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Incunabula
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The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period.
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a>
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Incunabula
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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application/pdf
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text
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eng
it
la
nl
de
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Sermones de laudibus sanctorum [folium 20]
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DC-03_020Caraccioulus1492ca
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Caracciolus, Robertus, 1425-1495
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One leaf of Sermones de laudibus sanctorum by Robertus Caracciolus. Printed in Reutlingen by Michael Greyff not after 1492. [GW 6060; ISTC ic00151000]
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Reutlingen: Michael Greyff
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Incunabula
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Sermons
Caracciolus, Robertus, 1425-1495
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la
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1492
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Text
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Title
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Incunabula
Description
An account of the resource
The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period.
Coverage
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1450/1500
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a>
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Incunabula
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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text
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eng
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nl
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Sermones [folium 23]
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DC-03_023Biel1499
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Biel, Gabriel
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One leaf of Sermones by Gabriel Biel and edited by Wendelin Steinbach. Printed in Tübingen by Johann Otmar for Fredrich Meynberger in 1499-1500. [GW 4340; ISTC ib00662000]
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Tübingen: Johann Otmar
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Incunabula
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Sermons
Biel, Gabriel, d. 1495
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la
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a>
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1499/1500
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Steinbach, Wendelin (editor)
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Text
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Title
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Incunabula
Description
An account of the resource
The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period.
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1450/1500
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a>
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Incunabula
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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DC-03
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application/pdf
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text
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eng
it
la
nl
de
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Sermones dominicales super epistolas Pauli [folium 17]
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DC-03_017Ebendorfer1478
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Ebendorfer, Thomas, 1388-1464
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One leaf of Sermones dominicales super epistolas Pauli by Thomas Ebendorfer. Illustrated with red rubricated initials. Printed in Strassburg by Heinrich Knoblochtzer in 1478. [GW 9173; ISTC ie00002000]
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Strassburg: Heinrich Knoblochtzer
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Incunabula
Printing 1450-1500
Sermons
Ebendorfer, Thomas, 1388-1464
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la
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a>
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1478
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Seidman Rare Books Collection
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Text
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Title
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Incunabula
Description
An account of the resource
The term incunabula refers to books printed between 1450 and 1500, approximately the first fifty years following the invention, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz, of printing from moveable type. Our collection includes over 200 volumes and numerous unbound leaves from books printed during this period.
Coverage
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1450/1500
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Incunabula Collection (DC-03)
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United </a>
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Incunabula
Printing 1450-1500
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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DC-03
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application/pdf
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text
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eng
it
la
nl
de
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Summa praedicantium [folium 14]
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DC-03_014Bromyard1484
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Bromyard, Johannes de
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One leaf of Summa praedicantium by Johannes de Bromyard. Illustrated with red rubricated initials. Printed in Basel by Johann Amerbach circa 1484. [GW M13114; ISTC ij00260000]
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Basel: Johann Amerbach
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Incunabula
Printing 1450-1500
Sermons
Bromyard, Johannes de
Language
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la
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a>
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application/pdf
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1484
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Seidman Rare Books Collection
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Text
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Stories Jesus Told
The Prodigal Son’s Father
“Do You Suppose God Is Really Like That?”
Richard A. Rhem
Luke 15:11-24
Editorial Note: The parable of the Prodigal Son was explored in the first of a
three part series entitled “Stories Jesus Told” and preached at the Lakeshore
Interfaith Community in Ganges on August 19, 2007. It’s a story that was also
the subject of the following sermon, preached in 2004 as the fifth in a Lenten
series entitled “REMEMBERING JESUS, EXPERIENCING GOD”.
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, Michigan.
March 28, 2004
This Lenten season we are remembering Jesus, hoping thereby to experience
God, and we remember Jesus not because he was alien, a God-figure from
beyond that entered our history, donned our human nature and effected our
salvation only to return to that eternal state. Rather, we remember Jesus
because as John’s Gospel said, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,”
and that marvelous insight which is much more profound, I think, than anyone
has ever plumbed, is that God has become human. So, in remembering Jesus,
we are remembering a human being about whom our tradition has said, “There
God is embodied.”
A couple of weeks ago, Walter Wink was with us to suggest that our calling as
human beings is not to become God-like, but to become fully human, because
God is the only Human Being with a capital H and a capital B; and, that this
cosmic process of billions of years has been evolving and has issued into this
present state in which we are the products of that emerging process - alive,
conscious, able to contemplate it all. That cosmic process of billions of years
has culminated in the likes of us, but as Walter Wink reminded us, we are only
primitively human, we are only human on the way, and if that insight of Jesus as
the Son of the Man would indicate, then it is toward that full human existence
that we are moving, by God’s grace, in order that we might become human as
God is Human. And so, in remembering Jesus, we are seeking to experience
God.
Jesus is our story. There have been other human beings who have been
overcome with encounter, who have been overwhelmed by some moment of
epiphany, some rifting of the sky, some theophany, some manifestation of that
Ultimate Mystery. Abraham heard a voice or saw a vision or had a dream and
the instruction was to leave his family and his environment and go out. For
�Richard A. Rhem
The Prodigal Son’s Father
Page 2
Moses, it was a burning bush. The experience of the Buddha in enlightenment
was not other than that, and Mohammed had visions which he then recorded in
the Koran. Our window on God is Jesus and in John’s Gospel again, in that
conversation with Phillip, as we noted, Jesus said, “If you have seen me, you
have seen the father.” To look upon the face of God, look upon the face of the
human.
And so, we have our window, Jesus, and it was Jesus’ life. But in his life, Jesus
was a storyteller, and he told the story which I read a moment ago which is
perhaps his most familiar and best-loved parable, the parable of the Prodigal
Son. The story has a lot to say about the son, about human nature, but it’s more
profoundly a parable about a prodigal God. It is a parable about the nature of
God, for the father in the story is obviously God. As Jesus tells that story, he
reveals his understanding, his sense of the nature of God. I want to think about
that with you this morning with a question, and this is my question to you: Do
you suppose God is really like that? The father represents God in Jesus’
parable. Do you think God is like the father in the parable? If the father image
bothers you, if that is too much a throwback to an old, supernatural being
beyond us, or if the father image as father bothers you, let it go. Think in terms
of the Ultimate Mystery, or a source and ground of being, that abyss of limitless
being out of which flows all that is. I don’t care how you think of it; image it any
way you want to, it doesn’t matter. But, Jesus was talking about that which was
ultimate. He was talking about Ultimate Reality. He was talking about the
sacred, the holy, the Mystery. He was talking about God. I wonder, and I want
you to keep asking yourself this morning, “Do I really suppose that that Ultimate,
that God, is like that? Like the father figure in the story?”
The story is so familiar. There is the request of the younger son against all
tradition and all decency, really, to have his inheritance ahead of time so that he
can depart, and he goes off into the far country. Since we’re focusing on the
father figure, I want you to simply note that there was total freedom given to the
son. There was no injured pride. There was no weeping and wailing. There was
no judgmental attitude. There was no alienation. Jesus says the son made the
request and we know the request was contrary to family order. But, there was
no protest. The father gave him his inheritance and he left without any
brokenness, any estrangement, which says to me that the Ultimate Mystery in
Jesus’ mind is that which offers freedom, total freedom, that we write our own
script.
