Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSON THE MARCHcited faces broke into the Saturday scene. Jesus shouts splitthe air. Green, gold, red, white and black — the flags waveddefiantly in the spring breeze. A few skinheads marched withus and others tagged on the end!We arrived at the Guildhall and streamed inside. Still singing,we squeezed through the stone corridors. Somehow weall got in and from the platform I enjoyed the sight of myfriends.Mick ‘Temperate’ tapped my shoulder from behind. ‘All right,“Overcomer”?’ he asked. ‘Good to see you wearing your combatjacket!’That irritated me (slightly). I was a pacifist at heart andmight have felt more at home in a friar’s habit!My eyes scanned the portraits on the wall. What would thosedignitaries make of the Jesus Army? ‘These men who havecaused trouble all over the world have now come here!’ Iquoted to myself, and smiled. They didn’t look very amused.We had gone off the rails — again! The Jesus Army were‘rebels’, soldiers of the Lamb. Our heart had opened to theneedy and our community houses would be places of healingthat welcomed the downtrodden and attracted the strong.Up on the platform stood a map of England. BRITISH CAM-PAIGN! (Noel loved exclamation marks!) Every communityhouse now had this wall map with places of Jesus Army activitymarked by plastic pins. A brother pointed out our projectswith a cane — all good Montgomery stuff. We planned campaignsin London and the larger cities. Marching throughthem, and pitching our Golden Marquee, we would witnessto thousands. In pubs, night clubs, red-light areas, squares283