Tokens of community

I have left Taize now, but I wanted to say a little something about community life there. We form a bit of a community in the "adult" section of Taize, everyone over 30. We have small group meetings in the afternoon that are of course based on language. My group changed each time, with a couple of Americans, British, Dutch, Swedes, and an English-speaking German who I guess preferred to speak to people outside of Germany since there were plenty of German speakers there.


I started to hang out with some of these folks, especially two British women who were there a couple of days. The one day I went out biking they gave me a lift to the local village which enabled me to buy some sunglasses and get out a little further on the Green Way, Voie Verte, a magnificent bicycle path that passes through Taize and kilometers of French countryside.


I also met two Swiss among all the Germans, and got to know the one a little bit. Thursday was a bit of a change since these acquaintances left, leaving me again without people to quickly join in dining. So it is an interesting and changing community at Taize. I miss it a lot. It is a camp atmosphere, only this is for adults. And I realized that this community would never gather again.


At the same time I realized that on my European sojourn I am not alone. I realized how one person after another has offered hospitality to me. In one sense this is a community, though hardly one, or at least a conglomeration of people who are making my trip possible. I have received several tokens of this community.


The woman who gave me a ride in Chicago gave me some of the wet wipes she sells, for when I need to clean up after a bike ride. Someone from Colorado gave me a small pocket cross as a token of blessing during my time of sabbatical. Finally one of the British women gave me her hair brush.


When they gave me a ride to the neighboring village I had also wanted to purchase a hairbrush, but since my hair is thick and I need a special kind, I couldn't find what I needed. They had teased me when they gave me a ride about the dangers of taking rides from strange women, after my experience in Chicago. I retorted with telling them that so far people were giving me gifts. So on the day they left one of them gave me her hairbrush, which was just the right kind. I was so surprised I don't know if I thanked her or not, I am sure I didn't thank her enough. All of these people are showing me great kindness and I appreciate these reminders of conversations that we had and especially these reminders of their grace and hospitality in making my time go a little better as I travel from one place to another.


Now that I am in Basel of course this story of hospitality continues. I stayed in the home of a local Mennonite family here and they again showed me extraordinary kindness.