A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to go to Taize,
France. It was part of our work as
volunteers here, so there were about 70 of us from Germany that all went
together. Taize is a very small city
with just a few houses and this place built to receive thousands of young
people from all over for weeks at a time.
There are monks that live there and it is their mission to live simple
lives and to share the gospel with young people who are searching for
something. They also have brothers that
live in Africa and other parts of the world helping the poor and carrying the
good news throughout the world. The part
of Taize where young people come is kind of like a big camping ground. There are a few permanent buildings at the
front of the land to welcome people and that serve as the kitchen and
distribution area for meals. There are
then two big white tents nearby where you can meet as groups or eat under when
the weather is bad. In the center is the
church which has been built onto several times to make additional room for the
growing masses that visit each summer.
It is all very simple inside.
Besides a stage area that is set up with lots of colors and candles,
there is a long aisle made out of plants on the sides to mark the area where
the brothers sit/kneel during prayer. The
rest of the place is just open floor and more open floor in rooms connected
with garage doors so that when there are not so many people there they can be
closed and the feeling of the church being filled is preserved. On the other side of the church is a gift
shop where the brothers sell pottery and books and different kinds of artwork
that they have made. They do not take
any donations but make all these things by hand and then sell them to fund
their work. Behind that are lots and lots
of cabins and then off to one side is lots of space for camping out in
tents.
The week there was really good, but also not everything that
I had expected. I enjoyed the simple
lifestyle. The day began at 8:15 where
everyone met in the church for morning prayer and communion. That lasted about 45 minutes and then
breakfast was around 9 every morning.
Every prayer time was ended when the brothers stood up and walked out,
but everyone had the chance to stay longer and continue to pray if you wanted
to. The prayer times consisted of different
chants being sung in all kinds of different languages, a reading from the Bible
in English and another language, and 5-10 minutes of absolute silence followed
by more singing. Every day for breakfast we got a roll, a pack of butter, and
two little sticks of chocolate. You also
had the choice of hot tea or hot chocolate to drink, but there were no plates
or utensils given out. Towards the end
of the week we figured out we could ask for two rolls if we knew the people
handing them out. After breakfast I had
to meet with a group from my work here in Germany. Our bosses wanted to meet with us every day
to see how everything was going and if they could help us with anything. It was kind of annoying to me, but I know
some of the other people weren’t Christian and maybe didn’t go in embracing the
ideas or looking to be really
involved. It was just kind of a trip for
them and I think our bosses also wanted to keep an eye on them to make sure
they were participating fully. After the
meeting I had to start my work for the day.
When you arrive everyone is given a job to do in the community and a
time to meet with a brother for a Bible input and then small groups afterwards. The jobs ranged from being a silence keeper
during the prayers to cleaning toilets.
I was very happy with my job. I
worked with two other people that were also from our group from Germany and our
“boss” was a guy from Australia. There
are also young people that live there for 6 weeks- 1 year that are known as
permanents who help to keep the place running and show the people there for a
week what to do. We were in charge of
setting up the tables and lines that were needed to give out lunch, get all the
food to the lines, recruit and supervise volunteers to give out the food, and
then after lunch clean it all up. It was
really a fun job for me. Most days I was
in charge of cutting the bread. We had
to make sure we had all the numbers right and then figure out how much bread we
needed to cut without going way over so that nothing was wasted. Because we worked with the food, one of the
perks of my job was being able to get as much as I wanted at lunch. We ate after we were done cleaning everything
up in a back room by ourselves. We also
got chili powder and some other extras that spiced the food up a little. It was cool to see how everything worked. Someone else had already brought the food to
the walk in fridge or brought it to us hot from the kitchen. We just had to count out the correct amount
to match the numbers we had listed. When
we were cleaning up we just had to carry the dirty dishes to a certain station
and someone else was in charge of actually washing them. It made the work easier knowing that you just
had to do this and this and you didn’t have to sit there thinking… oh man, that’s
not gonna be fun to clean up later. That
was someone else’s job. Our permanent
was really cool, too. He was very laid
back and I think he was happy as well to have another native English speaker
for a week. We had lots of interesting
discussions about the mission of Taize, Australia, and just getting to know
each other. Although we started work at
11 each day, we still went to the midday prayer at 12:20 and then went right
back to work around 1:00 getting lunch served.
After we were done cleaning and eating I usually had a little spare
time, about 30 minutes before I had to go to my group for Bible input. Each day we met in a big group with one of
the brothers who had a little devotion for us.
It was amazing how many languages the brothers knew. They each had their native language of
course, but then with each other they spoke French and then most of them also
knew English or at least one other language fairly well. After the devotion time was done we broke
into small groups to discuss what was talked about or really just whatever was
on our minds. I was in a group with
three French guys, one German girl from my group, and then 4 other Germans that
we didn’t know. We spoke English which
was good for me, but the Germans had a tough time understand the French guys’
English. One of the French guys and one
of the Germans also had a tough time with English in general, but in the end we
were able to communicate pretty well. I
was a little disappointed with my group, though. Most of the people there were 18-20 and most
of them were also not Christian. It was
not really what I was expecting. I was
looking forward to time with other Christians in Bible study but I felt much
older than them and like I should speak up as a Christian voice which is kind
of what I feel like I am always doing at work, so it wasn’t as much of a time
of rejuvenation for me in that regard.