Now, when I say total freedom, I know I am speaking in a community where we
have such ability to write our script. We are, of all people, most blessed with our
resources, with our context. And I know that that is not true of millions and
millions of earth’s children, so when I speak about the freedom to write our own
script, I am mindful of the fact that that freedom has in some cases severe
limitations. You perhaps have been reading again about women in Afghanistan
© 2004-2011 Richard A. Rhem
�Richard A. Rhem
The Prodigal Son’s Father
Page 3
immolating themselves, setting themselves on fire. Can you imagine? Can you
imagine how tragic must be the human existence of one who would be driven to
that kind of absolute desperation? Did you catch in the newscast last night that
in Palestine the little children are collecting cards like our kids collect cards?
Baseball cards, right? No. The Palestinian children are collecting martyr cards.
Some Palestinian entrepreneur has created cards with the pictures of those who
have been martyred. There were all these little children with their cards and they
were filling their albums with martyr cards. Can you imagine a child growing up
who, rather than having baseball cards, has martyr cards? Or, that young lad, 14
years old, with a bomb strapped to him who was fortunately intercepted by the
Israelis, a suicide bomber really not wanting to die? So, when I think about
freedom to write our script, I know I’m talking to those of us who have so much,
so much beyond so many of the world’s peoples. There are limits to that
freedom, but nonetheless, if there is no longer any freedom, there is no longer
any humanity and so I would say that in the story Jesus tells, what he is saying
in that getting over the yielding to the request of the younger son is that there is
no absolute script that is written; there is no predestinated story that is unfolding
according to some eternal plan; there is no sovereign, ultimate, absolutism in
history. It is rather that we write the story with freedom in greater or lesser
degree.
Do you think God is like that? Do you think that reality is like that? Do you think
that our human experience is like that? We can go from the departure of the son
directly to his return. We don’t have to go into the far country and linger there,
although a lot of great sermons have satisfied prurient interest about what went
on in the brothels and the pig sties, but we don’t really need to go there because
this story isn’t about the experience of the son. It’s really about the father. And
so, from that granting of freedom, we go to that gracious welcome, a welcome
that if you knew the color of the local society, the father an elderly gentleman
picking up his robe and running to meet the son, defies all of the local custom
about dignity and honor and what is right and proper, the father who doesn’t let
the son get his well-rehearsed story out, but rather, embraces him with tears.
Eighteen months or so ago, a few of us were in St. Petersburg and I stood in the
Hermitage before that huge canvas of Rembrandt’s “Return of the Prodigal,”
and pictured there is that old man, his arms straight from his shoulders, the son
stooping before him, with a welcome without recrimination, with a welcome
without any sign of alienation, with a welcome without any word of rebuke, that
spoke not at all of some period of probation, a welcome that simply was a
reunion and a celebration full of love and grace.
© 2004-2011 Richard A. Rhem
�Richard A. Rhem
The Prodigal Son’s Father
Page 4
Do you suppose that God is really like that? Do you suppose that the ultimate
mystery of reality is like that? Well, if we would put it in contemporary terms that
we have been talking about God becoming human, do you suppose that the
cosmic process of 13 billion years has a bias toward love and grace? Would you
think that maybe in this evolving process onto which stage we have emerged
there is something intrinsic in the process itself that has a bias, a tendency
toward love and grace, that kind of magnificent picture that Jesus drew for us?
Or, would you say “No. No, a cosmic reality has no bias toward love and grace.
It is a random process, a random, neutral process unfolding.” You may be right
about that. But, if that is the case, we have emerged and one emerged about
whom they said there is the embodiment of what is ultimate in the mystery of
God, and that one told a story about this kind of love and grace and we have
made that one our centerpiece, that one we say is our window on God; and that
one spoke about that which is ultimate in terms of love and grace. So maybe it
is a random process. Here we are; who would have thought it? Nobody directed
it. That’s one possibility, but here we are and we can gather around a story like
© 2004-2011 Richard A. Rhem
�Richard A. Rhem
The Prodigal Son’s Father
Page 5
that which says that the ultimate values are freedom and love and grace
effecting reunion and reconciliation. So, whether the process has that within
itself or we come on the stage and recognize that and invest it with ultimate
meaning, it doesn’t really matter. Whether intrinsic in the process or affirmed by
us, love and grace and reconciliation and reunion are the Ultimate. Do you think,
do you suppose that that’s the way it is at the heart of things?
That’s not the way it is in traditional religious understanding. That’s not the way
it is in traditional Christian understanding, for while in traditional Christian
understanding the parable of the Prodigal Son is a piece of the puzzle, it is
jammed into the blender with a lot of other stuff and what we get is an
homogenized view in which you have to add some stuff to the parable of the
prodigal in order to get a decent God. In the traditional view, there is something
more that you have in the parable of the prodigal. The father who, in freedom,
allows one to write one’s own story, and with gracious openness receives that
one back into the bosom of love, in traditional Christianity you have, and it’s
right at the heart of this season, you have the whole atonement thing and of
course, the world will never be the same after Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the
Christ.” It will take another whole generation to wash out that popularization of
the very worst conception of the death of Jesus. But there that violent suffering,
that horrible suffering of Jesus is a sign of the costliness of the sacrifice that was
demanded in order for God to be able to forgive us. That’s 180 degrees from the
parable of the prodigal, for the father in the prodigal needed no payment, no
pound of flesh nor pint of blood. The father in the prodigal parable simply, with
heart broken with joy, received the son home. And that is 180 degrees from
traditional Christian atonement theology which says yes, God is loving and
because God is loving, God provided a way, but God is also just and therefore
needed God’s honor to be satisfied. Those two are in irreconcilable conflict. I
see it more clearly every day of my life. Those are two conceptions of God.
Those are two conceptions of Ultimate Reality.
In yesterday’s paper, perhaps you read that the final volume of the Left Behind
series is out. This is a series of novels about the last things, the end times, a
dramatization of the Book of Revelation. It is a total misreading and
misunderstanding of the revelation of Jesus Christ to John, the last book of the
Second Testament. It is a literalization of that which is highly symbolic, and it
makes that writing, which was aimed at its own historical context in a time of
intense persecution in the early days in the Christian movement, into history
written ahead of time of the last times; and it is a travesty of any kind of
intelligent biblical understanding or interpretation. But, be that as it may, other
than that, how did I feel about it? This is more serious. This is a book review.
The title of the book is Glorious Appearing, The End of Days. Apparently, those
few believers who were not raptured at the time that Jesus came to take them
out of history, those who were left and those who were converted during the
time of tribulation are hovering in a rock fortress, and this review says,
© 2004-2011 Richard A. Rhem
�Richard A. Rhem
The Prodigal Son’s Father
Page 6
... This rock fortress has been protected by God time and time again, but now
its inhabitants face a mighty army whose sole goal is absolute annhililation. This
battle is the Battle of Armageddon, it is the battle of the end time. Armageddon
is a valley in Israel and this is the final battle when Jesus comes and encounters
Satan and Satan’s hosts who have been, of course, afflicting the believers.
Apparently this head dog is Carpathia and Carpathia himself leads the charge.
But, he is no match for Jesus Christ who returns as prophesied to save the
fortress. The battles continue with Jesus’ words alone wiping out hundreds of
thousands of troops. The culmination is at the holy city of Jerusalem fractured
into three by earthquakes as Jesus wins his final victory. Judgment comes for
followers of Satan, but it is the peace that Jesus brings to believers that touches
the heart. While Jenkins’ writing is swift and a bit colloquial, his use of scripture
is truly inspired. Nothing but scripture is spoken by Christ, portions of the Bible
that bring comfort, judgment, war and love.
