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Creation – Covenant - Consummation
From the sermon series: This Is Our Father’s World
Text: Genesis 1:1; Ephesians 1: 9-10
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
October 13, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
My message this morning introduces a new theme which will be with us for a few
weeks, and what I want to say, in dealing with the doctrine of Creation and the
early chapters of Genesis which are so foundational for all the rest of scripture, is
that this is our Father's world, and our lives have meaning and purpose because
they are rooted in reality, a reality that is embraced in the sovereign and gracious
God. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and that statement
from the Apostle Paul is rooted in that kind of conviction and goes on to say that
in the fullness of time God revealed Himself in Jesus Christ and is moving all
things toward a point of consummation when He will realize the purposes of love
with which He created in the first place.
Creation, the whence from which we come; Consummation, the whither toward
which we are moving; and in the meantime, a God of Covenant Grace and love
Who calls a people into being to witness to the larger world about His creative
intent and His consummate purpose. God, the Eternal God, calls us as His people
to be His witnesses to a drama of cosmic dimension, of eternal scope. And I want
to say to you in a very pastoral way this morning that, in thinking about the
doctrine of Creation, what I would like to have you go out of here with is a sense
that your life is plugged in and has a part in a movement that has meaning and
purpose; that in the chaos of our lives which can so often be the case, there is a
deeper order and foundation, for the Eternal God is our Refuge and underneath
are His everlasting arms, and He is moving all things toward the realization of
His purpose of love, which is to bring all things into a beautiful harmony in
Christ.
I don't know the dimensions of that beautiful harmony in Christ, or just exactly
what it means that He will unite all things in Jesus Christ, but it would seem to
mean at least that all of the various dimensions of our human existence and the
created order and the movement of history will become something beautiful, and
that even now we can begin to rest in the assurance that the Eternal God is
moving things along from that beginning point at which He said, "Let there be…"
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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to that end point when he shall say, "Let time be no more," and all things come
into the full expression of His loving intention. And so, this morning we have a
great word from Paul who assures us in the midst of our days, in the midst of
history, in the midst of the kind of history which we have experienced again this
week with hostage-taking, terrorist actions, encounters in the sky – in the midst
of a crazy, bizarre world like this – we can be sure that there is Someone Else,
something else of ultimate reality, of purpose, of love, and a goal that will be
realized one day, somehow, because God is God. In the administration of the
periods of time, the Eternal God Who began it all is bringing it toward an end in
which we will say with Him Who said it at the beginning, "It's very good." That's
the message.
Not everybody believes that. Sometimes we take these biblical truths as truisms
and the familiar almost become clichés that lose their cutting edge. "In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Doesn't everybody believe
that? In the end, "the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our
God and of His Christ." Doesn't everybody believe that? Can't you take that for
granted?
No, you cannot. Not in our day and our world. For example, sometimes a word on
the opposite side can make that biblical truth sharper. An example is a statement
by Eric Fromm, the psychologist, behavioral scientist, a very profound thinker
and excellent author. In his book, Man For Himself, he says there is only one
solution to his problem, to the human problem: to face the truth, to acknowledge
his fundamental aloneness in a universe indifferent to his fate. To recognize there
is no power transcending him, which can solve his problem for him. Eric Fromm
is saying, "Brother, Sister, you are alone. There is no one else. There's no other
dimension. There's no place to call, no one upon whom to trust. You are on your
own."
Now, I can identify a little bit with Eric Fromm. He is a psychologist who deals
with human personality and he probably sees a lot of people who use religion as a
crutch, who can't face the harsh realities of life and use religion as an escape.
That's weakness. That's not healthy. And there are times when I would like to say
to some people, "You must grow up. You must take responsibility for your life.
God calls you to be responsible. Don't blame it on the Devil, and don't wait
around for God. He calls you to be a responsible person." Perhaps some of that is
behind Eric Fromm's statement.
Yet it also expresses what he really believes, or what he really does not believe,
and he really does not believe that there is another reality, there is a personal
reality, that there is a purposeful intention in Creation moving toward
consummation. He says, "You are all alone and the only meaning there is in life is
any meaning that you can create. The only love there is in life is the love you can
generate. There is no one else. There's nothing else."
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Richard A. Rhem
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Well, the French thinker, Andre Maurois, says this: "The universe is indifferent."
He said, "Who created it? Why are we here on this puny mudheap spinning in
infinite space? I have not the slightest idea, and I am quite convinced that no one
has the least idea."
That's the opposite from the Apostle Paul. He simply said, "I don't know why
we're here, and I don't believe anyone knows why we're here on this puny
mudheap spinning in infinite space." Reflective of a good deal of sophisticated
thought in our day.
In his inaugural lecture in Cambridge University, the historian, G.N. Clark, wrote,
"There is no secret and no plan in history to be discovered. I do not believe that
any future consummation could make sense of all the irrationalities of preceding
ages. If it could not explain them, still less could it justify them."
It's the other side of the pole. The irrationalities, contingencies, the universe as
an accident - an accident going nowhere, with no reason or no purpose, with no
goal. That's the opposite side of the pole of what the Apostle Paul said in our text.
Remember Dag Hammerskjold, the former Secretary General of the United
Nations who was such a deeply spiritual person? He understood what Paul had to
say. He wrote this God does not die on the day that we cease to believe in Him, but we die on
the day when our lives cease to be illumined by a steady radiance, renewed
daily of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
Hammerskjold knew better than to argue for the existence of God, but he did say
with a kind of serenity that is rooted in some experience of that reality, "God does
not die on the day that we cease to believe in Him, but we die on the day that our
lives cease to be illumined by a ... radiance, renewed daily of a wonder ... beyond
our human reason."
The Apostle Paul knew what he was talking about. He believed that in the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and he did not believe that the
unraveling of time and space was simply an accident, that life was living itself out
and reality playing itself out and the cosmic drama on its way just willy-nilly,
meandering hither and yon, going nowhere; but rather he believed that the God
Who in the beginning said, "Let there be ..." is the God Who through the periods
of time continues to administer, to direct and to guide in a way that is beyond our
comprehension toward a point of consummation where there will be a realization
of His purposes and we will be able to join with all the hosts of heaven and say, in
affirmation of what He said in the beginning, "It is really good!"
The first chapter of Genesis is simply the proclamation that the Creator creates
Creation. It is the proclamation, it is the article of faith that states that all that is,
is because the Eternal God, the Sovereign and Gracious God, said, "Let there be
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..." That's really all it says. It says that all that is, is because He said, "Let there be
...", and it is not interested at all in science, it is not interested at all in portraying
the history of how that happened. It has no interest in technique. As a matter of
fact, this chapter is not as old as the second chapter, which is a companion
account of the Creation.
But this chapter was probably penned in about the 6th Century B.C. and was
addressed to the Exiles in Babylon, who were wondering about their God as over
against the pagan gods of Babylon (since they were a conquered people and
Babylon was the dominant power): wondering about the comparative worth of
their God against Babylon's god; wondering whether or not they ought to switch
loyalties, trade allegiances; wondering, in the alien land and alien environment,
where God was and whether now all of the purposes and promises of kingdoms
and of the exaltation of Mt. Zion and all of that which made them what they were,
whether all of that now was down the tubes; and wondering whether that put an
end to the possibility of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In that
community, in the midst of its chaos, in the moment of its darkness, when its
faith was faltering, when its worship was withering, this word came written by
some priest or prophet, we know not whom, saying, "In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth and the pagan deities of Babylon are but the
inventions of the mind and hand, but the God Whom you worship is present in
this your judgment and will be present in the greater Grace."
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Trust the Creator Who
has made Himself known as your Redeemer and Who will redeem you yet again.
This chapter is a proclamation. It is a theological statement; it leaves all the room
in the world for whatever science can come up with, and all of the unfortunate
debate over the centuries between science and religion is needless. And of that
debate we should be heedless. Unfortunately, in our day, in the courts even today
Evolution and Creationism are being battled and you can bet that whoever is
arguing for Creationism in the courts of this country is not a friend of biblical
religion. It is a benighted kind of obscurantism that does great harm to the cause
of truth. But people get exploited in their fears and don't fully understand the
nature of this biblical word.
This word about Creation was the proclamation to a people in trouble that they
could trust their God in the darkness, that He was indeed the Author of Reality,
He Who said, "Let there be ... ," then let it be and gave Creation elbow room and
room to develop. He Who is the Sovereign Lord Who brought all things into
being also created the space and time where that created order could develop. He
Who is Sovereign is not coercive. We're going to see that in those early chapters.
He Who could, figuratively speaking, snap His fingers and control the winds and
the world doesn't deal with Creation that way. Rather than coercing, He evokes
response, He elicits love, He pleads, He waits, He anguishes, but He will never
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Richard A. Rhem
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abandon nor forsake, and He will wait and love until finally He conquers with
grace. He will have His way.
This first chapter of Genesis says that all of reality is graced. Three times over He
blessed the created order. The grace of God that is right in the structure of reality
– in the morning the sunrise, and in the evening the sunset, in the magnificent
chords of the harp and the anthems and in a landscape resplendent with October
colors, in the fact that the body heals itself and there's human relationship, and
there is community – in the whole of everything there is Grace. All of reality is
filled with Grace.
And beyond that, it is the proclamation of the God Whose fatherly care will
sustain and keep us so that we can celebrate "This is our Father's world." When
we pause in so simple a moment as table grace and simply bow our heads and
say, "Dear Lord Jesus, be our guest and to Thy service may these gifts be
blessed," we are acknowledging that there is a deeply rooted Grace in the whole of
reality that for us who are His people has been manifested fully in the face of
Jesus. We can say with the Apostle Paul, '"Thanks be to God Who has created
space for us to be and Who has loved us and continues to woo us, never crushing
us or overpowering us, but never abandoning us until finally one day He'll bring
us home and we'll look Him in the face with unveiled face, and we'll say, 'It was
really good.'"
Let us pray.