After the small group I had about 2 hours before dinner each day. I spent that time very differently each
day. The first day I was invited to play
rugby with all French people. I wasn’t
really sure of the rules or if I was doing something illegal, but it was pretty
fun for the 15 minutes that I played. I
scored almost immediately after joining the game which I think really impressed
them a lot. I really just outran everyone;
I never got touched, so it was really pretty easy. After about 15 minutes though I was so tired
and didn’t really want to get hit any more so I decided to quit. There is a big difference in the impact of a
hit when you are fresh and can deliver a hit yourself or are quicker and can
move a little so the hit isn’t so hard and when you are tired and you just take
the brunt of a hit because you can’t get out of the way. It was really cool though, because the entire
week after that the French people knew me and liked me just because I had
played with them. Other days I just took
time for myself with God, checked out the gift shop, or went walking in the
huge garden area they have with a little lake and trails all around. Dinner was at 7 every night and then evening
prayer began at 8:30 and went til about 10 or later if you decided to stay and
pray longer. At the evening prayer
several of the brothers also got up and went to the back where you could go and
ask questions or just talk with them about whatever. There was also a room to the side that was
opened where several brothers sat in chairs with an empty chair beside them
that you could go to. I thought they
were there just for questions or prayer or whatever like the others so I went
to one of these and turns out they were there for confession. The monk that founded Taize was protestant
but there are no divisions of Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, etc. in Taize. They try to incorporate all of them in the
worship services and then you are free to observe what you want. They have some ikons in the church, they have
water when you come in to cross yourself, they have a picture of Mary in the
church, they have a cross that they bring to the middle during the evening
prayer to pray before, and are accepting of all denominations. On Friday night they lay the cross in the
middle and all are invited to go and lay your head on the cross, as a symbol of
laying your life/troubles/etc. on Jesus and his cross. It is a celebration of Black Friday every
Friday. On Saturday they celebrate
Easter by spreading the light of Jesus through the church with everyone lighting
a candle, like what we do at Christmas services. After the evening prayer service there is a
building open that sells snacks and drinks and then everyone just hangs out
until 11:30 or 12 when it is absolute silence until morning. One night during this time I got invited by
the French to play a game with them.
They asked me if my shoulders were strong and I said I guess so, not
knowing what the game entailed. It
started out with myself and maybe six others huddled together with our arms on
our neighbors’ necks and our legs crossed with our neighbors. Then we rocked back and forth while they
chanted something and then someone would run and jump on top of us, over the
huddle, grab the waist of one of us and hold on with their feet on the ground
and their faces in the middle of our huddle looking up. We did that until each one of us had someone
holding on to our waists. Then we were
supposed to rock back and forth and at a certain time all jump together to the
right until someone fell. It didn’t take
long before someone fell, and luckily it wasn’t me. It was funny seeing the differences between
the French and Germans. The Germans all
asked me why did I play that and what was the point of it. They just sat there and talked and watched
while the French kept playing lots of strange games like that.
The food was always very simple for each meal. For lunch and dinner there was always a main
course, a roll or two baguette slices, a fruit, a cheese, and a little cookie
or some kind of dessert. We got bowls to
drink water out of, a plate, and a spoon to eat everything with. The main courses were cous-cous, beans and
potatoes, rice w/beans and corn mixed together, mashed potatoes and 2 chicken
nuggets, noodles with tomato sauce, green peas and carrots, and I don’t remember
what else, but always something pretty easy to make in bulk. They had someone that knew how to season
things, because even the stuff that I wouldn’t touch at home tasted
decent.
For me the week was good because it was a time away from
work and all the distractions like TV, internet, etc. I thought it would be more of a mountain top
experience than it turned out to be. I
thought it would be lots of Christians coming together to live a week like the
monks and there would be lots of encouraging and times to learn in all of the
talks with the people. There was a lot
of learning about cultures and different ideas, which is also really good, but
there wasn’t as much of a focus on learning more about God as I had hoped. I also felt like most everyone was younger
than me and not really in the same stage of their life as I am. The adults (30 and up) had a separate program
at the back of the land than the rest of us.
There were not many people 24-30, though, in the week that I was
there. I wish that we had more time in
conversation with the brothers. It was a
good week though, and I would love to go back with friends or family. The chants during prayer were very peaceful
and when I understood the language also helpful in my prayer life. Because they were almost all taken from Bible
verses, it really helps to remember scripture.
I’m sure if you lived there like the brothers and learned what each song
meant then it would be very helpful. The
chants were translated in the song book, but it takes a while to be able to
sing another language and still understand the meaning in your own. Being there with so many other people and
nationalities and cultures also really made me want to travel again. Luckily, I would find out the next week I was
going to get to go to Romania for a week.
I’ll write about that trip in the next few days.
