2008 Woodie Awards
Taize Worship Starts Anew
Phillip Brooks
Issue date: 9/15/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
On Wednesday, Sept. 6, Hendrix students took part in the first of several special evening services hosted by the Chaplain's office. Acting upon a long tradition, students followed the Taize model of worship. For six years now the Chaplain and Lilly Office have offered up a musically intense service that traces back to a small village in France near Cluny. Hendrix Chaplain Rev. Wayne Clark was instrumental in the adoption of Taize to the campus.
"I guess it goes all the way back to when I learned about Taize while studying in England," Clark said. "I heard English people talk about the community in France. I heard some of the music from a service and loved it. Very few people in America knew about Taize, until about 10 years ago when I heard that churches were beginning to adapt Taize worships. I took a group of students to a Catholic Church in Chicago to see the service and we've been doing Taize for about six years now."
According to the Taize website, the worship style originates from a Christian brotherhood centered on the small area of Taize in the Burgundy region of France. In 1940 the founder of Taize, Brother Roger, started the fellowship as a sanctuary for refugees, Jews in particular, who were trying to escape the War. Brother Roger's first associate brothers arrived in Taize in 1949. The community began largely as a local monastic group, but over time Taize brothers have spread out across the world into many impoverished areas.
"It certainly affects the world (Europe especially) with weekly services at Taize. Two to three thousand people gather to Taize during the summer. About eight thousand show up at Pentecost," Clark said. "They also have a big conference every year which attracts about eighty thousand people. Taize brings people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds together. I went up there once and spent a week in a cabin with eight people from all over the world."
The Taize website offers little information on the religious background of Brother Roger or the earliest members, but rather expresses the inclusive nature of Taize. According to this site the community remained largely Protestant at first, but has also welcomed many Catholics to the group. Taize today works closely with a convent of nuns who live near the village. Offering a common community for different sects of Christianity falls heavily in Taize's mission.
"I guess it goes all the way back to when I learned about Taize while studying in England," Clark said. "I heard English people talk about the community in France. I heard some of the music from a service and loved it. Very few people in America knew about Taize, until about 10 years ago when I heard that churches were beginning to adapt Taize worships. I took a group of students to a Catholic Church in Chicago to see the service and we've been doing Taize for about six years now."
According to the Taize website, the worship style originates from a Christian brotherhood centered on the small area of Taize in the Burgundy region of France. In 1940 the founder of Taize, Brother Roger, started the fellowship as a sanctuary for refugees, Jews in particular, who were trying to escape the War. Brother Roger's first associate brothers arrived in Taize in 1949. The community began largely as a local monastic group, but over time Taize brothers have spread out across the world into many impoverished areas.
"It certainly affects the world (Europe especially) with weekly services at Taize. Two to three thousand people gather to Taize during the summer. About eight thousand show up at Pentecost," Clark said. "They also have a big conference every year which attracts about eighty thousand people. Taize brings people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds together. I went up there once and spent a week in a cabin with eight people from all over the world."
The Taize website offers little information on the religious background of Brother Roger or the earliest members, but rather expresses the inclusive nature of Taize. According to this site the community remained largely Protestant at first, but has also welcomed many Catholics to the group. Taize today works closely with a convent of nuns who live near the village. Offering a common community for different sects of Christianity falls heavily in Taize's mission.
Be the first to comment on this story