O God, Whose artistry is able to weave sunlight and shadow, pleasure and pain,
victory and defeat into a tapestry that spells love, we bow in wonder, love and
praise, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
© Grand Valley State University
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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
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
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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 XX
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
Genesis 1:1, Ephesians 1:9-10
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
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KII-01_RA-0-19851013
Date
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1985-10-13
Title
A name given to the resource
Creation-Covenant-Consummation
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<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
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 13, 1985 entitled "Creation-Covenant-Consummation", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 1:1, Ephesians 1:9-10.
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PDF Text
Text
Human Community in the Image of God
From the sermon series: This Is Our Father’s World
Text: Philippians 2: 1-11
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
October 20, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by
being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one
mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better
than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the
interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which you have in Christ
Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a
thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being
born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has
highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God
the Father. Philippians 2: 1-11
This is our Father's world. We can be comfortable here because it is not an alien
environment; it is a created reality made for us, and we for it. This is our Father's
world. This is the great affirmation of the opening chapters of the scripture. As we
look for a few weeks at those first eleven chapters of Genesis, which are so
foundational for all the rest of biblical faith, I want to focus today on the creation
of man and woman, on the creation of the human person. I want to say that we
are created for human community; created in the image of God for human
community. We are created for God and for one another, and our creation from
the hand of God reflects our value and our worth and our dignity. I can't say
everything in this message that there is to be said about the human being, the
human creature. I'll have to come back in another week and I'll have to deal with
the shadow side, that rebellion that has led to alienation and all of the havoc that
we have created in the wake of that. So, what I'm going to say today is far more
fundamental than what I'm going to say next week. It's far more important for
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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you to hear that you are a creature of God and loved by Him and created for His
glory than it is to hear that you're a sinner. We've reversed that in the Church.
We've stressed so much that we are sinners, and I suppose that is because the
need has to be created before the remedy can be applied, but the most
fundamental thing is that we are created in the image of God. Human potential
and human possibility, human dignity and human worth - that's more
fundamental than human deviation. It's a great message. And incidentally,
perhaps if that message were heard more, there would be less of the shadow side
manifesting itself. If we could ever get hold of the fact of who we really are, we
might start acting like it. So, this message is to underscore the simple truth that
as human beings, as men and women, we are created by the good and gracious
God.
I want to say just a couple of simple things which you know already, but I'll say
them again - we are created by God, we are created in the image of God, and we
are created by God for community with Him and with one another. That's as
simple as it is. We are created by God, and to say that we are created by God is to
make an affirmation which in the Church may seem a truism which everybody
believes and nobody would deny, but we don't live our lives out just in the Church
and in the community of faith, and we have to recognize that, when we say that
we are created by God, that is not a self-evident truth; it is not something
believed by everybody; it is not something believed by every thinking person. It is
a biblical statement. It is an affirmation of faith.
We have to recognize that our conviction about creation based on the scriptures
is a conviction that arises out of the proclamation of the scripture. The opening
chapters of Genesis are like the creed of creation. They are a song, they are a
message, they are a sermon. They are not a religious speculative statement; they
are not a philosophical discussion. They are not a scientific statement. They are
affirmations of faith based on the experience of God's grace in Jesus Christ, or in
Israel's case, God's grace in that deliverance from bondage in Egypt. The
conviction about creation is an article about faith. We believe it, but we have to
recognize that it is not self-evident. We have to recognize, too, that it is so
foundational for so much else that we believe that we cannot simply take it for
granted, but we must continue to make that affirmation intelligently, selfconsciously with awareness. Because if we lose that, we lose everything. Almost
everything that we believe subsequently in our biblical faith is posited on our
conviction that we are creatures of worth and value and dignity because we have
come from the hand of the Creator. There are other philosophies about, and
there's a good deal of contrary opinion, and in very scholarly circles.
Sometimes to make a point it is good to hear the other side, and I did that last
week, and I want to do it once again. This time I cite as an example a Nobel Prizewinning biologist, Jacque Monod, in his book, Chance and Necessity. Already the
title tells you something, doesn't it? Chance and necessity as over against
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Richard A. Rhem
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purpose, intelligence and loving intention. Chance and necessity. This is what he
said after a very negative statement about the human situation:
If he that is a human person accepts this negative message in its full
significance, man at last must wake out of his millenary dreams and
discover his total solitude, his fundamental isolation. He must realize that,
like a gypsy, he lives on the boundary of an alien world, a world that is deaf
to his music and is indifferent to his hopes as it is to his suffering or his
crimes.
We say we are created by God. Well, wait a minute. What if that isn't true? If that
is not true, then the other is true. Then we can't say this is our Father’ s world,
and that somehow or other we are a part of the whole created reality.
We say that this is a friendly environment which is good. According to the
commentary of the Creator, there is a place where we can become what He has
intended us to be. If that isn't true, then the other is true, that we live on the
boundary of an alien world contrary to our purposes. Or worse, just indifferent to
our purposes. Indifferent to our music. And indifferent to our hopes, our
sufferings, our crimes. What that statement says is that, however we are involved
in this process of human history as human creatures, there is no one at the
beginning and there's no one at the end, and we aren't going anywhere in terms
of any purpose or meaning. Now, I quote a very scholarly opinion so that I don't
give the impression that biblical faith is just obvious and self-evident. No, there
are good thinking people who have come to this kind of conclusion. That's why I
say it is important for us to hear this as a declaration of faith. Then it's important
for us to begin to draw the implications. The implications of Jacque Monod are
that we have to wake up, grow up, face up to the darkness, to the coldness, to the
meaningless of it all, so that whatever meaning there is, we'll have to create;
whatever love there is, we'll have to generate. But there's no one and there's
nothing more.
We don't believe that. We believe that God created us with an intention for our
good. We believe that God created us with a thought in mind, with a selfconscious intelligence, and with a great purpose, and that this world is not an
alien environment, but a friendly place in which human potential may be
developed to realize the high calling with which He calls us.
Carl Sagan, the cosmologist, the one who does such a fantastic job with the films
about the cosmos, and his book Cosmos, gives the other explanation. The other
explanation is that some inanimate, non-living cell was triggered by some ray of
light at some point, moved across the abyss from the inanimate to the animate
stage, continued from that point in the development of cellular structure to
increasing complexity to the present complexity of the human being. And where
the primeval pea soup came from in the beginning, where the cell that God
triggered came from in the beginning, how the ray of light ever activated it, about
all of that, nothing is said. But what is claimed is that whatever is, is the
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consequence of accident, of chance, moving on with the kind of inbuilt necessity,
but going nowhere and having no accompanying purpose.
It's always good to look beyond the surface statement and say, "Then what does
that mean?" So to say that God created us is a rather simple affirmation of faith,
but it makes a world of difference as to how we view ourselves and understand
our situation. We affirm that God created us, and when we say He created us,
we're not talking about wind; we're not talking about techniques; we're not
talking about the process. The Bible doesn't know anything about when it
happened. It says, "In the beginning..." The Bible's affirmation is that all that is,
is because He said, "Let there be ...," and that's all the Bible is interested in. All
the rest the scientists can fight about.
In my class on Wednesday night, someone told me that the "Big Bang" theory of
the origin of the universe is being challenged. The Big Bang has been popular of
late in the circles of the physicists, and I could smile and say, "Oh, really? Well, I
hope the scientists have a field day fighting about it. I don't care." Now, if I had
said, "The Book of Genesis finally is verified," because a group of very scholarly
people has said that the universe started in a Big Bang, which therefore spoke of
an original moment of creation, then when the Big Bang blew up, my faith would
blow up, too. I can't identify this Book with any ideology, philosophical position
or scientific plank of any platform, because when I do, that which is transient and
of human generation will be an unsteady foundation for this word of God. This
word of God only says one thing. It says, "Whatever is, it is because He said, 'Let
there be...'" And then the whole world can try to figure out how it happened. I
mean, it doesn't really make any difference, does it? I told you last week that I
saw the jawbone of the Heidelberg man in the University of Heidelberg Museum
recently. Six hundred thousand years old, they say. It was discovered just outside
the city of Heidelberg, and up on the chart they had visualized what they thought
this creature had looked like. He stood up straight, with a little resemblance to
primates (big monkeys). Now, the Bible doesn't know anything about the linkage
backward from where we are. And there are some people who have been offended
by the claim that maybe we've got monkeys in our past. Well, I would say that just
an objective observation of human behaviour would give a great deal of support
to the idea that there might be a lot of monkeys in our past. "There's a lot of
monkey business going on!
But, you see, that's not even a biblical issue; it doesn't even matter. And yet, oh,
has not the Church churned over that issue? When did a human being become a
human being? Well, I'll tell you when. That's the second thing I want to say. It's
when the whatever was there was addressed by God and knew himself, knew
herself to be addressed and was able to respond in kind. It was in the moment in
which consciousness dawned and that created person, animal, whatever you want
to call it, suddenly understood itself, gained a beginning sense of identity and
self-awareness, self-reflection and the ability to respond to being addressed. The
first word of a first human being was a prayer. And when that creature learned to
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Richard A. Rhem
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pray, that creature could be called human. For to be human is to be created in the
image of God, to be like God. And it doesn't really matter whether the human
being sprang fresh from the word or at some point in the process heard the word,
the creative word that called him or her forth. The fact is that when this creature
came face to face with God we could speak of being human.
In the image of God, our scripture tells us, is like God. God made us like Himself.
It's an amazing truth. Therefore, we accord to one another dignity and value and
worth, and we never put ourselves down either; for the most fundamental fact
about us is that we are a reflection of God. If I could pile up scripture upon
scripture this morning I could have also read Psalm 8, "Lord our God, how
excellent is Thy name in all the earth. When I consider the heavens, the work of
Thy hands, the sun and moon, which Thou hast made, what is man that Thou art
mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visited him?"
Ah, the Psalmist who didn't have an inkling about the expanses of the cosmos as
you and I do, nonetheless looked into the starry sky and knew that those stars
were a long way away, and he felt himself in the expansiveness of his world to be
insignificant and small. But then he had even a deeper intuition, for he went on to
say, "For Thou hast created him a little less than God and given him dominion."
