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THE LONELY EMBER Topics: Fellowship, Sermon
A member of a certain church, who previously
had been attending services regularly, stopped
going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided
to visit him.
It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the
man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire.
Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the
man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near
the fireplace and waited.
The pastor made himself comfortable but said
nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated
the play of the flames around the burning logs.
After some minutes, the pastor took the fire
tongs, 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 fascination.
As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there
was a momentary glow and then its fire was no
more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail."
Not a word had been spoken since the initial
greeting. Just before the pastor was ready to
leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and
placed 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 pastor reached the door to leave, his host
said,
"Thank you so much for your visit and especially
for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church
next Sunday."
~unknown~