12
24
1045
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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b9f21ef2290e7257c9e672479f6a389c.pdf
35fb114eecee4d3cc5a28cc4589a976e
PDF Text
Text
Prayer offered by Richard A. Rhem
At the Celebration of the Life of
Nancy Kay Edelmayer
November 9, 2011
-–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
God of Love, God of Life,
we have gathered in this place, in this hour,
still reeling from the shock,
the abrupt, wrenching away
of someone so loved,
someone so very much an anchor of loving support,
a mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend,
whose vital presence was such a strong center
of the family circle
and the extended community.
We know that death awaits us all,
that from the moment we emit our borning cry
there is for all of us a final farewell.
Yet, especially when the leave-taking is sudden,
it seems too soon.
Though spared the agonizing pain and suffering
of a slow, deteriorating death,
there has been no time for proper goodbyes,
no time to say things so often felt but left unsaid,
no time for mutual blessing and holding and hoping.
And thus, the grieving comes so sharply, cuts so deeply,
because there has been no time
for easing into the inevitable,
to adjust to the loss.
Thus, we feel bereft of one
whom it seemed would always be there,
an anchor, a rock, a steadying presence.
We remember in these moments the way she was.
Images tumble through our mind:
She was a natural leader,
strong, knowing her own mind,
decisive, yet open, marked by good humor.
She was without pretence;
there was an authenticity about her; she never put on airs.
Her honesty was refreshing if sometimes devastating;
she had little patience for the games people play
© Grand Valley State University
�Prayer Offered to Celebrate the Life of Nancy Kay Edelmayer
Page 2
when they are being less than honest.
But somehow her strength, her presence larger than life,
was wrapped in warmth,
in compassion, empathy and good humor.
She was kind and generous.
She had a big heart and she loved deeply.
No wonder then, O God, her death leaves such a crater, such emptiness.
And no wonder we are gathered to celebrate her good life,
to remember and give thanks
for the gift we have shared.
And on this, the eve of her 80th birthday,
we remember the words of the Psalmist,
“three score years and ten or by reason of strength, four score years “…
Four score years she lived, lived well and fully,
and then made her own 911 call.
For her good death, we give you thanks, O God.
Where love looms large loss is large as well.
Where bonds of love are tight,
when broken, grief and loss are painful.
All of that we own, we acknowledge without denial . . .
Yet we sense as well the beauty of this life
lived well with love and grace,
ending in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,
confident that new vistas of wonder await,
confident that all will be well,
all will be well,
all manner of things will be well.
Amazed by grace, now home,
we rejoice for her, with her,
and we worship you, O good and gracious God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord who taught us all to pray saying,
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.
Amen.
© 2012 Richard A. Rhem
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Nancy Edelmayer Funeral
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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RA-1-20111109
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Prayer for Life
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 9, 2011 entitled "Prayer for Life ", on the occasion of Nancy Edelmayer Funeral. Tags: Trust.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011-11-09
Trust
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7dee8928aea5d4c0edd66b381529798a.pdf
9c8c608d2190bbe4c799414b04a32221
PDF Text
Text
Morning Prayer
In Autumn
Richard A. Rhem
Unity Church on the Lakeshore
Douglas, Michigan
October 17, 2010
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
When we in awesome wonder,
consider all the worlds your hands have made,
we see the stars, we hear the rolling thunder,
your power throughout the universe displayed,
our souls cannot but sing, O God, how great thou art!
All about us the elegant beauty of the autumn landscape takes our breath away.
Trees resplendent in autumnal garb, lining streets and country roads
in a glorious procession of silent praise,
drawing from the depths of our being wondering love
as we look through them and beyond them to you, Creative Source of all,
in whom we live and move and have our being.
O God, seasons come and go
and in that movement we see a parable of our days.
How quickly pass the days of our lives.
The freshness of spring passes into the mellowness of summer,
which so soon becomes the ripe brilliance of autumn,
which is the beginning of the end.
But the end which does not trigger in our hearts despair,
for we know that winter’s deadly snows are not a shroud bespeaking the end,
but rather a mantle pure and white insulating the earth
pregnant with the seeds of resurrection.
Oh, dear God, if we have but eyes to see, hearts to feel, minds to wonder in awe
when we see skies of blue and clouds of white,
the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night,
we cannot but raise our voice in song, singing,
“What a wonderful world!”
If only we could remain there,
enthralled in that wonderful world of nature, moving us to praise.
© Grand Valley State University
�Morning Prayer in Autumn
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
But when we turn from autumn leaves and blossoming mum plants
to get the news of the day,
we find ourselves bombarded
with nastiness, twisted truth, blatant lies as we endure this election season.
The poet of an earlier century could have been speaking of our day when he
wrote,
“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;…
The best lack all conviction,
while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
How can such a magnificent vision as we have shared as a nation come to this…
irrational anger, bitter prejudice, bigotry, hate.
As St. Francis prayed, so we pray in times like these,
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”
But that was not all the news this week.
Thirty-three lives were rescued from the bowels of the earth.
We stood in awe of the marvel of human intelligence, skill, and ingenuity
that enabled such a rescue,
and we witnessed the better side of the human community
as the whole world watched and waited, prayed and finally celebrated,
confirming that within us all are better angels
expressed in empathy and compassionate embrace of brothers and sisters
unknown to us, far away, because they are family, part of the human family.
In these moments, in this sacred space, in this warm community of love and care,
we quiet our minds,
let go of concerns that burden us,
regrets that cripple us, fears that paralyze us, whatever is troubling us.
Conscious of your healing presence, O God,
touch us deeply, hold us securely, mantle us with peace.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
We rest in you, our eternal home.
Amen
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Unity Church, Douglas, MI
Location
The location of the interview
Unity Church, Douglas
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
RA-1-20101017
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Morning Prayer in Autumn
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 17, 2010 entitled "Morning Prayer in Autumn", on the occasion of Unity Church, Douglas, MI, at Unity Church, Douglas.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2010-10-17
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e39c0a897e29f51234a66fb5b7ccd2f7.pdf
c9a002685bc814bf5a1ca4438c8a8424
PDF Text
Text
A Christmas Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Spring Lake Country Club
Spring Lake, Michigan
December 20, 2009
O God,
Mystery beyond us,
Mystery within us,
Sacred presence enveloping our lives
in all that is good and true and beautiful,
we are gathered here in this lovely setting
with such depth and warmth of feeling,
gathered with those with whom on so many Christmases past
we have celebrated this High Holy Season,
celebrated God in human flesh,
celebrated the vulnerability of a child
as the only true security.
Ah, dear God,
as we move toward that Holy Night
we sense it once again.
Our deepest intuitions
our highest aspirations,
persuade us again against all doubt, disappointment, cynicism and fear
that the Story is true.
The fairy tale goes to the heart
of what is truly human, truly divine –
love and joy and peace,
the light that scatters the darkness,
a vision of an alternative world
that can find expression in nothing less than
a choir of angels singing,
“Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace.”