Reflecting our chapter this morning, the most profound thing is that we are
created by God and made like Him to reflect Him.
My Professor Berkhof coins, at least in the English translation, the word
"respondable," in reference to the human being. Respondable. By that he is
meaning to say he is responsible to respond, or he might not, but he can.
Respondable. He has the capacity to respond. He has the capacity to respond to
the address of God and he is created for love and he is free in that condition of
respondability. So you're really something! I preached on that subject one time.
You are really something. You can never put yourself down. No matter how
tarnished and tainted and withered and wilted. No matter how great the failure,
how deep the abyss - you can never put yourself down. Nor may we ever put one
another down. For we've come from the hand of God, and we're a reflection of
His glory.
And He has created us for communion with Himself and with one another. To be
human is to be addressable, respondable, to be in covenant with God. If we
believe that He created us, then He created us with purpose, on purpose, with
meaning and, of course, He created us to be that over against Him with whom He
could commune and upon whom He could shed His love. And we'll have to speak
next week about the fact that we've not taken well to that, that we've not opened
ourselves up to that potential that is ours to live in the light of that love and grace.
But there's still good news, because there is one of us that has done precisely that
and that is Jesus.
Paul, obviously with reference to Genesis 1, in Philippians 2 tells us about Jesus.
Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, thought equality with God not to be
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
something grasped after, but rather emptied himself, indeed was made in fashion
as the human being and became a servant and humbled himself unto death, even
the death of the cross. And that passage has been the center of Christological
controversy over the centuries, but it's such a paradox because it is such a
practical, pastoral appeal to this congregation whom Paul dearly loved. He wrote,
If our common life in Christ yields anything to stir the heart, any loving
consolation, any sharing of the Spirit, any warmth of affection or
compassion, fill up my cup of happiness by thinking and feeling alike
with the same love for one another, the same turn of mind and the
common care for unity.
There must be no room for rivalry and personal vanity among you, but you must
humbly reckon others better than yourselves. And then he appeals to Jesus. And
after saying all of this, after this warm appeal for warmth and the binding
together of human community, he said,
"Well, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."
That's why he talks about Jesus and his relationship to God and his emptying and
his death. Not to give us some Christological discussion about the divine and
human in Jesus, but to say to the human congregation, "Will you be human and
will you allow community to flourish and blossom through lowliness in mind,
esteeming others better than yourselves, through warmth and affection and
compassion, in a word, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus."
The first Adam grasped after the prerogative of the Creator. The second Adam,
the new man, Jesus, offered himself up in total obedience and subservience to the
Father and became the instrument of reconciliation between God and human
beings, between human being and human being, and between human beings and
the whole created order, so that now in Christ we can say we are new creations,
restored in the image of God and if anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new creation.
There is harmony with nature and peace with God and reconciliation one with
another, human community, realizing the intentions of the Creator.
The creation story in the first chapter ends with the celebration of all of this in the
Sabbath rest. And the Sabbath rest is a sign pointing to the ultimate Sabbath rest
when the Shalom of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. How
important it is, then, that we begin now to incarnate, to live out this peace with
God through Jesus Christ and reconciliation with one another in harmony with
the created world. You are really something! We are called to become what we
are.
Let us pray. God, our Father, enable us to catch a glimpse of the wonder of being
human and then, through the power and grace of Your good Spirit, enable us to
live humanly and to provide in the community of faith an alternative society and
© Grand Valley State University
�Human Community in the Image of God
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
a sign pointing to that Kingdom which is surely coming when there shall be peace
on earth. Hear our prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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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
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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English
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Sound
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
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Event
Peace Sunday
Pentecost XXI
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
Phillipians 2:1-11
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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KII-01_RA-0-19851020
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1985-10-20
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Human Community in the Image of God
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Richard A. Rhem
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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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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Sound
Text
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 20, 1985 entitled "Human Community in the Image of God", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Peace Sunday, Pentecost XXI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Phillipians 2:1-11.
Community of Grace
Covenant
Creation
Divine Intention
Faith
Hebrew Scriptures
Image of God
Shalom
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/045f1ed44d00c68d0de586feee0aac78.mp3
a3c63b3a70f42088495a9ecc872fb5eb
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/743dcb215101ac73b41b4cb8736b597d.pdf
7633130373880364236bb916d97c8ade
PDF Text
Text
God’s Grace in Our Gloom
From the sermon series: This is Our Father’s World
Text: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20; 6: 2
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Reformation Sunday, October 27, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them… II Corinthians 5: 19
…be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5: 20
…now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6: 2
It is fitting that on Reformation Sunday we should address the theme, "God's
Grace in Our Gloom,” because it was especially the Grace of God that came to
expression in the 16th Century in the Reformation of the Church. It was the
message of justification by faith, which was rooted in the gracious outreach of
God toward His lost and straying children that was the good news of the Gospel
that reverberated across the European continent. It was that message which had
gotten buried under Traditionalism; that message, that good news which had
been lost in the Church's control of people and its manipulation of people
through tradition and structure and a kind of sacramental practice that did not
come off as good news, but rather as bad news. God's grace in our gloom is a fit
Reformation theme and it is also a fit subject for discussion of these early
chapters of Genesis that we are looking for in these weeks.
This is our Father's world, and in this world He has a struggle because He created
us with the ability to disobey and turn our backs upon Him. He called us to a
great destiny but gave us the freedom either to respond or not to respond and
since He doesn't crush us or coerce us, since He doesn't use His almighty power
to roll over us like a steam roller, but rather waits and pleads, there is built into
the very structure of Creation the possibility that the one created in His image
will not respond to Him, but rather will reject Him; will not find his peace in
being the creature in the care of the Creator, but rather, as a rebel, will revolt
against the Creator and the authority of God.
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
The early chapters of Genesis are foundational for all that follows, and in
Chapters two and three we find the creation of man and woman and their
Temptation and Fall, falling out of fellowship with God and bringing with it all
the consequences that came in the wake of that rebellion. As we look at these
chapters, I want you to see that in Chapters one and two we really have two
Creation accounts.
We looked at the first Creation account the last two weeks; the fact that all there
is, is because God said, "Let there be ..." And then the most fundamental fact
about the human being - that he and she are created in the image of God. I said
last week that was the most fundamental fact, and it is. I said last week there is
more to be said, and we will do that this week, but before I go on to say any more,
I want to stress once again that the human being is created in the image of God.
That means that you are a person of dignity, of worth and of value. It means that
the human being, then, can never be put down, and it means that we ought never
to put ourselves down. We have been created in the image of God, and that is the
most fundamental truth about our human nature. We reflect God. As the
Psalmist said, He made us a little lower than Himself. It was precisely in the
grandeur with which He created us that there lay the potential for the disaster
that has ensued upon our turning away from Him. But even in our turning away
from Him and the tragedy that we have introduced into the world, we have not
overcome the most fundamental fact and that is that we are created in the image
of God, we reflect God; in other words, you are really something!
Now, I think in the Church we have perhaps had the stress the other way around.
We have stressed the human being as sinner rather than the human being as
creature. I don't want to make that mistake. I want to say it again loud and clear the human being created in the image of God is really something! You are really
something. And our sin and rebellion with all of its disastrous consequences has
never wiped out that most fundamental fact - that we were created like God and
we are still called to be His ally and His friend and companion to live in
relationship with God and with our fellow men. That is fundamental.
Now, in these opening chapters, after Chapter one where we have the Creation
account, we have in Chapter two a second Creation account where the focus is on
the creation of man and woman. This is that delightful story of God's scooping up
the clay and forming the man and breathing into him the breath of life,
subsequently also seeing that it is not good for man to dwell alone, creating the
woman from Adam's rib from which some have derived the idea that woman is
really a "de-rib-ative" of man. (Sorry about that - I can never resist those.)
Actually, that creation of the woman, a second act of Creation, would indicate
that man and woman are created equally, that they stand equally before God. We
could have a whole sermon and a whole series of sermons on the legitimacy of the
feminist movement on the basis of Genesis one and two, and we could point out
the tale of error and of horror which has ensued from a misreading of those
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
chapters in regard to the oppression of women down through the centuries. So,
women of the world, unite! You've got biblical basis. But I'm not going to go into
that today. I simply want to say that in Chapter two you have man and woman
created by God and set in a garden in what we call that state of paradise.
And then we have Chapter three and there we have the Temptation and the
succumbing to temptation and the consequent judgment of God. And then
Chapter four we will look at next week -the first murder. - it would seem that
there is another Fall. And Chapter six, the story of the Flood, the disobedience
and the judgment of God - another Fall. And then God starting over again, but in
Chapter nine the Tower of Babel - another Fall, where finally the race
demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will not live as the creatures
of God under His care and His communion, but rather as rebels against God and
structuring life apart from Him.
The early chapters of Genesis are the prelude to the story of Israel, to the call and
the election of Abraham and the whole redemptive history that followed. The first
eleven chapters are like a prelude to all of that specific history, and in these first
eleven chapters the great issues of humankind and of God and of history are dealt
with. And what I want you to see is that man and woman created in Chapter two
and in that garden of paradise may not be separated from man and woman in
Chapter three. The chapter divisions of the Bible are very handy for reference. I
don't know what I would do about my text if it wasn't that there is Genesis one
and two and three and so on, and all of those little verses that give preachers text,
but as a matter of fact, what comes through is the idea in Chapter two that you
have man and woman perfect in paradise, Chapter three as though now you make
another step and you have man and woman in the Garden rebelling and falling
into sin.
