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Albert Zoeniga and Jane Ashton sat on some old rickety chairs at the back of a small room in a small building. They had had a hard time finding this place, because not every the street lamps was lit- half of them no longer had bulbs. The house of the assembly sat in the midst of a very congested neighborhood with meandering roads and alleys of which most were unmarked.

Either because of the late hour, or because few could afford cars or taxis, the streets were thin of traffic. Still, trying to find unmarked streets and places in the dark was very hard.

But then- "See, we located it," Jane had told him finally. "That means we're supposed to attend tonight. It looks like the building Kelli described on that napkin she had scribbled upon.”

“Yeah, right; it must be a miracle of sorts that we could find the meeting place with hardly any light," Albert Zoeniga had answered half-seriously.

When they knocked at the dingy apartment, someone at the door had ushered them into the badly lit room where people were greeting each other and also greeting more who were arriving. Most were adults, but there were a goodly number of adolescents and some children, too.

Kelli O'Mally, the counter lady from the beach stand, moved amongst the people, greeting and shaking hands all over the room. She worked her way over to Albert and Jane. "Oh, you came. Good, I am glad you did. I feared you might not even be able to find us, since you aren't familiar with the streets of Sparkle City, being from Earth and all."

"I almost didn't come," Albert Zoeniga confessed, "especially when I saw, under the address and directions you wrote on my napkin, the late time of the meeting."

"It gives us all time to get here after our jobs and such, and this way we don't compete with the Governor’s church, such as it is.”

Jane said, "I made him come here. It’s not like the meeting’s past Al’s bedtime.”

Albert said, "I told Jane, since we'll be heading back to Earth after only a few weeks, why come to a service where it's so hard to find the place in the dark, so out-of-the way, when we probably will never see any of you again. So she asked, Then why did you bother to get the address in the first place? Besides, if people come late at night, at an inconvenient hour, with the threat of being oppressed by the government, as we assume, since you spoke in discrete tones- well, if you guys are so committed to worshiping God despite the risk, then Jane figures the service might be decent and sincere, that it will be good for us to check it out tonight."

"Well, I am sure you’ll find our meeting worth you time," Kelli said. "Ah, I think Brother Simon Kaul is getting ready to speak." She found a chair near where the two Earthlers sat and gave her attention to a young man moving to the center of the assembly. He carried  an unapproved-by-the-state Bible as he walked up to the lectern set up in the middle of the floor. The people sat in chairs or stood in a circle around the lectern.

A hush fell over the meeting room as Bro. Simon began. First, he prayed for God's blessings on them all- on the regular congregants, on the visitors, on the citizens of the World of Hope not present, and on their leaders- and also he prayed God would open the eyes of their leaders. Simon asked for protection and strength for Bro. Billy Bob, wherever he was, which was most likely at the mines. Next, the congregation sang a hymn, but quietly, so as to not disturb the close-by neighbors who might be trying to sleep at this hour. (However, many of the nearby neighbors were here at the services, anyway.)

Simon Kaul said, "Oppression is nothing new for humanity, and especially for the people of God. Remember how David's life was full of hardship and oppression. Read the Psalms to get an idea of how it affected him. Now we on the World of Hope face troubles because- not because our world is short of necessities, and our economy is stretched to breaking, but because our authorities want to control us. With our world facing such difficulties, our leaders mistakenly think the answer is to regulate and command almost everything we do, where we go. Penalties for not following the regulations can sometimes be severe, depending on what in what mood are the authorities. This is something the tourists often don’t catch.”

The pastor lifted the glass of water and took a sip. “The folks who govern us believe that this is the way to keep things running smoothly, by strictly monitoring our lives, controlling what we can do, what we can preach. And they think the Good News of Jesus Christ is too much of an unpredictable uncertainty which they cannot control. And they are right. But they think that uncertainty is a bad thing. They won't trust God. So they even want to give us rules on how to follow our religion. That, my brothers and sisters, is the worst sort of oppression! The government is not God! They cannot stop us from talking God’s message, telling other people of God, even warning those who do not yet know about God’s holiness and inability to accept sin. And the authorities think religion should be a force for encouraging the masses to submit blindly to their leadership. So to discourage our illegal church meetings, they have taken some of our loved ones- We think they were taken to the mines.  Well, we prefer to follow God the way we think He is leading us, not the way our leaders tells us we should follow God. The government dislikes that independence- although we are far from independent. We are very dependent- on God. But they prefer we depend on them for everything...”

