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Items of
Interest
Contributed By Our Members
This page is
for our members and friends to write or contribute articles concerning
our belief in God, our faith in God and to witness to those that visit
this congregation by way of this website. This website is owned
and operated by The First United Methodist Church of Union Springs,
Alabama. Please feel free to contribute without fear of any
rebuttal from various groups or newspaper editorials. We also
reserve the right not to publish articles that conflict with our Mission
Statement and our beliefs in God. Our congregation is a member of
the Alabama-West Florida Conference, and the Montgomery-Opelika District
of the United Methodist Church.
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This page was last updated
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 01:21 PM
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A
Silent 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 comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
The pastor 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 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 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
pastor 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 pastor
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
fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday."
Contributed
By Ray McDaniel
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