If I were to try to wipe out of your mind the idea of a perfect state in paradise in
Chapter two and the Fall of mankind in Chapter three, I would give up before I
would start. It is so deeply engrained in our consciousness; we have thought so
long that way that I don't think it is possible to get that out of your head, but if I
could get it out of your heart, I would, because then I would say to you that what
we have in Genesis two and three is not the story of Mr. Adam and Mrs. Eve, two
historical figures way back in primeval history. What we have in Genesis two and
three is the story of every man and every woman; the story of Adam and Eve is
the story of you and me. The story of Adam and Eve is not about some primeval,
distant past at the dawn of Creation. The story of Adam and Eve is the story about
every human being that has ever been born, and those chapters which make one
continuous story and ought not to be read in two stories, are not historical
accounts such as we find later in the Old Testament when, for example, we read
the exploits of David. David was a real historical figure, he was a king of Israel, he
fought battles and did all kinds of things and we can read that in the kind of
interpreted history that we have in the Old Testament.
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
We are not dealing with that kind of material in Genesis two and three. In the
first chapter we are told that God spoke and created all things, and we are told
that He created the human being in His own image. And now Chapters two
through eleven will begin to unravel that story in preparation for the real story of
the Bible that begins with Abraham. And these chapters are necessary because
the Israelite who knew God as the God of Redemption said, "How do we relate to
the rest of mankind? How does God relate to the rest of mankind? And if God is
good and Creation is good, why is life so tough? If God is good and Creation is
good - if it all came from Him, then why are things in such a mess? If God is good
and this is His good Creation, then why is there such sorrow and such pain and
such tragedy in the world?"
Those are ultimate questions. Those are not questions about fig leaves and apple
trees and snakes and two primeval human beings scurrying around the bushes.
Those are the ultimate questions of life. Why is there anything rather than
nothing? Who created the heavens and the earth? What relationship does the
human being have to God? He is created in God's image; he is like God; he
reflects the very being of God.
Well, if the human being came from God and if all of Creation was pronounced
good, then why is the human being like he is? Why are there wars and trials and
all of the dark shadows that are a part of the human scene?
Those are the questions underlying those early chapters. And in the third chapter,
which we read a moment ago, we have the people of Israel, the people who had
come to know God, the people who came to believe that their God was a God Who
redeemed them in the Exodus experience and was also the Creator of the heavens
and the earth. God alone. We have their testimony as to the fact that God is good
and Creation is good and that humankind was created by God for His own
purpose: created to live in relationship and fellowship with God, but given such a
great gift of freedom, there was the opportunity for him to become a rebel rather
than one who lived in relationship. And so those chapters are there to tell us the
story of the Fall. Let me say it again: Not an historical story as though on Day One
of Creation Adam and Eve walked to the Garden and picked grapes and chewed
nuts and had fellowship with each other and a chat with God that evening. Day
Two maybe went all right, and maybe Day Three, maybe six weeks, maybe six
months, but eventually a snake came in and then there was a time when it all fell
apart.
Friends, that’s not what the story is all about. The story is a symbol; it is a sign,
and it says to us that there is something about human nature that has endemic
within it this struggle against the God Who is its only hope and its salvation, and
in that story what it is saying to us, first of all, is that there are things that are
wrong in the world, and there certainly are; it's not God's fault. What it is saying
to us as human beings is that God created us good with a potential for good and
for obedience, for following the path of life, but that there is something within us
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
that seems to choose the path that leads to disaster. It is saying to us that
whatever sin is, it is not part and parcel of Creation. It does not stem from God,
and you can't blame it on the Devil. Whatever sin is, whatever is wrong, is wrong
because you and I choose to be wrong. That's the biblical message. It's a tough
message because it holds us accountable. It does not allow us to slough off the
accusing finger in any direction. We cannot blame God. We cannot blame the
Devil. We cannot blame the environment or the circumstances, for that symbolic
story tells us that we were created in the image of God and put in a situation that
can be described as paradisiacal, that we had everything going for us and that in
spite of all that, we turned our back on the One Who is life-giving and the source
of all blessing. That is what the story is trying to tell us.
And you see, it is my story and it is your story. Until we read the Bible as not
some ancient book with answers to the questions that our curiosities might raise,
but rather as a book that addresses us - until we can read this book so that my
story becomes a part of The Story, then I see that I am a part of Adam and then I
realize that whatever is wrong in my life and whatever dire consequences have
flowed from those wrong choices, they are my choices. I am responsible. And that
is one of the greatest things you can say to a human being. You are responsible.
You are responsible for your life; you are responsible for your choices; and you
are guilty when you choose the wrong way. Otherwise, what are we?
Animals cannot be guilty. They have no freedom of choice. And those who have
no mental capacity and no freedom of choice - neither can they be guilty. It is
only people who are created with that God-like characteristic that can be held
accountable as we are accountable, and in the story, this ancient story by which
Israel came to understand itself, it was saying that there is something that is
deadly wrong in the human heart and it stems from the human will. It is not
because God did it to us, and it is not because the Devil did it to us, and it is not
because the situation is so bad.
Now, some situations are bad and environment does shape and there does, over
the centuries and the generations, come to build up a kind of fate that does have
its impact upon us. I don't want to say that we all come into the world with
pristine situations where we can choose freely without any influence, any impact
of environment or of heredity. All of that is true. But finally to be human is to be
responsible and to choose. And the scriptures tell us that we chose to be gods
rather than to be creatures of God. And so, the story will go on, the prelude to
that history of God with Israel and Jesus, that we have in the Old and New
Testaments, will go on and we will see another instance and another instance and
another instance of this fatal flaw within us.
But as we see that, we will also hear the more dominant note - the note of Grace.
Even in this third chapter, if we had gone on to read, we would find that God
speaks to that serpent and says that, although the serpent will bruise the heel of
the seed of the woman, the seed of the woman will finally crush the head of the
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
serpent, and that has always been seen in the history of the Church as the first
promise of the Gospel, so that the seed of the woman Paul interpreted as
referring to Jesus. And the final crushing of the serpent's head as Jesus'
crucifixion whereby he put an end to death taking upon himself our sin and our
guilt.
Even in Chapter three of Genesis there is a foregleam of something to come. But
if we go to the New Testament we find those great themes that set Martin Luther
afire and Zwingli and Calvin and the rest. For the theme of the Bible is not human
disobedience, is not human depravity and human sin. Oh, it's there and really you
cannot underscore it enough, but if you stay there you miss the theme of the
Bible, which is the theme of Grace. It is the story of God's grace in our gloom.
Now, the thing that happened in the medieval Church was that the Church
became the controlling agent of people's lives. It was almost as though the
Church said, "You are sinners, and we're glad, because now we can control you."
And the thing that really set off Luther and set off Zwingli was that agents of the
Church were going through the land and were collecting money to say prayers to
release loved ones from purgatory and one could even buy one’s indulgence into
the sins that one might commit next week. And of course this was not the whole
Church, but it was right at the heart of the Church and there were those who were
going through the continent of Europe raising funds for the erection of St. Peter's.
And there were good Catholic priests who said, "This is wrong." Martin Luther
was one of them. Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, Switzerland, was another. And they
began to preach the Grace of God and as they began to preach the Grace of God,
people responded to good news, because now it was no longer, "Come forward
and drop in a coin or burn in Hell." Now it was not the continual laying on people
their guilt and their unworthiness and their sin in order to hold them down and
control them and manipulate them, but now it was the announcement of what
God had done in the face of their sin. So that we have a proclamation like Paul's
in the New Testament lesson where he says certainly we are sinful; certainly the
whole world is guilty before God. But God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself so that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed
away; all things are become new. So that Paul understood himself as an
ambassador of Christ and he went through the world and he said, "Be ye
reconciled with God. Stop hiding in the bushes!"
Oh, that profound question of Genesis three as God walks through the Garden in
that symbolic story and he says, "Where are you?" and Adam says, "I was afraid."
Guilt, fear, shame. And the Lord God comes down and says, "Where are you?"
Where are you, not because I want to lombast you, but where are you because I
want to embrace you. Where are you because I want to love you, I want to tell you
about my Grace which is greater than all your sins.
For the New Testament message was that God was in Christ reconciling the world
to Himself, for God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
© Grand Valley State University
�God’s Grace in Our Gloom
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
made the righteousness of God in him. And so the Apostle goes on to quote the
Old Testament and he says, "In the day that you hear his voice, harden not your
heart. This is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation." In other words,
receive this good news. Accept this Gospel. Come and get a forgiveness that is
already provided. If we would take one other New Testament passage, the fifth
chapter of Romans, we would find Paul dealing with Genesis three and he says,
"As in one man all sin, so in one man all are made righteous." And in that fifth
chapter of Romans, it is the most glorious song, anthem, proclamation of the
superiority of Grace. For one man sinned but the obedience of one man far
surpassed it. And the disobedience of Adam was one thing, but the obedience of
Christ was greater and the greater triumph of Grace throughout that passage is a
marvelous testimony to the fact that the Church has one theme to proclaim and
that is the triumph of Grace. That's the good news.
And so you see, I didn't spend very long in Genesis three. It is the recognition of
the Old Testament people of God that there is something wrong; there is
something deadly wrong. I am wrong and you are wrong, and there is no softpedaling the guilt of the human heart. But I am Adam and I am Eve and you are
Adam and you are Eve and the last word is not, "Get out of the Garden." The last
word is, "Be reconciled to God." For where sin aboundeth, Grace did much more
abound.
Now, how can the Church be a place of bad news? How can the Church ever send
anyone out guilty? How can the Church ever send anyone out in despair and
hopeless, burdened with all of the rock of their life? There's only one message
that ought to be sounded from the pulpit, from the evangelical pulpit, from the
Christian pulpit, from the pulpit that is grounded in the Word of God and that is,
"Be reconciled to God. Accept your acceptance, because you are already accepted
and there's nothing you can do about it, except say, 'Thank you.'"
God's Grace in our gloom. That's the bottom line. Thanks be to God!
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Reformation Sunday
Pentecost XXII
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
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KII-01_RA-0-19851027
Date
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1985-10-27
Title
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God's Grace in Our Gloom
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<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
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 27, 1985 entitled "God's Grace in Our Gloom", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Reformation Sunday, Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2.
