I am a keen observer of the more eccentric figures who try to spread the word about Jesus - you may remember
this guy, who I still occasionally see, with his bit of cardboard box. I have never seen him say a word, just standing still with his written message which makes him a million times better than
the "Be a sinner, not a winner" man whose constant shouting has almost driven me to violence on some occasions.
I think I might have a new favourite though. As I came out of Shepherd's Bush central line tube this afternoon I was greeted by this tall, slightly scruffy, white haired gentleman, in a hat that might have been worn in some old US Presidential election campaign, wearing a fluorescent tabard and holding up a tiny metal pole, with a small piece of laminated card at the top which simply said "Jesus". It was the tiniest possible placard or poster. Had he been in the crowd at a football match where Jesus was playing it would have been a comically minuscule display of his support. It still looked more than faintly ridiculous in this context.
It was reminscent of one of the scenes in the short film I was in - "A Very British Cult", where my character and his acolytes were waiting at a service station for Jesus to turn up from Heaven and we were holding a sign with his name, as if we were coming to pick him up from the airport.
I wondered if this man, who wasn't saying anything and didn't seem to have any leaflets was merely meeting Jesus off the tube and wanted to be sure not to miss him. He might have said to Jesus, "I will be in the fluorescent tabard and the Presidential campaign hat," but then been concerned that there might be someone else dressed like that (after all he might have seen me in my fluorescent jacket and cycle helmet and thought that Jesus might have confused us) so had the little sign too.
Looking at the photo I now notice that he has another sign in his back pocket. It might say "Jesus" too and be there as a spare in case the wind blows away his other sign. Or it could be some other name "Judas" perhaps or even "Jshua" and the eccentric man was going on to another job where he'd meet another religious figure off the tube, to take them who knows where.
I did consider going up to the guy and telling him that I was Jesus and seeing what would happen. A better comedian would do such a thing, but I am too shy and self-conscious and didn't want to rile this man, who was perhaps just spreading the word about Jesus in the most simple way possible. Instead I just tried to get a photo of him, but alas just as I was trying to do so the man (not because of me, I don't think) started to move away). I still got a couple of shots and perhaps it is better than he retains his anonymity. Though my guess is he probably dresses like this most of the time, so if you spot him elsewhere you will recognise him.
I should have spoken to him though. After all, he might have been Virgilio Anderson.
