Learning Journal 5 - Taizé Worship

Ordinands are organised into Worship teams which take it in turns to lead the morning prayer in chapel, a week at a time. For our first week we led a week of worship in the Taizé style. I found the combination of short, repetitive, scriptural songs, the use of silence, the use of candles and the wearing of white robes to be deeply profound in their simplicity. I find myself attracted to this more contemplative spirituality and would like to explore it more.

Having said that it was simple, the Taizé worship did take more time in terms of preparation than the regular morning prayer. This was partly to do with the layout of the room, but also because we need to co-operate well as a team and work closely with the music group.

On reflection, we perhaps should have taken a bit more time to introduce the style of worship to people and explain what was going to happen. As it was we just welcomed people in, began the service and expected people to join in. People got the hang of it in the end, but it is worth remembering that even ordinands take a while to get used to a different style of worship.