Creation
Forgiveness
Freedom
Genesis
Grace of God
Hebrew Scriptures
Judgment
Reformation
Sin
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ee8a36ba0b794e707ff1fc0cc8253975.mp3
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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
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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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 XXIII
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
Genesis 4:6, Luke 15:20, 28
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
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Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19851103
Date
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1985-11-03
Title
A name given to the resource
Alienation and Homecoming
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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 3, 1985 entitled "Alienation and Homecoming", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XXIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 4:6, Luke 15:20, 28.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dc9db04259de56e78cea1300d9e677e2.mp3
d04cc1ee5f5f2f3eb40fc84becb7a3fb
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
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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
Installation of Peter Theune
Pentecost XXIV
Scripture Text
Ephesians 3:17-18, 20-21
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
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KII-01_RA-0-19851110
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-11-10
Title
A name given to the resource
On the Threshold of Greatness
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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 10, 1985 entitled "On the Threshold of Greatness", on the occasion of Installation of Peter Theune, Pentecost XXIV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ephesians 3:17-18, 20-21.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/83ea86d6e8f8eccfc4cb66938f5247b4.mp3
dde03e324bff6c56add29cc9d3888530
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ac774425ba1616e8a5e0b61f743dd599.pdf
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PDF Text
Text
The Judgment That Aims At Salvation
From the sermon series: This Is Our Father’s World
Text: Genesis 6: 5-6; Genesis 8: 21; Isaiah 54: 8
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
November 17, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
…The Lord saw that man had done much evil…his thoughts and inclinations
were always evil, he was sorry he had made man…he was grieved at heart…
Genesis 6: 5-6
…I will never again kill every living creature… Genesis 8: 21
…I hid my face from you for a moment; but now have I pitied you with a love
which never fails… Isaiah 54:8
The story of the Flood in the early chapters of Genesis is a story of judgment and
grace. That duality is found throughout the Scriptures. Judgment and grace are
not, however, two equally balanced responses of God toward humankind, each
equally ultimate. Rather, God's judgment is a means toward the end of Salvation.
God judges a recalcitrant and resistant creation in order finally to redeem and recreate according to His eternal purpose of love.
Judgment is God's instrument. Salvation is God's ultimate intention.
The story of Noah and the Flood tells us of a resolve in the heart of God never to
abandon His Creation but to stay with it with limitless patience and forebearance
on the basis of a radical grace that will not finally be defeated.
Thus the story of Noah and the Flood is not simply a curious, ancient tale from a
stage of primitive religious development. Rather, it was finally cast in the written
form in which we have it during the dark days of Judah's Exile as a proclamation
of the faithfulness of the God of Israel, Who would yet remember and redeem His
people. In a word, this story is a proclamation of the Gospel of Grace.
Chapters six through nine of Genesis present an exceedingly dismal picture of the
inclinations of the human heart and thus the fractured reality of the Creation © Grand Valley State University
�The Judgment That Aims At Salvation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
the betrayal of God's purpose of a faithful, harmonious created order in covenant
with Himself. But these chapters present a most hopeful picture of the resolve of
the heart of God to stay with, renew and redeem Creation, which has run afoul of
His purposes. These chapters then are gospel, Good News. We can be assured
that this is our Father's world and we can rest in the deep assurance that nothing
will ever separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The story is familiar and need not be rehearsed here. Let us rather begin by
recognizing once again that Genesis 1-11 throughout is a preface to the history of
God's redemptive action in our history. These eleven chapters are constituted by
a series of episodes which reveal deep and ultimate convictions about God, the
world and humankind, convictions which are the premise of the whole biblical
story of God's saving action in the midst of the world's resistance and revolt.
We have reflected on God's creative intention for humankind made in His image.
We have examined the failed test in the case of Adam and Eve, the fatal choice to
give way to jealous anger in the story of Cain and Abel. The fourth chapter points
to the development of culture in the descendants of Cain and now we come to the
story of Noah and the Flood.
Yet these chapters are not really about a flood that covered the earth and an ark
that some religious groups are still trying to locate. Much rather, these chapters
relate the truth about the human condition and the response of God to that
situation. The real drama of this story occurs in the heart of the Creator; this is
a story about the grief and faithful love of God.
The story is introduced by God's taking notice of the wickedness that corrupted
His good creation and betrayed His purposes in Creation. Notice the anguish of
God's heart and His decision to destroy what He had made:
... The Lord saw ... (vs. 5)
…he was sorry he had made man ... (vs. 6)
I will wipe them off the face of the earth ... (vs. 7)
I intend to destroy them. (vs. 13)
This sets the stage for the story. God's heart is grieved at the state of affairs He
observes on earth. His first reaction is to destroy what He has made for He sees
that evil has permeated to the core of the human heart and the corruption of
Creation is complete. There is no hope that things might turn around of their own
accord. It is a hopeless situation going from bad to worse. Destruction is God's
determination.
Creation has refused to be God's creation and God's decision is death to the whole
world. The "very good" of Genesis 1:31 has become the "I will blot out" of this
narrative. This story reminds us of the most severe preaching of the later
prophets.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Judgment That Aims At Salvation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
But, contrary to the human response to such a situation which would be anger,
we find in the heart of God anguish; He is grieved in His heart.
The evil heart of humankind troubles the heart of God. This is indeed
"heart to heart" between humankind and God. How it is between
humankind and God touches both parties. (Brueggemann, Genesis, p. 77)
Thus we are dealing with a God Whose purposes have been betrayed, a God Who
brings a serious charge against His creature and Who resolves to destroy, in light
of the recalcitrance of the world; but we are not dealing with an angry tyrant Who
might use His almighty power to crush in a fit of rage. This is not a hostile God
Whose dignity has been offended. Rather, this is a God of gracious intent, willing
life and harmony and completeness for His Creation, finding to His deep anguish
that such purposes of loving intention are being resisted and betrayed.
The world stands condemned; the sentence is destruction, but the sentence is
rendered from an anguished heart, not from a jealous rage. Could God abandon
His world? Could He bring it to an end?
The answer of this story – a reflection of Israel's faith and understanding – is
obviously, Yes, He could. He could change His mind about His Creation and
bring to nothing that which He created out of nothing. Brueggemann writes:
Can he abandon the world which he has so joyously created? That is a
central question for Israel. Many people hold a view of God as unchanging
and indifferent to anything going on in the world, as though God were a
plastic, fixed entity. But Israel's God is fully a person who hurts and
celebrates, responds and acts in remarkable freedom. God is not captive of
old resolves. God is as fresh and new in relation to creation as he calls us to
be with him. He can change his mind, so that he can abandon what he has
made; and he can rescue that which he has condemned. (Ibid., p. 78)
Thus Brueggemann points out we come to the heart of this narrative which has to
do "not with a flood, but with a heavy, painful crisis in the dealings of God with
creation." The real crisis is the crisis in the heart of God - "because of the resistant
character of the world which evokes hurt and grief in the heart of God."
What is going on here is a parallel of that familiar and moving passage from
Hosea where the same conflict rages in the heart of God. Israel's unfaithfulness is
documented; certain judgment will be the result. Yet that judgment cannot be the
last word.
How can I give you up, Ephraim, how surrender you, Israel? ...
My heart is changed within me, my remorse kindles already. I will not let
loose my fury, I will not turn round and destroy Ephraim; for I am God
and not man, the Holy One in your midst. Hosea 11:8-9
© Grand Valley State University
�The Judgment That Aims At Salvation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
And then we meet Noah and Noah won favor in the sight of the Lord. You know
the story from that point - the ark, the rescue of some of all kinds of living
creatures, the terrible flood and eventually the return of the dove with a sprig of
olive branch, the dry land and an altar built to offer thanksgiving to God Who had
surely judged but, rather than destroy, had saved Creation. Now Creation can
begin again; this is a point of re-creation and a fresh start.
Thus we find the resolution of the conflict in the heart of God. The sentence of
death is overcome by a gift of new life. Grace prevails. God begins again with a
resolve greater than that which prevailed at the beginning. Note the end of
chapter 8. Noah and his family are restored to dry land and he builds an altar. In
response God says,
Never again will I curse the ground because of man, however evil his
inclination may be from his youth upwards. I will never again kill every
living creature, as I have just done.
While the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and
winter, day and night, shall never cease. (8:21-22)
Here is God's pledge of unwavering faithfulness to Creation; He will never
destroy it. The conflict in His heart has been resolved and resolved in favor of
mercy. A great change has occurred but the change is not in Creation nor in the
heart of the creature; rather the change is in God Who determines to be gracious,
come what may.
It is critical to note that this resolve is not made in the light of the judgment that
has just occurred in the belief that a fresh start will make everything all right.
Notice the words "Never again ... however evil his inclinations may be from his
youth upwards." To put it bluntly, God took the persistent evil of the human heart
as a given and said I will redeem anyway. In this passage we have a statement of
radical grace - a grace that saves because of God’s decision quite apart from
human merit.
Perhaps the wonder of this passage can best be seen by putting in juxtaposition
two statements:
The human situation is hopeless.
God will redeem the human situation anyway.
or
In the creature himself there is no hope;
the hope of the creature is God's grace alone.
or
Humankind is hopeless. Our hope is in God.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Judgment That Aims At Salvation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
Just as Hosea discovered, so the Genesis writer believed: God will never abandon
the world or the people He has created.
How can I give you up?
By rights I should give you up!
I cannot give you up!
I will not give you up!
He takes as his vocation not judgment but the resilient work of affirmation
on behalf of the death-creature. The flood has effected an irreversible
change in God, who now will approach his Creation with an unlimited
patience and forbearance. To be sure, God has been committed to his
Creation from the beginning. But this narrative traced a new decision on
the part of God. Now the commitment is intensified. For the first time, it is
marked by grief, the hurt of betrayal. It is now clear that such a
commitment on God's part is costly. The God-world relation is not simply
that of strong God and needy world. Now it is a tortured relation between
a grieved God and a resistant world. And of the two, the real changes are in
God. This is a key insight of the gospel against every notion that God
stands outside of the hurt as a judge. (Ibid., p. 81)
This story found written expression at the time of the Exile. A people under
judgment through their own folly and disobedience heard this as a story of their
God Who would never abandon them but finally bring them to salvation. Second
Isaiah reminds the Exiles of the story of Noah and the Covenant pledge of the
faithful God.
