A member of a certain church, who previously had been
attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few
weeks, the minister decided to visit him. It was a chilly
day. That evening, the minister found the man at home all
alone sitting by a blazing fire.
Guessing the reason for his minister's visit, the man
welcomed him, and led him to a comfortable chair near the
fireplace and waited. The minister made himself at home but
said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the
dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some
minutes, he 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 contemplation. As the
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 minister glanced at his watch and chose this time to
leave. He slowly stood up, 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 minister reached the door to leave, his host said,
with a tear running down his cheek, "Thank you so much for
your fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday".
