Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSAWAKE O ZION!Young Darren weaved through the assembly and plonkedhimself on my lap. I looked over at Kelly. His twelve-stringguitar hung across his chest as he pursed his lips and lookedcontemplatively at the ceiling. What a sight! Kelly was a guyyou learned from. No frills — just spiritual reality. ‘Once youwere not a people, but now you are the people of God’ (1 Pet2:10). That was his favourite scripture.It had been a fascinating year at the Hall. New friendshipswere a tremendous inspiration and my path to spiritualitywas no longer a lonely road. Most of all we were a people. Asthe worship faded into silence I looked around the room. Victorwas still lost in worship. He loved the silent times. A greatcontentment came over me. I’d come home to ‘Zion’.From the corner of the room a squeaky voice began to sing:‘Out of Zion, our God shines forth.’ It was far too high and theassembly dissolved into laughter. Verna came to the rescueon the keyboard and the tambourines started up.‘We are his Zion, perfection of his beauty, radiance of hisglory, bearers of his name.’ The song came to an end afterthe fifteenth time and we erupted into loud cries of Jesus!Bless God! and Hallelujah!Some of the Ashburnham staff crept in and lined up alongthe wall. They exchanged glances and smiled. Noel stood upand swept his greying hair off his forehead.‘Ashburnham ’75,’ he began quietly, ‘is radically differentfrom ’74, because then God established a structure and nowhe is building on it with his goodness, his sweetness and hislife. Before us lies the task of perfecting the beauty of Zion.We sing from Psalm 50: “Out of Zion... God shines forth.”Now some are using the word “Zion” a great deal nowadays127