Everyone, in my view,
has the right to practise their religion without fear of persecution. However,
this right also comes with the responsibility to be considerate of others.
On public transport,
we already suffer the nuisance of people playing music through the loudspeakers
of their mobile phones.
This is usually not because they have forgotten the
headphones that would afford them the private enjoyment of the music of their
choice; rather than inflicting their tastes on others without permission, they
are simply being antisocial. The same goes for loud phone calls, and I have
found myself speaking up on occasion, dismayed at the breach of the peace.
A Step Too Far
It is on another
level entirely when a fellow passenger decides to play the call to prayer. Even
if that person were the imam, their presence in any setting, and especially on
a vehicle, does not confer the authority to claim the whole space as a mosque.
This is how devotion
slips easily into fanaticism, where common sense deserts faith and public
concern follows. The devotee immediately attracts suspicion and dread, not so
much for the act of worship itself, but because others begin to wonder about
their intentions. When the practice of the religion of peace serves only to
heighten unease, the wider perception of the freedom being exercised becomes a
lightning rod for prohibition.
Where Freedom Ends
Anyone who dared to
challenge that passenger would have found others ready to support them. It
takes only one person to report the incident to the police, and before calmer
heads could dismiss the matter as a question of civility, the spectre of
radicalisation would justly have placed the individual under scrutiny and
questioning.
Being a believer does
not preclude you from behaving as a good citizen; the extent of a right reaches
only to the point before it infringes on the freedoms of another. Whether it be
music, a phone call, or a call to prayer, if you do not have your headphones,
you should accept that you have deprived yourself of the opportunity to listen
to your device when in a public place.
The thought is scary:
the number of prominent Christian leaders who saw amazing growth in their
congregations and whose charisma touched lives globally have revisited what
they once believed to the point of reassessing or abandoning the faith.
I am writing this
having gone down the rabbit hole of a Facebook post. The author spoke of his
conservative and evangelical background, 15 years of pastoring, and then
realising the people he was taught to fear were just as much flesh-and-blood
good people deserving of respect, courtesy, and consideration.
This led me to a
podcast, The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill, a journalistic examination of
the growth of a church plant in 1996 that collapsed dramatically in 2014.
A Fall From Grace
The fall of Mars Hill
was not because of pastoral impropriety, but attributed to bullying, abuse,
arrogance, and elements of narcissistic personality disorder found in the
public figure leading the church, who resigned in 2014.
It makes you wonder
about how Lucifer, in his exalted position in the presence of Almighty God,
acquired that situation declared as, "Iniquity was found in him." I
have agonised over how, in such a holy setting, a creature could turn wrong and
take a third of the angelic host with him. How did Lucifer convince those
angels of a better place than at the throne of God?
There must have been
a cult following, where focus shifted from the principal or the principle to a
personality.
When Personality
Eclipses Purpose
The same happens in
church, at work, in school, and in politics. In the Church, the focus should
always be Jesus the Christ, regardless of how the vessel is used to bring the
gospel and healing to the people.
Charisma can shift
focus from the important, but with that comes the facility for actions that
allow leaders not to be held to account and, consequently, not to be
accountable for what they do.
Those who should
stand up to authority are made to plead fealty with the admonition that
straying out of line will be considered insubordination, rebellion, or even
heresy. The leader posits as a god amongst mortals: untouchable and
unassailable, infallible and literally inerrant.
It is a dangerous
place to be, but this is evident in many congregations as the flock are led as
sheep to the slaughter. Worse still is that these leaders do not stand alone;
they are enabled and have enablers that create the myth and mystique that allows
an untenable situation to thrive.
My Own Engagement
With Church
In my engagement with
the church, I have studiously compartmentalised things. The congregation is a
meeting of people; the leadership have an onerous responsibility to "feed
my sheep" according to the exhortation Jesus gave Peter before ascending
to heaven.
I have participated
in help or service roles but never sought leadership, even when such positions
were offered because of my commitment or my knowledge of the Word.
I have not been
inclined to lead and have viewed so-called leadership classes with suspicion,
knowing just how power can corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Knowing my human
frailties, I have consideration of how inadequacies are faltering stumbling
blocks. I depend on the grace of God, knowing the things beyond me are possible
with God.
The Lure of Hero
Worship
Naturally, I am not
given to hero worship. I have always operated from the perspective that the
only person to fear is one with two heads, and I have never met one.
Subscribing to a cult
of personality probably fills a void somewhere in the psyche of the followers.
