a statement from taize

Frère Roger has entered the life of eternity

During the evening prayer on Tuesday 16 August, in the midst of the crowd surrounding the Community in the Church of Reconciliation, a woman - probably mentally disturbed - struck Brother Roger violently with knife blows. He died a few moments later.

In its sorrow, the Taizé Community thanks all those who are supporting it by their affection and their prayer. On the morning of 17 August, after Brother Roger’s death, the following prayer was read in the church:

“Christ of compassion, you enable us to be in communion with those who have gone before us, and who can remain so close to us. We confide into your hands our Brother Roger. He already contemplates the invisible. In his footsteps, you are preparing us to welcome a radiance of your brightness.”

The funeral of Brother Roger will take place on Tuesday 23 August at 14.00.

Each afternoon, from 15.00 to 19.00, his body is placed in the church of Taizé, so that all who wish may go and meditate close by him.

Eight years ago, Brother Roger designated Brother Alois to succeed him, as the person in charge of the community. Brother Alois has entered straightaway into his ministry as servant of communion at the heart of the community.

from the Taize website

taize founder dies after stabbing

The Taize religious community in eastern France, says its 90-year-old founder has died after a knife attack during a prayer service. Police detained a Romanian woman after the attack on Swiss-born Roger Schutz, who was known as Brother Roger.

Around 2,500 young people were at the Reconciliation church in Burgundy at the time of the attack.

Brother Roger founded the community during World War II when he provided refuge to people of all religions.

Brother Alois, 51, who Brother Roger had nominated to be his successor, was returning from the World Youth Day jamboree in Cologne to take his place, a community spokesman said.

The Taize community unites members of several Christian denominations from some 30 countries and attracts tens of thousands of young people each year for prayers and meditation.

Some of those at evening prayers on Tuesday are reported to have overpowered the woman after she stabbed Brother Roger.

"We are in shock; there is a lot of confusion here; nobody understands what happened," a nun told AFP.

Church leaders have paid tribute to Brother Roger.

German Prelate Heiner Koch said in a statement: "All the participants in World Youth Day are praying for this great figure. We express our deep compassion to the Taize community."

President of the French Bishops' Conference, Archbishop of Bordeaux Jean-Pierre Ricard, has written to the Taize community expressing his "deep grief" after the murder of "this great figure of a researcher and witness of God, impassioned by unity among Christians and reconciliation".

from BBC News

church, pressure, time, worry....peace?

Speaking of which...on Sunday evening I was faced with the dilemma of where to go to church? Normally Sunday evenings are work time, but being the summer holidays the youth group is taking a break (even though young people are now even more bored thatn ever). I couldn't decide between somewhere that would be socially easy yet spiritually not where I'm at, or somewhere socailly difficult but more reflective, Taize-esque, a bit more where I'm at. I was sharing this 'dilemma' with a friend on MSN (philipjamesgoodacreAThotmailDOTcom - should you wish to add me). They pointed out that there is no way that I could recreate my time at Taize by going to a reflective, Taize-esque service, and that if I wanted some time to reflect, or to use their words, "spend some quality time with the Almighty", I don't need to go to church to do that.

It seemed like the most obvious thing in the world. I knew (somewhere in my head) that this was the case, but for some reason I felt that I ought to go to church. Scary.

Anyway, I went to possibly my favourite place to sit and 'be' for a while. It was great. As I walked up there, I was amazed by the colours around me. The heather was so purple, and the clouds were kind of purpley-grey. As I sat for a while, I was reminded of Matthew 25-34, especially when Jesus talks about the lilies (He'd have spoke about the heather had He been doing His thing in the Peak District). I've had this bit of the Bible quoted at me so many times, but it still doesn't fully sink in, or rather, I need to be reminded of it time and time again. Perhaps we all do.

taize, one week on

Well it's just over a week since I got back from Taize. It was never going to be a normal week, coming back from an experience like Taize is always going to give you things to think about and reflect on. Spending some time reflecting on where I'm going in life, about work and relationships, has been pretty tiring, and kind of stressful. I've struggled to concentrate on work (not much new there then), but it can be hard to focus on the short term things when you're considering some longer term things.

Perhaps I needed a bit of a kick up the back side. Maybe I was/am feeling too comfortable at the moment. A little bit of disruption cause you to reassess where things are going, whats important etc.

I know Taize gave me plenty of space to think and reflect. But it almost seems like all my questions about where my life is going, have come to a head after I get back. My initial thought was that this seems to be the wrong way round. It would have been great to reflect on some of these questions while away. But perhaps my time at Taize has shown me how much I need some structured reflective time (as against time when I just sit around and think about stuff as and when) in my daily life. It has shown me that I am able to be that disciplined.

this evening i found...

This evening I found two blogs belonging to people that I actually know. Which was nice. I first met Richard Passmore a few years ago when he was leading some training in detached youth work.

Amanda Roper is the wife of Neil, who was youth and children's worker at St. Thomas', Brampton. I used to go to St. Thomas' as a teenager, and my parents are still involved there.

first 'proper' game

Today was my first 'proper' game of the season. Although I'd been to watch Chesterfield v Scarborough a couple of weeks back, pre-season friendlies don't count.

