Vox Veniae: Recent Episodes
Vox Veniae
Gena Minnix talks about what gets in the way of our listening and how we might practice listening to God together as a community [Mark 9:2-8]. Reflection What small experiment around listening to God am I curious to try? What might a community practice of listening to Love look like? Resources Video: NFL 2018 A Bad Lip Reading Book: Sorry [...]
Jason Minnix talks about the invitation to knowing and being known by God [Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17]. Reflection Where do I sense meaning and connection this morning? What gift am I being invited to receive today? Resources Film: Lucky MWG: Discussion Guide
Jason Minnix talks about the ways we and others have placed spiritual burdens on people that constrict our natural movement to seek healing and growth in Christ [Matthew 23:1-12]. Reflection: What burdens am I being invited to release today? What forgiveness do I need to extend or receive today? Resources: Video: SNL – Church Lady MWG: Discussion Guide
Jason Minnix reflects on some of the ways God is present with us in this journey we are on [Exodus 33:12-23]. Reflection: How can I open myself to participate in God’s presence now? Where am I being invited to play? Resources: Video: Three Year Old Arguing MWG: Discussion Guide
Gena Minnix speaks about fulfillment and how Jesus invites us to meet our needs creatively [Matthew 14:13-21]. Reflection: What “self-talk” messages do I tell myself about my needs? Do I have a need that never seems fulfilled? How might I name that need to God and my community? Resources: Video: The Prestige Book: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg Video: Sharing [...]
Weylin Lee talks about the paradoxical freedom that God invites us to experience [Romans 6:12-18]. Reflection: What areas of our lives might need to experience death or for us to let go of? How might we practice discernment through a lens of grace? Who or what are we imitating? Resources: Podcast: This American Life: Alain de Botton Podcast: Fresh Air: [...]
Jason Minnix talks about our desires and examines the question that Jesus asked his disciples [John 1:35-42]. Reflection: What am I being invited to let go of and return to a relationship of enjoying? What desires am I being invited to carry with compassion this week? What does it mean that God is delighting in me today, as I am? [...]
Gena Minnix talks about what it means to belong and the vision Jesus left us with for Christian community [Matthew 28:16-20]. Reflection: Who among us needs to hear the message, “You belong”? How do I enjoy being playful with God and others? Resources: Article: Don’t Think You Have a Yoga Body? Video: Whose Line is It Anyway Improv Video: Don’t [...]
Gideon Tsang talks about the way we interact with community and how we might do it in a way that creates gratitude and joy [Philippians 1:3-9]. Reflection: What would it look like to participate in sharing your beauty in community? Who’s a safe person you can share a face plant story with this week? Resources: Video: Kids Kissing Podcast: On [...]
Matt Worthington reflects on how we can reframe our divisions and walk a path of unity [1 Corinthians 1:10-18]. Reflection Where is God asking you to be on the journey towards unity? In what ways do we need healing in order to walk with others in our lives? In what ways can we reframe the language and perspective we adopt [...]
As we start a new year, John Chandler reflects on the story that we need to tell that is larger than the challenges and difficulties we have faced and will face [Numbers 6:22-27]. Reflection: What might it look like for you to spend more time in the shine of a face than the shine of a screen in the year [...]
Weylin Lee explores what we’re invited to do in times of hopelessness as we wait for God’s original vision for us and our world to be fully restored [2 Thessalonians 2:13-17]. Reflection: How can we see ourselves and others the same way God sees us? How can our responses to hopelessness be more life giving instead of life limiting? How [...]
Weylin Lee speaks about some different rhythms that facilitate our experience and practice of contentment [Luke 12:13-21]. Reflection: What are certain possessions or attachments which we might need to let go of because they generate anxiety and fear? What are the areas we have neglected in our pursuit of our possessions and attachments? What do our choices reflect about our [...]
Nicolas Acosta speaks about the kind of biblical justice that we should integrate into our conversations and lives [Amos 8:1-12]. Reflection: How can we think in terms of system and not individualizing issues? How can we stand and be near those who are suffering in order to learn more about who God is and who we are? How do we [...]
