Vox Veniae Podcast

On the second Sunday of Lent, Lilly Louise Ettinger reminds us powerfully and poignantly that the wilderness is not always received as a gift. We often find it the last place we want to be. Yet we still often find ourselves in the middle of it. Lilly suggests prayer labyrinths, morning pages, and the power of presence as lodestars to guide us in the wilderness.

 

Belonging in the Wilderness lays bare the tension between our vulnerable humanity… our desire to simply be, without hustling for worthiness or trying to fit in… and our longing for Beloved Community with our friends, family, neighbors, enemies, creation, and our Creator. The wilderness is an unavoidable part of this journey. It is where we abandon the game of dressing up like our mythical heroes and begin to uncover the mystery of our one wild and true self.  A life so rooted in Divine Love, we find ourselves simultaneously set apart and intimately connected to God’s global family. We rarely choose to go to the wilderness, where all our distractions and pretense evaporate. Yet the wilderness invites us to live together for what really matters, because here there is energy for little else. There are no shortcuts in the wilderness. It is a solitary journey, which we cannot walk alone.  

Reflection Questions:

1. What brings you to the wilderness?
2. How do you feel invited to respond to God this week?
3. Where are you experiencing tension in your journey right now?

On this first Sunday of Lent, Christopher Mack invites us to open ourselves to God’s Presence in the wilderness through Henri Nouwen’s suggested practices of contemplative prayer, forgiveness, and theological reflection.

Belonging in the Wilderness lays bare the tension between our vulnerable humanity… our desire to simply be, without hustling for worthiness or trying to fit in… and our longing for Beloved Community with our friends, family, neighbors, enemies, creation, and our Creator. The wilderness is an unavoidable part of this journey. It is where we abandon the game of dressing up like our mythical heroes and begin to uncover the mystery of our one wild and true self.  A life so rooted in Divine Love, we find ourselves simultaneously set apart and intimately connected to God’s global family. We rarely choose to go to the wilderness, where all our distractions and pretense evaporate. Yet the wilderness invites us to live together for what really matters, because here there is energy for little else. There are no shortcuts in the wilderness. It is a solitary journey, which we cannot walk alone.  

 

 

God’s Love is in plain sight all around us, yet it seems so obscure. We may feel orphaned from homes where we once experienced spiritual vitality. Coercion and condemnation have left us on the streets looking for a better way. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first words are, “What are you looking for?” and they’re followed by an invitation to “come and see.” We aren’t given certainty or a system to sell. We are invited to experience a common and awe-inspiring grace as we abide with Jesus. Where do people find transforming grace at Vox? What particular ways are we invited to embody Divine grace and invite others to experience this sustaining grace with us? 

In the final message of this series, Christopher Mack leans toward the interplay of transformative presence and incarnational empathy at the scene of deep grief and disappointment of the death of Lazarus and wonders how we might practice empathy across difference.

Reflection Questions:

1. Where do you find yourself resisting healthy empathy and vulnerability with others?
2. How do the relational dynamics impact your ability to care for yourself and someone else simultaneously?
3. Where are you sensing an invitation to create space to listen, feel, and be with someone, particularly across difference?

God’s Love is in plain sight all around us, yet it seems so obscure. We may feel orphaned from homes where we once experienced spiritual vitality. Coercion and condemnation have left us on the streets looking for a better way. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first words are, “What are you looking for?” and they’re followed by an invitation to “come and see.” We aren’t given certainty or a system to sell. We are invited to experience a common and awe-inspiring grace as we abide with Jesus. Where do people find transforming grace at Vox? What particular ways are we invited to embody Divine grace and invite others to experience this sustaining grace with us? 

On this penultimate week of our series, Vanessa Maleare reminds us to bear witness to the good right where we are, making the most of opportunities before us to sing of the good news of justice, hope, and peace in and to our world.

Reflection Questions:

1. When are you tempted to “look away”?
2. What ways might you make a small difference this week?
3. What opportunities from your group are inspiring you? 

Resource:

1. Don’t Look Away PDF

God’s Love is in plain sight all around us, yet it seems so obscure. We may feel orphaned from homes where we once experienced spiritual vitality. Coercion and condemnation have left us on the streets looking for a better way. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first words are, “What are you looking for?” and they’re followed by an invitation to “come and see.” We aren’t given certainty or a system to sell. We are invited to experience a common and awe-inspiring grace as we abide with Jesus. Where do people find transforming grace at Vox? What particular ways are we invited to embody Divine grace and invite others to experience this sustaining grace with us? 

