Posted in Holiday Joy, Peace

Taize Four: “Living Water”

Tonight was the fourth and final Taize service at our church, Asbury Memorial, in Savannah. Next on the Christian liturgical calendar is this weekend’s Palm Sunday.

(Here’s a link to my first post about Taize, with a bit of explanation about what it’s all about: https://nealenjoy.com/2024/02/28/taize/)

Tonight’s final service was again splendidly simple and peace filled.

The emphasis was upon Living Water.

From the order of service:

“After Pope John Paul Il visited the ecumenical, monastic Taizé community in France in 1986, he said:

One passes through Taizé as one passes close to a spring of water. The traveler stops, quenches his thirst, and continues on his way. The brothers of the community do not want to keep you.

They want, in prayer and silence, to enable you to drink the living water promised by Christ, to know his joy, to discern his presence, to respond to his call, then to set out again to witness to his love and to serve your brothers and sisters in your parishes, your schools, your universities, and in all your places of work.

So come into this place of peace & let its silence heal your spirit;

Come into this place of memory & let its history warm your soul;

Come into this place of prophecy & power & let its vision change your heart.”

CHANT: Let all who are thirsty come. Let all who wish receive the water of life freely. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

May the peace that passeth understanding, the peace of God, which the world can neither give nor take away, be among us, and abide in our hearts. Amen.

Posted in Holiday Joy, Peace

Taize Two: “Bless”

Last Wednesday, I introduced the first of our church’s four Taize services before Easter. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out last week’s post real quick:

Tonight was beautifully simple and peaceful.

The theme revolved around the idea of our souls blessing God, instead of the usual other way around.

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“Bless the Lord, my soul,

And bless God’s holy name.

Bless the Lord, my soul,

Who leads me into life.”

PRAYER OF ST. FRANCIS

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,

Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Again, May Peace be your Portion

Posted in Peace

Little Dove

Courtesy of Pixabay

“Please Little Dove, fly your olive branch to Russia and Ukraine. Drop it on the leader Putin. Cover his heart with leaves of olive. Drop it on the Russian soldiers, who must have babies at home. Drop it on the ravaged land of Ukraine. Drop it on the innocent little children. Stop the killing, Little Dove, stop the hatred, stop the war.

Fly. FLY!

I know it is a long, long way there. And your wings are just dove wings. And you are harboring that heavy olive branch. But I believe you can do it.

You must do it.

The World depends on you, Little Dove.

Please fly.”