A Sunday chant -- from Taizé

You might recall the beginning of the pandemic, and how uncertain everything was. Suddenly, the world as we knew it was forced to stop, and our lives were thrown up in the air for quite some time.

Like many, I didn't quite know how to respond, and my anxiety level went through the roof. In looking for something to calm my soul, I quickly turned to the Taizé Community, which was also forced to close itself off from outsiders. But even during the lockdown in France, the Brothers of the community found a way to reach out through broadcasting their prayer online every evening.

So for the first 82 days of the pandemic, I faithfully attended online prayer with the Brothers, getting to know the backs of their heads (hee hee), the sounds of their voices, their choice of seating in the rooms where they met, and many newer chants composed in the last few years. I was especially delighted to hear the brothers I met in 2016 read some of the scriptures and prayers -- it was a consolation to know that they were still there, praying with the 60 or 70 thousand of us from around the world who were joining them online.

Since then, the Brothers have gone back to one broadcast each week, and my online participation hasn't been at all regular. So -- no surprise -- somehow I missed this particular piece of music (maybe they didn't sing it at the pandemic's beginning?) But there it was, part of yesterday's evening prayer (which can be heard every Saturday afternoon (because of the seven-hour difference between France and here) on youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/@taize)

Gib mich ganz zu eigen dir is a gorgeous chant that was part of the International Meeting in Basel, Switzerland in December 2017, and its lyrics come from a prayer by St. Nicholas von Flue, who lived in the 1400s. The beautiful video below is from the Basel gathering's Saturday evening celebration of the Resurrection (hence the candles). Here's a translation of the lyrics that you can find on the Youtube page:

"Take everything from me that keeps me from you.

Give everything to me that brings me near to you.

My Lord and my God, take me away from myself and give me completely to you."

And here are the German lyrics you hear in the beautiful video above:

Nimm alles von mir, was mir fernhält von dir. Gib alles mir, was mich hinführt zu dir. Mein Herr und mein Gott, nimm mich mir und gib mich ganz zu eigen dir.

In the years since this version, the Taizé community has changed the lyrics from "Mein Herr und mein Gott" to Lebendiger Gott (Living God). 

As I'm not a German speaker, I've been singing a simplified English version to myself since I heard it yesterday, but I promise I will learn it in German as soon as I can. These English words don't exactly work with the melody, but they're not far off in case you want to try to sing along...

Take everything that keeps me from you.

Give everything that brings me to you.

O Living God,

take me away from myself

and give me completely to you...

For any local people who are interested, our next Ecumenical Prayer featuring the chants of the Taizé community will be on Sunday, February 12 at 7 pm at St. Thomas D'Aquin church (8410 89 Street) here in Edmonton. All are welcome!

Have a beautiful Sunday.