I do not know for sure, but I have seen the damaging effects on the victims of
such settings: from those adoring prophets in tune with familiar spirits,
revealing things that imitate the word of knowledge (a gift of the Spirit given
as he wills to the church), to those in unsupervised congregation settings
where the leaders are now celebrity superstars worshipped by their followers.
When the structures
and frameworks of these cults excusing abuse collapse, what do people have left
if they had long stopped looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith?
A Call to Reflect
I can only recommend
you listen to the podcast because it is as revealing as it is educational. We
are all working out our salvation with fear and trembling.
This blog is hardly
exhaustive on the many issues that emanate from beliefs, doctrines, allegiance,
and faith. This is a contribution to the broader conversation.
A Google NotebookLM AI Audio Overview Discussion of this blog
Navigating Sexuality
and Faith in Religious Spaces
There's a
conversation I had recently that keeps replaying in my mind. It started with a
Facebook post about the conflicts between sexuality and spirituality in
Christian communities, and before I knew it, I was in a deep exchange with
someone facing what they called a "horrifying" internal conflict.
They were an aspiring Anglican priest in Nigeria, caught between their calling
to ministry and their authentic self.
This isn't just their
story. It's the story of countless individuals sitting in pews, leading
worship, teaching Sunday school, or aspiring to ministry, whilst carrying a
weight that feels unbearable. The conflict between sexuality and spirituality
in religious settings is real, raw, and deeply personal.
The Weight of
Worthiness
What struck me most
in our conversation was how quickly we default to the language of worthiness
and condemnation. My response to them came from years of wrestling with these
same questions: Jesus died for us regardless. Grace teaches us godliness. These
aren't just theological platitudes; they're lifelines for those drowning in
guilt.
The fundamental
question isn't whether God loves us despite who we are, but whether we can
accept that God loves us because of who we are: fully, authentically,
completely. When we understand that the Father sees us through what Christ did
for us, not through what we do ourselves, it changes everything. Or at least,
it should.
The Complexity of
Conflict
As our conversation
deepened, I found myself laying out the layers of conflict that many face. It's
never just one thing. There's the matter of attraction itself: acknowledging
it, understanding it, accepting it.
Then there's the
question of what to do with that attraction. Do you seek companionship? Commit
to celibacy? Try to change? Each path comes with its own set of challenges and
consequences.
For those called to
ministry, like my conversation partner, the stakes feel even higher. In
conservative religious environments, particularly in places like Nigeria where
the Anglican Church takes strongly traditional stances, the choice can feel
impossible: your calling or your truth, your ministry or your authenticity.
The Geography of
Grace
I mentioned Reverend Jide Macaulay
to them: a gay Anglo-Nigerian Anglican priest who founded The House of Rainbow and now
ministers in the UK. His story illustrates something crucial. Sometimes finding
peace means finding new spaces. Not everyone can or should leave their
religious community, but knowing that affirming spaces exist can be lifesaving.
The geographic and
denominational differences in how churches handle these issues are stark.
What's considered grounds for exclusion in one congregation might be celebrated
in another. This isn't about church shopping for convenience; it's about
finding communities where you can worship authentically and serve fully.
Compartmentalisation
versus Integration
Near the end of our
exchange, I suggested something that might sound counterintuitive: sometimes we
need to compartmentalise to gain liberty from our conflicts. This isn't about
living a double life or hiding parts of yourself. It's about recognising that
different aspects of our identity might need different kinds of attention and
space to develop.
You can be deeply
spiritual and sexually aware. You can be called to ministry and attracted to
the same sex. You can love God and struggle with church doctrine. These aren't
contradictions to be resolved but tensions to be held with grace.
Moving Forward
What I've learnt from
conversations like these is that there's no one-size-fits-all solution to
navigating sexuality and faith. For some, the answer is finding affirming
religious communities. For others, it's reinterpreting scripture through a more
inclusive lens. Still others find peace in celibacy or in stepping away from
organised religion whilst maintaining their spirituality.
The key is this: the
conflict doesn't have to be horrifying. It can be transformative. It can lead
to a deeper, more authentic faith, one that doesn't require you to leave parts
of yourself at the church door.
To those facing these
struggles, know that you're not alone. There are communities, resources, and
people who have walked this path before you. The journey towards integrating
your sexuality and spirituality might be challenging, but it doesn't have to be
a journey of condemnation. It can be a journey towards wholeness, towards a
faith that embraces all of who you are.
Because at the end of
the day, any God worth worshipping is big enough to handle our complexity, our
questions, and our authentic selves. The real question isn't whether God
accepts us. It's whether we're brave enough to accept ourselves.
