Hope in Mountain View

Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter

Saturday, October 13, the beginning of the weekend of prayer. The atmosphere along Mountain View Avenue is thick with tension. People walk up and down, look furtively about -- in expectation. As if in the calm of the eye of a hurricane, they seem to be expecting another shower and battering from the guns that have been barking continuously -- but the sun is bright and yellow today.

The church across the street, Mountain View New Testament Church of God, is open. Inside, about 50 persons are praying in earnest near the altar. The prayer ends and they break out singing "... Jesus is my Deliverer." They seem both hopeful and thankful.

But the warfare has scarred some in the Mountain View community so much that many, outside the church, have lost hope. The Christians however, cling to their tested faith in Jesus, "I know He will deliver me," they sing.

"There will be church tomorrow (today)," says Orville Plummer, Pastor of the Mountain View New Testament Church of God and Chairman of the Mountain View Ministers Fraternal.

"We (Christians) always have to have hope. Once there is a God there must be hope," he says. Last week the church was closed because of Hurricane Iris and the week before it was as a result of the violence.

Pastor Plummer says even though some persons in the Mountain View community have lost hope, many of them have been looking towards the church for inspiration and direction.

"Many of them are crying out now more than ever for the church," he says.

Today (Sunday) between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m, all the churches in the Mountain View area will be coming together for a peace service, regardless of denomination, says Pastor Plummer.

Next door, the Pastor of the smaller Mountain View Seventh Day Baptist Church, Reverend Carlton Ferguson, and his tiny congregation thank God for the calm.

"We are grateful to Him for this measure of calm and for stilling the storm."

We (members of the church) are hopeful," says, Sarah Morrison, acting deaconess of the church. "My personal source of hope is that God is able."

While Christians and others seek solace in God, some persons in Mountain View like shopkeeper, Lancelot Lewis, have very little faith in weekends of prayer.

"It won't help to stop this war because I don't believe the leaders on the ground have any control over these men anymore. Remember the violence in West Kingston? The churches and the private sector went in and the violence still continue. Let's face it, we don't care about our neighbours until something starts to affect us too."

Lewis is standing outside his shop. It's the size of your regular downtown wholesale. The showcase is empty and the shelves are bare. The building in which his shop is located has been broken into "more than ten times" and he has been robbed once. The only things left in his shop are a few sweets and "some liquor."

"Ah just open today because I expecting somebody to bring some funds here," says Lewis. "Ah whole heap ah people move out, whole heap."

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