That Jesus is a warrior. That Jesus slays thousands with his words. That Jesus
wins the final triumph, and effects the salvation of those that believe and the
eternal damnation of those he destroys. That Jesus is totally contrary to the
Jesus who tells the story that we looked at this morning, where the Ultimate
Mystery is love and grace, where there is no final “No,” where the door is always
open and the light is burning forever in the window. This is not just an incidental
matter. This conception, the traditional conception of a God who needs a pound
of flesh and a pint of blood, whose son will return as a warrior to destroy the
wicked, this God is a God drawn by the myth of redemptive violence that
ultimately the peaceable kingdom will be issued in by violence. Walter Wink
used that phrase, the myth of redemptive violence. It is a totally different
conception of the heart and center of reality, and in that myth of redemptive
violence, you effect finally peace through war. President Woodrow Wilson had a
dream of the League of Nations which his own Senate voted not to enter when it
was established, but he led us into the First World War, a war to end all wars.
More recently we have gone into Iraq in order to bring democracy into the
Middle East and we continue to live under the delusion of the myth of
redemptive violence. You may say to me, “Well, what is the other answer, then?
Passivism?” I would say no, not passivism. It is non-violent resistance, and the
cost of non-violent resistance may well be crucifixion and there may be hell to
pay for a long time, but I’ll tell you this - it is the way of Jesus and it is the only
hope of salvation of the world. There will never be peace brought by violence if
we believe Jesus. If we believe Jesus, then there is wonderful news and scary
news. The wonderful news is that the ultimate values are freedom and grace and
love, that love and grace alone transform. Violence can coerce. Violence can
control. Violence can keep the demons at bay. Love and grace alone transform.
Love and grace alone alter consciousness.
Jesus told the story about the Ultimate Mystery, God, being a God of freedom
© 2004-2011 Richard A. Rhem
�Richard A. Rhem
The Prodigal Son’s Father
Page 7
and grace. That’s the good news.
The scary news is that it is in our hands. It is in our hands.
So, do you suppose that God is really that? Where did you get your image of
God? Handed down, of course, as with all of us. But, isn’t it time for us to
receive those traditional images critically and then take responsibility for the
choice we make as to what is ultimate? The choice we make will determine
whether the human family has a future, whether the peaceable kingdom will ever
be realized.
What do you think?
© 2004-2011 Richard A. Rhem
�
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
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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
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
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<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.
Location
The location of the interview
Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges
Series
Stories Jesus Told
Event
Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering
Scripture Text
Luke 15:11-24
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
The Prodigal Son’s Father
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on entitled "The Prodigal Son’s Father", as part of the series "Stories Jesus Told", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Luke 15:11-24.
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
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2004-03-28
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Kll-01_RA-0-20070819
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/83fcc122e287a98574d70902e5801949.mp3
35e9ab34452bd0361ac7e5d504d70be6
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.
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Series
The Church On the Way to the Future
Event
Pentecost XXII
Scripture Text
Mark 2:22, Ephesians 4:4-6
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
We Believe One Church – Catholic and Reforming
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 4, 1990 entitled "We Believe One Church – Catholic and Reforming", as part of the series "The Church On the Way to the Future", on the occasion of Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 2:22, Ephesians 4:4-6.
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
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1990-11-04
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Kll-01_RA-0-19901104
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a7b7cb14e08bbe4f447d62fb77973d6f.mp3
f5f19d75eb63b7280084928982204e9b
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
Christmastide
Series
Memory and Hope
Scripture Text
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-0-19991226
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-12-26
Title
A name given to the resource
Hope Embodied in the Human
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 December 26, 1999 entitled "Hope Embodied in the Human", as part of the series "Memory and Hope", on the occasion of Christmastide, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:14.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e47f89aecad3ff2f122dd65210985108.pdf
178abf2b8ef5b8d34919c89b876537a5
PDF Text
Text
A Larger Hope
From the series: Memory and Hope
Micah 5:1-5; Luke 4:16-30
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent IV, December 19, 1999
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Advent is a time of contemplation, reflection, and preparation - preparation for
what? For the future, surely, but what future? A future in this world and this
present age, or a future in another reality, in heaven? The Kingdom of God - is it a
present reality and experience, or is it a future state? Advent is a time of
remembering, for we have our minds focused on the coming celebration of
Christmas and thus on our founding story as Christians - But, Advent is a time of
expectation - a time of waiting and the biblical sense of waiting is waiting in hope.
The biblical story is a story about God's engagement in history past and the
promise of God's action in history future. History is the ongoing story between
God's action, past, and God's action, future. That is the biblical notion. In
traditional biblical and liturgical terms, we are in the time between the times - the
past coming of God in our flesh and the future appearing of the one who came,
coming now to judge and bring all things to their consummation.
Year after year, the same story - The child was given; the King is coming. And it is
quite a lovely story that is lodged deeply in our hearts and overflowing with
affectional memories as well as filling us with hope and confidence - It is a story
that enables us to negotiate the passages of our lives in this world, speaking to us
of another world. The story originates in another realm and culminates likewise
in another realm.
We speak of God's salvation and, while that is a present experience, its real
significance is the promise of eternal life beyond the limits of our earthly journey.
Salvation becomes a very personal matter. We hear much about having Jesus
Christ as our personal savior, the one who came to die for us in order to make
possible God's forgiveness and eventual entrance into heaven.
© Grand Valley State University
�A Larger Hope
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Now I'm speaking about Advent and Christmas in traditional terms. I could have
you open the hymnbook and over and over again I could demonstrate the
primary focus of our Christian faith as we have learned it.
God so loved the world that God gave the son - Born a child of Mary, to live for us
and die for us and bring us to heaven. Annually we are immersed in the story of
one born a child who became a King - a King who will be coming in blinding glory
to judge and rule and bring us to heaven. I'm not really telling you anything new.
This is the old, old story. God's gift of Jesus, our savior, to take away our sins and
open heaven's gates.
And what about this in-between time, this time between his first coming and his
coming again? Well, it is a time for the Gospel to be preached, a time to offer the
salvation God has provided through Jesus' death and resurrection.
The story is about a spiritual Kingdom, about salvation, about heaven. There are
present responsibilities - to preach the Gospel, to work for human well-being,
acts of charity and the alleviation of suffering. But, essentially, there is no hope
for this old world, this present age, this earthly reality of which we are a part. The
world is simply reeling toward hell. It will be destroyed; we must be saved out of
the world.
But, what if we get it wrong? What if we missed the point of Jesus? What if we
made a religious cult out of what Jesus intended as a revolutionary movement of
world transformation? What if we got all bogged down with sin and guilt and
threat of damnation when Jesus was about social, economic and spiritual
transformation?
Let me read a description of the world. See if you recognize it.
... a world where dreams of limitless material wealth and technological progress
danced in the heads of the great entrepreneurs and in the rhetoric of ambitious
politicians - and where the looming nightmares of family breakdown, crime,
sudden loss of livelihood, and untreated and untreatable illnesses plagued the
minds of the vast majority. It was, in short, a world that should seem ominously
familiar - in which sweeping social and economic change was embraced by some
and condemned by others, dramatically transforming the life of all the empire's
people, from the wealthiest nobles in their palaces to the poorest shepherds
wandering with their flocks in the hills. This is becoming increasingly clear
because modern scholars have at last begun to explore the vast area covered by
the rule and civilization of the Caesars to search for the life styles of both the rich
and famous and the far larger, yet mostly hidden, world of the Roman havenots,
peasants, plebians, and slaves.
