Preach the Gospel, and when Necessary Use Words

This St. Francis quote has been with me today along with corresponding images.

I wear a necklace. It has a simple cross and my great-grandmother's plain gold wedding band hanging on it. The cross nuzzling against the circle of gold against my chest reminds me of the intimacy and the gold-treasure of being the bride of Christ. I wear this for me, not as a contrivance for preaching the Gospel. But one day, at choir practice, I had a lady in my section ask me about it. I told her the story of it. She looked thoughtful. A few weeks later, I noticed her wearing a necklace with a cross and some little musical notes, also all in gold, hanging from it. Nowadays, I've seen loops for "charms" on necklaces, but my necklace and her copy-cat for the "treasure" that is between her and God (her music) came before the charm necklaces were popular. This is Gospel without words. This is deep-heart between someone and God, publicly announcing something private of the heart.

You preach the Gospel without words, too, my dear. I am going to try to announce this something private here in public if I can find a way to preserve what needs to be private, while still shouting from the rooftop what an honor and a mystery you are. It really hit me as I was driving along listening to the Nickel Creek song about the lighthouse. The chorus that says, "And the winds blowing around me, the sands slip out to the sea, and the waves that crash remind me of what has been and what can never be."

The "what has been and what can never be" part stirred new things today when I thought of you. Looking back now, we see how great a gift you may be missing by our having closed the doors we did...the honor you set aside unknowingly. You see our situation in terms of the costs I must pay; but if I pay them, I still get "the prize." So, what to me is more beautiful is the fact that you are not bitter at your personal (most likely permanent) loss of glory. What's more, you do not hesitate at the thought of stepping aside and receiving something as charity from another. You've never even mentioned this aspect of it as causing you pain or loss. You say this attitude springs from the beauty of the imagery God has planted in your heart and mind, but I tell you this: God won't plant such an image in any but the heart of a truly humble man.

You are some of the greatest "Gospel without words" that I have ever seen.