St. Christopher’s Church offers the Key Biscayne community to enter the Christian season of Lent through contemplative Sunday evening services.
“Lent is the 40-day season before Easter, when Christians focus their attention on God by being in prayer, ‘giving something up (such as chocolate, alcohol or social media) or taking something on like extra acts of charity or such,” explained Reverend Willie Allen-Faiella, priest-in-Charge.
In addition to St. Christopher’s weekly 10 a.m., Sunday services, beginning on February 22, we will gather together each Sunday of Lent at 6 p.m., as the sun begins to set, to pray following a meditative form of worship that was begun by the ecumenical community in Taizé, France, and has now spread throughout the world.
Taize is an ecumenical community of which many people, especially young people, make pilgrimages to encounter God through prayer, simple music and community. The Saint Christopher’s choir is pleased to once again participate in these hauntingly, beautiful and deeply spiritual Taize services during this penitential season of Lent.
“The chanting, which the choir leads, is a signature aspect of the service, but no more important than the scripture readings and the meditative silence, which is perhaps the key component,” reflected Clint Bush, longtime choir member.
These services will be led by church member Silvia Gosnell, who holds a master’s degree in Liturgy from Yale Divinity School.
“Lent is a season of stillness — a quiet turning inward and outward,” Gosnell said. “It invites honest self-reflection, simplicity and a deeper awareness of the sacred in ordinary life all around. To live a contemplative Lent is to slow down enough to notice: the breath, the silence, the ache, the grace all around.”
Lent is not only about giving something up, but about making space – for presence, for prayer, for transformation. The contemplative path asks us to listen more than we speak, to see beyond the surface, to let go of what distracts us from love.
It is a daily pilgrimage formed by the small things:
• A pause at the beginning and the end of the day — to breathe and to be.
• A moment of gratitude before a meal.
• A whispered prayer for those who suffer.
• A quiet walk without awareness of the destination.
In the silence, Lent becomes less about deprivation and more about awakening – a gentle preparation for resurrection, both within and around us.
Key Biscayne residents are invited to join St. Christopher’s in these coming Sundays of Lent at 6 p.m., as we become re-centered: more deeply aware that we are, in every moment, in the presence of a loving God.
“I look forward to experiencing this deeper, contemplative Lenten offering. I hope you will join us, and I hope you will invite your friends who might be looking for an alternative form of worship,” added Gosnell.
“The Taize service at St. Christopher’s is offered to the wider Key Biscayne Community as a way to slow down and deepen our spiritual lives before we reenter the hubbub of our daily lives,” summed up Reverend Allen-Faiella.