Once a year this annual festival
calls us to stop, to reflect,
to penetrate the mists of our muddled thinking,
so caught up with matters of penultimate concern,
to see what is truly ultimate, what matters ultimately,
what is finally true –
that vulnerability invites trust,
humility invites embrace,
© Grand Valley State University
�A Christmas Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
love begets love.
Not Rome in all its glory
but from the least of the tribes of Judah, from Bethlehem,
the birth of a child signaled another way.
A child was born whose ways and words would lift
the veil of mystery from your face
and provide us a window into your very heart –
the heart of the Eternal, pure love,
the heart of the Eternal, full of grace,
a heart that spawned creation’s wonder,
a heart that would not abandon nor ever let go
of a world gone awry.
A child was born
and in his warm flesh, you touched us.
In his words, you spoke to us,
In his life, you showed us the way.
The poet glimpsed your way –
They all were looking for a King
to slay their foes and lift them high;
Thou cam’st, a little baby thing,
that made a woman cry.
You are with us in weakness rather than power.
How strange that is,
unsettling, unsatisfying,
until we come to realize that
only thus are you with us with our freedom intact;
only thus can our humanity in your image be real.
We come now, to this table.
Spirit of God,
Make for us this bread, the body, the reality of Christ;
Make for us this cup, the blood, the life of Christ.
In our eating and drinking
Let us know that, in the end,
we have nothing to fear.
In His dying words –
Into Your hands we commend our spirits.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Advent
Series
Following the meditation _Love Talk"
Location
The location of the interview
Spring Lake Country Club
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
RA-1-20091220
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
A Christmas Prayer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 20, 2009 entitled "A Christmas Prayer", as part of the series "Following the meditation 'Love Talk'", on the occasion of Advent, at Spring Lake Country Club.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2009-12-20
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d72461485d60adb822e8e1408e0235b9.pdf
247a09b7a77a23d27356c0de6eadd39d
PDF Text
Text
All Saints’ Day Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
November 1, 2009
O God,
to You we lift our souls,
to You we lift our hearts.
The Psalmist wrote of the deer panting for streams of living water and saw
himself mirrored in that thirst.
We, too, thirst for You, O Living God,
To know that You are;
To sense Your presence;
To rest in Your grace.
As your people gathered here in this place,
We would be still and know that You are God.
We bring our thanksgiving
In the conscious knowledge that all is grace
The order of creation –
We reset our clocks and watches
To catch a bit more light in the morning,
But Brother Sun and Sister Moon are affected not at all;
Summer and Winter, Springtime and Harvest
In passing parade proclaim Your great faithfulness.
You are a God we can count on,
Keeping this vast cosmos balanced on a razor’s edge,
Just so, just right.
And we breathe;
Planets move in marvelous symphony;
Salmon swim upstream;
Birds migrate to warmer climes;
Trees, so recently so richly garbed
Now poke heavenward bony fingers,
Warning of winter storms gathering,
Their leafy coats of dazzling color
now lying shredded on the ground.
And we sense a certain melancholy, a gentle grieving,
For once again we are rushing headlong toward the end of another year.
© Grand Valley State University
�All Saints’ Day Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Like sand streaming through our fingers
Is the passing of our lives,
And we seem paralyzed, failing to grasp it.
Where have the years of our lives gone,
O God,
Where have they gone?
And what will become of us?
Ah, Dear God,
Creator, Lover of this world
In all the wonder of its diversity,
There is no shadow of turning in You.
You, the eternal God,
From Whom we have life,
To Whom our life returns,
In You we trust, in You we rest.
All is grace.
We give You thanks through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
For these moments, let us quiet our minds,
Letting go of concerns that burden us,
Regrets that cripple us,
Fears that paralyze us,
Whatever is troubling us.
Let us image that which causes gratitude to rise in us –
The gift and grace of life;
The sources of our joy;
Those persons who make life rich.
Let us call to mind those images which have shaped us –
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life,
Of whom shall I be afraid?
Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden,
And I will give you rest.
Since God is for us, who can be against us?
Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,
Nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation
Will be able to separate us from the love of God
In Christ Jesus our Lord.
All will be well, all will be well,
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�All Saints’ Day Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
All manner of things will be well.
O God,
Those words rise from our depths so naturally.
O God
It seems that, in moments like these
When we purposefully, intentionally turn to you
When we turn to whomever or whatever you are,
We do so almost with a sigh,
O God.
For we know we are now in the zone of Mystery.
There was something about Jesus when he prayed
That caused the disciples to plead,
Lord, teach us to pray.
We plead, as well,
O, God, teach us to pray.
Once, perhaps, we came as suppliants
To the Royal Throne of the Universe with requests
We must admit on reflection were very self-centered,
Reflecting a very small universe in which
Our hopes and fears loomed very large.
And still there are moments when we flee into your presence
Totally occupied with our own concerns –
Something that threatens us, or
Some experience that crushes us, or
Some potential happening that involves us in a loss
we fear would undo us.
And sometimes it is sheer joy, ecstasy, exhilaration
That bursts forth in a torrent of praise,
Shutting out everything else for the moment.
But, more and more, we look not out there,
But somehow within, into our own depths,
Sensing we are connected deep down, rooted in Being itself,
You being the inexhaustible Source and Ground of all that exists –
The good earth,
The starry heavens,
The oceans’ tides
And ourselves, conscious, aware, groping for some clue
By which to know you, to rest in you,
No longer strangers, but at home in the universe,
At one with all that is.
Sacred Mystery of Being, of our lives,
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�All Saints’ Day Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
it is so good, so familiar for us gathered here
to be gathered consciously in Your presence.
Such rich memories we share of days gone by.
O God,
how grateful we are for all we have shared,
for all we have experienced together –
grateful for friendship, for mutual trust, mutual caring, support and love.
On this All Saints’ Day we remember those we’ve loved and lost awhile.
We are grateful, O God, for the confidence with which we live and die,
that to live is to live unto the Lord
and to die is to die unto the Lord
and therefore whether we live or whether we die,
we are the Lord’s.
We are grateful, O great Mystery of life,
that we have been graced with a fundamental trust
that this cosmic dance into which our lives are woven
is not a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,
but a universe whose grain is love,
whose end is life and light,
a cosmos exploding before our eyes
with marvels our forbears would not believe
and we can hardly begin to comprehend.
O God
Our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Grant us joy and peace as in You
We live and move and have our being,
Confident we will never walk alone.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
text/pdf
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
All Saints Day
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
RA-1-20091101
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
All Saints Day Prayer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 1, 2009 entitled "All Saints Day Prayer", on the occasion of All Saints Day. Tags: Community of Faith, All Saints' Day, prayer.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2009-11-01
All Saints' Day
Community of Faith
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d7ab9b88ffd73d5f605226852b474774.pdf
ba1288a3b4fe922a64fdf81b36903e67
PDF Text
Text
Rotary Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Rotary Club
Spring Lake, Michigan
July 28, 2008
Prepared text of the prayer
O God, Infinite Mystery of our lives,
called by many names
as the human family bows in awe and wonder
before the beauty and terror of creation,
the miracle of the human being,
and the possibilities of human community –
We seek your Spirit’s grace upon us
as we celebrate the fifty years
of this local Rotary Club and
that global community of which it is a part.
