When I first arrived at Taizé I thought to myself, “Oh, this is it?” I walked up the dusty path into the community and found hoards of young people strewn out across the welcome area. I walked past the great Taizé bells and into the picnic tent with my newfound American friend, who happened to know the community like the back of his hand. As we past a group of teens laughing and spraying each other with the dish-washing hoses, we found a nice spot to sit and grabbed some extra food that was left over from lunch. One thing I got from being there already on the first day was how welcoming and accepting this community was to new pilgrims. I got a real sense of that as I went through the reception process with a young person from Germany named Jenni. Although she had only been in Taizé for a day, she happily showed where I would work, sleep, and participate in Bible studies. She seemed as though she knew so much and she had practiced at her job for weeks. But I knew that Jenni simply put her heart into this small job, because she loved people and she was responding to the trust she was given by the Brothers.It’s just amazing to me how the Brothers have set up this community: it is completely trust-driven and run by the pilgrims who come to stay each week regardless of their age or background. I was given the task of cooking the dinner meal for about 1000 young people and leaders. Although I had very little experience or knowledge in the kitchen, I was given this job with a high degree of trust and confidence that I could do it well. Before I could say to the welcome team “well, you know I’ve never worked in a kitchen and what if I mess up?” they signed me up for the job. There was no room for doubting oneself here, just trust that God will equip pilgrim to step up to the task given. This principle of trust in young people is echoed throughout the community and in my opinion it is one of the reasons why young people continue to come back to this inconspicuous hill year after year. In a world where teenagers and college agers are suspect from the start, Taizé models a faith in young people that runs deep. The community’s former prior, Brother Roger once said, “I am willing to go to the ends of the Earth to shout my trust in young people.”
This sense of responsibility gives the pilgrims affirmation and confidence; to know that they are trusted, regardless of their previous mistakes or employment botches. For me, the work also gave a notion of contribution. I knew that if I didn’t do my job well that the community would not be able to eat each night, and so I saw how my job fit into the whole. During morning meals, when I wasn’t working, I got to sit and eat with everyone and share stories. One pilgrim I met along the way was Laura, an undergrad student from Berlin who had taken two weeks off from classes to re-think her life in the thick of it all. It was really interesting to me that she wasn’t at all worried about getting those notes or catching up for the exam, she simply knew she needed time to think, listen, and seek God...and so she took the risk. Many other young people come to Taizé for the same reason; it is a haven of peace and quiet that stands almost antithetical to the buzzing noise of the modern world. Dominique, another friend, was a Swiss youth leader at a Catholic church who brought with him two young teens to experience a week of uniqueness at Taizé. For Dominique, although he comes back every year with a handful of new youth, Taizé is a spring of rejuvenation and fresh air for him where he can listen attentively and without distraction to the truth God has to speak into his life.
Overall what I think stood out the most for me during my time at Taizé was the simple reality that I could peacefully and without a gulp in my throat have good, real fellowship and conversation with Christians from other traditions. At Taizé, the question of denomination usually comes secondary (if indeed it comes at all) to the reality of being followers of Christ. No marginalizations or separations were made based one’s Christian tradition and all the pilgrims worshipped together with the Brothers three times a day. We sang together in praise of the Lord and we prayed together for the peace and reconciliation of the world. It was a deep and very fulfilling experience for me and I gained a new hope for the future of the Church, one where the message of Christ’s uniting power comes first and division is left behind.
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