Canterbury Colorado

Love one another as I have loved you. John 13:34

Reflections on TaizÉ

Amanda mayhew

Taizé is a very hard place to leave, not just physically but spiritually, I am still “there” a lot of the time.

 

Besides being so beautiful, the countryside was like nothing I had ever seen, the community there is so inspiring. I left there a richer person because I was able to take a little part of every person I came in contact with home with me.

 

While I was at Taizé I collected “rubbish.” I never knew there could be such joy in such a simple task. It was cool that I could help the community and do my part to keep the gears turning. People were so happy to do work there, because they knew that it was just what had to be done. We would see brothers between services driving tractors moving around things; it was just there work and they knew it had to be done.

 

Another thing I took away from Taizé was the ever present sense of community. Who knew that two thousand people could feel like such a community? I felt very in touch with all those people around me. Everyone was very happy or at least very peaceful at Taizé. It didn’t matter how much money you had or where you were going on vacation this summer—materialism didn’t matter there. People smiled and stopped and talked and actually listened. There was obviously no TV constantly yelling and no radio either—there were no messages except the ones from God.

 

The rhythm at Taizé was very constant. It was obvious that the day revolved around the three worship services and there is something amazingly comforting about that, to know that no matter what your day brought you would be able to go to a safe place and sit and breathe for an hour and be with God and be part of something bigger than yourself. On Friday night, there was an adoration of the cross that I did and it was beautiful. We basically crawled on our knees to the cross and then we were able to pray in front of the cross. Normally I would feel crowded being near that many people and cramped having to wait so long, but the Holy Spirit was there—connecting all of us. I was a part of something bigger than myself.

 

After being at Taizé for a week I know that I will have to go back. Since being back in this fast-paced, break neck society, I have found it impossible not to want for the simplicity of Taizé, so here is the question I’ve been asking myself: How do you find inner peace in today’s hectic, modern world?

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Reflection—Mayhew