There is an Anglican
tradition in Nigeria that I miss: the celebration of the advent of the New
Year, where we go to church to worship God, praising and thanking Him for the
past year and ushering in the New Year in prayer and the worship of the
Almighty God.
Nowadays, this is
called a crossover service, sometimes with a kind of pompous religiosity that
suggests we have decided to spend time in church rather than in drunken revelry
at a bar. Though where I have not been able to attend church, I would rather stay
at home and celebrate with my partner or with friends whilst watching the world
ring in the New Year.
A Multicultural Feast
However, recently, I
have found that some multinational evangelical or Pentecostal churches do
celebrate this crossover phenomenon. I did find one nearby that had a feast of
multicultural cuisine before we settled down to a sermon, then praise and
worship. I am quite comfortable in those settings.
For this New Year's
celebration, I decided to attend the !Audacious
Church ticketed event, for which one has to move promptly before the
tickets are sold out. It was going to be a standing-only event, but seats were
provided for those who needed that kind of respite.
!Audacious has a very
youthful attendance; I could easily be in the cohort of the elderly with
grandchildren rather than just being a parent, but I do love the energy in
small amounts.
A Foretaste of Heaven
As we sang praises,
many with the word 'Holy', I was caught up in the awesomeness of how this could
be playing in heaven: angels, archangels, and all creation worshipping the
Father, the Lord God Almighty; the Lamb upon the throne, Jesus Christ; and the Holy
Spirit.
I imagined the
language in heaven would probably not be English but one which, to our hearing,
would fill us with indescribable wonder and awe beyond anything a human mind
could ever fathom. Just for that alone, I'll rather go to heaven than anywhere
else.
Even in a heavenly
crowd of a thousand generations, lost somewhere in the mix of the glory that is
beyond the realm of comprehension, it can only be the best place to be. I am
thankful for the foretaste we have been given on earth.
Te Deum Laudamus
Then, back to the
Anglican traditions I referred to earlier, modernity has changed many of the
things we used to do, like chanting or singing the canticles. As the clock
strikes midnight at church, we sing the Te Deum Laudamus (We praise thee, O
God) in Yoruba.
Maybe it is my
engineering brain or something, but the Yoruba language is a tonal language
with pitches of acute, grave, and mid tones, mostly represented on the vowels.
I cannot elucidate on
the mechanics of representation to the extent of a linguist, but I did learn
and master the application of diacritical marks (accents, tone marks, and under
dots). As far as I am concerned, they are critical to the understanding and
comprehension of Yoruba when written and read.
AI and Linguistic
Precision
However, all the
versions I found online did not have this essential distinction, so in the age
of AI, I asked three different AI bots (Google's
Gemini-3-Pro, then Anthropic's
Claude-Opus-4.1) to attempt to annotate the text. The last one (OpenAI's GPT-5.2) even engaged
me fully in Yoruba, and that was impressive.
The result was good
enough, but I had to review the full text against the English version to ensure
everything was correct to the best of my knowledge of Yoruba. Then, usually,
accents are not put on the consonant N, but the reality is that in speech, for
certain words, when N is followed by another consonant, it is prudent to get the
right tone.
Finally, the last
line of the Yoruba version in the prayer section of the canticles can take many
translations and interpretations, but it is the most effective in Yoruba:
"Láí, má jẹ́ kí n dààmú." To me, it reads, in context, as: O Lord, I
trust in You; let me never be bothered by anything, because You are with me.
I wish you all a
Happy New Year!
Te Deum
Laudamus
Yoruba
English
Iyín Mẹ́talọ̀kan
Praise to the Trinity
Àwá yìn ọ́, Ọlọ́run,
Àwá ń jẹ́wọ́ Rẹ pé ìwọ ni Oluwa,
Gbogbo aiyé fi orí balẹ̀ fún ọ,
Bàbá aiyé títí láí.
Ìwọ ni ẹni tí gbogbo àwọn Angẹ́lì, ń kí gbé
pè,
Ọ̀run àti gbogbo agbára, tí ń bẹ nínú wọn.
Ìwọ ni ẹni tí àwọn Kérúbù àti àwọn Séráfù,
Kígbe pé ní gbà gbogbo pé:
Mímọ́ Mímọ́ Mímọ́,
Olúwa Ọlọ́run àwọn ọmọ ogun,
Ọ̀run òun ayé,
Kún fún ògo ńlá tí ò gọ Rẹ.
