A Gentle Soul's Death

While many of my colleagues report deriving a greater sense of the closeness of God through the music of the Taize community, led by Brother Roger, it has always left me nonplussed. Nonetheless, in a quiet and unassuming manner, Roger and his company brought the Good News of God's love in Christ to many.

This is why the elderly brother's death, especially so violent an end, is sad indeed. Read this piece.

UPDATE: The Economist has an obituary. Its conclusion:

Listening, rather than preaching, was the essence of Taizé. Christian leaders would have done well to imitate that secret. As it was, churches all over the Christian world borrowed the Taizé songs. Fame forced Brother Roger to worry about copyright and piracy; it also gave him critics. For some he was too Catholic, allowing masses and observing the Marian feasts. For others he was too timid, championing the oppressed but disbanding branches of his order when they became politically violent. Brother Roger ignored all this. Moral and political reform, he believed, would come only when bitterness and resentment vanished from human hearts. [italics mine]

He was attending the evening service when a deranged woman cut his throat, killing him almost instantly. He died in the midst of the reviving music he had brought to Christianity. Had anyone asked why, he would have gently reminded them that he did not leave a silence that was empty.