"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

Speaking on the last day of the old year to several hundred young people who gathered in the ecumenical centre in Geneva as part of the Taizé, the WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia concluded his reflections on "the word of God is not in chains" with the famous quote above from Margaret Mead.
True encouragement that young and old together small groups of us really can change the world. Kobia looked at historical and contemporary witnesses such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote of hope from third reich prisons, and the young woman writing the Baghdad burning blog. Throughout history and across the world people resist being silenced, refusing to let their words or God's word be enchained.
Kobia looked at a number of things which can keep us in chains today, doubt and fear, poverty and prosperity. I was particularly interested in hearing him say that slavery to materialism and a senses of meaningless can also be a source of "enchainment" - if that's a word. This certainly made me think about my own life. Maybe it's the lot of a Protestant cleric in particular to feel the need to offer meaning to others and yet feel that one's own life lacks meaning. Hmm ... much to think about there.
Anyway, the crowds of young people who came to Geneva because the message of Taizé offers them meaning and encouragement in their lives, have now returned home. I think Calvin's city has been changed by their visit. I hope this different way of celebrting the new year will be part of what helps them and all of us to be part of small, thoughtful groups which change the world.

Photos from Taizé - keeping the faith

I've written about Peter Williams' wonderful photographs before. He works part time for the WCC and part time as a freelance. The photos he's taken from the Taizé meeting in Geneva can be found on the epd website here, Peter's photos do really tell a story.
You can find more on the WCC website but also on the Keeping the Faith website which uses photos from the oikoumene as a way to encourage all of us to keep faith and to keep on telling the ecumenical story.

Happy New Year from Ferney Voltaire

So here are some photos from the new year in Ferney, a procession from the Taizé service at the Roman Catholic Church down the main street to the English-speaking evangelical congregation called Crossroads. They will be sharing a meal and music from different countries. Photos, as often courtesy of my live-in roving photographer.

The colour of trust is red

Throughout Geneva, neighbouring France and into the neighbouring Swiss canton of Vaud, many of the local churches have been decorated in red and orange, the colours of the Taizé community's pilgrimage of trust. The pictures above are from this Sunday in the Temple of Ferney Voltaire with Pastors Bernard Millet and Anne Coidan celebrating. Following the service all the participants were invited to a meal at the Roman Catholic Church just 100 metres down the road.
Although the local churches have sometimes found it quite a challenge to respond to the needs of the Taizé meeting, the positive fruits of the effort and prayer can already be seen within and between church communities. Perhaps sometimes in the churches we don't dare enough to go beyond the routine of what we're used to.You can read about some of the preparations here.
We didn't go to Palexpo for the evening service with over 40,000 young people from over 70 countries (unfortunately the colour of my tonsils is also deep red with my fever well in the red too!), but we watched the service on Eurovision. As always with Taizé the music was beautiful and simple with soaring solo counterpoints to the chants. I was also impressed by the brevity of the intercessory prayers - we sometimes try to cram too much theology and preaching into our prayers and forget that they are not lectures but prayers.

Taizé English

Yesterday afternoon we helped welcome some of the 40,000 young people gathering in Geneva for the 30th European Taizé meeting.
Brother Rob was speaking about prayer in the chapel of the ecumenical centre in the afternoon. Meanwhile Rev Setri Nyomi and Rev Chandran Paul Martin were leading Bible study on breaking the chains of injustice in the main meeting hall of the ecumenical centre.
Brother Rob began his talk by saying he would speak in "Taizé English" which made me smile, we often talk about using "ecumenical English" in international church circles so it's good to know we're not the only ones who have this problem.
I was impressed by the simplicity with which the interpretation was organised and the way in which the two speakers spoke in simple phrases helping the consecutive interpretation work well. But what impressed me most was the calmness and attentiveness of the more than 300 young people and also that so many of them chose to stay to pray and meditate in silence. The message about prayer was easy to understand without being simplistic. It helped me reflect on the link between prayer and decision-making and also to think again about how to link work and prayer when not living in a community like Taizé or Grandchamps.

Taizé coming to Geneva in just 8 days

As we get ready to stop work and celebrte Christmas Geneva is getting ready for the arrival of over 30,000 young people for the 30th annual European meeting. Even if you haven't got floor space to lodge some of the young people then you can still invite them to join you for a meal on January 1st. You can still sign up to offer lodgings and a meal.
Prayer and Bible study will be held at various places throughout the city, including the ecumenical centre chapel. Calvin's city won't be quite so sleepy over the holdays this year.
The main Taizé website provides wonderful resources in many languages.