Ẹgbẹ́ àwọn Apóstélì,
Tí ó lógo yìn ọ́,
Ọgbà àwọn Wòlíì,
Tí ó dára, yìn ọ́,
Ogun àwọn Mátírì, tí ó dára yìn Ọ́.,
Ìjọ Mímọ́ ènìyàn Ọlọ́run
Ní gbogbo ayé ńjẹ́wọ́ Rẹ: Baba ẹni ọlá ńlá, tí kò ní pẹ̀kun; Àti Ọmọ Rẹ nìkan ṣoṣo, Olólá, Olótìítọ́. Ẹ̀mí Mímọ́ pẹ̀lú, Olùtùnú ni.
We praise thee, O God:
We acknowledge Thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship Thee,
the Father everlasting.
To Thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heavens and all the powers therein.
To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy:
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of Thy Glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise Thee.
The godly fellowship of the Prophets praise Thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise Thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee;
The Father of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter.
Iyín Kírístì
Praise of Christ
Kírístì, Ìwọ ni Ọba Ògo,
Ìwọ ni Ọmọ láílái ti Baba.
Nígbà tí Ìwọ tẹ́wọ́gbà fún ara Rẹ láti gba
ènìyàn là,
O kò kórìíra inú Wúndíá.
Nígbà tí O ṣẹ́gun oró ikú tán, O ṣí ìjọba ọ̀run sílẹ̀ fún gbogbo
Àwọn onígbàgbọ́.
O jókòó ní ọwọ́ ọ̀tún Ọlọ́run,
Nínú ògo ti Baba.
Àwa gbàgbọ́ pé O ńbọ̀ wá
Láti ṣe Onídàájọ́ wa. Nítorí náà ni àwa ṣe ńgbàdúrà, Sí ọ̀dọ̀ Rẹ: Ran àwọn ọmọ ọ̀dọ̀ Rẹ lọ́wọ́, Tí Ìwọ ti fi ẹ̀jẹ̀ Rẹ, iyebíye rà padà. Ṣe wọ́n kí a lè kà wọ́n kún àwọn ènìyàn Mímọ́
Rẹ Nínú ògo tí kò ní pẹ̀kun.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When Thou tookest upon Thee to deliver man:
Thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the
Father.
We believe that Thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray Thee, help Thy servants whom Thou hast redeemed with Thy
precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with Thy Saints
in glory everlasting.
Àwọn àdúrà
Prayers
Olúwa, gba àwọn ènìyàn Rẹ là,
Kí Ìwọ kí ó sì fi ìbùkún fún àwọn ènìyàn ìní Rẹ.
Jọba wọn,
Kí O sì máa gbé wọn lékè láíláí. Àwa ńgbé Ọ ga, ní ojojúmọ́; Àwa sì ńfi orí balẹ̀ ní, Orúkọ Rẹ Títí ayé tí kò ní pẹ̀kun.
Fìyèsíni, Olúwa,
Láti pa wá mọ́ lónìí ní àìlẹ́ṣẹ̀.
Olúwa, ṣàánú fún wa, ṣàánú fún wa.
Olúwa, jẹ́ kí àánú Rẹ kí ó máa bà lé wa, Gẹ́gẹ́ bí àwa ti ńgbẹ́kẹ̀ wa lé Ọ.
Olúwa, Ìwọ ni mo gbẹ́kẹ̀lé,
Láí, má jẹ́ kí n dààmú.
O Lord, save Thy people: And bless Thine heritage.
Govern them and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify Thee;
And we worship Thy Name, ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Thy mercy lighten upon us: as our trust is in Thee.
O Lord, in Thee have I trusted: Let me never be confounded.
I was asked the other
day whether I had taken religion. Because I do not wear it on my
sleeve, people might wonder why some of my views carry religious undertones. I
have always been religious or spiritual, even when things have lapsed.
Religion is
foundational to my existence and wellbeing. I owe everything to the grace,
mercy, and love of God, even as I usually stumble in the walk of faith, because
the concepts of Christianity and the workings of it that I believe in are much
deeper than I give expression to.
Whilst my devotion in
terms of church-going is Anglican, my beliefs lie at the evangelical and
Pentecostal end of things, where I find a personal trail of conservative
liberalism: an entertaining of the human perspective of biblical experiences
that inform the wonder we see in lives.
How I think
Like Abraham, who
left Ur of the Chaldees with at least seven generations of ancestors still
alive, he heard from God, and I am sure he had to convince many people of that
fact before he could leave.
Also, why have all angels, with their observation
of human beings, not learnt to knock on doors instead of just appearing and
comforting those they encounter with "Fear not!"?