Memories flash through our minds
as we reflect back over five decades
of good friendships, camaraderie, and
significant service to this community and beyond.
We give thanks for that history
into which we have moved to claim our place
and keep the vision alive –
a noble vision of
fostering world understanding, goodwill and peace;
supporting the improvement of health and education;
joining the movements to alleviate poverty and human suffering;
working for the building of world community.
Grace us with your presence, O God,
as we celebrate,
even as we remember those
whose service has ended,
whose presence we miss,
whose labor is complete.
Bless those who have taken the torch of leadership
to bring the Spring Lake Club to
new dimensions of dedicated service.
© Grand Valley State University
�Rotary Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
And bless us all gathered at table
with abundant food and drink
for which we give thanks.
Amen
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
50-year celebration
Location
The location of the interview
Spring Lake Rotary Club
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
RA-1-20080728
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Rotary Prayer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 28, 2008 entitled "Rotary Prayer", on the occasion of 50-year celebration, at Spring Lake Rotary Club. Tags: Rotary, prayer, 2008.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2008-07-28
2008
Prayer
Rotary
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0bfd7a47cd7327de5d45d7858afbe97c.pdf
b697ce142129478a0e84b01defcf54a9
PDF Text
Text
Prayer for Picnic Gathering
At Pottawattomie Park
Richard A. Rhem
July 23, 2008
Prepared text of prayer
Let us be in the spirit of prayer.
Eternal Spirit, in these moments we would be attentive –
attentive to that recognition
that there is so much more to life than meets the eye.
In this information saturated world
there is more than all the pieces of information
we pick up in a day or a week.
We value knowledge;
yet there is more than knowledge –
There is –
the intuitive sense
that life is more than a tale
told by an idiot full of sound and fury –
There is –
the wisdom of the heart
that moves us
beneath the surface of life,
beyond mere happenings and events
to the creative center of being from whence
stream Nature’s prodigal profusion
of emerging structures and of life,
of consciousness and awareness,
so much more than simply the overload of data.
There is –
meaning
which we discover and create –
the Grace that affirms and frees us…
the Love that frees us from self preoccupation
and self absorption…
the Care that bonds us in community.
Let us be mindful
of the grace of life that has come to us,
for this place of natural beauty
© Grand Valley State University
�Picnic Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
let us be grateful…
O God, receive our thanksgiving –
for leisure time
in which to relax, to enjoy
sun and surf and sand and solitude;
for family reunions
that bring back memories of childhood and youth,
of grandparents and cousins and uncles and aunts;
for a sense of roots and rootedness,
places to revisit and times to remember;
for the interruptions
of our well-laid plans that have led
to experiences we would not have dared to dream;
and for the detours
along life’s way that have led us into byways of beauty
we would never have known;
for hope
that rises in the wake of every setback
giving us courage to go on
in the confidence that there is always something more;
for that strange peace
that no storm can shake, no raging billow wash away,
a peace that passes all human understanding;
for the grace of life and all good gifts,
we are truly grateful.
Let us be mindful of our world –
Our world is smoldering;
fires burn in streets;
anger seethes in the cauldron of human hearts,
disaffected, alienated, disillusioned.
What pain drives to anarchy,
dissipating youthful idealism and hope?
Before the world’s chaos, pain and anguish,
Give us the wisdom
to be silent before we speak;
to identify with and immerse ourselves
before we offer remedies
too easy, too facile, too self-serving.
Give us insight and sensitivity
to discern
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�Picnic Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
that ominous thunder of the shaking of the foundations;
to recognize
the recurrent corruptions of power
that we see all around us.
Enable us to see beneath the skin of the world
its heaving passion,
its loveliness and its horror –
a world
that is a ridiculous mixture of good and evil,
of beautiful tenderness
and unspeakable brutality;
a world
where flowers bloom on manure heaps,
and deadly cancer grows on a beautiful, young body;
a world
under the dominion of death,
natural, yet often so unexpected, so violent, so absurd!
O God,
This is the real world, the only world we have
with its dreams of Eden
and its portents of Armageddon.
Renew our vision, give us courage,
restore hope, heal our world with us,
who are the highly favored,
leading the way to peace, justice and compassion,
to realize the vision of the one we follow,
Jesus, our Lord –
O Lord, hear our prayer.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Sunday Potluck Picnic
Location
The location of the interview
Pottawattomie Park
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
RA-1-20080723
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Picnic Prayer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 23, 2008 entitled "Picnic Prayer", on the occasion of Sunday Potluck Picnic, at Pottawattomie Park . Tags: 2008, prayer.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2008-07-23
2008
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/03dfdf48a353518df10d65e6dbb1be53.pdf
0c367225dc61e54ff013f768518c76a2
PDF Text
Text
Spring Prayer
Offered at a Sunday Potluck Gathering
Richard A. Rhem
May 4, 2008
Prepared text of the prayer
Let us be consciously in the Presence of that Holy Mystery
in which we live and move and have our being.
Source, Guide, and Goal of all that is,
Spirit enlivening the whole of the cosmic drama
in a gracious embrace,
we pause
in these moments, conscious that our lives are gift,
recognizing we are not
the authors of the amazing reality into which our lives are woven,
a tapestry of light and shadow,
of moving tenderness and unspeakable brutality.
In these uneven days of May–
storm and sun, chill and balmy breeze –
spring’s beauty will not be denied;
The delicate dogwood of cascading whiteness;
Fruit trees a burst of blossom;
The brilliant splash of yellow from
sundrenched forsythia;
Dancing daffodils unfazed by
evening chill or morning frost;
The budding green of trees, so lately
but a network of
black, bony branches reaching heavenward,
pleading to be clothed.
We live with wonder before it all.
We think to ourselves – What a wonderful world!
Gratitude fills our being as we contemplate it all –
The mystery of life
The adventure of being,
The challenge of engaging in the creative process,
The joy of discovery, the thrill of awareness –
and a sense of a Presence, present to us
in the presence of another with human face;
Gratitude and joy well up within us.
© Grand Valley State University
�Spring Picnic Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Wonder, Mystery, all about us if we have
eyes to see, ears to hear;
if for a moment we pause, fully conscious, fully aware,
attentive to the Reality into which our lives are woven,
a marvel we can never fully take in.
Yet, now and then, O God, we get a glimpse of the grandeur of it all and
know ourselves to be a living part of the Whole,
bringing to the emerging wonder
a consciousness –
self-consciousness, consciousness of the other,
the dawning of communion, the foundation of community.
And still the mystery deepens;
in the consciousness of ourselves and of the other,
we find ourselves in the presence of Mystery –
indeed, in Your Presence, O God, Mystery of Being,
mystery of our being,
of our being together.
