350 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d1d1dc2a10dff0a3d4fc9de79b6b0bd7.mp3 2cfea0bb5ee9b86b72936a28ea1365c7 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9e6421440e06cdea38dcad56c2a47ff5.pdf e2e49263b553aca6f1d110084155c423 PDF Text Text God of the Abandoned From the series: The Faith Of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Text: Mark 1:41 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent II, March 7, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. Mark 1:41 Religion is powerful stuff! Probably the most powerful phenomena in our human experience. It has the ability to galvanize whole communities of people into action. It has the power to solidify someone’s purpose and to lead one to heroic heights or to horrible deaths. Religion is powerful stuff! And it can be absolutely divine, or it can be utterly demonic. It may be too early to call, but the disaster at the World Trade Center may finally be traced to an Islamic Fundamentalist group. And, if that is to be the case, it is not a reflection on Islam, it is a reflection on religion in its fundamentalist manifestations, whether Muslim or Christian or Jewish. It was a week ago today that federal agents were making a move on the citadel in Waco, Texas, only to be gunned down and subsequently to have it in siege with an army of agents. An enclave led by a crazy, mad man, a religious leader, a man who claims for his authority the direct communication of God, who claims to be a son of God, a messiah, an anointed one. Religion is powerful stuff. In the events of the week past we see the manifestation of its power in that negative form. We are a part of society somewhere in the middle, I suppose, aren’t we? Christ Community, aren’t we rather decent average types? A little above average, you say. Decent and good people, reflective I suppose of kind of the mid-section of society at large. So that it is not difficult for us to look at those acts of violence and to write them off as dehumanizing, as contradicting everything that we believe that religion ought to do for one. We are able, in that extreme manifestation, to recognize it as the utilization of this tremendous power in a demonic way. But religion is a power phenomena, and those of us in the middle, able to recognize that, might be troubled and threatened by some other manifestation of religious leadership – for example, that which was exemplified by Jesus. How do you distinguish a religious leader who says he speaks in the name of God? How do you know? How do you judge? How do you discriminate? Not so hard over against the Muslim bomber or the Waco Wacko. © Grand Valley State University   �God of the Abandoned Richard A. Rhem Page 2   But how do you think Jesus would do? How do you think Jesus would do if he were a part of our community this morning? You see he made claims not so different from the man in Waco. And when you get religious leaders making radical claims on one side or the other, most of us in the middle grow rather uneasy, don’t we? I don’t suppose Jesus would last a lot longer in our society today than he did then, because we can never forget that those whom he threatened were folks like us. They were that kind of middle slice of society. They were decent, serious, devout and sincere and, in most cases, led by religious leaders who had vested interests to be sure, who were interested in keeping the status quo. But the claims of Jesus were as radical as the claims of David Koresh. How do you judge? How do you discriminate? I suppose the only way you can do is like Jesus said, “by the fruits.” When a religious leaders’ actions and calls to action result in violence, domination, dehumanization, coercion, manipulation, then we in the middle are quite quick to say, “that’s wrong, that’s an abuse of religion because it is an abuse of people.” But what about the radical claims of Jesus on the other side? Well, you say, they resulted in quite the opposite. Jesus went about doing good. Jesus went about healing. Jesus went about lifting up. Jesus went about setting free, liberating. Jesus’ whole ministry was a ministry of love and grace, and the consequence of that was quite opposite from what we have seen in our own time this past week. Jesus said, “Love your enemies. Pray for those that despitefully use you.” There was a total contrast between this contemporary expression of religion and the religion of Jesus. But we have got to remember that in both cases we are talking about individuals who made radical claims. Jesus, understood more clearly today perhaps than ever before, was a Jewish believer, rooted in his own culture, his own society, his own day, reflective of the value systems and the faith systems and structures of his people. But the point is that the people in the middle were as upset with Jesus who came at them from one angle as we are with a David Koresh who comes at us from another. Because, as I said last week, Jesus didn’t die in bed; he was put to death. And in order to determine why he was put to death, we are looking during this Lenten period at the faith of Jesus, at Jesus as a believing man: his conviction about God and the things that were ultimately important to Jesus. As we examine the faith of Jesus, we are maintaining during this Lenten Season that, at its core, it was trust in a gracious God. It was a God whose grace was inclusive rather than exclusive. The God of Jesus was the God of the abandoned, the God of the outcast, the God of the outsider. The God of Jesus was the God with whom there was no outsider. And it is all well and good to sing the praise of Jesus as long as we recognize that we certainly would have been a part of that middle slice of society, good decent, serious and sincere folk, led by religious leaders who wanted nothing more than to keep the structure of things, to keep society somewhat on an even keel, to keep intact orthodox faith structures and generally accepted moral standards. It was to keep society in a state of reasonable wellbeing. We cannot think of the Jewish leaders as being irresponsible, as being © Grand Valley State University �God of the Abandoned Richard A. Rhem Page 3   conspirators, as being demonic. They were simply leaders of people who had their own vested interests, and their own agenda, but also who had the responsibility for doing the best they could to make things as good as possible for the society of their time. Jesus was a threat to that because his conviction, the heart of his faith, was that even in their decent application of religion, they had turned the heart of God’s upside down. The story of the leper is the case in point. Mark places it at the early part of the Gospel on the preaching tour of Galilee. Leprosy was an inconceivably horrible disease. The name covered a wide variety of diseases actually. But without real medical knowledge of its cause, recognizing the defilement, the disfigurement, society had ruled that the leper must be cast out, must be ostracized, must be isolated. It was a horrible disease that carried its own pain and suffering to a degree hardly fathomable. But added to that was the isolation from community, the declaration of being ceremonially unclean, being unfit for the gathering of the community of God’s people. In the Middle Ages there was actually a practice in the Roman Church of leading the leper into the sanctuary and the priest reading over him the burial service. The man was dead...while he was yet alive! The little vignette of the leper that we read as our lesson– Bishop Lightfoot, one of the New Testament scholars of a former generation, says that little story is more packed with emotion than any other story in the Gospels. For the leper himself displayed an urgency that caused him to break through the barrier that was erected against him. He had no right to address anyone. He was to go down the street with his head bared and his clothes wrinkled, calling out, “Unclean, unclean,” lest anyone should come within distance of him. But, rather than do that, the leper breaks through, he comes to Jesus, he kneels before him and the language would tell us with great urgency says, “If you will make me clean....” Jesus, the text says, “ was moved with pity” – a more accurate text would say, “was moved with anger,” – and said, “Be clean!” Moved with anger, anger, I suppose at the hellishness and the horror of what a human being can suffer. Anger at the disfigurement of the created intentions of God. Anger at the community of God’s people that excludes and pushes away. Anger at all of that that is so wrong. Anger. There is a place for anger. There is a place for anger in society, in our lives. There are some things that should make us angry, that should move us to compassion which borders on anger, and anger that is filled with compassion. And then Jesus, likewise breaking through the booths and the barriers, the constraints of socially accepted behavior, stretches out his hand and touches God. Because it was Jesus’ conviction that there is no one whom God has abandoned, that there is no such thing as an outsider, that it is impossible to be an outcast in the presence of God. Made folks very nervous. Threatened the structure of their social life and their doctrinal understanding and their moral behavior. Jesus turned it all on its head, in the name of God, claiming to be a spokesperson for God. Claiming to act out what he was convinced was true of God. © Grand Valley State University �God of the Abandoned Richard A. Rhem Page 4   This weekend we have been engaged in a significant concentration on the HIV virus and the crisis that AIDS has brought to our world. And it has been a good weekend, full of information, education, alerting us, making us aware. It is important. We cannot put our head in the sand. It is also a terrible blight on the human body, and it is that with which we must all be concerned. It is important that we get behind every effort at education, and every health care movement to delimit the destructive power of this plague. But here in worship, what I must say to you as a Christian congregation is that whatever we do out there, we must do it out of the conviction that we are called to follow Jesus in disallowing the possibility of anyone being abandoned anywhere, for any reason, that we are called to be a community of compassion and care and to reach out and to touch, and to heal in the name of Jesus. The faith of Jesus found expression in the action of Jesus. And we are called as the disciples of Jesus to let love issue forth in compassionate ministry to bind up wounds, to embrace and to hold, to be with the suffering and the dying. That large middle slice of society of which we are a part is able to look at a David Koresh and say, “That’s wrong. That man is demonic.” But what will we do with that one who comes to us from the other angle? Who makes as radical a claim upon us, and as radical a call to us? Religion is so powerful, but it can also be a power to block the flow of compassion. Let me sum it all up in this - which is a bit radical and very dangerous. But let me suggest it anyway. Never let your theology (your doctrine), nor your morality, come in the way of following the lead of your heart to be compassionate. Never let your doctrine, or your morality, block the flow of God’s love through you. Thereby, you’ll follow Jesus. Someone said to me yesterday, “Somebody somewhere is preparing a cross for you.” And I said, “That’s O.K. if it is for genuinely, faithfully following Jesus. Then I’ll be in good company.” © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Mark 1:41 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930307 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-07 Title A name given to the resource God of the Abandoned Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 7, 1993 entitled "God of the Abandoned", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 1:41. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Compassion God of Grace Inclusive Religious Authority https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/05089ca2223feb13d55a5335886c7b04.mp3 5c27b4ba6e69ae8c30eee3ac4b204488 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series Love Story Scripture Text John 3:16-17, I John 4:8-11 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19900311 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-03-11 Title A name given to the resource God So Loved.... Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 11, 1990 entitled "God So Loved....", as part of the series "Love Story", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 3:16-17, I John 4:8-11. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3b64ab8a16240feee7fb442b589eeee1.pdf 42bc2cebb3d5a0d1f45a2aff05742653 PDF Text Text God With a Human Face From the series for Eastertide: Credo Text: John 14:18-20; II Corinthians 4:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide, April 24, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon “I am coming to you... because I live, you too will live; then you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you.” John 14:18-20 “For the same God who said, 'Out of darkness let light shine,' has caused his light to shine within us, to give the light of revelation - the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" II Corinthians 4:6 Every Sunday is Easter Sunday and this Sunday in Eastertide reminds us again that Sunday is always a little Easter and the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. The hallmark of the Christian faith is "Alleluia." It is Doxology. It is praise. And the mark of a Christian is the posture of worship. It is the spontaneous eruption that comes from the realization that in the end it is not Darkness but Light. It is not sadness but joy. It is not death but life. And so we celebrate on this Sunday in Eastertide the Resurrection of our Lord, his exaltation, and his presence with us in power, in the spirit. Our Lord, in whose face we have seen into the heart of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given to us in his very embodiment a clue as to the nature of God so that Christian faith is faith that God is like Jesus, and that what we see in Jesus is a true reflection of what is in God. In Jesus we do not see all of God, for God is incomprehensible, a mystery beyond our ability even to faintly conceptualize or get our arms or minds around. No, Jesus is not all of God, but what we see in Jesus is true of God. God is like Jesus, and Jesus tells us that God has a human face. Paul said we've seen the light of the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. John's witness was "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." John's testimony to Jesus in the gospel, the fourth gospel, is the most elevated conception of Jesus Christ that we have in the New Testament. © Grand Valley State University   �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Last week I pointed out to you the simplicity of that very understanding. This Jesus whom you crucified, God raised up and has made Lord and Christ. That was probably the very early groping for expression of what had happened in this one, Jesus Christ. But within the New Testament itself there was development. There were different perspectives. The scripture is a very diverse and multifaceted witness to God so that we have in John not the kind of primitive simplicity of that statement in Acts: "This Jesus whom you crucified, God raised up and has made Lord and Christ." In John we have the word made flesh, dwelling among us. Now, as I said last week, no one would ever have thought in that first century to affirm Jesus was fully human. They knew that. They knew that as well as I know you're human and you know I'm human. They didn't have to confess that. But John even with his exalted Christology also is very clear. The word became flesh, human, and dwells among us. Jesus is seen as fully human in John who also gives us the most exalted understanding of Jesus Christ. So often we take paragraphs and isolate them out of their context so I went back and I began to look at the broader context of John's gospel. I saw that in the thirteenth chapter, where the passion story begins, we have Jesus acting out the servanthood role, washing the feet of his disciples. And then he starts to become distressed and concerned and he dismisses Judas. Remember he dismisses Judas. Judas goes out. And then John says, very significantly, "and it was night." Now John wasn't making a statement about the time of day. He was making a statement about the state of the cosmos. It was night. It was dark. It was black. The old conspiracy, the plot is coming now to its culmination, and as Judas leaves that inner band, John says, writing his story, "It was night." And then there's a little deal about Jesus going away and Peter saying, "I want to go with you." And Jesus saying, "You can't." And then we come to that marvelous fourteenth chapter about, "Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me," and so forth, and, "I'm going to prepare a place for you," and, "You know the way.” Thomas says, "We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way?" which is the setup for this classic statement, so familiar, so oft quoted in our Christian understanding, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light. No one comes to the Father but by me." And then Philip's dullness, "Just show us the Father," leads to the statement, "If you've seen me, you've seen the father." John couldn't say it any more boldly, with any more exalted conception than that. Jesus: Way, Truth, Life, in a kind of exclusive way, "No one comes to the Father but by me. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." I and you, you and me, we and the Father, this kind of Christ mysticism. There is an indwelling of God in Jesus, and an indwelling of Jesus in us, and us in God and Jesus. And the Easter promise: "Because I live you too shall live. I in you, you in me, we in God." That's John's stuff. © Grand Valley State University �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 3   In the Gospel of John you have it clearly stated that Jesus was human, and with equal clarity and power that God was in that human person. To meet Jesus was to meet God. To hear Jesus was to hear God. To follow Jesus was to follow God's way. Jesus was the embodiment of the eternal God, and in Jesus the eternal God is revealed, or is unveiled, or is laid bare, if you will. There is the embodiment of God. And seeing this one, John says, is seeing God. He says earlier this God is personal, is full of love, is full of grace, with an intention to save the world, having loved the world. All of that he weaves into his gospel. He says, "This God is reached by way of Jesus and in no other way." What you have is John's witness that we have access to God through Jesus. Sometimes I want to water John down. One of the temptations when you're in my business is to try to get around letting somebody say what they really want to say. Sometimes I'd like to water John down a little bit because, though I think that he made a magnificent witness to the revelation of God in Jesus, I think that in his exuberance he claims an exclusivity with which I'd want to argue. The Jesus of John is a Jesus you have to love. And the God that you see in that Jesus is a God that you love, a God you can trust, and that you would want to follow. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father but by me." I can understand that, I can affirm that. Jesus was the Way. You want God, you want this conception of God as personal, as Father, as caring parent, then Jesus is the Way to such a God. Jesus, in his life and in his teaching is true. He is the truth, and he is the life. He came to give us life, and he offers us life, and in the emulation of his life there is life, and it is in this Way, and in this Truth, and in this life that I come into relationship with God, the God I see in Jesus. That's the God I want. That's the God I love and the God I want to serve and follow. Now why do I like that God? Well, maybe I've just been brainwashed, you know, warped from the womb. It's true. So what? That's God for me, the God I see in Jesus, this God full of grace, this God who is represented in the Father, in the story of the prodigal son, this God who reaches out, who embraces, this God, who's personal, this God who is full of grace, that's the God I see in Jesus. That's the God I want. Maybe it is God's spirit in me that makes me want that. It's not the fact that I want it therefore I create it. I have experienced that God through Jesus Christ in the community of Jesus' people, in the Christian Church, in the Christian tradition. I have come to understand a God who is love, a God who is a depth and an abyss of mercy, a God full of compassion. That's God. I want to serve that God. I want to worship that God. I call you and invite you to join me in the praise and worship, in the service of that God. John can't say too much. John cannot lift that God represented in Jesus too high for me. The only thing I realize is that, in a context of that first century where the Jesus movement was necessarily trying to gain a separate identity, developing an © Grand Valley State University �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 4   over-againstness, that if I read John's gospel and am not sensitive to that context I could become an anti-Semite. I could get caught up with anti-Semitism because the Jews don't come off very well in John's gospel. Now we can understand that. If you want to have a good, honest, authentic, understanding of Martin Luther, don't go the archives in the Vatican. And if you want to have a fair evaluation of the Pope in the sixteenth century, at the time of the Reformation, don't read the writings of Luther. You get my point? The gospels do not give us a balanced, unbiased, fair portrait of first century Judaism, of Pharisaism. If I'm not sensitive in my reading of John's gospel, I could get a very negative feeling. It has caused that over the centuries. The Christian church simply has to acknowledge that we have a horrid record of antiSemitism. We have called the Jews God crucifiers, God killers. There has been a terrible record because there has not been a sensitivity to see that what was happening there was a natural sort of over-againstness, adversarial spirit. So must I read it with some sensitivity. Now I live in a world that is no longer separated by mountain ranges and by continents and oceans. I live in a world now that is like the size of a grapefruit where there is instant communication. I live in a world now where there are world religions of which mine is one. And now I say, "Could I water John down a little bit so that we could level things off a little bit and make some room for somebody else?" No, that's not the way to do it. Let me hear John. And when I hear John I say, "Go for it John." That's exactly my experience. That's my Jesus, and that's the God I see in Jesus. The only thing I'm going to argue with you about, John, is if you meant “no one comes to the Father except by me" in an exclusivistic sense as though anybody that didn't come in this avenue of Jesus was lost in darkness forever. Then I'm going to argue with you. I'm not going to take that from you, John. I'm going to say that, in the exuberance of that context in the first century with all of your conviction that Jesus was the final word, the last word, the full revelation, the authentic revelation, you claimed exclusivity too. You kicked off a movement that has become a worldwide magnificent movement, with this downside: its exclusivism had not made room for the authentic spiritual experience of others. It has not given room to the freedom of God, the possibility of reaching a world other than through the channels of the institutional Christian church. It has been a source of arrogance, of self-righteousness, of superiority, and it is time the Christian church simply faced up to that. Now hear me again. John doesn't say anything that I do not affirm. John doesn't tell me anything about Jesus that does not cause me to say "Alleluia." He doesn't show me anything about God in the face of Jesus that does not cause me to bow down, and to worship, and to adore. But why do I have to go beyond that and say © Grand Valley State University �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 5   not only this is true, but it's the only thing that's true? Why do I have to say this gives me joy, and at the same time deny the source of someone else's joy? No I'm not going to water down John. I'm going to hear him. I'm going to hear that testimony and I'm going to say, Yes, that's the way I see it too, in terms of that Way, that Life, that Truth. Ah, yes, that can draw from me worship and adoration. That deserves my life, my soul, my all. Then I'm going to enter into dialogue and into relationships bearing my testimony, pointing to the God that my Jesus points to. Someone has said that our forebears sent missionaries into the world because they could not conceive of how men could die without Christ. I would say we would send missionaries into all the world because if we really got the story and the message, we would not be able to conceive of how people could live without Christ. It is not a matter of a secret door into heaven; it is the possibility of a fully human existence. It is the possibility of life in all of the richness that was embodied in Jesus, who lived totally committed to the eternal God, creator of heaven and earth, lover of the world. This God brought just this, tangibly. If you go into an Eastern Orthodox congregation you'll find them praying, and kneeling, genuflecting before an icon painted in gold and all different colors. I was raised to think that was some kind of idolatry. Well frankly that's not right. That icon, if you were raised in an Eastern Orthodox condition, if you were a good Greek, that icon becomes a focus that points beyond itself. It is a way of spirituality. If you were raised in the Roman Catholic Church there are certain rituals, certain sacramental acts, statuary, the whole Marian development, Maryology. All that is nothing more than our human need to have something that we can get hold of that can move us, through itself, to the invisible God, the incomprehensible One. I suppose that's why we've been so heavy on this book because, again, we needed something that can rein in our thoughts, and focus us, and give us a picture, something tangible. My God has a human face. He's like Jesus. I love God, and I'll serve God to my dying breath. I'll not water down John's gospel pronouncement. But I'll reserve the right to disagree, to believe that God is all John says—and maybe even more. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/188280855671b43b71021d5d095fdb5a.mp3 ac2be195f09e1941fec69434c0c60761 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide IV Series Credo: A Series For Eastertide Scripture Text John 14: 18-20, II Corinthians 4:6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19940424 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-04-24 Title A name given to the resource God With A Human Face Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 24, 1994 entitled "God With A Human Face", as part of the series "Credo: A Series For Eastertide", on the occasion of Eastertide IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 14: 18-20, II Corinthians 4:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Eastertide Grace Nature of God Resuretion Spirit Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b061da81247c292c3342d9946c828b5a.mp3 7b0ce20859bad14ad88bf4c1c87940bb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent III Scripture Text Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1: 23 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19931212 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-12-12 Title A name given to the resource God With Us in the Meantime Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 12, 1993 entitled "God With Us in the Meantime", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1: 23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/92992b6aa3d8b5d4a4a8903f5ff9588f.pdf 3d9d78ff830b00b996f30c61a03257b1 PDF Text Text God, Can’t You Do Something? From the series: God in the Mirror of a Human Face Text: Mark 14:36 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 14, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon It has been my contention this Lenten season that it is critically important that we get a proper fix on the historical Jesus, because if we get it right on Jesus, we’ll get it right on God, and if we get it right on God, we’ll get it right in ourselves, for Jesus is the human face that mirrors God, and the God that we worship, the God that we serve, the God that we imagine is the God that will shape us, determine the contours of our life, the attitudes, the posture of our spirit. So, it’s so very important to get it right on Jesus in order to get it right on God, in order to be right ourselves. We have seen thus far two varying visions of Jesus, one by John the Baptist and the other by Jesus. Now, both John and Jesus were looking for the end of the world, not the space-time world so much as the end of the world as it is, structured through its institutions, through its society, through the powers that be. Both John and Jesus believed that there was something fundamentally wrong with the world, that it did not reflect the justice and the compassion that were the intentions of God. Both John and Jesus believed that there was a divine mandate for world transformation. Both of them were committed totally to the bringing in of the kingdom of God, and both of them were looking for God to break in dramatically and to execute righteousness with violence, at least for a time. That was basically John’s view, and there was a time in which Jesus identified with John. He was baptized by John. He and his disciples were baptizing and carrying on a mission similar to John in the vicinity where John was ministering in the early days of Jesus’ ministry. John’s vision was apocalyptic, the in-breaking of God, the purifying of the righteous, the damning of the wicked, the setting of things right, violently. Something happened in Jesus’ consciousness. Maybe it was reflected in the temptation narratives, where Jesus was seeking his own identity and the nature of his mission. But, there was a point, at least, when Jesus separated himself from John the Baptist. He moved from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north and there he was carrying on quite a different kind of ministry. We might describe it as a ministry of grace, a ministry of healing, a ministry that proclaimed good © Grand Valley State University   �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   news to the poor, that God had drawn near to all people, including all and excluding none. It was quite a different message than that with which he began, the message of John the Baptist, of the imminent judgment of God. What happened? Well, whatever happened, John wondered, too. He was, in the meantime, imprisoned by Herod, and in the prison he heard reports of Jesus’ gracious ministry, quite out of sync with that with which he had nurtured Jesus and mentored Jesus, and he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one? Or, should we look for another?" Jesus said to the disciples that came from John, "Go tell John what you see and hear, how the blind see and the deaf hear and the lame walk and the poor have good news preached to them." But, as a matter of fact, what Jesus was saying is, "Go tell John the answer to his question is ‘No, I am not the one he thought I was.’" John’s ministry, John’s vision was that of a God of justice who affects justice on the earth violently. Jesus’ vision and ministry was of a God of justice, non-violent justice, a God of infinite patience who would wait until justice would rise in the earth. Jesus distanced himself from John the Baptist, saying, in effect, to the disciples that came to him, "Go tell John I am not who he thought I was, because I have a different vision of the nature of God which, in turn, gives me a different cast to my mission to bring in the kingdom of God." John, obviously, must have been disappointed, and we can understand that. Certainly we can identify with John. John was one who wanted God to do something. Don’t you often want God to do something? Aside now from the great affairs of nations, cosmic events, even in our own lives, don’t we often want God to do something? Don’t we want a God that does something? Isn’t there something within us that stirs when we see corruption in high places and low places? Isn’t there something within us that rises up and wants God to do something when we read of yet another hate crime, another brutal slaying, another abortion clinic bombed? Isn’t there something in us that wants God to do something about the ugliness of all of the darkness in all of the tragedy that is visited upon humankind by structures of domination and oppression, by those in positions of power and privilege who would perpetuate that privilege and power by the oppression of the rest? That was going on in Palestine at the time of John the Baptist, Roman commercialization driving the peasants off their land, driving them into destitution. There was enough reason for one like John the Baptist who believed in God, who believed in justice, who believed in righteousness, there was enough in John the Baptist, to cause him legitimately to cry out to heaven and to say, "God, why don’t you do something?" © Grand Valley State University �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I can identify with that, can’t you? If we can’t, then we aren’t aware of our own heart in which there resides always just beneath the surface the potential for violence in all of us. But, Jesus had come to the insight that by violence the kingdom of God could never come. Jesus must have arrived at the insight that it was only non-violent protest in the midst of the battle, in the heat of the day, consistently and firmly that would ever be the means of the transformation of the world. Jesus must have come to see that violence begets violence, begetting violence and more violence, even when it is the violence of God, for the kingdom of God could be imposed upon us violently, it could be brought upon us with coercion, it could be held in place by domination, and we would be the same as we are now. A totalitarian tyrant can enforce total morality and absolute justice, but that’s not the kingdom of God. Jesus must have come to see that the kingdom of God will dawn only when there is an inward awareness and a personal and social transformation of the world, and therefore, he followed the course that he did, a course which now led him to Jerusalem, to his denunciation of the establishment of the temple, to his last supper at Passover time on the eve of his death, of which he must have been fully aware, and he went to Gethsemane with his disciples to pray. That’s where we find him, in prayer. Falling on his face on the ground, crying out, "O God, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." "Afraid to die, Jesus?" Oh, probably not, although execution on a Roman cross is enough to create fear and trembling in anyone. "Feeling the absence of God, Jesus?" Probably not, at least in Mark’s portrait we have Jesus using the most intimate address possible, "Abba," "Pappa." "What was it, then, Jesus, this cup that you wanted removed, this foreboding, this sinking feeling, this being torn inside, this wrenching of your soul, this being totally distraught, this condition worse than death? What was it, Jesus? Was it that you were now in the position that John the Baptist had been a year earlier? When John sent his disciples with his question, when John was wondering whether he, John, had gotten it wrong, whether his whole life project had been wrong? Was it like that, Jesus? Were you wondering, did you get it right? Were you wondering in the face of the darkness that you were encountering, were you wondering in the face of the entrenched evil in the world, were you wondering whether or not your vision of God was adequate? Could a God of non-violence ever bring in the kingdom of peace? "Jesus, were you wondering whether or not that vision by which you lived that you learned in Isaiah, the suffering servant, the suffering servant who does not © Grand Valley State University �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   crush the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick, the servant who goes as a lamb to the slaughter, who resists not, are you wondering whether that model of your ministry which was reflective of your understanding of God - were you wondering whether or not it was adequate to the darkness of the world that you were facing? Is that what you were struggling with, Jesus? For, certainly in the heat of the battle, you must have sensed the overwhelming power of the way things are, which is fundamentally wrong. "Did you wonder if maybe John, with his God Who affects justice through violence, might have been wrong, after all?" Whatever he was wrestling with, he finally won through to freedom when he was able to say, "Not my will, but Thy will be done." I suspect that if we could have encountered a conversation between Jesus and his Father in heaven, Jesus might have said, "Is there no other way? Can’t you do something?" And the answer would have been, "No, I can’t do anything, given Who I Am, and the intention of creation and the goal of My dream. No, Jesus. There’s no other way." "What, then, must I do?" "Stay the course." "But, if I stay the course, I’ll die." "Yes. You will die." Was it, then, the will of God that Jesus die? Absolutely not. It was the will of God that Jesus should continue to be what Jesus had been, continuing that nonviolent protest against all that was wrong, standing for all that was right, revealing the compassion and the grace of God that embraced all and excluded none. That was God’s intention and will for Jesus. But, it would get him killed, executed, the separation of his body and his blood. Was there no other way? No other way, because violence, even God’s violent, final solution, breeds violence, stiffens resistance, builds walls, and can never create community. Jesus died, but he was free, he was free, because, you see, if I look into the mirror and I see at least some semblance of similarity to the contours of the face of Jesus, then I’ll know that my face reflects what his face reflects, which is the justice and the grace and the compassion of God. And if I’m sure of that, I’m free. You can do anything. You can strip me of everything, but if I see the reflection of my face in the mirror that had all the reflection of Jesus, then I’m strong, then I’m free. © Grand Valley State University �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   "God, why don’t You do something?" "Why don’t you do something? You’re waiting for me? I’m waiting for you. It’s in your hands, this world that I’ve created." "Well, then certainly a God like You, a pansy God, a milktoast God, a passive God will never bring in the kingdom. How long will it take?" "I don’t know. How long will it take?" Is that God of Jesus too weak for you? Does it disquiet you a bit, that passive God of grace and justice? Well, let me just remind you that we know the agent of imperial power resident in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus; his name was Pontius Pilate. We know him because his name was inserted into the creed that confesses Jesus as Lord. And Jesus, the one whose blood was separated from his body, through 2000 years has continued to elicit the best, create the highest nobility and commitment of those who have followed in his steps. Of course, it will cost everything ... as Gandhi found, Bonhoeffer found, Martin Luther King found. It will cost everything, but, by God, you’ll be free. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ff945147a66586d6caf9967444e1145d.mp3 5905a82cdb590daf9f12316e116c2842 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent IV Series God In the Mirror of a Human Face Scripture Text Mark 14:36 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990314 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-14 Title A name given to the resource God, Can't You Do Something? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 14, 1999 entitled "God, Can't You Do Something?", as part of the series "God In the Mirror of a Human Face", on the occasion of Lent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 14:36. Compassion Divine Intention Justice Nature of God Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2604f904c012abfbf1317cc7b030b11e.pdf 6092de23c5cebd0ab8fb6fa0979b71c3 PDF Text Text God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving From the sermon series on the Cosmos Text: I Chronicles 29: 11-13; Ephesians 1: 4-6, 9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1981 Transcription of the spoken sermon And now we thank thee, our God, and praise thy glorious name. I Chronicles 29: 11-13 In Christ he chose us before the world was founded…. Determined beforehand in Christ – to be put into effect when the time was ripe; namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ. Ephesians 1: 4-6, 9 Worship is the ascription of worth to God; it arises from a sense of awe before the majesty and marvel of who He is. It arises, that is, it is a spontaneous, irrepressible expression of praise and adoration. Gratitude is likewise a spontaneous feeling that wells up in the human heart in the wake of the recognition of some grace or mercy or kindness done, some blessing received. We teach our children to say "Thank you" but we cannot teach nor can we coerce gratitude. How often do we not say of some person helped who fails to express gratitude, "What an ingrate!" But if it is not felt, then it cannot be forced. In this marvelous and moving outpouring of thanksgiving and praise of David in I Chronicles, we sense the essence of worship and gratitude - a heart totally transfixed in the presence of the grace of God. Let me tell you briefly about the situation that called forth this eloquent expression of praise and thanksgiving. Having consolidated his throne and expanded and secured Israel's borders, David wanted to build a great temple for the worship of God in Jerusalem. However, according to the prophet's word, that task would be denied David; it was rather to be his son, Solomon, who would build the temple. David yielded to that prophetic word, but he nonetheless made preparations for the building and used his power and persuasion with the people to gather gifts and resources with which to build. © Grand Valley State University   �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The occasion of our text is the great service of thanksgiving at the ingathering of the gifts of the respective tribes. A great outpouring of generosity to make the temple project possible was celebrated in a service of thanksgiving which was led by David, the King. The majestic doxological prayer, which is our text, is David's expression of the gratitude and praise he felt to God Who had moved the hearts of the people to support so generously the temple offering. David can hardly find words adequate to ascribe to God the worthiness of His grace. …Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from thee, and thou rulest over all. In thy hand are power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank thee, our God, and praise thy glorious name. I Chronicles 29: 11-13 The deep emotion surges through that ascription of praise. We still "feel" it. It poured out. And true worship, praise and thanksgiving are the irrepressible expressions of a heart touched by mercy, overwhelmed by grace, subdued by love. True worship has the note of doxology and doxology cannot be coerced or conjured up. It arises. Doxology was a hallmark of Paul's worship. The burning passion of that great apostle was the consequence of a grand vision of the Truth. Paul's vision of God was no narrow understanding of some local, tribal deity, but rather of the Eternal God Who from eternity had a plan of cosmic scope to bind together all things into a glorious harmony and the very heart of that eternal purpose was grace. Like David, Paul can hardly find words adequately to express the grandeur and scope of the grace of God at work in the world, culminating in the grace that appeared in Jesus who is the very center of this vast cosmic drama. Listen to his outpouring of this cosmic vision: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. …For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1: 3-6, 9 In this series of messages, I have been attempting to sketch the amazing dimensions of the universe of which we are a part. To catch even a fleeting © Grand Valley State University �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 3   glimpse, to gain even a faint impression of the wonders of the natural world is to stand in awe. And this I have tried to say to you – that the power and might and majesty of the Creation can be seen in another realm, the realm of His gracious reaching of us, creatures of His making, created to reflect His image, to live in communion with Him and one another. The God of Cosmos is the God of Grace. Our Creator is Our Saviour. As we reflect on the first chapter of Ephesians, we can sense the excitement of this insight into God's cosmic plan of salvation. Paul had received the revelation of God's gracious plan as we saw in the previous message. God had acted in Jesus to bring to the world the knowledge of Himself and in Jesus, to accomplish the salvation of the whole world. If we read the various letters of Paul, we know that salvation for him involved nature and people - the whole cosmos. It was this amazing revelation that Paul could hardly fathom, before which he bowed in adoring praise. Worship, praise and thanksgiving arose from the depths of his being. God had a plan. Before the foundation of the world He loved us and included us in His gracious purpose of love. When the time was ripe, He unveiled His hidden purpose that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ. Mindboggling, is it not! It was to Paul. He broke out in doxology. David and Paul both understood the grandeur and the wonder of God's gracious purpose. They knew God's grace was as expansive as the Cosmos and as personal as the individual person touched by grace. Grace is the secret of the universe - the world of nature. Grace is the secret of our human existence. Grace is the ultimate ground and cause of praise and thanksgiving. The Hamburg Times, dated October 9, 1981, has an extended article telling of a conference sponsored by the Thyssen Foundation. The purpose of this conference of scientists was to explore the "Anthropic Principle" - looking at the universe from the perspective of humankind. The amazing result was the realization that this whole cosmological process of billions of years is delicately balanced to provide at this point in the cosmic drama the presence of persons able to know who they are, know the history of the cosmos and assume responsibility for its future. Taking all the data available to us today through the research of the natural sciences, this convention of scientists discovered the universe to be delicately balanced, finely tuned in order to provide an environment in which life such as ours is possible. © Grand Valley State University �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Were the speed of expansion greater than it is, our universe would not have formed as it has. Were the force of gravity less or greater, our universe would not have formed as it has. The author of the article, “The World Is As It Is,” Reinhard Breuer, at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics at Garching, Bavaria, concludes by declaring, The interplay of exactly four forces seems, thus shows the anthropic principle, to have been already a quite frugal method for making possible an evolution through diversity and selection. The structure of the cosmos through natural laws as well as also a special process of evolution evidently cooperated effectively in an almost unique manner within the network of relative relations of forces in order to bring forth an intelligent civilization - us. The American physicist Freeman Dyson once said: "If we look out into the universe and recognize how many chance occurrences worked together for our benefit, then it almost seems as if the universe had known in a certain sense that we were coming." The anthropic principle thus permits a new and uniform valuation of the seemingly (at least in part) accidental development of the world and of the role of man in it. This indeed does not yet make possible an "explanation" in the sense of a scientific theory. Until today it has been shown that terrestrial life is most closely anchored in this structure, that our roots reach back all the way into the properties of the big bang. This transparence doubtlessly orients itself by the example of terrestrial life; it remains open whether an alternate cosmos could be populated by an entirely different form of intelligence. The new mode of thought underpins at any rate the thesis that the world is as it is because with any other constellation of natural laws we would not be here at all. To talk of an "accident" or of "chance" as the cause of our existence is therefore meaningless. Carl Sagan is fully aware of all the data of which these scientists were aware. He looks at it and is enthralled by it, but ascribes it all to chance, accident, coincidence. You and I look at it and fall to our knees as we begin to sense the Grace-Structure of the Cosmos. And with Paul we do more. We see in the vast Grace-Structured Cosmos a point in time - when the time was ripe -when one appeared whose name was Jesus, in whose face we see reflected the image of God Who is first and last the God of Grace. Could it be that this vast cosmic drama involving such immensity of space, billions and billions of years, could have been effected and set in motion for the purpose of love being shared, community being formed, community of God and humankind? That would seem to be the case. © Grand Valley State University �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 5   What does that do for us? It certainly is no cause for boasting and pride. Are we not rather overwhelmed? Do we not identify with David, who in the ecstasy of experiencing the grace of God, cried out.... But what am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to give willingly like this? For everything comes from thee, and it is only of thy gifts that we give to thee. I Chronicles 29: 14 What am I? I am known and loved of God! O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Grace is the ultimate truth, the final reality. Whether we search the distant stars or probe the mysteries of the minute atom, it is grace that meets us. Thanksgiving and praise arise from a heart transfixed by the grace of God. It is good in the Season of Thanksgiving to count our blessings, to take stock of our situation. Yet the immediate circumstances of our lives may not cause praise and thanksgiving to arise spontaneously. Perhaps our situation presently is one of adversity. Can we still give thanks? Certainly we can if we take the broad view, if we catch the vision of the cosmic grandeur of the Divine Purpose. In the long view, our immediate circumstances lose their urgency. In the light of the "big picture", we cannot but stand in awe before Grace. Grace is the ground of thanksgiving. Grace, as broad as the Cosmos, as personal as our names, engraven on the palms of His hands, is the first and last word. …Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from thee, and thou rulest over all. In thy hand are power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank thee, our God, and praise thy glorious name. I Chronicles 29:10-13 Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Thanksgiving Day Scripture Text I Chronicles 29:9-18, Ephesians 1:1-10 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19811126 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-11-26 Title A name given to the resource God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 26, 1981 entitled "God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Chronicles 29:9-18, Ephesians 1:1-10. