REFLECTING ON WORSHIP AND A SOLEMN CHURCH SERVICE
Seye Adetunmbi
Queen Elizabeth II was in a class of her own. I never thought that I would get that emotional when the news was first broken on BBC because I was monitoring the news right from when the statement of her doctors expressing concern on her health was reported in the news. When a distinguished matriarch joins hers ancestors and the young and old cried, also the world mourned her exit, it says a lot about the uncommon great mother of the commonwealth and United Kingdom. May the gentle soul of the unequalled monarch, in the history of United Kingdom, rest in peace, amen. What I saw during the final rites church service held for Queen Elizabeth II was a manifestation of a disciplined and a structured system at its best. It applies to virtually all the facets of the governing model in the United Kingdom and human endeavours, towards making living decently in a well organised manner for their citizens as much as possible. It is a product of proper planning, visionary and responsible leadership. Checkout their public transport system! The timeliness and efficiency of the trains and buses as scheduled.
It is fashionable and an acceptable standard for people to attend occasions on time or as scheduled. It makes it a rule for protocol not to be a "respecter" no one. I saw how President Biden and his wife were politely asked to wait briefly because they missed the procession of the invited head of states who came in a bus together. Apparently, he came in his official car and arrived after the vehicle that convened his colleagues. People were ushered-in in turns, the war veterans were about file in to their seats when the couple arrived and they had to wait before they could go to their seat. Bo se wa ni yen, bo se ye ko ri ni yen.
What I find nauseating or that constitutes a put off among the shameless "VIP" in Nigeria is that they will deliberately arrive at church functions late and interrupt a solemn worship service. Anytime I arrived in church late, I felt ashamed of myself. This is why I can't imagine anyone feeling comfortable to arrive in church late and instead of finding a way to your seat unnoticed, it is then the president and his crew or the governor and his wife or the "big-man" and his aides will walk through the isle causing unnecessary distraction! This is unacceptable! What amounts to a shameful act is what our ill-bred and uncultured nouveau riche take delight in, to the consternation of decent fellow kinsmen/countrymen.
In the Anglican setting in Nigeria, a rowdy church service is not allowed. It is our "big men" and few busybodies in some of the parishes that in most cases cause problems for the clergy and the church. When a vicar tries to enforce discipline and orderliness, some of these elements will retort to petitioning to the diocesan to remove the priest when they can't manipulate the shepherd. Most of the people who fall into this category of causing confusion in the parishes are not active in the church for spiritual reasons. To them, what is topmost in their priority is that the church is a social, business, political and economic networking gathering. The unfortunate thing is that, this class of scallywags are often the vocal and visible ones which make them to have their way with mischief and intrigues in some cases. They are everywhere in our polity and they are at the center of the problems of Nigeria.
Nigerian churches will be better if all ranks of the stakeholders in the congregation and the body of Christ generally, sincerely, truly and practically make God the reason for worship and their main focus. Where conflict or confusion sets-in is when people don't go about worship to glorify God but themselves or by devoting more attention on mere mortals. When people in position of power, influence and authority truly fear God in the real sense of it, our society will be better for it. Life will be more abundant for the majority. May God heal our beloved country, Nigeria.
Ki Oluwa ko gbogbo wa mo se. May God help us.
