Our Rector, the Rev. Diana Wilcox, is back from leading the diocesan pilgrimage of young adults to Taizé. The trip was a spiritual journey, not only for the young adults, but also for their leaders.  In the picture on the below, Br. John is meeting with the group (as well as those from a Methodist group in Boston) to discuss how the week has been.  Sitting to Bishop Beckwith’s left is the Bishop of the UMC in New England (and former Bishop of the UMC in NJ) Sudarshana Devadhar, whom both Rev. Diana and our bishop knew prior to the trip.  Br. John is actually from the US, and led the bible study for the adults over 30.
During the week, there were over 3,400 participants from all around the world! The daily schedule was generally:
8.15 am Morning prayer, then breakfast
10 am Bible Study led by a Brother of Taize
12.20 pm Midday prayer, then lunch
2-5pm Optional song-practice/Group Mtgs.
5.15 pm Tea
5.45 pm Theme workshops
7 pm Supper
8.30 pm Evening prayer, then vigil with songs in the church, followed by night silence

The picture above shows a typical worship service, but was not taken on this particular trip.
Everyone was assigned work to do, from cleaning dishes after a meal to cleaning toilets. We all had a part to play in making community and living intentionally into it. The final night our group had a small, casual, Eucharist led by Bishop Beckwith (see picture below) in the Orthodox chapel located in the crypt below the main worship space.

We now offer on our website the daily bible readings done at Taize, along with a link to their website.  You can find it on our home page, or by clicking this link: https://christchurchepiscopal.org/?page_id=1855

To read more about our experience there, check out our Bishop’s blog post by clicking here: http://dioceseofnewark.org/bishops-blog/invitation-taiz%C3%A9