Disappointingly, and possibly rather unsurpisingly, Chesterfield played in a somewhat mediocre fashion this afternoon, which, predictably, led to a miserable 1-0 defeat at the hands of Rotherham. The weather was horrible. It had been raining for a good part of the day, and only stopped raining with about 5 minutes of the match to go.

thoughts on life, dreams for the future.....

Some time ago I blogged about a couple of books, one called Sleeping with Bread: Holding What Gives You Life, the other called Healing the Purpose of Your Life. Both these books are written by the Linns - Dennis and Matthew (brothers) and Dennis' wife Sheila. The books are great. They're really easy to read with lots of pictures. They almost look like kids books, but they're not.

Anyway, why am I revisiting these books on my blog? Well. Both books are to do with the purpose of your life, trying to help you work out what it is that 'Gives You Life', what motivates you, what makes you tick, etc. Now I'm not saying that I've worked out what the purpose of my life is, but, as I reflect on my experiences at Taize there are a couple of things I've picked up on.

One of the things that moved me most during my week away was seeing the smiles on the faces of all the Brothers as they welcomed a new Brother into their community. It's moments like this in films that always get me emotional as well - seeing people having right relationships with one another, loving each other, caring for one another, accepting each other no matter what.

The second thing, which is kind of similar, is just the whole Taize experience itself. Seeing people come together, living as community together, accepting people no matter who they are or what they believe. It's how I think church ought to be. It's how I think society ought to be.

Some people reading this might think I'm getting a bit too idealistic, maybe even naive. I hope not. I think we need to dream big dreams, dreams that are unachieveble on our own, but not with God.

disappointingly....

Disappointingly Chesterfield lost 3-1 to Brentford last night. Thankfully I didn't go. Hopefully they'll do better at the weekend against Rotherham.

Disappointingly I am not still at Taize. I really did have a great week. It was just what I needed.

Disappointinlgy I am now back at work. On the whole I do enjoy my job, but its just hard to be motivated at the moment. There's not a whole lot going on at the mo. A lot of people are away on holiday. I'm also increasingly aware that in a few weeks the new vicar (my new boss) starts work. All the time I have been here has been during the interregnum. It's been quite nice in a way. Things are inevitably gonna change now, hopefully for the better, but being human I'm not a huge fan of change and the unknown.

top of the league

Yes I have faith in the boys, yes I know that there has only been one match this seson so far, and yes this is obviously a position which will be repeated throughout the season, but I would just like to point out the fact Chesterfield are currently top of Coca-Cola League One after a brilliant 3-1 win at Blackpool on Saturday.

sixteen hours sleep

Sixteen hours unbroken sleep. Nice. Surpsingly enough this was not on the coach home from Taize, rather it was in my bed on return from Taize. I woke up at about half four this morning following lying down at about midday yesterday. Fantastic.

I had a wonderful time at Taize. Wonderful in so many ways, some a little more unexpected than others. I've got lots to chew over in my mind, and I will probably share some of this in due course.

For the moment, I will settle for a few brief reflections on my week away. I've come back feeling healthier - spiritually, physically and emotionally - than I have done in a long time. The rhythm of community life has been really helpful. I've realised how little rhythm my 'normal' life has had. Rather than being constrictive, the regular events of life at Taize have enabled me to experience freedom in a new and liberating way.

Following on from this, the simplicity of life at Taize has challenged and provoked me. I've always known I'm a bit of a hoarder. In the words of Elton John in a Post Office advert some years ago, "I like nice things". I do. I know I do. And I know that so much of it I can really do without. But in all honesty, its not the nice things that cause me problems. It's the mediocre, crappy things in life that end up weighing me down. Crap TV, an unsatisfying burger from McDonalds, pointless worrying about things that don't matter, etc....

Anyway. I met a lots of wonderful people during the week. In a meeting with my line manager before I went away, she prayed about this - even down to the little things like who I would sit next to on the bus on the way there. Needless to say that prayer was answered. I went with a group led by the Bishop of Pontefract, and although it was kind of a Diocese of Wakefield trip, though there were a number of people from the Doncaster area, Sheffield and even Soctalnd as well. Met some lovely people from the Diocese of Oxford - bloggers being Sarah and inspired by Sarah, Rowan. In the interests of fairness(!!) Sarah is a youth worker/blogger/published author. I also spent quite a lot of time with a group from Leicester Cathedral as well as some youth worker-ish types from Sweden, many of whom I swept floors with every morning.

For me the most moving part of the whole week was seeing Brother Bart (yes he does have a cool/funny name) from the Netherlands making his life vows to the community (apparently this kind of thing only happens once or twice a year - so we were rather fortunate to witness this). This was so challenging for me. Seeing somebody that committed to God and to a community of people, that they would give up everything, actually everything, for what they believed in. How much 'stuff' am I hanging on to? But then to see the smiles on the faces of all the brothers, as well as Br Bart, as he was welcomed into the community after making his vows. Afraid that had me in tears. It was beautiful.