Void Collective: Blog

VOID | I Confess (1/31/2010)

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:37:00 -0600

Photos by Jackson Griggs

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The Next VOID Event | I Confess

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:12:15 -0600

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(Mis)telling Mary's Story

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:10:56 -0600

The following readings were developed by Brandon Morgan for the VOID event “Mothers of God” (December 6, 2009).

The introductory reading was offered at the very beginning of the event:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a child. This child will be great, and will be called God and of God’s kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; and will be called God.

The three concluding readings were offered one after the other (read by three different individuals) toward the end of the event:

Reading 1

The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. This child will be great, and will be called God and of God’s kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; and will be called God.

Then Mary said, “I’m sorry, but I am not the servant of the Lord. I cannot do what you have asked because I do not believe that what you say can happen.” The angel, surprised and perplexed, said to Mary, “But you have found favor in the eyes of God? If you do not let the Most High overshadow you, then God will not be born and God’s kingdom will not begin.” Mary said, “I don’t have the strength or the will to conceive God as you have asked. I don’t desire for God to be here as you have mistakenly hoped. I do not want to be the mother of this God. My womb is closed.” Then the angel said sadly, “Let it be with you according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Reading 2

The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a child. This child will be great, and will be called God and of God’s kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; and will be called God.

Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her. Joseph, her husband, went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem. He went with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. But while they were there, Mary ceased to feel the child alive inside of her womb. There was no longer any kicking or moving, as if the child was no longer alive. When the time came for her to give birth to her firstborn child, the baby came without breath and was dead. Mary wept bitterly because the God that she had hoped to birth did not survive. She wrapped the child in bands of cloth, and laid the child in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Reading 3

The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a child. The child will be great, and will be called God and of God’s kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called God.

Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her. Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem. He went with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. But during the birth, Mary’s body could not bear the labor. The pain and anguish overtook her body. Though she was willing to birth God, she was not strong enough to survive. Mary died giving birth to God. And Joseph wept bitterly because the child lived and Mary did not. He wrapped the child in bands of cloth, and laid the child in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

VOID | Mothers of God (12/6/2009)

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:47:00 -0600

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Photos by Jackson Griggs

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The Next VOID Event | Mothers of God

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:55:00 -0600

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VOID | Ten Stories Tall (10/25/2009)

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:09:53 -0500

“Ten Stories Tall” was an evening of storytelling. Unlike most VOID events, the evening was not very structured. For the most part, the event simply consisted of six individuals sharing stories from their lives. The stories varied greatly but came together in the closing liturgy. The liturgy was written during the event and incorporated elements from each of the stories, in many cases exact words and/or phrases that were used by the storytellers. The result was a beautiful closing to this powerful event.

The Next VOID Event

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:52:58 -0500

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Waco Trib Article

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:41:08 -0500

Check out the article in the Waco Trib today about VOID.

Here’s a short excerpt:

The Void Collective is unlike any other forum for pondering age-old questions like the meaning of life and the possibility of a higher being.

“We’re not a Bible study. We’re not a life group. We’re not a discussion group. We’re not a church,” group coordinator Aaron Ellis said.

“It doesn’t fit into a mold people are familiar with,” said the group’s founder, Adam Moore. [read the rest]

VOID | GODISNOWHERE (9/13/2009)

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:51:28 -0500

Some photos from our recent event (scroll down for videos)

More images from the event

Two videos used for the GODISNOWHERE event

Photos taken by Jackson Griggs

Videos filmed by Kasia Plazinska and edited by Chris Burch

GODISNOWHERE Photo Series

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:29:00 -0500

Here are the first two (of seven) photos for the GODISNOWHERE photo series leading up to the GODISNOWHERE event this Sunday night (details here).

To see the rest (a new one each day), go to our Flickr account page, or follow VOID on Twitter.

The Next VOID Event

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 11:31:00 -0500

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VOID Update

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:00:00 -0500

Sorry for the extended period of silence. Though VOID hasn’t had any events this summer, we have been working toward some great upcoming events. Look for our next event to be in early September.

I’m wondering if any of you might be interested (or know someone who would be) in working with VOID in any of the following ways:

- Graphic design, website development, getting the word out about VOID
- Musical performance for our events
- And of course, planning and participating in our events

If any of this interests you, let me know. And please pass this on to others who you think might be interested.

Images from VOID | An Exploration of Meaning

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:00:00 -0500

Here are some images from the most recent VOID event, “An Exploration of Meaning.”

VOID | An Exploration of Meaning

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:14:00 -0500

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Reflecting on "The God Pill"

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:00:00 -0500

[Originally posted at Adam Moore’s blog]

On Sunday VOID had its second event, an event we called “The God Pill.” This event was certainly more ambiguous than our first event, which I think provided more room for interpretation and multiple meanings. I think the event went really well. There was a good turnout and everything came together with all the various elements (audio, visuals, readings, reflections, etc). On a personal level, I found the event very meaningful.

The topic of the event was initially inspired by some of the negative critique from the first event. There was not a lot of negative critique, but some people felt like we did not offer enough hope, or even give God at all, just a void. So with this event we decided to bottle God – to put him in pill form. At first glance this probably appears to be a simple-minded critique of our critics, but that was not our intention at all. I hope we pointed the critique firmly at ourselves, because don’t we all attempt to create a God Pill? Whether our God Pill is God or something else, I think we often become “addicted” to various things that keep us from engaging the world in all its fullness. So we attempted to address this issue in what I hope were interesting and provocative ways.

The event started with a crazy doctor/pharmaceutical rep pushing his latest creation – the God Pill. From here we had some readings and personal reflections dealing with some of the issues I mentioned above. We had some music/visuals related to this theme and we each considered our own “addiction,” writing it down on a pill bottle label. The second half dealt more with a move toward engaging this world and leaving behind our addictions. But can we really ever leave them behind completely? On some level aren’t we always grasping for another God Pill? I hope the ambiguity/difficulty of this question came across in some way. At one point I admitted that in some sense VOID is yet another God Pill for me – another way I am attempting to grasp God and confine him to a pill. We finished the event with a powerful liturgical reading (perhaps I can post that later) and a song. Of course our crazy pharm rep reappeared at the end and gave everyone a pill bottle. The pill bottles were labeled with the addictions everyone had written earlier (randomly assigned) and the bottles were filled, not with pills, but with genuine Waco dirt. I think the dirt can take on multiple meanings, but for me it basically symbolized the engagement with life, the here and now, this world.

I was perhaps most pleased with the number of people who stayed afterwards for conversation. I’m sure not all the conversation was about the event, but I know quite a bit was, and I think that’s what we’re really trying to provoke – good conversation.

Any thoughts? Were you there? What did the event make you think about? Did you find a different meaning in the event than I did? I’d love to hear what you thought (go to Adam’s blog to comment).

The next VOID event will be Sunday night, May 3 at 7:30pm at Treff’s in Waco. I hope to see you there.

VOID: The God Pill

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:00:00 -0500

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Post-Elephant

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:10:00 -0600

Here are some reactions to VOID and our first event:

- a positive Lariat article about VOID (Baylor newspaper)

- critical response to our first event - from the Lariat letters to the editor

- critical but sympathetic response to our first event

- another critical but sympathetic response

- Michael Honza’s thoughts

- my own thoughts (and some interesting comments from others)

Void - the first event

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:23:00 -0600

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