Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
AWAKE O ZION!
us starry-eyed. The Hall now had brothers living in the downstairs
rooms and people were streaming on to the estate.
‘Israel is gathering!’ we sang. ‘Come and make music on
Zion’s height!’
We had left Ashburnham with a zeal to ‘take the land’. Cyril
found some actual land, two miles from Bugbrooke — a large
farmhouse with outbuildings and acres of orchard and fields.
‘Oh no!’ said Noel ‘Not farming, bro!’ But Cyril was undaunted
and the leaders were soon enthusiastic.
Meanwhile, the Hall was our community showpiece. During
the summer months we held Family Days, and gathered
with visitors to celebrate ‘with gladness and thanksgiving,
with cymbals’ (Victor), ‘harps’ (Alan and Kelly on the twelvestring),
‘trumpets and lyres’ (or, to be more accurate, Paddy
on the bottle-top shaker). We sat in groups, drank tea, consumed
sandwiches and cake, stretched out on the grass, and
‘fellowshipped’. They were hot, gregarious, outdoor-praising
times — idyllic or difficult according to the state of your soul.
Favourite songs carried into the village. ‘Let’s call our walls
salvation!’, ‘Zion is restored’ and ‘Arise! Shine! for your light
has come!’ We danced. We were festive, confident — excited
at what God was bringing to pass.
After tea we would make our way to chapel, continue our
worship, and listen to the preaching of the kingdom gospel.
Isaac Watts inspired us with his songs of Zion as did Wesley’s
hymns, hymns like, ‘Happy the souls who first believed’.
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