPvWR79o

 

Transfiguration and Transformation

Weylin Lee reflects on how Jesus' transfiguration invites us to transformation and change as we enter this season of Lent [Mark 9:2-9].

Reflection

• How might you be invited to expand your symbols of God?
• How is listening to Jesus being embodied in your life?
• How are you being invited to sit in the paradox of wholeness and woundedness?

Practice

• Expanding our symbols for God. Use a different image or word to refer to and connect with God. How does this new image or word expand the container you’ve placed God inside?
• Listening to Jesus exercise. Read the Gospels during Lent and pay attention to what Jesus said and did.  Use a different translation or listen to the text. In your listening, wrestle with and discern how to embody his words and actions.

 

Resources

1. 1. Book: Wearing God (Lauren Winner)

• • • https://smile.amazon.com/Wearing-God-Clothing-Laughter-Overlooked/dp/0061768138/

 

Giving Our Letters Legs

Judy Peterson reflects on how the incarnation of Jesus invites us to live our faith in an embodied way [Luke 7:11-22].

 

Reflection

• What do you long to see made manifest in this world?
• When was the last time you were moved from your innermost being and how did you respond?

 

True Authority

Title: True Authority

Kelly Cutbirth reflects on how Jesus modeled another way of authority and how we’re invited to embody this truer way of authority as we lead and follow others [Mark 1:21-28].

 

Reflection

• What ideas about authority am I being invited to let go of?
• How can I use my authority to care for and restore freedom to others?

 

Practice

• Authority grounded in love. Practice caring by writing a note to a leader whose authority has inspired you. Or, as a leader, write a note to someone who follows your authority letting them know you care about them.
• Authority restoring freedom. Next time you’re overwhelmed by an emotion, try taking three long belly breaths. See if you can restore some of your freedom.

 

Resources

1. 1. Video: Ted Lasso

• • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u7EIiohs6U  

 

The Good News of God

James Alison reflects on how the good news of God is God’s own self and the invitation for us to repent which is meant to soften our hearts [Mark 1:14-20].

 

Reflection

• Why does the good news of God have anything to do with repentance?
• Why Galilee? Why fishers? And why brothers?

Courageous Speaking & Courageous Listening

Jane Patterson reflects on how we might practice courageous speaking and listening that makes space for discerning God's truth and guidance in these times of difficult conversations  [1 Samuel 3:1-10, 11-20].

Reflection

• What do you know from your own experience of courageous speaking: what factors help others listen to you?
• What do you know from your own experience of courageous listening: what makes it harder to listen? What helps you listen?
• If you could write a letter to the future about the times we are living through, what wisdom would you want to hand down?

A New Way of Being

As we enter a new year, Weylin Lee reflects on what our invitation is toward a new way of being and experiencing transformation [Mark 1:4-11].

Reflection

• What area of your life is in need of truth-telling?
• How are you invited to consent to God's unconditional love in this year?

Practice

• Confession.  Acknowledge your choice of deception over truth.  Invite yourself to return to the original goodness God created you with.  How can you sit in the tension of those two things this week as you reflect on what's happening in our world and what's happening within you?
• Examine your discomfort.  Examine the moments and seasons of discomfort that you have encountered.  Be curious about how the Spirit might be inviting us to change and transformation in that discomfort.

Resources

1. 1. Podcast: On Being (Louis Newman)

• • • https://onbeing.org/programs/louis-newman-the-refreshing-practice-of-repentance/

 

MWG Discussion Questions

1. What facilitates spaces of truth-telling for ourselves?  When have you experienced a meaningful moment of truth-telling?
2. How might the experiences and seasons of discomfort be opening opportunities for change and transformation?  Why might it be difficult to recognize the Spirit’s work in those moments?
3. How has your understanding and practice of repentance and confession been driven by guilt and shame?  How might God’s unconditional love and our invitation back to our original goodness change our experience of repentance and confession?

The Planting of the Lord

Jeff Chu reflects on God's grace and how our gratitude for that grace is the driving force for whatever work we do in the world [Isaiah 61].

 

Reflection

• Where do you see evidence of God's grace in your life?
• How can you cultivate a discipline of holy gratitude?

 

Practice

• Spend time in the presence of oak trees.  Reflect on God's craftsmanship and grace that allows oaks to grow.  Reflect on how oaks can survive in isolation, but they thrive in community and how that informs our invitation to live a life of righteousness and justice together in community.

 

Resources

1. 1. Book: The Hebrew Bible

• • • https://www.amazon.com/Hebrew-Bible-Translation-Commentary-Three/dp/0393292495/

 

Hope of Restoration

Weylin Lee reflects on the hope of restoration as we come to the end of this heavy year through the contemplative practice of Lectio Divina [Isaiah 61:10-62:3].

Reflection

• In light of this past year, what are the things we hope for in this coming year?
• How might we be open to a new way of being?

Resources

1. 1. Photos: Year in Photos (NY Times)

• • • https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/year-in-pictures.html

1. 1. Lectio Divina

• • • https://voxveniae.com/lectio-divina/

 

Mary and the Incarnation

As we continue in the Advent season, Matt Inman reflects on the Christmas story from the perspective of Mary and how we are invited to be grounded and not overlook the divine in our lives [Luke 1:26-38].

 

Reflection

• Where in your life does love tend to get overlooked in your life?
• What memory of Christmas sticks out to you as loving and intimate? How did love grow in your life to help make such a beautiful moment come into being?

 

Practice

• Where do you find yourself managing acceptance and reflection in your life right now? Notice what stories and emotions come up for you.
• Pick an aspect of life you struggle accepting and work through Tolle's suggestion of doing on oof the three actions: 1. Remove it (let it go)  2. Change it  3. Fully embrace it (accept it)

Advent: Revealed

As we continue in the Advent season, Weylin Lee reflects on the things that God is and has been revealing about ourselves and others and God this past year [John 1:6-8, 19-23].

 

Reflection

• What are the glimpses of divine light we have seen even in our moments of darkness?
• How might we live more from our authentic self and embrace who God has made us to be?
• What are the voices we are hearing that are crying out in the margins for God's justice and mercy?

 

Practice

• Lighting candles. Gather some tea light candles. Remember the glimpses of hope and comfort and guidance that you experienced in darkness. Light a candle for each glimpse of comfort.
• Reflection of personal actions. Examine an action or choice or decision that involved other people. “Was I living out of my ego or was I living out of my rooted and fully loved authentic self?”

 

MWG Discussion Questions

• What has this past year revealed to you about yourself and the world around you?  What was expected?  What was unexpected?
• What has been a glimpse of divine light in your experiences this past year?  How have you seen God’s comfort, guidance and hope in the moments of darkness?
• How has the pandemic removed the exterior layers that we tend to live from?  What parts of your authentic self has been revealed to you this past year?  How have you been holding the tension of living out of who God has made you to be?