On this fifth week of our series, Christopher Mack explores how we are invited to realize God is justice, rest in God’s Presence, and rise to see and serve God in our neighbor. This is a lifelong journey of living and learning, huddling together to guard our collective hope in God’s good future.

Reflection Questions:

1. What is the wisdom of your body telling you about this present moment?
2. Do you experience pressure for performative gestures, cynical critiques, or overwhelmed withdrawals?
3. How has Vox been a voice of grace in the face of injustice in the past, forming us today?

God’s Love is in plain sight all around us, yet it seems so obscure. We may feel orphaned from homes where we once experienced spiritual vitality. Coercion and condemnation have left us on the streets looking for a better way. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first words are, “What are you looking for?” and they’re followed by an invitation to “come and see.” We aren’t given certainty or a system to sell. We are invited to experience a common and awe-inspiring grace as we abide with Jesus. Where do people find transforming grace at Vox? What particular ways are we invited to embody Divine grace and invite others to experience this sustaining grace with us? 

On this third week of our series, Vanessa Maleare reflects on what makes invitations to grow and companion one another meaningful and transformative.

Reflection Questions:

1. Who has been a “friend to your heart”?
2. What are you seeking/looking for?
3. What do you need from your intimate connection with Jesus?

God’s Love is in plain sight all around us, yet it seems so obscure. We may feel orphaned from homes where we once experienced spiritual vitality. Coercion and condemnation have left us on the streets looking for a better way. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first words are, “What are you looking for?” and they’re followed by an invitation to “come and see.” We aren’t given certainty or a system to sell. We are invited to experience a common and awe-inspiring grace as we abide with Jesus. Where do people find transforming grace at Vox? What particular ways are we invited to embody Divine grace and invite others to experience this sustaining grace with us? 

On this third week of our series, Vanessa Maleare reflects on what makes invitations to grow and companion one another meaningful and transformative.

Reflection Questions:

1. Who has been a “friend to your heart”?
2. What are you seeking/looking for?
3. What do you need from your intimate connection with Jesus?

God’s Love is in plain sight all around us, yet it seems so obscure. We may feel orphaned from homes where we once experienced spiritual vitality. Coercion and condemnation have left us on the streets looking for a better way. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first words are, “What are you looking for?” and they’re followed by an invitation to “come and see.”

We aren’t given certainty or a system to sell. We are invited to experience a common and awe-inspiring grace as we abide with Jesus. Where do people find transforming grace at Vox? What particular ways are we invited to embody Divine grace and invite others to experience this sustaining grace with us? 

In this second week of our series, Eric Robinson looks at how the early believers were scattered across the Mediterranean to different cultures and how God’s grace was powerfully present as they realized God was not static, but rather widening circles of mercy and belonging.

Reflection Questions:

1. What are the signs marking your journey?
2. Wher is the last time you saw one?
3. Who are the bicultural people in your life who might have seen the markers you missed?

God’s Love is in plain sight all around us, yet it seems so obscure. We may feel orphaned from homes where we once experienced spiritual vitality. Coercion and condemnation have left us on the streets looking for a better way. In John’s gospel, Jesus’ first words are, “What are you looking for?” and they’re followed by an invitation to “come and see.” We aren’t given certainty or a system to sell. We are invited to experience a common and awe-inspiring grace as we abide with Jesus. Where do people find transforming grace at Vox? What particular ways are we invited to embody Divine grace and invite others to experience this sustaining grace with us? 

In this first week of our new series, Christopher wonders what it means for each of us to experience Vox a voice of grace in our lives and world.

Reflection Questions:

1. When have you experienced grace in a startling and deeply needed way in your life?
2. Where in your life or in your world do you long to see grace upon grace embodied in the new year?
3. How are you being invited to see and participate in grace this new year?

Whether conscious or unconscious, we often view much of our humanity in opposition to our spiritual life. We know our predilections to vices and addictions. We find ourselves making and breaking the same commitments or resolutions each year for change that remains elusive. We realize we are intensely engaged in the same argument or relational rut, as predictable as Black Friday sales. Yet Jesus’ arrival on earth speaks a different understanding of our humanness. Divinity is moving into our neighborhood, not to price us out of the block, but to show us the sacred in our skin, breath, thoughts, desires, quirks, and connections. We are invited to wait and watch for the Beloved and Beautiful in the imprint of humanness.

In this final week of Advent, Christopher explores the loneliness of the human condition juxtaposed with a God who is with us in every mess and who invites us to love by leading with mercy. 

