Taizé (pronounced teh-zay), an ecumenical monastic community on the cutting edge of contemplative prayer, has released a collection of chants entitled “Music of Unity and Peace.” Based in Burgundy, France, the community consists of about 100 monastics from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds, but its influence is vast. Hundreds of thousands of young people flock there from all over the world, and thousands of congregations in the U.S. and elsewhere hold Taizé contemplative prayer services and sing Taizé songs. Taizé is a major force for ecumenism. Founder Roger Schutz participated in the Second Vatican Council, and Pope John Paul II visited Taizé in October 1986. Since Schutz’s death (he was murdered by a deranged woman during a Taizé service), the community has been led by a Roman Catholic priest named Alois Loeser. The Taizé services are non-dogmatic and non-authoritative. There is no preaching. “It does not dictate what people must believe. No confessions of faith are required. No sermons are given. No emotional, evangelical-style salvation testimonials are expected.” Schutz described the philosophy of Taizé as, “Searching together--not wanting to become spiritual masters who impose; God never imposes. We want to love and listen, we want simplicity” (“Taizé,” Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, Sept. 20, 2002). This is blind mysticism loosed from the authority of Scripture. It is not building the true church of Christ; it is building the Mystery Babylon. Taizé’s non-doctrinal ecumenical Christianity is fueled by mystical practices. A “shadowy medieval” atmosphere is created with the use of such things as candles, icons, and incense (Vancouver Sun, April 14, 2000). The goal is to bring the “worshiper” into a meditative state, “to a place beyond words, a place of just being.” There is a lot of repetition, with “one-line Taizé harmonies repeated up to 15 times each.” Catholic contemplative prayer has swept through “evangelicalism” over the past 20 years, as we have documented in Evangelicals and Contemplative Prayer, available in print and as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org. (Friday Church News Notes, March 13, 2015, www.wayoflife.org, [email protected], 866-295-4143) Comments are closed.
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