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives David Divine Intention Grace of God Gratitude Thanksgiving Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d85789e244e1d853d811bba7a338c644.mp3 088316d95909dd822e525487a1c985db https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/be79f3944321cbedd9552dc892819a98.pdf 1bea416d9e4f826ed30a177be1f8b9df PDF Text Text God, For Whom Humankind is Groping Text: Acts 17:22-23 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany III, January 22, 1989 Transcription of the spoken sermon Men of Athens, I see that in everything that concerns religion you are uncommonly scrupulous. ... What you worship but do not know - this is what I now proclaim. Acts 17:22-23 The season is Epiphany, the word is manifestation, the light has dawned. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” We've just celebrated that the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and John says, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of God, full of grace and truth.” Jesus in human flesh. We look into the face of Jesus and we see into the heart of God, and the great truth of the season of Epiphany is the fact that the Light has come. The Light has dawned in our world of darkness; the Light is shining, and the darkness will never overcome it. Epiphany, a season of manifestation, and the good news is that, in the face of Jesus Christ, we have an insight into the very heart of God. That wonderful truth which we celebrate annually is celebrated in this season as a truth that is to be shared with the nations, for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that begins with the Incarnation of the Word concludes with the Resurrection and the Great Commission which says to the Church, “Go into all the world, to all nations, preaching the Gospel, telling the story of Jesus.” And Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” So, the Christian faith has always been a missionary faith. It has always been a people with a mission. It has always been the calling of the Church to share the good news because the Church believed that in Jesus Christ, in that particular and localized revelation of God, there was the manifestation of a worldwide mission and a universal purpose. In that little, narrow line of Israel's history, and in that event that is centered in Jesus, the Church always understood that what God was about was not simply Israel, and not simply events of that localized community gathered around Jesus, but what God was doing in Israel and in Jesus was something that had the world in mind, that the purpose of God was to bring Light to the nations. So, we have that particular story with its universal © Grand Valley State University   �God, for Whom Humankind is Groping Richard A. Rhem Page 2   impact and Epiphany is the season in which we celebrate the fact that Light has come into the world, and we hear that call to be Light to the nations. The whole New Testament is really the response of that early Christian community to its conviction that, in Jesus, the one True God, the Creator of the whole of Reality, had become clearly focused. Paul is converted, and Paul becomes the great Apostle to the Gentiles. The major bulk of the New Testament is simply the story of how Paul took this message of Jesus and the Resurrection and began to go to the world. In his heart there was a yearning to reach earth's farthest bounds. He wrote letters to the congregations that he founded, constituting a large portion of the New Testament, which is the story of the expansion of this Christian movement flowing out of the wake of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So, we stand in that great tradition that has found, in the face of Jesus, the heart of God, the good news that is to be trumpeted to all people everywhere. Today we find Paul in Athens. Now, if that isn't spectacular! Athens! I've been to Athens. It's still impressive. The very ruins of Athens speak of another age and another day. There are few places on earth that can compare with Athens. Maybe Rome, eventually, and certainly we would say Jerusalem. But, when you say Jerusalem and Rome and Athens, you've said about all there is to say about Western civilization. I am parochial in that I don't know much about the great Eastern civilizations, but I know that Athens was that place where in 500 B.C., in the Golden Age of Athens, there were philosophic discussions which still today are as relevant and meaningful as they were then. Someone has said that all of Western philosophy is but a series of footnotes to the dialogues of Socrates and the writings of Plato and Aristotle. It was an amazing phenomenon. And there's Paul in Athens, at the Areopagus, at the very center where the Council met and ruled the city. There's Paul, 500 years after the Golden Age of Pericles, Plato and Socrates but, nonetheless, Athens was still the place where they loved to discuss, to dialogue, to debate. You don't get a very positive picture from Paul in his account in the 17th chapter of Acts. With all of the magnificence of the temples and statues and the artwork, I'm disappointed with Paul, frankly. He looked at it all and got disgusted. I just wish he could have said, “Wow.” But, he was so fanatically concentrated on Jesus that he came to that city and he saw it all and he saw it as a manifestation of a human hunger for God, totally covered with darkness. And so, he went to the marketplace and up and down the streets and in the synagogue where a few Jews were gathered, and to everybody to whom he spoke, he spoke of Jesus. Finally they said, well, why don't you come right up to the Areopagus itself and we'll hear you out. Athens was always open, looking for a new idea. What a moment. What a moment. What an audacious person this Paul was! He is at the very center of civilization, of culture, of education, of enlightenment, and he's not intimidated! He's not even impressed. He's got something to tell Athens that Athens never dreamed of. © Grand Valley State University �God, for Whom Humankind is Groping Richard A. Rhem Page 3   He begins to preach. Thank God he was sensitive in relating positively to his audience. He commended them. He said, “I see that in things religious you are uncommonly scrupulous. You folks are serious. Everywhere I see the manifestations of a religious quest or hunger.” Good preacher that he was, he had in his introduction something to hook them from which to move on into his message. He said, “I saw a statue with an inscription to the unknown God.” The Athenians were uncommonly scrupulous. Just in case there was a god they might have missed, so that he wouldn't be miffed, they raised a statue to the unknown god. Paul says (now, this is audacity), “This unknown god whom you worship, I proclaim!” Wow! Now, there's confidence, there's courage, there's certitude. Do you get the picture? This is Athens, folks. This is the Areopagus; this is the center of enlightenment, and here is this Apostle of Jesus daring to stand there and to say what you are searching for and don't know I proclaim. He went on to say he was talking about the One true God Who created the heavens and the earth, the One true God Who couldn't be visualized by something created with human hands, by human imagination; the God to Whom we can give nothing, but Who is the giver of all things; the God Who breathes life into all life, the source of all reality. This God, Paul says, “In whom we live and move and have our being,” quoting some stoic philosophical thought, “I proclaim.” Quoting one of their own poets, “We are God's offspring,” he preaches the God of Jesus. This God Who is the Fountainhead of all Reality, this God I proclaim to you. This God, Who is responsible for all that is and all life, this God has now at this critical moment in human history and in the whole cosmic drama, revealed Himself in the face of Jesus, and this God will now call all peoples to account. The time of ignorance, the times gone by, God in His forbearance, has overlooked, but He calls all people now to repent, that is, to change their mind and change their thinking, to open up to the truth. And He has demonstrated the certainty of it by raising Jesus from the dead. Paul, starting with the statue to the unknown god, moving to the Creator of the heavens and earth, ends up preaching Jesus and the Resurrection. There was quite a stir. There were those that mocked and laughed, but some believed. There was a little Christian community that was founded in Athens. Paul, convinced that the one true and Eternal God had now shown the light of the revelation of Himself in the face of Jesus, dared to go right into the lion’s den and proclaim Jesus and the Resurrection. That's really something. It is really a dramatic moment. I stand in awe of Paul. I would feel my own knees knocking. But, he did it, and what he did is still our calling to do, because it is our conviction that the Creator God has given life and light to the world in Jesus Christ, and this good news needs to be shared with people who are thrashing about in all sorts of human bondage, darkness, superstition, fear, and guilt. There is good news to tell; the Light has come. Jesus reflects the very heart of God, and God is good and God is full of grace, and God has a purpose to redeem the world. That's why the Church has always been a missionary enterprise, © Grand Valley State University �God, for Whom Humankind is Groping Richard A. Rhem Page 4   because there is this marvelous message to proclaim. And God knows in our day, too, this message needs to be proclaimed. Our day of enlightenment, our day of advanced scientific understanding and amazing technological breakthrough is still searching for this word. The moon was out last night, and it shone in all of its brightness. The lake was absolutely silver, awash with light, the waves dancing in the moonlight. I looked out of my window and I saw that big silver thing hanging there and it looked like I could almost touch it. I thought, you know, had I been a part of NASA, I would have planted my rocket on my bluff and then shot straight for it. How did they figure out that you can't just go right to the moon? It blows my mind. I'm out of my realm. It seems like you could just keep steering your rocket right toward that moon, but I guess it doesn't work that way. This amazing, wonderful, fantastic world. This age of which we are a part has put a person on the moon. This world still needs to know about the God revealed in Jesus. I have made a great discovery that occasionally to the seminary, even to the seminary, comes a brilliant mind. I had one manifest himself to me, one of my students whose sermon I will now cite. Preaching on this text, he said, You may be saying right now, “What does this have to do with Acts 17:1628?” Well, to be honest, it has everything to do with how we read and understand, and then eventually proclaim, the message of the gospel. We still operate in a Newtonian world, an ordered world. But our children will grow up in a Quantum universe, where the underlying principle of reality is that of randomness and uncertainty. These principles are not wild, unproven theories. Breakthroughs in Quantum Physics have led to the development of semi-conductors for your computer, satellites for your cable system, and of course, the worldwide nuclear arsenal. What Acts 17:16-28 has to do with this is that Paul's speech places our view of God where it should be. We are not Stoics, or Epicureans, but modern Quantum theorists. Our worldview must be placed within the context of Acts 17. Paul speaks to us now as clearly as he did to the Athenians of the first century. God must be present in our lives as a firm reality amidst the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle, the observer-determined reality, and a world teetering on the edge of destruction. Our physics has opened up our minds to the awesomeness of creation. In our theories we can either see a Cosmic Christ, or a cosmic emptiness. Paul says to the Areopagus, 'God ... is not served by human hands.' God is the bedrock of our existence. To Bertram Russell and countless other modern intellectuals, the universe only reveals an UNKNOWN GOD. The secular physicists search for God in their theories, hoping to find Him conforming to their preconceived ideas. The Athenians, likewise, sought after God, but in their endless philosophical debates. We, as modern Athenians, must see © Grand Valley State University �God, for Whom Humankind is Groping Richard A. Rhem Page 5   God, not as some vague force, but as the fountainhead of all creation, the necessary being, the one independent being in all of the cosmos. We must, therefore, listen to Paul's words, not pretending to be first century Athenians, but remembering that we are twentieth century Quantums....’” And then he rewrites the text of the morning; he imagines a great seminar somewhere in some Hilton Hotel with sauna and indoor pool and all, a gathering of the world's greatest scientists and physicists, and he imagines old Paul coming on center stage and these are Paul's words to such a twentieth century gathering: “'Men of science, I perceive that in every way you are very important, very scientific. For I observed the objects you worship. I saw a telescope, a particle beam accelerator, a copy of your scriptures, The Scientific American. I also found a monument to the future and its potential achievements; it was made of the finest marble and I stood in awe of it.' The little man coughed and continued, 'Gentlemen and ladies, I will tell you the future. I will tell you what you seek for, what you hope to find. For, in this scripture I read of a theory called TOE, or the Theory of Everything. In it you state that God will be discovered as the source of this TOE. But I will proclaim to you that this God is here, today, among you. This God made the world and everything in it, and He needs none of you to explain or to discover Him. He made the world and set the courses of history in order that people like yourselves should yearn to seek after Him. You do seek after Him, but I will end your search. For we are His offspring, and we must realize that He is not like our theories or our art, but is Spirit. He is everywhere, but He is also here. His name is Jesus Christ.' At once there was a loud commotion, scientists were all grumbling at once and shifting in their chairs. They were saying that God was dead, and that Jesus was proved to be a hoax in the last AMA Journal, etc. Finally, the chairperson called for order and forced the man off the stage. They jeered and mocked the man, but some of the scientists followed him out.” Well, I sat enthralled with that sermon because that young man, whose name is F. Scott Petersen, was able to speak Jesus Christ in the context of contemporary Western civilization with all of the effectiveness of Paul in the Areopagus. Now, that's what preaching is and that's what the Christian mission is - to say to the world in all of its wonder and all of its fantastic potential and all of the marvel of this age of which we are a part, with all of the ingenuity in which we stand in awe, to the human mind, the imagination - to say to it all, “God is the fountainhead of Reality and can be known through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That's only one side of the contemporary scene. The other side is even stranger to me. The other side is the side of religion. Charles Colson, in his most recent book Kingdoms in Conflict, writes in the first chapter an imaginary scenario. The Christian Religious Right walked out of the Republican Convention in 1992 © Grand Valley State University �God, for Whom Humankind is Groping Richard A. Rhem Page 6   because their needs were not being serviced. But in the succeeding years, the gulf was bridged, the wound was healed and a Christian Right candidate, a marvelous professor from Baylor University, a good Southern Baptist, was the candidate for the presidency and was elected. This gentleman no sooner took office than it was discovered by the CIA that the Likud Party in Israel, the conservative party, having been unable to find a coalition partner in order to form a government, finally had found in a radical Right minority group a willingness to join. The condition of this radical minority party was, however, that the temple of the Rock, the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim mosque, the most sacred shrine be bombed and taken over by Israeli troops, commandos specially trained. And this little party was also training priests who could institute the rituals of the Old Testament sacrifice because this little group believed that until the Temple Mount was reclaimed and the temple was rebuilt and the sacrifices restored, the Messiah wouldn't come! Well, the scenario, as Colson puts it together, has this president hearing this and thinking, “This is it! Russia will come from the north; the troops will meet in the valley of Armageddon, and I will be the president at this cosmic point in human history.” So, rather than acting like a president should act, and doing what a president has to do in order to forestall that kind of internal maneuvering within Israel itself, he waits and waffles until it actually happens. The commandos of this little minority party blow up the Dome of the Rock and then, of course, the chapter ends. Colson says, in the footnote, “I've made this up, but the statements that I've quoted I quote from public figures out of the press.” And I wouldn't even be so impressed by that opening shot of Colson had I not recently heard Martin Marty, the person par excellence with his finger on the culture and religious development and history of America, say recently, that World War III will erupt and be ignited by the fanaticism of religion in our world today. Colson says not since the Crusades have religious passions and prejudices posed such a worldwide threat. If not through a religious zealot or confused idealist whose finger is on the nuclear trigger, then certainly by destroying the tolerance and trust essential for maintaining peace and concord among people. Friends, this world is a world that can land a person on the moon, and has a space vehicle going out to Mars. This world in which we live is a world so fantastic that our forefathers would not have believed it. And it is a world that is so screwed up spiritually, that it is falling for every kind of superstitious myth and cult, and even satanic worship. This is a world where the great religions in a worldwide resurgence are standing toe to toe and where there is a fanaticism that has groups in all religions ready to go to war, whether Christian Fundamentalists, or Islam Fundamentalists, or some other. This world in which we live is a world that needs to know that the one God Whom all people are searching for and groping after has indeed come to us in Jesus Christ. Does it matter whether we tell the story? Does it matter whether or not we © Grand Valley State University �God, for Whom Humankind is Groping Richard A. Rhem Page 7   share the good news? Is there anything incumbent upon us who stand in the great tradition of Light and Life? I would say there is. The world is at stake. We believe that, in the face of Jesus, we've seen into the heart of God, and we believe it's true. It doesn't mean that we believe that God has no concern for all of the rest of humankind. It doesn't mean that we should be so narrow and closed and dogmatic that we do not think that God has made God's self-known beyond the limits of Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean that we cannot have our own insights deepened and our viewpoint broadened as we enter into genuine dialogue and encounter with those who are also seriously groping after God in their own way. It doesn't mean that we will not be willing to enter into genuine dialogue, which means a willingness to change and to adopt and to adapt and to deepen and to broaden; all of that is true. But, it does mean that we have something very important to bring to the party. We have Jesus in whom we believe God has most fully revealed God's self. So, I wish somehow we could reclaim the fire and the passion and the fervency, the urgency and the certainty, the assurance of Paul in Athens. It is a different world, but that same kind of rootedness in Jesus we have. In confidence, not fear; with openness, not defensiveness, we can bring Jesus, the Light of the World, to the discussion, perhaps ourselves coming to see, in the dialogue, dimensions of Jesus we've never even seen before, therefore, being transformed ourselves, we will but share with this wonderful, crazy world, our conviction that God, the source of all, is the goal of all, and that in Jesus Christ our Lord, God is about reconciling all things to God's self. What a message! What a task! © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany III Scripture Text Acts 17:22-23 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19890122 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-01-22 Title A name given to the resource God, For Whom Humankind is Groping Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 22, 1989 entitled "God, For Whom Humankind is Groping", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 17:22-23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Apostle Paul Epiphany God of Grace Interfaith Nature of God Religious Quest Revelation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5827e37aa50ce9f71c9526ff99d49754.mp3 088f9351edf9757d6069d78292b7d1ea https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/431aa956a5c731992a92af0843138bf9.pdf 3aac182e9a717ad4cc7a2a5aa0096c60 PDF Text Text God, Freud and Fathers Fathers’ Day Scripture: Psalm 103; Luke 11:1-13 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 16, 2002 Transcription of the spoken sermon A Reading From the Present: ... I know that my own world was defined by a polarity between a happy but somewhat impractical father and a wise, no-nonsense mother. It seems logical to me that I should see the cosmos in much the same terms. There's a wise, no-nonsense, loving feminine side to it and an impulsive, creative masculine side to it. My ideal of a whole, wholesome human being is one who combines both, whose maleness is tempered with wise femininity, or whose femaleness is balanced by a certain male impulsiveness. It doesn't take an advanced degree in philosophy or theology to note that people's ideas of God more or less tell you nothing about deity, but a good deal about the sort of parents they've had. It is an article of faith that we are made in the image and likeness of God, but in whose image and likeness do we form our ideas of deity? Most of us, all unconsciously, pattern the image after our mothers and fathers. If our parents were loving and understanding, we tend to see God as a benevolent provider. If our parents were strict or distant, we tend to see God as an aloof disciplinarian. All theology in the world, whether administered in Sunday School or at our parents' knees, won't undo the sense of Godhood that we unconsciously develop from being around our parents. John Allen's Journal, Vol. 1, No. 39, 6-13-90 That, too, is a word of the Lord. Well, it is Fathers' Day. As I was thinking about Fathers' Day and thinking about fatherhood in terms of God and human relationships and the family, I was reminded of Freud, the psychoanalyst and great scholar, who has put his imprint on all psychological