Images of Taize
Taize Service Details
Date:
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Covered Dish starts at 5:30pm.
Worship begins at 7pm.
After the service will be a presentation by Meggan Wolf about her trip to Taize.
My Taize Pilgrimage
My journey to Taize started several years ago. It was my second year as a chaperone to the Senior High Ocean City retreat. On Saturday, there are various workshops you can attend. One that is mandatory is a meeting with the Bishop. I believe this was Bishop Devadhar’s second year as our Bishop. During this seminar, he brought up this place in France called Taize. We listened to some testimonies and sang some of the chants. The idea of attending caught my eye, but life interrupted and it was filed into the back of my mind.
Taize never really came back up until last summer. Fritz Reynolds asked me if I was interested in attending the upcoming Lay Speakers course. After some consideration and some gentle pushing from Fritz, I decided to attend the course. Over the weeks of the class, Fritz mentioned Taize to me many times. He mentioned a scholarship that was in the bulletin. It was for $1,000 towards the Taize trip for any youth or young adult that took a Lay Speaking class. Being the youngest in the class and the only eligible, Fritz asked me about going. I remember telling him, “I would like to go, but even with the scholarship, I can’t afford it.” His response was, “We’ll find the money somewhere. You’re going.”
Time passed quickly, and life continued forward. Many things happened to me in the year that passed between Fritz asking me to go and the start of my trip. I lost my job. Shortly thereafter, I needed emergency surgery and had a long recovery period over the Christmas holidays. Searching for a job became the activity of the day. To my surprise, jobs became very hard to find. After experiencing all this, I found myself in a somewhat dark place. It seemed like I had so many questions and no answers. My faith was crumbling around me.
Pretty soon, July 24th came upon me and I left for Taize. I entered the gate of the community with many questions and hoping for the answers. There is something really amazing about this place. The life there is centered on prayer. Prayer services are held three times a day. Before you even get breakfast, you go to Morning Prayer and receive communion. Afterwards, there is bible study or your work duty. Almost everyone has a job to help with the upkeep of the community; being it cleaning the bathrooms, picking up rubbish, serving afternoon tea or serving one of the three meals a day. After some free time, there is midday prayer, followed by lunch. Coming after lunch is more bible study and some workshops offered by one of the many brothers in the community. Dinner is shortly after and then the final evening prayer. After which is the start of silent time until the morning.
Our bible studies were split up into age groups of around 50 people or so. They were, in turn, split into various other groups. Each group consisted of about 9 people from all over the world. In my small group, I was the only American. The others were from Romania, Italy, Sweden, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Germany. It was quite a diverse group; however, we were similar in so many ways. We learned about each other in very simple ways. On our first day, the brother leading our large group, Brother Jean Patrick, instructed us to discuss our Christmas traditions and celebrations. Every single one of us celebrated with attending a service of some sort, a family get-together and a meal. Other things differed, but the core of it was those three things. That really drove home the fact that I may live several thousand miles away from my group leader, Radul, practice my Christianity differently (me being Protestant and he being Orthodox), but when it comes down it, he and I are a lot alike.
One of the most exciting things about the trip was being part of history. There is a small stone church in the village outside of Taize. Every Saturday evening, at 6pm, the brothers invite a priest that is attending the pilgrimage to the community to hold a Eucharist service in this small church. For the first time, a member of a Protestant clergy was asked hold this service. Our own Bishop Devadhar was that clergy! There were over one hundred of us packed into that small church, which is no bigger than our overflow section in the sanctuary. It is a unique experience to watch history happen before your own eyes.
During each prayer service, there is a period of silence. It allows you a chance to sit and be quiet and see what God is trying to tell you. It’s not always one of those “A HA!” moments. Sometimes is just a period of quiet that gives you the chance to think about things differently. During our country meeting with one of the brothers, Brother Pedro, someone in our GNJAC group asked what the brothers pray for during that period of silence. Brother Pedro laughingly replied, “We just wait for it to be over!”
The church is always open to those who want to pray. Several times, I went early to a service and just prayed. I don’t think I have ever really prayed like that before. I just let myself be open to anything. To my pleasant surprise, it worked. The following days brought me insights and answers to things I didn’t know I was asking.
One of the chaperones, Rev. Gina Hendrickson, had mentioned a T-shirt she had seen during a discussion I was having with her and another youth. The shirt said, “It’s not the destination, but the journey.” It took me some time and reflection, but I realized that it has been the journey. My journey towards Taize and a stronger faith.