However, this is no
place for an exegesis. I have experienced different perspectives of religion
(good, bad, strange, and just baffling) all from around the age of three. I am
always excited by Bible study; there is never just a single story in what is read.
Thank you.
The core issues that
have brought matters to a head revolve mainly around sexuality, as some GAFCON
provinces ordain women into the diaconate, priesthood, and bishopric. Yet, we
must be careful not to assume that only ‘conservatives’ or those ‘stuck in patriarchy’
are concerned or impacted by the appointment of a female Archbishop of
Canterbury.
Refocusing on the
Word
As an Anglican
communicant, I am encouraged by the warmth and humanity of the congregations I
attend in Manchester and Cape Town. There are wider community issues that many
grapple with; conservatives, progressives, and all believers alike earnestly
contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints. [Bible Gateway: Jude 3
(KJV)]
The focus must remain
on the resurrected Christ, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and adherence to
the inerrant Word of God. My beliefs are shaped by a Pentecostal inclination; I
am equally comfortable anywhere God is glorified and the Word is preached with
purpose, according to the level of revelation given to the preacher. My spirit
and understanding allow me to agree, disagree, or seek further study after
hearing.
While I am saddened
by developments within the Anglican Communion, no one should be surprised that
a new reformation is underway, as the Global
South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) and GAFCON affirm only
one foundation of communion, namely, the Holy Bible, “translated, read,
preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the
church’s historic and consensual reading.”
How this affects the
King’s role in the Anglican Communion or the new Global Anglican Communion
remains uncertain. Many moving parts are at play as we all try to understand
the issues involved, some of which I have not directly addressed here. I find
myself asking whether I am losing my religion, or if my religion is losing me?
When Archbishop Justin Welby, the
105th Archbishop of Canterbury resigned his archbishopric with an announcement
late last year, I confided in my best friend about how I might not be ready for
a female to succeed him, but I had a premonition that the direction of travel
was towards something unprecedented.
The selection, election, and
appointment of the Archbishop of Canterbury as the spiritual head of the
Anglican Communion closely resembles the story in Acts of the Apostles, where
the disciples cast lots for Apostle Matthias,
about whom we hear little after that event. In contrast, Saul of Tarsus’s
conversion on the road to Damascus, from Pharisee to Apostle Paul, who
authored about half of the New Testament, is a remarkable transformation.
The politics of enthronement
This nomination is both an
administrative process conducted by the Crown
Nominations Commission and a political one, where the Prime Minister, who
could easily be non-Christian, presents the nominated candidate to the monarch,
the titular head of the Church of England, for approval.
The enthronement of the Archbishop of
Canterbury follows a legal Confirmation of Election, after which the individual
legally becomes the Archbishop, followed by the Installation service at
Canterbury Cathedral, signalling the start of their tenure.
It was not until 1994 that women were
ordained to the priesthood within the Church of England; this progressive move
had already begun in some other Anglican provinces globally.
The first female bishops in the Church
of England were elected in 2014, and by early 2026, we will have the first
female Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan.
[Wikipedia:
List of female Anglican bishops]
I do not consider myself particularly
conservative within the Anglican Communion. I am encouraged by the progress in
ordaining women, improvements in safeguarding, and the church’s embrace of a
broader understanding of spirituality across different sexual orientations, including
even blessing same-sex relationships where churches are receptive.
Faith, however, is a journey with no
final destination; only a continuous pursuit to understand more of God’s love
and mercy, and how His Spirit leads and inspires the church to become more
Christ-like.
The frayed bonds of unity
From a human perspective, I am
uncertain whether, amidst ongoing disagreements about women’s ordination, even
within my own diocese portends toward uniting the Anglican Communion.
Typically, two sets of ordinations
occur: one for those who accept women bishops, and then a visiting bishop,
representing those who do not, comes to ordain those of that persuasion. The
debate over same-sex relationships keeps the church divided doctrinally and
morally, yet this exists in a fragile détente.
Personally, I remain unsure whether
the church has gained enough stature to fully weather these changes. It’s only
been eleven years since the first female bishop was appointed. But this makes
one reflect on the well-known African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go
alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
The journey of persuasion
The church has come quite far, whether
it is now the time to go fast, leaves me in a quandary of my Anglican faith,
something that might have to grow on me, because the hierarchy in this
selection seems way ahead of my current conviction.
While I have fleeting thoughts about
exploring Catholicism, I have yet to find a way or a path to reach the gates of
the Vatican and kiss the fisherman’s ring of the Bishop of Rome.
