Taizé Worship at St. John's

We've recently begun a Taizé style worship service on Thursday evenings at my parish. The impetus came from our School for Deacons field education student, Judy Hedin, who has experienced this form of worship at her home parish and at the ecumenical monastery in Taizé, France. Judy has a passionate vision of how such worship can reach out to new people, especially young adults. That vision is being realized through Judy's leadership, the musical talent of Charles Rus, our parish musician and cantor, and the parishioners who are showing up to pray and assist with logistics.

Thus far, we are averaging 24 people at this new service (only two weeks old). Last night, we had 10-12 visitors in the congregation, and they were indeed younger than our parish profile. We've flyered the neighborhood and advertised in the local papers, and that is having some effect. People seem drawn to the beauty, simplicity, and contemplative spirit of this form of worship. It is highly participatory, and folks are free to move around during the chanting to pray in the side chapels, light candles, or venerate the cross. People sit on chairs or cushions on the floor, bathed in candlelight.

The order of worship is very simple: prelude, congregational chant (in English, Spanish, and Latin), a Scripture reading, 10 minutes of silence, chant, intercessory prayer with sung response, chant, concluding prayer said in unison. 50 - 55 minutes from start to finish, with coffee hour afterwards.

I'm hopeful that this service will continue to grow. It is congruent with the contemplative, Christ-centered character of this parish, yet accessible to newcomers in ways that Sunday Eucharist may not be. My sense is that it will provide a space for rest, connection, peace, and beauty for many people who don't yet realize just how much they hunger and thirst for authentic Christian spirituality.

One other note: this service followed a nearly year-long attempt to launch a Sunday evening "contemplative Eucharist" that failed for a variety of reasons: lack of promotion, inadequate support from current members who found it hard to come back again after Sunday morning worship, a worship style that failed to differentiate itself enough from Sunday morning. The point, however, is that we learned a LOT from the failure and it opened me up to considering other possibilities (like letting go of my sermon-centric thinking). It is important to give ourselves permission to fail in church and in life. It is a necessary condition for spiritual growth.