A local church recently instituted a new service for their parishioners and visitors that highlights the healing power of meditation and personal reflection, transporting a tradition that draws hundreds of thousands to a French town every year to the Kensington community.

St. Michael's Lutheran Church, at 2141 E. Cumberland St., launched its Sunday afternoon Taizé service this spring. France's Taizé Community, which organized in the mid-20th century, is a monastic order that provides spiritual direction to countless people of all faiths who make the pilgrimage each year to the town to take part in Taizé retreats. St. Michael's pastor, Marjorie Neal, is hoping residents of Philadelphia will also recognize the power of Taizé, which she herself felt during a trip to France.

Neal and her husband, James, who is the pastor of the Pilgrim Community Church of the United Church of Christ in Fishtown, traveled to Taizé in the summer of 2007, shortly after James graduated from the Lutheran Theological Seminary and retired from a more-than 30-year career in carpentry.

James said the pair wanted to celebrate these changes with a trip that was not just a vacation, but also a spiritual journey, and James suggested Taizé after learning about the community from one of his professors, a former Taizé brother.

"Being in that class, he found out that his professor was a brother in Taizé and they talked about it, and then he came to me and said, 'About that trip, what do you think about Taizé?'" Neal said. "And I said, 'Yes. That's definitely it.'"

The couple said they were initially surprised by the relaxed atmosphere they experienced when planning their trip, such as the sliding-scale fee for the weeklong retreat.

When they arrived, following a three-day visit to Paris, they became fully immersed in the laid back, accepting environment.

"We had no idea what to really expect at first," James said. "But the whole community is built around these three-times daily prayer services. There are no sermons, no doctrine, no politics. There's no exclusion to anybody. They don't care if you're Catholic or Protestant, Jewish or Muslim, or atheist. Everyone's welcome."

Throughout the week, participants are encouraged to take part in some type of volunteer activity; for their contributions, James cleaned toilets and Neal served meals.

"It's part of being in a real community," James said. "Everyone takes a job and does what they can to help."

In addition to the prayer services, the couple participated in twice-daily Bible studies led by a Taizé brother who was "comfortable" in 17 languages but able to understand more than 40, a beneficial gift for a community that hosts pilgrims from throughout the world.

The majority of the Taizé Community's visitors are young people, most in their late teens and early 20s. Although the Neals didn't fit into this category, they said that through their conversations with the young participants, they were most impressed by "the authenticity of the brothers."

"The young people could see that they were truly welcomed," Neal said. "The brothers came and worshipped alongside of them, and there was a reason - it wasn't just for the sake of doing it. And that meant something to them. There was a true authenticity and true ecumenism."

Neal said she's hoping to communicate that same message of inclusion to her own parishioners, who represent a spectrum of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds.

"You don't have to have money or clean clothes to come to church; God accepts you as you are," she said. "We have people who have college degrees and nice homes, and we also have a woman who lives on the streets. That's the epitome of what church is about - rich and poor, black, white and Latino - all of us can worship this one God together."

St. Michael's Taizé service continues to affirm the need for a sense of community within a group of followers, but ultimately relies on the notion that one's spiritual progression is an intensely personal journey.

The service, held at 4 p.m. every Sunday, usually lasts between 40 to 50 minutes and allows participants to visit various worship stations to express their own relationship with God.

Visitors are encouraged to sit on cushions on the floor and pray before such structures as a large wooden cross, to which they can tack a piece of paper on which they've written a sin they've committed and for which they're struggling to forgive themselves. Another structure contains running water, the sound of which is meant to lull listeners into a peaceful state of reflection.

In the background of the service plays Taizé music, the words of which are often taken from Scripture and are typically short and easy to remember, and can be chanted along with or just reflected upon by participants.

Neal said the service has drawn about seven or eight regular St. Michael's congregants as well as visitors and other clergy since its institution in May.

"We've gotten off to a slow start, but I think the more people hear about this, through word of mouth the more people are going to give it a try," she said. "Some people are afraid of something different and think, 'What is this about? Is it for real?' And this may not be everyone's style, and that's fine."

From her own experience, however, Neal said Taizé allows participants to focus on their relationship with God without the pressures and distractions of the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

"Our society is so big on push, push, run, run. And so many churches try to just get you in, get you out, make the sign of the cross and you're fine. But is that really experiencing God?" she said. "We need to just stop and sit still for a moment. I like to think of it as if you're walking on the beach with your best friend or your partner and there's a beautiful sunset and you have that 'Aha' moment, where you can't say anything because it would spoil the moment. That would only happen because you made time to walk on the beach...You have to allow yourself that special moment, and that's what we're hoping to offer to our community."

James said Taizé provides individuals the chance to not only talk to God, but to actually open their minds and listen for guidance.

"It's a real gift to learn to sit still and just to listen to God," he said. "We can all speak to Him, but how often do you listen?"

For more information about Taize, St. Michael's or Pilgrim Community, visit www.pilgrimcommunity.org.