Nevertheless, there is work to be done;
much like with other Church of England initiatives, to pause on some of these
advances and draw into full fellowship those left unpersuaded of these fast
forms of modernisation and progressiveness that we might all travel far together
for the amazing aims of the gospel.
Ultimately, we pray that the ministry
of the new Archbishop of Canterbury be blessed with purpose, insight, and unity
within the church. An essential truth about our humanity is that we all
struggle and seek to be persuaded beyond our narrow perspectives.
The sketch from Yes, Prime Minister,
offers an intriguing perspective on the Church of England.
Choosing a New Bishop | Yes, Prime Minister | BBC Comedy Greats [YouTube]
I was reading an article yesterday
about the Anglican Church, someone who had left her for the Catholic Church and
now had the advantage of looking in from the outside.
There is an excerpt from the article
that best describes the Anglican Church along with other issues that did not
particularly concern me.
The good things I could see included
the universal parish system; an educated clergy, significant numbers of whom
were good theologians; the patrimony of cathedrals and churches; the Bible the
Church had so beautifully translated for itself four centuries ago; the liturgy
and formularies it had developed; the accompanying musical and choral
traditions; and the fact that the dead so often lie in churchyards rather than
cemeteries, making the ground, as Philip Larkin put it, a place “proper to grow
wise in”.
I also liked the Establishment
settlement, so long as that idea is not pushed too hard – the fact that every
monarch is Supreme Governor of the Church of England, that Anglican bishops sit
of right in the House of Lords, that the Armed Forces, though providing for
most faiths, take their spiritual lead from Anglicanism, that most church
schools are Anglican, and so on.
[The
Telegraph: The Church of England no longer seems to understand our common
Anglican tradition]
The open church
From the excerpt above, two things
jump out to make a significant point, the fact that every monarch is the
supreme governor of the Church of England and the much-revered 1611 English
translation of the Bible authorised by James IV of Scotland and I
of England commonly known as the King James Version
was done in the care of the Church of England.
Then, despite the doctrinal issues on
women bishops and gay marriage which is more a matter of disagreement in the
global Anglican Communion, the entity of England has a more collegiate and open
forum for engagement where difference of opinion is accommodated and tolerated
than brought to point of irreconcilable confrontation.
My observation of the Establishment
settlement allows the church and its parish clergy to open the doors to all and
welcome people of all faiths with a sense of serving the community regardless
of what they believe. In civic and state ceremonies, whilst the leading liturgy
is Anglican, all faiths are represented in presence and voice. It is a
different construct in comparison to any other denomination with the
requirements to participate.
A rich Christianity
As I have written before, returning to
my Anglican faith has given me a great sense of belonging and bolstered of
faith. However, I have been schooled in many aspects of Christian belief that
ranges well into the charismatic, Evangelical and Pentecostal statements of
faith, as the inerrant and revealed Word of God, the humanity and deity of
Jesus Christ, the acceptance of the lordship of Jesus Christ for salvation, the
infilling of the Holy Spirit with the manifestation of glossolalia, and
the second return of the Christ.
This means, that rather than dispense with
all the benefits that have accrued in my Christian walk, I have embraced them
all and developed them earnestly to live a more fulfilled life.
Recently, I came upon the idea of
attending my regular Anglican services at the Manchester Cathedral in the
mornings and seeking out a Pentecostal church to attend in the evenings. I did a
few evening services at the Christ
Church Manchester in Fallowfield which is ensconced within a student conurbation
south of Manchester, about 45 minutes’ walk from my place.
Revisiting the experience
However, given that I had once
considered the possibility of making !Audacious
Church my church over 9 years ago, I eventually found it a bit on the avant-garde
as I reviewed it then after a few services I eased myself out of that
fellowship.
Yet, we evolve and in the process, many
things come up for reconsideration and reassessment, in terms of belief and
comfortableness in devotion. It informed my decision to revisit !Audacious
Church earlier this evening in the quest for a kindling and energy I would not
find my regular church. This is not to say that I am not amazingly blessed
where I am, but there could be some exhilaration from driving a different car
to the same destination, a place of personal affirmation of faith.
It is likely that I would choose a
range of churches in which to have the Pentecostal experience in the evenings
whilst maintaining my relationship with my regular church. It is the same idea Brian
and I hope to carry on in Cape Town where we normally attend St George’s
Cathedral in the morning and might choose Hillsong Church for our
Pentecostal experience.
Many of the faces fronting the mainly praise
and worship service with shared communion at !Audacious Church has changed, but
the rock concert atmosphere prevailed along with the energy and presence. The
congregation was chiefly youth with some that did not make me look out of
place. I thoroughly enjoyed the meeting as long as I did not exert myself beyond
the age-appropriate exhibitions of vim and verve.
