For the last two years I have been meeting a couple of times a month with a small group of other seminarians. We get together--sometimes with food, sometimes without--and check in about what has been going on in our lives and then share in a spiritual exercise of one kind or another. We take turns planning the group and we each bring our personal styles and spiritualities to our time together. The group has been an invaluable source of strength, friendship, and faithful accountability for me and I am going to miss the other members so much after graduation!
This morning our group met for the last time and my friend Richard organized our gathering. Last week he emailed all of us and asked us to submit the titles of a few of our favorite songs without telling the rest of the group what we we chose. He then downloaded all of the songs on iTunes and made a playlist out of them.
When we arrived this morning, Richard gave us each a sheet of paper with the name of the song, the name of the artist, and then a blank space where we could write in a guess for who picked the song. After taking some time mulling over the list and making as many guesses as possible, we sat around and listened to a portion of each song, trying to figure out who chose it. It was amazing how right we were most of the time--after three years of studying, worshipping, and just hanging out together, we have really come to know each other's tastes! After going through all the songs, Richard gave us each a CD with the entire playlist on it--a great way to commemorate our time together!
I thought that this was a great idea and it is one that I probably use in the future with other small groups, at retreats, or just with groups of friends. Music is a powerful insight into people's lives, imaginations, and souls, and sometimes a song can say more than we ever could. Also, now I have a whole bunch of new music to add to my library!
(And yes, that is the Virgin Mary on my iPod!)