Richard Horsley, The Message and the Kingdom, p. 2F. As this citation begins,
one might think one is reading a description of life at the end of the 20th Century,
© Grand Valley State University
�A Larger Hope
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
but it is, as becomes clear, a description of the Roman Empire at the time of
Jesus' life in the occupied land of Israel.
Through archeological exploration and cross-cultural studies we are
gaining a wealth of information about the ancient world of Jesus' time and
beginning to understand the poverty and suffering of the lower classes
which formed the vast majority of the population. Occupied by a foreign
power, exploited by the imperial rule through taxation and land
appropriation, there was a brewing cauldron of frustration and anger. And,
where was god? What if the promises of prophets of a new creation, of a
time of prosperity and peace - the shalom of the peaceable Kingdom when
swords and spears would be changed into implements of agriculture?
Where was God? When would this awful suffering cease?
Is it not a natural human question and normal human response? Why, O Lord,
why? How long, O God, how long?" Well, one answer - a common one found in
the Hebrew prophets was that Israel was suffering for its sin. That is how
Jeremiah explained the Babylonian Exile. I could cite passage after passage from
the prophetic book - You have sinned; God is punishing. But, why should the
righteous suffer? Another solution must be found. And thus the rise of the idea
that the world was in the grip of an evil power. For the time being, God was
allowing Satan to hold sway creating havoc in history, the suffering that was
everywhere. But God would not always remain passive. God would act. God
would intervene.
This was the origin of Apocalypticism - Apocalypse - meaning "unveiling" or
"revelation." God would intervene in history; God's judgment and grace would be
unveiled or revealed. In the cauldron of suffering and discontent, there was the
feverish expectation of the exploited and suffering masses when John the Baptist
preached. And John was not the only one. There was a widespread anticipation of
God's dramatic intervention to destroy the evil one and all the agents of
oppression and darkness and the vindication and salvation of the suffering
righteous.
We noted John's preaching of the coming Kingdom in the last sermon - God
would wreak vengeance on the enemies and oppressors of God's people, whether
foreign agents or native collaborators. This was the angry God of Isaiah 34, a God
whose cup of wrath was filled up, ready to overflow in burning judgment.
Jesus came to John to be baptized. Jesus was caught up in the Baptist movement,
himself baptizing down the river a piece. After a time, he distanced himself from
John and his preaching took on a different note - a grace note.
There is a wonderful debate going on in the circle of historical Jesus scholarship
as to whether Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet like John or not. We will have
that issue debated here next March when Dom Crossan and Amy-Jill Levine
discuss Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. But, whether or to what degree Jesus
© Grand Valley State University
�A Larger Hope
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
was part of the apocalyptic expectation, this would seem to be certain - Jesus was
dealing with earth, not heaven, this life, not some life to come, concrete, down to
earth human existence, not some spiritual Kingdom in another dimension.
Jesus left John the Baptist because he pointed to an alternative vision of God and
called for an alternative community. Luke writes his Gospel with an opening
scene of Jesus' ministry in which he announces what he is about.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring
good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
John's hope was an apocalyptic hope of imminent judgment and salvation from
beyond. For Jesus, that was a hope too narrow. I used the word tribal last week.
Religion tends to become tribal - our God looking after our well-being and
destroying our enemies. God on our side. God favoring and saving us. God giving
us the truth, the way to salvation: others need not apply.
For Jesus, that was a hope too narrow. Jesus embodied a larger hope. In his
home synagogue in Nazareth, they were not happy with the expansiveness of his
vision and hope. He pointed to an Elijah story where the Sidonian widow was
provided for in famine, and the Elisha story where the Syrian Naaman was healed
of his leprosy, thus pointing to the broader swath of God's care and concern. The
hometown folk were not happy about God's wider grace and their anger rose
against Jesus.
Jesus lived by and offered a larger hope from which no one was excluded. There
were no outcasts in Jesus' purview. He pointed to a God whose grace was of
expansive embrace.
But, the grace he offered was the grace that created human dignity and worth to
people who had lost their dignity and all hope. The Kingdom is in the midst of
you, he told them. This is the year of the Lord's favor. To the poor, the blind and
the lame, he brought the Good News of God's presence and called the people to
care for one another.
This was an appeal to the traditional covenantal life of Isaiah, to community of
mutual respect and care.
And the life to which Jesus called the people was revolutionary in its impact. He
touched the anger, frustration and despair of the people, but in a positive way of
giving them dignity and solidarity before their oppressors - the covenant ideal of
Israel where God was King alone and the people lived in covenant community.
That was Jesus' larger hope - a hope that embraced all.
© Grand Valley State University
�A Larger Hope
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
This was the Kingdom that was already present for Jesus, in the towns and
villages, if only people recognized its sanctity and reoriented their community
accordingly - They were poor, oppressed, fragmented. They were disoriented and
dislocated. They had lost hope and they forgot how to live in community. Jesus
called them to remember who they were and to reclaim their lives as children of
God. He called for an alternative community, an alternative society.
Jesus was not a revolutionary of the type that was certainly present -the guerilla
bands that roamed the Palestinian hills, the Zealots that pressed for armed
conflict against Rome - and eventually in revolt brought out the legions of Rome
that destroyed Jewishness in 70 C.E.
But Jesus was revolutionary in calling for the transformation of human society.
This is why he was proved too dangerous to let live. This is why he was crucified.
That he was revolutionary has been proved in our own time by those who learned
civil disobedience from him.
First of all, people must be given a sense of themselves - their dignity and worth
as human beings, as children of God. Then they can resist, non-violently, passive
resistance, civil disobedience, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, the South African
Black Church - all examples of Jesus' Way.
Jesus was not tribal. He had not a hope too narrow. Jesus had a larger hope for
human transformation in this down-to-earth concrete reality of history. Jesus
gave people hope for the transformation of their life here and now.
That is a striking fact. Do you at all sense how revolutionary and radical that is? It
should give us pause.
Who is Caesar? Who is Herod? Who are the Priests and Sanhedrin? Who has the
legions and the swords?
Who are the poor whom Jesus called to awareness of their human dignity and
thus to their birthright as children of God?
How are we doing as the Millennium turns? We are the rich and powerful. Jesus
was engaged with concrete human social, economic, and religious conditions.
Then, can we honestly make him into a savior of a spiritual Kingdom whose issue
is heaven?
Wherein lies the hope for the world? Will it not call for transformation - social,
political, economic? The world could be transformed - what if the vision was
caught not by the poor and powerless, but by the rich and famous?
I can't think about it too long and hard. I would have to change. Better simply to
go once more to Bethlehem and see him as God's gift to save us from our sins and
bring us to heaven - And forget about what he was really about.
© Grand Valley State University
�A Larger Hope
Richard A. Rhem
© Grand Valley State University
Page 6
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ef97da966eca29767cef3f84008e9752.mp3
dab6cf4bdefc5177b69f3adcc2fdbe2a
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
Series
Memory and Hope
Scripture Text
Micah 5:1-5, Luke 4:16-30
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-0-19991220
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-12-20
Title
A name given to the resource
A Larger Hope
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 December 20, 1999 entitled "A Larger Hope", as part of the series "Memory and Hope", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Micah 5:1-5, Luke 4:16-30.
