The Night is O'er, A Christmas Story

Over the past several years, rather than preaching an expositional sermon, I offer a Christmas message in the form of a story. Using fiction to communicate the gospel does not mean I believe the gospel is fiction. Rather I believe the gospel is true, and even though fictional stories are made up, made up stories can be true as well. Jesus, himself did this. They were called parables. Here is this years Christmas parable. Please forgive the poor editing. It is is Christmas after all.

[He came] to give his people the knowledge of salvation
            through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
            by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
to shine on those living in darkness
            and in the shadow of death,
                        to guide our feet into the path of peace.”                                                                         

Luke 1:77-79

I.

Lucy and Thom and the Old Man, Photius were chained to the Dusk-Pillar, and they awaited the coming of what they knew would be the Judgment of Day. For the Light-Light would come, and all would be laid bare before the Great Eye of the Upper World. Though they had heard the songs and the prophecies from the Old Man to whom they were bound, Lucy and Thom had never been Upside when the Light-Light came.

The children did not know a time when anyone had lived above the world in the Land of the Light and Night. As long as they could remember they had lived under the Blue Mountains in the cave-kingdom of the Silver Queen.

The Upper World was a brutal place to live. There was the oppressive heat of the summer and the freezing cold of winter and there was the terror of darkness and the stark brightness of day. You know how hard it can be, and at this time and during this age in the world, it was hard and harsh and cruel. Kings came and went, and armies conquered and were driven out, and life in the Upper World took its toll on the people who lived in hope of The Day when things would be made right by the Sun-King. But the waiting became difficult.

The cruelty of evil oppressors and tyrants was not the only darkness they battled. Each person in the Kingdom themselves was given to a lightness and darkness in their heart. Like the moon, the people’s hope in THE HOPE and their love for one another and their zeal to do the will of the Father of Lights waxed and waned in phases from devotion to indifference, to betrayal, to despair and on and on and round and round.

In this way, the people were relieved by the darkness of the Night-Night because in the Night-Night they could not see nor could they be seen. And if one was clever enough, one could not see themself. Some believe in the comfort of ignorance, and in the Night-Night they could not see the terrible things that their enemies did to their loved ones, and they could not see the disappointing things that their friends did that hurt them so, but most of all they could not see the awful things that they themselves did which surprised and saddened them so greatly that they could not sleep. All this light they thought, meant heavy hearts. It seemed to the people that it was better to live in comfortable ignorance rather than live in the un-filtered heaviness of the Light and the interminable waiting for the Ever-Day when the Sun King would come. That was about the time that She came.

Moons ago the Silver Queen came to the people. And what with the people’s willingness to be ignorant and together with the heaviness in their hearts about their own darkness, the Silver Queen was able to enchant the people with the spell of a song by which she sung them into a waking-sleep.

When Night-Night is o’er and yellow is east,
Flee to the Great Door to find your relief.
The Great-Light sees all, his arrow flies true
And pierces the heart, and changes the hue
Of dull to bright, of secret to fright
All lies in the open, at the end of Night-night.
First comes the thrum of dindle and drum.
Next cuts the scissor sword of light and heat
With the ray his eye your judgment comes
To drive you to the dust in defeat.
In the Light do not stand
Seek the Silver Queen’s relief
Submit to her hand
And to the darkness retreat.

And that is how they came to follow her up into the caves of the Blue Mountains, past the Pillar of Dusk and through the Great Door into her Dark Kingdom. The Great Door kept the Light out, and it did. But as is often the case with doors that keep things out, they also serve to keep other things in. And so, the people became the Silver Queen’s slaves, and they served her blindly and ignorantly.

The enchantment of the cave hung like a foggy dream, and it was eerily silent except for the drip, drip, drip of water falling from stalactites hundreds of feet above. There was no laughter nor sounds of children playing nor of neighbors talking, and there was no music except the kind that made you drowsy. Even though the people were enchanted, all this dampness had an even greater effect their outlook. You know people, I do not doubt who are a wet blanket because their view of things is rather dreary and damp. Well the people who lived with the Silver Queen, were just that—all wet.

