A member of a congregation who had previously been attending worship services regularly suddenly stopped coming to church. After missing services for several weeks in a row, the pastor decided to pay a visit to this member.

It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home, alone, sitting in front of a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for the pastor’s visit, he welcomed him and led him to a seat near the fireplace, and waited. The pastor settled into his chair making himself comfortable, but said absolutely nothing. He just sat there watching the flames at play around the logs in front of him. After a few minutes, he grabbed the fire tongs and carefully picked up a brightly burning ember, setting it down at the end of the hearth away from the rest of the fire. The pastor set back in his chair again, still silent.

The two men watched the ember together. As the 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.” Still no words were spoken between the two men since the initial greeting.

The pastor rose to leave, but before doing so he once again grabbed the fire tongs. He took the cold ember and placed it back in the fire.  Almost immediately it began to glow with the light and warmth and fire of the coals all around it. As the pastor walked toward the door, his host said, “Thank you so much for your visit, and especially for the fiery sermon. I’ll be back in church next Sunday.”

Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Psalm 122:1 (ESV) I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”