Eternal God, gathered as we are today,
we experience such a kaleidoscope of emotions:
the joy of being with friends with whom we have gathered
on the first day of the week for so many years;
the joy of experiencing for these moments community
as we have known it in days gone by;
and then, to be honest, a certain sadness
because we become acutely aware that, gathered as we are,
we yet sense we are misplaced persons.
As lovely as is this space,
It is not the sacred space we grew to love over all those years,
replete with cross and font and pulpit,
adorned with banner and hangings, telling us the
time on the calendar of sacred time.
Nonetheless, we are gathered and where your people gather,
there you are in the midst of them and we know your Presence
in the presence of one another.
Deep Source of our lives and mystery of our being,
gathered as we are,
heal our hurt, assuage our grief, and fill us with grace –
grace to bless and affirm and wish well
that community of which we were once a part;
a community to which some here still belong,
a community of some with whom we gathered over long years,
a community growing with many whose names and faces
© Grand Valley State University
�Spring Picnic Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
are unfamiliar to us –
Continue to make Christ Community a place of integrity, freedom, courage
and spiritual adventure. Bless those who lead in their respective roles;
make them instruments of your peace and prosper them in their ongoing journey.
And for ourselves we pray –
grateful for the richness of experience of the community we have shared,
we celebrate all we have known together;
we celebrate your abundant Grace that together we have tasted –
And now, Liberating God, free us from all negativity, any remaining
remnant of anger, all holding on to what is no more –
Grace us, O good and gracious God –
With fresh experience, hope reborn and love abounding.
We know afresh, we believe anew –
All will be well
All will be well
All manner of things will be well –
O Lord, hear our prayer
In the name of the One who taught us to pray….
© 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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Sunday Social Gathering
Location
The location of the interview
Grand Haven Community Center
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
RA-1-20080504
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Prayer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 4, 2008 entitled "Prayer", on the occasion of Sunday Social Gathering, at Grand Haven Community Center. Tags: Gratitude, Community.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2008-05-04
Community
Gratitude
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/02193b15996638dca4f54641014c4a45.pdf
48e01c0e042174c36304a15fa3bd1510
PDF Text
Text
Advent Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Advent, 2004
Let
us
become
fully
conscious
in
these
moments
of
prayer
–
with
eyes
wide
open
taking
in
the
beauty
of
this
setting,
or
with
eyes
gently
closed,
the
better
to
bring
focus
to
our
consciousness,
–
in
awareness
of
that
Holy
Presence
that
surrounds
us,
pervades
our
consciousness,
provides
the
ground
of
our
existence.
In
the
presence
of
the
Face
of
Mystery,
we
contemplate
our
world.
It
is
so
difficult
to
carve
out
a
space
simply
to
be;
caught
up
in
culture’s
grip,
we
are
brainwashed
–
saturated
with
statistics
of
retail
sales,
as
though
our
salvation
lie
in
conspicuous
consumption;
saddened,
indeed
horrified,
at
evidences
of
alienation
and
brokenness
that
are
called
daily
to
our
attention,
that
rage
and
hate
explode
in
violence
and
death.
Expectant,
not
of
the
coming
of
the
Prince
of
Peace,
but
of
further
evidence
of
the
folly
of
war
and
the
tragedy
it
brings.
Advent
–
Coming
–
What
is
coming?
Who
is
coming?
Where
is
it
all
leading?
Where
are
we
going?
What
in
the
world
is
happening?
O
God,
we
feel
with
the
poet
–
Nothing
can
save
us
that
is
possible,
We
who
must
die
demand
a
miracle.
A
miracle
–
not
halting
the
planet
in
its
orbit,
not
casting
a
mountain
into
the
sea.
No,
a
miracle
of
love
and
grace,
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent 2004 Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
a
miracle
of
human
transformation,
a
miracle
of
faith
and
hope
and
love,
enabling
us
to
believe,
to
believe
the
darkness
will
never
overcome
the
light,
to
believe
blind
power
cannot
finally
prevail,
to
believe
truth
and
goodness
and
beauty
will
never
be
finally
defeated.
A
miracle–
a
miracle
of
transformation
of
consciousness,
not
waiting
for
some
divine
intervention
to
make
things
right
as
we
stand
passively
by.
O
God,
let
the
miracle
be
our
recognition
that
we
are
the
Body
of
Christ,
we
are
the
embodiment
of
love,
we
are
the
agency
of
Grace.
It
is
in
our
face
that
another
way
of
being
must
be
mirrored
–
our
flesh
must
reflect
the
Divine
Intention.
Once
upon
a
time
it
happened
–
the
Word
became
flesh,
the
Word
became
human.
Encountering
that
one,
the
people
cried,
O
God!
We
come
now
to
this
table
–
bread
and
cup.
body
and
blood
–
separated,
for
it
came
to
pass
that
that
one
was
killed.
But,
what
he
embodied
could
not
be
killed.
Tonight
we
remember
–
we
remember
him
and
we
take
bread
and
cup
in
order,
in
solidarity
with
him,
to
be
as
he
was,
to
be
God
in
our
human
being,
to
be
Your
presence
to
one
another,
to
all
we
meet,
to
this
world,
so
perilous,
so
fascinating,
so
wonderful,
so
frightening,
so
beautiful.
Ah,
dear
God,
Mystery
beyond
our
fathoming
–
feed
us
that
our
touch
may
be
the
touch
of
your
love,
our
visage,
the
mirror
of
your
grace,
our
presence
your
presence
here
and
now.
Oh
God,
hear
our
prayer,
through
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord.
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent 2004 Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
Page two
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Advent
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
RA-1-20041202
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Advent 2004 Prayer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 2, 2004 entitled "Advent 2004 Prayer", on the occasion of Advent. Tags: Advent Prayer, Embodying Grace.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2004-12-02
Advent Prayer
Embodying Grace
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4964082c199401e415991cb52df40760.pdf
320376909036e03bf2346fa1bc32a03e
PDF Text
Text
Remembering Joseph Harry
A Prayer for the Jellema-Harter Gathering
Richard A. Rhem
The Season of Advent 2004
With full attention, awareness,
let us be conscious of our life, with breath, with spirit.
That consciousness has been present
from the beginning of the human story.
The ancient poet expressed it in words
borrowed by the biblical writer when he wrote of One
in whom “we live and move and have our being.”
In these moments we open our minds and hearts
to that Mystery breathing through us,
that Sacred Mystery before whom we stand in awe
as we remember we are children of the stars,
our being the emergence of a cosmic drama of billions of years
in an expanse of space we cannot fathom.
Humility befits us
that the sacred source of Being
should find expression in us,
that we should be the conscious bearers
of this incredible unfolding of Being.
