Of love and Pentecostal fire

I recently chanced upon Pastor Duhaney Simmonds at a spot along Great George Street in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. He was immaculately dressed, standing straight in his sartorial spendour.

He really looked out of place at that spot, but in the background was the Gothic-looking St George’s Church, founded in the 1790s. So I wondered whether he was connected to that church.

I greeted him and struck up a conversation. It turned out that he was not, but indeed, was the pastor of Mount Zion Apostolic Church located in the said town. He was waiting for some members of his flock to go to fellowship and Bible study. It was about 10 a.m.

Our conversation started out with Hurricane Melissa, and why God, in His omnipotence and omniscience, did not prevent it from destroying the churches all over western Jamaica, for argument’s sake. I was deliberately provoking a discussion.

But that discussion was going nowhere as I was not getting the responses that I was expecting. Instead, I got personal because Pastor Simmonds mentioned that he was married for 53 years. Really?

Yes, he said, to which I asked, “What kept the marriage for so long?” knowing very well that marriages these days don’t last very long. But Pastor Simmonds is not a nowadays man.

He is 81 years old, one of 14 siblings, 11 of whom are still alive. They were born to Christian parents and are also devout Christians themselves. The father of one son is originally from Spicy Grove district in St Ann. He moved to Westmoreland after he got married to his wife, whom he had met in Manchester, but is from Westmoreland. So “Ants followed fat,” I said smiling, to use a Jamaican saying. He smiled, too. But, what exactly was it that made him decide she was going to be his life partner?

“I saw her sincerity that she loved God and decided to marry her,” he told The Gleaner. “It was her behaviour, her record, her levity.”

He was living temporarily in Manchester, and they met in church there. However, the branch in Savanna-la-Mar did not have a “standing pastor” and was “struggling”. After the wedding, they moved to Savanna-la-Mar to run the branch. Simmonds eventually became pastor, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It is love that is the glue that keeps them together for over half a century, Pastor Simmonds revealed. For them, love means not hurting each other and not allowing one or the other to feel “dissatisfied”. Disagreements and misunderstandings are dealt with and forgotten accordingly, not escalated, as the marriage is underpinned by Christian principles.

They also don’t believe in getting divorced and married again. That would be adultery, except if one partner had died, according to Simmonds.

But, what if there is much pain, torment, and torture in the relationship? He answered by quoting the Bible, “If you suffer with him, you reign with him.” Second Timothy 2:12, which implies that enduring suffering for Christ is essential for believers who will be rewarded with the opportunity to reign with the Lord.

He said he is a quiet person and loves to “behave himself wisely”. He knows that his wife loves him and cares for him. And jealousy? Not a factor in the equation.

“I am so steadfast, I’m so steadfast she is not jealous over me. She knows that I will not love another or jump the fence,” Pastor Simmonds shared.

And if love is the glue that binds the union, the Pentecostal fire (the Holy Ghost fire) is the heat that keeps the glue moist so it doesn’t crystallise and crumble, breaking the marriage asunder.

It is a “connection with God that brings joy”, the guitar player said. So long after the music and worshipping has stopped, and he is home, he basks in the afterglow. “It is great enjoyment more than what the world has to give … and we anticipate going back to meet again and praise the Lord,” Pastor Duhaney Simmonds told The Gleaner.