The Sunday Service
abracad, · Categories: spirituality, wise wordsThe people of the little village of Carra pride themselves on their religion. Every Sunday morning they make their way to the delightful old village church to hear their pastor, Father Shine, deliver his words of wisdom. And thanks to their freely given efforts Carra had won first prize for churchyard of the year for the past 99 years.
One day as they arrived at the gates of their beautifully kept churchyard dressed in their Sunday finest they were shocked to find a disheveled vagrant asleep under an oak tree. He wore a dirty old overcoat, his toes were peeking through the holes in his boots and his tattered hat shielded his sleeping face from the morning sun. The surrounding grass was littered with empty beer cans.
The villagers muttered under their breath that the outsider had no right to desecrate their beloved churchyard, but of course they were much too religious to do anything about him.
Still muttering they took their place inside the church, feeling secure once more with the well-made floral displays and every hymn book in its proper place.
As the clock approached ten o'clock the villagers began to notice that Father Shine was absent. "Where could he be?" they wondered. Eventually, one of the senior helpers decided to make a start in the hope that their pastor would soon appear.
Just as he began to climb the pulpit the doors of the church flew open. The villagers turned around expecting to see the pastor, but marching down the aisle was the vagrant. Shocked, they each held their noses as he passed by.
The vagrant walked boldly up to the altar before tearing off his hat and overcoat. He turned around to reveal himself as Father Shine.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said the pastor, "for this morning's lesson actions have spoken louder than words ever could."
From then on the people of Carra were a little less proud and a little more ready to get to know the person beneath the surface.
The above words were inspired by an address given by Spiritualist medium Daphne Webb
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Filed in: spirituality, wise words
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