In God We Trust

On my way home from church yesterday, I received a curious text message. Henry, a friend from the neighborhood who doubles as my Yoruba tutor, dropped me a line to say hello. This is what he wrote:

Hi, mrs. Seira. I'm so glad as I see you again this morning. May the lord be with you and your husband. (Amen) Almighty God
will meet you at the point your [needs].

A very nice, though odd, message I thought to myself. After all, Henry didn't strike me as particularly religious or one pursuing a vocation in the seminary. Finding the message curious, I read it aloud to my husband and our dispatch driver Godwin. To my surprise, Godwin completed the message aloud, in harmony with my own scripted words. I guess the message wasn't as curious as I thought.

A similar situation presented itself a couple of weeks ago as I was once again in transit. On the radio played a song that rung vaguely familiar, though I could not place it at first. As it transitioned from verse to refrain, I realized I sang this song every Sunday at the end of Mass while different groups processed to the altar offering tithes. "Igwe....Igwe....Igwe" I recognized, before the song faded into a Top 40 hit.

Unlike the typical US community where religion is considered taboo in typical conversation and spoken in afterthought if mentioned at all, religion saturates almost every aspect of Lagosian life. Products, services, and business names often include religious references in their titles. Pengassan, the Nigerian oil and gas union, periodically holds "prayer meetings" on Chevron's front steps. Dance clubs and radio stations play Igbo praise music alongside pop and rap music. Devout Muslims lay their mats conspicuously on streets, in alleys, and alongside shopping centers for their daily calls to prayer. Even semis, tow trucks, and minibuses used for public transit tout religious messages in tow -- "Pray 4 Me," "The Way of God," "Thank You Father," "God is Good."

In Lagos, religion is not something you only celebrate on Sunday or only talk about in the confines of your home or church. It is not something that could cause uncomfortable silences or elicit "bible beater" labels. It is a heartbeat, a pulse, something that often goes unnoticed because it simply is. And so it is here, 6,500 miles from home, that these words genuinely ring true: "In God We Trust."