Reflection Questions:

1. How do you experience belovedness in your body?
2.  What would it look like for you to trust your own experience of God’s Love?
3. Where do you hope to make a place for the freshness of God’s Love in your life?

Whether conscious or unconscious, we often view much of our humanity in opposition to our spiritual life. We know our predilections to vices and addictions. We find ourselves making and breaking the same commitments or resolutions each year for change that remains elusive. We realize we are intensely engaged in the same argument or relational rut, as predictable as Black Friday sales. Yet Jesus’ arrival on earth speaks a different understanding of our humanness. Divinity is moving into our neighborhood, not to price us out of the block, but to show us the sacred in our skin, breath, thoughts, desires, quirks, and connections. We are invited to wait and watch for the Beloved and Beautiful in the imprint of humanness.

In this third week of Advent, Christopher looks at the fragility of God being with us in even the most challenging and harrowing of times. 

Reflection:

1. What does your soul rejoice in?
2. Is it harder for you to find joy in giving mercy or in receiving mercy?
3. What is your prayer to the God of Upheaval?

Whether conscious or unconscious, we often view much of our humanity in opposition to our spiritual life. We know our predilections to vices and addictions. We find ourselves making and breaking the same commitments or resolutions each year for change that remains elusive. We realize we are intensely engaged in the same argument or relational rut, as predictable as Black Friday sales. Yet Jesus’ arrival on earth speaks a different understanding of our humanness. Divinity is moving into our neighborhood, not to price us out of the block, but to show us the sacred in our skin, breath, thoughts, desires, quirks, and connections. We are invited to wait and watch for the Beloved and Beautiful in the imprint of humanness.

In this second week of Advent, Vanessa looks at the fragility of God being with us in even the most challenging and harrowing of times. 

Reflection 

1. Where do you spy God?
2. Where do you long to see peace realized in your personal life?
3. What can you do to bring peace to others?

Whether conscious or unconscious, we often view much of our humanity in opposition to our spiritual life. We know our predilections to vices and addictions. We find ourselves making and breaking the same commitments or resolutions each year for change that remains elusive. We realize we are intensely engaged in the same argument or relational rut, as predictable as Black Friday sales. Yet Jesus’ arrival on earth speaks a different understanding of our humanness. Divinity is moving into our neighborhood, not to price us out of the block, but to show us the sacred in our skin, breath, thoughts, desires, quirks, and connections. We are invited to wait and watch for the Beloved and Beautiful in the imprint of humanness.

In this first week of Advent, Christopher looks at the genealogy of Jesus through the lens of Mary, searching for hope in a season of despair. 

Reflection 

1. How can we wear our own skin with gratitude instead of loathing?
2. What is Divine Wisdom inviting you to trust?
3. Who is someone in your life who illuminate hope for you? 

Homily Title: Reconstructing Sunday School: From Literal Fear to Imaginative Love

While many of the ideas and practices handed down to us about God and the church may have shifted, there is something about Jesus we still find compellingly beautiful. Often, after letting go of what wasn’t working, we struggle to find a way forward that shapes our lives to mirror the Beloved Community of God. 

 

Special guest, Sarah Swartzendruber, co-pastor at Cascade Church in Portland, OR continues our Fall Vision series, Reconstructing Rhythms, by exploring how we relate to the faith that was handed down to us and how we might reimagine more loving and holistic ways of sparking faith conversations and formation with kids in our lives. [Mark 1:10-13]

 

Reflection 

1. If you were in faith spaces as a kid or student, what messages were you given about God?
2. What “tips or solutions” would you add for moving away from “fear-based” theology?
3. If you could teach your childhood self one message about God, what would it be?

Resource

PDF: Vox Childlike Faith of Curiosity

Homily Title: Reconstructing Prayer: From a Contest to a  Doorway

While many of the ideas and practices handed down to us about God and the church may have shifted, there is something about Jesus we still find compellingly beautiful. Often, after letting go of what wasn’t working, we struggle to find a way forward that shapes our lives to mirror the Beloved Community of God. 

 

Brandon Kinder continues our Fall Vision series, Reconstructing Rhythms, by offering several practices for allowing prayer to be a doorway bringing us closer to both our authentic self and the One whose Divine Image we bear. [John 21:1-14]

 

Reflection 

1. How might the purpose of prayer seem different now than when we were younger?
2. When do you feel the most connected to the divine?
3. Try not to look at your phone right now.