Advent
Community of Grace
Inclusive Grace
Transformation
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A Hope Too Narrow
From the series: Memory and Hope
Text: Isaiah 35:4; Matthew 3:12
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent III, December 12, 1999
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Have you noticed how you might hear of a person or a region or perhaps discuss a
disease, you've never heard of them before, you had no knowledge of them, and
the next day you go out and you see the same thing referred to and within the
next few days you find that particular new piece of information everywhere? It's
not as though it suddenly came to expression, but simply because you suddenly
had an awareness, your attention was called to a certain phenomenon and then
you began to see it everywhere. You had a fresh awareness that caused the filter
of your mind to take in that piece of data and to register it. It's a common human
experience, and I have found that to be the case as I have reflected on the larger
religious scene and, more specifically, the Christian tradition and the Christian
church. It continues to impress me, startle me, and amaze me how narrow is the
hope of the Christian church. I want to suggest to you today that the Christian
church has traditionally had a hope too narrow and, that being the case, it is not
true simply for Christian faith, but I come to see more and more that it is an
aspect of religion itself.
Ironically, religion doesn't always make us very nice people. Religion can bring
out the worst in us and can feed the baser nature, which is a part of our human
creaturehood, and so this morning I had you open your Bibles to that section in
Isaiah to see the contrast between Isaiah 34 and 35. I didn't intend to do that,
frankly, until I got studying the whole thing. I was going to simply use 35; it's a
wonderful passage. However, there is one verse in there, verse four, which
contrasts the blessing of God for Zion, for God's people over against the
vengeance with which God will come to judge the rest. But, as I was studying and
I read Chapter 34 before, I said, "Oh, my goodness! What a picture!"
Did it shock you just a bit? Did you know that that was in there, this chapter
about the vengeance of God, the furious God, the God who is furious with the
nations, who is going to come to judge the nations, whose sword is sated with
blood? The judgment scene of the devastation of the nations and specifically of
Edom.
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Edom was a neighboring tribe, a neighboring people, and perhaps you will
remember that Edom comes from Esau so that what we have is the old rivalry
between Jacob and Esau, the rivalry between the brothers and, of course, no one
gets our vengeance more than those who are closest to us. So, what we have in
Isaiah 34 is a picture of a coming devastating judgment on the nations about
Judah, and in Chapter 35, the restoration of Judah and the desert blossoming as
a rose. Some phrases out of Chapter 35 you have seen on greetings cards,
Christian greetings cards - streams in the desert, for example. How many
sympathy cards haven't you seen with the last phrase that I read, that time "when
all sorrow and sighing will flee away"? Chapter thirty-five is magnificent in the
images that it portrays for the people of faith; it is as wonderful as chapter 34 is
terrible in that awful judgment that is depicted for all of those who are not the
people of God, Zion, Jerusalem.
As I see that contrast, I see something that, unfortunately, I am seeing
everywhere and that is the tendency of religion to polarize people, the tendency of
religion to become tribal. Tribal religion. Now, we don't face that fact very often
because we say, "Well, the Bible begins 'in the beginning God created the heavens
and the earth.' We're talking about the one true God, the creator of all," and so
forth. And to be sure, there is a complex tapestry that makes up the Hebrew
Scriptures as well as the New Testament documents. There is not a one-party
line, there is not a consistent witness, and so next week I'll take a couple of
passages that will show that larger hope. But this morning I want simply to call to
your attention that aspect of religion that tends to hold a hope too narrow. That
tendency of religion, in all kinds of religious communities and in all kinds of
religious traditions, to become tribal, to put it bluntly in a word, the tendency of
too much religion that tends to hope for God to lift one up and damn one's foes,
tribal religion which can become very violent and which shapes an unsavory
human character.
Bad religion is really bad stuff because it is so powerful, because it is so potent,
because its claim is that it puts one in touch with God, because its claim is that it
gives one truths that are absolute, and therefore that will justify almost any kind
of human action in the name of that God and that absolute truth.
That kind of religion is alive and well in our world today, and in this Advent
season as the millennium is about to turn, we have an added emphasis on that
end time drama. You'll hear from various angles in various forms, that kind of
religious faith set forth that says this is the way to salvation, and either says
explicitly or leaves for you to draw your own conclusion that, for all the rest, there
is condemnation, eternal suffering, torment, and darkness. That's tribal religion.
That is religion with a hope too narrow and there is something in the human
person, it seems, an insecurity and a fearfulness that tends to make us vulnerable
to that kind of message that will secure us over against the others, that will
convince us that we have the absolute truth and the corner on the truth and the
only way of salvation. The violence of Isaiah 34 can be duplicated throughout the
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Hebrew scriptures, to say nothing of the Book of Revelation which you had wellexpounded to you last week, that apocalyptic frame of mind that so permeated
the century before Christ and into the first century, that apocalyptic frame of
mind that was expecting the end of the world and was hoping for the judgment of
God to fall on all of the rest.
I can understand how it comes about. You have a little people like Judah, just a
little tribal people and they're the pawn of the power brokers from Egypt up to
Assyria to Babylon. You have them as this pawn in the power plays of the great
empires; they are occupied, abused and oppressed, and the most natural reaction
in the world for the human creature is anger, frustration, and finally the crying
out for vengeance. It’s all in the book and it is expressive of a tribal religion, of a
tribal God, my God, not the God of my enemies, the kind of religion that divides
the world into my kind of people and all of the rest, the kind of religion that
wants God to lift us high and damn our foes.
I call it to your attention because it's so alive and well in our day. As I began,
sometimes you become aware of something and then you see it everywhere, and I
have to say that, having been in this business all of my life, which is a long time
now, I have become increasingly aware of the tribal nature of much religious and
especially Christian expression in the media, newspapers and journals. Then,
being somewhat masochistic, I tune into late night evangelical television. Now,
it's not exactly the kind of thing that soothes me and puts me to sleep, but the
thing that concerns me is that those who are the true believers cough up the kind
of funds that keep this kind of mentality and this sort of spirit alive and well so
that it almost seems to me that the public expression, the broadcast expression of
Christian faith is permeated with more of the spirit of Isaiah 34, or if that's too
strong for you, consider John the Baptist.
Now, John's situation was different. John wasn't talking about "us" and "them."
John was talking about us and those of you within the circle, the religious
leadership whom John condemned in strong terms. But, the spirit is the same.
John the Baptist breathes fire. John the Baptist speaks about a God who is
violent, a God who will come with vengeance, a God who will square the accounts
with a wicked world, and it is a God that cannot be squared with the God and
father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the kind of religious message that betrays
what we really believe about the grace of God and the love of God. If it is true that
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, if it is true, as Jesus says according to
John's gospel, "If you've seen me, you've seen the father," you're talking about
another kind of God than the God of Isaiah 34, and you're talking about a God of
quite another spirit than the God of John the Baptist. I've gone through that more
than once here. Jesus distanced himself from John the Baptist, distanced himself
from the ministry of John, the ministry of fire and judgment, and, if you want the
starkest contrast reflective of Jesus over against this other mentality, then just
remember him in the anguish of crucifixion praying, "Father, forgive them for
they know not what they do." There was an awareness in Jesus of a God who was
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beyond the tribal gods, and at this time of the year, in the lines of George
McDonald,
They all were looking for a King
To kill their foes and lift them high.
