Vox Veniae Podcast

Vox Veniae Podcast

By Vox VeniaeReligion & SpiritualityChristianity
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Vox Veniae Podcast episodes

  • Finding a Place You Already Belong

    Vanessa Maleare Interviews Dr. Lynn Osgood, Vox’s new Scholar in Residence, as she explores our sense of calling through the theology of placemaking, asking how the physical places we inhabit shape us, and how our calling shapes those places in return.

     

    Reflection Questions

     

    1. When in your life have you felt a call?
    2. What did that call feel like in your body?
    3. What difference did you witness between the call you felt and how it lived out in the world?
      4. 26 min
    4. Wait...

      Nic Acosta notices that with each passing year, we seem to get better and better at optimizing time management and reducing wait time. But what if waiting is a fundamental experience of being human and fertile spiritual soil that we're depriving ourselves of? What if God is offering to meet us in our moments of waiting and inviting us into the riches of living according to divine time? [1 Kings 19:9-18]

       

      Reflection Questions

      1. Are there truths that we might need to say in order to make the experience of waiting for God more bearable?
      2. How can our periods of waiting be opportunities to embrace the silence of God?
      3. How would our waiting be different if we lived according to the fullness of God's time (kairos) instead of the tyranny of the world's time (chronos)?
        4. 30 min
      4. For Such a Moment as This: A Lesson in Impermanence

        In honor of Christopher Mack’s last Sunday at Vox, Vanessa Maleare leads us through an exercise in discernment using the story of Esther and the Buddhist teaching of impermanence. [Esther 4:12-17]

        Practices:

        1. Listen and notice what/who is around you this week. Release the need for everything to be permanent. Take stock of what your context is. Where are you embedded? What is the need in the world around you?
        2. Listen and notice what is within. What gifts do you have? What power do you have? Be honest and really listen to the answer to this question. Esther thought she had none. But she did in fact have position and beauty on her side which proved to be powerful indeed.
        3. Finally ask yourself: how can I meet the needs of the world around me?
          4. 27 min
        4. Losing and Finding Ourselves in the Work of the People

          Christopher Mack shares his final message as a pastor on staff at Vox. He picks up Jesus’ Parable of the Wheat and Weeds to challenge ourselves personally and communally to participate in God’s wholeness. [Matthew 13:24-30]

           

          Reflection Questions

           

          1. When was a recent ‘aha!’ moment, when you awakened to Divine Presence already-present to your one wild, perplexing, challenging, and beautiful life?
          2. Where are you mercilessly fighting against imperfection, yours and the world’s?
          3. How might you practice giving thanks as a way of getting unstuck from resentment and despair?
            4. 33 min
          4. Is a Nonviolent Future Really Possible?

            Gena St. David glimpses in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, a hope that the nonviolence we see in the life of Jesus can grow “a hundredfold” in our own lives and world–creating ripples larger than we dare dream or imagine. [Matthew 13:18-23]

             

            Reflection Questions

             

            1. Where are you already practicing nonviolence–and what ripples do you imagine it could create?
            2. Where would you like to become more nonviolent–toward the planet, animals, another person, or yourself?
            3. When you practice nonviolence, how do you feel?
              4. 25 min
            4. Embodying the Work of the People

              Each Sunday we begin our liturgy with “welcome to Vox as participants and hosts of our liturgy. Liturgy means the work of the people, and this morning we are all invited to care for and serve one another.” On this Sunday after Pentecost, Christopher Mack considers how we work out this “work of the people” in our being and in relationship to one another in a pace and posture that gives our faith legs for the longhaul.  [Genesis 21:7-18; Romans 12:1-8]

               

              Reflection Questions:

              1. Is there a situation in your life where you are invited to separate hating evil from loving a person malformed by that very injustice?
              2. Where might you invite joy to accompany your sorrow?
              3. What is the Work of the People you are being drawn to work out in your own life this week?
                4. 30 min
              4. What Else?

                On this Pride Sunday, Amy Wolfgang invites us to consider “What Else..” in uncovering Psalm 100 for how we anchor to our belovedness and receive the message of liberation for which our hearts long.  [Psalm 100]

                 

                Reflection Questions:

                1. Where can you reclaim your right to make joyful noise this month?
                2. How can you enter the divine conversation with “What Else”?
                3. When you hear the phrase, “You are God’s dream,” what resonates with you, and what resists it?
                  4. 27 min
                4. Working Out the Work of the People

                  We regularly begin our liturgy with “welcome to Vox as participants and hosts of our liturgy. Liturgy means the work of the people, and this morning we are all invited to care for and serve one another.” On this Sunday after Pentecost, Christopher Mack considers how we work out this “work of the people” in our being and in relationship to one another in a pace and posture that gives our faith legs for the longhaul.  [Romans 12:9-13]

                   

                  Reflection Questions:

                  1. Is there a situation in your life where you are invited to separate hating evil from loving a person malformed by that very injustice?
                  2. Where might you invite joy to accompany your sorrow?
                  3. What is the Work of the People you are being drawn to work out in your own life this week?
                    4. 33 min
                  4. 20th Anniversary: Rich Roots, Beautiful Branches

                    On this Pentecost Sunday, Vox Veniae celebrates its 20th Anniversary. Pastor Vanessa leads a panel of Sarah Chu, Parker Short, and Gina Bastone to reflect upon our rich history of being a voice of grace in Austin, first near UT campus, and then in East Austin. We remember the rich roots that have inspired, liberated, and formed us over our first 20 years. We also dream about how these roots call us to stretch out beautiful branches over the next decade and beyond! [Acts 2]

                     

                    Reflection Questions:

                    1. How has your time at Vox shaped your spiritual journey?
                    2. Where do you hope to see Vox’s beautiful branches stretch in the coming years?
                    3. Is there an invitation for you to become more rooted in spiritual community?
                      4. 28 min
                    4. Out of Sight: Out of Mind?

                      On this Ascension Sunday, Rev. Jenna Sullivan ponders the strange story of Jesus' dramatic ascension back to heaven forty days after the resurrection. Jesus' last words evoke questions and disorientation for his disciples and they can do the same for us today. They can also inspire us to look for Jesus in new forms and get to work living out his teachings. This story gives us permission to ask Jesus hard questions, deal with the cloudy seasons of our own faith journeys, and recommit ourselves to receiving the gift and mission of the Holy Spirit. [Acts 1:6-14]

                       

                      Reflection Questions:

                      1. How do we carry out the good news through the Holy Spirit without Jesus here on earth in bodily form? 
                      2. In what ways does Jesus' alleged departure awaken our own responsibility to bring heaven to earth? How do you feel after hearing Jesus' last words? 
                      3. What cloudy seasons have you faced in your own life and faith that have shaped you in important ways?
                        4. 25 min

                      About Vox Veniae Podcast

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                      The work of the people. Our weekly rhythm of being together as a larger community to worship and confess, to engage scripture and prayer, to celebrate eucharist, and to be sent back into the city with…