Vox Veniae Podcast

Bearing the Unbearable

This Trinity Sunday, Christopher Mack offers questions for reconsidering how the Triune Life of God invites us to strengthen our spirituality and our goodness toward others.  [John 16:12-15].

 

Reflection

1. As you prepare to approach the Table, where do you need grace to bear the seemingly unbearable?
2. Where might God’s Triune Life guide you to trust your inner authority and discernment?
3. How do you see Spirit advocating on behalf of those who suffer oppression and injustice today?

 

Resources

1. Book: Why Did Jesus, Moses, The Buddha, and Mohammed Cross the Road?: Christian Identity in a Multi-faith World by Brian McLaren
2. Art: The Life of Christ by Keith Haring

• • https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/altarpiece-the-life-of-christ-keith-haring/4gGyrQoV9HnbCw?hl=en

 

Yes, You

On Pentecost Sunday, Kimberly Culbertson invites us to lean in and listen for Spirit’s divine ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ over our lives.  [Acts 2:1-11].

 

Practices

• Invite the Holy Spirit into moments of disorientation, and in doing so, receive peace that only God can offer
• Ask the Holy Spirit to help us see clearly
• Ask the Spirit how you are discounting yourself, and step out in faith

 

Reflection

1. In moments of disorientation, can you turn toward the Spirit and receive peace?
2. Where might God be looking to help us see and hear one another more clearly?
3. How might God be releasing you from frantically ranking your significance, and instead invite you to trust that you are enough?

Resources

1. Poem: Keep Yourself at the  Beginning of the Beginning by Hannah Emerson
   • https://onbeing.org/programs/hannah-emerson-keep-yourself-at-the-beginning-of-the-beginning/
     
2.  Book: The Brain and The Spirit: Unlocking the Transformative Potential of the Story of the Christ by Gena St. David
   • https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-brain-and-the-spirit-gena-st-david/1140496719

What Did Jesus Think He Was Doing in Giving Us the Holy Spirit?

As we build towards pentecost with the life of the Risen One in our midst, James Alison invites us to see our lives as a place of God’s indwelling and revealing.  [John 14:23-29].

 

Reflection

1. What do you make of the difference between appearing “to” someone and appearing “within” them?
2. What do you make of Jesus’ going and his coming being the same thing?
3. How do you understand the peace of his parting?

Joining the Song of Triune Love

Christopher Mack imagines Jesus’ prayer for our active participation in God’s Love and call to work alongside those struggling, afraid, and forgotten. [John 17:20-26].

 

Reflection

1. What is it like to imagine Jesus’ praying for you?
2. Where do you or your world feel fragmented? How might you open yourself to God’s Love and Oneness?
3. How might you move yourself to the song of Triune Love?

Praying and Seeing

Each of us is not seeing something about God, and this fifth Sunday of Eastertide, Gena St. David invites us to shift our perspective to glimpse something unexpected.  [Acts 11:2-12].

 

Reflection

1. If we’re not seeing something clearly, then how will God let us know?
2. What new prayer practice do you want to try this week?
3. Toward whom is the Spirit moving you?

 

Practice

1. Open Hearted Prayer: If I’m seeing things wrong, let me know.
2. Question for the week: Who are we still seeing wrong?

Growing Good Together

On this Good Shepherd Sunday, Christopher Mack reflects on who might be good shepherds in our lives and how we might be the same for others [Acts 9:36-42].

Reflection

• Does Jesus’ self-giving life as a good shepherd offer you hope, healing, rest, or reconciliation you need right now? 
• Does someone in your life remind you of Tabitha? Is there an invitation in their example for you to embody Beloved Community?

Practice

• Showing up for mutual flourishing.  How do you show up for your own grief? How can you show up for the grief of others? How might you invite others to show up for you?
• Consenting to God's presence. How is the Mystery of God’s Love inviting a ‘yes’ from you? How might you become aware of God’s Love flowing to you in ordinary moments?
• Leaving a legacy of love and liberation.  How is the Mystery of God’s Love inviting a ‘yes’ from you? How might you become aware of God’s Love flowing to you in ordinary moments?

Forming a New Way of Life

In this season of Easter and resurrection, Weylin Lee reflects on how we are forming new patterns and a new way of life that Jesus invites us toward [John 21:1-19].

Reflection:

• How might making space for sacraments help disrupt our default patterns?
• What does our version of feeding and tending to the vulnerable look like?  
• What is our tension with following the nonviolent path of Christ?

Practice:

• Making space for the sacraments.  How does the Eucharist disrupt our need for self-achievement and self-protection? How might liturgy disrupt our isolation and individualistic faith?
• Love in the ordinary ways. How do we faithfully contribute to the restoration and healing of the hurting and marginalized? What does our version of feeding and tending to the vulnerable look like?

Resources:

• Film: Revolution of Our Times (viewer discretion advised)

Does Doubt Mean I Don’t Believe?

David Wallace reflects on how doubt and belief coexist and both are necessary in our journey of faith [John 20:19-29].

Reflection

• When has your certainty led to unforgiveness?
• How does trusting in God change your understanding of having faith, despite living in a world with such suffering?

Resources

• Book: The Sin of Certainty (Peter Enns)

Fits and Starts

On this Easter Sunday, Christopher Mack reflects on the paradox of resurrection love and the invitation that Jesus’ nonviolence offers us towards peacemaking [Luke 24:1-11].

Reflection:

• Where is Christ inviting you to shift perspectives to find life in death?
• How might forgiveness, righteous anger, and nonviolent resistance call you toward hopeful action?

Subversion of Empire as a Form of Holy Protest

On this Palm Sunday, Jonathan Davis reflects on how Jesus' journey into Jerusalem subverted empire and injustice of his day [Luke 19:28-40].

