Pentecost is one of the high church holidays we cherish especially well at First Reformed Church. Why is that? It is, because we have declared it a bracket in time and space, where we can do things that we would normally do differently. For Pentecost, this includes many features that bear the mark of Taizé, the ecumenical community in France that draws thousands each year to pray, sing, and find direction in life.
Naturally, this included a lot of singing for us: as Pastor Susan pointed out in her introduction (see accompanying article), if you had not been in church in a while and didn’t like singing, this was the wrong Sunday to pick! Thanks to organist Viktoriya’s enthusiasm, we were able to turn much of the liturgy into a responsory between the choir, the congregation, and us pastors.
Other elements of our service included the use of an altar, votive candles, and a Pentecost painting by Maria Owens that she had kindly lend us for the occasion. Following the customs of Taizé, we used it as an icon during the “Prayer Around the Crossâ€. This was a special prayer time during which we were invited, in small groups or alone, to come to the altar table and to offer a special prayer for someone else.
All in all, our worship offered a different way of being in the presence of God. It provided a good supplement to what we normally do, and it helped us appreciate the diversity of ways in which people praise God.
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