Gena Minnix talks about the invitation we have to practice freedom and what some of those practices might look like [Galatians 5:13-23]. Reflection: How might I use my freedom to practice love in a more concrete way? What would it look like to belong to Christ and others more freely? Resources Movie: Eddie the Eagle Vox Rhythm of Life
John Chandler talks about the significance of Pentecost in our lives. [Acts 2:1-21]. Reflection: In what areas of life am I being invited to wait? Where do I sense God calling me now?
As we continue in the season of Easter, Jason Minnix talks about how we can practice trust in a way that cares for ourselves instead of simply accomplishing something [John 10:22-31]. Reflection: How do we take a small risk when the support is there? When do we need to reach for support in order to risk trusting? How do we [...]
As we continue in the season of Easter, Jason Minnix talks about experiencing peace whether we’re in a season of belonging or becoming [John 20:19-29]. Reflection: How do we give and receive peace when we are practicing becoming? How do we give and receive peace when we are practicing belonging? How can we pass God’s peace to those in our [...]
As we celebrate Easter, Gideon Tsang talks about what it means to be an active participant instead of a passive recipient in how we live out resurrection [Luke 24:1-9]. Reflection How do we engage in relentless curiosity in our journey of faith? What is the fear in our lives that we can come together to engage? What are the areas [...]
As we continue to reflect in this season of Lent, Jason Minnix talks about how our thirst can increase our intimacy with self, God and community [Isaiah 55:1-9]. Reflection: What do we strive for in our attempt to be loveable? What image of God is no longer helpful in your connection with God? When you fast, or pull back from [...]
As we begin the season of Lent, Gena Minnix reflects on Jesus’ experiencing of fasting and speaks about how fasting impacts the needs and desires of our true self [Luke 4:1-13]. Reflection: When you consider your current level of intimacy with God and others, what feelings do you feel? If you believed you were fully loved, what would you do [...]
As we approach the season of Lent, Gideon Tsang speaks about how we need to reconsider our energy and resources during this season of Lent [Luke 5:1-9]. Reflection: What are the things that keep you up at night? Does your spiritual energy go towards busyness, distraction, or restlessness? How might a spiritual pause help you properly redirect your energy and [...]
Mark Charbonneau speaks about our longing for home and how our journey here and now is perhaps the home we are searching for [John 14:1-7]. Reflection: When have you experienced homesickness and for what were you longing? What comfort do you find in how Jesus comforted his disciples? How do Jesus’ words “I am the way the truth and the [...]
Gideon Tsang speaks about how our experience of faith should reflect a journey of discovery rather than developing and defending ideology and propositional truths. [Matthew 2] Reflection: How are we invited into the process of healing in our own lives and not simply focusing on the macro level of injustice in the world? What is our version or experience of [...]
On the third Sunday of Advent, Matt Worthington speaks about how we approach our collective anxiety and experience joy in this season of Advent. [Philippians 4:4-7] Reflection: How do we tend to engage mourning? Do we brush it off in a dismissive way or are we willing to be guided into lament? How can we be a community of prayer [...]
On the second Sunday of Advent, we have the privilege of hearing from the Chris & Jenny Hoskins and what it means for them to live out peace in their context in Ecuador. The Hoskins are ECC missionaries that Vox is in partnership with. [Philippians 1:3-11] Reflection: How are we able to live out peace in the places God has [...]
Weylin Lee talks about how our spiritual formation needs to be more reflective of what it means to be a child. [1 John 3] Reflection: What are the some new questions we need to continue to ask in our journey of following Jesus? What are some rhythms that provide structure for our spiritual formation? How can we practice the difficult [...]
Gideon Tsang speaks about repentance as healing. [1 John 1] Reflection: In what ways can you give up judgement of yourself and others? How can you bring your full self into God’s loving light? What does a conversation on healing and repentance look like this coming week? Resources: Podcast: On Being – Repentance Book: Accidental Saints TED Radio: What can [...]
Jason Minnix speaks about truth that helps create margin in our lives through community. [Acts 2:42-47] Reflection: What one thing would make our lives simpler and open ourselves up to spiritual growth? Who are the people that make room for our humanity and spiritual growth? What’s is alive in us today? What is dying? What is being reborn?
Matthew Worthington speaks about what it means to imitate Christ and how we live that out. [Ephesians 4:25-5:2] Reflection: How can we be someone who is kind and useful to the greater community? How do we hold space for other people’s experiences and pain and hear their story? What does it look like for us to forgive they way Christ [...]
