In Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France, one will find an ecumenical monastery called the Taizé (pronounced tah-zeh) Community, made up of Catholics and Protestants living together in a community structured around prayer. According to the Taizé Community’s official website, their existence “is a ‘parable of community’ that wants its life to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples.” Taizé services are solemn, and filled with repetitive music and silent prayer.
Although Houghton, New York is far from Southern France, Taizé-style worship services have arrived on campus. Lindsey Holt ’18, a chapel deacon, has been in charge of putting together these reflective worship services. She said, “I felt like these types of services would be a welcome addition to Houghton’s opportunities for worship.” Lindsey learned about the Taizé Community when she was in high school. “I had the opportunity to go for a week, which is why these services are so meaningful to me,” she said.
The Taizé services on campus consist of 60 minutes of prayer, repetitive singing, acoustic music, and scripture reading. Michael Jordan, dean of the chapel, also helps to plan these services. He said, “The Taizé services are carefully planned with particular choruses mixed in with Scripture readings, especially the psalms, and silent prayer.”
This silent prayer is described by Holt as the most striking part of the service. “In the middle there is 10 minutes of silent prayer,” she said. “I think that having silent prayer for such a long period of time is important, because in most cases we don’t have enough silence in our lives”.
The music of the Taizé worship is intentionally much different from a typical chapel service. Rather than high energy worship music, the songs are usually a simple refrain sung over and over again. The accompaniment, usually piano, violin or guitar, is also simple. According to Holt, this is because “the worshiper is more comfortable with the music, and so able to focus less on singing, and move into deeper meditation on the truth of the words being sung.” Jordan also commented that he thought this style was very important. He said, “It takes seriously our need for stillness”.
The reflective, quiet services of Taizé at Houghton began during the fall semester. Holt planned two services on campus. One took place in the evening, and one during chapel. This semester so far, only one Taizé service has happened, taking place at the end of January. Usually, there are about 20 to 30 people in attendance.
All are welcome to attend and take part in the Taizé Community on campus. “There is a way in which you go to Taizé scattered, but leave gathered—ready to reflect Christ’s love to the world with confidence, fearlessness and joy,” said Jordan. At its core, Taizé strives to be a quiet, peaceful reflective space for one to go and worship in a relaxed and solemn way. Jordan’s final comments on Taizé were of its necessity on campus. He said, “[The services] provide a very different and very helpful form of worship for over-busy, over-anxious, over-tired college students”.
Taizé takes place in the Wesley Chapel, and the next service is scheduled for the month of March.