December, 2025 – Gloria in Excelsis Deo
It seems as if I could write a thousand stories of wonderful Christmas experiences from just my personal life alone. But for this year, I have chosen just the following one.
For more than three and a half years, I worked at the Providence Rescue Mission in Providence, Rhode Island. Actually, I was a volunteer, but trust me, it was work! After teaching all day at a large public school in Providence (2000 students/94 different languages and dialects represented), I headed for the Mission located near downtown. From 4:00 to 4:30p, I would teach two or three of the young fellows in the Discipleship Program how to play the piano – mostly just basic chords for the Worship Songs we enjoyed.
From 4:30 to 5:00p, we would sing! I handed out copies of the Worship Songs they seemed to enjoy, let them (homeless men and women) choose which ones they wanted to sing, and we would raise our voices straight to Heaven! These ‘guests’ (mostly just the men) had been imprisoned for really not good things! The court gave them a choice of staying in prison, or becoming a night-time resident at the mission. I felt compelled to do Worship Songs with them, teaching them the Word through music – and they got to love certain of the songs! One fellow loved ‘The Days of Elijah’ so much that he would come down and stand by the piano to sing. We sang our hearts out!
From 5:00 to 5:30p, while the ‘guests’ were in Chapel, I went to help in the kitchen – to do whatever I was asked. That differed on the three afternoon/evenings I volunteered. At 5:30p, I dished up food with one other for all the guests. After dinner, at 6:00p, I went back into the disassembled Chapel and helped the women prepare for their night at the mission. That involved many different tasks. I would, then, end up driving back to my home in MA at about 7:30p. Another responsibility that I absolutely loved and asked permission to do so, was on the first day of the month, I would take in a bakery cake for any who had birthdays during that given month to celebrate their lives. Everyone got cake, but if one’s birthday was that month, they would also get a big scoop of ice cream. As we readied to have the cake, all the lights would get shut off in the dining area, the cake would get lit, and after I gave a brief word from the Word, we sang a rousing ‘Happy Birthday’!! (Besides the bakery cake, I would make an extra one just in case there wasn’t enough to go around. That happened from time to time . . .)
The men began to call me their ‘angel’. Being a servant of these precious people was just something the Lord had put in my heart to do. And you can’t imagine how many times I heard that they had never, ever had a birthday cake before – that this was the first one ever – that no one had ever cared enough to celebrate their birthday. That broke my heart! No wonder the Lord gave me that assignment to do!
Now – back to the music! One of my favorite Christmas memories was doing Christmas music with these ‘guests’ – and especially, ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’. They didn’t know the verses so much, but when we got to the ‘Gloria’s’ you can’t even begin to imagine the booming voices that erupted from these (mostly) former alcoholic, druggie, mentally abused inmates. The first time I heard them, tears streamed down my cheeks while I was standing behind the piano playing, and looking out at them. It has been several years since I ‘worked’ at the Providence Rescue Mission, but I can hear these men’s voices on ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’ as clearly as if it were yesterday! My heart is filled to this day as I can ‘hear’ them singing ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo. It was an amazing Christmas experience that I loved – and will never forget.
