By Scophine Otieno
Faith made gentle steps to ensure the clacking of her heels were as subtle as possible, eyes darting frantically over the congregation for an empty seat and she noticed one in the middle pew.
She made her way to the empty seat next to an elderly woman who fixed her a quick gaze of disapproval. Faith straightened her knee-length dress and cleared her throat, she was aware her red matte lipstick was a little too much but any extra effort to get one of the single brothers sniffing in her direction was not such a hideous sin.
The praise and worship team were organizing themselves on the pulpit led by Stella, the girl with a pleasant countenance but whose vocal strength was uncertain. She often had the rest of the team straining but that was a trivial price to pay for rewarding the daughter of a church elder who gave the fattest tithe with the head of praise and worship ‘commendation’.
Her gaze caught ‘Mum’, the Pastor’s wife whose air of decided fashion stood conspicuous in the congregation. She reeked of extravagance from head to toe, a woman of frugal understanding with an open disdain for cheap things and modesty.
Save for those in the top echelons of the church who sat in leather seats in the front pew while the rest sat on plastic chairs, she barely knew the rest of the church members especially those of little means and she made no effort to.
Anyone starting a business in hypocrisy could get the raw material in plenty at the Church where it is pressed down, shaketh and running over, Faith could almost swear. The church for some reason has decided to sweep social issues under the carpet or ignored them altogether.
Whether it is the Catholic with its issues with pedophilia and sodomy or Evangelical churches with their prosperity gospel and laundering in the name of the Lord.
But she was alive to the fact that she was equally yoked and encapsulated in the stench of the same. On Friday she had a one night stand with a guy she met on face book.
Was that Emily at that corner with hands raised in supplication yet she is dating two married men besides her Ben ten? You could almost mistake her for a female version of Angel Michael until you sojourned on her Instagram full of half naked pictures in exotic lodgings with hash tag #Daughter of God, Blessed, Haters gon hate.
And James the Usher who has sprinkled the unholy contents of his girth on almost all the female youth members, he could barely recite John 3:16 without fumbling but had memorized the entire songs of Solomon which he used to seduce the gullible damsels easily confused with carelessly thrown bible verses here and there.
The Deaconess was a renowned trouble maker who scolded her husband and made trouble for her daughter-in-law.
“My Guard (God) is a Guard of riches and gold”, Pastor Maurice or Daddy as he was fondly referred to by his flock, inebriated by opium of misinterpreted teachings roared as he straitened his imported handmade Italian Suit and adjusted the Naviforce gold fusion watch that glistered on his wrist.
He had mastered the art of speaking into the hearts of his congregation that was largely of people with little resources.
He knew that for the poor, being rich is the central message and they see a future of wealth if they give the little they have.
That is why he could afford luxurious vacations and lived in a mansion while his congregation struggled to feed and educate their children…Still, each Sunday, they gave out their hard earned money to bribe God to open the floodgates of wealth and health.
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