Now as much as one might want to live without light, one cannot live in a complete darkness of ignorance. And so, the Silver Queen taught the people how to mine and light moonstone. The moonstone glowed a silvery-blue and served to provide light for the World by which the people would be able to see, but not too much. At her command, the people dug mines deep into the mountains in order to find moonstones for the light-bearers who were called Lunatars. Each month, the Lunatars would take the mined moonstone out beyond the Great Gate to the Pillar of Dusk and leave the stones exposed to the Light of The Day. When they returned the next night, the moonstones glowed a bright silvery blue. The Lunatars would put the stones in lamps and mount them on staffs, and In this way they provided the people with a light to see as they mined more moonstone.

 (Now, you must remember that in the Queen’s realm, the night was day and the day was night. So, when it was light in the Upper World, it was time to be asleep below. But each evening of the Upper World, was the time that the people arose and went about their dreary work, until just before Great Light came up over the Eastern Sea.)

When time allowed, Lunatars would spend time studying the lights that shone on the ceiling of the Upper Land during the Night. They learned all the shapes these lights made and they watched wandering stars as they appeared each night and disappeared for a season. The Lunatars became experts in the meanings of the stars and the signs they foretold.

Every now and then, a Lunatar would go light-headed. After having learned so much about the lights of the Great Ceiling, they would begin to be curious about the Day, and the Light-Light, and they would ask whether someone could really live in the Light-Light. This sort of talk was very dangerous and was considered treason. If news of this sort of talk reached the others, the offending Lunatar would be cast out of the realm, and taken and tied to the Pillar of Dusk, where they would await the Judgment of The Day when at The Dawn all the secrets of the heart would be exposed, and they would see themselves and the world in all its hard reality.

The Old Man, Master Photius was an aged Lunatar to whom Lucy and Thom were apprenticed. Mostly they spent their days learning about the different kinds of rocks and soils and gems, where moonstone was likely to be found and which minerals were good for making tools and which were best for jewelry. But at the end of their day, after Thom and Lucy had cleaned up from supper, Master Photius would sit in his study and smoke his pipe. Seated in his chair he would tell them of the stories of the Upper Lands.

Master Photius would tell them about the Ceiling Lights which shone each night out beyond the cover of the Misty Valley. He described their shapes and order and recalled their names, He also told them how some believed in a Ruler greater than the Silver Queen, the Father, who made all the Lights of Heaven above and set them in place and called them by name. Photius told them that the Father of the Heavenly Lights had made a promise that he would bless the world and call his children out of the darkness. And late in the Night when the smoke-cloud of his pipe hung low in the room and the sweet smell of the pipe smoke swirled and drifted up toward the ceiling, Master Photius would sing parts of a forbidden song about how the Father of Lights would send His Son, the Sun-King, in a chariot with sword and bow to break all the enchantments of all the world’s Enchanters.

When you see the star on the Lion’s brow
In the heavens of Darkest Night
The Father above, Lord of all Renown
Shall send His Beloved Son of Light
Who shall come with the thrum of thundering drum
In a chariot of golden-bright beam.
From the east he shall rise riding the road of the sun
To vanquish the Silver Queen.

II.

Lucy was the first to discover the transformation. While up tending to the moonstones with Thom and Master Photius, Lucy misplaced her silver apprentice bracelet which, being the fidgety girl she was, was not surprising. While re-visiting one of the collections of moonstone after the Light Light had shown on them, Lucy found her bracelet. She also found that it was no longer silver, but that it had been transformed into sunstone (what you or I would call gold). Sunstone was the most precious of metals in the Underland.

When Lucy realized what had occurred and that she was wealthy beyond all her imagining (which for an orphan is like a dream come true), she felt both a great relief and a growing fear. She was relieved because now she would not be at the mercy of limited resources but would always have enough to take care of herself and not need to depend on others. For her she felt that she was, now safe. But with the relief came fear, for safety finally won, can be just as soon lost. However, in the excitement of her new security, she shared the news with her brother, Thom.

Thom was very excited too. For Thom the news of this discovery meant that he would no longer be looked down upon by the other apprentices, that they would now respect him, and that he could finally have the sorts of things he thought he had deserved. But he was more pleased to see himself as the envy of the other apprentices.

