Vox Veniae Podcast

How can I do something for someone else that brings me joy? Vanessa Maleare defines self-care by casting a vision of service as self-care. [1 Peter 4:7-11]   Reflection  What area of helping others bring you joy or energy?  Is there an area of service in which you’d like to grow?  If there is a barrier to you giving your time somewhere, could that barrier be moved in a creative way? Resource Book: How to Be a Living Thing: Meditations on Intuitive Oysters, Hopeful Doves, and Being Human in the World by Mari Andrew

What’s your favorite call to adventure? Christopher Mack hears the call to reconsider our relationship with the status quo as we are invited to daily form Beloved Community. [Luke 14:25-33]   Reflection  Where do you feel an invitation to subvert the values and expectations of the status quo? How might a cruciform vision of spirituality challenge you? Is there a way you might explore the practice of awakening to the Divine Presence daily this week? Resource Book: Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer  by Richard Rohr Book: Present Perfect: Finding God in the Now by Greg Boyd

How do you know when you are standing on your own sacred ground? Christopher Mack imagines a table where we are not serving our unhealthy fixations and impulses, but are living out of attachment to God’s Inclusive and Transformative Love. [Luke 14:1, 7-14] Reflection  Which strategy for pursuing happiness seems primary for you right now? Who might you share your honest experience of life with this week? Is there someone you. Might invite to experience the radical love and grace of God’s Beloved Community this week? Resource Book: Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Is there an object of place that connects you to prayer? Amy Wolfgang dusts the cobwebs off the ritual of the rosary prayer, from their religious upbringing, infusing it with joy and sacredness in our lives and being. [Revelation 12]   Reflection  Can you take a moment to meditate on the needs of a person or group you might pray for intercession for this week? Where has God invited you into a “queer-ing” of your experience of Christianity? If Mary spans the divine and human, interceding on our behalf and welcoming us to heaven; how can you take the next small step to root your prayers in spiritual and earthly action? Resource Book: Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal by Christine Valters Paintner Website: Pride Resources Mentioned in Homily

What gives people power in Western societies? Eric Robinson cultivates compassion and curiosity around how we relate to power in light of the cross and resurrection, as we seek to embody a multicultural and diverse body of Christ. [Isaiah 11]   Reflection Where is God calling you to lean more into the cross? Where is God inviting you to embrace resurrection? How might you intentionally change one thing in your life this week to live out the Peaceable Kingdom?

What is the difference between an encounter and an interaction? Caroline Cody explores the merciful Samaritan parable through the lens of how we can open ourselves more fully to people we encounter in our paths. [Luke 10:25-42]   Reflection What is a creative way you can show up differently to put yourself more in the way of others? Who might Jesus have pointed to as your “neighbor” if you could ask him today? In what ways can we also embody care for our neighbor like Mary, by sitting at the feet of Jesus?

What is your life desperate for? Jennifer Cumberbatch of Full Measure preaches about how we our desperate for connection to the life of God and deep relationship with one another, and how Christ embodies this Hope and in-breaking reality.  [Colossians 2:6-15]   Reflection What am I desperate for or about? How would it look to truly be alive without guilt? Can you ask God to restore your hope in Christ

What needs to be said or done in the world right now? Vanessa Maleare and Brandon co-share a message about how we sync with the Cosmic Christ and one another through a rich understanding of the incarnational and transcendent life of God. Seeing the world through the Cosmic Christ imbues our lives with meaning.  [Colossians 1:15-20]   Reflection What is my Big Idea that feels sacred? How can I connect with the Cosmic Christ, through small/humble moments? When do I feel the most in sync with God’s presence,  and why? Resource Book: The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers & Mothers by Henri Nouwen Book: Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie

What does it look like to prayerfully open up more fully to both suffering and hope?  Christopher Mack wonders how we attend to the Goodness of God as an invitation to grow in prayerful discernment, empowerment, and liberation. [Colossians 1:9-14]   Reflection What is one way I can grow in attending to God’s Nonviolent Inclusive Kin-dom? Where do I need to grow my endurance for building Beloved Community? How might  I compassionately welcome this moment without feeling resigned to the status quo? Resource Book: The Way of the Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers & Mothers by Henri Nouwen Book: Good Enough: 40ish Devotionals for a Life of Imperfection by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie

On this 5th Sunday worship, centered around tables and brunch, and inclusive of all ages, Vanessa Maleare reflects on the recent Art Camp and what it means that kids and all of us are created to be creative, just like our Creator.  [Genesis 1:26-27]   Reflection What do you create? What makes you want to create? How might you involve the Creator to become involved in your process? Resource Book: The Creator In You, written by Jordan Raynor and illustrated by Jonathan David

What songs evoke lament and joy for you? Gina Bastone looks at the psalmist’s cry like a mixtape to the heavens, which invites us to companion our grief and imagine how God is calling us to participate in building a new world.  [Psalm 22] Reflection What is causing your lament, what is causing your praise, and how is God showing up in between? What kind of world do you want to build—with our Vox community in Austin, Texas, and in our world more broadly? How might we dwell in God’s possibility and open our narrow hands to gather paradise in these difficult times? What phrases might we add to the space after the em dash?

On Trinity Sunday, we conclude our series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looked at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. Today, we consider how God is shaping our leadership for our own lives, our faith community, and the larger world.   [John 16:12-15]   Reflection In what ways can I courageously lead in my larger community? What can I do to tend to my full self while I am doing that?

On Pentecost, we are in the penultimate message in the series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. Today, we consider how God might be inviting us to bear witness to beauty and brokenness, as we humbly listen to one another’s stories.   [John 14:15-27]   Reflection As we sit together in our own metaphorical upper room, can we pray together that the Holy Spirit would astound us with unexpected beauty? How might God be inviting you to speak into or bear witness to another’s beauty and brokenness? How might God be breathing beauty or possibility into the broken places in or around you?

On the seventh Sunday of Easter, we continue in the series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. Today, we ponder how to be complete in unity by highlighting the unique ways we have been created and called to illuminate God’s Love.   [John 17:20-26]   Reflection What difference does it make to hear Jesus praying for Vox Veniae, churches across our continent, and the global church? Is there a specific way you or Vox could show oneness with other Christians from whom you are divided? How might you begin to pray for people  who will be part of Vox and the global church in future? 

We pick up in our series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. On this sixth Sunday of Easter, we confront transition as an inevitable part of life and consider what it is to wake up to Jesus making a home in our everyday lives.  [John 14:23-24, 28-29]   Reflection How might our collective faith buoy us in seasons where our personal faith is lagging? Is there an invitation for you to keep company with Jesus? How might our experience of loss and joy be in transformative conversation?  

On the fifth Sunday of Easter, we begin a new series, Teach Em How To Say Goodbye: Jesus’ Parting Words to a Community in Transition, which looks at the final discourse of Jesus with his disciples before the whirlwind of his death, resurrection, and ascension. On this graduation Sunday, we hear reflections from Olaya Hinojosa and Sam Malare about how they are navigating this transition.  [John 13:31-35]   Reflection How do you navigate challenging feelings during times of transition? What legacy of love has been shared with you? How might God’s Love guide you and ground you in times of transition?

What is Divine goodness inviting us into? On the fourth Sunday of Easter, giving his last homily as a pastor at Vox, Weylin Lee recalls moments of Divine goodness through the restoration of contemplation, comfort through solidarity, and mercy through nonviolence.  [Psalm 23]   Reflection Where can I make space to reflect in stillness and truly rest? How might I practice presence with those experiencing a dark valley? How am I invited to adopt a lens of abundance in practicing mercy?

What is that thing you just can’t help but do? On the third Sunday of Easter, Vanessa Maleare sifts through our lives in search of our precious and peculiar calling as she juxtaposes our journey with Peter’s call to be God’s Presence in the world.  [John 21:15-19]   Reflection What is written on your rock? What are you being called to in this season? What are you being called out of this season?

How might we be tempted to over-identify with our politics in unsettling times? On the second Sunday of Easter, Nic Acosta fasts from being “that guy” in regards to seeing everything solely through a political identity and challenges us to question how a purity psychology of politics might subtly supplant our love for Christ and neighbor.  [John 12:1-8]   Reflection Has purity thinking affected how I relate to other with different political views? What are some ways I can practice detaching my sense of self from my political views? How can I lean into Christ as the true source of my identity?

How does Easter invite us to live into the unexpected experiences of rebirth? On Easter Sunday, Weylin Lee beckons us to the Risen Christ through unexpected loss, listening to unexpected voices, and reimagining unexpected hope.  [Luke 24:1-12]   Reflection How might the places of loss in our lives be generating rebirth? What unexpected voices are inviting us to disrupt our lens of normalcy? How might we expand our imagination of hope?