Gideon begins a conversation on how to rediscover the early and historic church’s transcendent reading of the scriptures. [Heb 4:12-13] Reflection: What do you think of the Bible? How does scripture affect your soul in a trans-rational way? How are you living out scripture in active ways? Resources: 1. Book: The Bible Tells Me So: Why Defending Scripture has made [...]
Terra McDaniel speaks about how Jesus works and uses us in spite of our rejection of God. [Mark 6:1-13] Reflection: When has God been something you have not expected? How have you been disappointed or even offended? How does God use those who are least expected? How is faith built and developed in community versus individually?
This Father’s Day, we hear the story of fathers as they share how being a father has shaped their journey of faith and understanding of God. [Psalm 128] Reflection: How is the God as a father metaphor helpful or hurtful? How has your experience with your own father shaped your understanding of God? What part of your experience needs healing? [...]
John Chandler speaks about what it means for the church to practice hospitality in a culture of hostility. [Acts 10] Reflection: How do we invite conversation and dialogue in how we live the church? What does it mean to open ourselves up to see and recognize the image of God in others? What are your biases and labels that impact [...]
Jason Minnix speaks about Jesus’ habits of listening to himself, God/wisdom, and other people. Often times we only listen in one or two of these areas of our lives, yet spiritual discernment is fostered as we dabble in all three. [Mark 1:35-39] Reflection: Where am I being invited to listen/empathize more deeply – with my self, with God/wisdom, or with [...]
As we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, Gideon Tsang speaks about how there is no heartbreak, fear or need that goes beyond the love that God offers us. [Psalm 118] Reflection: How do we respond when we or others cry? How do we distract ourselves from crying? What is our tendency to ask of God when we are afraid? How [...]
Terra McDaniel speaks about some attributes of Jesus that we sometimes overlook in our interaction and engagement with God. [Luke 13:31-35] Reflection: In what ways have we experienced the nurturing aspect of God in our lives? What would it look like to have a God who demonstrates mothering attributes and impacts how we make decisions and engage with God?
Gideon Tsang speaks about how we should see change in our spiritual formation in light of Christ’s transfiguration. [Mark 9:2-9] Reflection: What is a new intention that we can try in this upcoming season of lent? What are the thin spaces in our lives where we can engage with God? How would it look different for us to live out [...]
Terra Tindle speaks about how we can make sense of God’s involvement in our lives even when we don’t feel it. [Psalm 147] Reflection: What are the graces around us that we overlook and forget? How can we tell good stories to remind us that God is involved regardless of our situation and that there is hope to come? Read [...]
Title: Risk Nicolas Acosta speaks about the interaction between God and Jonah and the different risks each take and avoid and what it means for the areas in our lives that require risk. [Jonah 3] Reflection: What areas in our lives do we seek to control in order to avoid God or people? How have we checked out of certain [...]
Gideon Tsang speaks about the rhythms of our spiritual health and whether we are living sustainable lives. [1 Cor 6:11-14] Reflection: What does spiritual health look like for you? Are the rhythms of how you live sustainable? Why or why not? How are we affected by our ideology and identity? Resources: Book: Gregory David. Shantaram: A Novel Video: Love of [...]
Chris Morton speaks about our identity in Christ and what it means to practice resurrection in our lives. [Ephesians 1:15-23] Reflection: What parts of our identity do we need to leave behind in order to claim our new identity and inheritance? How can we help those inside and outside our community begin to expect resurrection? Where, in our lives and [...]
As we continue in the Lectionary calendar, Jason Minnix speaks about what it means to be prepared and how we prepare for God. [Matthew 25:1-13] Reflection: Where am I over-preparing for what is non essential (threat management)? Where am I under-preparing for what is essential (enjoying God)?
As we continue in the Lectionary calendar, Gideon Tsang speaks about how our faith needs to be worth imitating and what that looks like for us and our community. [1 Thessalonians 1:1-10] Reflection: What is the work and calling in our life that requires faith? How can we pray more for faith instead of clarity? How can we practice the [...]
Reflection: What does it look like to be devoted to other people who follow Christ? How can you bless someone who’s hurt you?
Reflection: Are you in a place of connection or disconnection with God in this season? What might it look like to take a risk towards reconnection this week?
