Vox Veniae Podcast

Freedom and Community

Matt Inman reflects on how we can grow in our freedom and what freedom means in community [Galatians 6:1-4].

Reflection

1. Do you believe that God is for your freedom? If so, what does that freedom look like?
2. How might freedom grow for us as a community at Vox?

Resources

• Model: Stages of Change
• Poem: How to Be a Poet (Wendell Berry)

Spiritual Practice

1. Journal. Where does criticism run wild in your mind? Who might you be able to join in a more loving way if you quieted that critical voice?
2. Reflect. Explore what is “ours” and who is “we”? How have you narrowed that in at times and what might it look like to start widening it back out?
3. Write a reminder to yourself.  Base this reminder on your own personality, story and what your work requires of you.

 

Now is the Time

Melanie Jones reflects on what it means for us today that the kingdom of God is here and now [Mark 1:14-15].

Reflection

• How do we live in the wake of freedom?
• How do we #staywoke and avoid daydreaming in our current season of justice-seeking?

Art of the Trinity

For Family Sunday, Gideon Tsang reflects on what we can learn about God and ourselves from creation [Psalm 8].

Reflection

• How can your experience of being loved drown out the unlovable voices in your life
• What thunderstorms are you experiencing that might bring healing and new life?

Resources

• The Observable Universe
• Food: Vietnamese Crawfish

 

The Gift of Presence

For Pentecost Sunday, Weylin Lee explores why God’s spirit and presence is a meaningful gift for us [John 14:8-17].

Reflection

• How can you practice becoming more aware of God’s presence in your life today?
• What does it mean for you to embody God’s Spirit and be a gift of presence to others?

Resources

• Book: Practicing the Presence of God (Brother Lawrence)
• Podcast: NYT The Daily - The Legacy of Rachel Held Evans

Spiritual Practice

• Prayer of Presence. 1. Start and end each day with consenting to God’s leadership for the day (just as you’re waking up and before falling sleeping). 2. Choose a prompt in your day (e.g. favorite color, alarm, daily chore) and pause to invite God’s presence into your actions, your words, your thoughts, your emotions. 3. Practice different time intervals. Start with a few minutes, then an hour, then a full day (inviting God’s presence in the smallest things like picking up groceries, typing, opening and closing doors).
• Welcoming Prayer. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I welcome everything that comes to me today because I know it's for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations, and conditions. I let go of my desire for power and control. I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval and pleasure. I let go of my desire for survival and security. I let go of my desire to change any situation, condition, person or myself. I open to the love and presence of God and God's action within. Amen.

Resonance

Jason Minnix explores how we can attune to others in life-fostering ways [John 17:20-26]. 

Reflection

• How am I being invited to resonate more with myself, other people, and/or God?
• What does it look like to relax this week into a deeper story?

Resources

• Documentary: Too Funny to Fail
• Movie: The Biggest Little Farm

Spiritual Practice

• Practice Resonance.  What’s it like to be me right now? What’s it like to be me becoming aware of this?
  Share this with someone in one sentence, “Right now I’m aware of …” Imagine what that would be like and respond with an attempt to resonate. (non-verbal or verbal)
• Practice Resonating with God.  What is God resonating with me around today.  Reflect in silence.

 

Peace I Leave With You

Virginia Cumberbatch reflects on how God can use our anxiety to invite us into spaces of refuge, remembering and reconciliation [John 14:23-28].

Reflection

• Remember a time you experienced God's comfort and care in the midst of anxiety?
• How might your anxiety serve as a path to spiritual formation this week?

Resources

• Blog: Camille Styles - Advice from Women Married Over 40 Years
• Song: P E A C E
• MWG: Discussion Guide 

Spiritual Practice

• This week begin to record the times God’s word has met your obedience and your trust. And may I suggest the following reflection on all the times God has said and done: “I will help you.”  “I will strengthen you.” “I will uphold you.” “I’ll give you what you need.” “I will protect you.” etc...
• Together let us eliminate one avoidance practice this week to make room for the Holy Spirit.  How can we clear a pathway for the Spirit to be the loudest voice – even louder than our own?
• How can we step outside the noise of doom, of fear, of chaos this week to practice pursuing peace?

