A member of a certain church, who was prrviously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the preacher decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening, The preacher found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his preachers visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
The preacher made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around burning logs. After some minutes, the preacher took the fire thongs, carefully picked up a brightly burining ember and place it to one side of the hearth all alone then he sat back in his chair, still silent.
The host watched all the quiet cotemplation. As one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The peacher glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave . He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead, ember andplaced it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the preacher reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, " Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the firey sermon. I shall be back in church next sunday. We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little.Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken.
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