In other years I have found this service very fulfilling and helpful in finding that peaceful place where I can connect with God very intensely within a reserved half-hour time frame. This year, I just can’t seem to find my focus. I feel like I need it very much, but the beams in the rafters draw my attention as their construction boggles my mind; the grill in the ventilation system mesmerized me; the candles on the altar caught my attention one minute and wondering why there we only a handful of people trapped my mind at another time.
It’s not the worship service. It’s me.The service is the same as last year and the year before. It is continuity in a sea of uncertain times and constant anxieties. So why can’t I block out the world this year? Why was tonight so difficult for me?
I probably need this Taize service now more than other years. I need to find that peace and calm. So I will continue to attend each Thursday night at 7:30 pm and try to find my way back to that place I need my mind and heart to be.The beauty of Taize is that even though I couldn’t find that spot tonight, the music gets stuck in your head, as it intended to do. Hopefully, the continual soundtrack that will repeat in my head during the week will work in unseen and wondrous ways by the time Lent is over to help me find that peace and calm.
What do you do to get your mind focused when it doesn’t want to quiet down?www.elcaAndy.org
My experience was quite the opposite -- I was more connected than in past Taize services, though still not as much as in the ones at Koinonia.
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