As well as evening prayer at the Palexpo centre each evening, there were smaller meetings at churches throughout the city as well as at the Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches. Many of Geneva's streets thronged with young people during the period.
"It's an encouragement to see young people in Europe getting closer when some people say Europe is going through post-Christianity," WCC general secretary the Rev Samuel Kobia told Taize participants meeting at the church grouping's headquarters.
In his 28 December opening meditation, Brother Alois recalled that Brother Roger had left Geneva in 1940 to look for a place in France where he could found a Christian community.
The Geneva gathering was the 30th Taize meeting of young adults from Europe. The first was held in Paris over the 1978-1979 New Year, and the last before Geneva was held in the Croatian capital, Zagreb. The community said 40, 000 people took part in the five-day Geneva gathering, 30, 000 coming from outside Switzerland. The biggest national grouping was from Poland, with more than 9,000 participants.
Some participants, however, like Isaac and Miho Arai and their two children came from as far as Sendai in Japan. "It looks like a long journey but to us it's not a long journey," Isaac Arai told Ecumenical News International, noting that this year is the third time the family has attended such a Taize meeting in Europe. "We can meet and talk with so many young people from all over Europe and even from Africa and Asia. We feel so blessed."