Later, Lucy and Thom shared their discovery with Master Photius. When he saw the sunstone bracelet, he saw in it a breakthrough into the recognition and honor of all the other Masters. Many had come who had spent their lives trying to make sunstone. This was the secret of all secrets, and not only would it make him rich, but it would make him the master of all the Masters. Photius warned them that the should tell no one, and he reminded them of the Silver Queen’s song and of the punishment of those who became light-headed.

Sometimes the temptation to tell a secret overwhelms the value of the secret one is keeping. Many kingdoms, friends, and families have found their end in the making public of a private word. In a wavering moment, Thom boasted of the sunstone he and Lucy had acquired in order to impress some of the older and more popular students. And when Lucy, tried to stop him from revealing their secret, he said, “You don’t know about grown up things. Stop being such a baby.” The telling of the secret was terrible, but Thom’s superior tone and mocking voice hurt Lucy more deeply. Even as he was speaking the words, Thom’s conscience noted his betrayal, and he felt things change between he and his sister.

Over several phases, Thom distanced himself from Lucy. He ignored her questions, and avoided her company. Thom found himself more interesting to the others, and they plied him with questions about the sunstone. Being noticed and listened to and liked and popular was a ‘dizzying’ drink that Thom could no longer resist, and he finally gave in to the pressure and told the other apprentices how the silver had turned into sunstone.

Because people are always seeking to find a way further in--into the center of power and popularity and success and approval, the center from which they have always imagined themselves excluded, each used the knowledge of the bracelet’s transformation to impress others. And so just as this was true of Thom it was true of the apprentices and of their Masters. What had previously been a secret to keep, became the most important news to share. And so an apprentice jealous of Thom and Lucy told on them to their Master, and a Master jealous of Master Photius told on him to the chief of the Lunatars who in turn took the news to the Silver Queen herself.

III.

Lucy and Thom and old Master Photius were accused and tried for high treason against the Silver Queen and the laws of the Underland. Bound with silver cords made by the Queen, and drowsy from their enchantment, the three were paraded through the moonstone lit city, up the winding road out the Great Door to the Pillar of Dusk to which they were bound to await the Judgment of The Day.

All were there to watch their drumming out and punishment. They mocked the three in their punishment and rejoiced in their being shamed. After pronouncing the judgment and sentence, the Chief Lunatar read the inscription on the Pillar:

In the Light do not stand
Seek the Silver Queen’s relief
Submit to her hand
And to the darkness retreat. 

In their exhaustion and sadness, a fitful sleep overtook the three. Each dreamed of the coming of The Day and what secrets the Light would expose.

Master Photius began to see the entitlement of age in his heart—how having lived long and having worked hard, he had come to presume honors and comforts and deference. The sad side of his entitlement lay in the change in his heart--that he had lost a sense of wonder and gratitude in the beauty around him and above him and in the music and promises.

Thom saw in his dream the ugliness of a heart which would betray a devoted sister for the scraps of approval of a few others whose company he didn’t even like. Having scurried around in order to try an get in, he found himself shut out.

And while Lucy dreamed, she saw that her fear of being without had led her to keep and manage all that she had: not only what she owned but her time and kindness. Having been so caught up by what she owned, she was owned by what she had. She meted out attention and rations with scrupulous exactness. And in so doing the security that wealth afforded only made her more fearful and petty.

Now with the coming of the Light Light, would the heaviness of their hearts and guilt crush them? Would the Father of the Heavenly Lights hear their cry for mercy and forgive? If even now it was not too late to cry such a cry. In that moment, something welled up in Lucy’s heart. Maybe it was the realization that ignorance and darkness and words spun to sound true did not make for joy or seeing or truth. Maybe it was the admission of the truth about the darkness in her own heart that it was better dealt with than managed. Lucy felt she was thinking clearly the first time, and she began to sing,

He shall come with the thrum of thundering drum
In a chariot of golden-bright beam.
From the east he shall rise riding the road of the sun
To vanquish the Silver Queen.

In turn Thom and their the Master joined Lucy and though each was afraid of the changed the Light Light would inevitably bring, they were bolstered by the song’s hope of deliverance. What would become of them? Could there be such a thing as too much light? Too much sight? Would the coming of the Sun-King and his just reality mean their own unmaking? Would they be crushed? Would the beauty of sight only expose their dingy ugliness?

IV.

