A Silent Sermon

A member of a certain church who hitherto had been attending service regularly suddenly stopped. After some few weeks the Pastor decided to visit him. It was a very cold evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fireplace. Guessing the reason for his Pastor’s Visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited for a long sermon from the pastor on the danger of not coming to church. The Pastor makes himself at home but said nothing.

In the grave silence, the pastor concentrated on the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes the Pastor took the fire tongs, pocked into the fire and carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair still silent. The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. Soon, the single ember’s flame flickered and began to diminish, then there was a momentary glow and then its fire died out. Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave, he slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and place it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to flow and burn once more with the light and warmth of the other burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his check, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday”.

We live in a world today which tries to say too much over too little, consequently few people listen and not much gets achieved. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken. A servant of God once said that the best sermon is the one with a good beginning and a good ending and a short time between the two. What short message will God have you share with someone today?