Church crawler: God painted as a jolly good fellow at Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit

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Compact, small-ish, with a neat and well thought out interior, the Catholic Church of the Holy Spirit (CCOTHS), Omole Phase 1, was the perfect march to the anger burning in me over the past two days for so many reasons.

I arrived about twenty minutes late for the 6:30 am mass. Already the liturgy was underway and the priest was ending his introductory comments.

The ambiance in the church was effortlessly soft, unrushed and it was easy to flow with the mass and become one with the hundred of people gathered in the church.

Perhaps the most distinctive thing about CCOTHS is that it was not a noisy church.

Yes the church used a microphone and human beings were actually in the church, but unlike most churches – especially protestant churches – CCOTHS was more laid back yet spiritual and satisfying, the microphone wasn’t cranky neither did the priest (or any of the other users) scream into the microphone as if it wasn’t loud enough. The music wasn’t unnecessarily loud either.

The choir was a wonder to behold – it was easy to tell that there was some sort of connections and mutual understanding between the 20 odd choir members. They sang in uniform, one part never trying to outdo the other.

The conga drummer, an elderly man in dark glasses, appeared to be blind but he was, nonetheless, a brilliant drummer that pelted out gentle beats, moving without rush with the organist and other instrumentalist.

But aside the beautiful music, the preaching – marked by occasional outburst of songs from the priest – was the most fulfilling part of the liturgy.

The priest, a mild tempered dark skinned man, spoke brilliantly on the concept of God and forgiveness. He spoke at length on the fickleness of human existence but however, did not undermine the essence of our individual existence or the problem faced by each person as a single entity.

Elegantly, he painted the picture of a God willing to listen, to comfort without judging rather than a God ever ready to look away from a sinful fellow and condemn sinners to the underbelly of hell.

As he spoke it was easy to imagine God as a loving father – in the truest sense of the word – instead of a judgmental fellow with limitless powers as many have come to portray him.

Sadly, CCOTHS wasn’t all peaceful and joy like a river. The ending of the mass – much like those at other Catholic Churches that I have been to – was quite terrible as an announcer spent about a quarter of an hour, or more, raising funds and making long, needless announcements.

But overall, CCOTHS is a beautiful place of worship, not just in the physical sense but in the spiritual sense also.

I came to CCOTHS troubled, but I left comforted…

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