TC asked that I blog about Minnesota. When he said that, I thought to myself, "I don't know anything about Minnesota. What the heck am I going to do with that?" I mentioned the input to my husband who immediately responded 'Mall of America' and I realized, "Hey! I've BEEN to Minnesota."
Perhaps eight years ago, I went to the National Catholic Youth Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the time, I was working at a CYO in the Diocese of Providence (long story there, but never mind) and I was there both as a participant and as a chaperone for some of our younger members. I remember going to the Mall of America along with about 20 sexually frustrated Catholic teenagers. Fun!
The conference closed with a big concert, with a big name contemporary Christian singer performing. It was Michael W. Smith, whose music I loved. At some previous point, my friend Chris and I had made up a dance that went along with one of his songs, 'Seed to Sow.' We used it at a diocese-wide retreat, so all 27 of us who were there from Providence knew the song and steps.
So Michael starts singing, and we start dancing, and the dance catches on. Suddenly the Massachusetts contingent behind us is all doing the dance. Then I look over and all of the New Yorkers have picked up on it. I looked around the stadium hall, where there were 10,000 Catholic youth gathered, and it looked like 70% of the place was doing our little dance. Chris and I just stared. Michael W. Smith kept singing the chorus over and over again, and we all just danced and danced.
A short while after that, I left the Catholic Youth Organization and I haven't bought a Michael W. Smith album in years. But I do wonder if perhaps audiences still do our dance at concerts. That would be cool, huh?
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