For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will
gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you ...
For this is like the days of Noah to me; as I swore that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry
with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the
hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you ...
(Isaiah 54:7-10)
Within the course of history judgment continues to occur. There is no sense of
indifference to human wrong, no blasé attitude about creation's perversion and
human sin. However, judgment is always embraced within the resolution to
redeem and save. Judgment aims at salvation. This is the message of radical
grace and our hope must rest in the God and grace and in nothing else.
The Summit meeting brings the heads of State together. We pray for mutual
understanding and progress with the reduction of world tension. But our hope is
not in the negotiating skill of our leaders; our hope is in God, the Sovereign of the
nations.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Judgment That Aims At Salvation
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
In our personal lives, too, we encounter difficult experiences; we go through deep
water. We do our best to handle the situation and we find what help and support
we can. But finally our hope is in the God Who through His prophet said,
When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the
rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you
shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the
Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:2-3a)
God has resolved in His own heart never to leave us nor forsake us. He will never
abandon Creation. His steadfast love endures forever. Amen.
Reference:
Walter Brueggemann. Genesis: Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for
Teaching and Preaching. John Knox Press, 1982.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Pentecost XXV
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
Genesis 6:5-6, 8:21, Isaiah 54:8
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
Walter Brueggemann. Genesis: Interpretation: a Bible Commentary_, 1982
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-0-19851117
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-11-17
Title
A name given to the resource
The Judgment That Aims at Salvation
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. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
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audio/mp3
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Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 17, 1985 entitled "The Judgment That Aims at Salvation", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XXV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 6:5-6, 8:21, Isaiah 54:8.
Divine Intention
Flood
Genesis
God's Radical Love
Hebrew Scriptures
Judgment
Noah
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/66c0b652a4bd4c312e30a4976d9edb6a.mp3
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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
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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
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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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 XXVI
Series
This is Our Father's World
Scripture Text
Genesis 11:7, 9, Acts 2:8
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
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KII-01_RA-0-19851124
Date
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1985-11-24
Title
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The Chaos of Secularism and the Community of the Spirit
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<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
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eng
Type
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Sound
Format
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audio/mp3
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 24, 1985 entitled "The Chaos of Secularism and the Community of the Spirit", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 11:7, 9, Acts 2:8.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2791b3195ad04dd2d1cd1d3d360264bf.mp3
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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
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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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
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
Format
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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
Scripture Text
Genesis 12:3
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
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KII-01_RA-0-19851128
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-11-28
Title
A name given to the resource
God's Strategy for a New World
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<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
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eng
Type
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Sound
Format
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audio/mp3
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 28, 1985 entitled "God's Strategy for a New World", on the occasion of Thanksgiving, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 12:3.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c75614e6c706bdfd2fe6754571b6aaed.mp3
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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
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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
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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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
Scripture Text
Isaiah 11:1, I Thessalonians 4:14, 17
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
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KII-01_RA-0-19851201
Date
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1985-12-01
Title
A name given to the resource
The Hereafter - Wishful Thinking
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<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
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audio/mp3
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 1, 1985 entitled "The Hereafter - Wishful Thinking", on the occasion of Advent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 11:1, I Thessalonians 4:14, 17.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fd3e1a45c5ccdee19a20297a00082140.mp3
7ab1e0fe1367b6447a45ff865e14d25d
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 II
Scripture Text
Matthew 25:32, Revelations 21:3
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
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Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19851208
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-12-08
Title
A name given to the resource
Heaven and Hell: The Double Image of the Future
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 8, 1985 entitled "Heaven and Hell: The Double Image of the Future", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 25:32, Revelations 21:3.
-
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PDF Text
Text
Why I Believe in Purgatory
Text: I Corinthians 3: 14-15; Luke 12: 47-48
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent, December 15, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Purgatory is a foreign word in a Protestant pulpit. It is even a greater surprise to
find it in a title such as I have given to this message: "Why I Believe In
Purgatory."
Perhaps it is just a teaser: baiting you a bit to get you to return - an attention
catcher. You will have to judge that for yourself when we are finished. In the
meantime, I must declare the seriousness with which I am treating the subject.
Purgatory conjures up all sorts of ghosts in our minds and certainly there is much
in the history of the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church with which I cannot
agree. Yet there is a reality, a truth to which that teaching pointed, and we may
well have missed that truth because our forefathers in the Reformation threw out
the idea of Purgatory with all of the many abuses that went along with it.
Before we get into the idea itself, let me remind you of our deliberations this
Advent Season. We are considering the great questions of the End. The drama of
history will have its End. That is Advent's theme: the King is coming. God will
bring Creation to its consummation. We personally will have our End; we will die.
And then what?
We have affirmed that there is life after life. Death remains the last enemy but its
sting has been removed; it is a conquered foe. The grave has been robbed of its
fearsome power.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again; even so, through
Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (I
Thessalonians 4:14)
Therefore we do not grieve as those who have no hope; we have a basis for
comforting one another.
We have seen, too, that the New Testament sets forth a double image of the End:
Heaven and Hell, Glorification and Condemnation, Union with God and
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Separation from God. We quoted the pithy statement of C.S. Lewis in The Great
Divorce:
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy
will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."
(p. 66F)
The traditional teaching of the Church and the conventional understanding of
most of the Church is simply that those who receive Christ will be saved and
those who reject him will be damned.
But a little sober reflection - and reflection on this subject ought to be sober shows us that the matter is not quite that simple. Even if those who are exposed
to the Gospel are judged on their acceptance or rejection of Christ - what about
those who never heard? What about those who die in infancy? What about the
mentally impaired?
A further serious question: What about those who have been terribly wounded by
the Church itself? What about those who have been abused as children and are
never able to trust? What about those who have received only a perversion and
distortion of the Gospel?
It would seem that we must begin to make some exception, some qualification.
Then, too, we have noted that the witness of the New Testament is not consistent.
Several texts in Matthew and Revelation especially speak of eternal torment but
several statements in Paul's letters seem to point in the direction of universal
salvation.
Therefore I raised the question whether or not it might be possible that God's
grace might finally triumph in the case of all persons; whether God would finally
be "all in all" with every remnant of opposition to His Rule of Grace wiped out. I
suggested that perhaps God's "Yes" to us in Jesus might be stronger than our
"No."
God respects our response. He will never coerce. His is always a gracious
invitation. Therefore, just as our "no" turned to "yes" by His grace must be
authentically our own, just so our "no" maintained is always a possibility. It
remains a possibility and witnesses to the seriousness of our decision.
But what if in His infinite patience He never gives up? (I asked you whether you
hoped Hell might be finally empty.) I suspect you have thought about that. I
suspect, too, I would receive a variety of responses. Let us admit at the outset we
cannot know the answer to the question as to whether Hell will finally consume
some eternally or whether Grace will finally triumph completely.
In either case, the reality of judgment is a reality through which we all must pass.
There is a double judgment for each of us. First, the judgment regarding eternal
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
salvation. Second, the judgment regarding the character of our lives - the story we
write with our lives.
The first is determined by our relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour of
the world.
God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world but that the
world through Him might be saved. John 3:17
And Paul declared,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. Romans 8:1
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
In John's Gospel we read:
Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who
sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed
from death to life. John 5:24
Thus judgment is passed. The verdict is not still out. The acquittal has been
granted. We possess new eternal life.
But there is a second aspect to judgment that remains to be experienced by every
person, that is the judgment of our work or our lives. This judgment has nothing
to do with whether a person is saved or lost. This judgment has to do with seeing
our lives in God's light, seeing our lives played out before us in His presence.
The main contention of this message is that God is not done with us at the
moment of our death.
I can base that contention on Scripture in regard to those who die trusting in God
through Jesus Christ. I will suggest that the possibility of an "empty hell" can be
based only on the possibility of a continuing process of encounter between God
and the person who dies without an experience of His grace.
Let us first look at the Scripture. To begin with, we must recognize that there is
not much to go on because the whole thrust of Scripture is the imperative to
repentance and faith and the whole stress is on the urgency of decision. Yet there
are indications that there is something more.
Our first Scripture investigation is Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 3.
Let me acknowledge immediately that this passage can be used only indirectly for
the purposes of establishing the main contention of this message - namely that
God is not done with us at the moment of our death. Paul is talking to a particular
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
congregation about a specific problem - divisions in the Church. Dealing with
that issue he decries the choosing up of sides, identifying with one leader rather
than another and thus forming factions in the Church. He points to the one
foundation of the Church, Jesus Christ, and says all who build on that
foundation, which he had himself laid in Corinth, must take care how they build.
But all are co-laborers.
Whether they plant or water, they work as a team. I Corinthians 3:8
That refers to the image of the garden. One plants, one waters, but God makes it
grow. The image of the building picks up the idea of foundation and
superstructures. Christ is the foundation. He, Paul, Apollos and the other
apostles build the superstructure. If they build well the building will stand; if they
build of faulty materials the building will not meet the test.
This is where we touch our interest - the idea of judgment: This is not a judgment
regarding one's eternal salvation; this is a judgment of one's works or a judgment
of one's life. This is a judgment through which all God's children will pass. The
question is not whether one will be finally redeemed and enter the presence of
God - enter "heaven." The question is how will one fare as one's life comes under
the scrutiny of the Eternal God.
The text speaks specifically about ministers of the Gospel and the building of the
Church. I do not think we err, however, in seeing what here has a specific focus as
being generally true of all persons regarding their life's issue whether that be in
building churches or building houses or laboring in business or industry or living
in community, nation, family.
Will the things to which we devote our lives, our time, our energy stand God's
refining process or will they go up in smoke?
Notice: The one who builds with precious stones, gold and silver, will see his
creation stand the test. He enters life beyond life with something good and
positive going with him.