Clean or Profane

Gideon Tsang reflects on how God is inviting us to clean our profane view of the other [Acts 11:1-18].

Reflection

• Who in your life is loving you into more expansive ways of seeing?
• Why do you think we are addicted to judging our distinctions?

Spiritual Practice

• Commonality.  Think of someone who you see as less worthy.  What do you have in common with that person? Try engaging them this week with commonality rather than distinction.

Resources

• MWG: Discussion Guide

 

Discomfort

Weylin Lee reflects on the areas of discomfort that we are being invited to explore in our movement towards experiencing restoration and rest [Psalm 23].

Reflection

• How can we adopt more of a posture of willingness instead of willfulness to allow ourselves to let go of control?
• What patterns need to be disrupted in order for our soul to be restored?
• How can we allow ourselves to receive the goodness and mercy that is chasing after us?

Resources

• Book: A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23
• MWG: Discussion Guide

Spiritual Practice

• Posture of Willingness.  Pick a situation, activity or relationship this week to adopt a posture of willingness.  Pay attention to how letting go of control might move you into comfort and rest instead of isolation and exhaustion.
• Detox.  Pick an area of your life to practice a detox this week (e.g. technology, social media, food, work, social activity).  Pick an appropriate amount of time (e.g. week, day, portion of a day). In the spaces of discomfort, notice what parts of your true identity are needing to be restored.

Familiar Change

Jason Minnix reflects on how we respond to change in our lives [John 21:1-14].

Reflection

• How can I wait in the familiar with patience and compassion?
• How are the fires of belonging calling me to forgive myself?

Spiritual Practice

• Embracing the Familiar. What do I turn to when things don’t go the way I want them to?  Wait in the familiar with compassion this week. Assume it’s meaningful.
• Reflect on Belonging.  Where are the small fires of belonging now?

 

Forgiveness

Gena Minnix reflects on how Jesus invites us into the process of forgiveness and what that looks like to practice [John 20:19-23].

Reflection

• What injury is currently disturbing my peace?
• This week, how might I practice consenting to the Spirit’s movement toward forgiveness within me?

Resources

• Video: SNL - Astronaut Anne McClain
• Video: Mariachi and Tacos Party
• MWG: Discussion Guide 

Spiritual Practice

• Name the injuries that disturb our peace.  Pass the peace of Christ during liturgy.
• Listen and tell the stories of our grief.
• Forgiving ourselves as we extend forgiveness to others. Learning to consent to the Spirit’s movement of forgiveness within us.

 

Resurrection & Meaning

As we celebrate Easter, Gideon Tsang invites us to consider what resurrection means for us and why we tell this story over and over [John 20:1-18].

 

Reflection

• Awakening begins while it is still dark. How can we be present and patient with our slow awakening?
• What does it look like to live out of abundance this week?

Resources

• Video: Dax Shepard Interview on Recovery
• MWG: Discussion Guide

 

Spiritual Practice

• Catch a sunrise.  Be present for the entirety of the sunrise.  Remind yourself of the gentle slowness of healing & awakening.
• LOVE says unmerited, “I’m so happy you exist”.  Tell a neighbor you’re so happy they exist. Once a day this week, tell someone, I’m so happy you exist.

Fetching Transformation

As we continue in the season of Lent, Jason Minnix invites us to reflect on what is bringing us transformation into our lives right now [Luke 19:28-40]. 

Reflection

• What is bringing my transformation now?
• How am I being converted into gentleness?

Resources

• Podcast: Hidden Brain - One Head, Two Brains
• Podcast: On Being (Jean Vanier)
• MWG: Discussion Guide

Spiritual Practice

• Godly Play.  Where am I at with new meaning today?  Opening. Insight. Scanning. Articulation.  Will to Closure.
• Create a metaphor for your transformation.  What’s my changing journey/ transformation like?  Reach for stories that are like what you’re being invited into.

Embracing Needs

As we continue in the season of Lent, Liz Schepel invites us to explore and embrace our needs that we sometimes push aside [Psalm 63].

 

Reflection

• What emotion has been dominant in your life?  What personal need might be at the root of those feelings?
• What do you tend to put ahead of your own needs?
• In what ways can we respond empathetically to our own needs this week?

