A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers.
Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756 with additional notes below:
“La Ténèbre (Our Darkness),” “The Lord is My Light,” and “In the Lord” are songs from the ecumenical Taize community in France. Copyright and all rights reserved by GIA/Les Presses de Taizé.
“Kyrie” is an original composition. Music and lyrics by Kester Limner shared under the Creative Commons License, Attribution (CC-BY).
“When He Cometh (Jewels”)” is a public domain hymn, written in 1856 by William Orcutt Cushing, who was a Methodist minister and advocate for the education of blind children.
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1 comment
Dear Carrie, Lester & Andy:
Once upon a time, I was told by a friend, “You have to go where your soul needs to be.”
But here’s the rub: I’m not at all sure where that is.
What I do know is this:
After decades of attempting to pour my square shape into the round hole of the Evangelical tradition, I have concluded that I just don’t fit.
So here I am: a ship without a port.
The sensation is akin to the unravelling of a cheap sweater.
And I confess that I am haunted by these lyrics by musician Bruce Cockburn:
“Something jeweled slips away around the next bend with a splash
Laughing at the hands I hold out
Only air within their grasp.”
Such is my current state.
And yet, even though I feel like a tumbleweed blowing across the prairie…..
I daresay that I am astute enough to see that you three gentle souls are solidly moored in the Most Holy Faith.
I know very little about the Taize community in France, so may I be so bold as to ask:
Has an honest-to-goodness Christian tradition arisen as a consequence of this “Spirit of Taize”?
Now then, if I may offer a couple of impressions of the October 3rd service:
If I had to describe it in a single word, it would be UNHURRIED.
There was time to reflect upon what was being sung, and what was being read, and what was being spoken, and what was NOT being spoken.
When a service is crafted in such a contemplative fashion, deep spiritual meaning has the opportunity to penetrate, to register, to resonate within.
Somehow this seems like more than a worship service. It feels like a ‘sacred space’ is being carved out. A hallowed space.
Of the instruments that Kester and Andy perform on, the only one I even recognize is Andy’s guitar. Pray tell, what are the names of the other three? I confess that I am utterly enchanted with their respective timbres.
I catch myself musing aloud: “Why aren’t such delightful-sounding instruments featured more commonly in modern evangelical ensembles?”
Well, anyway.
It is evident that you are giving your utmost for His Highest.
Thank you for your earnest efforts.
I feel like I have entered into the true heart of worship.
The magic seems to be lingering in the air long after I finished watching the video.
Yours in the Keeper of the Fire & the Wind,
PhiL >^•_•^<