We figured that it was going to be cold in the church so we decided to dress warmly. Yeah, we were right. We arrived at a fantastic catholic church that was just as cold as the mountain. The heat was turned on to attempt to take the chill out of the building. I thought to myself, those heaters won’t get it done in time.
The sound check made it clear that we weren’t going to have to push. This building carried sound very well. We hardly needed mics. During sound check I saw a black priest come through the church, gather his robe, and leave. Soon, I saw him return with his robe on. I thought, “Wow! They’ve got a black priest.” What happens when you assume?
We were taken to a room in the adjoining building to relax and prepare for that night’s concert. There was a heater in that room and the temperature was probably just above 55 degrees Fahrenheit. That was quite a step up from the temperature of the church. As we concluded our vocal warm-ups in that room and finished our preparations, our host brought in some hot tea and pastries.
Then, a very energetic, elderly gentleman entered the room. His presence demanded respect – but we all felt so welcome around him. He introduced himself as the pastor of the church and welcomed us. He gave us each a book about the history of the church and told us that he would return shortly to take us on a tour of the facility. As we looked through the books we could see the 100-plus years that the church had stood as a light in that city. We could also see that people wore coats and scarves during the services. We were in for a cold night.
When the pastor returned, he took us down the hallway and began to show us photos of the worldwide work he and the church had been doing to provide homes for orphans all around the globe. They had facilitated more than 1500 adoptions for children. We were introduced to one such young lady who was living in Potenza and working at the church.
We were escorted to the pastor’s office where he had the most amazing collection of artwork and memorabilia from all around the world, highlighting the many countries to which he had traveled providing assistance, training and service to the underprivileged of the world. Paintings, carvings, literature… Words cannot express what all we saw in his office. We took lots of photos (I’ll load them soon – I promise).
Looking at these items and seeing what this man was doing to make a difference in the world challenged us to re-evaluate our lives and to work much harder to make a difference. As we saw artwork capturing the struggles of people – even the terror of a congregation in Africa as, during Mass, their priest was murdered in front of their faces – we realized that the small things that we struggle with in our comfortable lives in America are so small when compared to the plight of millions on this planet. We felt embarrassed that we were griping about a cold church when these people who come to this cold church are tirelessly reaching out to people who have even less than they do.
The pastor then took us to another room wherein he keeps figurine nativity scenes from the many cultures of the world. He has at least 120 or so sets of nativity figurines in a case that covers three of the four walls of the room. Included are countries and tribes in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It was breathtaking. I stood there, fighting back tears as I realized that God was much larger than I had imagined. “The Well” offered a great commentary when he highlighted that, while the design of Jesus, Mary and Joseph was different based on the culture of the people, the message and story was undeniably the same. Jesus was born to save mankind – and the Earth was rejoicing!! I wish I had the words to describe the things that the pastor shared with us. He spoke with such passion and conviction. “Mad Max” did a great job interpreting what the pastor couldn’t put into English for us. We were all challenged to be better.
As we went back to the room we talked about the change in perspective we now had on what our lives should be. Between seeing the awesome might of God in the mountains and the active love of God in the work of Father Don Franco, we were changed.
As we began to sing that night, the atmosphere was electric. These people, who could not understand the words of most of the songs we were singing, were ready to be fully engaged in a night of music and celebration. The building had endured an earthquake a few years ago. This was the first big event at the church since the re-opening. This was a big deal. They were ready to celebrate. And they did! They were up clapping, cheering, swinging, singing any words they recognized. As we sang the Christmas music set, they recognized the music and often sang in Italian as we sang in English. When we starting singing the song, “Amen” – oh, it was on! They were right with us!
But when we got to the worship set – and began singing “You Are Lord” and tied it with “Agnus Dei,” we found ourselves consumed by our new perspective of the awesomeness of God. Tears began to flow from our eyes as we envisioned those mountains we had traveled through and the figurines in Father Don Franco’s office. We lost ourselves as we sang, “Holy! Holy – are you Lord God Almighty! Worthy is the Lamb!” When we concluded that song, we had to just stop for a few minutes and weep as we reverenced the presence of God. “Red Bird” completely lost it – started acting like she was at a Pentecostal church in America, hollering and carrying on. While some of the people looked curious, they didn’t look frightened. We later found out that they actually understood what was going on. I guess that’s why they started clapping and worshipping with us as we were consumed with the presence of God. His face had entered the room and you didn’t have to speak English to recognize it. While we all reacted differently, we all knew what was happening – and we were not afraid. We all worshipped. It was a moment that I could never describe.
Finally, we pulled ourselves together and went into the final song. “The Well” called up a couple of enthusiastic gentlemen from the audience to assist with playing some of our percussion instruments. They were rocking as we sang, “I’m Saved!” You should hear these Italians singing, “Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh!” Just amazing!!
My life will not be the same after that night.
We headed to Forli the next morning. We have a night off. We’re ready for it. We have four shows in a row before our next day off. We were scheduled to have Christmas Day off – but we were just booked for a show in Naples on that night. So, we have Wednesday night off, we sing Thursday through Sunday; then we have Monday night off and sing Tuesday through Saturday.
I think we will be pretty tired when we get home.
Tired and inspired.
Pray for our voices.
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