#Home

Morning over the valley. Taizé is on the other side

I arrived in France yesterday morning, travelling the 430 or so miles to friends of mine who live in a village near Taizé. As we sat on their terrace overlooking the valley we witnessed the most amazing storm. Lightning shot through the valley. The colour of the sky was amazing.

This morning I made the short drive to Taizé. A place that has had significant influence on both my faith and vocational journey. It is for this reason that I call it my spiritual home.

I first ended up in Taizé at the age of 17 (my parents told me that going 'will do you good'). I went, as many young people did, with a group from my church. It was the summer of 1986. I was swept up in all it was. Three times a day everything stopping for simple, contemplative, Common Prayer, discussing in small groups of people my age from around the world questions of importance and sharing in some of the jobs the site needed. It was something that I'd never experienced before.

The Church of Reconciliation, Taizé

At the end of the year there was to be a European Meeting in London where somewhere around 30,000 young people were expected to descend upon the city. Living at the end of the district line (Upminster), a naive me said, in that summer week 'my parish will host 150 people.' We hosted 147 with other churches in the town (You can read a bit about it HERE). In the year following, the parish sponsored me to attend a smaller meeting in Ljubljana. I was sensing a call to the community. I returned a few more times, helped with the welcome and work for the European Meeting in Rome and in 1988 resigned from my job and got on the coach at Victoria for Taizé not thinking about returning to the UK anytime soon. I became what was known as a 'Permanent' - a long term volunteer. Permanents were, essentially, responsible for the public side of the site. Working with one of the community (brother - or sister from the Community of St Andrew's), toilets were cleaned, fences erected or repaired, large tents put up and taken down, marquees added to the church when more capacity was needed etc. For the latter part of my time there I was one of the sacristans, ensuring the church was kept in good order and prepared for each prayer. It was hard work but I was part of a group of similarly aged people living our best lives.

The meal queue from my room. In the background is the marquee added to the church for extra capacity.

I think a lot of it I took for granted. The male permanents ate in the community with Brother Roger, the founder (read more HERE). Early on in my time we all went to Paris to UNESCO to see Br Roger receive an award. There was the work for the European Meeting in Paris where I was one of the official photographers and gained access to all sorts of parts of Notre Dame. And there was the meeting in Wroclaw in the winter that the Berlin Wall was coming down.

Staying in Taizé for a much longer time wasn't going to happen. However, during my time, I met regularly with Brother Thomas. A straight-talking Scot. I returned when I was feeling a calling to ordained ministry. Br Thomas helped in my discernment process (and I think gave me a much tougher time than anyone in the Church of England). For a number of years, I have returned to Taizé for a week of silent retreat. It is a vital part of my year. So here I am as I begin my sabbatical. It seemed the right place to begin this time.

The iron cross at sunset on the road through Taize