Heaven on Earth

Part 31

It was Sunday, another time they always looked forward to, the atmosphere was charged as they worshipped and praised God. They, more than anyone else in the auditorium, had a lot to thank God for, they sat together and after the worship session, Pastor Dan came upstage.

"Good morning everyone, you all look beautiful today, come on, turn to your neighbour and welcome them with a kind smile" they all did and everyone was so full of joy except Pearl who sat on the next column, adjacent to where Kirk and the rest sat, she kept casting furtive glances at Rose and wasn't listening to what the Pastor was saying.

"Today we will be ministering to the Lord with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, hallelujah..."

And the congregation said "praise the Lord"

"Great is thy faithfulness, Oh Lord my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee, thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not, as thou has been, thou forever wilt be_ come on sing with me..."

"Great is thy faithfulness (2x),
Morning by morning,
New mercies I see,
All I have needed thy hands have provided,
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me" the brethren sung the hymn with meaning

"Before we continue, let's look at Lamentations, some of you would be wondering 'why is Pastor Dan going to lamentations instead of maybe psalms' hahaha, I just want to give you the scripture for this song. Open your bibles to Lamentations 3:22-23 and it reads 'It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness'.
There are so many of you, if not all, that had it not been for the grace and mercies of God, you would have been consumed, you would have been dead but He's kept you and you yourselves know very well that it's not because you pray a lot or because you're a good person, it's just because God is faithful and he keeps his word. Hebrews 13:5 says '...for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee'. I'm sure we can all attest to the fact that he has kept his word, so we have to be grateful even when we think the Lord has left us alone, he shows himself strong in our lives. All we can do is to be faithful and loyal to him in return and praise him. When you go through diverse tests, count it all joy and give thanks in every situation. Are you ready to minister to him?"

"Yes Sir..." they all answered in the affirmative

"My final scripture for today is from the book of Psalms. Open to Psalm 100, we will read the whole chapter together, it's just 5 verses, one, two, go..."

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations" they all read the scriptures aloud

"And everybody said Amen" Pastor Dan

"Amen" congregation

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end_ say they are new..." They all sung the song and continued to minister to the Lord till service ended. Announcements were given as usual but this time, it was announced that there would be a Love Fest. Everyone was so excited and looking forward to it, it was an annual festival organised by the church to foster love, unity and teamwork among the brethren. Many more people who weren't members were also invited and there were exchange of gifts, food and snacks, prepared by members, games and so much more. People were put in different committees to make the festival a success, the fellowship leaders were also asked to write names of all their members including themselves on tiny papers and fold them so that they could pick out names randomly and give gifts to the ones they chose. Kirk met his members as soon as service ended and did as they were instructed but Pearl wasn't present in the meeting. He ended up choosing Rose's name and well Rose ironically chose Pearl's name, Jane picked William and it went on like that.

Rose was full of joy despite the fact that she picked someone who didn't like her but she knew it was for a reason, she couldn't wait to experience the festival that was now the talk of the day, she made enquiries about it

"Kirk can you tell me more about the Love fest?...sure but you know you would have to be there to actually know the feeling...yes sure but just give me a clue of what to expect...okay so we normally have it on the compound, where various stands are mounted, there are exhibitions of various sorts of things that some of the brethren are into and there's the food stand, iced cream stand, with all sorts of sweets and candies for children, a portion for games, bouncy castles for children, activities like rock climbing, go-karting, karaoke, face painting and so much more, then my favourite part...which is?... guess...oh Kirk...okay okay, so it's the exchange of gifts...that's great, who did you pick?...I'm sorry but you're not getting me to say it, you'll find out on that day...okay fine...would you like to visit Aunty Grace with me today?...like right now?... we'll get home first but if you have other plans it's fine, maybe next time...I would love to...really? I hope you don't feel compelled to do so...oh no, I want to go...alright then, let's meet the others outside and ask them if they would like to go as well...oh ok"

They met Margaret and Jane outside and set off to go home. They agreed to go and once they got home they all ate before setting off, they made a stop at the mall to get some provisions and toiletries for the kids at the foundling home. Kirk excused himself and went to make enquiries at the jewelry section, Rose noticed he was hiding something from them but she brushed it aside.