Sometimes it is a glimpse
of the starry heavens in the dark stillness;
sometimes the glistening whiteness of new fallen snow
catching the sun’s radiance;
sometimes the rush of a love
that wells up from our depths;
sometimes it is a pain so overwhelming,
a grief so deep we can scarcely breathe,
a sadness that permeates every pore of our being.
This is such a time,
for we remember a life conceived in love,
anticipated with such joy and growing expectation,
a life as yet all mystery, full of potential,
this fragile child in the womb,
Joseph Harry.
© Grand Valley State University
�Remembering Joseph Harry
Richard A. Rhem
At such a time, time stands still
and we become aware as never before
of the mystery of Being from which our lives emerge.
And those ultimate questions rise within us –
Who am I?
Why am I here?
What is my life?
What is the end of it all?
Questions out of the depths,
questions not reducible
to mathematical equation or scientific formula;
questions without verifiable answers;
questions not to be answered so much as to be lifted up,
to be contemplated.
Is not our life a question you put to us, O God?
And daily, weekly, monthly,
as seasons come and go,
we are living out our answers.
Sometimes it seems we can begin to shape an answer;
sometimes we simply must admit we haven’t a clue;
sometimes our faith shines brightly
and we have a kind of settled serenity about us;
and sometimes the pieces of the puzzle
we painstakingly fit together
are scattered again, revealing no rhyme or reason.
God of all mercy, God of all grace,
it is as natural as breathing
that we turn in these moments to you.
Where else?
To whom else should we turn?
We come to the limit of our understanding;
we come to the limit of our capacity to make sense
of this fragile and vulnerable drama that we live.
We do not know; we do not comprehend;
our minds shut down, weary of thinking.
We turn to you –
not for cliché, some pious platitude
that trips too easily off the tongue.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�Remembering Joseph Harry
Richard A. Rhem
No, dear God, we turn to you
because we can live without all the answers,
if only we sense that in the darkness and the pain
we are not abandoned, not alone,
if only we sense your presence and your grace,
your compassion and your care
in the concrete community of human bonds of love.
Here we are, deep Mystery of Being,
becoming conscious in your presence.
We trust, even though we know so little.
We trust in your gracious grasp
of the disparate strands of our lives
because we keep encountering rumors of angels,
moments of clarity, flashes of insight,
experiences of deep love and grace
beyond anything we could arrange.
In this season of Advent, we wait,
wait in expectation.
Mystery beyond our capacity to comprehend,
grant to these who grieve
an Epiphany of transcendence
as they gather to embrace one another
in love and solidarity.
Heal hearts so recently resonant with expectation
and mantle them– parents, grandparents, friends – with peace,
assuring them that
all will be well;
all will be well;
all manner of things will be well –
for Alles is Gnade – All is Grace.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�Remembering Joseph Harry
Richard A. Rhem
Page two
© Grand Valley State University
Page 4
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Advent
Series
Prayer in memory of a child
Location
The location of the interview
At a Family Gathering
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
RA-1-20041201
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Remembering Joseph Harry
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 1, 2004 entitled "Remembering Joseph Harry", as part of the series "Prayer in memory of a child", on the occasion of Advent, at At a Family Gathering. Tags: Mystery of Being, Grace.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2004-12-01
Grace
Mystery of Being
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/32493cb1041e6441f77a4ec0ad922367.pdf
8f160fe80f420d88d14af6dd31499481
PDF Text
Text
Thanksgiving Prayer for the World
Richard A. Rhem
November 24, 2004
Let
us
be
in
the
spirit
of
prayer
–
The
November
days
grow
shorter,
today
a
warming
radiance
of
sun,
but
grey
days
are
many.
Trees
so
recently
aflame
with
brilliant
color
now
lift
spiny
fingers
heavenward,
lashed
by
high
wind,
shivering
in
the
biting
cold.
This
is
the
time
to
remember
and
give
thanks.
Another
year
is
closing;
the
harvest
is
in;
it
is
time
to
take
stock.
On
this
day
after
national
elections,
we
contemplate
our
lives
in
this
community,
this
nation,
this
world.
Having
emerged
from
history’s
most
violent
century,
we
find
ourselves
in
this
first
decade
of
century
21
still
at
war,
still
living
with
the
myth
of
redemptive
violence,
still
pursuing
strategies
of
war
rather
than
pouring
resources
into
the
ways
that
make
for
peace.
Creator
Spirit,
we
would
be
dreamers
of
an
alternative
world,
where
no
one
would
hurt
or
destroy
and
all
your
children
would
dwell
safely
in
peace.
We
contemplate
our
world
in
your
presence
–
the
human
story
so
laced
with
strife,
vying
for
dominance
jockeying
for
advantage.
What
a
puzzle
is
our
world.
How
complex
is
the
network
of
humankind
–
families,
tribes,
nations;
how
difficult
it
is
for
us
to
gain
some
perspective,
© Grand Valley State University
�Thanksgiving Prayer for the World
Richard A. Rhem
to
sense
the
passion
that
pulses
in
the
heart
of
someone
so
far
removed
from
any
circumstance
we
have
ever
encountered.
Enable
us
to
recognize
our
own
self-‐interest
woven
into
the
tapestry
of
our
political
and
economic
idealism.
Make
us
sensitive
to
the
potential
for
our
power
to
intimidate
and
manipulate
worldly
arrangements,
economic
policies,
issues
of
trade,
of
borders,
of
production,
of
natural
resources.
Dampen
the
decibels
of
our
rhetoric;
deepen
the
dimension
of
compassion
in
us
as
a
nation;
lace
our
engagement
in
global
issues
with
humility
born
of
insight
and
integrity,
founded
on
the
conviction
that
justice
alone
can
lead
to
genuine
peace
and
human
well-‐being.
Saturate
our
faith
and
devotion
with
worldliness,
that
we
may
love
the
world
with
sensitivity,
with
awareness,
with
openness
and
candor,
with
care
borne
of
insight
into
the
world’s
agony,
with
hope
borne
of
the
realization
of
the
world’s
wonder
and
potential.
Before
the
world’s
chaos,
pain
and
anguish,
give
us
the
wisdom
to
be
silent
before
we
speak;
to
identify
with
and
immerse
ourselves
before
we
offer
remedies
too
easy,
too
facile,
too
self-‐serving.
Give
us
insight
and
sensitivity
to
discern
that
ominous
thunder
of
the
shaking
of
the
foundations,
to
recognize
the
recurrent
corruptions
of
power
that
we
see
all
around
us.
Enable
us
to
see
beneath
the
skin
of
the
world
–
its
heaving
passion,
its
loveliness
and
its
horror;
a
world
that
is
a
ridiculous
mixture
of
good
and
evil,
of
beautiful
tenderness
and
unspeakable
brutality;
a
world
where
flowers
bloom
on
manure
heaps,
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�Thanksgiving Prayer for the World
Richard A. Rhem
and
deadly
cancer
grows
on
a
beautiful,
young
body;
a
world
under
the
dominion
of
death,
natural,
yet
often
so
unexpected,
so
violent,
so
absurd!
