“God’s command to ‘pray without ceasing’ is founded on the necessity we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air.”– John Wesley

The Taizé Community is an ecumenical Christian monastic community in Taize, France. It’s made up of more than one hundred brothers, from Catholic and Protestant traditions, who originate from about thirty countries across the world. It was founded in 1940 by Brother Roger, a reformed Protestant. The community has become one of the world’s most important sites of Christian pilgrimage, with a focus on youth. Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work. Through the community’s ecumenical outlook, students are encouraged to live in the spirit of kindness, simplicity and reconciliation. During spring break, myself and nine other Hendrix students joined young adults from all over the world in this community of prayer, contemplation, and reconciliation, and it truly was an amazing time. My favorite part of the experience was definitely the music, which is sung in many different languages, emphasizing simple phrases, usually lines from Psalms or other pieces of Scripture repeated and sometimes also sung in canon.

 

In this broadcast of The Faith We Sing,  Miranda and I explored themes of prayer and meditation through a range of scripture, musical genres, both christian and secular, and popular media and arts, including the musical Fiddler on the Roof.


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