Reflection:

• How might God be calling me to subvert injustice in my own sphere of influence?
• How can I announce/proclaim the alternate Kin-dom of God this coming week?
• What parts of established religious systems do I reject in following the Way of Jesus?

Resources:

• Book: The Last Week (Marcus Borg & John Crossan)

Welcoming Discomfort

During this season of Lent, Weylin Lee reflects on how we are invited to welcome discomfort as we reflect on Jesus’ journey towards death [John 12:1-11].

Reflection:

• How are you invited into the vulnerability of practicing or receiving extravagant love?
• What is your invitation to practice sabbatical year rhythms that center around the poor?

Practice:

• Be vulnerable in extravagant love. Who are we invited to extend extravagant love toward? Who are we invited to receive extravagant love from?
• Sabbatical year rhythm.  What would practicing a version of the sabbatical year rhythm look like for us? How might we embody Jesus' teaching to feed the hungry and give to those in need?

Resources:

• Video: WeCrashed

Why Do We Leave Home?

During this season of Lent, David Wallace reflects on our journey of wanting to be on our own and how God continually invites us back home [Luke 15:11-32].

Reflection:

• Where are we being lured in our lives by Henri Nouwen's "three human lies" (I am what I have, I am what I do, I am what other people say or think of me)?
• Do we really believe that God's love is unconditional and limitlessly patient? Even lavishly so?

Come as You Are

During this season of Lent, Gena St. David reflects on what stops us from coming to God as we are in the moments when we are most in need [Isaiah 55:1-3].

Reflection:

• What stops us from coming to God “unprepared?”
• In what areas of life are we feeling most “unsatisfied”?
• How might we come to God more quickly when we feel “unloved”?

 

Breaking Awe

During this season of Lent, Christopher Mack invites us to reflect on and consider awe and wonder as our guide towards the divine [Genesis 15:1-6].

Reflection:

• Where in your life have you experienced awe?
• Would you like to see awe open up some part of your life to more hope?
• How might you look to awe to guide and energize your journey?

Practice:

• Take a short walk. Even a few minutes to get out of the office or to walk through your own backyard can be a refreshing change. Read Luke 24:13-16. What things keep you from recognizing Jesus in your life?
• Go for a nature walk in a nearby park. Read Psalm 24 before you head out the door. What difference does it make to think of the whole earth and everything in it as the Lord’s?
• Take 5 minutes just as you are waking to set your intention for the day. You might say: “Today, I will be awake to the world.” Use all your senses. Take a moment to breathe. What aspects of nature do you notice that you might not otherwise? What is attracting you? Where is Spirit present?

Resources:

• Book: Days of Awe and Wonder (Marcus Borg)
• Book: Sacred Pauses (April Yamasaki)

Solidarity with the Powerless

During this season of Lent, Weylin Lee reflects on how we are invited to embody Jesus' solidarity with the powerless [Luke 4:1-11].

Reflection:

• What is our relationship with power and powerlessness in our lives?
• How are we invited to embody powerlessness or be in solidarity with those without power?

Practice:

• Solidarity with the hungry. Find ways to use our surplus to ensure an abundance for all. Volunteer with an organization like Keep Austin Fed.
• Downward mobility. How are we driven by our need for power and control? How might we consider letting go of power and privilege that we normally take advantage of?

Resources:

• Organization: Keep Austin Fed
• Speech: President Volodymyr Zelensky's Inaugural Speech

Where are Miracles When We Need Them?

David Wallace reflects on our invitation to perceive the miracles in our lives that aren't possible from a human perspective [Luke 9:28-43].

Reflection:

• What are "old stories" in your lives that you're holding on to?
• What would new versions of these stories look like if you could perceive them differently?

When God Leans Toward Us

Gena St. David reflects on how God is leaning toward the ones in need and suffering rather than the powerful [Luke 6:20-22].

Reflection

• What mistaken notions of God might we have inherited?
• Who are we being called to lean toward?
• What does a Christ-like response to violence look like?

Resources

• Book: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

All Rise

Christopher Mack reflects on how resurrection hope invites us towards the redemption of our world and partnership with God through an embodied life [1 Corinthians 15:12-20].

Reflection

• How have you been longing for transformation or groaning against injustice this week?
• How does Jesus’ embodied life challenge you to see the image of God anew in creation, community, or in your own beloved body?

Practice

• Breathing exercise (by Cole Arthur Riley). Inhale: This body is good.  Exhale: I will not abandon it.  Inhale: The sacred is in the physical. Exhale: There is wisdom in this breath.

Resources

• Book: God is a Black Woman (Christena Cleveland)
• Writer: Cole Arthur Riley

Moving Toward Christ

Weylin Lee reflects on our invitation to move toward Christ in this season of disruption and disconnection even in the midst of fatigue and uncertainty  [Luke 5:1-11].

Reflection

• How are you creating space for the mystery and presence of God?
• What is Christ inviting you to consent to in this season?
• How is your calling being shaped right now?

Practice

• Welcoming mystery and presence.  How are we making space for both the mystery and presence of God? How are we making space for non-dualistic conversations and interactions?
• Lowering friction in our lives. Identify the sources of friction that keep us from consenting to the way of Christ.  Consider how to lower the friction in our response to Christ’s invitations

Resources

• Game: Wordle
• Book: The Cloud of Unknowing
• Video: Sky Brown Skates Mega Ramp
• Podcast: Hidden Brain (Creatures of Habit)

Power and Peacemaking

Christopher Mack reflects on how Jesus confronts power and violence by inviting us to consider what peacemaking looks like [Luke 4:21-30].

Reflection

• Where or what within your internal world are you struggling to be present?
• How might you be invited to exercise power through peacemaking this week?