Thou cam'st a little baby thing
That made a woman cry.
I wonder why it is that there is such a tendency to hold on to the spirit of John the
Baptist rather than to see through the eyes of Jesus the totally different
understanding of God, a God full of grace, the God of whom John wrote, "God is
love, and those that dwell in love dwell in God and God abides in them." Why is it
that so much of religion even to our day is marked by the kind of arrogance that
says we have the truth and the whole truth and there is not truth or salvation any
other way? Why is it, in spite of the possibility of the experience of other
traditions, there is still in our day such a shrill note sounded about the exclusivity
of Jesus Christ? Why does what I find in Jesus Christ, why is it in any way
diminished if that is not the only way?
I know from personal experience the difference in my whole demeanor, in my
whole being, having moved from an exclusivist position with a God of vengeance
whose vengeance would never have come on me, of course, but always on the
other; I know the difference it makes to live with a larger hope.
Why is it that so much of religion lives with the hope too narrow, shaping people
with a spirit bristling, on edge, condemnatory, afraid, defensive? Why have we
not been able to see that so much of religion is focused on a tribal God rather
than on the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Why can we not see that no
understanding of God is worthy that doesn't understand that God will not rest
until all God's children are home, because God loves all and embraces all and has
come to us so wonderfully in the vulnerability of the child that should give us a
clue from the beginning that it is not by domination, coercion, and
condemnation, but by the embodiment of grace that God is best served. Only
such will keep us from living with a hope too narrow.
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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.
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Rhem, Richard A.
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Advent III
Series
Memory and Hope
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Isaiah 35:4, Matthew 3:12
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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A Hope Too Narrow
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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Text
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An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 12, 1999 entitled "A Hope Too Narrow", as part of the series "Memory and Hope", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 35:4, Matthew 3:12.
Advent
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Solidarity in The Way, The Truth, and The Life
Thanksgiving Day
Text: John 14:6
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent I, November 28, 1999
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Someone who has become a good friend, Rabbi David Hartman, who has been in
Muskegon on three different occasions in that full-day dialogue sponsored by the
West Shore Committee for Jewish-Christian Dialogue, has sent me his most
recent book, an autographed copy, and the title is the title of his lecture here a
year or two ago - A Heart of Many Rooms. It's a wonderful image; a heart of
many rooms is a heart that can receive and accommodate diversity of opinion and
various perspectives on the truth. As I was reading the introduction, I realized
that it is really a statement of David Hartman's life and passion as he lives in
Jerusalem, having moved there from this country in order to be a part of that
emerging Israeli experience, the living community of Jews returned to Jerusalem.
In the introduction, he mentions an experience that he had back in the 70s. The
Six Day War was going on and David Hartman was terribly distressed and
recognized that the nation, Israel, was in jeopardy, and he said, "Oh, Lord God, if
we are to experience another Holocaust, I'll not be able to do it. How long," he
says, "could we continue to be witnesses to the silent God of history?"
Well, Israel won that war and feeling compelled to go there, he visited Israel and
he found that, in the wake of the victory of the Six Day War, the Jews were
dancing in the streets of Jerusalem. There was a mood of jubilation. He was a
Rabbi in a congregation in the Bronx or Montreal at the time, and he returned
home on the ninth of Ab. Ab is a Jewish month in the Jewish calendar, and the
ninth day of the month Ab is the day that the Jews traditionally mourn the
destruction of Jerusalem that occurred by the Roman legions back in 70 C.E. The
ninth of Ab every year they gather and they mourn the destruction of Jerusalem.
So, he leaves the jubilation of the streets of Jerusalem, the living Jewish
community, and he comes to his own people in his own synagogue and they are
in mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem. The incongruity of it struck him,
and he writes that it seemed like a parent who prays for the recovery of a sick
child and the child recovers, and the parent continues to pray for recovery
because he or she has fallen in love with the prayer. He announced to his people
© Grand Valley State University
�Solidarity in The Way, The Truth, and The Life
Richard A. Rhem
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who were in mourning in traditional fashion for what had happened nearly 2000
years ago, that the people of Jerusalem were dancing in the street! That's one of
those deep human experiences that has a way of changing one's thinking or at
least jarring one out of traditional patterns and thought. David Hartman, from
that moment on, began to ask himself, "What does it mean to engage the God of
history in the present? What does it mean to engage the God of history in a live
community, here and now?" That became the passion and the mission of his life.
Eventually, he moved his family to Jerusalem and formed the Shalom Hartman
Institute for the study of peace, trying in that living community itself to live out a
vital Jewish faith, not now waiting.for Messiah to come, but seeing in the
concrete realization of that Israeli community the action of God in the midst of
history, trying to interpret it and trying.to live into it.
As he reflected on that, he realized that, as a traditional, observant Jew, he had
been living between history remembered and history anticipated. In the
meantime, it was a time of passive waiting, which, in the Jewish experience, was
explained as the time of the silence of God. Where was God when six million Jews
suffered death? Where was God through all the centuries of history and the
struggle and the suffering of the Jewish people?
As a Rabbi, David Hartman had celebrated the great Jewish festivals which
celebrated God's past action, and one of those festivals, the Passover, had an
eschatological (future) dimension. The liturgy for Passover ends with "next year
in Jerusalem." Thus Hartman realized he had been living with a "symbolic
history" which "remembered" and which “hoped,” but missing was the sense of
the immediate presence of God acting here and now. God was "silent."
That triggered lots of thoughts with me as I thought about the first Sunday in
Advent, today, and coming to this table of our Lord for we, too, today have
experienced again participation and ritual and the sacrament, and the sacrament
has called us to remember and to hope. That same eschatological note is in the
sacrament. Jesus says in Luke's gospel, after having shared that meal, "I will not
do it again with you until the kingdom fully comes." Paul, in the institution in I
Corinthians 11, says that, "As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup we
proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." So the Christian experience, very
much like the Jewish experience, is lived in the meantime, between the mighty
act of God in Jesus Christ, and that mighty act of God in Jesus Christ in the
coming again to judge the nations. So we have action past, action anticipated. We
remember and we hope and, in the meantime, we don't really take very seriously
the active engagement of God in our history.
If you want to know what's going on, you go to Washington or Beijing or Moscow
or Paris or London. If you want to know what's going on, check the Wall Street
Stock Market. If you want to know what's going on, read the journals. But God is
not really very vividly present in our thinking about history, our history, our day,
our nationv our world. A kind of passivity comes over the Church.
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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Oh, we're very good at remembering what God has done; we're very clear about
what God will do. Jesus comes for our salvation. Jesus comes again for our full
redemption. That's the story, that's the biblical story, that's the traditional
Christian faith. And here it is, the first Sunday in Advent, the first season of the
Christian year that will bring us into the first season of a new millennium, and
we're doing it again.
Traditionally, I would say to you Advent is the time when we remember that the
one who came is coming again. Of course, I can't do that anymore because last
year I told you Jesus wasn't coming again, and of course, you always believe
everything I say. But I don't really think Jesus is coming again. I think that that
idea of a second coming permeated the air of the first century. It marked Jewish
expectation and the emerging. Christian movement; they were expecting the
imminent return of Jesus from heaven. Imminent. That means right now, very
soon.
