CHAPTER 16 – BATTLE OF THE BRETHREN

©OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE
AS INSPIRED BY THE CREATIVE ONE

Sunday of Stares

They moved her.

Quietly.
Tactfully.
No memo. No meeting.
But choir arrangement that morning had changed and T.J. was told to sit among the congregation.

“Just for now,” they said “Let’s allow the atmosphere settle.”

Which atmosphere?
The one we caused or the one God sent?

I was standing by the media desk when I saw it happen.
T.J. had come in early again.
Always early.

Black and white chiffon gown.
Hair wrapped in a soft scarf like a woman going for a retreat, not drama.
She walked in, headed to her usual row.
Then Brother Wale from the admin team intercepted her.

“Ma, sorry… choir sitting pattern has shifted. Please join the last row today.”

She didn’t argue…Didn’t blink twice… Just said, “Okay.”

And sat..Quietly. In the congregation…No mic.No spotlight.

But guess what?…She still glowed.

And the people? They still looked.

Worship started.

Edna led again.
She was on fire …vocally.
Ran through five songs like a pro.
But I won’t lie to you: the room felt… stiff.

Like we were singing around something…Like the Presence was hovering but not landing.

Then suddenly… halfway through the third song…

T.J. stood.

Didn’t walk forward.
Didn’t wave hands.
She just stood.
Eyes closed.
Mouth moving …no sound.

But the air around her…

Shifted.

Again.

People started praying under their breath. Some vibrating.
Some cried silently.
One usher behind her started speaking in tongues without knowing why.

And Edna?

She saw it.

Mid-song, her voice shook.
She looked sideways like she heard something.
Tried to push through with “Holy! You are Holy!”
But the congregation?

Their focus had drifted.

To the back.
To a girl with no mic…yet commanding heaven like her name was etched on the scroll of intercession.

After Service, Edna gave a short “charge” on spiritual authority and order at the Choir office. Funny enough, T.J attended the meeting, sitting humbling in the meeting. I wondered how she was coping. I wondered how she kept coming back to church after every blow.
Subtle…But we got the message:

“You don’t have to fight for spotlight when God is truly with you…
And if God is truly with you, you’ll obey structure.” Edna had said emphatically

Amen o.
Structure.
Even if the structure is making the church a dry land and built to suppress what God is doing?
I just kept quiet.

After service, three sisters and one brother went to meet T.J. at the car park.

They said they just wanted to “pray with her.”

But the moment they circled her and held hands?

They all fell.
Right there on bare concrete.

Slain.
No drama.
No camera.
No choir robe.

Just glory.

Raw. Unedited. Uninvited.

Wahala be like what?

Wahala be like back-row worshipper wey dey make heaven kiss earth while front-row people dey argue microphone order.
(Trouble is when the person you push to the background still becomes the real altar in the room.)

That night, Edna sent a memo to the music WhatsApp group:
“All unscheduled groupings and worship circles outside approved programs must stop.Let’s maintain spiritual decorum and proper flow.”

Two people left the group that same night.

Me?

I didn’t say anything.

But I knew…

They can take her mic.
They can change her row.
But they can’t stop the fire that’s not theirs to control.

To be continued… ( TO PAY FOR THE THE FULL ACCESS TO THE E-COPY of this Story, Kindly Chat +234-9069926797 to buy your copy)

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