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?

What might baptism have meant for Jesus and what might it mean for us today? On the Baptism of the Lord Sunday, Christopher Mack plunges into waters of chaos and upheaval to hear baptism  as an invitation to be transformed into the person, who by God’s grace, we are called into becoming…for God, ourselves, and one another. [Isaiah 43:1-2; Luke 3:21-22]

Reflection

• What wisdom have you gained from participating in a community moving through fear and upheaval together? 
• How can we reorient ourselves around that which is life-giving, for our flourishing, inviting us into mutuality and interdependent beloved community?
• If you feel you’ve lost sight of who you’re becoming in Christ, how can you listen for the voice calling you beloved this week?

On the second Sunday after Christmas, Aurelia Dávila Pratt reminds us of our true identity as children of God, image bearers, and beloved. Repeating The Jesus Prayer and other intentional phrases and mantras, we are invited to ground ourselves in our deeper meaning and purpose.  [Luke 18:9-14]

Reflection

• What helps you remember who you truly are, especially when life feels overwhelming?
• When do you feel most grounded or connected to the Divine within you and around you?
• When have you felt the need to start over, and what gave you the courage to begin again?

How can we create a shared world where God’s love is experienced? On the fourth week of Advent, Vanessa Beltran highlights how moments of shared vulnerability–like Mary’s journey to Elizabeth–are essential to becoming who God created us to be, so we can truly understand God’s blessings. [Luke 1:39-45]

Reflection

• How can you open your heart and life to others in ways that allow both you and them to experience the blessing of God’s love, even in moments of vulnerability or unknowingness?
• In what ways do you sometimes forget that you are blessed by God, and how can community—your relationships with others—help you remember and live into this truth?
• How can you actively create spaces of relational freedom and blessing in your daily interactions, allowing both yourself and others to experience God's love and affirmation?

Is there a part of your life that feels exiled or stuck in a rut? On this third week of Advent, Christopher Mack hears in the message of John the Baptizer, an invitation for our lives to be joyfully undone in the wilderness of waiting. [Luke 3:7-17]

Reflection

• When have you experienced a disruption that led to transformation?
• How can this season of waiting re-envision our way in the world?
• Where is there an invitation for God’s newness in this current disruption?

What comes up for you when you think about uncertainty? Weylin Lee begins our season of advent with three markers for wading into waiting and uncertainty: discerning with imagination; recalling God’s gifts; and embodying a path of love. [Psalm 25]

Reflection

• How might we practice discernment with imagination?
• What are some of God’s gifts that you can recall in this current season?
• What is the path of love you are invited to walk and embody?

How powerful can we be when our one voice is not just one voice? Vanessa Maleare tends to our collective healing with four admonitions inspired from Ecclesiastes: grab your people; conserve energy; grab hold of your joy; and make decisions. [Ecclesiastes 4:9-12]

Reflection

1. What are my non-negotiables?
2. Who do I have to have around me?
3. What is true for me right now?

What does it look like for you to listen to your whole life? Christopher Mack looks for a way see God in those who see differently than us and how to experience communal solidarity in uncertain and challenging times. [Psalm 146:2-3, 5-10]

Reflection

• How might we be centered in God’s Peace this week?
• Where do you find it challenging to bear witness with your whole life?
• How might you reconnect with the larger worlds of creation and community this week?

Resources

1. Book: Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun
2. Website: Hokusai: Waves of Inspiration https://nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/hokusai-waves-of-inspiration-from-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston/ :

How do we practice radical welcome? Gena St. David explores how inside each of us exists a wanderer, skeptic, and believer as we conclude our fall series “Who is Vox?” She uses the practice of walking a prayer labyrinth to help us recognize vulnerability, value the winding path, and practice small experiments. [John 3:3-8]

Reflection

• What does the wanderer inside you want from Vox?
• Who at Vox do you trust with your inner skeptic?
• How does the believer inside you wish to participate in Vox?