By Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
Esther and Rawle Tyson strike a happy pose. - Carlington Wilmot /Freelance Photographer
IT IS December 1997, two days before Christmas. Pastor Rawle Tyson and Winston Medwynter arrive early at Fellowship Hall, St. Catherine, to supervise a harvest on a fish farm partly owned by the clergyman. Before long, four armed young men, seemingly out of nowhere, pounced on them.
Mr. Medwynter, a licensed firearm holder, pulls his gun. A gunfight ensues. Both Medwynter and Tyson are shot. They are rushed to the Spanish Town Hospital where Medwynter is pronounced dead. But Pastor Tyson battles for life. He is airlifted to the University Hospital. After surgery and weeks of therapy, both here and in the United States, Pastor Tyson recuperates. However, he may never walk again. The single bullet that pierced his frame damaged his spine. He is wheelchair bound.
Rawle Tyson, 44, is the Senior Pastor at the Christian Life Fellowship, Gordon Town Road, Papine, St. Andrew, an evangelical church born out of a spiritual revival begun in a number of Corporate Area high schools during the 1970s. Rawle Tyson is a man who has forgiven his attackers.
Gleaner: Is it painful to retell the story?
Pastor Tyson: No, it is not painful. I see it as just God's intervention, for when I hear the details, I really should not be here. The fact that somebody was killed in the same incident also highlights the fact that God intervened and saved me. It helps to talk about it because I realise God has been faithful. He has intervened. He has kept me alive. I feel like I am on borrowed time. I feel that there is a reason and purpose for my being alive- that helps a lot.
It is not surprising then that Pastor Tyson is one of the spokesmen for the National Forgiveness Campaign launched last week by the Mead-Haven Ministers Fraternal. He will deliver the sermon in August at the church service to highlight the International Day of Forgiveness.
Just two months before the horror of that December day, he had preached a series of messages on forgiveness to his congregation. He looks back and acknowledges that God through that series, prepared him somewhat for what he was to go through. Indeed, God has caused him to walk the talk.
Esther, his wife, who is principal of Ardenne High School, St. Andrew, recalls that when her husband was in hospital, and not out of the woods yet, but able to talk, he summoned his children.
Mrs. Tyson: He told the children, 'If I don't make it, I want you to forgive the gunmen.' Our son, Jonathon was very angry. Rawle told them to release the anger and let it go and serve the Lord.
Pastor Tyson: I realised that unforgiveness can cause you to be a perpetual victim. Forgiveness brings closure and so forth. I know sometimes the secondary offence is worse than the primary one. A lot of children are more bitter than their parents when their parents were the victims. Because I knew this, I was afraid that my children would be so affected by this. (At the time, his son Jonathon was 13; daughter, Mikaela 15 and Sara, 11).
Gleaner: Have your children forgiven the gunmen?
Pastor Tyson: Definitely.
Gleaner: Esther, have you forgiven the gunmen?
Mrs. Tyson: Yes. I think based on my philosophy of life as a Christian, there wasn't any question of not forgiving. The whole issue is how to maintain a positive outlook on your life based on who God is to you having had this experience. There are some people who mistakenly believe that if you are a strong Christian and you walk with the Lord, these kinds of things don't happen to you.
Forgiveness for Pastor Tyson is the "coming to terms with being wronged or hurt and giving up the right to revenge and not wanting to see the person who committed the offence suffer. It means, therefore, not harbouring bitterness, keeping a grudge or feeling that you have to see the other person feel what you feel or see the other person suffer as you suffer," he said.
Forgiveness, he continued, "is a prerequisite for reconciliation. But one can forgive without being
reconciled to the person who caused offence. Reconciliation is sometimes impossible. But forgiveness, by the grace of God, is always possible."
Pastor Tyson said he has learnt that two of the guys who were involved in the shooting have since been killed allegedly in a shoot-out with the police. He regrets their deaths as he craved the opportunity to tell them that he has forgiven them. In that regard, he says if the other two gunmen are alive, he would want an opportunity to let them know that he has forgiven them.
Gleaner: You would love to tell them that you love them?
Pastor Tyson: Yes, they are human beings and they have value. I would tell them that God loves them and urge them to receive Christ as Lord and Saviour of their lives and to turn away from a life of crime.
Pastor Tyson, is presently working on a Doctor of Ministry degree, which is offered by the Columbia Theological Seminary, in Georgia, and facilitated through the United Theological College of the West Indies. His thesis is an investigation concerning how the church can better minister to the nation's youth. A born-again Christian since age 15, Pastor Tyson was heavily involved in the Inter-Schools Christian Fellowship while a student of Jamaica College. Later, as a student of the Natural Sciences at the University of the West Indies, he served as president of the University and Colleges Christian Fellowship.
"Since my incident, I have had occasion to talk to young men who were gunmen. I always imagine these were the guys who shot me and Winston Medwynter who was the manager of the farm. Every chance I get, I really want to talk to inner-city guys and guys who are criminals. They need a chance. Forgiveness is one of the ways you can help these guys come around that is, when they see that you practice forgiveness," said Pastor Tyson.
Interestingly, Pastor Tyson's counselling ministry has been in greater demand since December 1997. "One of the surprising things I found is that since my injury people have been seeking me out people who have hurts and unforgiveness issues. I guess because I am in a wheelchair, people think that I can somehow understand their own struggles and sufferings. They feel somehow that I have more empathy. My counselling ministry is much deeper and more effective."
