THERE IS A PREACHER IN THIS BUS.

Religion, like politics demands a very healthy use of rhetoric. Healthy, in the sense of provoking thought, rhetoric, in the sense of explaining effortlessly, points, doctrines and belief systems.
The speakers were blaring, repulsively loud and carried with it, the invite of disgust from listeners. You dodge that noise at 6 am in the morning on your street, get to the bus stop, block your ears from that one short woman whose height is in ridiculous contrast with the pitch of her voice, enter a bus and hear: ‘brothers and sisters, I will like to talk to you about our lord and savior Jesus Christ’. You groan: these people are everywhere! The injunction to turn to God is serious and repetitive today. It is only 6 am and I have come across 3 folks who believe that my sins are bad enough to send me to hell and as such, I should turn to God? There is a woman here lapping two kids because she cannot afford to pay 100 naira. The old woman on my left has been screaming to the conductor for her change, history has thought her to trust less and the guy behind me is sleeping. I was barely observing as such, it took me a while to notice that the guy sitting in front of the bus had his head phones on. The logical outworking of a society that constantly enjoins you turn to God but then grows in deterioration is Oxymoronic. There are no FAT footballers. Why does this preacher believe that there are adulterers, fornicators and killers in this Bus? We are only 5. Did I just enter a black maria?

We were church going people: Occupied with some equivalent of the pupils, the job owners and the narcissistic motivational speaker. Now, we are the fun loving judgmental lot: Bullied by a lack of immunity to eloquence, and an inability to question thought. I hate what I am hearing and I am not sure if it’s a refusal of God’s word, possible future atheism, recalcitrance or just mere arrogance but there is a preacher in this Bus. Why do we threaten people to turn to God? Is that what Jesus would do? Does the eventuality of death make for a strong argument for choosing life? Would these folks not die anyway? Is this right? When last did you hear a sermon on why the bible is true!? If the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced would it still be commonsensical to belief that the end justifies the means!? Does it!?

We have asked God for help, prayed for senescence and believed that all things would be right and beautiful but the reality is in the contrary. They tell us that God has a plan for us but they forget to include that plans have stages. Efforts towards moving people to God have been futile. Judging from the numerous churches, evidence suggests that we do not want betterment, just personal enrichment. Do our major pastors preach in planes or is that act reserved mainly for we the plebeians who are privileged enough to be able to afford buses? The mother of Two needs financial help, the guy behind is tired, the one in front is consciously preventing been told that he is an idiot. We are a struggling lot bordered by a boring busy life but there is a preacher in this Bus.

(C) Grey 2015.