understanding subsequent to his own life and scholarship, although certainly there have been those who have come along to correct him here or there or challenge him here or there. It was the conviction of Sigmund © Grand Valley State University �God, Freud and Fathers Richard A. Rhem Page 2 Freud that religion's origin rests in the helplessness of the human being, that we come into this world helpless infants, totally dependent, and there is an initial attachment and bonding with the mother who is the provider of all things necessary. Eventually that relationship bonds also with the father who becomes the strong protector figure. It was Freud's conviction that human religion can be explained in terms of human impotency and the vulnerability, the helplessness and the fiercesomeness of the human experience that cries out for comfort and support and protection and security. Freud was an atheist but, I think, an atheist in terms of traditional, orthodox theism. He was, he said in his own words, "a godless Jew," and yet he was fascinated by religion and he continued to think about it, and particularly in the last decade of his life he was almost exclusively concerned with the nature of religion. He never changed his mind about his conviction as to religion's origin rooted in human helplessness. And he saw the religious structures, the religious forms and institutions that we have created as human beings, he saw that all as wish fulfillment. The deep-seated wish that things were safe and secure, the deepseated wish that there would be some buffer against the fate, against the vicissitudes of life, against life's terrible vulnerability and, especially, assuaging of the painful thought of death. And so, in the creation of, in his case, Judaism, or Christianity, Western religion particularly, there was the projection of the strong father figure, that primal figure who was the security and the final arbiter of all things, so that finally life would be reconciled in all of its complexity, and ultimate justice would prevail, extending existence into another life. Freud has not been universally followed, by any means. Nonetheless, his was an honest wrestling with the nature of religion. He also dealt in another whole dimension of his thinking which I am not able to go into, nonetheless, in his recognition of the conflict between the human being and that father figure. The one who provides comfort and security is also the one who causes resistance because of the control and the domination. And so, that conflict intrinsic to the human being, the conflict of a helpless and impotent being wanting safety and security, finding it in this primal figure of the father who is projected on the screen of reality and called God, but a God, then, who is also controlling and almighty, against whom we resist and revolt. So, the love-hate relationship, the desire for the affection and the affirmation of the father, and yet the resistance to the control and the domination of the father - all of that Freud saw in the human being's religious struggle. As I said, Freud hasn't been followed on that altogether by any means, and he has been challenged seriously by other voices. But, the one thing that he did bring out which, frankly, I have come to conclude and I have shared with you in one way or another many times is that he is right in the fact that religion is a human product, a human imaginative creative construct. That religion didn't fall out of heaven, that it is not the consequence of some revelation of God which through the Holy Spirit was enscripturated in a book so that what we have in our Christian faith is © Grand Valley State University �God, Freud and Fathers Richard A. Rhem Page 3 a divine religion authored by God. No, for all human religion is human religion. It is creative, it is imaginative, it is a human construct, and it is put together in order to meet the deep exigencies of our human situation. It is creative in order to enable us to live in some kind of serenity and tranquility in the very vulnerable position in which we find ourselves. People create religion. The religion that we create is either good or not so good. It serves our deep-seated needs and desires, or it doesn't, and what we do, we do here, understanding that. For example, the baptismal service is a beautiful service with deep meaning, the sacramental moment in which we consciously are aware of the gift of life, the gift of a child, and of the necessity for nurture and for care, and all of that which goes into it. Likewise, the Eucharist and all of the sacraments of the Church, all of the things that we do, the vestments, everything about us. These are the things that we have created over centuries which convey meaning that enable us in an observance to bring us into the conscious awareness of the mystery that sustains us. The only difference I would have with Freud is that he, based on Feuerbach and the projection theory of religion, says that all religion arises here in human need and is projected outward and there is nobody "out there." The only difference I would say is that that human need and that sense of vulnerability and that desire for security and comfort and some meaning in this miasma of human experience is a response. It is not the initiatory action of the human being, but it is the creative response of the human being to the mystery and the reality of our human situation. Freud set us on the track of all of that kind of thinking and he was in line with what was going on in his own time, in Feuerbach and Karl Marx and eventually in Nietzsche. All of that development of 19th century atheism was a reaction over against that old conception of theism, of a deity "out there" in control, pulling strings, pushing the gears of the universe. As the whole scientific method took hold after a couple of centuries, and historical consciousness came to being, the whole faith structure was examined with critical rationality – the rule of the day– to where the human dimension of religion was exposed and came to be understood. Now, I say it came to be understood. It still is not understood in the church at large. This time of the year I always go into a severe depression because, sick person that I am, I still read the newspaper about the accounts of what is going on in the respective denominations, and, if you once see religion as a human creative, imaginative construct, then you read these grand proclamations of the respective synods of the church - "God's will, God's word, God said ... God said yes, God said no. God said women should be in the clergy. God said women should not be in authority over clergy people. God said this, God said that”– it is so ridiculous. I don't know how I lived in that house as long as I did. So we still, in the church at large, have not faced up to the kind of insights that surfaced with © Grand Valley State University �God, Freud and Fathers Richard A. Rhem Page 4 Feuerbach and Freud. But, on this Fathers' Day, I want to say that the possibilities for us are better than ever they have been for the recognition of the humanity of fathers, of the whole being of the male which does not exclude the female. In the church today, that struggle is still going on. In fact, to my despair, it is in the church where these insights are resisted, and what it is is a threat to authority, of course, by male clergy all masked by faithfulness to the Bible as the word of God, all of that. It is so distressing. But, we could move beyond it and we have moved beyond it here, thank God. We have come to see, as the little piece I read a moment ago, that the human being is not biologically determined according to cultural stereotypes, that all of us bear within ourselves the male and the female, and that it is not the cultural stereotype that says the male is this and the female is that by which we have to live. We can break free of that. We can get beyond that, so that there is not a pre-described or a preset determination of what is a man and what is a woman and what is the role of the one and what is the role of the other. We are at a time when we, I think, with critical rationality and insight that we have from all of the sciences, can see that there is such a thing as maleness and femaleness and that they are not destined biologically as ultimate absolutes. Rather, it is a cultural determination as to how the genders mix and how they can proceed in the execution of life in all of its dimensions, once again, in the church, so that the role of man or woman in the church is indifferent. There is not a reason in the world why there should be any question about whether or not a man or a woman is qualified for leadership in the community of the people of God. On the other hand, the good news for men is that while the feminist movement has brought all of this to our consciousness and has refused to go along with those deeply ingrained cultural stereotypes, it has allowed also the liberation of the male, so that the male no longer in order to be male, in order to be a man, has to act out some kind of macho role, one in control, dominating and authoritative. That in the mutuality of male and female there can be the adjustment that fits any particular pairing which is a wonderfully freeing insight, so that no longer do we have to operate on the basis of what culture or society at any particular time has determined is the role of the one or the other. The Bible is a book that comes from a patriarchal society so that you can't go to the Bible to solve questions of gender equality or the mutuality of male and female. It just isn't in here. And yet, there is within our tradition, wonderful treasures that can be retrieved, and I read one of the most beautiful ones this morning. Psalm 103, in the eighth verse, speaks about God being merciful and gracious, and the Hebrew root of the word merciful is the same root for the word womb, and what the text is literally saying, by way of the Hebrew poet in Israel who centuries ago had come to an insight that that mystery which is the mystery of life is womb-like. The word gracious has as its Hebrew root the word that © Grand Valley State University �God, Freud and Fathers Richard A. Rhem Page 5 describes the wailing of a woman for her young that has been removed through weaning, so that in the Psalm 103, eighth verse, you have two powerful feminine images for God - a womb and the wailing of the woman for her young, that maternal yearning. And then in the 13th verse we have "God is like a father, a father who pities his children, a father who understands us fully, God who knows our frame, who remembers that we are dust." It is the most beautiful image, an image of God full of compassion, full of understanding who says, in effect, it's okay to be human. In all of your humanness, you are accepted. In all of the ambiguity of your being, in all of the ambivalence of your person, in all of the light and shadow of who you are, in your masculinity and your femininity and all points in-between, God knows your frame and God is merciful and compassionate, like a father. It's not exactly the father of Freud where there is no ambiguity there. This is a God of whom the Psalmist can write in powerful feminine terms and then speak of God as father, merciful, gracious, compassionate. Of course, out of that Hebrew tradition comes Jesus, and the New Testament scholar, Edward Schillebeeckx says that the key to the insight of Jesus in his relationship to God was his use of the word Abba as the form of address. Abba, father. In the New Testament it says, "Abba, father," but father is a translation of Abba. Abba is more intimate than father. It is the most intimate address of a child to a parent, to a father, Abba. Jesus had that sense of intimacy in relationship to God. And he lived in that kind of spirit, obviously, because one day they said to him, "Teach us to pray." He must have lived in a kind of transcendent atmosphere such that they said it's contagious, teach us. And so, he said, "When you pray, say 'Father...'" In our own cultural situation this has become such a problem. The feminist movement which I affirm totally has necessarily had to be aggressive and abrasive sometimes in forcing us to face the language problem. And so, in a little bit we will sing "Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost," in the Doxology, and that is a compromise. That is an acknowledgment on our part that Father, according to Freud, has been a problem for many, that that controlling, dominating figure has been a block to some in their attempt to have an intimate relationship with God. So, we will sing Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost. It doesn't do it. I don't know how to do it any better, but it doesn't do it. Creator is not Father. We could better say Father-Mother. We could better say to you, "Say Father-Mother," whichever feels good to you. Maybe we could say Father-Mother real quick. And anybody that has a problem with that is not reacting rationally, they are reacting emotionally. Of course, in all this stuff we react emotionally because we play these cultural linguistic games and we have our identity all tied up with certain ways to do it, certain words. Language is so terribly important. Language is so important that we have to deal with language, and so we sing Creator, Christ and Holy Ghost. © Grand Valley State University �God, Freud and Fathers Richard A. Rhem Page 6 Now I know, I watch some of you. You've never been willing to do it and you keep saying Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Well, go ahead. Bless you. But, some of you might as well say Mother, Christ and Holy Ghost. What I am saying is that we have had enough time and enough intelligence to begin to be reasonable about these things and to be able to go back to the scripture and, instead of taking a couple of texts from St. Paul in some kind of ridiculous argument that God is male and Jesus was male and therefore it is only male authority in the Church and in the home, the father. This is a strong strain in fundamentalist culture in our day. The strong headship of the father in the home. It's ridiculous. We need strength and authority and compassion and love in the home by fathers and mothers, and this idea that somehow or other God has appointed the male to be a dominant authority figure just doesn't figure. On this Fathers' Day, I want to say, "Fathers, you don't have to be so tough anymore. You can be free from that cultural stereotype that says you need to be in charge and control, and, consequently, you mothers will have to fill in the slack. Of course, that's what's been going on all of the time. It has just been a charade. We know that. Brian Wren, the poet and hymn writer, has written a book about language and God. It's a very good book, too, and he wrote this poem: Gallery: A Song for Boys and Men: Can a Man Be Kind and Caring? Can a man be kind and caring? Jesus was. Can a man who's kind and caring be adventuresome and daring, bravely doing right, walking in the light? Jesus did, and so I can: I will be a Jesus man. Can a man be sad with crying? Jesus was. Can a man who's sad with crying, shed his tears, yet keep on trying, loving to the end, enemy and friend? Jesus did, and so I can: I will be a Jesus man. Can a man be hurt and broken? Jesus was. Can a man who's hurt and broken show his friends how God has spoken, giving to us then, power to start again? Jesus did, and so I can: I will be a Jesus man. © Grand Valley State University �God, Freud and Fathers Richard A. Rhem Page 7 From What Language Shall I Borrow? God-Talk in Worship: A Male Response to Feminist Theology, Brian Wren, 1989) If more of us men would be Jesus men, the feminist movement would evaporate in a moment. There would be no need for it. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Fathers' Day, Pentecost IV Scripture Text Psalm 103, Luke 11:1-13 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20020616 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-06-16 Title A name given to the resource God, Freud and Fathers Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 16, 2002 entitled "God, Freud and Fathers", on the occasion of Fathers' Day, Pentecost IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 103, Luke 11:1-13. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Compassionate God Religion as a Human Construct https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d97c24fd462fe79bf66c65813cf8428d.pdf 9e467acb12c4513d6e3c141e6a3a20d3 PDF Text Text God, Humanity and Cosmos From the sermon series on the Cosmos Text: Psalm 8: 4-5 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 15, 1981 Transcription of the spoken sermon What is man that thou art mindful of him, …dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him a little less than God. Psalm 8: 4-5 Through a happy coincidence, this was an exciting week in the old U.S. of A. as we once again accomplished a great triumph of science and technology, sending into space again our Spaceship Columbia, watching it blast off with all of the drama of those moments, and then, in order that we might report its safe return this morning, the mission was shortened, and they came back yesterday. Exciting, really, isn't it? And doesn't it boggle the mind to think about the human potential, to think about what human intelligence is able to effect? Isn't it amazing, really, when you contemplate the nature of such events? Truly it is thrilling. Yet we become so easily accustomed to the dramatic and the sensational. If we were to tell our forefathers that these things were happening, they wouldn't believe it. They would say it was impossible. At best they might say, "Well, it's a miracle." Well, it is a miracle, in a sense. But in another sense, it is simply that the human mind has been able to probe the secrets of reality in order to accomplish a mission like that and continue the exploration of the cosmos. I kidded about them bringing the spacecraft home early so that we would know this morning that they were successful, but, as a matter of fact, that decision was made, though not for that reason. As I was thinking about Psalm 2 and the psalmist's reflection upon the cosmos and then upon himself, who he was in relationship to God, I thought that decision was a rather nice illustration of the second Psalm, for a choice was made in favor of human life over the probing of the cosmos. If the psalmist was impressed with the cosmos, then how much more you and me? If he was impressed with what he could see, which was but an infinitesimal fragment of what there is, if he was impressed with his smallness over against the vastness of space and the eons of time, which are becoming more and more clear to us, then how much more must we be impressed with our smallness and our insignificance? And yet, when one of the three fuel cells of that spacecraft failed, a decision had to be made as to whether to let the mission run its course, or to bring it home early. Two fuel cells were enough to allow the © Grand Valley State University   �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 2   mission to take its full run. But then, down to two, if one should fail, the mission and human life would be in jeopardy. And so, at headquarters, discussion was held and the decision was made. They came home early, even though involved were scores and scores of people, and millions and millions of dollars and all of that which is at stake. They brought that mission home early because in this nation, standing in the biblical tradition, we know the value and the sanctity of human life. And when it comes to taking a risk and succeeding with a few more scientific experiments, but placing at the same time, human life in jeopardy, there is really no question, because we know in the face of space's immensity and time's ever-rolling stream, that there is still one thing that counts supremely, and that is a human being. Now that is really the same kind of conclusion that the psalmist came to. On the one hand, he said, Lord, when I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man, that you care for him? He felt his smallness and his insignificance. He was overwhelmed by the immensity of the heavens overhead, and he recognized that his days were but a brief span of time. His littleness in the vastness of it all gave him such a sense of insignificance and smallness. As I said, if he felt small, how about us? We have to say that in our own day there have been a lot of people who have been unable to move with the modern conception of the universe and maintain a faith in God the Creator. The psalmist had a correct intuition. I mean, who are we, really, when you think of it? Fifteen to twenty billion years in the process, and now we are here, threescore years and ten, perhaps. Why, our lifespan is a blink of the eye. And when you realize, as Carl Sagan says in his book, Cosmos, that the earth is a speck of dust, circling a humdrum star, our sun - just an average old humdrum star - you begin to realize the vastness of the cosmos. We are on a speck of dust circling a humdrum star in a corner of an insignificant galaxy; and if we are on but a speck of dust in the vastness of space, so are our days but an instant in the eons of time. When you really stop to think about it, I mean when you really stop to contemplate it, can you still believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? You see, there have been many of our contemporaries who have not been able to make that move and that adjustment. We have opened up the mysteries of the cosmos, and it is a most exciting day in which to be alive. But what has to happen is not only that the cosmos expands before our eyes, but our conception of God must grow commensurately. As J.B. Phillips wrote so many years ago, Your God Is Too Small. We have to admit, too, that in the Church we have not been very good at helping people to make this adjustment. © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 3   In the most recent issue of Science '81, an excellent magazine which was placed in my hands, there is a centerfold on Creationism – Creationism as opposed to Evolutionism, and all of the controversy that is being stirred up by the fundamentalist wing of the Christian Church today. It recounts how several states have gone to court to get equal time for the doctrine of Creation in their schools. It is a very interesting development. This is a science magazine. And in this report it was stated what we have been saying here over and over again, that all of the scientific investigation of the cosmos, whether in biology or physics or geology or in whatever field - all of these investigations really do not impinge upon whether or not God created the heavens and the earth, and whether or not I can still believe that this is my Father's world. That really isn't at issue. But the problem with the fundamentalist wing of the Church that is stirring up all this controversy is that it is creating, once again, that overagainstness with science, and that mindset in much of the Christian Church that there is something destructive to faith in all of this explosion of knowledge in the natural sciences. That is tragic. We do ourselves a great disservice. If you feel good when you see some television evangelist pounding the pulpit and talking in terms of creation over against a godless, atheistic evolutionism, don't clap, because he is not on your side, if you are on the side of God and Truth. That is a false distinction, that is a false antithesis, and it is deadly. It is deadly because it offends the best minds and the best spirits, and it creates the illusion that to be a Christian you have to take off your head, shut down your mind and refuse to survey the vast amount of data that is there for anyone with any common sense. We can't play that game any longer. We have to admit that what the psalmist saw, the immensity of the universe and the eons of time and all of this which has become even more clear to us will necessitate an adjustment of our understanding of God. We simply cannot have this neat, secure little world, little planet Earth and our few thousands of years and our literal, biblical account of things, because, you see, the biblical writers were not writing physics, were not writing biology, were not talking about geology. The writers of the Bible thought that this was a threestory universe, with heaven above and the waters under the earth. God didn't whisper in their ears and give them some revelation of the mysteries of physics. This is not a science textbook, and you cannot find out about the process of the created order, you cannot find out about the stages which have brought us to this present point by going to the scriptures. The only thing the scriptures will tell you, and of course the only thing that really matters, is that in the beginning was God, and that He will be in the end, and that He is with us in the meantime. When the psalmist looked up and thought, "Oh my goodness, I'm not much," then how much more we, and we simply have to recognize that we need to do some readjusting because, as a matter of fact, this old, cosmological, evolutionary process has been going on for a long, long time. There is no doubt about that. And it has been following a course of natural development which now is more and © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 4   more understood, with many mysteries still to be unraveled, but which will be unraveled. We live in a day which is right at the crest of a breakthrough that will continue to explode and explode and explode all around us. The more we learn, the more access we have to deeper mysteries, and when you saw Columbia come in and land right on the second and right on the line, that is simply a sign and a finger pointing beyond itself to the most fantastic dreams that are even now welling up in human hearts and minds. Never say never! Because before you die, it will have happened. But the psalmist had another insight, and that is the critical insight, for he not only experienced his smallness and his insignificance, but he went on to say, "Thou hast created him a little less than God. