Welcome to my first "Music from Your Heart" post! Music has always played an important role in my everyday life but particularly in my prayer life. My goal with these monthly playlists is to give listeners a different kind of prayer experience, one maybe they're not used to. Each playlist will be based on a theme, and my hope is that you listen to the songs while you're praying to connect to God in a different way. There's a great quote by Hans Christian Andersen: "When words fail, music speaks," and I have found this to be true in my own prayer life. Sometimes, I just don't have the words. So I'll sing words that somebody else wrote instead, and God knows what that prayer of mine means.
The idea for this playlist series came from something that happened during the pandemic. When my school building closed for quarantine, I felt like I was on a boat without a paddle. Here I was trying to virtually teach performing arts to 200+ students while also caring for my toddler and slowly freaking out about the state of the world around me.
It hit me in the most profound way that I was not able to go to church. My parish was very fortunate in how quickly we were able to get online so people could attend virtually, but we all know it's just not the same. Holy Week is hands down my favorite time to be a church musician, and as a volunteer cantor for my parish, I'm basically at church the entire week praising God in song. It's an essential part of my year as a Catholic, and I was unable to participate in the usual way which was devastating.
In the weeks leading up to Holy Week, I was getting more and more depressed about my lack of involvement, and the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear. He really is a great guy. He told me to have a live praise and worship session each week on our school's Facebook page. As one of two teachers who ran the page, I had easy access. So, I created a theme each week. I asked for student and parent requests and built a YouTube playlist which lyric videos so people could sing along at home, and each week, I would weep while I sang in the back of my classroom because God is so good.
People would tune in who no longer had kids in the school. Eventually, enough people shared it on their own Facebook pages, that random parishioners who weren't connected with the school in any way would be watching. So many people thanked me for giving them the gift of prayerful music to get them through this time, and I felt so honored to be doing something that touched and healed many people.
And, even though I couldn't hear their voices, I got to sing with my students again.
I've taken a leave of absence from school for this year, but I felt compelled to continue this practice of themed praise and worship which brings me back to my "Music from Your Heart" series. Since it is back-to-school season, I figured it was as good a time as any to start this praise and worship journey with all of you. So, for the month of September, we're focusing on peace.
Going back to school is stressful enough. Going back to school during a pandemic is insane. Every school, every district is doing something different, and both parents and students are feeling the stress. My hope with this month's playlist is that you can let the soothing music and lyrics of these songs wash over you as you pray for whatever is keeping you from a peaceful heart.
Click here to listen to the link on Spotify. If you don't have a Spotify account, it's very easy to get one, and it's also free! If you're unable to or uninterested in signing up for Spotify, you can listen to the playlist on YouTube by clicking here. Make sure to follow my Facebook page so you can see what next month's theme will be and comment with your song requests!
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