I’ve never seen myself as one who would miss attending church services. Maybe having my life wrapped in the throes of joyous ministry on end as a clergy’s son made me see service as a routine not a cherished exercise. But the last three months were indeed a testament to how important services have become to my spiritual health. You can't imagine the joy when as a family, we watched in the living room the broadcast of the state governor as he declared that religious services where open after a 75 day lockdown period. 
The first thing that came to my mind following that announcement was what I will wear to church. Yes, call me carnal because I know that I’m not perfect. But if you were in my shoes; rushing out of ABH with a relatively small bale of clothes because you expect to be back to school in less than 2 weeks only for you to see yourself caught in the middle of a Pandemic. You discover you have just 2 pairs of Sunday wears and “vibes”, as my friend calls it, as your clothes. Believe me, what you will wear to church is of paramount importance in such situation.

I scurried off to the bathroom on that glorious Sunday morning. After all, “it is the day the Lord has made and we shall rejoice and be glad in it”. So I dressed up in one of my two Sunday wears and took the public transport with my younger brother with the tricycle carrying half it’s normal capacity because of the not-so-new social distancing measures. I could not feel any bubbles in my stomach or that wrenching feeling of anxiety on the inside, all I could feel was the all too familiar “Sunday” hunger; oh how I have missed you my dear friend. 
Service was somewhat different; we had to wash our hands at the gate and wear our masks during the service while sitting about 2 metres apart. Nevertheless, it was still a wonderful opportunity to fellowship with God and other believers. And I cherished every moment of it because I now understood what it means to have an opportunity to worship God in the conventional way.
The pandemic will come and go but the lessons I have learnt from it will continue to resonate in my heart. And a cardinal one is “I was glad when they said let us go into the house of the Lord”.

Written by Emmanuel Anyam
MBBS 2K16