Basically, a geographic area assigned to a particular church. Various church traditions have used the parish system to ensure every area is served by a church. It's usually thought of as a medieval and/or Catholic and/or strange Louisiana thing. It's also often associated with the concept of 'a parish priest', a kind of lonely messiah who only talks to people twice his age and occasionally helps McCauley Caulkin get home safe on Christmas Eve.
In reality, the earliest churches planted by Paul and co. appeared to assign themselves parishes; in addition, throughout much of history a church's responsibility to a parish usually went far beyond the work done by one priest. For example, up until the modern era, most Anglican and Catholic parish churches still included at least an official parish nurse, a school, the equivalent of a 'neighborhood association', and numerous opportunities for the community to learn and practice music and visual arts. In fact, much earlier on, when the early Greek and Roman churches started dividing and assigning church groups to parishes, they did so much effective work for their communities they gradually replaced/morphed into the official local civil government [ok, probably don't want to go any further with that, unless we've got our eyes set on the Travis county sheriff's office or something].
The original term for parish comes from the Greek words meaning 'beside-house'. So, historical tradition aside, when we say Vox has a parish, we mean:
1) literally the area beside our house
2) is the responsibility of our group of believers
One quote off the internet is straightforward, but somehow a nice change of pace from our consumer/consumption Christianity:
"Choosing a church should be a no-brainer. We are divided by location into "parishes." Where you live determines where you go to church. In some ways, no further choice should be necessary. Catholic churches are remarkably similar one to another—in every parish throughout the world, the same Scripture is read, the same feast days celebrated, the same doctrines (for the most part) upheld."
- Johnny Seefeldt
[Vox Gathering]
This Sunday, join as at 11am as we continue our series on Loving Our Parish (5619 Airport Blvd).
[Vox 101]
Immediately following the Gathering, Vox will be continuing our class for those interested in learning and wrestling with different notions of what the Church should be and what it really means to follow Christ. This week's topic: Church Following Mission. Bring your own lunch!
If you are interested, contact Matt Chin (matt@voxveniae.com).
[Rides from Campus]
We will have some cars picking up people at 10:40am at Jester Beach. If you are interested in getting a ride, email rides@voxveniae.com We can set you up with a permanent ride to Vox!
[Need Tutors]
Our partner, Austin Partners in Education (APIE), needs just 2 more volunteers for a tutoring program to happen at Oak Springs Elementary School. APIE partners with teachers in classroom to provide in-class mentoring and tutoring for students during their class hour. The scheduled time is on Wed from 1:45-2:35pm for math class. Please contact Sam (sam@space12.org) or sign up directly at http://www.austinpartners.org by this Sunday.
[Living Water International]
Leslie Harrington , who is part of the Vox Community, is starting an Austin Chapter of the Organization Living Water International. Their main goal is to bring awareness to the Austin community and come up with creative ways to fundraise for LWI. Some fundraising ideas we plan on implementing in the future: music fundraiser (Sad Accordions, Alex Dupree, Etc...), a 5k run/walk, Art showing, and a community dinner. They are interested in having some volunteers to help.
Their first meeting will be on Oct. 2nd, 7PM on the back patio at Homeslice pizza. It's going to be very relaxed, as they really want to focus on getting to know everyone. They've also invited LWI donors in Austin to come and share their experiences with the organization.
For more info, you can visit http://www.water.cc/ or contact Leslie (lharrin@stedwards.edu)
[Vox Gathering]
This Sunday, join as at 11am as we continue our series on Loving Our Parish (5619 Airport Blvd).
[Vox 101]
Immediately following the Gathering, Vox will be continuing our class for those interested in learning and wrestling with different notions of what the Church should be and what it really means to follow Christ. This week's topic: The Simplicity of Jesus. We will be sharing a meal again during the class!
If you are interested, contact Matt Chin
[Rides from Campus]
We will have some cars picking up people at 10:40am at Jester Beach. If you want a ride, please email rides@voxveniae.com by Saturday night with name and #. This will help us determine how many cars we need to send out there.
[Neighborhoods]
Neighborhoods are Vox's biweekly regional gathering, anchored by food, prayer, and scripture to learn what it looks like to love our neighbor.
Neighborhoods are ON for this week!
