by Emily Huff
After the service is over every Friday night in Taizé, the iconic cross that they usually have up in the front of the church is laid flat on the floor in the center of the church. First, the brothers gather around the cross to pray, and then they exit as usual. After that, anyone who wants to can go up and pray gathered around the cross. Most kneel and some lay their heads on the cross as they are praying. And it’s not unusual to see people leaving their time there with tears in their eyes as they have had a significant experience of laying their burdens down and experiencing God’s presence in a powerful way. When we were there, people were lined up well past midnight for prayers.
Here is the reflection that I wrote after my time of circling around this beautiful cross with people all around the world joining me with prayers of their own.
“Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
Jesus, you hold the whole world in your hands. You hold all the hopes and dreams and disappointments and failures in our hearts with us and for us.
You breathe in all the pain and brokenness of the world…
And you breathe out love and shalom.
You came so that we would not be alone.
You came to bear the weight of the world.
You came to heal and restore all of creation.
Adoramus te Christe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wufCggvgLkw
The Godspacelight Community Cookbook is unquestionably a community cookbook with recipes created by readers, authors, and friends of Godspacelight. Our community spans the world, so we asked for recipes that reveal the different cultures and traditions we come from. Contributors from the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., Norway, Malta and South Africa provided not only recipes but also lots of fun stories and anecdotes to go with their recipes. These stories are inspiring to read as they give us insights both into the contributors’ lives and their cultures. And the recipes themselves are delicious to make.