Resources

• Song: After the Storm (Mumford & Sons)
• MWG: Discussion Guide 

Spiritual Practice

• Feelings and Needs.  Find ways to slow down and discern your dominant feelings and name the need.  See if you can find different ways to meet that need.
• Safe love.  What does safe love feel like for you?  What is it inviting you to receive? What do you need to receive?

Last Shall be First

As we continue in the season of Lent, Melanie Jones reflects on the relationship between our faith and suffering and how Jesus is in it with us [Mark 10: 28-31].

Reflection

• How am I being invited to access salvation?
• What does it look like to follow Jesus in a meaningful way now?

Resources

• MWG: Discussion Guide

Lenten Maturation

As we continue in the season of Lent, Gideon Tsang reflects on what maturation looks like for us personally and collectively [Exodus 3:1-15].

Reflection

• How can you sit with a part of you that might be flaring up, ready to mature?
• What can you do to listen to the parts of you that need healing this week?

Resources

• Podcast: Experts on Expert - John Gottman
• Art: Brown State of Mind
• MWG: Discussion Guide

Spiritual Practice

• What do you sense flaring up in your life?  Sit with it like a campfire without judgement.  How might it be a part of you, ready to mature?

 

Hens and Chicks

As we continue in the season of Lent, Jason Minnix explores the role of permission in our journey and reflects on the ways we may have been stuck in our faith [Luke 13:31-35].

Reflection

• Who have I given permission to love me?
• Where does my trust need healing today?
• How am I being invited in a gathering love?

Resources

• Video: The Natural History of Chickens
• MWG: Discussion Guide 

Spiritual Practice

• Four Responses to our Demons.  Acknowledge, Validate, Compassion, Share
• Attending to the Craft of Spiritual Intimacy.  What creates movement now towards spiritual intimacy for you? What was once helpful that you’re now finding no longer helpful and need to let go of?

 

Jesus' Vulnerability

As we enter Lent, Matt Inman explores the temptations of Jesus and what that means for how we engage our own temptations and vulnerability this season [Luke 4:1-13].

Reflection

• What role does shame play in your current temptation?
• Where might your vulnerability in life right now lead you to acts of courage and love?

Resources

• Podcast: Inefficiency
• Video: SNL - Devil Can’t Write No Love Song
• MWG: Discussion Guide

Spiritual Practice

• Jump into Barton Springs.
• Pick a temptation or fantasy and extend it out from the point it usually ends. What comes of it?
• Journal about a relationship where you get stuck consistently testing the other person. Find solitude and reconnect with the part of you that feels threatened.

Our Struggle for Hope

As we near the beginning of Lent, Gideon Tsang invites us to consider what we hope for in our maturity and transformation [2 Cor 3:12-18].

Reflection

• What are your hopes for Lent?
• Who allows you to be fully who you are when you are with them and what does that feel like?

Resources

• Book: A Hidden Wholeness (Parker Palmer)
• Video: Jim Carrey - What it All Means
• Video: Yayoi Kusama - Infinity Mirrors
• MWG: Discussion Guide

Spiritual Practice

• List the characters you’ve played.  How did the characters begin? Which characters are you ready to let go of?
• Consider fasting.  How does this restriction lead to freedom?  How does this reconnect me to myself and God?

Rethinking Incarceration

Dominique DuBois Gilliard explores the history and foundation of mass incarceration. And, reflects on how Christians can pursue justice that restores and reconciles. [Acts 16:16-40]

Reflection

• What is our relationship to the good news when it comes at a cost to our ability to offer participation?
• How can you take a step in using your privilege to hold systems and structures accountable that dehumanize others?

 

Turning our Hearts

Kelly Cutbirth reflects on how it’s easy to lose heart and our connection with who we really are, and invites us to look at what it means to turn our hearts towards God and reconnect. [Jeremiah 17]

Reflection

• How are we hiding our hearts from ourselves, God, and each other?
• When was the last time your heart felt nourished by someone?

Spiritual Practice

• How am I hiding my heart from myself, God, and my community?
• When was the last time someone gave you the gift of nourishing? Remember what that felt like. What did they do?
• How might you offer that to someone this week?