Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
AWAKE O ZION!
Church week came round again and as Ashburnham Place
couldn’t squeeze any more of us in, we met in Northampton
and enjoyed the time off together at home. During the school
summer holidays I worked on the Farm. It was hot, hard,
wholesome work. From the top of a strawstack you got a tremendous
view of the blue skies and the open countryside.
Such freedom and purity! Goodbye to the school laboratory!
Babylon had fallen — well, at least, for seven weeks! Laughter,
sharing, and closeness to creation — it was a great opportunity
for friendship, whether chatting, lying exhausted
on the stubble, or hurtling down the A5 on the tractor and
trailer!
In the evenings we sat around talking — of diggers and
breakdowns (Ian and Kelly), of sanctification and the new
earth (me and Wilf), of gaining hearts, of submitting our spirits
one to another, and the nature of the Lamb.
I looked around and thanked God — for Kelly, troubleshooter
and peacemaker, for Verna with her never-failing supply of
compassion and cakes, for the sisters with their inspirational
unity. Despite the occasional tension, it was, without a doubt,
idyllic. When I got back to my laboratory in the autumn I
penned a hymn:
Happy the days in Zion’s fields
Enclosed away from Babel’s strife;
Beneath the Father’s open sky
We feel the Spirit’s fertile life
Unfold the beauties of our heart,
Breath holiness through every part!
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