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Taizé – A Community Service For Peace And Healing

Taizé – A Community Service for Peace and Healing

Our lives forever changed on May 24th. The last few months have been busy, chaotic, sorrowful, frightening, and exhausting. Our town has been inundated with well wishers and those wanting to do something to ease our pain and help us deal with the horrible tragedy that has affected each and every one of us. There is a busyness here in Uvalde that doesn’t seem to slow down. We have been so busy “doing” that we have not taken much time for “being.” This Taizé service invites you to step back, breath, and rest in the silence, prayerful music, healing scripture readings, and beautiful candlelight.

St. Philip’s will hold a community Taizé service on Wednesday, August 24th at 6:00 p.m., the three month anniversary of the tragic Robb shooting. In the words of the psalmist, this is a time “to be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).

An Invitation and  Introduction to Taizé
We welcome each of you to St. Philip’s Episcopal Church and this evening of prayer. Each of us comes with our own concerns and life circumstances. Through singing, silence, and scripture we will be drawn together as a community. Only one thing is asked of us this evening:

“Be still and know that I am God” – Psalm 46.

These words are an invitation to just be, to rest in the presence of Christ and one another. In a world full of noise, busyness, schedules, and obligations they are important words. We need to not just hear them but live them. The moments of stillness and silence are often when God speaks the loudest and clearest. St. John of the Cross said that silence is God’s first language. 

Meditative Singing
“Singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short songs, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. Using just a few words they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God. It allows everyone to take part in a time of prayer together and to remain together in attentive waiting on God.” (From the Taizé Community website)

Silence 
Silence is a way in which we make our selves present to God. It is an offering of “our selves, our souls and bodies.” It creates space within us to listen to and receive God.

Icons
Icons make visible that which is invisible. They are the visual invitation to presence and a traditional part of Taizé style worship. 

Taizé
This evening’s style of worship comes out of the Taizé Community in France. “Today, the Taizé Community is made up of over a hundred brothers, Catholics and from various Protestant backgrounds, coming from around thirty nations. By its very existence, the community is a ‘parable of community’ that wants its life to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples.” (From the Taizé Community website)

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