Resource

PDF: Vox Doorways to Prayer

Reconstructing Church: From Conformity to Community

While many of the ideas and practices handed down to us about God and the church may have shifted, there is something about Jesus we still find compellingly beautiful. Often, after letting go of what wasn’t working, we struggle to find a way forward that shapes our lives to mirror the Beloved Community of God. 

 

As we continue our Fall Vision series, Reconstructing Rhythms, Lilly Ettinger honors the tender and challenging experiences many have had with church while asking us to participate in the kind of community centered on Christ that would lead to our collective flourishing. [Hebrews 10:24-25]

Reflection 

1. Where do I see the kind of community I want to be a part of?
2. What do I wish motivated me to come to church?
3. How might I reimagine my role in this church?

Resource

PDF:  Vox Growing Together 2025

Reconstructing the Cross: From Punitive Scapegoating to Divine Nonviolence

While many of the ideas and practices handed down to us about God and the church may have shifted, there is something about Jesus we still find compellingly beautiful. Often, after letting go of what wasn’t working, we struggle to find a way forward that shapes our lives to mirror the Beloved Community of God. 

As we continue our Fall Vision series, Reconstructing Rhythms, guest Anthony Bartlett reveals the cross as pointing to the way of our nonviolent transformation rather than a retributive transaction demanded by God. [2 Corinthians 5:13-21]

 

Reflection 

1. What traditional explanations of Christ’s death have I been given in the past?
2. What if the violence of Jesus’ death was the whole point–displaying human violence and the counter-revelation of divine nonviolence?
3. Is it possible for me to accept the revelation of a God of absolute nonviolence?

Resource

PDF:  Vox Practicing Nonviolence

Reconstructing Evangelism: From Tactics to Authenticity

While many of the ideas and practices handed down to us about God and the church may have shifted, there is something about Jesus we still find compellingly beautiful. Often, after letting go of what wasn’t working, we struggle to find a way forward that shapes our lives to mirror the Beloved Community of God. 

This week, in our Fall Vision series, Reconstructing Rhythms, Vanessa Maleare shifts perspective from tactics to sell a religion to authentically bearing witness to the goodness of God present in each of our lives. [John 4:7-30]

Reflection 

1. What is inherently good for you in the ways of Christ?
2. Is there anyone you know that embodies this goodness?

Resource

1. Book: Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Faith by Rob Bell

PDF: Vox Veniae Bearing Witness to Goodness 

Reconstructing Scripture: From Solo to Symphony

While many of the ideas and practices handed down to us about God and the church may have shifted, there is something about Jesus we still find compellingly beautiful. Often, after letting go of what wasn’t working, we struggle to find a way forward that shapes our lives to mirror the Beloved Community of God. 

Our Fall Vision series, Reconstructing Rhythms, continues with Christopher Mack gathering us to for the practice of Lectio divina as a way of stepping into God’s Story, even as we find it infusing in our being. [Mark 12:28-34]

Reflection 

1. How does the relational nature of this scripture conversation between Jesus and the scribe impact how you might reflect on scripture?
2. Where do you experience the disconnect in your life from hearing scripture and embodying it?
3. How might our experience of scripture be different if we try making a meal of it (formational) instead of reading it for helpful or inspiring bits (informational)?

Resource

1. Book: Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
2. Book: Opening to God: Lectio Divina nad Life as Prayer by David Brenner
3. Book: Solo: An Uncommon Devotional by Eugene Peterson, Jan Johnson, J.R. Briggs, and Katie Peckham
4. Book: Eat This Book: A Conversation in the Art of Spiritual Reading by Eugene Peterson

PDF: Vox Veniae Lectio Divina

Homily Title: Reconstructing Spirituality: From Guilt to Growth

While many of the ideas and practices handed down to us about God and the church may have shifted, there is something about Jesus we still find compellingly beautiful. Often, after letting go of what wasn’t working, we struggle to find a way forward that shapes our lives to mirror the Beloved Community of God. 

Our Fall Vision series, Reconstructing Rhythms, begins with Christopher Mack inviting us to consider the practice of Rhythm of Life as a way of allowing the simple seed of God’s kin-dom in our lives and world to become a vibrant, yet surprisingly great shrub. [Mark 4:30-32]

Reflection 

1. What preconceptions about how God is supposed to work today might actually prevent you and others from growing in God’s Love?
2. Do you sense a distraction you might lay down or change your relationship with over the next month?
3. Is there an area in your life where you wish to take a simple step for the next month in the hope of experiencing growth?

Resource

1. Book: Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

PDF: Vox Veniae Rhythm of Life