For the past few weeks, I have been blessed to be able to help develop and design our newest offering of Saturday worship experiences for the 5th Saturday of the month, which will be our Taizé service.
For me, a Taizé service is a time and place for me to be still and listen to God’s voice. A time to worship and be uplifted and to be taken to a “thin” place by the meditative music, chants, and prayers. I love the candlelit space, the readings, prayers, and periods of silent reflection. It calms my soul and refreshes my spirit. It is a place to put the craziness of life outside my consciousness for a while and just be in God’s presence and be in worship. I need that now more than ever in my life, and I am going to guess that some of you do as well.
Brenda Spencer and I have been at work choosing the prayers and music for this service. That means we get to listen to lots of music and read lots of prayers! That has been such a blessing, sometimes I just need to have a reason to read prayers and listen to music, because I, like many of you, don’t take the time to be still. Brenda & I get to imagine what we would like the service to be like, to create this sacred space. That in and of itself is a blessing. While this service will be online, we can still go to that sacred space in our hearts and minds.
Our theme for our first Taizé service is New Beginnings with a focus on how God is with us during times of crisis. We have all felt God’s presence with us during difficult times, sometimes we just need to be reminded. There will be questions to ponder during the quiet times of silence if you need to use them. It is our hope that this will be a “thin” space, where you can sense God’s presence and hear God’s voice speaking to you. A place where you will feel wrapped up in God’s loving embrace and refreshed to go out into this crazy world and live more fully into your own calling to be a follower of Christ.
If you have never been to a Taizé service I invite you to try it if you think that it sounds interesting. It has been such a blessing to plan this service. It is our hope that you will be blessed by this worship experience.
Suzanne
Gracious & Loving God, Create in me a clean heart and renew my spirit so that I might live more fully into being a disciple of yours. Amen.