Vox Veniae Podcast

What excites you about what Vox is (or could be) creating?  On the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Kimberly Culbertson propels us into creative tension as we consider our communal gait. [Matthew 13:31-34]

Reflection

1. How often have you seen yourself as a vital part of the church body versus as a recipient of church services?

If our practice of faith is to be aligned with the way of Christ, what are we invited to embody? practice? On the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Weylin Lee grounds us in a nonreactive posture of engaging with presence and intention toward others. [James 1:22-27]

Reflection

• How might our posture of listening facilitate a healthier practice of faith?

Resources

Book: This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us by Cole Arthur Riley

What comes to mind when you think of Christ’s power? On the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Christopher Mack examines the armor of the oppressive Roman Empire, and how it was reimagined as strength for creative nonviolent resistance in challenging and tumultuous times. [Ephesians 6:10-20]

Reflection

1. How might you practice pivoting toward God’s Peace in this season?

When you think of wisdom, what do you usually think of? On the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Lilly Ettinger sees in Wisdom not boredom, over-spiritualizing, or dry asceticism, but joy, celebration, and a way of seeing clearly. Wisdom is an invitation to really live. [Proverbs 9:1-6]

Reflection

• How does the imagery of Wisdom building a house and preparing a feast invite me to live this week?

Resources

1. Quote: “We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.” -9th Step Promises, Big Book AA

How much do I look to God as I try to discern what is true and good? On the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Kimberly Culbertson acknowledges that to speak the truth requires us to wrestle with our practice of discernment, rather than outsource it to others. [Ephesians 4:24, 29]

Reflection

• What stops me from engaging the practice of discernment?

Resources

1. Prayer: “God, grant me the serenity to accept that there are things I do not know, The courage to speak the truth I do know, And the Wisdom to know that even what I think I know today may seem wrong tomorrow.”  –Serenity Prayer revised by Kimberly Culbertson

What are the ways we might impose our own priorities onto Jesus and fail to see him for who he really is? On the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Nic Acosta reminds us to acknowledge our own biases, how we project them onto Jesus, and how God’s generosity is active among those we consider to be wrong . [John 6:1-15]

Reflection

1. What do I find when I engage with Jesus as presented in the Gospels?

How many of us feel an incongruence throughout liturgy, questioning if we really believe the prayers and psalms passing through our lips? On the ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Vanessa Maleare breathes life into our incongruencies around faith and life by inviting us to make space. [Matthew 14:13-21]

Reflection

• What space are you craving?

Resources

1. Book: A Faith of Many Rooms: Inhabiting a More Spacious Christianity by Debie Thomas

When you feel joy… how do you know?  On the eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Gena St. David, delves into the relationship between joy and grief and points us to how embodying joy can be an act of sacred resistance. [2 Samuel 6:14-19]

Reflection

1. When you’re experiencing joy what do you sound like? 

Resources

1. Book: This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us by Cole Arthur Riley

In a world bent on dividing and condemning, how might we listen to and seek reconciliation with the complex song our whole life is singing?  On the sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Christopher Mack seeks illumination on the intimacy shared between David and Jonathan, and what it teaches us about loving ourselves and loving our enemies. [2 Samuel 1:23-27]

Reflection

1. What part(s) of your life and story do you struggle to welcome or find wholeness? 

Resources

1. Book: Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality in Biblical Times by Tom Horner 

How might your life work differently when you can feel in your body the joy, safety, and pleasure of which the psalmist writes?  On this Pride Sunday, Amy Wolfgang encourages us to feel the embodied confidence of God beside, before, and within our being. [Psalm 16:8-11]

Reflection

1. How can our community go before and beside those in fear of their call to embodiment? 

Resources

1. Video: Writing The Funeral of Cecilia Gentili at St. Patrick’s Cathedral NYC https://www.youtube.com/clip/UgkxUxJAq0_SHZ-vpIv62DizFhX6Ozu-TVch