Monthly Taizé Prayer Services

2120 St. Gaspar Way,Liberty MO 64068

02 February, 2023

Description

Taizé for January: Epiphany sends us home ‘a new way’Dec. 1, 7-8 p.m. central timeIn-person and live-streamed Registration appreciated. Register to get details about the live stream. As we continue the celebration of the Christmas Season, on this night we remember the Feast of Epiphany, when a star led the Magi to honor the Christ Child with treasures. The Magi then went home a different way than they had come to Bethlehem. Are we leaving the Christmas Season different than we were a month ago? What are your goals to make sure you become a different person in this new year? For home reflection: We will celebrate the Feast of Epiphany in our churches the weekend of Jan. 7-8. An ancient Epiphany practice is the blessing of homes by marking the entrance to the house with chalk. To bless your home, offer this prayer: “Let us bless our home and pray that all will be welcome here. Let this door be an entry for the blessings of God. Let this door be a gateway of God’s blessings to the world.” With chalk, write above the door of your main entrance the year, crosses and the first initial of the traditional names of the Three Kings (Gaspar, Melchior, Balthazar): 20 + G + M + B + 23 The event will be live-streamed for our many friends who cannot be with us physically. Photo 50805128 © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com What is Taizé?Taizé prayer is practiced throughout the world. It is a meditative candle-lit form of community prayer that includes simple chants sung repeatedly, silence and prayers of praise and intercession. In prayer, we enter the silence, stilling the mind, opening the heart, surrendering to the action of the Spirit ever molding us into the image of Christ. The candles used in the service symbolize the presence of the risen Christ, who conquered darkness and sin and offers new life to all humankind. Taizé Prayer comes from an ecumenical, monastic community in France and has spread to numerous spots around the world. From the depths of the human condition, a secret aspiration rises up. Today many are thirsting for the essential reality: an inner life, signs of the Invisible. Nothing is more conducive to communion with the living God than meditative common prayer. When the mystery of God becomes tangible through the simple beauty of symbols, when it is not smothered by too many words, then a common prayer awakens us to heaven’s joy on earth. All the videos of our Taize prayer services are available here.