By Elizabeth Arif-Fear

In late August, I was delighted to attend a Christian-Muslim weekend of friendship held by the wonderful Christian community of Taizé (France). And what a fantastic experience it was!

Travelling as part of a Christian-Muslim interfaith delegation, with the lovely Near Neighbours, I joined around 2,000 people from across Europe and wider afield to get a taste of community life in this longstanding, tranquil home of Christian brothers. However, experiencing daily life in Taizé wasn’t the only aim of the trip!

I was also fortunate to travel to this tiny village to also build bonds with my fellow co-religionists and Christian brothers and sisters. Yes, not only did we experience life in the community from a Christian perspective (as either Muslims or Christians), but we were also delighted to join the special Christian-Muslim friendship weekend, which gathered young Muslims and Christians from across the globe.

The few days we were there were reflective, insightful and inspiring! So, what did we experience you may ask? What did we learn? And why did we attend? Well, watch this video find out what I, and those attending, discovered!

As you can see the trip was immensely enjoyable, uplifting and thought-provoking! Please do visit Taizé if you can and if you’re interested in interfaith cohesion, do reach out to local organisations and places of worship – it really is so enriching to all involved on so many levels!

With that in mind, I’d like to give a massive thank you to the brothers and community at Taizé and the team at Near Neighbours for offering me this fantastic opportunity. Thank you!

Salam!