The recent meeting at St Thomas More’s Church, Middlesbrough of altar servers drew a good number of servers and a letter from Dominic Jones who will be known to many of our readers.
“I must say I was really pleased to give a talk to all the altar servers about my 30 years as an altar server. Its remarkable and amazing work. Well done to you all. I hope there are further meetings in our parishes.”
Thanks Dominic!
Taizé is an ecumenical form of prayer, scripture, reflection, and meditative music that invites God’s presence to penetrate one’s innermost being. Its origins go back to around August 1940, while World War II was raging. A young man named Roger Schutz settled in the tiny village of Taizé in the Burgundy region of eastern France. While living a life of prayer, he began to assist political refugees who were trying to escape Nazi occupation. Brother Roger’s concern for victims of injustice was matched by his refusal to accept the divisions between Christians. His legacy lives on in numbers of over 100 Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed brothers, from 25 different countries. Today, as then, the emphasis of the community is reconciliation between peoples and nations.
The liturgy that has developed in the Taizé Community is for prayer and the worship of God, but it also serves to quiet one’s innermost being. There can be few people who are not familiar with the Taizé music in the Christian church today. It is noted for its chant-like style of repetitive words and melodies focusing on themes of praise, trust, joy and simplicity. Its simplicity makes it easy to join in. “Nothing is more conducive to communion with the Living God than a meditative common prayer with singing that never ends, but continues in the silence of one’s heart, when one is alone again,” said Brother Roger.
A Taize group for the Middlesbrough area is being formed. We plan to hold a monthly Taize evening on the first Wednesday of each month at 7pm. Each gathering will last for about an hour. During this time, we will learn the different harmonies for the chants for around 40 minutes, followed by a Taize prayer – with chants, lasting around fifteen minutes. The first gatherings are as follows:
If you would like to come and be part of this group please do – you don’t need to read music or be a good singer and you will be made very welcome.
For more information please contact either
We look forward to seeing you for the first meeting 2nd May, at Holy Name.