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the whole created order." That is the biblical insight. That is the significant fact. That is the uniqueness of being human. That is the religious issue, for it doesn't really matter how long it's been going on, and it doesn't really matter how vast the immensity of space. The fact is that we are here now at this point in the process, and we are human. The psalmist recognized that there is something about being human which is nearly divine. And if I were to put it in a sentence, I would say to you this morning that the message is simply this - You are really something. That's the biblical message. We may be impressed with distance, and we may be impressed with age, but what we really ought to stand in awe before is the mystery of being human, the wonder of what it is to be man and woman, created in the image of God, for what the psalmist was saying here when he said, "Thou hast made him a little less than God," was what the writer of the Genesis account was saying when he said, "God created man and woman in His own image." God created a creature over against himself and made him almost divine. He created a creature with selfconsciousness and with a measure of freedom and self-determination, and with responsibility and the opportunity to fall in worship and adoring praise before the Creator of it all. You are really something! To be human is the greatest mystery reflecting the deepest majesty of the whole cosmological process. When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established: what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands… Psalm 8: 3-6 We are created to be the co-laborers with God, partners with God in this creative process. We are endowed with gifts, with human potential, and we have the powers and the ability to reflect the divine image. We can think His thoughts after Him, and we can enter into His creative activity, and with the things that have already been accomplished through the exercise of human intelligence, who © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 5   would dare say what the frontier finally would be? You are really something, and good religion will affirm human personality. Now, we need to hear that in the Church, too, don't we, because for too long we have spoken disparagingly of human personality. Nothing I say this morning would in any way detract from the fact which we have faced honestly that there is something desperately wrong with us all and we fall short of the glory of God. There is a meanness about us and a contrariness; someone, somewhere has thrown a wrench in the works, and man's inhumanity to man is given eloquent testimony from beginning to end. But in the Church, so often that is where we have left it. We talk about our misery and fail to talk about our grandeur. We talk about our fallenness and fail to take in the destiny to which we have been called. God has dealt with our sin, and by His grace, calls us to realize our destiny and to develop the full potential with which he has endowed us, and to reflect the divine image. You are really somebody. You reflect God. You were created in His image, a little less than Him, and He has created us in order to be in relationship with Him, to live in communion, and to live not only in communion with Him, but in communion one with another, and in interpersonal relationships where there is love and care and forgiveness and grace. There is a little bit of heaven. God and His creature, living in fellowship and communion, one with another and with Him, define the ultimate miracle and the meaning of the whole process. Now, that is terribly important to affirm and it ought to make you feel really good about yourself, because you really are somebody. You have potential untapped, you have gifts yet undreamed of, you have possibilities without limit. You are almost divine, and God calls us to that upward way more and more to respond to that destiny for which he has shaped us, to be prepared for the future that He has for us. Now, when you watch Carl Sagan on Cosmos, be enrapt with him in the excitement of exploring the mysteries of the physical world. And I affirm that, and I love it, and when you study it, as I have more and more, you are so impressed with the simplicity on the other side of complexity. The complexity of the cosmos and humankind seems so apparent. But once the smoke has cleared there appears a simplicity in the created order. All of us and all matter is made up of the same building blocks, the same atoms, the same fundamental elements, whether here on planet Earth or the moon or Jupiter or the sun or your beating, human heart. Everything, being composed of very simple and fundamental elements, seems to reflect a divine intelligence which can hardly be conceived of. But when you watch Carl Sagan and he begins to suggest that that process that has moved through all of the eons of time and all of that evolutionary process to the present moment is purposeless, the product of chance, when he begins to suggest that you are the latest and highest expression, and that there is no one beyond, then don't you believe him, for then he is no longer a scientist; then he is in the sphere of religion. He suggests that maybe the universes are not the © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 6   dreams of God, but rather, that God may be the dream of man. He is saying that we have come to this point and then we have simply projected out, beyond ourselves the God that we wish were there. When he begins to talk that way, he has lost me. Then he has said that I am simply the consequence of all of that process of development having really no freedom and no unique spiritual character, related to all that went before but missing completely that relationship to Him Who is beyond and above. Then I know that he has missed the ultimate truth. Nothing that he says about our relationship to the cosmos is in any way in conflict to that relationship we have with a God Who spoke and called it into being. But to deny that God and to end up here is to leave me alone without a home and without meaning. Human existence, then, is the chance result of spontaneous reactions along billions of years. His explanation for the first development of life is that in a primeval soup one cell got the ability to reproduce itself and then through billions of years, organizing by perhaps a light ray striking a cell and causing a change, a mutation, and finally organizing and gathering and getting more and more complex, until finally one glob of cells woke up and said, "Well, here I am." Now, that takes faith to believe. When we contemplate what it is to be human, then we need not deny that whole process. But to me, it makes far more sense to believe that in the beginning there was an Intelligence that said, "Let there be..." with a purpose, and a purpose of love that moved the process to a point at which one day there was someone who looked into the face of God and experienced relationship, communion. For finally, what is ultimate and what is important? At NASA this week they made a decision, and a correct decision, for there is really nothing in the whole cosmos, there is no experiment, there is no technological breakthrough so important and so pressing that it would be worth placing in jeopardy one human life, one human life that knows itself as free and in relationship, able to love and to care. A couple of weeks ago when Nancy and I were at Mayo's, we did a lot of sitting and waiting for our names to be called. You watch a lot of people and a lot of people in various states of difficulty and need. It's always obvious when, for example, a son or a daughter has brought an aged parent, maybe in a wheelchair or helping them along to the desk. You think a lot about people and you watch them. Nancy was telling me about two old gentlemen, the one helping the other, hobbling along, finally getting to the desk because his name had been called, and the other who was helping said to the nurse, "Is it all right if I go in with him? You know, he's my brother." Well, you know, to me that's more impressive than a thousand billion galaxies. Isn't it, really? What finally counts? We stand not in any conflict with any scientific probe of the depths of reality. Half of the physicists are mystics, trying © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 7   to determine the nature of what is. That is an exciting venture; it is a human venture. But we do stand in the midst of the darkness of space and the eons of time to say that, whatever else may be, this is ultimately important — we are, and we know one another, and we have learned to love and to care because into our lives, in our own flesh, has appeared Jesus. Jesus, in whose face we have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, and found Him to be gracious. Ah, you are really something! You are really somebody. There are no limits to the possibilities that await you and, as the writer to the Hebrews recognized, what we see now is only a part. We see Jesus, not yet all things put into subjection to him, but the whole tenor of that New Testament, in the wake of Jesus, tells us that there is a future, the contours of which we have not yet begun to dream about. For eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive of the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. I John 3: 1f (RSV) And what we shall be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And throughout all Eternity we will be brothers and sisters with our Lord, lost in wonder, love and praise of the God Who spoke and called all things into being. Blessed be His holy name. Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Scripture Text Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:5-9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19811115 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-11-15 Title A name given to the resource God, Humanity and Cosmos Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 15, 1981 entitled "God, Humanity and Cosmos", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:5-9. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community Cosmic Evolution Creation Creator Creature Grace Image of God Love Nature of God Nature of the Human https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/65e7ec8e951dcd5e782cf6294654eae1.mp3 78654c85009d500b5c0c45f3b49656d8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide VI Scripture Text Psalm 33:10, Jeremiah 37:17, John 21:18, 22 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19950528 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-05-28 Title A name given to the resource God, Nation and the Integrity of Leadership Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 28, 1995 entitled "God, Nation and the Integrity of Leadership", on the occasion of Eastertide VI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 33:10, Jeremiah 37:17, John 21:18, 22. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7a6fcb04054e55ddd6c25916bb1b5c6a.mp3 22a78614c7ef165533e7be0331ffc377 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany I Scripture Text II Cor. 4:1-7, Matt. 2:1-12 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19900107 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-01-07 Title A name given to the resource God, The Open Secret Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 7, 1990 entitled "God, The Open Secret", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Cor. 4:1-7, Matt. 2:1-12. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30db5f5527bdf39d8c4e7c5abd7b969d.mp3 f7a34b77f95ef5abee11133a048ff316 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0dbd9535eb61558d01e66b856fbef738.pdf 51edce6bc5c270f126da16f207518762 PDF Text Text God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails From the series: Credo A Celebration of the Music of the Church and Thirty Years of John G. Bryson As Director of Music and Fine Arts Isaiah 6:1; Revelation 1:17 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Trinity Sunday, June 10, 2001 Transcription of the spoken sermon It was a number of months ago that I chose this Sunday on which to celebrate the life and the ministry of John Gregory Bryson and to share together in community the finale of his tenure with us. I did it intentionally because this, on the church calendar, is Trinity Sunday, and we have gone 'round the cycle once again, moving from Advent through Christmas to Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Eastertide, Ascension, Pentecost, and then this Lord's Day which is celebrated in the larger Church as Trinity Sunday, a Sunday in which we celebrate that God who is the deep Mystery, the Guide and Ground, the Source of all that is, from which all flows, that Mystery that is God revealed to us in the incarnation of the Word in the face of Jesus Christ, present to us and with us and in us in the Holy Spirit - God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit - one God blessed forever. That is the theme and the focus of this day, Trinity Sunday. It is a proper day in which to focus on the worship of the Church, and this community, the life that we have shared together for over a quarter of a century, almost three decades, as a worshiping community in word, in sacrament, in music and artistic expression, worshiping that deep Mystery of our lives revealed to us in Jesus, present to us in the Spirit. I chose Trinity Sunday because our Director of Music and Fine Arts, whose final appearance in that position is today, has been drunk with God from a child. God has been the passion of his life. It was my privilege some years ago to visit his boyhood home. He wasn't there and so his mother let me in on all the secrets. She took me from the basement to the attic, and in the basement there, undisturbed, like the room of a deceased mate in which nothing is touched, there was still the little pulpit and the dossal cloth and the school desks that were the pews, and the little organ. Some children play ball. Some children play school, but Greg played church. And, fortunately, he found playmates that would sit obediently in the pews as he led worship. Now, you see, I tell you the truth - he has been intoxicated with God and God has been the passion of his life from the very early years, and thus it is Trinity Sunday in © Grand Valley State University �The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 2 which our worship, moving through the drama of redemption as we have it in its historic story and the scriptures, comes to its culmination, this God who is the one whom we worship and acknowledge as the Source and the Ground, the Guide and the Goal of all that is. Greg's passion for God, coupled with natural endowments of artistic giftedness, found expression in artistic expression. It is the aesthetic dimension of life in which that passion finds its fascination and its beautiful expression. Thus, throughout all of his life, he has been drawn to worship very naturally, because of who he is, because of the giftedness with which he was graced, because of that passion that could find expression only in the worship of that ultimate mystery, indeed, the eternal God. In the early years when Greg was with me, I didn't fully appreciate that aesthetic dimension which is so critical for worship that elevates the soul and the spirit. I, too, was a child warped from the womb. I just about matched him in oddness, for as a child I would bring a little notebook to church and I would note in that small notebook the text of the sermon and the three points, for in my childhood experience, the sermon always had three points. I think it's probably an adolescent rebellion that I am always certain that my sermons have no point at all. But, I would come home and at Sunday dinner, to the great pleasure of my father, would recite the text and the three points, my three older sisters, never being able to match me at that point. But, you see, as a child it was likewise, an intoxication with God, for me, not in aesthetic expression but, rather, in rational understanding. I shudder to think of the times that, even as an adolescent, I wrestled with questions of predestination and free will, reading the facts and mysteries of the Christian Faith by one of the fine theologians of our tradition, always trying to understand, always trying to figure it out, for I was steeped in that Reformed tradition of Dutch pietism which sought always rationally to explicate the faith. Mine was an intellectual quest, even as a child, a quest for understanding. And that which was sought so diligently was the literal and absolute truth. And then there was a moment in my experience when a light went on. I was at a seminar at McCormick Seminary in Chicago in the mid-70s and it was a seminar at this Presbyterian school on the Apostles' Creed, and they invited a Lutheran theologian, a great old scholar, Joseph Sittler, and in his address on one of the aspects of the creed, he made a statement as an aside, but for me, it was not an aside, it became luminous, flooding my whole being with light, for he said, "You know, you Presbyterians, you always come at it through the head, whereas the Catholic tradition comes at it through pageantry, through color, through touch and smell, through all of the fabric of that rich worship experience of the Catholic tradition." In that moment I knew that I had been on one track, it was the track I learned from the Heidelberg catechism. There is a question and answer in that catechism which says, "Why will not God have God's people taught by pictures and images?" And the answer is, "Because God will have God's people taught by © Grand Valley State University �The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 3 the lively preaching of the word." And that had been my whole tradition. That had been my whole experience. There had been none of the aesthetic, none of the artistic. It had been a word-centered, rationally, intellectually delivered systematic presentation of the faith, whereas, as Sittler spoke of the richness of the Catholic mass, entering a cathedral, a Catholic church is like entering a warm womb, and suddenly I saw that there was no need to choose between the lively preaching or the richness of the pageantry, the symbolic artistic expression of the faith, and it was from that moment on that I began consciously working intentionally with Mr. Bryson in the creation of a tapestry of worship that used all of the artistic expression available while not discounting the articulation of faith in preaching. That's been the story of over a quarter of a century of worship at Christ Community. But, I had to learn that my intellectual quest was not enough. I had to learn the statement which I quote as the title of this meditation from a German theologian, Rudolf Otto, who says in another throwaway line, "The feeling that remains where the concept fails." The feeling that remains where the concept fails. So much of my earlier experience was in terms of concepts, seeking to bring understanding, rational understanding, seeking intellectually to grapple with God, and I had to come to understand that God will not be intellectually managed. It is impossible to come to the fullness of the experience of the mystery of the sacred and the holy in rational categories. Finally the concept fails. Finally one hits a brick wall. Finally one hits the ceiling. There is nothing more to say. There is nothing more to think. But, when the concept fails, there is a feeling, there is a sense. It is the sense of a presence. It is the experience of the sacred. It is the recognition of a mystery that transcends us and undergirds us, overshadows us and calls us to awe and to wonder. The feeling that remains where the concept fails. In the pulpit ministry and in my preaching, I can bring you only to a certain threshold and then it has been our gift over all these many years to have another God-intoxicated, passionate minister who has been able to lift us and to elevate us into the very presence of the Holy. Not to downgrade in any regard that intellectual quest, only to recognize its limits and to recognize, as well, that it is in the community of worship that the concept fails and the feeling comes to us in that numinous awareness of the otherness of God. The mystery of God manifest in the face of Jesus, present to us and within us in the breathing, the wind, the spirit of God - it is that tapestry of articulation woven into the fabric of aesthetic appreciation, artistic expression that has brought us, week after week, into the experience of the Holy so that, leaving, the concept fades, but the feeling remains and we know we have been in the presence of God, to do so in community, in community where we come together to be reminded of who we are. Friday evening the choir and pastors gathered with the Bryson family for a toast and a roast, and the Parlour was beautiful and we had a wonderful evening and I was so deeply moved at the memories of all these many years, and I realized © Grand Valley State University �The Feeling that Remains Where the Concept Fails Richard A. Rhem Page 4 again the gift it is to be part of community, to have those long, deep bonding relationships, to belong to a family, to a community that is bound together in those ultimate commitments that have been melded into one, in-depth experiences of exhilaration and ecstasy, the community where we celebrate life and we have done it again so recently with so many tears. Mother's Day, a grandmother, fighting cancer, seeing her granddaughters kneel here affirming their faith. Confirmation, young people kneeling here with pastors' and parents' hands upon them, launching them into their life journey. Baccalaureate with the graduates receiving a rose and knowing that they have here a place, a home, always, again being launched into the grand adventure of life. Moments to remember. Moments that move us deeply so that when the concept fails, the feeling remains. You see, the concept is not unimportant, but it is so very limited. Someone gave me a statement the other day, "All of our religions are but the ossified remains of former prophetic and ecstatic visions." That is true, for our religions, in all of their structures and all of their systems, are but human constructions which are stammering attempts to give expression to that ultimate Mystery that will always defy the concept, but a Mystery present to us as we gather so that as we disperse, a feeling remains and we know we have been in the presence of God. So, we gather as a community to remember who we are and whose we are, to celebrate our common life together and to be challenged to go out into this world to humanize it in the name of the God whose mystery was revealed to us in the humanness of Jesus. Ah, dear friends, we have been a gifted people, richly blessed, blessed in that the concept in all of its limitedness has been lifted beyond the intellectual appropriation to the existential experience, and there has been no one so responsible for that as my partner and my dear friend, your Director of Music and Fine Arts, John Gregory Bryson. To him, thank you. And to God be the glory. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Celebration of 30 years of John Bryson as Director of Music and Fine Arts, Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II Series Credo Scripture Text Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 1:17 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20010610 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-06-10 Title A name given to the resource God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 10, 2001 entitled "God: The Feeling That Remains Where the Concept Fails", as part of the series "Credo", on the occasion of Celebration of 30 years of John Bryson as Director of Music and Fine Arts, Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 6:1, Revelation 1:17. