On the 4th Wednesday of each month we will hold a Taize prayer service starting at 7:30pm at the church. The Taizé Community was started by Brother Roger in 1940. When WWII began, Brother Roger and his sister Genevieve housed refugees from the war in the house he bought in Taizé, France. In 1942 it grew dangerous for them to remain in France, so they moved to Geneva where the first brothers joined the community. The small community of brothers returned to Taizé in 1944. The following year, they welcomed a certain number of children who had lost their parents in the war, so Brother Roger asked Genevieve to join them. By Easter 1949, there were seven brothers.
Now it is a community of hundreds of brothers from Catholic and various Protestant backgrounds and from around thirty nations. With such diversity, the community "wants its life to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples" (from "A 'Parable Community'" on the Taizé website). For many years, young adults from around the world have come to Taizé in growing numbers where they can experience simple life and seek God in regular prayer, silence, and community.
Two main parts of Taizé-style prayer are very different from traditional worship: meditative singing and silence. Below are sections from two articles on the official Taizé website which explain the importance of Meditative Singing and of Silence.
Singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short songs, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Using just a few words they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God. It allows everyone to take part in a time of prayer together and to remain together in attentive waiting on God, without having to fix the length of time too exactly. ...
At times prayer becomes silent. Peaceful communion with God can do without words. "I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother." [Ps. 131:2] Like the satisfied child who has stopped crying and is in its mother's arms, so can "my soul be with me" in the presence of God. Prayer then needs no words, maybe not even thoughts.
How is it possible to reach inner silence? Sometimes we are apparently silent, and yet we have great discussions within, struggling with imaginary partners or with ourselves. Calming our souls requires a kind of simplicity: "I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvellous for me." [Ps. 131:1] Silence means recognising that my worries can't do much. Silence means leaving to God what is beyond my reach and capacity. A moment of silence, even very short, is like a holy stop, a sabbatical rest, a truce of worries. ...
Silence makes us ready for a new meeting with God. In silence, God's word can reach the hidden corners of our hearts. In silence, it proves to be "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit" (Hebrews 4:12). In silence, we stop hiding before God, and the light of Christ can reach and heal and transform even what we are ashamed of.
from "Meditative Singing" and "The value of silence" on http://www.taize.fr/en
For a list of other Taizé services in NJ and NY visit http://www.taizeprayersnj.org .
