Theological Perspirations: Community

As I continue to look back and reflect on my trip to Europe Taize is by far one of the most impacting places I visited. Taize is a small village in the southern part of France and the Christian community that lives there is known by the same name--Taize. They are an ecumenical community started by a man who became known as Brother Roger. The community had humble beginnings in 1940 with only a few members and has since grown into an international community of 100 plus brothers--Catholic and protestants. The sisters of St. Andrews also live at Taize and share a symbiotic relationship with the brothers; the support the brothers in the welcoming ministry. Brother Roger and that Taize community never intended on attracting God-seeking youth from all over the world. God had other plans for this committed community.

During Easter week Taize receives 7-8 thousand young people. During the peak summer period the community receives around 5 thousand young people per week. Young people and not so young people come to participate in the prayer and the work of the community. Each day people the international ecumenical guests eat together, pray together, work together and learn about scripture together.

To live a week at Taize is to live a week in the rich Kingdom of God. Where else can people of once waring nations talk over a cup of coffee? Where else do Roman Catholics and Protestants share their love for Jesus with each other? Not many other places I know offer such freedom for friendship and dialogue.

Only a year and a half ago Taize lost their founding member. Brother Roger died on August 16, 2005. It was an unexpected and violent loss. Brother Roger's death reeks of irony. He was a man who stood for peace, reconciliation and non-violence yet his life was ended with an act of violence.

At Taize I met a girl who was there the night Brother Roger died. Her description of that night and the weeks after Brother Roger's death left a mark on me. I not sure my retelling of her retelling of the story does justice and I apologize for and welcome changes to any inconsistencies.

That night during the evening worship service a woman from Romania came over into the area where the brothers sit during worship. She punctured Brother Roger with a knife. My friend said that when it happened some brothers were seen carrying someone out. Most people did not know who was carried out and most did not know what had happened. Later sirens were heard. The evening prayer continued as if nothing had happened. Towards the end of the regular prayer a brother stood up at the front an announced, “tonight Brother Roger has died”. The evening prayer continued for hours into the morning. The following week thousands of people came to offer their loving presence to the Taize community.

My friend pointed out the book that Taize has published of Brother Roger's last writings. The books is called, “A Path of Hope”. On the back of the book it reads, “The founder of the Taize community, Brother Roger was awarded the UNESCO Price for Peach Education in 1988. He died during the evening prayer service in Taize on August 16, 2005." She helped me notice that it does not say, “he was murdered”. This struck me. The brothers whose life is about peace and reconciliation are choosing to remember the person, their beloved whom they lost, over and above how he died. They remember the loss of their Brother rather than the way they lost him.

Somehow, even when their beloved Father was murdered, they were able to live out the peace and reconciliation they talk so much about. They were not quick to anger but rather quick to forgive. I have been asking, “How were they able to forgive so quickly, and so radically?” It is not often we see such radical forgiveness.

I wonder, if Taize was not a community of committed people would the response have been the same? I think they were able to respond with radical forgiveness because they are not living out their calling as individuals but rather they live out their calling in community. They are not on this “pilgrimage of trust” as they call it alone but together. There is immense power to serve the Lord well in community!

This Lenten season is about facing the sin in our lives. It is about looking at how we sin against our fellow humanity and our God. It is about looking at the attachments which keep us from living the way we are designed to live. I have so often pictured myself dealing with my own "issues" alone with my God. Yet, I wonder how much better my life would be if even "my own 'issues'" were not my own but rather also the "issue" of the people of God. And what if the way others sin against God and humanity was also not their own "issue" but rather mine too?

God calls us to a deeper and more radical walk with him. So often we think we can do it--live more radially, more faithfully--alone. Yet how often do we try and fail? I know better now than ever that I can not go and do what God is calling me to alone. It is not that God is not able, HE IS!, but it is also that the power of God seems even stronger when his people bind together in a committed way. At least that is what I've observed in the several monastic communities I have visited.

Somehow in all the Sunday school, theology classes, and life experience we miss really knowing/living this very important lesson of community. To be what God has created us to be, we need the kingdom community to come with us. This is so against the western ideal of solitary living. This journey of trust with God is not intended to be walked alone in a solitary way. In fact it happens in richer, deeper and more radical ways when people live out community. Within community the power to be the Kingdom, to love, to forgive, to offer peace, to give mercy is possible. Alone, we begin with great intentions yet find our lives equalized with the culture around us; we settle for something that is less than love for God and others, less than peace, and less than forgiveness. If Taize can teach us anything, it is that God’s power for transformation is made known within his people—plural. We do not need solitary living for Jesus, we need living in solidarity for Jesus!

Of course the question I have is, how do we live in solidarity for Jesus? What might it look like with a group of people who are not a monastery? How does a people full of commitments, who might not even live under the same roof, commit to each other for the sake of the world? And what are some of those essential commitments?