Ah,
dear
God,
this
is
the
real
world,
the
only
world
we
have
with
its
dreams
of
Eden
and
its
portents
of
Armageddon.
O
God,
as
you
love
the
world,
we
would
love
it
too.
Teach
us
how
to
live
in
it,
how
to
speak
to
it,
how
to
love
it.
Let
us
sense
the
truth
of
Jesus’
word,
that
it
is
in
losing
our
lives
that
we
will
find
life,
in
serving
that
we
will
be
fulfilled.
Creator
Spirit,
brood
over
this
community
of
faith,
this
Christ
Community.
Keep
us
steady;
keep
us
strong;
keep
our
spirits
open,
our
hearts
tender,
our
whole
being
full
of
grace.
Sometimes
we
wonder;
sometimes
we
waver,
sometimes
we
want
to
run,
to
be
done
with
it
all.
But,
where
would
that
leave
us?
Where
would
we
run?
To
whom
would
we
turn?
So,
good
and
gracious
God,
gather
us
in,
hold
us
close,
steel
our
purpose.
Give
us
joy
in
the
journey
and
undying
trust
in
your
purpose
for
us.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�Thanksgiving Prayer for the World
Richard A. Rhem
Page two
© Grand Valley State University
Page 4
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Thanksgiving
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
RA-1-20041124
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Thanksgiving Prayer for the World
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 24, 2004 entitled "Thanksgiving Prayer for the World", on the occasion of Thanksgiving. Tags: Shalom, Nonviolence.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2004-11-24
Nonviolence
Shalom
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9815a2583025f5a5234facc5e25a4b53.pdf
498c52994ff5563f38f320d0141244f7
PDF Text
Text
Prayer of Gratitude for Community, 2003
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
October 5, 2003
Transcription of the prepared text
Let
us
pray…
Consciously
now
in
community
we
become
quiet.
Finally,
the
Sacred
Presence
within
us
and
among
us
is
sensed
best
in
silence.
Our
words
are
stammering
utterances,
seeking
to
express
the
inexpressible.
Only
when
we
finally
have
no
words
are
we
rendering
reverence
and
recognition
to
that
Mystery
of
Being
which
is
the
font
and
creative
source
of
all
that
is.
In
silence,
then,
let
us
be
mindful,
aware
and
awash
with
wonder
before
the
miracle,
the
grace,
the
gift
of
life.
Gratitude
rises
in
our
being
–
gratitude
for
belonging
to
a
community
like
this,
a
community
engaged
in
tangible
care
–
making
a
difference
in
a
child’s
life
by
spending
an
hour
of
attention,
affirmation
and
affection
–giving
Kids
Hope;
creating
a
center
for
people
where
groceries
and
clothing
and
shelter
are
freely
offered;
providing
a
place
of
loving
care
for
those
whose
caregivers
need
some
respite
from
the
strain
of
constant
caring.
How
good
it
is
to
be
together
–
a
community
in
which
we
have
learned
not
only
to
care
and
concretely
engage
in
compassionate
ministry,
but
where
we
have
learned
the
joy
of
human
community
–
the
fun
of
a
party,
the
communion
of
a
group
of
women
gathered
around
a
quilt
in
the
making,
© Grand Valley State University
�Prayer of Gratitude for Community, 2003
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
balloons
in
worship
children
delighting
and
gray-‐haired
saints
having
so
much
fun
they
almost
feel
guilty,
because
it
was
not
always
thus.
A
community
free
of
tribal
instinct
and
judgmental
spirit,
a
community
in
which
we
are
intentionally
set
free
from
all
that
still
marks
so
much
religious
observance
–
fear
and
guilt
and
heavy
obligation.
Holy
Presence,
accessed
most
profoundly
in
wordless
wonder,
our
words
are
but
triggers
to
awaken
our
imagination,
our
awareness
–
in
silence,
grant
an
epiphany
of
Grace
amazing
and
overflowing
that
has
brought
us
together
in
this
gathering,
this
community.
We
gather
with
such
a
diversity
of
desires,
hopes,
fears,
longings.
Each
of
us
has
those
matters
that
touch
us
must
deeply
–
hear
the
sighs
and
celebrations
of
our
hearts.
We
image
the
one
in
whom
we
have
glimpsed
the
Eternal
Mystery
and
we
come
seeking
there
our
soul’s
rest,
refreshment
in
our
weariness.
O
Lord,
hear
our
prayers.
© 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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Pentecost XVII
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-20031005
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Prayer of Gratitude for Community
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 5, 2003 entitled "Prayer of Gratitude for Community", on the occasion of Pentecost XVII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, Community of Grace.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2003-10-05
Community of Grace
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3fd5e9c187ca04d03cd880dd3dea5bee.pdf
7e9eb7601c441e6c39767e4ebb7947a9
PDF Text
Text
Morning Prayer in June
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
June 22, 2003
Transcription of the written prayer
For these moments, let us quiet our minds,
letting go of concerns that burden us, regrets that cripple us,
fears that paralyze us, whatever is troubling us.
Let us image that which causes gratitude to rise in us
-the gift and grace of life; the sources of our joy;
those persons who make life rich.
Let us call to mind those images which have shaped us:
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Since God is for us, who can be against us?
Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,
nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation will be able
to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
All will be well, all will be well.
All manner of things will be well.
Oh, God.
Those words rise from our depths so naturally –
Oh, God...
It seems that, in moments like these
when we purposefully, intentionally turn to you,
when we turn to whomever or whatever you are, we do so almost with a sigh,
- Oh, God –
for we know we are now in the zone of Mystery.
There was something about Jesus when he prayed
© Grand Valley State University
�Morning Prayer in June
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
that caused the disciples to plead,
Lord, teach us to pray.
We plead, as well,
Oh, God, teach us to pray.
Once, perhaps, we came as suppliants to the Royal Throne of the universe
with requests we must admit on reflection were very self-centered,
reflecting a very small universe in which our hopes and fears loomed very large.
And still there are moments when we flee into your Presence,
totally occupied with our own concerns –
something that threatens us,
or some experience that crushes us,
or some potential happening that involves us
in a loss we fear would undo us.
Saturate our faith and devotion with worldliness,
that we may love the world –
with sensitivity, with awareness, with openness and candor,
with care borne of insight into the world's agony,
with hope borne of the realization of the world's wonder and potential.
Before the world's chaos, pain and anguish,
give us the wisdom to be silent before we speak;
to identify with and immerse ourselves before we offer remedies
too easy, too facile, too self-serving.
Give us insight and sensitivity
to discern that ominous thunder of the shaking of the foundations,
to recognize the recurrent corruptions of power that we see all around us.
Enable us to see beneath the skin of the world its heaving passion,
its loveliness and its horror;
a world that is a ridiculous mixture of good and evil,
of beautiful tenderness and unspeakable brutality.
A world where flowers bloom on manure heaps,
and deadly cancer grows on a beautiful, young body;
a world under the dominion of death,
natural, yet often so unexpected, so violent, so absurd!
