Smart changes
Having learnt that
the changeover from the Hammersmith & City line to the District line to the
East was literally an interminable walk at Barking Station, I was minded to get
off just before Barking.
I decided to change at West
Ham and took a seat, to wait for the District line tube to arrive. I have also noticed that some people take up the priority seating places for the slightly incapable
though on most occasions those seats have been vacated for me since I do use a
cane.
At other times, I
have demanded the use of priority seating if it is obvious that the
occupier does not require it.
The voice of a preacher man
So, getting on the
tube at West Ham, I had hardly settled into my seat when a man decided to
introduce himself. I was quite taken aback, I have not seen people preach on
public transport for decades and that was in Nigeria. I can even remember
sharing a garbled message of the gospel with my accent so out of place in
Nigeria, people probably listened – my accent being a cross between English and
Nigerian influences is indicative of the fact that it is not being put on for
effect.
The message started
with questions about life and death, the possibilities of paradise and
judgement amongst other trains of thought that seemed to begin to lack any form
of coherence – I live-tweeted the event surmising that someone might soon tell
the preacher man to be quiet in a not so polite manner.
The audience was
captive, many were returning from church and could well identify as Nigerian –
not that it mattered to me between his saying aks for ask and with an accent
that was as unnaturally regional to any known speaking it was just a matter of
time.
Put on my shiny black shoes
Then a man took on
the preacher, and excoriated him for wearing shiny black shoes, looking really dapper
and having a designer bag slung over his shoulder – in the assailant’s view,
this rather ostentatious look was distracting especially to women whom he believed
would be enticed by the looks of the preacher thereby distracting them from the
gospel.
In what looked like
a sign of displeasure, turning into an argument ready to erupt into a shouting
match, the preacher kept his calm as he tried to reason with the assailant –
the message of the gospel had been derailed as other Christians on that coach
began to voice their displeasure that the assailant who was now determined to
have his say and allow no further preaching to continue until he was ready to
disembark
In some ways, the
assailant was probably Christian but whatever legalistic teaching he might have
been subjected to would undoubtedly have been of the see not, read not, say
not, touch not, wear not, appear not, walk not, seat not variety that it would
have made Levitical laws look utterly tame.
Eventually, the
assailant disembarked where the preacher would also have wanted to get off but
the preacher stayed on the tube to wrap up his message with some encouraging
words before stepping off at the next stop.
Your freedom versus my freedom
In one of those
Twitter exchanges, someone advocated the freedom of worship and religion which
is all fine and well in the places of assembly where such adherents decide to
congregate, the London Underground is, however, a public space and it is illegal
to preach in such an environment without a licence because it disturbs the
peace and the people’s right to be free of such influence is infringed upon by
another exercising their supposed rights.
Interestingly, I
observed on my way to church this morning that the tube driver was a Sikh. We
are to find ways to co-exist with practitioners of other religions and no
matter how compelling the Great Commission we must be more intelligent and
innovative about how we share the good news without daring the law to put us in
uncomfortable situations.
Much of what can be
tolerated in many religious countries will not necessarily find the law so
sympathetic if any of the passengers had decided to call the London Transport
Police to report a breach of the peace.
