October 8, 2009

[Vox News] National Caramel Month Edition

Considered the chameleon of certain culinary confectionary circles, Caramel has just as many uses as Lady Gaga has outfits. In its gaseous form, it can be used to mask odors from sweaty socks to week old meat, or used as a perfume. When gently dabbed on your wrists and neck, caramel gas, has been scientifically proven to woo that special hunk you’ve had your eye on for the past 45 seconds. In the liquid state, caramel offers its sweet services as a succulent sundae topping or emergency hair gel. In its solid state, you can candy coat your chewy caramel with chocolate or cake, and your senses will be taken on a wicked treasure hunt that will make Jack Sparrow look like a little boy playing in a sand pit and the Goonies look like a pack of wild boar chasing their own tails. Whatever application you choose to use this edible master of disguise, never forget that with its hidden bursts of sweetness erupting like a volcano, you might need to make your way over to the Wrangler store cuz your pants are about to get blown off.

[Sunday Liturgy]
As the saying goes, When in Rome, do as the Romans do. How did the Romans live? How did the church connect to its surroundings? Why did Paul address specific issues that he did? As this letter changed Rome and greats such as Augustine and Luther, may it change us and our city. Join us as we continue our coversation through the epic letter of Romans. Our Sunday Liturgy is at 11:00 AM at Space 12 (3121 East 12th Street).

[Lunching Together]
Immediately after this Sunday’s liturgy, lunch will be available for $5 per person. If you’re interested in joining us for lunch, there will be a sign up during the snack break, so please make your way to the computers to put your name down. Or if you’re super keen, you can sign up ahead of time here.

[Tools for your Box]
Coinciding with our series, When in Rome, we are providing tools to the community to hear God’s voice through the scriptures. One of the ways Christians have done this throughout history is via a daily rhythm of prayer and meditation. This past Sunday, we introduced a great online resource, Examen.me. We encourage you to utilize this tool daily to center our lives in hearing and seeing God in all things.

[Liturgy Logistics at Space 12]
As we make our transition in becoming the newest tenants in Space 12, there are a few logistics we wanted to pass along.

1. Being a Good Neighbor
We want to encourage everyone to be mindful of the surrounding neighborhood. As tenants of this new space, we are surrounded by families and individuals who have called this section of East Austin home for dozens of years, if not generations. Let us be aware of our actions and try our best to be as good a neighbor as we can to the community.

2. Carpool/Biking Encouraged
One of the challenges we will be facing/addressing is enough parking for the Vox community. To help alleviate this, we encourage you all to try carpooling or biking to Space 12.

3. Space 12 Parking
We are anticipating a very full parking lot most Sunday mornings, and we will do our best to accommodate as may car as possible. There will be people on site to direct the parking traffic so as to best utilize the space.

When the Space 12 lot becomes full, there will also be off-site parking available on 13th St (between McKinley and Airport) and Oakgrove Ave (off of 12th).

For a map of all the available parking options during the Sunday Liturgy, it can be downloaded here.

[Families That Play Together…]
…have tons ‘o fun, of course!! How else would that cliche end? If you’re interested in having fun by way of playing outdoor activities and sweating under the Texas heat all for the sake of community, then this new gig is for you!! Join us every Sunday afternoon at Givens Park (3811 E 12th St) starting at 4pm for an afternoon filled with games like tennis, basketball, kickball and freeze tag that will make your mother proud and siblings unconsolably jealous. Any questions, send an email to Paul.

[WYOMP]
You might be wondering what this acronym stands for. Well, allow me to spill the beans!! WYOMP stands for ‘Wash Your Own Mugs, Please ‘. One of the new perks of having our liturgy at Space12 is the plethora of mugs and drinking utensils at our disposal. Unfortunately, when the liturgy is over and the snacks are all consumed, the once clean cups are left dirty and all alone in the sink. If you could, after you have finished enjoying the delightful snacks and beverages, please lend a hand with washing the mugs and drinkware. That would be greatly appreciated.

[Fall Neighborhoods]
Fall Neighborhoods is in full swing, friends!! We would love to invite everyone to plug into a neighborhood this year and live the church with those around you. For the next few months, our neighborhoods will be organized by life stage, so whether you’re a student, a professional, married or a family, we have a group for you!! Check out the map to see when and where each neighborhood group meets.

StuPros, aka, Students and Professionals
  South/Central – Tuesday, 7pm
  Midtown – Wednesday, 7pm
  Campus – Tuesday, 7pm

Marrieds – Wednesday, 7pm

Families – Friday, 7pm

Any question? Check out the website, map or email us.

[Chillin’ With Childrens]
Are you good with kids? Do you enjoy reading with them, playing with them, or entertaining them by hurting yourself? If you answered yes to any or all of these, this one’s for you!! The families neighborhoods is looking for some help to hang with the kiddos so that the parents can enjoy community and discussion with one another without the joyful interruption of the kidlings. The families neighborhoods meets on Fridays at 7pm, so If you’re interested in helping, please send an email to Carol.

[It’s ECC, Yea You Know Me]
Although unaffiliated with the 90’s rap group Naughty By Nature, Vox is looking into joining the exciting denomination known as the Evangelical Covenant Church, (ECC for short). We wanted to be as transparent as possible during this process, so if you have any questions, please email them to us, or go to ECC website or download their brochure for more details.

[Getting Involved with Vox]
Have you always wanted to get more involved with Vox but haven’t known how? Do you have a passion or vision for something that Vox isn’t currently involved in? If you answered YES to either of these questions, then this is for you!! We would love to help you get more involved with what’s happening in the Vox community, as well as come along side your passion and vision to help it leave the dream realm and give it life. If this at all interests you, please let us know by sending us an email.

[Global Updates]
In addition to connecting with local partners and being involved with local initiatives and organizations, Vox is also partnering with people and groups around the world. For more details, join us every third Sunday of each month to hear a live update on how Vox’s Global partners are doing, as well as finding out how you can be involved. Or, you can email us for more info.

[Local Partnership Opportunities]
Vox is currently partnering with an amazing local Austin organization called The Care Communities, whose mission is to provide practical and compassionate support to those living with Cancer and AIDS in the Austin area. Through this partnership, we help provide practical day-to-day support like trips to the grocery store, rides to doctors visits or the pharmacy, or something as simple as conversation and human interaction. If you would like to be part of this partnership, please send us an email and we’ll get you connected.

[AIDS Walk]
AIDS Walk – One of our local partners Care Communities is encouraging churches to participate in AIDS Walk Austin to help raise awareness and funds for local services that help individuals with HIV in Austin. The walk is happening next Sun Oct. 18th. To register, go to aidswalkaustin.org.

[Online Giving]
We’ve always wanted to exercise generosity by giving out as much as we can to those around us who are in need. If you would like to partner financially with Vox in this mission, we have several options for you.

1. Bill Pay through own bank.
2. EFT signup is available online.
3. credit card through google checkout.
4. snail mail


For more information, please click here.

[Won’t You Be My Friend?]
Hi, my name is Vox Veniae, and this is my cousin Space 12. I’m 4 years old, and Space just turned one a little while ago. We’re very friendly, housebroken and love our bellies rubbed. We would like to be friends with you!! We promise to not Zombie bite you, nor will we ask you to join our kingdom. We just want to be your friend because that will make us happy. Click here to add Vox as a friend and here to add Space12 as a friend.

[Rides to Vox]
If you live on campus and are in need of a ride on Sunday morning to join us for Liturgy, please email us and we’ll hook you up. If you could send an email by 11pm on Friday, that would be greatly appreciated.

[Photo by smitten @ Flickr]

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