Words and Actions

One of the favorite quotes of our past associate pastor was by St. Francis of Assisi -- "Preach the gospel at all times -- If necessary, use words."

Because of her blog, I pay attention to this quote whenever I see it. I was reading a blog a year or two ago which explored this quote. The author of the blog in question stated that he didn't like St. Francis' quote. He felt that we should always share our witness through words, and that to not do that was to fail at evangelism (note that I am widely rephrasing his thoughts, but that's my impression of what he meant.).

Does anyone besides me feel that that viewpoint is not quite right? I think that our witness to others can often be composed of our actions. Yes, I do think that there is an important place for the use of words; that our words "claim" our actions for God. Because of our words, the motivation behind our actions can be understood.

The problem is that our actions can easily negate our words unless our words and our actions work hand in hand. If you say you love people, then your actions should show it. If our actions are hate-filled, then it doesn't matter what our words are.

Then I found this quote in my email the other day:

The lack of a caring community that incarnates the Word makes us more and more incapable of being heard." -- Melba Meggay (Filipino Theologian).