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Message from Pastor Peter Marty

A steady servant

By Pastor Peter Marty

Out-of-town readers may be unaware of a news story that made local headlines recently.

A mentally-imbalanced man, with a string of arrests and prison sentences to his name, was shot and killed on the Centennial Bridge. Fifteen minutes earlier, Steven had been dining at the free meal site in Davenport, known to locals as Café on Vine. That is where, for no known reason at all, he “popped” a volunteer who was serving lunch to a wheelchair patron. Rylan was the innocent victim whom Steven surprised with a knockout punch to the jaw. He later woke up in the hospital, numb with a split lip and 15 stitches.

Back on the bridge, officer Cliff stopped his squad car and approached Steven on foot to question him about the Café on Vine incident. When Steven refused to halt movement toward the officer, Cliff deployed his Taser gun. It failed. In the next instant, a move caught by his own squad car video camera, Cliff was taken down by Steven, who proceeded to pummel his head against the steel of the bridge. An off-duty detective from another community — Jim, by name — happened to be driving by. Seeing Cliff in desperate straits and down in a chokehold, Jim sought to assist. As Jim struggled to remove the attacker, Cliff managed to unholster his gun and shoot Steven. Officer Cliff suffered significant head injuries.

What happened? A simple lunch went awry. A few individuals acted quickly and heroically. Tragedy reared its ugly head. What barely made news was the reaction of that volunteer with the repaired lip. Rylan, a local elementary school teacher, later reflected on his experience of volunteering at Café on Vine. He spends part of every summer at the Café, serving with his daughter. Most striking about his words after the incident was his appreciation for the ministry of the Café, and a calm acceptance of his own misfortune.

Sounding aware of the travails of mental illness, Rylan spoke through his swollen lip, “I don’t think he [Steven] had it in for me, or did it out of hatred for me… This was just one of those isolated incidents.” Rylan is planning to volunteer back at the Café next summer. Same place, same work. Despite his incident and injury, he recommends the Café for anyone who is interested in serving people of need.

Now I don’t know what you make of the spirit of Rylan, but there is something in his words worthy of notice. There is a magnanimity to the guy. His reaction to that “punch out of nowhere” reminds those of us who inhabit the Christian life that while we may not be able to control many of the outward circumstances of our lives, we have some say over our inner attitude toward them. There is a melody that can vibrate on the strings of the human heart, a song that can be tuned to joy. It’s a deep kind of inner joy or contentment that comes with knowing one’s life is pointed in the direction of meaning. Humbly serving others can move the compass needle in any of us toward greater meaning.

There is something else about the attitude of this guy with the beat-up lip. His confidence in going back to serve at the Café next summer reveals something we see modeled in scripture time and again. God does not quit on us. There is repeat forgiveness. There is undying love when people cry in complaint. When the disciples want to incinerate some people they cannot stand, Jesus rebukes them. He tells them to let go of their grudges.

One day, when a mob pinned Jesus to a tree, he prayed to God in heaven, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” We don’t know how easy or how difficult it was for Jesus to speak these words. We do know from our own firsthand experience that letting go of hurt and fear can be the hardest thing in the world to do. It is not our first instinct, especially if we’ve been badly shaken. But this challenge of letting go of hurt and fear is why God handed us this simple gift called FAITH. God evidently knows full well that nothing less than faith will be required the next time we face a circumstance we cannot control.

Pastor Peter Marty,

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