We've noted here before that the first great crisis and perhaps the greatest crisis
of Christian faith is the fact that Jesus didn't return. Nothing happened. Paul had
to write his letter to the Thessalonians because they laid off work and were
waiting for it to happen. The expectation runs through the whole of the New
Testament, and it didn't happen. And of course, if you have an infallible, inerrant
Bible that you have to defend, you're in real trouble, because what you have to do
is say that it will still happen. It just hasn't happened yet. But, if you can hear that
scripture witness as the testimony of those who were giving witness to their
deepest faith and conviction in the only kind of terms that they could understand,
the conceptuality of their own context and history, then you can simply say they
got it wrong. What they were expecting didn't happen and, if it didn't happen,
there is not any reason to think that they were simply wrong in terms of a couple
of thousand years, but rather, their understanding of what God had done in Jesus
Christ was wrong.
Well, yes and no. They got the core of it right, for they saw in Jesus Christ the
embodiment of God. They saw in Jesus Christ the word made flesh. They
experienced the presence of God in Jesus Christ, or, as our good Bishop Spong
said here, the God presence. That's what the scripture lesson is about in John 14.
Jesus says to them, "You know where I'm going," and Phillip doesn't know. He
said, "We don't know the way. We don't know where you're going; how can we
know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And, of
course, he went on to say, "No one comes to the father but by me." At least that's
what John wrote decades after the event because that was what John felt, being a
leader of a small persecuted minority movement. John wasn't talking, about
whether or not the truth of God is held exclusively in Jesus Christ or that the
whole world has to become Christian in order to come into communion with God.
That wasn't even in the purview of what the writer was saying; the writer was
trying to give witness to that which was the deepest experience of his life. He said,
"In Jesus, my God," and so, we have that sixth verse, "I am the way, the truth,
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
and the life." And rather than some final, dramatic, divine intervention to right
all the wrongs, to bring all things to consummation, to damn the wicked and
rescue the righteous, I wonder if that wasn't something put on Jesus, but that
Jesus himself was simply living out the God life so that those who encountered
him could say, as John writes in this gospel, "If you've seen me, you've seen the
father. How much plainer can I make it? In my flesh, this is the embodiment of
God; this is what God is; this is what God is about; this, my way, is the way. This,
my truth, is the truth. This, my life, this is life."
I wonder in this season of Advent if, rather than the passivity that has marked us
– waiting for the final act, I wonder if we really took Jesus seriously we might
start a contagious consciousness of what, after all, we are called to be, so that it
wouldn't simply be for us coming to this table remembering and hoping,
remembering what God had done, anticipating what God would do, but rather,
coming to this table understanding ourselves becoming the companions of Jesus.
Bishop Spong also said that word, companion. I looked it up; he's right. It comes
from the Latin - com, with; panis, with bread. To be a companion literally is with
bread. You break bread with your companion, with your friend. You have a meal
with your friend. Human relationship and human community is built in the meal.
Too bad we have to do it symbolically with a little piece of bread and a little dip in
the chalice. Too bad we can't throw out banquet tables and have conviviality. And
then, in the midst of the meal, a real meal, experiencing the communion. But, this
is all we can do, so we give you just a hint of what it really would be about. But
what if, coming to that table was our declaration to be in solidarity with Jesus.
That is, solidarity with the way of Jesus, the truth of Jesus, the life of Jesus. What
if we really believed that God was in that one, so that that one, in the midst of our
history was the pointer for the only hope of history, which is not for some
dramatic coming again, but for the likes of us to quit Lolly-gagging through
history, and like a David Hartman, saying "I'm going to go and I'm going to live in
Israel because I want to experience the God I remember from past action in the
present." It might make a difference in our world and, God knows, the world
needs transformation.
I mentioned to you Thursday I have been going.through the video series of World
War II, narrated by Walter Cronkite. I watch those videos of the rise of Hitler.
You see the brutality and the violence of the brown shirts. The other night I
watched the invasion of Norway and Denmark. I could cry. How can we do that to
one another? I remember watching Schindler's List, and I thought we ought to
get the whole world together and make everyone look at that film. I saw Private
Ryan, and said if only we could get the whole world to sit down together and then
to look at each other across the table and to say we can never, never do that to
each other again. The horror of it! The brutality of it! The inhumanity of it! The
violence and the destruction that is a denial of everything about the way, the
truth, and the life that came into expression in Jesus Christ.
© Grand Valley State University
�Solidarity in The Way, The Truth, and The Life
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
The Dalai Lama, recently in the Golan Heights at a World Interfaith Conference,
spoke of the third millennium as the millennium of peace. God knows we need it,
rather than our religions fueling the divisiveness and the barriers and the
hostility between people. If the world religions, whose core values point to peace,
could use all of our energy and all of our efforts and resources to raise the
consciousness, the human consciousness of the world to say we've got to stop
killing each other, we've got to stop excluding each other, we've got to stop
dominating each other, we have to do away with this arrogance, this
triumphalism, this tribalism that will tear the human fabric apart.
Think of the marvelous picture of the peaceable kingdom and the prophets, the
shalom. David Hartman says, "That's not a picture of some future time and place.
That's the immediate critique of every moment of history and every structure,
economic, social, political, religious. Every structure and every moment of history
comes under the critique of that ideal of shalom, of that magnificent picture, that
glorious vision when they will not hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain."
My God, people, there's something to do! This isn't about some comic strip
finality at the end of time. This is about right here and right now, and it's about
you and me, companions of Jesus, who is the way and the truth and the life.
References:
Rabbi David Hartman. A Heart of Many Rooms: Celebrating the Many Voices
within Judaism. Jewish Lights Pub, 2001.
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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 I
Series
Memory and Hope
Scripture Text
John 14:6
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
Rabbi David Hartman, A Heart of Many Rooms, 2001
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-0-19991128
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-11-28
Title
A name given to the resource
Solidarity in The Way, The Truth, and The Life
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 November 28, 1999 entitled "Solidarity in The Way, The Truth, and The Life", as part of the series "Memory and Hope", on the occasion of Advent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 14:6.
Historical Jesus
Way of Jesus
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0702a5ccd440a311ffe2f321968d7447.mp3
a54f1b9013c9d0013b83b50db0351c13
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
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-0-19991125
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-11-25
Title
A name given to the resource
The Freedom and Joy of Generosity
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 November 25, 1999 entitled "The Freedom and Joy of Generosity", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/155cceca97b9dcc136bcc99177ab35e9.pdf
b838883e348994ae193e82c613a4c740
PDF Text
Text
Awareness and Gratitude
Thanksgiving Day weekend
Text: Psalm 100:3; Psalm 65:11; Psalm 8:4
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
November 21, 1999
Transcription of the spoken sermon
It was my intention some weeks ago to speak to you about awareness, that
consciousness that leads us to gratitude and thanksgiving, but when I intended to
do that, I didn't intend to do it the way I intend to do it today. What I intend to do
today is to review with you the past three Lord's Days that we have experienced
together. I don't want simply to move on without us having a moment to reflect
on it together and to lift it up into our consciousness in order that through that
awareness we may be led to a greater level of thanksgiving.
Three weeks ago was All Saints Day; the dancers lighted a candle as the necrology
was read, each person honored, and then with those lights here, they danced in
community until one by one they peeled off and went out, hands joined, lights
burning, but symbolizing the fact that eventually, one by one, we are all removed
from the community, not into the darkness, but into the community of light. I
was told, as I myself experienced, that there were not a lot of dry eyes here.
