Recently, I was given a wonderful gift by dear friends of being invited along with my husband to Taizé, France. The Taizé Community is an ecumenical community that dates back to the World War 2 era. The Taizé brothers continue to offer spiritual community by gathering for prayer and worship through mostly song, silence, and the Word of God. It is a very simple lifestyle, and one is invited in for a week at a time for a sort of pilgrimage. Many young people often stay longer to serve if desired.
Having returned home to Chicago after my time in Taizé, I am just beginning to unwrap this beautiful experience.
To articulate my experience and its meaning in my life and the times we now live in, I began with only minimal words. Through reflection and prayer, the words begin to come. Here are just a few from my recent journal entry:
“This feeling of fullness, peace, light, and joy is somehow remembered in my soul. At Taizé, we were bathed in God’s Word, singing harmoniously in one Spirit together as mostly strangers from many different countries and in many languages. Yet we are kin of the same Spirit drawn together to pray, worship, seek, and just listen in true silence.”
This excerpt from “15 Days of Prayer With Brother Roger of Taizé” captures some of the Taizé experience and has helped me begin to comprehend my own:
“We need only place ourselves in front of God, in his presence. To remain there without being afraid to face the silence. Silence around us, silence within us”.
Next, a prayer of Brother Roger, who founded the community: “God of all eternity, we long to seek for you amidst the silences of prayer and live by the hope discovered in the Gospel.”
Our time of singing in one another’s languages pulled me away from my individualistic need to worship in my own English language all the time. Also, it reminded me that we were all equal, no matter who we are and where we are from. The love of God is unlimited and inclusive and always there for us.
“At Taizé we find times and spaces especially set aside for such silence, but more importantly silence dwells at the very heart of the liturgy itself, a silence nourished by the Word of God which has just been read. The silence is its true heart. It is a kind of musical silence, like a rest, which allows for dialogue because it awaits a presence, the silence of an encounter or of the desire for an encounter and not the silence of emptiness. A great company in silence together, the community offering itself up to the Word which can make our lives fruitful. A silence which lifts us out of time, even when nothing seems to be happening.”
This pilgrimage and the silence experienced in community feel so profound that I have been moved to tears a number of times because of the depth and beauty of it all.
My experience with silent prayer has been primarily through the practice of Centering Prayer through a Journey Center online group. After some time of praying weekly together, I admitted to the group that I am able to enter into silence more fully and longer because we are praying in silence together.
JCGL’s calendar continues to include online Centering Prayer on Saturday mornings. Each session is led by an experienced spiritual director who will hold the silence for the group. So if you desire to enter into silent prayer in a community setting, I encourage you to come to this group and enter into true silence before God.
The unity I felt with fellow seekers at Taizé met a longing within me for unity that is lacking in the Christian church in the U.S. these days. And I would even say it could be the beginning of some healing for me and, hopefully, for others as well.
Journey Center Great Lakes’ mission, values, and space provided are all about this as well! No matter how or where you are in your life, or what you believe, there is room for you at JCGL.
Please check out our calendar in the Offerings section to learn more about how to be involved.