Ah, dear God, this is the real world,
the only world we have
with its dreams of Eden and its portents of Armageddon.
O God, as you love the world, we would love it too.
Teach us how to live in it, how to speak to it, how to love it.
Let us sense the truth of Jesus' word:
That it is in losing our lives that we will find life,
In serving that we will be fulfilled.
© Grand Valley State University
�Morning Prayer in June
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
Creator Spirit, brood over this community of faith,
this Christ Community.
Keep us steady; keep us strong, keep our spirits open, our hearts tender,
our whole being full of grace.
Sometimes we wonder, sometimes we waver,
sometimes we want to run, to be done with it all.
But, where would that leave us? Where would we run? To whom would we turn?
So, good and gracious God,
gather us in, hold us close, steel our purpose.
Give us joy in the journey and undying trust in your purpose for us.
And sometimes it is sheer joy, ecstasy, exhilaration
that bursts forth in a torrent of praise,
shutting out everything else for the moment.
But, more and more, we look not out there,
but somehow within, into our own depths,
sensing we are connected deep down, rooted in Being itself,
You being the inexhaustible Source and Ground of all that exists the good earth,
the starry heavens,
the ocean's tides
and ourselves, conscious, aware,
groping for some clue by which to know you, to rest in you,
no longer strangers, but at home in the universe, at one with all that is.
Oh, God.
In that address is a deep fundamental trust
in the face of so much in our world that is not well.
We wonder, we imagine an alternative world,
where human frustration, hopelessness and despair
that breed violence and destruction
are recognized
and their causes dealt with.
Spirit of God,
save us from the illusion that a new world order will be born
out of a wealth of resources and sheer military might.
Save us from the pitfall of believing we can simply overpower
and cover our vulnerability
without an honest facing of the world's festering soul.
Before your face, Eternal Spirit,
give us some balance, some perspective
as we wrestle with this complex and dangerous world.
© Grand Valley State University
�Morning Prayer in June
Richard A. Rhem
Oh God,
this is the real world, the only world we have.
We celebrate it; we anguish over it.
Holy Presence, we are present here that vision may be renewed,
hope restored,
and courage found to be agents of reconciliation,
bringing peace, justice and compassion,
walking in the steps of that Exemplar
of what He called the Kingdom of God.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 4
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Pentecost II
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-20030622
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Morning Prayer
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 22, 2003 entitled "Morning Prayer", on the occasion of Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, Community, Presence, Mystery, Faith, Awareness, Trust, Global Community.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2003-06-22
Awareness
Community
Faith
Global Community
Mystery
Prayer
Presence
Trust
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a4e714a77be00e7d62b2d8079d98e3a1.pdf
7cb25dccc56b8e54a132fa2ca64043d3
PDF Text
Text
Advent Prayer 2002
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent, December 2002
Transcription of the prepared text
In the serene beauty of this sacred space
let us be still, be attentive, fully conscious, fully aware –
aware of our lives in this world in crisis, in this season of holy symbol,
quite overwhelmed by frenetic activity.
Let us meditate on the wonder, miracle, joy and glory of life –
its mystery, its facile balance, our hopes, our dreams, our fears.
Let us be open to the Mystery of Being –
the Mystery we name God.
O God,
we confess that there is that within us
that wonders about the way you run the cosmos.
We would do it quite differently,
especially at those moments when things unravel,
when some crisis arises on the world scene,
when some evil is perpetrated, some injustice goes unrequited,
some tragedy so painful, some suffering so undeserved comes close to us.
We cry out but our voice is drowned out in the gale;
we try to keep hope alive, to keep trusting,
but the deep darkness leaves us numb.
We raise our voice if not our fist;
our “whys” pour forth in a torrent of anguish.
We would nominate for Supreme Ruler one who would unleash power,
destroy the wrong and establish the right.
We want a strong God because we feel so insecure, so frightened –
frightened that our health will fail,
frightened that a child will meet with an accident,
frightened that a loved one will be torn from us,
frightened that our dreams won’t come true…
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent Prayer 2002
Richard A. Rhem
Then it is that we wish you were the Lord God Almighty,
in total control,
in complete charge of every detail of our lives
and we would appreciate some sign that you are there – in charge.
Yet, O God, we really know that is not the way it is –
no blinding power, no show of force.
We sing, “What child is this…”
and “Why lies he in such mean estate?”
The poet glimpsed your way –
“They all were looking for a King
To slay their foes and lift them high;
Thou cam’st, a little baby thing,
That made a woman cry.”
You are with us in weakness rather than power.
How strange that is –
unsettling, unsatisfying –
until we come to realize that
only thus are you with us with our freedom intact;
only thus can our humanity in your image be real.
Sometimes we forget that and think of the traditional God Almighty
out there – in charge.
Then, when you don’t move in with heavy hand and fix things,
we are troubled.
We are tempted to think you don’t care.
Or, we wonder if some guilt we carry blocks your rescuing effort.
Sometimes we even wonder if you are there at all;
if perhaps we are not simply alone in the universe.
But, then we hear the story again –
a child in a manger –
one whom multitudes followed,
alone praying in agony in a garden,
finally hanging on a Roman cross,
crying into the darkness, “My God, my God, why…”
Then, at least sometimes, a light breaks through –
the god of almighty power to rearrange the world
is not the God we can really believe in –
not power, but presence;
not coercion, but persuasion;
not control, but grace;
not guarantee, but vulnerability.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�Advent Prayer 2002
Richard A. Rhem
Ah, dear God,
such is the mystery.
We never live easily with that;
we never really hear that word once for all;
we need to learn it again and again –
in our weakness, we cry.
In our weakness, our hearts are open;
in our weakness, grace happens
and you are God with us.
In a child,
in a crucified one –
there you are.
In the embrace of another’s wordless presence,
there you are.
Not power to crush our will,
but love that breaks our hearts of stone–
that is Christmas;
that is the final truth.
We can live with that;
with that we can live.
Hear our prayers, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-20021201
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Advent Prayer, 2002
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 1, 2002 entitled "Advent Prayer, 2002", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, Advent.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002-12-01
Advent
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0ff26144435ea3527eb6084ede6885a1.pdf
d749ea216f98ad849e92777c8018106c
PDF Text
Text
Summer Prayer 2002
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Summer 2002
Transcription of the prepared text
O God, we would be still
and know that you are God –
source of all being,
mysterious mover of the ongoing cosmic drama,
creatively breathing fresh surprises
into the tapestry of our history,
graciously present to us in those moments of awareness
when we come to ourselves,
when for at least a brief time light dawns upon us,
and we are saturated with wonder –
at the sight of setting sun or starry sky,
the song of a bird,
the smell of grass newly mown.
Then in silence and solitude
we know what is beyond knowing –
then a serenity sweeps over our souls
and we know all is gift,
for we did not create ourselves nor our world –
not the mellow summer sun,
not the air we breathe,
not the restless surf that crashes or caresses
the shore of the sea.