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Experience of the sacred Liturgy Trinity Sunday https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b3ef26f6a99628a61ffd77bf62df632c.mp3 6792c9a786e83d32f7b99915c98e63f6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Trinity Sunday Baccalaureate Sunday Scripture Text II Corinthians 4:6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19850602 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-06-02 Title A name given to the resource God: The Open Secret Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 2, 1985 entitled "God: The Open Secret ", on the occasion of Trinity Sunday, Baccalaureate Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 4:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d778c67c81c99b2616ca6ebee5b49ec2.mp3 135f7c87af16b482979ee3b0b2b44870 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany II Scripture Text Philippians 4:6-7 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19860119 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-01-19 Title A name given to the resource God's Cure for Anxiety Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 19, 1986 entitled "God's Cure for Anxiety", on the occasion of Epiphany II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Philippians 4:6-7. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d4d45a38f0d7f4c9aadb6571aad68043.mp3 7cca6de5f3ef570d5239b6aa7be6662a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany I Scripture Text II Corinthians 4:7 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19910113 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-01-13 Title A name given to the resource God's Glory In Cracked Pots Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 13, 1991 entitled "God's Glory In Cracked Pots", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 4:7. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/045f1ed44d00c68d0de586feee0aac78.mp3 a3c63b3a70f42088495a9ecc872fb5eb https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/743dcb215101ac73b41b4cb8736b597d.pdf 7633130373880364236bb916d97c8ade PDF Text Text God’s Grace in Our Gloom From the sermon series: This is Our Father’s World Text: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20; 6: 2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Reformation Sunday, October 27, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them… II Corinthians 5: 19 …be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5: 20 …now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6: 2 It is fitting that on Reformation Sunday we should address the theme, "God's Grace in Our Gloom,” because it was especially the Grace of God that came to expression in the 16th Century in the Reformation of the Church. It was the message of justification by faith, which was rooted in the gracious outreach of God toward His lost and straying children that was the good news of the Gospel that reverberated across the European continent. It was that message which had gotten buried under Traditionalism; that message, that good news which had been lost in the Church's control of people and its manipulation of people through tradition and structure and a kind of sacramental practice that did not come off as good news, but rather as bad news. God's grace in our gloom is a fit Reformation theme and it is also a fit subject for discussion of these early chapters of Genesis that we are looking for in these weeks. This is our Father's world, and in this world He has a struggle because He created us with the ability to disobey and turn our backs upon Him. He called us to a great destiny but gave us the freedom either to respond or not to respond and since He doesn't crush us or coerce us, since He doesn't use His almighty power to roll over us like a steam roller, but rather waits and pleads, there is built into the very structure of Creation the possibility that the one created in His image will not respond to Him, but rather will reject Him; will not find his peace in being the creature in the care of the Creator, but rather, as a rebel, will revolt against the Creator and the authority of God. © Grand Valley State University   �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The early chapters of Genesis are foundational for all that follows, and in Chapters two and three we find the creation of man and woman and their Temptation and Fall, falling out of fellowship with God and bringing with it all the consequences that came in the wake of that rebellion. As we look at these chapters, I want you to see that in Chapters one and two we really have two Creation accounts. We looked at the first Creation account the last two weeks; the fact that all there is, is because God said, "Let there be ..." And then the most fundamental fact about the human being - that he and she are created in the image of God. I said last week that was the most fundamental fact, and it is. I said last week there is more to be said, and we will do that this week, but before I go on to say any more, I want to stress once again that the human being is created in the image of God. That means that you are a person of dignity, of worth and of value. It means that the human being, then, can never be put down, and it means that we ought never to put ourselves down. We have been created in the image of God, and that is the most fundamental truth about our human nature. We reflect God. As the Psalmist said, He made us a little lower than Himself. It was precisely in the grandeur with which He created us that there lay the potential for the disaster that has ensued upon our turning away from Him. But even in our turning away from Him and the tragedy that we have introduced into the world, we have not overcome the most fundamental fact and that is that we are created in the image of God, we reflect God; in other words, you are really something! Now, I think in the Church we have perhaps had the stress the other way around. We have stressed the human being as sinner rather than the human being as creature. I don't want to make that mistake. I want to say it again loud and clear the human being created in the image of God is really something! You are really something. And our sin and rebellion with all of its disastrous consequences has never wiped out that most fundamental fact - that we were created like God and we are still called to be His ally and His friend and companion to live in relationship with God and with our fellow men. That is fundamental. Now, in these opening chapters, after Chapter one where we have the Creation account, we have in Chapter two a second Creation account where the focus is on the creation of man and woman. This is that delightful story of God's scooping up the clay and forming the man and breathing into him the breath of life, subsequently also seeing that it is not good for man to dwell alone, creating the woman from Adam's rib from which some have derived the idea that woman is really a "de-rib-ative" of man. (Sorry about that - I can never resist those.) Actually, that creation of the woman, a second act of Creation, would indicate that man and woman are created equally, that they stand equally before God. We could have a whole sermon and a whole series of sermons on the legitimacy of the feminist movement on the basis of Genesis one and two, and we could point out the tale of error and of horror which has ensued from a misreading of those © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 3   chapters in regard to the oppression of women down through the centuries. So, women of the world, unite! You've got biblical basis. But I'm not going to go into that today. I simply want to say that in Chapter two you have man and woman created by God and set in a garden in what we call that state of paradise. And then we have Chapter three and there we have the Temptation and the succumbing to temptation and the consequent judgment of God. And then Chapter four we will look at next week -the first murder. - it would seem that there is another Fall. And Chapter six, the story of the Flood, the disobedience and the judgment of God - another Fall. And then God starting over again, but in Chapter nine the Tower of Babel - another Fall, where finally the race demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will not live as the creatures of God under His care and His communion, but rather as rebels against God and structuring life apart from Him. The early chapters of Genesis are the prelude to the story of Israel, to the call and the election of Abraham and the whole redemptive history that followed. The first eleven chapters are like a prelude to all of that specific history, and in these first eleven chapters the great issues of humankind and of God and of history are dealt with. And what I want you to see is that man and woman created in Chapter two and in that garden of paradise may not be separated from man and woman in Chapter three. The chapter divisions of the Bible are very handy for reference. I don't know what I would do about my text if it wasn't that there is Genesis one and two and three and so on, and all of those little verses that give preachers text, but as a matter of fact, what comes through is the idea in Chapter two that you have man and woman perfect in paradise, Chapter three as though now you make another step and you have man and woman in the Garden rebelling and falling into sin. If I were to try to wipe out of your mind the idea of a perfect state in paradise in Chapter two and the Fall of mankind in Chapter three, I would give up before I would start. It is so deeply engrained in our consciousness; we have thought so long that way that I don't think it is possible to get that out of your head, but if I could get it out of your heart, I would, because then I would say to you that what we have in Genesis two and three is not the story of Mr. Adam and Mrs. Eve, two historical figures way back in primeval history. What we have in Genesis two and three is the story of every man and every woman; the story of Adam and Eve is the story of you and me. The story of Adam and Eve is not about some primeval, distant past at the dawn of Creation. The story of Adam and Eve is the story about every human being that has ever been born, and those chapters which make one continuous story and ought not to be read in two stories, are not historical accounts such as we find later in the Old Testament when, for example, we read the exploits of David. David was a real historical figure, he was a king of Israel, he fought battles and did all kinds of things and we can read that in the kind of interpreted history that we have in the Old Testament. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 4   We are not dealing with that kind of material in Genesis two and three. In the first chapter we are told that God spoke and created all things, and we are told that He created the human being in His own image. And now Chapters two through eleven will begin to unravel that story in preparation for the real story of the Bible that begins with Abraham. And these chapters are necessary because the Israelite who knew God as the God of Redemption said, "How do we relate to the rest of mankind? How does God relate to the rest of mankind? And if God is good and Creation is good, why is life so tough? If God is good and Creation is good - if it all came from Him, then why are things in such a mess? If God is good and this is His good Creation, then why is there such sorrow and such pain and such tragedy in the world?" Those are ultimate questions. Those are not questions about fig leaves and apple trees and snakes and two primeval human beings scurrying around the bushes. Those are the ultimate questions of life. Why is there anything rather than nothing? Who created the heavens and the earth? What relationship does the human being have to God? He is created in God's image; he is like God; he reflects the very being of God. Well, if the human being came from God and if all of Creation was pronounced good, then why is the human being like he is? Why are there wars and trials and all of the dark shadows that are a part of the human scene? Those are the questions underlying those early chapters. And in the third chapter, which we read a moment ago, we have the people of Israel, the people who had come to know God, the people who came to believe that their God was a God Who redeemed them in the Exodus experience and was also the Creator of the heavens and the earth. God alone. We have their testimony as to the fact that God is good and Creation is good and that humankind was created by God for His own purpose: created to live in relationship and fellowship with God, but given such a great gift of freedom, there was the opportunity for him to become a rebel rather than one who lived in relationship. And so those chapters are there to tell us the story of the Fall. Let me say it again: Not an historical story as though on Day One of Creation Adam and Eve walked to the Garden and picked grapes and chewed nuts and had fellowship with each other and a chat with God that evening. Day Two maybe went all right, and maybe Day Three, maybe six weeks, maybe six months, but eventually a snake came in and then there was a time when it all fell apart. Friends, that’s not what the story is all about. The story is a symbol; it is a sign, and it says to us that there is something about human nature that has endemic within it this struggle against the God Who is its only hope and its salvation, and in that story what it is saying to us, first of all, is that there are things that are wrong in the world, and there certainly are; it's not God's fault. What it is saying to us as human beings is that God created us good with a potential for good and for obedience, for following the path of life, but that there is something within us © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 5   that seems to choose the path that leads to disaster. It is saying to us that whatever sin is, it is not part and parcel of Creation. It does not stem from God, and you can't blame it on the Devil. Whatever sin is, whatever is wrong, is wrong because you and I choose to be wrong. That's the biblical message. It's a tough message because it holds us accountable. It does not allow us to slough off the accusing finger in any direction. We cannot blame God. We cannot blame the Devil. We cannot blame the environment or the circumstances, for that symbolic story tells us that we were created in the image of God and put in a situation that can be described as paradisiacal, that we had everything going for us and that in spite of all that, we turned our back on the One Who is life-giving and the source of all blessing. That is what the story is trying to tell us. And you see, it is my story and it is your story. Until we read the Bible as not some ancient book with answers to the questions that our curiosities might raise, but rather as a book that addresses us - until we can read this book so that my story becomes a part of The Story, then I see that I am a part of Adam and then I realize that whatever is wrong in my life and whatever dire consequences have flowed from those wrong choices, they are my choices. I am responsible. And that is one of the greatest things you can say to a human being. You are responsible. You are responsible for your life; you are responsible for your choices; and you are guilty when you choose the wrong way. Otherwise, what are we? Animals cannot be guilty. They have no freedom of choice. And those who have no mental capacity and no freedom of choice - neither can they be guilty. It is only people who are created with that God-like characteristic that can be held accountable as we are accountable, and in the story, this ancient story by which Israel came to understand itself, it was saying that there is something that is deadly wrong in the human heart and it stems from the human will. It is not because God did it to us, and it is not because the Devil did it to us, and it is not because the situation is so bad. Now, some situations are bad and environment does shape and there does, over the centuries and the generations, come to build up a kind of fate that does have its impact upon us. I don't want to say that we all come into the world with pristine situations where we can choose freely without any influence, any impact of environment or of heredity. All of that is true. But finally to be human is to be responsible and to choose. And the scriptures tell us that we chose to be gods rather than to be creatures of God. And so, the story will go on, the prelude to that history of God with Israel and Jesus, that we have in the Old and New Testaments, will go on and we will see another instance and another instance and another instance of this fatal flaw within us. But as we see that, we will also hear the more dominant note - the note of Grace. Even in this third chapter, if we had gone on to read, we would find that God speaks to that serpent and says that, although the serpent will bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, the seed of the woman will finally crush the head of the © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 6   serpent, and that has always been seen in the history of the Church as the first promise of the Gospel, so that the seed of the woman Paul interpreted as referring to Jesus. And the final crushing of the serpent's head as Jesus' crucifixion whereby he put an end to death taking upon himself our sin and our guilt. Even in Chapter three of Genesis there is a foregleam of something to come. But if we go to the New Testament we find those great themes that set Martin Luther afire and Zwingli and Calvin and the rest. For the theme of the Bible is not human disobedience, is not human depravity and human sin. Oh, it's there and really you cannot underscore it enough, but if you stay there you miss the theme of the Bible, which is the theme of Grace. It is the story of God's grace in our gloom. Now, the thing that happened in the medieval Church was that the Church became the controlling agent of people's lives. It was almost as though the Church said, "You are sinners, and we're glad, because now we can control you." And the thing that really set off Luther and set off Zwingli was that agents of the Church were going through the land and were collecting money to say prayers to release loved ones from purgatory and one could even buy one’s indulgence into the sins that one might commit next week. And of course this was not the whole Church, but it was right at the heart of the Church and there were those who were going through the continent of Europe raising funds for the erection of St. Peter's. And there were good Catholic priests who said, "This is wrong." Martin Luther was one of them. Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, Switzerland, was another. And they began to preach the Grace of God and as they began to preach the Grace of God, people responded to good news, because now it was no longer, "Come forward and drop in a coin or burn in Hell." Now it was not the continual laying on people their guilt and their unworthiness and their sin in order to hold them down and control them and manipulate them, but now it was the announcement of what God had done in the face of their sin. So that we have a proclamation like Paul's in the New Testament lesson where he says certainly we are sinful; certainly the whole world is guilty before God. But God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself so that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed away; all things are become new. So that Paul understood himself as an ambassador of Christ and he went through the world and he said, "Be ye reconciled with God. Stop hiding in the bushes!" Oh, that profound question of Genesis three as God walks through the Garden in that symbolic story and he says, "Where are you?" and Adam says, "I was afraid." Guilt, fear, shame. And the Lord God comes down and says, "Where are you?" Where are you, not because I want to lombast you, but where are you because I want to embrace you. Where are you because I want to love you, I want to tell you about my Grace which is greater than all your sins. For the New Testament message was that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, for God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 7   made the righteousness of God in him. And so the Apostle goes on to quote the Old Testament and he says, "In the day that you hear his voice, harden not your heart. This is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation." In other words, receive this good news. Accept this Gospel. Come and get a forgiveness that is already provided. If we would take one other New Testament passage, the fifth chapter of Romans, we would find Paul dealing with Genesis three and he says, "As in one man all sin, so in one man all are made righteous." And in that fifth chapter of Romans, it is the most glorious song, anthem, proclamation of the superiority of Grace. For one man sinned but the obedience of one man far surpassed it. And the disobedience of Adam was one thing, but the obedience of Christ was greater and the greater triumph of Grace throughout that passage is a marvelous testimony to the fact that the Church has one theme to proclaim and that is the triumph of Grace. That's the good news. And so you see, I didn't spend very long in Genesis three. It is the recognition of the Old Testament people of God that there is something wrong; there is something deadly wrong. I am wrong and you are wrong, and there is no softpedaling the guilt of the human heart. But I am Adam and I am Eve and you are Adam and you are Eve and the last word is not, "Get out of the Garden." The last word is, "Be reconciled to God." For where sin aboundeth, Grace did much more abound. Now, how can the Church be a place of bad news? How can the Church ever send anyone out guilty? How can the Church ever send anyone out in despair and hopeless, burdened with all of the rock of their life? There's only one message that ought to be sounded from the pulpit, from the evangelical pulpit, from the Christian pulpit, from the pulpit that is grounded in the Word of God and that is, "Be reconciled to God. Accept your acceptance, because you are already accepted and there's nothing you can do about it, except say, 'Thank you.'" God's Grace in our gloom. That's the bottom line. Thanks be to God! © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Reformation Sunday Pentecost XXII Series This is Our Father's World Scripture Text II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19851027 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-10-27 Title A name given to the resource God's Grace in Our Gloom Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 27, 1985 entitled "God's Grace in Our Gloom", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Reformation Sunday, Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Creation Forgiveness Freedom Genesis Grace of God Hebrew Scriptures Judgment Reformation Sin https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0f9c96621e7468a85a98f6394fb3ca88.mp3 34e9e92d92db323d907166b6dbc9e39c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmas Eve Scripture Text Philippians 2:7, John 1:14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19961224 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1996-12-24 Title A name given to the resource God's Identification With the World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 24, 1996 entitled "God's Identification With the World", on the occasion of Christmas Eve, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Philippians 2:7, John 1:14. https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fa56795fb578dfbd6ec6b664df75c398.mp3 2bf8a381e7faef579347c3a31ecfef5e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent IV Scripture Text Isaiah 9:2, John 1:4-5, 9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19881218 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-12-18 Title A name given to the resource God's Light in Our Darkness Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 18, 1988 entitled "God's Light in Our Darkness", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 9:2, John 1:4-5, 9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7bdca1c07605ed10c2313fcccf55ff95.mp3 9b7358b06dc92a7916049695482616fd Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent V Series Love Story Scripture Text Romans 5:15, John 11:51-52 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19900401 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-04-01 Title A name given to the resource God's Love Creates a New Beginning Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 1, 1990 entitled "God's Love Creates a New Beginning", as part of the series "Love Story", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 5:15, John 11:51-52. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d6db913b1fd9bbd787e4c1df8527c21b.mp3 88666b7e77536a129f61213fd692e9e8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent IV Series Love Story Scripture Text Romans 5:8, John 13:1 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19900325 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-03-25 Title A name given to the resource God's Love in Concrete Demonstration Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 25, 1990 entitled "God's Love in Concrete Demonstration", as part of the series "Love Story", on the occasion of Lent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 5:8, John 13:1. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/31acfaf3ee4c428922313ac4e85bd56a.mp3 67a277e4f494d8a3bda3a79086525d36 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent III Series Love Story Scripture Text II Corinthians 5:18-19, John 14:9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19900318 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-03-18 Title A name given to the resource God's Love In Human Form Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 18, 1990 entitled "God's Love In Human Form", as part of the series "Love Story", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 5:18-19, John 14:9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/58cbc752fc19a8f4a296703f1a919ffb.mp3 c368ecc2b174bd1dd13484a4ac66ca9a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bac49a7e03e462a3fd1d9de15a443619.pdf 549fb85b9ce91a3392929dfc85828974 PDF Text Text God’s Love: A ‘Yes’ That Conquers Our ‘No’ From the Lenten sermon series: Love Story Text: Corinthians 15:21, 22, 28 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Easter Sunday, April 15, 1990 Transcription of the spoken sermon Has our Lenten experience convinced us that the universal human response to God is “No”? Have we faced the issue squarely? Have we come to see that the crucifixion of Jesus was not an aberration, an exception to the rule of the way of human history? Have we come to see that there is more of Caiaphas and the dignitaries of the Sanhedrin in us, in our religious institutional selves, than of Jesus? Have we come to see that there is more of Pilate in us, in our national identity as Americans, than of Jesus? Have we come to see the human situation is hopeless? I hope so. That is not just pulpit talk intended to beat you down. It is an honest conclusion reached on the basis of the whole tragic tale of human history. Power politics, coercion, oppression, injustice resulting in human suffering, helplessness, fear, despair, the violence of terrorism perpetrated by those who have nothing to lose. That is the human story. In the biblical narrative, Israel’s history is not just one history among others; it is a special history because Israel was a specially chosen people living in the light of God’s revelation - a representative people on behalf of all people. God’s purpose in calling Abraham and Sarah and from them forming a special people, was not to leave the rest in their alienation and darkness, but, rather, that Israel might be a light to the nations and that all nations might come to Mount Zion to learn God’s Law - the Torah - the way of life. But it was not to be. The story of God’s special relationship with Israel – the Covenant of Grace – was the story of a broken covenant and that history ended in deadlock, impasse. It was obvious that Israel would not be the historical demonstration of God’s Kingdom as God intended. © Grand Valley State University   �God’s Love: A Yes That Conquers Our No Richard A. Rhem Page 2   During our Lenten biblical journey we have reviewed the one story of the Bible. In Genesis 1-11, the first section of biblical narrative dealing with the great universal themes of creation, humankind, judgment and grace, we saw at least once that God brought judgment and started over. Remember the story of Noah and the Flood? Did not God begin again with righteous Noah? But it was to no avail. And then, as I just mentioned, the call to Abraham was a new beginning, a new strategy, through the one to win the many. But the result was dismal. Finally, when it seemed hopeless, God loved the world so much that God gave a Son - Jesus. John’s Gospel has given us our series’ theme - God loved the world so much that God gave... From the first letter of John we heard those simple and profound words, “God is love. And God’s love was disclosed to us in this, that God sent his only son into the world to bring us life.” We followed the story of Jesus which reached its climax this week past. He entered Jerusalem amid the clamor of the Passover pilgrim crowd, hoping he would be the national liberator, and Friday we remembered his death by crucifixion. He had come in God’s name; he had proclaimed God’s Kingdom; he had fully followed the will of God as he understood it, even when it was leading inevitably to his death. He did not swerve from the course, although he pursued it with fear and trembling. And he died. Jesus, the revelation of God, the one righteous person ever to live, the disclosure of God’s radical love, crucified. Love is vulnerable and crucified in history because history is not about love; it is about power and coercion and oppression. Jesus was crucified. But, that death, rather than the tragic end to a noble vision, was perceived and proclaimed as the supreme demonstration of God’s love and in that death God’s love is seen in all its radicality. The death of Jesus has become the proclamation of the most radical love possible - God’s love for the ungodly, for God’s enemies. God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But, the death of Jesus as the supreme disclosure of God’s love redeeming the world was not evident on Good Friday. Darkness covered the earth as Jesus died, symbolic darkness – for the crucifixion of Jesus by Jerusalem and Rome, by Caiaphas, the High Priest, and Pilate, the Roman official, representing the whole © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: A Yes That Conquers Our No Richard A. Rhem Page 3   world, was the final human “No” to God, to God’s way, to God’s Kingdom, to God’s love. If Jesus had died and only died, if the biblical story had ended in darkness on Golgotha amid the jeering crowd, the heart-broken disciples and women, the anguished groaning of the victims, then the story would be simply one more episode in human history of goodness rejected and righteousness crucified, of a visionary tragically cut down. But the story did not end on Friday. After an interlude of numbness during which the disciples cowered in fear and the faithful women awaited opportunity to do their final loving service, God, the Source and Grace of Life, raised Jesus the crucified to life. To the resounding human “No” God gave an even more resounding “Yes,” and the destiny of the world was changed from darkness to light, from death to life. Paul put it this way as he reflected on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in light of the whole biblical story: It was through one man that sin entered the world, and through sin death, and this death pervaded the whole human race... But God’s act of grace is out of all proportion to Adam’s wrongdoing. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gift that came to so many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:12-15) Or, to bring it to the proclamation of the event we celebrate today, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we hear the words of St. Paul in our text taken from the Epistle, reading, ... Christ was raised to life – the first fruits of the harvest of the dead. For since it was a man who brought death into the world, a man also brought resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all men die, so in Christ we will be brought to life. Then follows Paul’s vision of what is presently occurring, Jesus, the risen, reigning Lord, putting down the enemies of God’s Kingdom. Finally Paul affirms this triumphant faith: God will be everything to everyone. Paul’s discussion of the resurrection of Jesus in I Corinthians 15 is long and involved and I will not attempt to give a detailed analysis of it, but rather simply concentrate on this one brief paragraph. The 20th verse is the clear, unequivocal statement. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: A Yes That Conquers Our No Richard A. Rhem Page 4   But, in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. This is the central affirmation of Christian faith. This is what makes Christian faith gospel – good news. That God raised Jesus from the dead is the ground of our hope. It is the ground of our hope for the redemption of the world – for a new world, a new day free of all that saddens us, hinders us, defeats us. In a word, the resurrection of Jesus gives us hope in our hopelessness. Let me run the scenario past you one more time. Established political power and institutional religions combined to crucify Jesus who lived out in concrete human existence the love of God. And, as we have seen from week to week throughout the season of Lent, what happened in Jerusalem on Good Friday has happened over and over again in human history and it is happening still today. What will be Lithuania’s fate? We entered this season with Allan Boesak in this pulpit in the euphoria of breakthroughs in South Africa. Will our hopes be realized? Will our prayers be answered for justice and peace in that land? Will Iraq threaten the Middle East with a new wave of terror with germ warfare? As I raise this question, and they could be multiplied, is it not obvious that as much as we pray for peace and justice and work for the humanization of this world, our hope must be grounded in something or Someone beyond the roller coaster of history, beyond the fickleness of popular movements, beyond the selfserving egotism of world leaders? Must we not trust something more substantial than the present popularity of a world leader, the cleverness of human planning, the good will and faith of nations to treaties, world organizations such as the United Nations? Is it not obvious that any arrangement that rests alone on human capacity or human decency is no solid ground for human hope? If you have followed me through the Lenten Season, you might conclude that I am a pessimist; that I do not belong to the positive thinkers’ club. And you would be right. I have done my best honestly to mirror the human situation, the real historical condition and I can only conclude that the human situation in and of itself is hopeless. But, I am not without hope. I am rather filled with hope. But only because my hope is in God. And my hope is in God because God raised Jesus from the dead. When we said our final “No” to God Who visited us in Jesus, we undercut any possibility of hope in any purely human project. And precisely at the point of our final “No”, God uttered a resounding and irreversible “Yes”. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: A Yes That Conquers Our No Richard A. Rhem Page 5   God’s “Yes” conquered our “No” because God raised to life the one our “No” had crucified. And just as God conquered death in giving Jesus life from the dead, so God’s “Yes” proves stronger than our “No.” As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. What of our world, then? What can we expect as the drama of history goes on its perilous way? We cannot set any dates. We cannot predict the immediate outcome of the tensions in South Africa, the Middle East, Latin America. We cannot foresee the consequences of the democratization of Eastern Europe or the apparent unraveling of the Soviet Union. We pray for wellbeing. We know that, as quickly as barriers fall and walls are torn down, new crises could develop. But we also know that outside Jerusalem when Church and State – representative of the whole world – crucified Jesus, God raised him up as a sign that God will not give up on this world. With the writer of Revelation, therefore, we look for and pray for and hope for the day when The Kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ and the angelic hosts sing in chorus, “Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigns!” We live that vision - in hope. But, as we gather to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, it is not only the broad world scene, not only the matters of cosmic dimension that press upon us, important as those are. As we gather, we are a people who all have a story that is being written. For some of us it is the pain of one we love that we carry in our hearts. A daughter calls, crying convulsively because her heart has been broken, her love betrayed and a parent’s heart is crushed wishing somehow that he could take that pain from her and make it all right. In the abyss of hurt and brokenness, when there are no words to assuage the pain, wherein does one find hope to go on? The nation was inspired by the courage and grace of Ryan White who this week died of the AIDS virus contracted through a blood transfusion. In his dying, the nation was galvanized in grief. And what do we say? Was that life worth the living? Certainly. Was that life fruitful in its impact? Surely, more so in his brief life than most of us who will live to an old age. But, is that all? Is Ryan dead and any remainder of his life will be through the remembrance of those on whose lives he had an impact? Is that all there is? The question is much more poignant for some of you, for since Easter last you have stood by the casket of one dearly loved and sorely missed. Is there now only the memory and the void? Is dead simply dead? © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: A Yes That Conquers Our No Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Some of us have received a serious medical diagnosis since last we gathered in Easter joy. All of us carry within our bodies cells potentially lethal, but for some of us at this time they are latent; for some, they are ravaging. What does one say when one’s mortality is not simply part of the general universal reality of all humankind, but when one is faced with one’s own personal, lonely encounter with death? Life is a precious gift and fiercely clung to. Is there some way to relax one’s grip or, better, to grasp with hope something made of surer stuff? Each of us is writing her own storyline and few there be that escape the interweaving of that tragic thread which is so ubiquitous in the human tapestry, so dominant in the plot of our personal stories. Wherein then lies the ground of hope? How can one escape cynicism, despair, futility? How does one cope when faced with betrayal, brokenness, loss and the last enemy, death itself? For Christian faith, that ground of hope is in the God Who raised Jesus from the dead. For Christian faith, the ground of hope is the God Who, in the text from St. Paul, will be everything to everyone, because that God refuses to give up on this world; that God will never give up on you. That God’s “Yes” was spoken on Easter morning in response to the final human “No” spoken on Good Friday. Who is this God? This is the God Who loved the world so much that He gave His only son – not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. This is the God Who is love and Who disclosed the radical nature of that love in sending Jesus who lived out that love so that in his life one sees into the very heart of God, the God Who was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, going to the limit in that while we were yet enemies, Jesus died for the ungodly, thus disclosing the radical, unconquerable love of God. God is love and God is writing a story, too; it is a love story, a story of an amazing love that simply will not be turned away, a love that will never let up, a love that will never let you go. Whoever you are, wherever you are coming from – returned on Easter from a long dropout, cynical in general, but find the music and flowers inviting, despairing, almost going under, hoping against hope, seeking, longing to believe – © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: A Yes That Conquers Our No Richard A. Rhem Page 7   God loves you and God would write you into the script of the love story He is writing. God offers you life, having promised through Jesus Christ forgiveness, peace, joy and the assurance that you will be kept by God’s power now and forever. God has spoken a “Yes” that conquers our “No.” I invite you to say “Yes” to the God Who has said “Yes” to you through Jesus Christ our Lord. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Easter Sunday Series Love Story Scripture Text I Corinthians 15:21, 22, 28 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19900415 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-04-15 Title A name given to the resource God's Love: A "Yes" That Conquers Our "No" Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 15, 1990 entitled "God's Love: A "Yes" That Conquers Our "No"", as part of the series "Love Story", on the occasion of Easter Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Corinthians 15:21, 22, 28. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Easter Sunday Forgiveness Love Resurrection Transformation Universal Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5cb7e9f8c9e34d9cec9b0cc3d1594a00.mp3 3f1db6804f019de03775c534cb28a299 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9c715d59ab2e2e5ef8b095f3804d8b20.pdf fa361f96a7534e6913a3571c329e33c9 PDF Text Text God’s Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History From the Lenten sermon series: Love Story Text: Zechariah 9:9-10; John 11:48-53, 12:9-19 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Palm Sunday, April 8, 1990 Transcription of the spoken sermon God loved the world so much - that’s where it begins, this Love Story, which is the one story of the Bible. The whole drama of the biblical story is the story of an amazing love, a love so alien to our human way of being and acting. God loved the world so much He came in complete solidarity with the world God was in Christ reconciling the world - making friends with the world. Jesus in the full humanity of his being was the concrete presence and disclosure of God in our world. Jesus came in God’s name; Jesus came proclaiming God’s kingdom; Jesus came finally to the center of Jewish life and the religious institution, to Jerusalem itself; and, Jesus was crucified. In biblical understanding, Jerusalem was not just any city; Israel was not just any nation. Israel was a specially chosen and called people brought graciously by God into covenant relationship to be God’s instrument to bring light and salvation to the whole world. Israel was the representative of all nations and people. Therefore, when Israel refused Jesus’ call to repentance and new birth, it was an act on behalf of us all and when Israel crucified Jesus, it was a final rejection of God’s covenant love and grace on behalf of us all. When Jesus died, love was crucified in history. That was the story then; that is the story now. I never sense that more keenly than on Palm Sunday. It has become a high festival day in the Church. There is much I love about it, but I must admit that there is an unsettling contradiction in the re-enactment of that day. © Grand Valley State University   �God’s Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History Richard A. Rhem Page 2   One reason for the confusing mix – of joyful praise, children singing and a festival crowd in parade, along with the sinister evil that is showing itself and the tears of Jesus that reveal the crushing weight of the imminent tragedy that was about to engulf Jerusalem – is that we have taken Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and mixed them all together into a single picture which has elements of all four Gospels, resulting in a picture which actually reflects no single perspective. But, that is an improper way to understand the Gospel accounts. A harmony of the Gospels which collapses them into one narrative of Jesus’ life and destiny is to miss the sharp focus of each evangelist and mistake the purpose of the Gospels. In this message we will listen to the account from John’s Gospel. We have been reading from this Gospel throughout this Season of Lent. This Gospel has provided our theme - Love Story - from the familiar words of 3:16, “God loved the world so much ...” As the second half of this Gospel opens, our Evangelist writes of Jesus, He had always loved his own who were in the world, and now he was to show the full extent of his love. (John 13:1) It may be helpful to page through John’s Gospel for a moment to get the setting for the Palm Sunday happening. The first half of the Gospel, called the Book of Signs, culminates in the supreme miracle of the raising of Lazarus in chapter 11. If John is portraying Jesus as the one come from God and revealing God, then the giving of life to one dead was the supreme sign revealing what God is about in the world - the giver of life. Now notice how John moves from that sign to the reaction of the Jewish authorities (11:54). But Passover was approaching and many Jews made pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and the word of the raising of Lazarus was abroad and speculation ran wild - will he come to the festival? (11:56), and there was an order out for his arrest (11:57). Then on Saturday, six days before Passover, Jesus comes to Bethany, to Mary and Martha’s home. And Lazarus, whom Jesus raised, was their brother. They gave a dinner and there follows the report of Mary’s anointing Jesus with very expensive perfume - a costly act of loving devotion. Judas grumbles about the cost and Jesus says, “Let her alone. Let her keep it till that day when she prepares for my burial.” (12:7-8) Then follows the evangelist’s editorial comment which intends to connect the Lazarus miracle and the conspiracy to kill Jesus and to set the context for Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem which commences at 12:12. Look at it carefully. Follow the action, not from the collage of the four Gospels in your mind, but just from what John records. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History Richard A. Rhem Page 3   The pilgrims already in Jerusalem hear Jesus is coming to Jerusalem from Bethany and they go out to meet him, bringing palm branches. They shout, “Hosanna,” an acclamation of praise. Citing Psalm 118:26, John writes. Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord! This was a Psalm sung by the pilgrims as they came to Jerusalem. Actually, the citation is, Blessed in the name of the Lord are all who come. Why the slight variation? In the Psalm it is a blessing spoken in God’s name on the approaching pilgrims. In John’s version, the one coming is coming in the Lord’s name – presumably some special envoy from God, not an ordinary pilgrim. But, John is not through. He adds, God bless the King of Israel. That is not in Psalm 118, but rather is a citation from the prophet Zephaniah (3:15). Now, notice what happens. Jesus finds a colt and sits on it – John says in full accordance with the text of scripture: Fear no more, daughter of Zion, see, your king is coming, mounted on an ass’s colt. (12:15) Here we must stop and consider the scene and its meaning as John sets it forth. What is going on with the crowd? According to John’s picture this is a crowd filled not so much with religious fervor as with rising nationalistic zeal. As I mentioned, only John speaks of palm branches and that is significant. Palm branches had nationalistic association. Palms were evocative of Maccabean nationalism. As a symbol of nationalism, the palm occurred on the coins of the Second Revolt (A.D. 132-135). When Judas Maccabeus rededicated the temple altar after the Syrians had profaned it (164 B.C.), the Jews brought palms to the temple. When Simon Maccabeus conquered the Jerusalem citadel (142 B.C.), the Jews took possession of it carrying palm fronds. In the Testament of Naphtali V4, the fronds are given to Levi as a symbol of power over all Israel. In sum, John’s use of palms would seem to give to the whole scene a political overtone; Jesus is being welcomed as a national liberator. Further, the words, “God bless the King of Israel,” which John has the crowd chant are not found in Psalm 118:26 from which the words, “Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!” are taken. Once before in John’s gospel (6:14-15) after Jesus fed the multitude, he realized the crowd wanted to make him king and he withdrew from them. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History Richard A. Rhem Page 4   There is little doubt that the scene John paints is intended to indicate what was going on with the crowd. They were hoping that in Jesus they had found a national liberator and they hoped that this one now entering Jerusalem was about to declare himself the King of Israel. But this was precisely not what Jesus was intending. Now he must do something to set them straight. What does he do? He seeks to dispel the crowd’s misunderstanding through a prophetic action – an action even the disciples did not understand until after his death and resurrection. The action: Jesus sat on a colt, thereby seeking to call to mind the words of Zephaniah and Zechariah. In Zechariah and Zephaniah it is the King who comes, but it is a different kind of king. Listen to the Zechariah citation: See, your king is coming mounted on an ass’s colt. If we go to that context in Zechariah, we find it is a call to Jerusalem to rejoice because its king is coming, coming mounted on an ass’s foal, to banish chariots from Ephraim and war horses from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished. The prophet’s word continues, He shall speak peaceably to every nation, and his rule shall extend from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. “Yes, Jerusalem,” Jesus seems to be saying by mounting the ass’s colt, “I am your king coming to you, but a different kind of king than you expect or desire.” Similarly, in Zephaniah we have. Fear not, O Zion, ...the Lord your God is in your midst, like a warrior to keep you safe; he will rejoice over you and be glad; he will show you his love once more... In that same context the prophet cries, ... be glad, rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem ... The Lord is among you as King, O Israel... Jesus’ mounting the colt was a prophetic action, according to John. After the death and resurrection John writes, we understood what that action was trying to say. Jesus realized that the crowd had misinterpreted the Lazarus miracle just as the crowd had misunderstood the multiplication of loaves and fishes in John 6. The raising of Lazarus was a sign that God the giver of life was visiting His people in Jesus. They should not be proclaiming him as an earthly king, but as the manifestation of the Lord their God Who has come into their midst, the God of Zechariah Who would bring peace to the whole world. He will speak peaceably to every nation. