Taizé is one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Each year tens of thousands of young pilgrims flock to the small village of Taizé in central France to share in the community's way of life. Prayer and silence are at the heart of the Taizé experience. Young people from every corner of the globe are encouraged to live out the Christian gospel in a spirit of joy, simplicity and reconciliation. Ecumenism (a movement promoting Christian unity among churches) is the key to Taizé's appeal, making it a magnet for people of many different cultures and traditions.
Tim, who is 17, travelled with a group of young people from the Diocese of Bath and Wells to spend a week at Taizé.
Here are his reflections of a very memorable time.
We travelled overnight, arriving early on Sunday morning when we joined a communion service before setting up our tents in a field near a group from the Netherlands. After evening prayer, the Euros football final was being shown on a screen at the communal bar and it was a very lively time watching the football with people from other countries, especially the Dutch and Germans. I always like watching sport with crowds of supporters, and this was great fun.
On Monday we were placed into Bible study groups by age and I was in a group of 15-17 year olds, comprising 5 Germans, 2 Brits and 1 Latvian. The passages we studied throughout the week told of Jesus teachings and journeys, meeting Martha and Mary, describing the Good Samaritan, leading finally to the Friday where the story of the last supper was told. The youth teachers were brilliant and engaging, bringing props and involving members of the crowd.
Each day there is morning, midday and evening prayer and the worship in Taizé is very special. The services are made up of chants, bible readings and both spoken and silent prayer. The chants are beautiful with thousands all singing in harmony. It really felt like I was a part of a larger community and it reminded me of stories of Jesus’ teaching thousands at once and I really felt like a student of God.
There were some special services and on the last day there was one where we lit candles around the church which, to me, symbolised the light of God spreading as the candles were lit around the church. Another special moment was when the cross was placed at the front of the church and each of us could go up and pray beside it.
The brothers have devoted their life to Jesus and live a minimalistic life in Taizé, not making profit from any purchases people make and not leaving an impact of the beautiful environment nearby and globally. The brothers stand around the church for questioning after the evening service and they were brilliant at answering our questions and praying for us.
The best part of Taizé is the experience of community. It was really interesting to listen to other people’s opinions on faith and in downtime I enjoyed talking to Dutch people and German people. We enjoyed sharing together at the talent show where folk performed music and dances from their home culture. I also played cards, and football, went stargazing and did some drawing. We explored the local area by walking to a nearby farm that sold fruit and locally made sorbet. We also walked to a market that sold local cheeses, meats and bread and was in a small corner of the village near a church. We visited the grave of Brother Roger, the founder of Taizé, and despite his fame and prominence, his grave was beautifully simple and fitted in with all the others in the cemetery.
The weather for the week was mostly sunny and very warm which was beautiful, however there were a couple of thunderstorms, and on the last night I danced in the rain and lightning with my new German friends and that was more beautiful than all the sunshine of the week.
Taizé gave me time to personally reflect and thank God for all I have been given. My favourite place of reflection was the orthodox chapel, a very simple place under the church with simple wooden walls and beautiful artworks depicting Jesus and his followers. It was under the main church and at certain times of the day beautiful worship songs could be heard in the background which gave me a perfect feeling of being close to God. My experience at Taizé has been life-changing and I am very grateful that I got the opportunity to do it.
"It was wonderful to be at Taize as one responsible for supporting our 15-17-year-olds." Revd Stuart Burns, Rector Cheddar, Draycott and Rodney Stoke was amongst those who accompanied the young adults on the pilgrimage.
Our young people quickly formed friendships with each other and with others from Latvia, Romania, Germany, Holland et al.. These friendships will endure, and everyone hopes to go again and meet these friends again. These friendships, the deeply moving simplicity and real-life-authenticity of the worship, the work together, and the Brothers' emphasis on peace-making and reconciliation through the person of Jesus: all these worked together to facilitate life-changing spiritual experiences for young people. Some of ours were generous enough to tell this to us; one told me that this Taizé time had been the most significant and helpful experience of their life in their desire to follow Jesus. It was an immense blessing and privilege to hear this, and to see it in others also.
"I feel ‘full to the brim’ overflowing with thankfulness for our pilgrimage." Sally Walters, Adviser in Counselling and Wellbeing at the diocese, also accompanied the young people on their pilgrimage to Taizé.
I am still hearing the resounding bells of Taizé in my inner self, that call to worship. I ask how can I continue something of this devout pattern in my daily life? We entered new and deep relationships, community living, a daily spiritual rhythm providing teaching, profound worship three times a day with up to 3,000 people.
I was honoured to join the listening team receiving streams of young people for prayer. The vastness of the worship space was as large as the experience left in my heart. And I am left feeling even younger in my spirit!
The Taizé song, ‘Let all who are thirsty come, let all who wish receive the water of life freely’ seems to sum up for me the week’s deep infilling in many ways.