Does music move you?

I'm going on retreat as a youth volunteer with a group of junior high kids and some of their parents. As we've been preparing for the retreat over the past few weeks, the theme for the weekend started to grow out of several conversations. We're going with "Music in the Mountains." There's nothing much more perfect for me given that music is the one thing I'm not sure I could live without in my life. (I could, but it would be super sad.) As a chaplain in the psych unit, I've asked this question many times in reflection groups: "If you lost your hearing, what are five things you'd want to hear just one more time?" I typically get responses like "my kids laughing" or "my husband saying he loves me." It actually astonishes me sometimes how few people mention music. They often ask me what my five would be.

In no certain order: 1)Schubert's Ave Maria 2)Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major (probably, the Allemande movement in particular, but the whole thing, really) 3)Van Morrison's Moondance 4)The simultaneous sound of waves crashing and wind rustling through the palmettos 5) And probably Ali Farka Toure's Ai Du. Yes, my list is almost entirely music.

Someone once asked me, "Does music move you?" There is no other answer than, absolutely YES.