It the past two weeks I have told about 20 people, in varying degrees of detail, the plans for my trip in march. Since I’ve resolved to use a blog to keep people up to date on my travels, I figured I should start now.
Yes I am going overseas, and yes it involves franciscan monks.
Heres the plan:
I leave wellington on March the 12th and fly Korean Air to Paris via Seoul. I arrive in Paris on Saturday, I stay the night at a hostel in Paris and take the TGV to Macon and then a bus to Taize
Taizé:
This is where the franciscan monks come into play. In wikipedias words Taize is…
“an ecumenical Christian monastic order in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of a little over 100 brothers who come from Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work.”
…which I thought summed it up pretty well. If you want to know more: www.taize.fr/en.
I’m interested in Taize for several reasons. Firstly life at Taize is about community. Community interests me. I really think community is the key to what Christ intended for the church. Our society (and even our churches) seem to have rid itself almost completely of the idea and framework of communal living, to its demise. I want to learn more about community, and Taize I think holds some answers.
Next, Taize interests me because of its worship. Its simple. It involves a bit of silence. Its not trying to be cool, or popular, and yet thousands of young people find some satisfaction there. My soul yearns for the kind of worship that leaves room for God. I’ll post more of that somewhere else.
Third, Taize interests me for the people. If anything is driving what I do on my trip, its the potential to meet people. I’m only vaguely interested in seeing a bunch of European vistas and exploring some ancient cities. For me the draw card is meeting people who have come from different places and see the world in different ways. Taize represents an way to meet a lot of people in a shared experience - the key to finding anything more then smalltalk.
After Taizé
I’m not sure how long I’m spending in Taize. When I’m done I’m not sure where I’m going. The plan is deliberately vague. Possibilities involve wwoofing in either Spain, Hungary or Romania. Or maybe something else if I make friends in Taize, who are keen to put me up.
So that pretty much it.
Oh yeah, I’m planning on coming back to Wellington on the 8th of June.
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So is it a play on words to call monks in France “Franciscan monks”?!
Lol yeah, they aren’t really franciscan in the actul meaning of the word, just that they are in france. It was just that someone asked “whats this I hear about franciscan monks” on facebook.