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Immediately following this event we find the Greeks, that is the Gentiles, wanting to see Jesus and we are never told whether they see him, but that request triggers that emotional response of Jesus. He responds, The hour is come... Then we have that word about the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying and Jesus’ soul is in turmoil, saying, What am I to say? Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this that I came to this hour. Father, glorify Thy name, And the paragraph ends with the words, And I shall draw all to myself when I am lifted up from the earth. Jesus’ prophetic action was to counteract the nationalistic misunderstanding of his coming and to affirm the universal kingship that will be achieved only through death and resurrection. Ironically, the Pharisees’ comment with which John concludes the Palm Sunday narrative confirms that universalistic dimension of Jesus’ way when they say in distress, You see you are doing no good at all; why, all the world has gone after him. It is fascinating to reflect on the Palm Sunday narrative as John presents it, as it illumines our own world. It would appear that the world then and the world today are not very different. There remains the worldly way of established power perpetuating itself by coercion. Does it strike you how the way of God’s love as lived out by Jesus is so contrary to the ordinary way of worldly power, to the commonly held assumptions of us all? We could examine the very city into which Jesus entered – Jerusalem – today. What agony continues to be the rule there. The Palestinian problem will not go away. And, ironically, the Jews for whom Israel became a refuge from the savagery of the holocaust have become a nation which is dangerously close to being an oppressor. And while we cannot begin to enter the suffering that people has endured, and thus must empathize with their need for security, it remains a fact that now they hold power and the Palestinians’ claim is not heard. In South Africa, great shaking of the foundations is occurring, but it has come only as a result of those who have stood up and faced the peril of oppression and death. And we know Nelson Mandela could become a martyr – or Allan Boesak. No matter where one turns, it is the same story. In this nation it would be no different. We, all of us, American, Russian, German, Israeli, name whatever © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History Richard A. Rhem Page 6   nation or people you will, we are all of us selfish and narrow in our interests. World history is monotonous with the story. The world of nuclear capability has gotten our attention and we hardly dare unleash that awful power, but a Khadafy or the Iraqi regime might go for broke. The longer I live, the more historical moments I live through, the more I see the stark contrast between the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. Or, to put it in more concrete personal terms, I see the stark contrast between Jesus’ way and my way. Maybe Jesus’ way is best summed up in his word in the Sermon on the Mount, practiced himself on the cross. He said. Love your enemies, and on the cross he prayed, Father, forgive them. Jesus was no wimp. He was the strongest, freest person that ever lived. But, I can’t live that way. And America can’t survive that way. It doesn’t work in the practical affairs of this world. Trying to practice that consistently only gets one crucified. That’s right. Love: vulnerable and crucified in history. I have been accused, not unjustly, of being a universalist, that is, of believing that in the end God will win the love of everyone. Maybe I am; maybe not. Anyone who knows one way or the other for sure knows too much. But, let me make one thing clear. If I believe God will finally win out with everyone, it is not because I believe everyone is finally not so bad. Rather, it is because I see such a total, universal repudiation of God’s way. When I’m honest, I am more like Caiphus than Jesus. (Let’s keep the church together, even if we have to lie and kill to do it.) I’m more like Pilate than Jesus. (Let’s keep America safe and Number 1,even if it takes the flexing of military power.) Threaten my church and watch me. Threaten my nation and watch me. Threaten my personal situation and watch me. Am I a Christian? Sure. I believe. But, don’t push me. And I am sad to say that I don’t find myself much better or worse than those I know and rub shoulders with. Jesus, if it’s a matter of my losing everything I’ve dreamed of and worked for and believed, or your death, you die, Jesus. No, friends, it is not that I have gotten soft on sin or fail to see the twist, the distortion in human nature. It is that I see it so painfully clearly, and I see it in myself and then I say, if God is going to save one, it is purely of grace and, if God wills to save one, all of grace, why not all, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. One person lived it out – love all the way. One person lived in perfect covenant relationship and obedience all the way. One person made it all the way to death. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History Richard A. Rhem Page 7   One person took the consequence of total vulnerability and was crucified while he prayed for those crucifying him. And God said that’s enough; he made it! He made it! And because he made it, death will not hold him. Because he made it, I will accept the rest through him. In The Revelation of John, there is a scene in heaven of a vast throng from every nation of all tribes and peoples and languages, ... standing in front of the throne and before the lamb. They were robed in white and had palms in their hands, and they shouted together, ‘Victory to our God who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!’ That lamb spoken of earlier in chapter five is the Lamb that was slain. Jesus died. Jesus was crucified, because Jesus was God’s love in human form and God’s love is vulnerable and crucified in history – then and now. The vision in Revelation is of an ultimate triumph of God’s Kingdom. Jesus’ way doesn’t work in history. Crucifixion is its end. But then, does history’s way work? Shouldn’t twenty centuries convince us that it does not, cannot, will not work? Jesus’ way, so the vision promises, is the only way that will finally work, for finally it is only the power of love that can defeat loveless power. Must that not convert us? Must that not change us? Can we go on pursuing a way that is futile, crucifying the Christ again and again? Must we not change, be converted? God have mercy on us! © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday Series Love Story Scripture Text Zechariah 9:9-10, John 11:48-53 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19900408 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-04-08 Title A name given to the resource God's Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 8, 1990 entitled "God's Love: Vulnerable and Crucified in History", as part of the series "Love Story", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Zechariah 9:9-10, John 11:48-53. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Palm Sunday Universal Love Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/86dafa1e6f64f141ac3ecc6123625878.mp3 ef978fbad5dc87cf041d144443e9141e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4b30db162876bbff8328bc60c959fe51.pdf b5ee4e540bcdf19b9ba81ec91a139e75 PDF Text Text God’s Mercy For the Asking From the series: Images of God in the Stories of Jesus Text: Psalm 130:3-4; Luke 18:13-14 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XII, August 30, 1992 Transcription of the spoken sermon If you, O Lord, should mark inequities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. Psalm 130: 3-4 God, be merciful to me, a sinner! I tell you this man went down to his hour justified …. All who humble themselves will be exalted. Luke 18:13-14 There is more mercy in God than sin in us! There is more mercy in God than there is sin in us! I think I will have you say it with me: There is more mercy in God than sin in us! End of the sermon. Let’s receive the offering and go home. (Charlie, that was not the time to applaud.) O.K. I’ll say amen . If I could send you home this morning with that thought indelibly written on your psyche, imprinted deep into the depths of your being, it would be worth the offering. It would not be a Sunday morning spent in vain. There is more mercy in God than there is sin in us. I hope that doesn’t disappoint you. That happens to be a favorite statement of one of my favorite preachers. It is true and it is Good News, and it is something that ought to set our feet to dancing. It is something, I’m afraid, that has not come through clearly enough often enough. We talk about Gospel, which means Good News. That is the message of the church. I am sorry that the church has been identified by so many, though perhaps justifiably so, as a place not of good news but a place of bad news, a place of gloom and doom, of a kind of repent or perish syndrome that casts a shroud over the human experience. For as a matter of fact the truth of the Gospel is that there is more mercy in God than sin in us and, therefore, we are invited to place our hope in God - not in our past achievements, not in our future prospects, but in God. Our hope alone can be in God. Psalm 130, a poignant prayer, a scream, a primal scream from the depths: “Lord hear my cry,” is a straightforward statement full of candor about one person’s experience of the human condition. “Oh Lord, if you should track my record, I wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.” Or, in more biblical nuance, “Lord, if thou should mark iniquity, Lord, who could stand?” But then we read an expression of © Grand Valley State University   �God’s Mercy For the Asking Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the faith of Israel at its very best: “But with thee there is forgiveness.” Doesn’t that move you? Oh there are many times, I know, when one can hear that and not be moved by it because one’s existential situation at the time has not overwhelmed one with one’s own flawed, frail, human situation, but there are times . . . Aren’t there times? Have you had times when the words of a Psalmist were music to your ears and gave you just the words you needed from the heart to say, “Oh Lord, out of the depths I cry to you. Lord, hear my cry. Oh Lord, if you should mark iniquities who could stand?” But there is forgiveness for you. The Psalmist believed that there was more mercy in God than there was sin in him and, therefore, despairing of himself, he trusted God. But not all in Israel followed in his example and took him as a model. There were those in the days of Jesus who trusted in themselves, believed that they were righteous, and despised others. Those two things often go together. Trust yourself that you are righteous and check yourself. Very often the other side of the coin is the despising of others, a contempt for other humankind. But Jesus, in order to crack that armor, in order to break through to those who trusted in themselves, told this parable, a parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. The parable is very familiar. Just a brief little vignette that makes a powerful point that there are really only two kinds of people in the world - those who go it alone and those who trust in God. So the Pharisee came into the temple and began to pray a prayer of thanksgiving to be sure, but really a prayer of praise of his own virtue, reminding God of all the good things that the Pharisee had done. Now, as I have said in these last two or three weeks, the Pharisees do get a bum rap in the New Testament. They get a bum rap because they were the over/against people. They were the critics of Jesus. They were the established religious authorities who were being threatened by what Jesus was proclaiming, but they were good people. They were the best people in town. I don’t put much stock by their fasting, but I certainly do like the fact that they tithed! Christ Community could use a few Pharisees in its midst! I would put up with your supercilious righteousness if I could get your money! (laughter) They were good people. The things that the Pharisee recited about himself were true things, and he was a good man, and the last thing in the world that I would want you to do would be to go out of here and say, “Thank God, I am not like that Pharisee.” On the other hand there was a Publican. A tax collector. Not such a good person. Religiously, he was unclean because he had dealings with the Gentile Roman authorities. Therefore, he was ceremonially judged unclean. He was despised by his own people because he was a collaborator with the enemy. He sold his soul for a buck. In that cruel and corrupt tax system, he collected the money for the Roman oppressor, oppressing his own flesh and blood. He was not a good person. But the point of the parable, as Jesus juxtaposes the Pharisee and the Publican, is not to say that there are good people and bad people – really, good people and people not quite so good – the point is not to distinguish two kinds of people. The point of the parable is to distinguish two kinds of spirit, two kinds of attitude, two © Grand Valley State University �God’s Mercy For the Asking Richard A. Rhem Page 3   kinds of approach to God. As far as Jesus was concerned, this was not an issue of whether the Pharisee was pretty good and the Publican not so good, but the fact that the Pharisee, in all of his virtue, was running on his own record and finally trusting himself. The performance principle was his game. And the Publican, despairing of himself, cast himself on the mercy of God. Jesus says the Pharisee went out still garbed in his own virtue, and the Publican went out garbed in grace. Now we could well spend some time on these two people, but that’s not the purpose of the messages in this series. Rather, I am treating the stories obliquely because I want to ask the question now: What is the image of God in that story of Jesus? It is probably not as obvious as in some of the stories that Jesus told, but I think that you would agree with me that behind this story was Jesus understanding of God, the God Jesus knew, the God that Jesus proclaimed. Would you agree that the image of God in the story of Jesus is an image of God who likes people? Or, if that’s too bland, a God who loves people as human beings? A God who accepts us in our humanness and affirms that humanness? It seems to me that’s the image of God behind this story told by Jesus. Jesus is not saying there are good people and bad people, and God loves good people and doesn’t like bad people. Jesus was saying, God loves human beings. God loves people. God loves people in all of the contradictoriness of their human existence. And the only thing that God is looking for is an openness to God’s mercy, that resting in God rather than oneself. A preacher had a class of children before him, Ernie Kurtz says in his recent book. He said to the children, “If all bad people were red and all good people were green, what color would you be?” Little Linda Jean thought mightily for a moment and then her face broke into a great smile. She said, “I know! I would be streaky.” An answer far beyond the question. The wisdom of a child who knew that, if she were forced to put herself in the camp of the good or the bad, she couldn’t fit in either place because she was a combination of both. And is that not precisely our human condition? Are we not beast and angel? Are we not light and shadow? Are we not full of turbulence longing for serenity? Torn apart looking for wholeness? In your bulletin there is a paragraph from Carlyle Marney, who describes the human condition vividly and poignantly. It pictures the propensity to evil that rests in us all. I was reminded of this last week when I heard the zookeeper of the Miami Zoo interviewed. They said to him, “We hear there are dangerous animals on the loose in the wake of the hurricane.” And he answered, “Well, they are not dangerous, unless they get cornered or become afraid. Then they are dangerous.” And isn’t that true of us as well? Aren’t we for the most part civil and decent folks? Aren’t we for the most part people who could identify with those wonderful deeds of compassion and kindness that come to expression in a crisis like Hurricane Andrew, where neighbors become neighborly? Is there not the milk of human kindness in us all? But are we not at our best when we are responding to that? Are we not capable of glory and gore? Scare us, get us in a corner, elicit our © Grand Valley State University �God’s Mercy For the Asking Richard A. Rhem Page 4   defensiveness, put us under threat, accuse us, condemn us - the hair bristles on the back of our neck and, if necessary, we will kill. Are we evil? I don’t think so. But we are capable of every evil deed the world has ever known. Are we not a common lot of those who go through life fractured - fragile – afraid? Most of us at our worst are simply scared to death. We are not evil, but we do evil things. We are not destroyers, but we live with self-destructiveness. At heart we are lovers, but we can become lions in the den. Ernie Kurtz, who I mentioned a moment ago, wrote a book whose title is worth the price of the book. It is entitled The Spirituality of Imperfection. The Spirituality of Imperfection. Ernie Kurtz was here last year and will be back here in October. He has written a definitive study of the history of AA and its philosophical and theological roots. And he has done a lot of research into the history of the wisdom literature of the peoples of the world, and has wonderful stories that he has gathered together in this book The Spirituality of Imperfection. The Spirituality of Imperfection is the lesson that the AA community has to teach the Church, just as the Church at one time taught the AA community. In the last few decades with the membership of the church going down, the membership of AA has gone up and that is not because there are so many more people recovering from alcoholism or substance abuse. It is because there are so many more broken human beings out there who have found in that fellowship what they have not found in the church – an acceptance of the fact that they are human. Are you human? You smile, you blush, you say, “Oh, yes, I’m human - all too human.” All too human? No. Just human. To be candid, that’s all we are! And I would suggest to you that’s what God intends us to be. I love Psalm 103. “As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him.” God remembers our frame. God knows our frame; God remembers that we are dust. God knows us. God knows what we are. And God has mercy upon us. In the wisdom of the Creator we were not created robots on a string. We were not created machines that could be turned with a crank and just go on our way perfectly. We are people full of contradictoriness. Torn apart. You want another good word like murmur? Think of the German word zerissenheit. William James, the philosopher, translated that word as torn-to-pieceshood. Can you identify with that? Have you ever felt torn in a dozen directions? Have you ever felt fractured? Have you ever felt that your whole being was coming apart? Have you ever looked up in despair - to the heavens and said, “I simply don’t have it all together.” Well, join the human race. God made you that way. “But,” you say, “isn’t that a bit too simple?” Well is it really? God loves us as human beings. Struggling. Persons in process. And in our freedom and responsibility we are capable of grandeur and groveling. That’s who we are. And the reason people are finding healing in the AA community is because there they are finding an honest admission, © Grand Valley State University �God’s Mercy For the Asking Richard A. Rhem Page 5   acknowledgement, ownership of the human condition. And that admission means that one needs God, along with all the mercy that God has to give. In his book, Kurtz makes a claim that seems to be my own experience as well that, in response to the modern age of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Church has moved toward perfectionism. Not an acceptance of the contradictions of our being, but a push always to perfection. I was schooled in WORM theology. That is, “such a worm as I.” And I think, probably, to denigrate the human person in that way is as wrong as to exalt the human person as did the Pharisee. My preaching is skewed because I’m screwed up, and so you have to filter everything through that recognition. A person only talks about what they need to talk about for their own survival. That’s why I always talk about Grace and Mercy. I could sum up my impression in the center of my being about what I am about and what God calls me to be in the little poem that was written by my fourth grade teacher in the book of autographs at the end of the school year: “Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until the good is better and the better is best.” Never enough! We drive ourselves with a compulsion we don’t understand and feel we always come up short because in the Church we’ve not been honest with the ambiguity of the human situation, which is simply the way we are. Created in the image God. Part of the earth and part of God. Well, modern culture in reaction doesn’t help. Some years ago Tom Harris wrote a book, a best seller, I’m O.K. You’re O.K. Remember it? Over against the denigration of the human person on the one hand, that did help to bring some people back to a self-worth and self-esteem, but that’s not true either. I’m not O.K. And you’re not O.K. Forgive me for saying so. I’m not O.K. You’re not O.K., but that’s O.K. God can handle that. If only we can come to the point of acknowledging that. An analyst quoted by Kurtz, named Marian Woodman, says, “Addiction keeps a person in touch with God.” At the very point of vulnerability is where the surrender takes place. That is where God enters. God comes through the wound. The Pharisee was regaled in an armor that mercy could not penetrate - he was going it alone. The Publican had no armor, and the point of vulnerability - his wound - was the crack through which grace could enter. “Out of the depths I cry to thee, Oh Lord. Oh Lord, hear my cry. If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, I haven’t got a leg to stand on. But with thee there is forgiveness. God, be merciful to me a sinner.” And God is, thank God. One of the great Christian leaders of this century, a theologian and preacher, Carlyle Marney, wrote the following in his book, The Human Condition: “Man is the most dangerous and savage of the beasts: His bite is poisonous; his hand is a club; his foot is a weapon; knives, clubs, spears are projectiles to bear his hostility. Nothing in nature is so well equipped for hating or hurting. Confuse him and he may lash out at everything. Crowd him and he kills, robs, destroys, for his crime rate increases in proportion to his crowding. Deprive him and he retaliates. Impoverish him © Grand Valley State University �God’s Mercy For the Asking Richard A. Rhem Page 6   and he burns villas in the night. Enslave him and he revolts. Pamper him and he may poison you. Hire him and he may hate both you and the work. Love him too possessively and he is never weaned. Deny him too early and he never learns to love. Put him in cities and all his animal nature comes out with perversions of every good thing. For greed, acquisitiveness, and violence were so long his tools for jungle survival, that it is only by the hardest [effort] that these can be laid aside as weapons of his continued survival.” Reference: Ernest Kurtz, Katherine Ketcham. The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning. Bantam, reprint edition, 1993. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XII Series Images of God in the Stories of Jesus Scripture Text Psalm 130:3-4, Luke 18:13-14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Ernest Kurtz, The Spirituality of Imperfection, 1993. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19920830 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-08-30 Title A name given to the resource God's Mercy for the Asking Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 30, 1992 entitled "God's Mercy for the Asking", as part of the series "Images of God in the Stories of Jesus", on the occasion of Pentecost XII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 130:3-4, Luke 18:13-14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Forgiveness Human Nature Mercy Nature of God Parable Sin