Albert whispered to Kelli, "If life is so hard on this world, and Gov. Bright curtails your freedoms, why do you people stay? Why not simply return to Earth?"

"Many reasons," Kelli O’Mally whispered back. "Most of us struggle just to be able to meet our needs. We don't have much left to save for a return ticket on the rocket back. And the leaders take their time to issue migration permits, because they want to keep our numbers many. It makes us look stronger. And it gives them more people to draft for working on the farms. And then the government can deny life is so hard for us if Earth looks into our complaints. On Earth, the question the authorities ask, Why do so many of us citizens stay here, they ask, if life is so bad here? But the main reason most of us stay is because this is now our world. We helped make Sparkle City a genuine city. We wish to make it a better city. We don't want to pick up and leave, deserting our fellow citizens. We want to be the salt of the Earth, er, of the World of Hope."

"Oh. I guess I can see that," said Albert Zoeniga.

Jane Ashton asked Albert to please be quiet so she could hear Bro. Simon’s talk.

"Yes, Ma’m.”

The preacher spoke of the need to be always reading the Bible- the so-called contraband version, not a government approved Bible-while seeking God's direction and strength, to pray, always pray. “And let us not get discouraged. We all know- or should know, if we read our Bibles- hardships builds character and faith, faith to do what He wants us to do. But if anybody here- I see at least a half dozen new faces- doesn’t yet know God, then I’ll tell you what He wants first of all from you- Listen to the words of these verses-“

Bro. Simon read from the Bible, the World English Bible, from the book of Romans. He read, "...all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God..." Then he added, "All of us here have sinned. But God is a holy God. He has to deal with sins that people do. Yikes- that might not be so good! Uh oh. It gets worse. The letter to the Romans has more bad news." Bro. Simon flipped a few pages and read, "...the wages of sin is death..." The preacher frowned. “Oh oh!”

Suddenly, he brightened, "But wait- Here's the Good News!"

Simon quoted a passage from the gospel of John. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." Bro. Simon smiled to the congregation.

“Okay, that's a good thing. Let me complete also that other verse I had read for you in Romans-" Once more he turned pages. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“Amen, Bro. Simon!” exclaimed a few people.

Bro. Simon nodded. "Amen, indeed. However, just to remind you all, we must believe and accept the gift, or it does us no good. If someone gives you a present, it does you no good if you don't accept it from him. He will not force you to take it. Also, to make things clear, there isn't any other way for humans to deal with sin, to receive forgiveness so that you are able to stand before God." He again read from John, "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”

Bro. Simon Kaul stopped a moment to let them ponder that fact.

“The Apostle Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians..." More page turning. "Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also."

Simon closed the Bible. "Jesus says he stands at the door and knocks. He knocks at the door of your heart. If you never opened the door to invite him in, I tell you it is most important that you do. If you already did, but are now being a poor, negligent host of the house of your heart, as it were, and paying Him no mind, I urge you to return your attention to the Good Lord, to be a good host and even to let him take over your heart and your life- be a good servant for the One Who suffered and died on the cross just for you... and for me... and for all of us."

Bro. Simon spoke some more about spiritual matters, and at last wrapped up the sermon by telling them, "I am not saying this applies to any one here, but remember, after David became king, he finally had some ease in his life. And what happened? He fell into trouble. The Bath-Sheba shameful event happened. Sometimes if we have it too easy, we get into trouble. So, let's not be too quick to complain when we do have hardships.”

Albert Zoeniga thought of his own life of ease, and how he and Osmo had often gotten into foolish trouble in their school days because they had very little hardship to give them a sense of priorities. They had developed scant self-discipline in their lives. But these people here, they didn't have time for such foolishness. And they tried to make their lives count, God's way.

Afterward, as everybody shook hands and said good-byes to each other, Kelli O’Mally said to Albert and Jane, "I hope you found our service edifying."

Albert admitted, "It got me thinking. I prayed the sinner's prayer long ago when I was a kid, but it seems I have drifted from God's Will since then. I wasted my years in school in foolishness with Osmo Martin.- I never gave a thought to how hard it can be for folks who lack money. I am not acquainted with being in need. And yet, I see most of you seem to be lacking, but yet you appear to harbor a happiness of some kind, a joy, very little or no bitterness at all, and I find such an attitude interesting and refreshing. I think Bro. Simon’s words make me econsider how I lived my life..."

"Good for you," said Kelli.

"A life unexamined is a life wasted, so the saying goes," Jane added.

“Now what will you do about it, Al?”

(c) 2011 drk