Tonight was the first Taize experience for the Grace UMC youth group. We used Worship Feast Taize and The Faith We Sing. It went great. I used a Marcia McFee idea for the beginning of the service. When we started I asked for four volunteers. The volunteers were each handed an item and asked to, after the first song began, take their item to the table in the center and create an altar. They were handed a table cloth, a Bible, a cross, and the Christ candle. The cool thing about the community creating the altar that way is that it never looks like you would expect it to look.
Also, when the youth walked in the building (they had been eating outside) they were each handed a votive candle. They were instructed before the first song to bring a candle to the altar and light it to represent the light of Christ in their lives (Matt 5:14).
We included a prayer station in the back. The table was similar to one I used on Maundy Thursday (most of the youth didn't attend that service anyway) focusing on being Christ's guest. There were two readings: "The Guest" and "The Host" from Alternative Worship. We also had a guestbook where they could write their prayer requests. The silence went quite well. All and all it was 6 minutes I believe. The music went great as well. We had almost all of our band (too many) and Kylan played the flute beautifully.
Once again I was moved by Taize in a way nothing else does. Many of the youth asked if we could do it again. Yes. Yes.
You can see more pictures here.
