WHEAT AND TARES.

24-01-2017

I have written on some of the following before but I will do so again.

The only times I stepped into a typical church service/ Sunday school as a child were once at the Apostolic church pastored by my father's nephew and another time at a Deeper Life Bible church meeting.  My father only took us there once following an invitation from a neighbour but he never went back.  Well,  I must have attended church weddings with my parents but those do not quite count.

Sunday mornings were usually for spending time with my father.  I'd chase down newspaper vendors to buy the Daily Sketch of the day,  assist him to wash his Peugeot 504 car,  eat yam with garden egg sauce or fried egg and watch nature documentaries hosted by Sir David Attenborough. Church was not on the list of things to do and all the children in the house (we were regularly about 8 or 9 in total) went about our lives without much fuss.

We had exposure to some fairly regular house fellowship activities from 1990 but I knew more about Salvatore Schillaci and Walter Zenga than I knew the Bible. By the time I got into secondary school, I only made it to the school chapel on a few occasions.  My older cousin while living with us used to partake in a Bible correspondence course in the early 1990s and got a few Bibles and books mailed to him from America but that was it,  I never read a Bible until late 1990 at those house fellowships. My mother, though not religious encouraged me to visit the chapel while in boarding house but this was a mighty struggle. My father on the other hand was indifferent partly because he had been to several places in search of God.

I eventually took the conscious step to identify as a Christian in October 1994. An old student used to visit the school chapel regularly and a few of us took part in a short duration Bible course which we did only on Sundays. That was it,  no fanfare whatsoever. I attended church occasionally while in school but didn't do so during the holidays.

I stumbled upon a church in 1995 during one of the holidays.  Without having a bible, I walked into the Redeemed Christian Church of God parish which had just started at the National stadium in Surulere.  It was just a few minutes walk from home so getting there was no big deal. The church's population was just a handful,  they was no choir and there were no instruments save a modest sound system but it was clear to me that Pastor Ogundipe knew exactly why he was there.

By 1996, the church was home to several athletes who trained at the stadium.  They came in their track suits and running shoes all sweaty and drained but the pastor welcomed them and devoted time to them.  One of the services just before the Atlanta games was dedicated to them.  We watched the 1981 film "Chariots of fire" to encourage the athletes to do well at the games and everyone prayed for them and showed them love. It was not a surprise when they all returned after the games to thank the church irrespective of whether they got medals or not.  A couple of the power lifters did get medals and Duncan Dokiwari,  a former heavyweight boxer won bronze. 

These were the moments that struck me the most about faith. These simple things are what I look out for and this is why a lot of what I see in this day and age numbs the mind.  How can I explain a young graduate whose mission in the faith is to glory in the fact that his pastor wore an outfit which just left the fashion runways of Paris or London? How does basking in a pastor's private jet and the "effizee" of one's local assembly correlate with a faith based exclusively on sacrifice? I have seen and have been part of churches/ fellowships where genuine sacrifice exists.

I have seen more important matters in this day and age overtaken by hairstyles,  bags,  clothes, appearance and eloquence of the key characters.  Some assemblies are practically extensions of village meetings,  social clubs and societies.  How can a segregated gathering be classified as a church?  I don't want to mention those who ignore the state of one's heart and physical condition to concentrate on the paraphernalia of piety.

There is so much activity these days and more assemblies are hatching yet bigotry,  hate and tribalism is all over the place. There is definitely an identity crisis and the church has been practically hijacked by opportunists and politicians alike.  Many church leaders have taken government money and so have lost their voices,  a good number have no business as leaders despite having relatively many followers. It is sad indeed.

This is the reason why certain individuals have large crowds to mislead. How can people preach hate, tribalism, violence and greed and then say it's Christ speaking? This must be either insanity or sorcery! There is obviously a problem in need of urgent intervention but I see this as the parable of wheat and tares.

Whatever we do as Christians must come from genuine love and based on very sound doctrine. There will be struggles and failures but God's grace is there to help navigate the course.

"Love is patient..."