How does being made new connect with peacemaking? On the fifth Sunday of Lent, Christopher Mack considers what is required for healthy new growth in our lives and community. [Philippians 3]

Reflection

• Are there some dreams for your life that seem ill-fitting in light of the life of Christ?
• Does understanding the love of God we experience and extend to others as cruciform invite you to reexamine your own belovedness or someone else’s?
• How does the cruciform love of God expand your longing and understanding of bearing good fruit?

What does it look like for us to care for one another’s pain? On the third Sunday of Lent, Gena St. David and Weylin Lee bear witness to pain & injustice, collaborative peacemaking, and hope. [Isaiah 55]

Reflection

1. Where do you notice scapegoating inside us and between us today?
2. Who is “an opponent” you might wish to get to know better as a person?
3. How are you becoming a source of “unexpected kindness” toward someone?

Are you longing to fit into empire or for belonging in the Kingdom of God? On the second Sunday of Lent, Kimberly Culbertson contrasts the allure of empire to the way we show up to protect one another in the Kingdom of God. [Luke 13:31-35]

Reflection

• Where might God be inviting you to challenge the status quo of empire and lean more into a kingdom mindset?
• In this season of Lent, how are you creating space to examine the longings of your heart?
• What is one way you might let God gather you under her wings this week?

What do we need to let go of in order to bear good fruit in our lives? On the first Sunday of Lent Christopher Mack looks to Jesus’ triumph over evil, injustice, and suffering as opening a way for us to ground pain in Divine Love . [Luke 4:1-13]

Reflection

• As we begin Lent, is there a place where you feel acutely depleted or empty?
• Where do fears, resentments, and insecurities threaten to block your ability to see God at work?
• How can you listen to the Nonviolent Forgiving Way in silence?

Resources

1. Book: Wondrous Encounters for Lent by Richard Rohr
2. Book: Breathing Underwater: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps by Richard Rohr
3. Music: Sanctuary: Exploring the Healing Path by Alana Levandoski
4. Podcast: The Cosmic We, season 4, episode 1 (Albuquerque, NM: Center for Action and Contemplation, 2023) 
   1. https://cac.org/podcasts/crisis/ 
5. Video: Contemplative Sit 12-Minute Meditation by Dr. Barbara A. Holmes (Albuquerque, NM: Center for Acton and Contemplation, 2023) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGU8QusRjD0

What do you feel separate from in your life? On this Transfiguration Sunday, Lilly Ettinger reminds us that creative transformation often comes in times when we experience great challenge and turmoil. [2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2]

Reflection

• In what ways do we struggle with “veils” that obscure our understanding of God and ourselves?
• How might you open yourself to Jesus’ transformative work in an area of your life where you veil a “veil” remains?
• What steps can you take to confront the veils that obscure God’s light in your relationships, work, or community?

When you encounter systems of oppression do you tend to shrink or fight? Kimberly Culbertson acknowledges the conflicts we encounter all around us and within us, inviting us to creatively resist the destructive violence, and imagine a world in harmony with God’s Reign. [Luke 6:27-30, 35b-36]

Reflection

• How might you lean into the creativity of a third way when you are caught in the either/or thinking of shrinking or fighting as you encounter systematic oppression?
• When you encounter dissonance, how open are you to repentance as a move toward greater freedom and strength in relationships and community?
• How compassionate are you toward yourself when you make missteps in your pursuit of justice and right relationship?

How does remembering our past shape who we are becoming together in the coming years? Christopher Mack facilitates a panel of Carol Lee, Hannah Friesen, and John Bagwell, longtime members of Vox, as they tell the story of what has made Vox such a special community. This is in conversation with our scripture which talks about the importance of roots both for resilience in times of adversity and for bearing good fruit in the years to come. [Jeremiah 17:5-10]

Reflection

• How has your time at Vox shaped your spiritual journey?
• Where are you hoping to bear fruit in your own life this season?
• Is there an invitation for you to become more rooted in spiritual community?

How can we pay attention to the conversation of Majesty and Mystery in our own humble lives?

On the fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Christopher Mack connects our experience of Divine Majesty to our need to receive and give mercy in a way authentic to our calling. [Isaiah 6:1-8]

Reflection

• What is your soul longing for today?
• How can we validate the deeper questions of one another’s lives?
• Where do you need to see yourself or others more clearly and compassionately?

What might it mean to be exceptional? On the fourth Sunday after Epiphany, Vanessa Maleare invites us to see the Divine guiding us to harness our power through acts of mercy, resistance, and hope rooted in God’s Beloved Community. [Luke 2:22-38]

Reflection

• How do I see God’s movement around me?
• Do I hear an invitation?
• Does the invitation align with who God is?

As we reflect on how Christ is revealed during the season of epiphany, how are we invited to embody the good news Jesus lived and taught? On the third Sunday after Epiphany, Weylin Lee guides us to meet this moment of uncertainty with a robust embodiment of the good news of Jesus the Christ. [Luke 4:14-21]

Reflection

• How do we respond to unexpected invitations to embody good news?
• What opportunities resonate for us to embody good news to the most vulnerable?
• What is our collective work to embody good news as we move into a new season of Vox (4.0)?

On the second Sunday after Epiphany, Lilly Ettinger wonders what happens when we look at spiritual gifts less as markers of our individual superiority and more like gifts to further our common good. [1 Corinthians 12:4-11]

Reflection

• Where do you find communities of mutuality in your life? Where are you looking for them or hoping to find them?
• Where have I seen the beauty of community flourishing, and how can I participate more fully in that?
• What role does vulnerability play in the strength of a community, and how am I invited to lean into it?