TAIZE PRAYER
Come experience prayer together!
Christ has made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him Whom the Angels serve.
-St. Agnes
An Invitation to Contemplative Prayer
Every month, ecumenical prayer in the style of Taizé is offered in the beautiful, historic Saint Andrew parish chapel at the corner of Sloan Street and Edgewood Avenue in Clemson. The prayer service consists of meditative singing and periods of silence, along with scripture reading and intercessory prayer. The repetitive chants take the words from the head to the heart, and silence addresses the spiritual potential, encouraging participants to reach a contemplative state.
Times and Days
Our Taizé-style services are generally held on the final Thursday of each month. Identical services are offered at 10 AM and at 7 PM. People are welcome to enter and leave at any time during the one-hour prayer times. All are welcome: seekers and believers, Catholics and Protestants, Christians and those of other faith traditions. The November and December services are usually moved to the Thursdays before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Check the Calendar for the most accurate times and dates
Introduction to the Songs
In the songbook used at Taizé, the brothers write: “Singing is one of the most important forms of prayer. A few words sung over and over again reinforce the meditative quality of the prayer. They express a basic reality of faith that can quickly be grasped by the intellect, and that gradually penetrates the heart and the whole being.”
Brief Background
Taizé is a small village in Burgundy, France, where a twenty-five-year-old pastor from Switzerland, moved in 1940. Subsequently known as Brother Roger, this spiritual leader, with his sister Genevieve, bought a house where they hid Christian and Jewish refugees during the second World War. Always committed to reconciling the various Christian churches, Brother Roger formed a monastic community of Catholic and Protestant men at Taizé in 1944. In the successive years, young adults began arriving to the community of Taizé to attend meetings of prayer and reflection and to pray communally in the large monastic Church of the Reconciliation. Today, thousands of young pilgrims are welcomed to the community every week. For more information, go to http://www.taize.fr/.
“The Lord is good to those who trust him, to all who search for him. It is good to wait in silence for the Lord to save.”
-Lamentations 3:19-26