Interfaith Dialogue with Pastor Darin

Agape recently hosted “Music of the Soul” at the UC San Diego Center for Ethics and Spirituality (CES) a student conversation across a variety of cultures and traditions with reflections on our experiences of music as the connecting point for what is good, beautiful, and true. This quarterly session is a collaboration with the Center for Student Involvement’s iLead program to equip students for leadership. 

Gathering 12 students previously unknown to each other, the conversation quickly went to the depths of what makes each of us human, both uniquely and in common, across different religious and secular aspects of art and culture. We shared experiences of live and recorded music, singing alone and in groups, playing instruments, dancing, praying, and taking music with us across different cultures, genres, and settings. From enjoying music just for fun to our varied experiences of spiritual music, we scanned the breadth of ancient indigenous chant to contemporary rituals and even movements for social transformation. Several students shared their witness of singing as a central element in nonviolent revolutions that overcame oppression or toppled dictatorships.

I am regularly impressed with students’ willingness to speak from the heart about matters most dear to them with people they just met. Three of these new friends returned to the CES the very next week offering to volunteer help in hosting lunch, setting up, cleaning up, and welcoming visitors. This was another confirmation that students bring their energy and leadership where they are seen, known, and accepted just as they are, with their unique gifts and quirks equally celebrated. I look forward to working with these students again and welcoming new ones today for more great conversations!