Greetings Taizé friends! As we enter the new year, enjoy an excerpt from Br. Matthew’s annual letter 2025, the subject of which is “Hope Beyond All Hope”. See below for upcoming prayers in Advent around the state.

“Striving for Hope”

“How do we react when our plans are frustrated and our hopes are dashed? Jesus gives us a key to how we can remain people of hope. Faced with a large crowd of hungry people, he “had compassion” on them, literally “his heart went out”¹  to them. And he found a way to satisfy their needs.”

“That refusal to resign ourselves to situations of distress allows hope to take shape within us. It is the opposite of waiting passively, it involves a struggle ², there is no other way. Even our very longing for hope can lead us across the threshold from what is humanly possible to what is possible for God.”

“The hope given with Christ grants us a foretaste of what is to come about in fullness in God’s future. It is like a ship’s anchor³. It holds us firm when the storm is raging. It allows us to live out little signs of our faithfulness to the calling we have received and to the people entrusted to us. It is also like a helmet ⁴, protecting us from the adversity that can rain down upon us.”

“The Rule of Taizé speaks of never resigning ourselves ‘to the scandal of the separation of Christians who so readily profess love for their neighbor and yet remain divided’. For Brother Roger the unity of Christians⁵ was never simply a goal in itself, but a way to lead towards peace within the human family⁶.”

“The humble boxwood bushes around Taizé, though ravaged twice by parasites these past years, are suddenly springing to life again. From what was apparently dead, fresh sprigs grow as grey turns to green. Nature fights to survive, mirroring and encouraging our own fight to hope. Hope for creation⁷, and hope provided by God’s good creation, go together with hope for humanity⁸.”

Upcoming prayers around the state:

November 23, 10:00 a.m., Fourth Sundays, Atlanta Mennonite Church, 1088 Bouldercrest Dr SE, Atlanta, GA. https://atlmenno.org. Sunday worship is a fully Taizé service. None on 12/28.

November 17, December 15, Third Mondays, 8:00  p.m., Cathedral of Saint Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA. https://www.stphilipscathedral.org. Labyrinth walk in Atrium 7:00-8:00. December prayer followed by a lovely Christmas reception!

November 18, December 16, (normally) Fourth Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m., Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church, 471 Mt. Vernon Highway NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328. Labyrinth available during prayer.

December 3, First Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m., St. John Lutheran Church, Griffin. 1689 Martin Luther King Jr Pkwy, Griffin, GA 30224. (Contact Larry Boudon, larryboudon@gmail.com). None in January.

December 4, St. Thomas More Catholic Church, 636 W. Ponce de Leon Ave. Decatur, GA 30030. Prayers in Advent and Lent. Tea and cookies following! Parking on the street.

Weekly on Tuesdays, 7:00 p.m. On Zoom, Columbia Presbyterian Church. Zoom link: https://cpcdecatur.com/online-worship-links. Recorded music.

Weekly on Wednesdays, 5:30 – 6:00 p.m., Vineville United Methodist Church, 2045 Vineville Avenue, Macon. https://vinevillemethodist.com/taize/ Communion service.

See also the Taizé Atlanta Facebook page for prayer listings and other stories. Apologies for gaps in communication!

Endnotes:

1. The Greek verb σπλαγχνίζομαι (splanchnizomai) is very strong emotionally. It indicates a warm, compassionate response to need. It is difficult to translate: compassion, pity, sympathy, all convey something of it. But “his heart went out to them” perhaps expresses more fully the gut reaction that the verb implies. In Matthew (see 14:14, 15:32, 18:27, 20:34), the verb does not just refer to an emotion or feeling, but designates also a practical response which meets the need. In this case, Jesus heals the sick and will then feed the crowd. Emotion results in caring and effective action. The verb contains the Gospel in a nutshell. ↩︎
2. 1 Tim 4:10 “For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.” ↩︎
3. Hebrews 6:19 ↩︎
4. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 ↩︎
5. The Synod on Synodality has enabled the Catholic Church to recognise and value the diversity which already exists within herself. The role of the delegates from other Churches in this Synod was important. Does this not give a new hope for the ecumenical vocation on the path towards the unity of all who love Christ? ↩︎
6. Taizé was founded during a time of war. The “parable of communion” that we strive to live as brothers of different Churches, countries, cultures and ages needs constant care in order to be a sign of hope in the face of divisions in the human family. ↩︎
7. Romans 8:21-23 ↩︎
8. Faced with the challenge of climate change and the loss of biodiversity, how can we deepen the care for our common home where everything is linked? ↩︎