“O come, Thou Father of the poor/O come, Thou source of all our stores/come, fill our hearts with love.”

Like the invitation in that warm-sounding Taizé chant—though it is most often sung in Latin—Sunday’s Taizé service welcomes all conventiongoers to come and be filled. Though convention is a week of unique, inspiring services for adult and youth, the Taizé-style experience planned for the final joint worship service on Sunday at 9:30 a.m., in the convention center’s adult worship hall may be new to many Mennonites.

According to Janeen Bertsche Johnson, worship leader of Sunday’s Taizé service, the convention committee decided to close the week with this style “because they wanted to have the opportunity to experience our convention theme ["Breathe and be Filled"] in our worship.”

Taizé is a contemplative form of devotion—a quieter, reflective service that “bridges very well between people who like a more liturgical form of worship, and the contemporary style of worship where songs are repeated and you don’t have to think about all the words,” said Bertsche Johnson.

Meditative in style, Taizé services consist largely of singing, scripture readings, prayers and short periods of silence, and there is no sermon. Songs are repeated multiple times, said Bertsche Johnson: “While the congregation is singing, the soloists and instrumentalists play music on top so it becomes a rich tapestry of musical prayer.”

This repetition gives “the feel of both ancient chant and reflective contemporary Christian choruses,” she continued.

Taizé has attracted young adults and youth from around the world, and many Christians have traveled to Europe for services and training since it was established in 1940. The original community in France has had gatherings of 50,000 people from around the world. Although started by Protestant brothers, the community now has brothers from Catholic backgrounds as well. Similar to Mennonites, reconciliation has also been a significant influence on the Taizé community.

Mennonites may be more familiar with Taizé worship than what they would think, with almost 20 Taizé songs in the three Mennonite hymnal books: A Worship Book, Sing the Journey, and Sing the Story. A few of these songs will be included in the Sunday Worship such as “Holy Spirit, Come to Us,” O Lord, hear my prayer” and “Come and fill our hearts.”

Bertsche Johnson is the campus pastor at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. A Taizé worship leader and teacher for 20 years, she has also visited the Taizé community in France, attended North American Taizé gatherings and  trained as a cantor.

Musicians for the service include Brian Wiebe, Caleb Wiebe and Hannah Johnson (Goshen, Ind.); Tom and Lois Harder (Wichita, Kan.); Phil Hart, Neil Leonard, Thomas Leonard, (Columbus, Ohio); and Hal Hess (Cincinnati). Scripture readers are Nathan Detweiler (South Africa) and Femi Hollinger-Janzen (Goshen, Ind.).