Gleaming in the Spirit of Taize

We are gleaming in a silvery milestone:  It was 25 years ago this week that a group of people first gathered at Ascension Parish in Oak Park, IL, to pray in the spirit of Taize, on Friday, October 2, 1992.  According to what I recall of remarks made by David Anderson, the Ascension Parish music director, there were about 30 people at that first Taize prayer, mostly Roman Catholic, along with one Baptist and one Lutheran.

The name Taize is from a monastic community in France which developed this style of prayer.  It involves short songs with simple messages about God and faith that are sung repetitively to create a meditative atmosphere.  The Taize community also uses this prayer style as an outreach to Christians of other denominations to promote a spirit of ecumenism.

And that's exactly what people can experience at Ascension on the first Friday of every month, February through December, and in January on New Year's Day, the World Day of Prayer for Peace, on whatever day of the week it falls.

Ever since that day 25 years ago, Taize prayer has come to draw quite a crowd of people from various denominations throughout the local community, and even beyond.  Someone once told a story about a group flying from Mississippi to Chicago to attend the Taize prayer service at Ascension and then returning home on a late-night flight.  Indeed, Ascension has developed quite a reputation for its monthly Taize prayer service, as people mention it to me from time to time when I tell them Ascension is my home parish.  There's always a good-sized crowd at Taize:  Even the one time I attended on July 4, at least half the church was filled.  On New Year's Day, some people end up sitting in the choir loft on New Year's Day because the church sanctuary is already so full.

While Taize prayer services have been happening for a quarter-century now, I've only become a regular attender since I graduated from ValpU.  I first encountered Taize on a regular basis at ValpU, because one day a week, the style of prayer at the late morning weekday Chapel services was Taize.  I became very drawn to the meditative style of the prayer in song, the truths each song expressed.

After graduating, I wanted to continue experiencing Taize, so I started regularly attending the monthly Taize prayer at Ascension--though I think the very first time I ever attended was actually during the summer before my final year at ValpU at the invitation of my brother.

I keep coming back, in large part because I'm so drawn to the music.  It's especially magnificent when Father Bob Hutmacher plays his harp, an instrument with a sound that suggests angels themselves brought it down from Heaven.

I also like how a Scripture passage is read in multiple languages, as a further sign of how Truth is something that touches people universally.  David Anderson once gave me the privilege of being one of the English readers back in May of this year.

I've enjoyed praying at Taize so much, I made a point to regularly invite the families of my Religious Education students to come.  One time, one of my students and her mom came, and the mom noted how beautiful it was.

Speaking of young people, it's wonderful how youth are specifically invited to participate in passing of the light, during which there's always an absolutely beautiful musical melody playing.  Passing the light precedes singing a Psalm, the Scripture reading, and then the time when the congregation processes forth to place their candles in dishes filled with sand at the altar.  Then comes a period of silence, lasting about 10 minutes--something else I experienced occasionally at Chapel services at ValpU, usually happening separately from Taize prayer days.  I came to appreciate the silence and stillness very deeply.  In the midst of life's flurried pace, I relish sitting in silence and simply being still.  While my mind does wander, I definitely value the chance, for a short period of time, to deliberately remove myself from being surrounded by noise.

I find it especially meaningful to attend Taize prayer in liturgical seasons like Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, because the specific songs and other elements of the service help set the tone so well for the season.  Taize prayer during Lent usually provides an opportunity to pray around the Cross:  After the closing prayer, instead of a song to signal a definitive ending, a cross, decorated in the icon style, is taken from its position mounted on the altar and is brought down to a level closer to the floor.  People then approach it and kneel down and touch it as a way of unloading our burdens on Christ.  This happens while the meditative Taize songs continue, providing a soft ending.  It's a moving opportunity that adds to much to the prayer, and it happens periodically throughout the year.

There are some especially wonderful songs prayed at Taize prayer in those liturgical seasons that follow the great Feasts of Christmas and Easter.  Praying at Taize on January 1 is a fitting way to start the new year, as well as to continue celebrating Christ among us as the Word Made Flesh, in the spirit of the Christmas Season.  And the joyful Easter songs combine with the flowers and other decorations in Church to enhance our celebration of the Risen Lord in the Easter Season.  Then comes Pentecost, when the songs turn our focus to the Holy Spirit of God.

And all throughout the year, we have opportunity to voice our prayers aloud:  Toward the end of the petitions, we are given the opportunity to name aloud those we know who are ill in mind, body, or spirit.  Then, the reader of the petitions asks for what else we should pray.  And so we use our voices to offer up prayers for specific intentions on our hearts.  As we exit, we exchange a sign of peace, and put worship into action by donating money, which goes to support charities in the local area and abroad.

Indeed, Taize is an opportunity for us to experience the presence of God through a series of simple and profound gestures.  As the community of those who gather moves forth from this silver anniversary, I pray we continue in this profound and simple spirit of prayer uniting us with God and one another.  If you are ever available to come to Ascension Parish in Oak Park on the first Friday of the month, February through December, or January 1, please know you are always welcome.

Candles lit up around the altar at the end of the October 6, 2017, Taize Prayer Service at Ascension, marking 25 years of praying in the spirit of Taize