At the darkest moment of the Night-Night, the breeze changed. All evening the damp and heavy air of the Misty Valley flowed down to the Pillar like an enchantment, but now the breeze turned and came from the East, dry and warm. The cloudy night sky began to break and the Ceiling Lights came into view. After a while the ceiling was cloudless and the stars shone bright and clear. There, high above the three, was the Lion and the bright new star on his brow.

Photius had told them of the lights of the Higher Lands, but they had never actually seen the great expanse of stars in the Night-Night sky. Because of this they did not know what to think of the stars which seemed to move from one part of the sky to another and then more and more moved from every direction across the sky towards them. Dozens and dozens became hundreds, and then became thousands and thousands of thousands of stars appeared and moved. And suddenly with the warm breeze came the faint sound of a song. “Listen,” Lucy whispered.

“What’s that?” said Thom?

“Shhh, listen. Don’t you hear the music?”

Master Photius, spoke for the first time, “It’s the Sky People.”

“Who?” said Thom

“The people from above the world. The Sky People,” explained their Master. And then they all could see them, and the song rang clear like bells.

The Sky People sang the Greatest Song, a song of joy and triumph and hope and promise. As the Sky People drew nearer, their song became louder and louder and the weight of their glorious song fell upon their hearts in tingling joy.

The night is over the day has come.
Awake and rise with the morning sun.
You weary and sad lift up your heads.
The Light arises and darkness has fled.

Look not for the Light in Palace or Hall
The King awaits in a stable’s stall
He comes not in anger to punish or condemn
But in love to drive darkness away from them

And so follow the star, it shall lead the way
To the Sun-King swaddled in manger and hay
The King of all kings comes humble and mild
The Commander now speaks in the cries of child.

For the promise He has kept, He has come as He said
To deliver the fearful and raise the dead.
Highest praise to Father, Spirit, and Son.
And Glory to God--the Three in One. 

The song seemed to clear their heads. Their fear of the coming of the Light-Light and Charioted Sun-King did now not seem so dreadful.

Photius saw the folly of hisentitlement—that he had never gotten what he really deserved, for it he had, his friends (and these children) would’ve long ago stopped offering forgiveness for his short-temper and impatience.

Thom saw the ugliness of his vanity and the betrayal of his dearest friend for what they were: a dark marring in the heart of his heart. “Oh, he thought, if I could only be changed.”

And Lucy too saw the greediness of her heart and the self-centered pre-eminence of her own concerns over those of others, “As if were not already wealthy in friends and companionship.” The pressure and weight of their guilt bore down on each in the same way the Sky People’s song had raised their spirits.

The sky glowed orange and gold in the east.
First comes the thrum of dindle and drum.
Next cuts the scissor sword of light and heat
With the ray his eye your judgment comes
To drive you to the dust in defeat.
Where bone is broken
And heart is cloven
Unclouded, undone, and un-Queened. 

And though they hadn’t noticed, the first rays of the dawn struck the hill on which they were standing. They heard the thundering noise and for the first time heard the prophecy in its right meaning. Each in turn, apologized for their brokenness and the wounding of the other, and through the tears of their apologies, they began to see. As the first rays of the Dawn fell upon them, the enchanted silver chords which had bound them to the Pillar evaporated, and their hearts were filled with the broadening peace of freedom and joy as they forgave and were forgiven. Noting the direction in which the star had shown, they went in search of the One of whom the song spoke, saying, “Let us go and see.”

V.

Since the Dawn of that Day many moons have waxed and waned, and on one day when the moon was full, the darkness seemed to overtake the sunlit world as the Sun-King was led on a meandering journey through a city and out it’s gate. Mocked by his peers and betrayed by his brothers, this King, was marched to a hill outside the gate, where he was hung on tree. Some believed that the darkness had overtaken him, but rather as he was shut behind a great stone door, he took into himself all of the darkness of all our pride and self-deceit and sin, for he was not a reflection of the Light, but he was himself the Light, and one dawn a few dawns later, he burst forth from darkness to shine on our darkness and lead us to peace. This was the end of the beginning, but tonight we remember the day when the first rays of the Dawn of this Sun-King brought to light the secret motives of the heart of God. For in the darkness of a stable in the edge of a province far from the lighted center of imperial power the Light Light came to announce the tender mercy of the Father of the Heavenly Lights.