Prayer & Music in the Style of Taize

The Downtown Churches Association offers a monthly Taizé service on the third Friday of the month from September to June each year. Services are rotated through the various churches in the downtown. Currently, services are offered at Fairfield United Church, at the corner of Moss Street and Fairfield Road. First Met will host 2017 services on Sept. 15, Oct. 20 and Nov. 17 and in 2018 on Jan. 19, Feb. 16 and Mar. 16.

This is a quiet, meditative service based on the liturgies of the Taizé community in France, an ecumenical Christian community.

A Taizé service consists of singing — simple one or two-line chants. A typical service might include chants in English as well as Latin, French, Spanish, and German. The music is intended as prayer, so a chant is sung over and over again in a contemplative style. The service usually includes a psalm reading, a gospel reading, a period of silence, prayers of intercession, and ends with prayer around an icon of Christ on the cross. Participants who wish to, come forward to kneel and touch, kiss or pray at the icon.