REALITY VS SENTIMENTS 2 – CHURCHES VS MARKETS
“Don’t let the voice of other’s opinions drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition” – Steve Jobs.
In the last few days, more people have continued to question the sense in government’s decision to re-open the markets while the worship centers remained shut.
One cardinal pillar of Life coaching is that you have to see things through other people’s eyes and accommodate their beliefs even if you don’t agree with them. So, I would base this write up on the assumption that the religious leaders calling for the opening of our churches are not doing so for pecuniary benefits but a deep desire to win souls for God.
I also understand that those calling for the opening of the churches are arguing that why would the government open markets where buyers and sellers congregate but refuse to open churches where worshipers of God congregate. (Makes perfect sense right?)
My problem with this “valid” argument above is the fact that we are even comparing churches and markets which shouldn’t be.
Since many churches moved their services online, I have seen a lot of people who said they were fed spiritually online but I am yet to see one person who was fed physically online. I know that Nigeria is a very religious country (Whether this is reflecting on our lives and values as a nation is a topic for another day) but must everything in this country be tainted with sentiments?
Let’s assume the government goofed by opening the markets, no matter how lame their excuses might have been, should we make the same mistakes by throwing the doors of our worship centers open for people to come and see that God whom they have missed so much for more than 5 weeks now or see their brethren whom they couldn’t call for 5 weeks as the virus also affected network connections.?
Now, before you start quoting some verses of the Bible for me like Ecclesiastes 5 vs 1, Psalm 122, Micah 4, Psalm 42, Hebrews 10 vs 25 etc which talk about worshiping God in His house and not forsaking the assembling of the brethren, Let me also remind you that there are other verses in the same bible which talk about worshiping God in spirit and in truth and not necessarily under brick and mortar – John 4, Romans 12, Colossians 2, Ephesians 3, Galatians 2 etc.
I am sure some of us heard the story of Bishop Gerald Glenn, founder of New Deliverance Church, chesterfield, Virginia who defied warnings about the danger of religious gatherings during the pandemic and vowed to keep preaching unless he was in the hospital or Jail. The sad part of the story is that today, he is not in Jail or hospital but 6 feet beneath due to the Corona Virus which his dear wife also contracted. (May the good lord grant his soul eternal rest)
The reason Kano is fast overtaking Lagos as the epicenter of this virus is that most carriers who were probably asymptomatic visited the mosques for prayers and ended up infecting other people. So I ask, why don’t we continue to worship God in spirit and in truth with our families until this pandemic is over? Why must we compare Markets where someone can decide to spend just 10 minutes to buy meat with churches where the entire congregation must spend an average of 2 hours per service together?
Why don’t we remind ourselves of the second wave of the swine flu of 1918 where the second wave was much deadlier than the first?
Why do we think that until we come together under one roof in our numbers, God may not answer our prayers even when most churches have taken their services online?
Why do we compare Markets to our Churches (Same place we all call “the holy dwelling place of God”?
Are some of us worshiping the “Deus Absconditus” (A hidden God) as such require a man of God to show you your own God?
I think the pandemic has afforded every one of us an opportunity to re-evaluate our relationship with God and so it is time for a deeper communion with God.
“…….I sought you in the things you created but you were within me”- St Augustine of Hippo
Think. Create. Grow.