The one who builds with wood, hay, straw - one who cuts corners and just gets by
will see his life's devotion consumed before his eyes.
But now note carefully:
He will bear the loss but he himself will escape with his life, as one might
from a fire.
Such a person will enter life beyond life having lost everything, secure in God's
eternal presence, yet with nothing to show for his life.
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
From this text I conclude that there is beyond death or through death an
encounter with God in which one's life will be tested. The issue will not be
salvation or condemnation. The issue is whether we bring into God's presence
something, or nothing.
Now I am going beyond the text's specific teaching but drawing, I believe, a
legitimate inference from the text:
Through death, beyond death, at death, there is something more.
Does this text not indicate that Paul thought in terms of encounter with God and
perhaps continuing the process beyond death? If it is a matter simply of being
saved or lost as we enter the moment of death - if there is a status called
"Salvation" and a status called "Condemnation," and that is all there is, then why
be concerned about what one brings to death's moment: a fruitful life, or a barren
life?
I see in our text Paul's conviction that there is not only the discontinuity between
our time and God's eternity, death being the break, but also continuity between
this life and the life beyond death's passage. We bring something (or nothing)
with us and whatever lies beyond is influenced and determined by what we bring
(or fail to bring.)
Let us look at one more text: Luke 12:47-48. These verses are in a context of the
teachings of Jesus. The immediate context is a call to be watchful and ready for
the End - the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus is encouraging loyal, faithful
stewardship of life.
Happy that servant who is found at his task when his master comes!
(Verse 43)
But then Jesus speaks of two kinds of servants. One knew the master's
instructions and failed to comply with them. The other did not comply either, but
he was unaware of the demands. The first was flogged severely; the second was
flogged less severely. This vivid, picturesque language of Jesus must not be
pushed too far. We certainly could not build a whole system of judgment on the
basis of these words. Yet, perhaps it is legitimate to draw at least this teaching:
the sentence will vary in light of individual circumstances. Again, we have here
not a judgment to eternal salvation or eternal condemnation; we have here a
gradation of judgment on the basis of the individual life being examined.
The moment of death, the moment of encounter with God will be very personal,
individual and discriminating. The sentences will vary. Does this point to a
process beyond death's moment? If this were the only text it would be risky to
claim so. But again, this seems to point in the direction of Paul's teaching
explained above. To be sure, the Luke passage speaks of a gradation of severity of
judgment depending on knowledge or opportunity while the Pauline passage
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
speaks of entering God's presence beyond the testing of judgment – with positive
fruit of one's life, or denuded of whatever constituted one's life. Yet in both cases
there is judgment in terms of one's life being put to the test and then the entering
into the consequences of what that judgment revealed.
The traditional understanding of our texts is that, in the case of the Luke passage,
there are gradations of punishment - yet to be lost, eternally condemned is to
remain in a state spoken of as hell - separation from God. In the case of the
passage from Paul, the understanding has been that the "saved" enter into
heaven, or union with God, but some with greater, some with less capacity to
experience the joy of salvation.
But let us push those conventional interpretations. Let me repeat what I said
earlier: we cannot finally know answers which remain for us veiled in mystery.
Yet it is important to come to some place where we can live with faith, conviction
and peace. Think with me then; let your imagination loose. Think about the God
of grace, His creation purpose, His covenant faithfulness, His final triumph over
all. Think about the whole impact of the Scriptural revelation beyond individual
texts.
I entitled this message, "Why I Believe in Purgatory," because I did want to grasp
your attention. Surely you know that in a day when Catholic theology itself is very
self-critical and is engaged in serious encounter with Scripture, I am not about to
suggest we reinstitute a teaching that has been a means of distortion of the
Gospel and open to great abuse. We cannot forget that it was precisely at the
point of the teaching of indulgences, the exploitation of the faithful for purposes
of raising money and manipulating people, holding them in spiritual bondage,
that the Reformers rose up in protest.
But my title is more than a ploy. It expresses a conviction to which I have come
through study and reflection, which is as much a surprise to me as it may be to
you. I am convinced that, behind all indefensible practice and abuse of the
Church, there is yet a true intuition. There has been over the centuries a sense
that God was not through with us at the moment of our last breath.
Now the traditional Reformed faith never said He was through with us; there
remains the judgment with its double issue - to salvation or condemnation. But
the traditional teaching has been that with the last breath the issue is irreversible.
It is this claim that I am calling in question. I do recognize that the strong call to
decision, the seriousness of choices in this life is stressed. I would not deny that
or even downplay the urgency of that call. However, is it not possible that in the
experience of death itself, understood as an encounter with God, there is the
possibility of something of eternal significance occurring? I raise the question for
reflection.
Let me share with you some of the best thinking available on the subject. My first
serious consideration of the idea of purgatory or the reality toward which that
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
teaching points was in Berkhof’s Christian Faith. Because of my high regard for
the thoroughness of his scholarship, depth of biblical and theological
understanding, and deep personal faith in Christ, I had to take seriously his
suggestion that there was really something here to be taken seriously. In his
discussion of the judgment of the works done by believers, which we discussed
above, Berkhof writes:
In protestant theology, this viewpoint is almost completely pushed aside
by the accent on grace. In Roman Catholic piety it is (or used to be) very
prominent in connection with the veneration of saints and purgatory. The
Roman Catholic Church assumes correctly that believers differ greatly in
regard to their progress and fruitfulness...
So the idea of a judgment according to one's deeds leads of itself to the
consideration of a process of purification, called purgatory in Roman
Catholic tradition. ... The Reformation broke with that doctrine because of
its moralistic conception of salvation and its detrimental effect on the
practice of piety (indulgences; intercessory prayers and masses for the
dead.) It imagined a sudden, radical transformation after the judgment,
usually without giving it further theological reflection and without
connecting it with the struggle for sanctification on earth. Meanwhile
Roman Catholic thinking, too, has become much more reserved. Typical of
the modern R.C. conceptions is the idea of "ripening" ... which K. Rahner
develops in "The Life of the Dead."
Referring to our text, I Corinthians 3:15, Berkhof asserts,
... that statement does suggest that Paul thought of more than an abrupt
re-creation of man; salvation is accompanied by a painful becoming aware
of one's own failures on earth. The difficulties here are more an open
question for theological reflection than a subject for back and forth
theological denouncement. (p. 489)
In the previous message I cited Berkhof s statement about the question of
whether "Hell" was forever. He writes:
God is serious about the responsibility of our decision, but he is even more
serious about the responsibility of his love. The darkness of rejection and
God's forsakenness cannot and may not be argued away, but no more can
and may it be eternalized. For God's sake we hope that hell will be a form
of purification. (p. 532)
That word "purification" is one used by the Catholic theologian Hans Küng. It
was Küng who stimulated me to pursue these matters. His forthright handling of
them at the University of Michigan convinced me that these questions do not go
away; they are deeply written on the human heart. In the published lectures
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 8
Eternal Life? Küng treats the idea of purgatory in his discussion of the question
whether hell is eternal.
Some theologians argue that it is not God who damns man by a verdict
imposed from outside. They are human beings themselves, by sins
committed with inward freedom, who damn themselves. The
responsibility lies not with God but with man, and by death this selfdamnation and distance from God (not a place, but a human condition)
becomes definitive. Definitive? Do not the psalms say that God rules over
the realm of the dead? What is supposed to become definitive here,
contrary to the will of an all-merciful and almighty God? Why should God,
who is infinitely good, want to perpetuate enmity instead of removing it
and in practice to share his rule forever with some kind of anti-God? Why
should he have nothing more to say at this point and consequently render
forever impossible a purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment, of
guilt-laden man? (p. 137)
Then he refers specifically to purgatory.
Purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment: Here perhaps may be I want merely to prompt a few reflections - the particle of truth, the real
care, of the problematic idea of purgatory, which has been translated in
German from the Middle Ages onward with the unfortunate designation of
Fegefeuer ("winnowing fire") -This may be the true core, but it remains
only if the idea is not reified. ... as no human being is entirely bad, neither
is anyone entirely good. Any human being, even the best, falls short of
what he might be, fails to meet his own demands and norms and thus
never wholly realizes himself. For if he is to be fully himself, even the
"saint" needs completion, not after death, but in death itself. And, in view
of so much unpunished guilt in the world, a number of people wonder not entirely wrongly - if dying unto God, the absolutely final reality, can be
one and the same for us: The same for criminals and their victims, for
mass murderers and the mass of the murdered; for those who have
struggled a whole life long to fulfill God's will, true helpers of their fellow
human beings, and for those who for a whole life long have only carried
out their own will and at the same time shut out others? ...how this ...
purification, cleansing, follows is not left to the speculation or calculation
of human curiosity but remains a matter for God as merciful judge, in
God's all-embracing final act of grace.
The key idea Küng would stress is the shattering effect of the encounter with God.
We die not into nothingness; we die into God. Küng cites Karl Barth:
Man as such therefore has no beyond. Nor does he need one, for God is his
beyond. Man's beyond is that God is his Creator, Covenant-partner, Judge
and Saviour, was and is and will be his true Counterpart in life, and finally
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 9
and exclusively and totally in death. (Church Dogmatics Vol. Ill, 2, pp.
632-33)
Küng also cites a Catholic theologian, Greshake:
From this standpoint we can understand what was pointed out earlier, that
God himself, the encounter with him, is purgatory. But this means that we
need not fall back on a special place or still less on a special time or special
event to grasp the meaning of purgatory. Still less do we need to work out
crude ideas about the 'poor' souls. Instead we can understand what the
Church teaches and has taught from the earliest times as an element in the
encounter with God in death. ... we should avoid any talk of fire and speak
instead of purifying and cleansing as an element of the encounter with
God. At the same time what should be particularly clear is that purgatory
is not - as it often seems to be in popular piety - a "demihell" which God
has erected in order to punish the person who is not entirely bad, but also
not entirely good. Purgatory is not a demihell but an element of the
encounter with God: that is, the encounter of the unfinished person, still
immature in his love, with the holy, infinite, loving God; an encounter
which is profoundly humiliating, painful and therefore purifying. (Cited on
p. 139)
Küng concludes,
That is to say that, since it is a question of dying into the dimensions of
God, where space and time are dissolved into eternity, nothing can be
discovered, either about place and time or about the character of this
purifying, sanctifying consummation. (p.139)
A Lutheran theologian, Hans Schwarz, discusses the views of Tadislaus Boros
who suggests something similar, the significance of the final decision at the
moment of death.
