Nelson United Church Taizé Service

A Service of Worship
In the Tradition of Taizé

Taizé is a word that evokes different images in different people. For some who have traveled in France, it denotes the name of a small community. For others, Taizé calls to mind a way of worshiping God and a way of being in the world. The reality is that the Taizé experience is both rooted in the small French community where the brothers of Taizé reside and in the experience of how we live our lives where ever we may be.

Icon and candles at Nelson United Church

In 1940, Brother Roger began the Taizé community as a means to helping and hiding political refugees, especially Jews. He remained in Taizé until 1942 when he was discovered by the Nazis and forced to flee. This experience of helping others and the influence of his grandmother who provided a place of refuge in the First World War were the seeds of what has become the Taizé community experience.

Brother Roger returned to Taizé in 1941 to take up the work he had begun; other like-minded brothers accompanied him. It wasn't until 1949 that several of the brothers made a lifetime commitment to monastic living. As time went by, the community grew. While the first brothers were Protestant, it wasn't long until Roman Catholic brothers joined. Today there are brothers from twenty-five different countries.

The icon of the Virgin Mary in the Church of Reconciliation, Taizé.

As Brother Roger has written, "Nothing is more conducive to a communion with the living God than a meditative common prayer with, as its high point, singing that never ends and that continues in the silence of one's heart when one is alone again." The heart of the community life is prayer and those who make the pilgrimage to Taizé come away with a profound sense of the importance of prayer. Or, as is happening in recent years, the brothers and pilgrims take the message of Taizé out to the world and reinforce those who are already engaged in deep, rich prayer lives.

The experience of Taizé worship is candles, icon, silence, chanting, rich textured music, Scriptures and prayer. It is a meditative experience in which each worshipper is able to commune with other participants and with God. The music is simple and easy so that one can enter into the spirit of the chanting and find peace.

Join us on the first Sunday evening of each month at 7:00 P.M.
in the Nelson United Church's Hall.


ALL ARE WELCOME