I guess I am in the daring circus act
of riding two horses and at once.
Finding the form of words to
illustrate certain situations that are difficult to talk about would usually be
an area of ability I would rarely be wanting or lacking. Yet, having harboured
these thoughts for days, I finally began to gain a handle on things enough to
express to an extent, how I felt.
We are essentially products of the
environments and influences in which we find ourselves from childhood
experiences and observations that many expect with the passage of time for us to
forget through to the recent times where the occupation of situation might be
both distracting and at the same time uncomfortable.
Abuse in its other forms
I seek not to commend myself in the
ways that facing adversity and hard times has been borne with varying levels
of stoicism and fortitude as much as with the help, support, and prayers of
many who are acquainted with the circumstances.
In a moment of vulnerability, I was
caught off-guard by parental device, and we usually are, when the focus was shifted
from issue to collateral. Indeed, how well we are doing does reflect on others,
just as the adverse might too. What it should never become is using the
preponderance of the affected to press the point of your situation. The
exertion of emotional menace can be insidious.
People forget the facts
I have a lot to say about many things,
that I give myself to the patience of listening should not be misconstrued as
acquiescence or acceptance, it is love, liking, respect, and even consideration
that lends my ears to incident, inclination, assumption, and the paranoia that afflicts others to the point that it negatively impacts the listener.
People who have for decades cannot
resolve their differences and then regale us with constant and unrelenting tales
of woe that you have heard from time began, their stories seep into your narrative
and could become your own story if care is not taken to understand what is at
play.
During that conversation, it was
implied that one had deviated from the kind of instruction one had been given
from childhood, but that is a total misreading of the historical fact. Despite the good intentions at the time, I remember things quite vividly and differently. The
experience was and is never one to which I would want to return. The path in
which I seek better understanding and direction is quite different, but for the
sake of amity over conflict, I have kept my peace.
The God loves me race
The things I remember should make me
angry, in the particular, they should be totally unforgivable, but for the
purpose of living, one should keep a tender spirit, even a heart of forbearance
with an understanding that we all have many faults and limitations for which we
have been forgiven not to impute the various infractions of others on them by
total disengagement.
The race I run is a process of
learning, the teaching for life will be valuable and the testimony at the end
will be of wonder and beauty. I count my blessings even in the depth of despair
and despondency that life gives hope, health is wealth, and the best is yet to
come. God loves me, I just need to appreciate that more. My journey remains
mine to pursue, if others are affected, they have run into my lane, and I keep my
focus on my race.
The announced passing of Pat Robertson at the age
of 93 today brings to mind an aspect of my history I have barely touched in my
many blogs until now.
In late 1982, I resumed admission at
the Yaba
College of Technology to study Electrical Engineering having made the switch
from the Lagos
State College of Science and Technology where I was reading Chemical
Engineering not so much out of choice but by the influence of an old student
who came to give a talk at my secondary school along with the poor career
guidance help that was prevalent in those days.
I have many times argued with my mum
who at that time was a principal of a secondary school that such showboating
visits are not helpful in career guidance, rather they lead impressionable
young people off on excursions of fantasy without any understanding of drive,
passion, or reality of what they innately can do. However, that is
another discussion.
I was missing in action
I was 16 years old, and I was suffocating
under my parent’s roof having been in boarding school since the age of 10, my
first year at YabaTech as it was called, passed uneventfully, I barely passed
the year, I was mostly truant and my head was hardly in order as there were classes
I attended that I could not say I was in that class or what we were doing. Maybe
a professional assessment would have suggested I was clinically depressed.
My second year began uneventfully and
this time I was squatting when I fell into a group of avant-garde art majors who intrigued all by their creativity and ability. A building at the end of a
concealed and somewhat secluded road housed the Christian Union building and
nothing about them was inviting as guilt and condemnation simply reinforced the
idea of the God I had known from the time my mother to me to secret religious
meetings from the age of 3 in England.
This is God?
God was a tough punishing deity that
required more than sacrifice, tears, and blood to be barely appeased and was
never pleased. One night, 3 art students invited me to follow them to this
Christian Union building and my discovery? They began speaking in tongues and I
was caught in wonderment.
Soon, I found there is a growing band
of Christians mostly led by these art students who were giving the bible a new
sense of meaning and relevance to our lives and even though my mind was messed
up by many things, I was quite an effective student union representative and
now, a budding born-again Christian. With that, a new frontline of war was
opened on the home front that I did not have the wisdom to manage at that
point.