... decisively modifies the traditional concepts of purgatory and death.
Boros agrees that the Church has only gradually developed the doctrine of
purgatory. Though the Scriptural basis of purgatory may be obscure, the
fact and the essential nature of purgatory are of such quality that it must
be called a "truth of revelation." However, through his hypothesis of a final
decision, Boros seems to view purgatory as the "point" of intersection
between life and death. Purgatory is no longer conceived of as a process of
purification which can be measured similar to the days and years we live
here on earth. According to Boros, "purgatory would be the passage, which
we effect in our final decision through the purifying fire of divine love. The
encounter with Christ would be our purgatory. ... Boros replaces an
untenable concept of purgatory with the idea of a confrontation with
Christ in death. ... he calls death "man's first completely personal act;"
and, "therefore, by reason of its very being, the place above all others for
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page10
the awakening of consciousness, for freedom, for the encounter with God,
for the final decision about eternal destiny." (On The Way To The Future,
pp. 142F)
It has been obvious to me as I have pursued this subject that those who have
reflected on the biblical material, the whole context of Scripture, the revelation of
God as He has shown Himself in Jesus Christ and the human person are very
restrained in their conclusions and very cautious in their statement. There is in
all serious inquirers into this question a recognition of the serious nature of
human decisions, an acknowledgement of the urgent need for repentance and
faith, the reality of evil and human wickedness that demands response if there is
any justice, the judgment as the exposure of our lives to the scrutiny of the God of
truth.
All serious biblical thinkers recognize that God takes us seriously and that our
wrong and guilt are not simply soft-pedaled and our exposure to God's light and
truth will be painful even while we are conscious of being embraced within a
larger grace. Judgment will be experienced: No one will "get away" with anything.
If an eternal hell is questioned, it is not because passing through God's final
examination is not a serious matter and neither is it because there is no sense of
the need for change and renewal of the person who through the earthly
pilgrimage has become scarred and tainted and twisted.
Recognizing that we cannot simply move from the ambiguity, partial insight,
fickleness and unfaithfulness of one's human experience into the presence of the
God of light and truth, there is the belief on the part of some that a purifying
process will be necessary.
What have we believed traditionally? Simply that God sees us in Jesus; his
righteousness is our righteousness now and when we pass through death to life
we will be made like him - instant perfection.
What I am questioning in this message is the instant perfection.
Certainly the question is not whether God is able in a moment to totally
transform us. But does He ever work as far as we can trace His work in Creation
apart from process? How often we wish He would work by a "snap of the finger;"
but God takes time and allows the process to work.
Further, we must recognize that we can only think in terms of time but when we
speak of moving through "the moment of death," what do we mean? At that
"moment" we move beyond "moments in succession" - we move into the
dimension of Eternity. It is far beyond our purpose or capacity to enter into the
discussion of time relative to eternity here, but we must not naively project our
time-conditioned thinking beyond death.
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page11
C. S. Lewis has dealt as creatively and profoundly as anyone of whom I am aware
with the question of heaven, hell and purgatory. He points to the relation of time
and eternity in a fascinating imaginary discussion with the Christian writer,
George MacDonald:
'In your own books, Sir,' said I, 'you were a Universalist. You talked as if all
men would be saved. And St. Paul too.'
'Ye can know nothing of the end of all things, or nothing expressible in
those terras. It may be, as the Lord said to the Lady Julian, that all will be
well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well. But it's ill
talking of such questions.'
‘Because they are too terrible, Sir?’
'No. Because all answers deceive. If ye put the question from within Time
and are asking about possibilities, the answer is certain. The choice of
ways is before you. Neither is closed. Any man may choose eternal death.
Those who choose it will have it. But if ye are trying to leap on into
eternity, if ye are trying to see the final state of all things as it will be (for
so ye must speak) when there are no more possibilities left but only the
Real, then ye ask what cannot be answered to mortal ears. Time is the very
lens through which ye see - small and clear, as men see through the wrong
end of a telescope - something that would otherwise be too big for ye to see
at all. That thing is Freedom: the gift whereby ye most resemble your
Maker and are yourselves parts of eternal reality. But ye can see it only
through the lens of Time, in a little clear picture, through the inverted
telescope. It is a picture of moments following one another and yourself in
each moment making some choice that might have been otherwise.
Neither the temporal succession nor the phantom of what ye might have
chosen and didn't is itself Freedom. They are a lens. The picture is a
symbol: but it's truer than any philosophical theorem (or, perhaps, than
any mystic's vision) that claims to go behind it. For every attempt to see
the shape of eternity except through the lens of Time destroys your
knowledge of Freedom. Witness the doctrine of Predestination which
shows (truly enough) that eternal reality is not waiting for a future in
which to be real, but at the price of removing Freedom which is the deeper
truth of the two. And wouldn't Universalism do the same? Ye cannot know
eternal reality by a definition. Time itself, and all acts and events that fill
Time, are the definition, and it must be lived. The Lord said we were gods.
How long could ye bear to look (without Time's lens) on the greatness of
your own soul and the eternal reality of her choice?' (The Great Divorce,
p. 114 F.)
In his imaginary conversation with MacDonald, Lewis is told that it is possible for
people in hell to take holiday excursions to the boundaries of the heavenly
country, Lewis exclaims,
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page12
'But I don't understand. Is" judgement not final? Is there really a way out
of Hell into Heaven?'
'It depends on the way ye're using the words. If they leave that grey town
behind it will not have been Hell. To any that leaves it, it is Purgatory. And
perhaps ye had better not call this country Heaven. Not Deep Heaven, ye
understand.' (Here he smiled at me). Ye can call it the Valley of the
Shadow of Life. And yet to those who stay here it will have been Heaven
from the first. And ye can call those sad streets in the town yonder the
Valley of the Shadow of Death: but to those who remain there they will
have been Hell even from the beginning.'
I suppose he saw that I looked puzzled, for presently he spoke again.
'Son,' he said, 'ye cannot in your present state understand eternity: when
Anodos looked through the door of the Timeless he brought no message
back. But ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil,
when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all
their earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only
the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by
the damned to have been Hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They
say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not
knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even
that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me but
have this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation
will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of
the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past
begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take
on the quality of Heaven; the bad man's past already conforms to his
badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all
things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down
there, the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in
Heaven", and the Lost, "we were always in Hell." And both will speak
truly.'
'Is not that very hard, Sir?'
'I mean, that is the real sense of what they will say. In the actual language
of the Lost, the words will be different, no doubt. One will say he has
always served his country right or wrong; and another that he has
sacrificed everything to his Art; and some that they've never been taken in,
and some that, thank God, they've always looked after Number One, and
nearly all, that, at least they've been true to themselves.'
'And the Saved?'
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page13
'Ah, the Saved ... what happens to them is best described as the opposite of
a mirage. What seemed, when they entered it, to be the vale of misery
turns out, when they look back, to have been a well; and where present
experience saw only salt deserts, memory truthfully records that the pools
were full of water.'
'Then those people are right who say that Heaven and Hell are only states
of mind?'
'Hush,' said he sternly. 'Do not blaspheme. Hell is a state of mind - ye
never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every
shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind - is, in the
end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All
that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and
only the unshakable remains.'
'But there is a real choice after death? My Roman Catholic friends would
be surprised, for to them souls in Purgatory are already saved. And my
Protestant friends would like it no better, for they'd say that the tree lies as
it falls.'
"They're both right, maybe. Do not fash yourself with such questions. Ye
cannot fully understand the relations of choice and Time till you are
beyond both. And ye were not brought here to study such curiosities. What
concerns you is the nature of the choice itself: and that ye can watch them
making.' (The Great Divorce, pp. 61F.)
Lewis' fertile imagination is thought provoking. Great caution is there; our
curiosity will not be satisfied this side of death's portal. Yet it is clear that Hell, he
seems to be saying, is porous. If one spends Eternity there or, conversely, if one
never comes to the light, it will not be so much God's verdict as one's own fatal
choice.
Much lies veiled in mystery. Yet all that is needful is clear and how can it be more
clearly set forth than simply,
Now is the day of salvation;
Now is the day to choose the things that matter, things of ultimate concern; now
is the day to live faithfully - covenant with the Good and Gracious God. Then
already we possess Eternal life and death will move us "from splendour to
splendour 'til we see Him face to face." Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page14
References:
Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith.
Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979.
Hans Küng. Eternal Life? Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical and
Theological Problem. Doubleday, 1984.
C. S. Lewis. The Great Divorce. First published by HarperCollins, 1946.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
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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
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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English
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KII-01
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
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Event
Advent III
Scripture Text
I Corinthians 3:14-15, Luke 12:47-48
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979
Hans K
C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1946
Dublin Core
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KII-01_RA-0-19851215
Date
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1985-12-15
Title
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Why I Believe in Purgatory
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
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Sound
Text
Format
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application/pdf
Description
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 15, 1985 entitled "Why I Believe in Purgatory", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Corinthians 3:14-15, Luke 12:47-48.
Advent
Death
Eternity
Forgiveness
God of Grace
Judgment
Nature of God
Purgatory
Salvation
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a748f5fe36a168f00f8659bb6c0273c8.mp3
32f591b058308dc1d4d6a132c11bdbe8
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
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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
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English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Advent IV
Scripture Text
Isaiah 7:14, John 3:16
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/.
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KII-01_RA-0-19851222
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-12-22
Title
A name given to the resource
Saviour of the World
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 22, 1985 entitled "Saviour of the World", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 7:14, John 3:16.