To Those Who Sit In Darkness/ A Christmas Memory

Anyone who knows me, knows that I tend to get nostalgic at certain times of the year.  Christmas it seems, brings a flood of memories for me.  It has to be my favorite holiday. I was thinking back to the Christmas plays we used to do at church when I was a kid.  They varied over the years, some were good and some were probably not. I remember one incident when I was about 5 years old. They used to give the kids "pieces" to say, as they called it.  I remember being so scared that when they called my name to come up and say my piece, I hid behind my Mom and didn't go up.  The poor lady who was calling our names finally said, "he must not be here," which was music to my ears. Whew, that was a narrow escape.

  However, as time progressed and I got a little older, I found that I liked to get up in front of people. Heck I turned into a ham, which was a far cry from that first miserable experience. A few years later, when I was about 11 years old, I had the most awesome experience I ever had doing a Christmas play.  The play was called "To Those Who Sit in Darkness."  The premise of the story was this;  It was set in Bethlehem the first Christmas following Jesus crucifixion.  My family was poor, because my father Aaron was a drunk, who spent his time gambling and drinking.  My mother Phoebe was a dear saint of a woman who tried her best to make our home a happy one, in spite of her husband's many flaws.  By the way, Aaron became a drunk because he had been a talented wood carver, and his hands had been crushed in an accident, so he was crippled and tried to bury his sorrow in alcohol.  My character Timothy, was a 12 year old blind boy, who tried to carve like his Dad to help provide some money so his Mom could keep them fed.

Anyway Aaron comes home drunk again, and a fight ensues between he and his long suffering wife, Phoebe.  Then there is a knock at the door.  There is an older woman and a young girl at the door.  They apologize for intruding, and ask if they can come in and warm themselves by the fire.  Phoebe the gracious host invites them inside.  She said she was sorry that she could not offer them some warm milk, and Timothy, who is unable to contain his anger toward his louse of a father, lashes out with a verbal tirade and says, "we have no milk, we have no bread, my father spends all our money casting dice in the wine shop."  Phoebe is horrified at Timothy's outburst.  Aaron picks up a stick from the fireplace and basically tells Timothy to shut up or he will beat him. (Sounds kind of heavy for a 1960's church program, huh). 

Anyway, allow me to fast forward a little.  The visitors turn out to be Mary the mother of Jesus and the young girl is the young lady that Jesus raised from the dead in Capernaum.  After a lot of great dialoge between these characters, Pheobe is stunned and asked, why they picked our house to visit.  The young girl explains, that each year in honor of her son Jesus, Mary plans to visit the neediest family in Bethlehem.  Mary said "it is so."  "I asked to be directed to the poorest and neediest family in Bethlehem, and the people sent me here to the home of Aaron, the drunkard, and the gambler."  By this time the previously hard hearted Aaron, is reduced to a sobbing heap, being comforted by his wife, and Timothy, confused by all that is happening, asks Mary what is going on.  She tells Timothy "My Son is here, Timothy, do you not feel Him here." Aarons previously crippled hands are healed.  Timothy is overcome with joy, and Mary tells him to look at the stars, to which the previously blind Timothy does, and he receives his sight.

This is a shortened version of the story of course.  But I will never forget how real it was for me, as we portrayed those characters.  It was almost like an "out of body experience."  The Holy Spirit was "In the House" that night.  It was really a turning point in my young faith.  I think it was one of the first times that God became really REAL to me.  It is hard to explain, but I imagine every believer has that one defining moment that they knew for sure that God is real.  This was one of those times for me.

So with all this being said, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  If anyone else has a Christmas memory they would like to share, please do so. God bless...

   

Comments

[chris]

Des, what a cool story. I must admit it sent a few chills down my arm when I read what Mary told the family in the play.

When you were describing your first memory of hiding from saying the "piece" you were assigned to all I could think of was how my sister-in-law Stefani used to run off the stage crying whenever it was her turn.

I might be in trouble for sharing that one. :)

[Des]

I remember Stefani's stage fright when she was little. The thing that impressed me, was the fact that even if she left in tears, she always came back on stage and finished the program. That was a great lesson in itself about never giving up.

I'm sure Stef will forgive you for sharing LOL.