TAIZE WORSHIP-GROWING IN POPULARITY, BUT ROOTS ARE IN MYSTICAL MONASTICISM

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

By Chris Lawson
(Author of Taizé: A Community and Worship: Ecumenical Reconciliation or an Interfaith Delusion?)

The worship practiced at Taizé has
attracted many people from around the globe and from many different
denominations. While many of the words found in Taizé worship music are
words found in Scripture or words that do not necessarily contradict
Scripture, the Taizé songs and worship services themselves are centered
around contemplative, ecumenical, and oftentimes emergent spirituality
themes. The emphasis is not on the teaching or exhortation of the Word
of God but rather is to help participants “experience” God through
sensory-focused music and singing. A church association in the UK
describes the Taizé worship style as such:

The contemplative worship practices of
the Taizé community are promoted at an annual international conference.
Taizé worship is being incorporated in a wide variety of churches, both
Protestant and Catholic and its pattern of devotion is emulated in other
monastic communities around the world.

A Taizé worship service involves sung and
chanted prayers, meditation, a period of silence, liturgical readings,
and use of candles. There is no preaching. The style of prayer practiced
at Taizé has attracted many worshippers from around the globe and from
many different denominations.1

The main focus on the Taizé worship is the
chanted prayers, meditations, and songs. However, the Bible warns
against such practices:

[W]hen ye pray, use not vain repetitions,
as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their
much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father
knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. (Matthew 6:7-8)

The Contemplative Network, an online
resource for those interested in meditative prayer practices, describes
Taizé worship and prayer like this:

For those familiar with Taizé common
prayer, but unfamiliar with Centering Prayer practices, they will
discover that they grow from the same root of seeking to surrender the
mind and heart to the intimate presence of God. They share the same
spirit of ancient monastic traditions to open space to let the Word of
God reverberate in all its dimensions. Those who have tasted of this
open space during the silent period of a Taizé common prayer service may
find themselves well disposed to explore related contemplative
practices such as Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer.2

The Taizé worship is not based on the
objective Word of God but rather offers spiritual experiences that are
subjectively appealing to the flesh. In Scripture, we are instructed to
build up the inner spiritual man and to resist the carnality of the
flesh (Ephesians 3:16, Romans 8:1-16).

Jesus Christ instructed His disciples that
they should not use repetitive prayers (chanting) like the heathen (New
Agers, pagans, etc.) do. Anytime experience is given higher regard than
God’s Word, it puts followers at risk of becoming victim to deception
and even dangerous spiritual realms. Mystical and esoteric experiences
are subjective, meaning they are not founded on anything solid or
concrete. It is the Word of God (the Bible) that is to be our steering
mechanism through life. Consider these verses that show the importance
of the Word of God. You won’t find any verses giving credence to seeking
after mystical experiences:

For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

All scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. (Psalm 119:9)

Then said Jesus to those Jews which
believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
(John 8:31-32)

Taizé Worship Influenced by Catholic Prayers

The repetitive Taizé songs are influenced
by the Roman Catholic notion that a person needs to say a certain amount
of repeated prayers in order for them to be enough (e.g., the Catholic
works mentality—which dictates that one must do enough works to reduce
the time in Purgatory).

An example in Roman Catholicism would be
the Rosary—a droning repetition of the same set of prayers, something
like this: six repetitions of Our Father, fifty repetitions of the Hail
Marys, and three repetitions of the Glory-be prayers. These repetitive
prayers are usually said before or after mid-week Masses.

Jesus said, when asked about how to pray,
to only pray to God (not Mary or saints or angels) and to not repeat the
same prayers over and over again like the pagans “for they think they
shall be heard for their much speaking.”

Six different Psalms tell us to sing a new
song unto the Lord, but not one tells us to chant. Now Psalm 136 is
unique in that it uses the refrain “his mercy endureth for ever,” but
this is not a chant in that each refrain is a response to a different
statement. So, unlike the psalms, the Catholic uses endless repetition
out of guilt (in doing penance) or to be heard by God or from the sense
that the Taizé songs are sung to allow participants to go into
mind-altering trance-like states.

Taizé Worship Practices Similar to New Age Meditation

Sadly, many of the spiritual experiences
occurring during Taizé worship services are similar to what takes place
during New Age meditation. The following quote is from Lacy Clark
Ellman, author of the New Age website, A Sacred Journey. Her quote is
from “Inside the Taizé Community: An Interview with Brother Emile.” The
processes (i.e., techniques) she mentions are reminiscent of many
transformative occult practices. Regarding Taizé worship, Ellman
explains:

Singing their [Taizé monks] chants left
me transported—centering me, bringing me peace, and thus opening me up
to the Sacred. I’ve been known to describe it as the perfect combination
of the contemplative and charismatic—the words simple and liturgical in
nature, with the repetition making space for the Sacred Guide to enter.
. . .

Instead of trying to facilitate an
experience with bright lights and catchy songs, the [Taizé] brothers
invite visitors into their own experience—a rhythmic practice of chants,
reading, and [meditative] silence in languages found across the globe.
They didn’t explain what was going on or how to participate, apart from a
board that displayed which song was to be sung next.3 (emphasis added)

The problem with this explanation is that
occultists (shamans, sorcerers, witches, etc.) and New Age practitioners
around the globe are receiving similar experiences, in varying forms,
through spirit contact via spiritualism, séances, channeling, etc. So
too, non-Christians enter varying levels of voluntary and involuntary
possession states using this same process.

Instead of encouraging Christian worship
settings that provide for a clear understanding of sound biblical
preaching and teaching of the Bible, Taizé worship services provide a
fast track to spiritual experience via unbiblical forms of prayer,
meditation, and silence. In many cases, they bypass the Bible
altogether. In settings like this where anything goes—chanting,
centering down to enter “the silence,” lengthy repetitive singing, and
meditative/altered states—any form of spirit contact can occur.

Considering these things, it is of utmost importance that Christians heed this biblical warning:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that
in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. (1 Timothy 4:1)

When people are not being taught the Bible
and warned about the dangers of false doctrine and non-biblical
practices, they will inevitably, in mystical Taizé type settings, end up
under the influence of deceiving spirits. As the above passage
describes, strong delusion will overtake them. This is no small problem
as it is running rampant in the church throughout the world.
The true Christian has only one option at
this point, and that is to obey Scripture and separate from those who
bring teachings contrary to the Word of God.

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them
which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye
have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord
Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple. (Romans 16:17-18; emphasis added)

(This is an excerpt from Chris Lawson’s book Taizé: A Community and Worship: Ecumenical Reconciliation or an Interfaith Delusion?)

Endnotes:

1. The Cornilo Churches, UK (http://www.cornilochurches.org.uk/taiz.htm).
2. The Contemplative Network, “Prayer With
the Songs of Taizé
(http://www.contemplative.net/prayer-with-songs-taize-t-1_43.html).
3. “Inside the Taizé Community: An Interview
with Brother Emile” (http://www.asacredjourney.net/2013/08/taize).
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