St Edward's Church: Taize Community
The Taizé Community in France
Taizé is a small village nestling in the hills of Burgundy, in eastern France. Brother Roger, the founder of the ecumenical community that now lives there, first went to Taizé in 1940. Today there are about eighty brothers in the community, Catholics and from various Protestant backgrounds, from some twenty different countries.
Since the 1950's, thousands of people have visited Taizé each week, from all parts of Europe and beyond, of all ages and denominations, to participate in international meetings of prayer and study.
A stay at Taizé involves taking part in the whole rhythm of daily life there: prayer, meetings, meals, small groups. Morning, midday and evening, everyone gathers with the community for prayer in the Church of the Reconciliation.
People come to Taizé for different reasons; at Taizé they are encouraged to make an inner journey. As the visitors' information sheet says: "Taizé is a place to search for God and find in Christ a meaning of life."
What do we learn from Taizé about Worship?
"We do not renew our worship by brightening up the presentation so that it dazzles by its very entertainment value." (Michael Perry). Taizé teaches us that we have to go deep to what Brother Roger calls the 'well-spring' in the heart of the worshipper. We need to drink of that spring if the river which carries us through the journey of life is to flow full and sweet. Worship will only be renewed, and people will only find joy and meaning in it, when they feel themselves compelled to respond to God - God, whom they have already begun to apprehend, God, who has begun to reveal himself to them. Repetitive singing of gentle chants in the style of Taizé enables one to feel that one is not so much making an effort in worship as somehow responding. Silence in that context enables one to listen to that reality which is at the heart of all.European Taizé Home Page