Then we had Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish scholar who had told me absolutely that
she would not preach and I could not list what she would do as a sermon and so it
had to be an address or a lecture, and she preached to us. A Jewish woman
preaching from her scripture. The reason she said she wouldn't preach was that
that is to tell the good news of Jesus and she is a Jew, but her insight into her
own Hebrew scriptures and into the New Testament documents was illuminating
and inspiring and we came to love her with all her humanity, her humaneness,
and her humor.
And then last week - what can I say of that whole weekend, culminating in a
wonderful worship with Bishop John Shelby Spong? I want to bring to awareness
those experiences, the presence of the bishop with us, our sensing his humanity,
his grace, his positive demeanor, his pastoral sense - all of that is worth a Sunday
morning's reflection, bringing it to awareness.
© Grand Valley State University
�Awareness and Gratitude
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
To be aware - that's a gift of our humanity, to be conscious, to be self-conscious,
to be able to get out of our skin and observe ourselves, to feel and to know that
we're feeling, to think and to know that we're thinking, to experience and to know
that we are experiencing That's consciousness. That's what makes us human. It's
a marvelous gift. Some of us have dogs or cats that we love very much, but they
just go about their business of living: eating, reproducing, sleeping. They never
get out of their skin to understand what they are doing, although now and again
there is a dog that seems to have moments of consciousness. But, we do. To be
aware. To know what we're doing and why we're doing it, to live with
intentionality, to be able to reflect upon our experience, to savor it over again,
awareness, consciousness, intentionality. That leads to gratitude, and I want us
for a few moments this morning simply to reflect on what we have experienced
together. I'll cast it somewhat in a personal mode. It’s really the only way I can do
it because I'm talking about my story which is your story, but you would have to
tell your story also in personal terms.
As we speak personally I think we are speaking communally because we have
experienced something together that cannot be taken for granted. There has been
a richness here that is unusual, and I don't want us to let it go without awareness
in order that we might be truly thankful.
A Jewish woman preaching. A woman preaching That’s something that couldn't
be taken for granted not very long ago. On the day of my ordination I got a
wonderful letter from my father who said that when I was in my mother's womb,
he prayed for me and dedicated me to God, if I were a boy. If I were a girl, well,
what can you do with a girl?
I remember in 1984 when you graciously gave to Nancy and me a sabbatical. We
spent the first three months of '84 in Schenectady in old First Church, and it was
an old, grand tradition and a great, old liberal congregation, and for years they
had a joint service with the Jewish synagogue once a year. It happened while we
were there and it was at the synagogue and we went. We were a part of the
congregation. I didn't have any part to play. I remember that I felt somewhat
awkward. I didn't know if it was a good thing or not. I'd never known any Jewish
people. I wasn't sure whether I should join in the worship in a Jewish synagogue
of my God whom I knew only through Jesus Christ, whom I thought at that time
superceded the Jewish faith. I still remember my awkwardness. Now I had a
Jewish woman preach in my pulpit. Well, I've come a long way, Baby, not only
the fact that A. J. was here to preach, but the fact that, getting to know the Jewish
community, even coming to envy a bit being Jewish, loving that culture, coming
to hold in great affection those people. On All Saints Day we talked about
fundamental trust. Then on that Sunday with A. J. here, the gift of the JewishChristian Dialogue committee, I spontaneously invited Rabbi Alan Alpert to come
and we sang the last verse of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" together as we embraced
each other, and someone said, "You know, there were tears all over the place
because that was a sign and a symbol of what this community is." I do know that
© Grand Valley State University
�Awareness and Gratitude
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
when I ended the song , Iwanted to say to him, "Begin the Benediction in
Hebrew," but I didn't have a lot of voice. It touches something very deep and it
feels very right.
And then the Bishop comes, purported to be the most controversial churchman in
the country, certainly in the mainline Protestant tradition – in the Episcopal
Protestant tradition what Hans Küng has been in the Catholic tradition - a gadfly,
a catalyst, pushing and probing and needling in order to push the Church into the
21st century, in order to have a faith to express with integrity. I spent 45 minutes
on the telephone with the religious editor of The Grand Rapids Press addressing
all of those controversial comments that are made in newspaper articles. Read
those articles and we judge people. It didn't do any good. But then the Bishop
comes and here he is as I had promised you, a gentle giant full of grace who
comes with that great pastoral heart and who is so impressed with you. You drew
from him. On the way to the airport Sunday afternoon he absolutely crashed. He
said, "You know, I could have gone another three or four hours with the people
there because they energized me." You drew it out of him and he and Christine
were so impressed with you. They said in all of their travels, in all of their
visitation of churches, they've only had a couple of experiences that would have
matched what they sensed in you, what this community has captured. And we
had that exhilarating experience of having someone from the outside say
gracefully and articulately all of that which we have ever hoped and dreamed to
be and to become.
Well, you can't take those kinds of things for granted and we shouldn't just let
them pass by. So, I'm spending another Lord's Day simply savoring it in order to
bring it to consciousness, in order to come to a deeper awareness, in order that
we might be grateful, adequate to the gift that God has given us. As I think of all
of that, let me just say it in a couple of items here, reflecting on it.
I'm so very grateful for the awareness I have that fundamental trust in God is
prior to, independent of, and more important than my specific belief system. My
little belief system, oh, it’s a grand system, it's a grand tradition, but my little
Christian faith tradition is but a pointer to a Mystery that cannot be grasped,
comprehended in a belief structure. I have a fundamental trust in a God who
transcends my little tradition, and the respective, great traditions of the world.
They're all important and they're all good, some more adequate than others as
pointers to the Absolute Mystery, but all of them simply human constructs
through which one is moved to the experience of the Ultimate. The Bishop said it
very simply and very clearly, that distinction between the experience of God and
the explanation of the experience. The explanation is relative; the experience is
the thing. The explanation is always in terms of one's immediate context and
one's world view and one's understanding of reality so that it's always time
anchored and limited and always needs to be restructured and refreshed and
revisioned, re-imagined. The structure itself, be it Christian faith or Jewish faith
or Buddhist meditation, all of those are simply human belief constructs that
© Grand Valley State University
�Awareness and Gratitude
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
would point us beyond themselves to the God beyond all tribal gods, in whom we
lose ourselves in that abyss of love.
I am aware that I have journeyed a long way. I am aware that I have moved from
a very conservative, exclusive, defensive Christian to an unabashed, unapologetic
pluralist, and have a freedom and a joy and a celebration in my religious faith
such as I never would have thought possible years ago. That is an awareness that
brings gratitude, and gratitude causes one to be humble and gives one deep joy.
That's the awareness that I have in reflection, and I hope you do, too, because we
have traveled a long road and we've come to a beautiful place, and it is the place
for which I believe the world is longing, that place of grace, full of love, where we
stand before the infinite and inexhaustible ground of our being, who calls us to
live fully, to love wastefully, and to be all that we can be.
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8427ecf0b03c26f5faefa7e3b5da7e5d.mp3
9055bf368f8958d4595f874283e987bc
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 XXVII
Scripture Text
Psalm 100:3, Psalm 65:11, Psalm 8:4
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-0-19991121
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-11-21
Title
A name given to the resource
Awareness and Gratitude
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 November 21, 1999 entitled "Awareness and Gratitude", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 100:3, Psalm 65:11, Psalm 8:4.
Awareness
Gratitude
Intentional
Pluralism