Old Union Church in Audubon to host Taizé service Sept. 20
Candlelit service follows a tradition of silence, prayer
>> Old Union Church in Audubon will be hosting a Taizé service at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 20. All are welcome to attend this peaceful, candlelit service in the 191-year-old church at the corner of Pawling and Audubon Roads.
What is Taizé?
Taizé is a little village in the south of Burgundy, France where, in 1940, Brother Roger Schütz founded an ecumenical Christian community devoted to prayer and living a parable of reconciliation within the church and the human family. The Taizé Community is made up of brothers from all the continents and major denominations who gather three times a day, seven days a week, throughout the year, to pray. The group prayer services have drawn thousands of pilgrims from around the world each year, many of whom are young people.
The unique style of the Taizé Community’s worship — the essence of which is directness and simplicity — has been developed upon Brother Roger’s assertion that there was too much speaking in worship. In place of complicated liturgy and sermons, therefore, Taizé worship emphasizes the immediacy of sensory experience to draw one into God’s presence, using visual symbolism (candles, icons), singing, short readings from the Bible, and periods of silence.
The characteristic repetition that marks Taizé chant is not a new phenomenon nor unique to Taizé. The use of repetitive prayers is a longattested reality in the history of Christian spirituality and liturgy (for example, in various litanies, the Rosary, and the “Jesus Prayer” of the Eastern Orthodox church). What is unique to the prayer of Taizé is the adaptation of the repetitive form to simple musical lines and core biblical texts that can be sung by a whole assembly of various nationalities, languages, and denominations. The assembly is to immerse itself in the simple but profound harmonies and let itself be carried by this sung prayer.
Silence is perhaps the second most important aspect of this particular prayer practice. Rather than incorporating many short silences, Taizé worship has one central period of silence that is the culmination of the preceding songs, psalmody, and readings. Maintaining silence is not a technique or method enabling some special communication with God. It is simply holding oneself in a presence and letting Christ, through the Holy Spirit, pray in us.
For directions and more information, call the church office at 610-650-9336 or visit the website www. stpaulsoaks.org or Facebook page www.facebook. com/OldUnionAudubon.