Looking back over my life, so far, and pondering on last week’s blog, I’m conscious of how important a place music and songs/hymns have had in my spiritual and emotional development. Even at this point in my life, decades after I first heard some of the old mission hall hymns, I will sit down and play them – with headphones on! Or it might be old Scottish Psalm tunes, like Invocation, set to Psalm 43. Or some contemporary compositions, and even Taizé chants. At the moment, with a left hand contorted by Dupuytren’s Contracture and unable to play my keyboard, I miss these times when I can inhabit a world of melodies and chords far from the madding crowd. It will be some time before I get back to them and will have to content myself with ear pods, MP3s and YouTube videos.
I was reminded by Facebook last week that it’s eleven years since I made the first of my two trips (so far!) to Taizé (www.taize.fr ), an ecumenical monastic community in the Burgundy region of France. The community is justly famous for its chants in many languages, and the tens of thousands of mainly young people who spend a week there engaging in worship, work, Bible Study, and fun. It has impacted and transformed countless lives from many nations. Each week there is a spiritual journey reflected in the thrice daily worship times and morning studies, that culminates at the weekend with Friday night prayer round the cross, Saturday night candles spreading light in the darkness, and celebrating the resurrection with the Sunday morning eucharist.
There is a liturgical simplicity about the community’s times of worship: song, prayer, Scripture and silence. If you want a seat, you can sit on the steps, or bring your own taboret – and if you don’t have one you can buy community-made ones in the ‘Exposition des Ateliers.’ The community lives off what it produces and the money paid by pilgrims for food and lodging – both very basic. Even the smallest donation is not accepted, so ‘keep the change’ is not part of the vocabulary.
It is hard to understand why so many go and continually return to this tiny village in the French countryside, apart from the fact that people know God is encountered there in ways that are difficult to articulate. The ripple-effect of its influence is experienced all across the globe, and, through the languages in which it offers worship, it seeks to encompass as many people groups as possible within its fold.
I thought that my Taizé days might be over, but I’m glad to say that I’ve just been asked to lead a local congregational evening of Taizé prayer. Who knows where that will lead? But the full ‘Taizé experience’ is only to be found in community life in a tiny village in the heart of France. If you want to know more about Taizé you could check out A Community Called Taize: A Story of Prayer, Worship and Reconciliation by Jason Brian Santos.
Steps on The Way 