While in America for the first time in 2003 on a three month course, I visited four different churches. The beauty about visiting different churches is that it gives one a glimpse of the different people one will meet in heaven.
To be honest though, such visits have only served to make me believe that heaven is not the way many of us think it will be, but hey, that’s a story for the afterlife. Each church visit did bring a new and some familiar experiences….
First church I visited on invitation from a Nigerian acquaintance was a Nigerian Pentecostal church. I felt at home as the songs and worship were familiar. Plenty of tongues, dancing, “powerful” preaching and all. We might have as well been in Lagos, although the frenzy was not as racy as in Africa’s most populous city. Altar call prayers were for people looking for jobs, people trying to get their visas and stays sorted and people looking for financial growth.
Second church I visited on invitation from a white family was a Methodist church. It felt a bit odd being the only black man in the church. That was until I sighted another black family seated in the front row. Songs were hymns, the Reverend seemed relaxed and casual, and the atmosphere was calm. It was then announced that the randomly selected beneficiary of a house the church members had built with their own hands was the black family. They weren’t members of the church. Later in the afternoon, we went to the presentation of the house which was in a calm neighbourhood. Lovely three bedroom bungalow, and it was a thrill to how excited the children were, running around the rooms of their new home. As we left, on the street was the smell of marijuana and the bass of some woofers from a car stereo. Some “boys from the hood” had come to see their friend’s new house.
Third church I visited taken by a guardian was a Black American church. The place was alive! The choir was loud, the dancing was rhythmic and prayer was as frenzied as in Lagos. The offering session was noticeable and prayer points focused on deliverance for wayward children on drugs, job seekers and against injustice.
The fourth church on invitation from a white colleague at work was a white Pentecostal church. The atmosphere was very calm, the music was like slow country music, couples held arms and hugged as they sang. We said prayers for a lady who was going to South Africa to support the HIV mission there. After church we went for lunch with a missionary family that had just come back from Iraq.
It was fascinating to get those four experiences which proved how different we are in terms of what we seek and give, and in terms of how we worship. I guess these stem from how we think and how we perceive God, or the depth of our relationship with him. Our levels of comfort is also crucial to us. I’ve seen many of my deeply religious friends and colleagues soften the pedal when they left Nigeria and some even question their faith now. Improved affluence has done same to some people even here in Nigeria. Maturing in age, wisdom and faith has a lot to do with this, but there is some “backsliding” too, like that which plagued Solomon.
Amidst one of those church visits in a period where I hadn’t gone to church for four weeks and “dust” had covered my daily bread devotional, I picked up the latter to refresh. The story was that of a woman who had died and it was said that she hadn’t missed a Sunday of church for forty years. She had lived in Tennessee, the same state I was staying! I was in church the next Sunday.
Organised religion has its challenges as man infuses it with his biases and agendas. A lot of what one sees and hears may make one reject the messengers and even the message, wondering why on earth are we are here and even if there is an afterlife……forgetting those same questions led one to the new birth in the first place. There is a need to separate religion for its sake from a belief in God and a relationship with him which helps us in our call to “humanism.” We must be tolerant just like God is of us, and we must learn to focus on the truly important things. We must avoid being blindly led and we must grow in wisdom and knowledge at our own pace. We must strive to be better in what we know is truly good.
Praying us all wisdom and peace.
A special Easter greeting to my fellow Christians. As the Holy Week ends with the crux on which our faith hangs, may we resurrect to a higher place of wisdom, knowledge, praise, holiness, tolerance and love for others.
