Vox Veniae Podcast

Gena St. David reflects on some helpful images of what God's comfort might look like when we're walking through fear [Isaiah 43:1-3].

Reflection:

How does your body respond to imagining God speaking your name?

What fear feels most overwhelming right now?

What superficiality in life might be starting to burn away?

Resources:

Film: Death to 2021

Film: 14 Peaks

As we begin a new year, Christopher Mack reflects on how wisdom and word are embodied with us through Christ and how that opens us up to grace [John 1:10-18].

Reflection

How are you feeling at the start of this new year?  

How does the image of God moving into our messy and complex lives open us up to grace?

Weylin Lee reflects on what we are putting on ourselves that centers us around and embodies the love of God through the contemplative practice of Lectio Divina [Colossians 3:12-17].

Reflection:

How might you clothe yourself with more compassion and kindness in this coming year?

What would it look like for you to practice more gratitude in the coming year?

Resources:

Photos: Year in Photos (NY Times)

Lectio Divina

As we continue in the season of Advent, Gena St. David reflects on how experiencing embodied peace more often may lead us to sacrifice fewer things that are alive both inside and outside ourselves [Hebrews 10:5-10].

Reflection:

What forms of sacrifice still tempt you today?

Where are you learning to distinguish between the artificial and the real?

How are you being “made holy” through embodied trust?

Practice:

Discernment.  Distinguish between what’s real and artificial through Scripture, listening prayer, our own bodies.

As we continue in the season of Advent, Weylin Lee reflects on what practices might invite us to embody joy as we continue to navigate distress and disruption both in and outside our lives [Philippians 4:4-7].

Reflection

Who are those in our lives that we might need to embody gentleness towards?

How might we hold the tension of practicing gratitude in the midst of difficult circumstances?

Practice

Joy. How might our reflection on the full story and life of Christ become a source of joy in our lives?

Gentleness. How might we imagine a posture of empowered gentleness would look like with those who are a source of distress in our lives?

Gratitude. What experiences and people can we express gratitude for in the past year as we have navigated a challenging season?

As we continue in the season of Advent, David Wallace reflects on how we might be driven by obligation and what our invitation is to shed the false skin that covers our true selves [Luke 3:7-18].

Reflection

Reflect on the difference you feel when you say or do something out of obligation instead of a willingness in your heart?

What "programs for happiness" are you attached to? How do they keep you covered with a skin that is not your true self?

Practice

Reflect on what programs of happiness you might be attached to. (a. safety and security; b. affection, esteem, and approval; c. power and control)

As we enter the season of Advent, Gena St. David reflects on what is helpful for us to keep in mind and remember when things are being shaken loose inside us and how we can help one another hold onto hope [Luke 21:25-36].

Reflection

What is being shaken loose inside you this advent season?

How are you experiencing Christ in the presence of loved ones?

After the shaking process, what are you hoping will remain?

Practice

Reflect on your experience of being shaken.  What is being shaken loose inside you? What is being removed because it no longer serves us? What do we imagine will remain which cannot be shaken?

Sarah Berson reflects on the story of Hannah and her experience through the movements of I am nothing, I am something, and I am anything [1 Samuel 1:4-20].

Reflection:

What is your suffering stripping from you? What does your nothingness feel like?

What belief grounds you in “I am something?” What space is created with your belief that I am something?

Resources:

Poem: Untitled (by Jason Ikpatt)

Weylin Lee reflects on how we are invited to confront the different forms of oppression that Jesus warns about and how some may even be expressed by our own community [Mark 12:38-44].

Reflection:

What are the ways we can be consumed with ourselves?

How might we be able to lay down power in exchange for mutuality?

Who are the vulnerable that we need to draw attention to and advocate for?

Practice:

Identify our expression of narcissism.  What are the ways that we can be consumed with ourselves?  What are the ways we might embody the humility of Christ that doesn't carry entitlement?

Releasing power for mutuality.  What do we do with the power and influence that we might have in our own circles and systems? What would it look like for us to lay down our power and engage in mutuality?

Resources:

Book: When Narcissism Comes to Church (Chuck DeGroat)

Christopher Mack reflects on what it means to no longer see ourselves and others as monsters and enemies and find ourselves on the border of more fully entering into and being transformed by God’s love [Ruth 1 & Mark 12].

Reflection:

What haunted ways are you tempted to view yourself or a challenging situation in your life?

How does being “not far” from God’s Reign of Love invite you to see yourself or situation differently as we come to the table? 

Resources:

Liturgy Interview: Christopher Mack