The fact that Pastor Tyson has forgiven the men who did him harm, does not, however, negate his support for the death penalty. "At this point, I would have to say, I still support the death penalty. Forgiveness and justice are two different issues. Forgiveness is always appropriate for you to move on with your life. Justice has to do with the society punishing evil, and rewarding good. Sometimes justice is required to prevent the perpetration of evil or the repeat of an offence. So, for example, if someone gets raped, they have to forgive the offender. But I think they have to press charges and so on. Because it is a question of justice and question of perhaps, preventing further rapes and other people suffering. Here, one is pursuing justice but the motive is not anger or bitterness. This is part of loving your neighbour."
The Tysons' family life predictably has undergone changes since Rawle's injury. Physical adjustments were done to their house to make it more user-friendly for a wheelchair occupant. Mikaela, the Tyson's oldest offspring, was preparing for CXC when her dad was shot. Somehow, she became more focused and did well in her exams. Later, she won a full scholarship to Princeton University in New Jersey. The experience, says Pastor Tyson, "helped her define her faith and beliefs."
"My son was so bitter at first. He was talking about killing everything and going into the police force or becoming a soldier and killing. My friend, Rev. Sam Vassell (former pastor of the Bethune Avenue Wesleyan Holiness Christian Church, Kingston), intervened and helped him work through his anger. The experience has made the three of them better people," Rev. Tyson said.
Mrs. Tyson explained that one casualty of her husband's injury has been the spontaneity with which the family used to do things, and go places. Last year, for example, to celebrate Jonathan's 18th birthday, the family wanted to dine at Jade Garden Restaurant, which is on the top floor of the Sovereign Centre, St. Andrew. But the elevator was not working, so that they were constrained to celebrate elsewhere. "Everything has to be planned. If Rawle is to speak somewhere, checks are made to ensure there are ramps and suitable access to bathroom facilities," she said.
Despite the many changes though, the Tysons marriage is as steady as ever.
Pastor Tyson: Our marriage was and is pretty solid. It is a good thing for this was a big adjustment. Very often I was so sorry for my wife because sometimes I felt it was harder on her than on me."
Mrs Tyson: "One of the things I miss is that Rawle can't just reach out to and hug me anymore because of the limitations of his condition."
Pastor Tyson: (With a gleam of mischief in his eyes) I have to call her, I can't creep up behind her and pinch her. I have to say, honey come here please (so that I can hug her).
Someone once told Pastor Tyson that in his present state, it would have been better if he had died in that shooting attack. But the pastor is glad to be alive. "The last five years have been so wonderful. So many good things have happened to me in that time. Maybe the most joyful thing has been to see the children develop. It (the shooting) was at a critical stage of their development. How they grew was a joy to watch. I am glad I am around for that. Not to mention that a lot of exciting things have happened in the last five years. The church has gone to two morning services, the ministries of the church are taking off and making an impact and I am about to finish the Doctor of Ministry programme and I hope to graduate in May."
Gleaner: How has your injury affected your theological outlook?
Pastor Tyson: "It has brought me in touch with the majority of humanity which is suffering. I grew up in a middle-class setting so I think I escaped a lot of suffering. It is like I am totally different now. Concerning disabled people, for example, I never saw them before. It is like they were invisible. Now everywhere I go, I notice disabled people. Up until last year I served on the National Advisory Board for Persons with Disabilities. That was a positive experience for me. It connected me to the whole disabled community. I think God prefers to side with people who suffer and people who are oppressed. I think God is against the people who have it at the expense of others. God is not a triumphalist. God really prefers to work in the quiet with the people who everybody is stepping on. God is more on the margins that we realise. Also I feel God is God. He is not our servant. We are His servants. God will do what He wants to do in the sense that He knows best. Sometimes we want to take over His role. We want to serve God but as advisers. We like to tell God how He ought to do His business. I have greater sense of God's bigness and that He really controls things."
Gleaner: How can you preach about the God who heals when you are in need of healing?
Pastor Tyson: "One of the things that I always took objection to is this Health and Wealth Gospel. I really think it is dangerous to Christianity. One of the things that it says, is that you have a right to healing and prosperity. I don't think that is Biblical. My theology is that healing is not a right. It is a sign of the Kingdom. God does heal but it is not a right. Some people carry it to the extreme where if one is sick, it is because you are out of the will of God and so it is perceived that God's blessings is not on your life. Some of the greatest saints have struggled with illnesses. So in my ministry, it is not a conflict. The people that we minister to don't see it as any conflict. The truth is, I am still praying for God to heal me. But my faith in God is not dependent on whether or not He heals me. So many times I hear people say: 'If God does not heal, He is not faithful to His word.' They say that because they have this presumption that this is a right that God has committed himself to serve you with. It is not so."
Mrs. Tyson: "One thing I admire about Rawle is that he is not pretending. What he is in public is what he is at home. He really has a very positive outlook and a very joyous spirit. He was a positive person before December 1997, but now, even moreso. He is more joyous now, I mean sometimes he annoys me with it."
Pastor Tyson remains focussed on pastoring, confident that everything God does is good and everything that He does is ultimately for the purpose of His glory, even if it sometimes results in human suffering. The horror of that December day has not diminished his love for God. Pastor Tyson is fond of reciting the popular saying: 'God is good all the time, and all the time God is good.'
