THE SILENT SERMON

A member of a local church, who had previously been attending services regularly, stopped going.  

After a few weeks, the preacher 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 preacher's 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 the burning logs.

After some minutes, the preacher took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone, and 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 preacher glanced at his watch and realized it was 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 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 will 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.

A dear friend sent me these words of inspiration recently and they helped remind me as to why we are really here. God expects us to help one another.

He knows that we, like the lone ember will become cold and dead without the warmth of each others fellowship and encouraging words of our friends.

As we head into the holiday season, I hope that you will take the time to consider why these days are celebrated. Thanksgiving is a day for giving thanks!  

Thanking God for the many blessings that he has so generously given us all year long. We should take nothing for granite.

Christmas Day is a celebration of the birth of Christ. Please remember to take the time to thank God for his greatest gift of all, his son Jesus.

I fear there will be lots of people this year that will have little or nothing for the holidays. We as a community need to reach out to the people in need and help them any way we can. Any of the local churches will gladly assist you in identifying people in our community that needs your assistance!

I decided to give you a break this week from the usual political fallout and I ask that we all focus on each helping each other this holiday season and beyond. I want to thank you for reading "In My Opinion" and hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season!

"He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else."

Benjamin Franklin

May God Bless…

Ron Phillips