Taize Vesper Service: a quiet time of music, prayer and contemplation
Fri 4 PM | Chapel
Oakhurst Taize Ensemble
This time of quiet reflection and prayer uses music from the Taize community, with simple, repetitive sing-along melodies accompanied by flute and guitar. The music is easy to learn and has been used in religious communities around the world. After a busy, high-energy day at the Wild Goose, the vesper service is an opportunity to slow down, enjoy the silence, and join others in meditative song. If you are familiar with Taize music, you are welcome to bring your guitar, flute, violin, or other musical instrument. If you have a copy of the Taize song book or accompaniment book, please bring that also. Addition copies will be available for you to borrow at the rehearsal and vesper service.Leslie Withers, Mark Reeve, David Fluker and Jim Holmes are members of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, GA, where the music of Taize is frequently used in morning worship services and evening vespers. Musicians Leslie Withers, flute, David Fluker and Jim Holmes, guitar, also often accompany choirs and soloists at the church. Mark Reeve incorporates spoken words from the Iona Community in Scotland, drawn from resources used in the Iona Abbey and published by their Wild Goose Publications group.
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Leslie Withers
Leslie Withers is a member of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, GA, where she sings in the Sanctuary Choir. She also plays flute with the choir and also in Taize worship services. She is a lay worship leader and occasionally plans and leads both morning worship services and evening Taize services at the church. An Associate Member of the Iona community in Scotland, she has participated in residential programs at the Iona Abbey and played flute in worship services there. When not playing flute, Leslie is active in numerous justice and peace organizations and activities. She serves on the steering committee for Create Community 4 Decatur: Black Lives Matter. The group started 2 ½ years ago in response to the killings of unarmed Black men by police and works locally in Decatur to promote racial justice in criminal justice, in the school system, and in neighborhoods.
Sessions:
239 Taize Vespers
Mark Reeve
Mark Reeve is a member of Oakhurst Baptist Church, Decatur, Georgia where he has served as a deacon and is active in community engagement and mission projects most recently focusing on gentrification and affordable housing issues in the neighborhood around the church. He is an associate of the Iona Community of Scotland, visited there several times, and helped plan worship services there.
Sessions:
239 Taize Vespers
Session #239
