The PCUSA Pilgrim Pastor

I signed up for Taize last June only knowing it was a deeply spiritual place that I had heard about for years. I had no idea what I signed up for. I’ll be staying at Taize from Sunday until Saturday. This post is about the daily rhythm of life here.

The best I can describe it is that Taize is like Christian Camp for adults. Like most camps, we sleep in metal bunk beds, 6 people to a room.

Some choose to camp here and stay in tents.

Now if you close your eyes and try real hard, breakfast tastes like a chocolate croissant.

Bread, chocolate, and butter. That’s what we get for breakfast. Every. Single. Day.

Lunch and dinner are similar. The only utensil here is a spoon so all meals are some kind of mush that you can eat with a spoon. We always get bread and often fruit. A few times we have received individually wrapped cheese. Needless to say, people do not come here for the cuisine.

The red bowl is NOT for food. That’s our cup. Mom would not be happy with me picking up the bowl and drinking from it. But everyone else is doing it!! Every meal, three times a day, we can choose between any combination of powdered coffee, powdered milk, powdered chocolate, and powdered tea. Then you can fill the bowl with hot or cold water. Those are the drink options. Every. Single. Day.

Everyone is expected to do a chore. Some people serve the food, some cook it, some clean up afterward. Some clean the bathrooms, some wash the pots and pans, some drive to pick up the food. I help washing the dishes afterward (I assured them they didn’t want me cooking!) which is done in these large metal tubs. Not quite sure it would pass U.S. cleanliness standards but it works.

At 10:00 in the morning we have a Bible lesson with Brother Pedro. It’s about 45 minutes and he gives us questions to ponder and talk about in small groups. One of today’s questions was: What are the obstacles that keep you from abiding in the vine?

After worship and lunch our small groups meet at 3:15 to reflect on the questions and our time together. As you might imagine, we have a very international crowd here. Lots of people from France, Germany, and the Netherlands. I also met some folks from Wyoming and the University of Maryland. My roommate who is also on sabbatical is a female pastor from Canada. Small groups were formed around language, mainly French, German, and English. My small group is two Americans, a man who lives in Scotland, a British woman, a German, and a woman from Hong Kong who lived in the UK and now lives in Netherlands. We have a great group and went deep very quickly. They were wonderful companions inn the Taize journey.

After small groups we can attend optional workshops such as choir, a movie about the origins of Taize, or meet with a brother or a sister. A store sells what the brothers here make by hand and I couldn’t resist buying a pottery communion set. The brothers don’t take donations but exclusively live off of what is sold in the store.

Perhaps my favorite place, other than the worship space which will be in tomorrow’s post, is The Silence Garden and Source. It is a walking path with a small lake.

I was able to see a swan family having lunch.

It’s absolutely peaceful and beautiful. Adding to the meaning of this place is a “Gospel Path.” One of the brothers created these gorgeous pieces of the life of Jesus and the early church. These were my two favorite. Can you guess which events these depict?