A band of Christian musketeers
Along with this was how Bible study
really looked like serious study and not of the Sunday School variety, and the
first point of debate was grammar, semantics, and interpretation, whether women
need to cover their heads, or their hair was already a covering. The
contentions between traditional evangelicals of the brooding and appearing sad-to-be-humble type and the livelier, let’s take the world by the horns stuff, or
even maybe more.
I could make a long story of this, Dake’s, Strong’s, Vine’s,
Amplified, the
lingo was Greek and sometimes Hebrew, the speech was soaring homiletics dispensing
stranger-than-fiction hermeneutics and chief of them was the most talented
artist of his generation. We had the Americans to give us speech, accent, and
direction, we believed we were making God interesting and the slightly curious
would find out more.
An American invasion was complete
Enter The 700 Club, which in
the 1980s was the staple of Christian television that did not fill you was eschatological
dread but a longing for a better experience of a loving and amazing God. The Christian Broadcasting
Network founded by Pat Robertson amongst other influences seemed to fill us
with daring, adventure, and boldness. Soon, we broke away from the Christian
Union to form The Fellowship and there were extraordinary demonstrations of the
power of God in our midst from albeit very flawed men, the grace of God remains
a mystery even in its powerful expression when we yield to what God has
purposed to do in and with us.
Whilst does not entirely read like a
tribute to Pat Robertson, it is a tribute to a generation of influential and
impactful Christian men and women of ministry who dared to dream seemingly impossible
dreams and through their living, their testimonies, their sermons, and their
books especially tried to teach others that they can bring these dreams out of
the invisible and unseen realm into living present reality.
If we could only dream
These dreams, built broadcasting networks
and outreaches, universities, campuses of almost enchanted living, even
stupendous wealth, impactful businesses, and churches planted into regions that
would have been impossible to reach changing lives so radically and
fundamentally, you may not believe much of all this started from a simple
dream.
Pat Robertson was one of such men and
women who dreamed the impossible and for that, I commend him even if in the latter
times of his years he became controversial to the point that whatever he said was dismissed.
This week has been one of the interesting
contrasts in how to maintain focus in an environment of distractions, some
harmful and others hopefully more beneficial. One thing I had decided was to be
more participatory in this season of the church calendar, and this I mean, the
Church of England – Anglican Communion arrangement.
I probably could have given some heed
to doing something for Shrove Tuesday, I had the flour, and I could have made
pancakes, yet I was exhausted and drawn away in thought and reminiscences that
were quite unprofitable and redolent of interactions with seemingly sincere but
quite unreliable people. Eventually, I find I can step away from the situation
to reflect on how in words of the old hymnal, Stand Up,
Stand Up for Jesus, ‘the arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your
own’, or that of any other too.
An eerie feeling of compounding disappointment
and dejection seeks to occupy your thoughts and reins for which despondency
intends to feed you the tears of apparent helplessness, yet you cannot relent
for the hope that abounds and the love of God you are striving to understand
and learning to believe beyond platitude and the scribed to experience.
A mortal in eternal purpose
The Lenten season is ushered in with Ash Wednesday and I had
some excitement about attending the church service which was termed the Holy
Eucharist with the Imposition of Ashes. It is one tradition I have never before
participated in. When I told my mum about it earlier today, she thought it was
a purely Roman Catholic tradition, I guess there are many areas where Roman
Catholic and Anglican conventions overlap or are shared.
It was a solemn meeting in a medium
capacity seating for that time in the afternoon. The highlight was The Imposition
of the Ashes, wherein, the congregation files to the front before the
ministers to have the sign of the cross in ashes placed on their foreheads. With
the words said:
Remember that you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.
Turn away from sin,
and be faithful to Christ.
Taken from the second clause in the
verse of Genesis 3:19, “for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
Quite a moment of spiritual
recognition and an almost trembling appreciation of our humble mortality in the
context of an eternal dispensation. I do wonder if it would have felt more
poignant if that was said in Latin, “Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in
pulverem reverteris.”
Intention for guidance and direction
After that, we then participated in
the Breaking of the Bread signifying the work of redemption and the new covenant
in Jesus Christ as our gathering ended quietly apart from music from the
majestic Stoller
Organ.
This period of Lent would be used to
help attuned one’s spirit to the witness and the voice of the human spirit,
given the direction of the Holy Spirit, away from distractions, distortions,
noise, and confusion that can so easily leave one unsure of purpose, direction,
peace, and guidance.
On the question of spirituality, I am learning that it is more an individual experience than identification with creed, church, or denomination. Where you are blessed is where you should be.
