THE SILENT SERMON

There was a man we will call John who attended church regularly but then, thinking it unnecessary, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a cold evening and John was home alone sitting before a nice warm fire. After the usual polite greeting they sat quietly enjoying the warmth. For a long time there was silence. Then the pastor took a brightly burning coal out and placed it to one side away from the fire. It lost its warmth and there was only a momentary glow; then it was cold and dead. John watched all this without saying a word. The pastor slowly stood up, picked up the cold piece of coal and put it back into the fire where it immediately began to glow once more in the heat. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. As the pastor reached the door to leave, John said: "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the silent sermon. I'll be back in church next Sunday." - Selected "Let us not neglect our church meetings [gatherings], as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of His coming back again is drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25, Life Application Bible, 1988).