Reflection: Where do I feel resistance to God and/or my life’s work? What would it look like to engage my resistance with compassion?
Jason discusses what reciprocal relationships look like with people and God. Reflection: What is the balance of giving in your relationships? What is the balance of receiving in your relationships?
Reflection: How does covenant work? What is the relationship between commitment and intimacy?
Gideon discusses how examination needs to be an active part of our lives. What does it mean to “examine our hearts”? Genesis 22:1-3.
Gideon walks us through how the “fast-food formula” for faith has led to disillusionment and shame. Instead, patience is the foundation of our faith. Genesis 12:1-5. Reflection: How has God been patient with you? In what ways can you be patient with God and others this week?
Gideon moderates as we hear stories from our community about how they’ve seen the Holy Spirit in their lives and the lives of those around them. [Psalm 68:4-6] Reflection: How is the Holy Spirit working in your life today? What stories come to mind when you think of what God is doing in your daily life?
Gideon speaks about humility. [1 Peter 5] Reflection: What does it look like to clothe yourself with humility this week? Who can you practice gratitude with today?
Gena Minnix looks at the example of how Jesus connects with the woman at the well and what that means for the connection in our relationships. [John 4] Reflection: How can we reveal our authentic selves to experience connection in all our relationships? In what ways can we can we be transformed in our attempts to support the vulnerability of [...]
Valerie Vogt reflects on the dreams that we have for ourselves and the dreams that God has for us and our church. [Exodus 3:1-15] Reflection: What is our burning bush that God is dreaming for us? How can we turn away from our everyday routines in order to embrace God’s dream and for him to show up?
Jason Minnix talks through the idea of invitation and who it is we are called to invite to God’s table. [Luke 1:1-14] Reflection: How do we host God’s table and who do we invite? Who invited us to God’s table? Who do we consider to be guests of honor at God’s table?
Weylin continues from the Lectionary as we reflect on the fourth week of Advent. [Psalm 80] Reflection: When was a moment when you knew and experienced that God was with you? How can we engage suffering in our lives and come along side those who are experiencing it?
Jason Minnix continues from the Lectionary as he talks through how we engage the tensions in Scripture. [Psalm 118] Reflection: Do you approach scripture with a cognitive (head) or affective (heart) approach? How would it look like to approach it in a paradoxical manner (holistic)? How can you bring the reality of who you are right now to allow Scripture [...]
Brandon Dickerson continues from the Lectionary as he talks through confession in the Psalms. [Psalm 32] Reflection: How can confession be a blessing to our lives? Who are those that we need to seek forgiveness from?
Gideon continues from the Lectionary as he talks through a song about where God dwells. [Psalm 84] Reflection: What is the source of our strength that we lean on to go through the valleys and struggles of life? How do we search for God’s presence? How have you experienced God searching for us in the valleys of life?
Gideon continues from the Lectionary as he talks through a song of help. [Psalm 121] Reflection: How do we respond to the difficult circumstances and seasons in our lives? How have we experienced God’s shade in our lives?
Gideon shares about the history of the Evangelical Covenant Church and what it means for Vox to embrace and be a part of the legacy of the greater body of Christ. [2 Timothy 1:1-5] Reflection: How do we connect our expression of faith with what how it has been done before? Who are the Lois and Eunice’s in our lives? [...]
John Chandler speaks on Hospitality and Imago Dei and what it looks like to pay attention to what God is doing. [Acts 7:54-60] Reflection: In what times and places have you seen God work in your life before? How can we pay attention to what God is doing around us and for us to be a part of it?
Sam Myrick continues from the Lectionary as we continue to observe the season of Easter. [Acts 1:1-9] Reflection: In what ways can we live and promote the kingdom of God here and now? How is Jesus king in our lives and how do we worship Him?
John Chandler continues from the Lectionary with a reflection on Christmas and the year passed. [Colossians 3:12-17] Reflection: How can we be intentional about dwelling on and examining who we are? What areas of our lives need to experience growth this coming year?
Jason Ford shares his story of adoption and God’s heart for the orphans and fatherless in our city and world. [Romans 8:14-17; Exodus 2:3-8,10] Reflection: How does being adopted into the family of God shape our relationship with God and others? How can we be involved in serving the orphans and the fatherless in our city?