A.) Midtown (Wed Night @ 7pm)
Teddy Chao - 5503 Link Ave.
midtown@voxveniae.com
B.) South/Central (Wed Night @ 7pm)
Dan & Becca Lew - 500 Sacramento Dr.
southcentral@voxveniae.com
C.) NorthEast (Tues Night @ 7pm)
John Bagwell - 1405 Luna St.
northeast@voxveniae.com
D.) MidEast (Fri Night @ 5:30pm)
Carol Lee - 5303 Delores Unit B
mideast@voxveniae.com
E.) SouthEast (Tues Night @7pm)
Gina Bastone -1105 Brookswood Ave
southeast@voxveniae.com
Here is a map
We're resuming our Neighborhoods next week (Sept 21) so check out the locations below and click on the map links to find out where you're meeting. If you have any questions, please email us.
What are Neighborhoods?
We are called to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength. However, evaluating that life can be nebulous. Fortunately, Jesus gave us some context to living that out - if you want to know how well you love God, look at how you love your neighbor, they are one in the same. Neighborhoods are Vox's biweekly regional gatherings, anchored by food, prayer and scripture to learn what it looks like to love our neighbor. Hopefully over the course of the year, our neighborhoods will be blessed by our coming together.
[Locations]
A. Midtown (Wednesday @ 7pm)
[north of 35th St and west of I-35]
Contact: Teddy Chao
Email: midtown[at]voxveniae.com
B. South/Central (Wednesday @ 7pm)
[south of 35th St and west of I-35]
Contact: Dan & Becca Lew
Email: southcentral[at]voxveniae.com
C. NorthEast (Tuesday @ 7pm)
[north of 12th St and east of I-35]
Contact: John Bagwell
Email: northeast[at]voxveniae.com
D. MidEast (Friday @ 5:30pm)
[between 12th St and Oak Springs and east of I-35]
Contact: Carol Lee
Email: mideast[at]voxveniae.com
E. SouthEast (Tuesday @7pm)
[south of Oak Springs and east of I-35]
Contact: Gina Bastone
Email: southeast[at]voxveniae.com
Please note that locations will rotate between host homes. Check the website at www.voxveniae.com or send an email to find out locations for that week.
[Vox Gathering]
This Sunday, join as at 11am as we start our new series on Loving Our Parish (5619 Airport Blvd).
[Vox 101]
Immediately following the Gathering, Vox will be offering a 7-week class for those interested in learning and wrestling with different notions of what the Church should be and what it really means to follow Christ.
Schedule:
Sept 14th: What is the Church?
Sept 21st: Simplicity of Jesus
Sept 28th: Being a Church following Mission
Oct 5th: Living the Church
Oct 19th: Communities
Oct 26th: Sacraments
Nov 2nd: Justice for the World
If you weren't able to sign up last week and are interested, contact Matt Chin.
[Rides from Campus]
We will have some cars picking up people at 10:40am at Jester Beach. If you want a ride, please email rides@voxveniae.com by Saturday night with name and #. This will help us determine how many cars we need to send out there.
[Vox Gathering]
This Sunday, join as we walk through the story of Vox, our ethos, and what we dream for. Afterwards, we will be holding a Q+A to answer any specific questions you may have about Vox.
[Rides from Campus]
We will have some cars picking up people at 10:40am at Jester Beach. We'll try to tape a sign that says VOX on the window (hopefully). If you want a ride, please email rides@voxveniae.com by Saturday night with name and #. This will help us determine how many cars we need to send out there.
[Neighborhoods]
Neighborhoods are Vox's biweekly regional gathering, anchored by food, prayer, and scripture to learn what it looks like to love our neighbor.
We will be re-starting our neighborhoods this week with 6 new regions:
A.) Midtown (Wed Night @ 7pm)
Teddy Chao - 5503 Link Ave.
midtown@voxveniae.com
B.) South/Central (Wed Night @ 7pm)
Dan & Becca Lew - 500 Sacramento Dr.
southcentral@voxveniae.com
C.) NorthEast (Tues Night @ 7pm)
John Bagwell - 1405 Luna St.
northeast@voxveniae.com
D.) MidEast (Fri Night @ 5:30pm)
Carol Lee - 1023 Lott Ave.
mideast@voxveniae.com
E.) SouthEast (Tues Night @7pm)
Gina Bastone -1137 Don Ann St.
southeast@voxveniae.com
Please note that locations will rotate within each neighborhood. Check the website (www.voxveniae.com) or send an email to find locations for that week.
You can sign up this Sunday at the gathering.
[Vox 101]
Starting September 14th, Vox will be offering a weekly class for those interested in learning and wrestling with different notions of what the Church should be and what it really means to follow Christ. The class will be right after the Vox Gathering. For more information, contact Matt Chin (matt@voxveniae.com). You can sign up this Sunday at the gathering.
