Going to church

One day the local pastor was making his parish rounds and visited with an elderly man who was not a good churchgoer. He used the old excuse that he said his prayers at home and did not need a congregation around him. As they sat around an open fire and talked about many things, the pastor took one of the brightly burning twigs out of the fire and set it aside on the edge of the fireplace. Gradually as they talked, the fire on the twig kept getting lower and lower until it eventually went out. At that point the pastor looked the parishioner in the eye and put the ember back into the fire where it came aglow immediately. The old parishioner got the message. He learned how important it is to be a part of a Church community.