NO MATTER WHAT WE MAY THINK

Ponte Sant’ Angelo (PSA) Methodist Church

          It’s been several weeks since I have posted anything on my blog. That’s because we were away in Italy for the Christmas and New Year holidays. We got back on January 7, but both Chris and I came home sick and have just started to recover. Actually I went to Italy sick and had a slight, albeit brief, recovery that enabled me to enjoy many of the things we did.

          Among those things was going to a Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols Service at a small Methodist Church in the heart of Rome. It occupied a small part of an inner city building along the Tiber River. The pastor and his wife live upstairs, and they graciously invited us to go up on the terrace (at our own risk) and have an overlook view of the city at night. It was amazing!

          The service itself was very plain and simple, and didn’t begin to resemble a Lessons and Carols service with which we were familiar back home. There was no passing the light of Christ through the congregation and no anthem to further stir the soul.  In fact, the service was supposed to begin at 4 p.m., but they were still organizing things, like who was going to read what and what carols we would be singing. But eventually things got underway and we were able to somewhat immerse ourselves in the experience of a Roman Methodist Christmas (the emphasis is on “somewhat”).

          I don’t mean to make disparaging remarks about it—only that it was different than what we were used to and hoping for since it is one of our most treasured nights of the year. Plus, for me personally, it was the first Christmas Eve after, lo these many years, that I was not the one leading the service but sitting in the congregation.

  

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Rev Dr Tim and Mrs. Angela Macquiban

        At any rate, there is something I need to say about all this. Reflecting on that experience since then, I have thought about one of the most important aspects of that evening. It is not important what my personal impression was nor is it relevant to the sacredness of the service itself. What really matters reaches beyond my meager judgment (which says more about me than about the service anyway). What really matters is that on December 24, 2018, the congregation of a small church in the heart of Rome, Italy gathered to celebrate and remember the birth of a child whose life has impacted both the lives of believers and even nonbelievers in a multitude of ways. 

          The point is that the sincerity, the heartfelt devotion, and spiritual intention of that service and of those who are part of that congregation are sacred in and of themselves. Like so many things in life, what counts most is the passion within the human soul and not the judgement of any observer.

          By the way, as small as it may seem, this church has a great and far-reaching ministry in feeding the homeless crouching in doorways and along the streets of that ancient city. Thus the message of the Christ Child is illuminated by their presence--Thus they do, in fact, pass the light of Christ after all beyond their sanctuary to and among the people of Rome.