Then we know we are part of something so much larger
than the narrow parameters of our daily experience and limited understanding.
Before the wonder of it all,
we sense we are embraced,
caught up in something the dimensions of which we cannot begin to take in –
that Mystery that has addressed us,
eliciting from us in turn the response of address
when from our depths we utter, “O God...”
© Grand Valley State University
�Summer Prayer 2002
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Then, knowing beyond knowing,
we know we have been found by our Source
and in turn have found our resting place.
Source and resting place, present to us in mysterious and gracious presence,
it is enough.
Only gratitude then fills our being
and thus we pray,
Thanks be to you, O God.
Receive our thanksgiving through Jesus Christ our Lord.
O God, moments of awareness when we are attentive,
present to the awesome gift of life,
the beauty, the marvel of it all,
the potential of the human creature,
whose consciousness is the consciousness of the cosmos,
whose voice is the speech of Being –
in those moments we wonder why humankind,
so richly endowed,
should become an instrument of hate and violence,
of destruction and death,
despoiling the good earth, fouling the air,
threatening war, creating systems of domination and oppression.
We have the vision of the prophets –
a vision of Shalom, of the Peaceable Kingdom
where no one will hurt or destroy.
It is not that we do not know better.
It is that we have not the will;
we are not willing to be and to do,
that justice may prevail and peace rule.
We cry not to you, O God, to transform our world –
It is our world; it is in our hands to mend or destroy.
Then transform us by your Spirit;
make us instruments of your peace, O God.
Hear our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And finally – for ourselves _
give us a fresh taste of your mercy,
a new glimpse of your grace.
Enable us to let go of old hurts,
free us from the paralysis of past failures,
blot out hulking nightmares of an earlier defeat.
Newness, O God, newness –
newness of heart, newness of soul, newness of mind –
for that we pray.
© 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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-20020701
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Summer Prayer 2002
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 1, 2002 entitled "Summer Prayer 2002", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, Shalom.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2002-07-01
Prayer
Shalom
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/736a6533c00361ce113eb79cc9f386d1.pdf
0387fd2d306a37f0db0970a985d4f980
PDF Text
Text
Prayer at Fountain Street Church
Richard A. Rhem
Fountain Street Church
Grand Rapids, Michigan
November 25, 2001
Transcription of the prepared text
Eternal God,
Creator of all that is,
enlivening Spirit whose breath gives life.
In the beginning, O God, your spirit/wind
brooded over the soupy chaos of emerging cosmos,
bringing forth order, beauty, and rhythmic regularity
in a rich diversity of infinite possibility.
It is with awe that we contemplate heavens
set with a myriad of starry diamonds in the inky blackness.
It is with delight that we trace the breaking dawn,
bask in the radiant warmth of the sun at its zenith,
watch with wonder its final moments
firing all with golden glow
before it slips below the far horizon.
Summer and winter, springtime and harvest –
All beautiful the march of days
as seasons come and go.
The hand that shaped the rose
has wrought the crystal of the snow.
Wonder, mystery, all about us
if we have eyes to see,
ears to hear,
if for a moment we pause, fully conscious, fully aware,
attentive to the reality into which our lives are woven,
a tapestry we can never fully take in.
Yet now and then, O God,
we get a glimpse of the grandeur of it all
and know ourselves to be a living part of it all,
bringing to the emerging wonder
a consciousness –
© Grand Valley State University
�Title…
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
self-consciousness,
consciousness of the other,
the dawning of communion,
the foundation of community.
Ah, dear God,
the mystery deepens;
before the consciousness of ourselves, of the other,
we find ourselves in the presence of the mystery –
indeed, in your presence, O God, mystery of being,
mystery of our being,
of our being together.
We cannot take it in.
We cannot fully fathom the cosmic depths or the depths of our own being;
yet, in moments of awareness
we realize we have been gifted with life,
gifted with insight into the larger reality in which we share,
gifted with a sense of being known and of knowing,
knowing who we are
knowing the other,
knowing we are not alone but belong together.
In the stillness of this magnificent space
we contemplate the wonder of it all.
© 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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
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
RA-1-20011125
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Prayer at Fountain Street Church
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 25, 2001 entitled "Prayer at Fountain Street Church". Tags: Prayer, Wonder, Cosmos.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2001-11-25
Cosmos
Prayer
Wonder
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6eb5abe129d62d8527e5d4f383c0d8df.pdf
bf86846b9e73ce9138ebc6dda9b02ca0
PDF Text
Text
Prayer on Baccalaureate Sunday
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
June 4, 2000
Transcription of the prepared text
Hear
us
now,
O
Lord,
as
we
place
our
lives
before
You
–
individually,
as
a
community.
We
come
here
each
of
us
with
special
concerns
of
the
heart.
In
silence,
hear
our
heart
beat,
our
heart’s
cry.
Today
we
recognize
those
who
have
completed
a
state
of
education,
of
preparation
for
life.
Bless
them,
each
one.
We
celebrate
their
gifts,
their
achievements,
their
future.
Give
them
joy
and
delight
in
what
has
been
accomplished.
Give
them
vision
and
call
them
to
commitment
to
significant
endeavor.
For
these
beautiful
young
people
we
pray
–
what
a
gift
they
are.
What
potential
they
represent.
Let
them
sense
the
truth
of
Jesus’
word,
That it is in losing their lives
that
they
will
find
life,
in
serving
that
they
will
be
fulfilled.
Creator
Spirit,
brood
over
this
community
of
faith,
this
Christ
Community.
Keep
us
steady;
keep
us
strong;
keep
our
spirits
open,
our
hearts
tender,
our
whole
being
full
of
grace.
© Grand Valley State University
�Prayer on Baccalaureate Sunday
Richard A. Rhem
Sometimes
we
wonder;
sometimes
we
waver;
sometimes
we
want
to
run,
to
be
done
with
it
all.
But
where
would
that
leave
us?
Where
would
we
run?
To
whom
would
we
turn?
So,
good
and
gracious
God,
gather
us
in,
hold
us
close,
steel
our
purpose.
Give
us
joy
in
the
journey
and
undying
trust
in
your
purpose
for
us.
Hear
this
our
prayer,
through
Jesus
Christ,
our
Lord.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Baccalaureate Sunday
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-20000604
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2000-06-04
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Prayer on Baccalaureate Sunday
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 4, 2000 entitled "Prayer on Baccalaureate Sunday", on the occasion of Baccalaureate Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, Baccalaureate Sunday.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Baccalaureate Sunday
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/99fe4cd4ee325ff8439f8fb299e0b07f.pdf
e8af5f13f037c4b9de27520d11aade2c
PDF Text
Text
Prayer for the World, 1997
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
June 1997
Transcription of prepared text
Living
God,
fountain
of
creative
energy,
mystery
beyond
fathoming,
we
pray,
we
speak,
we
address
you
hidden
in
a
cloud
of
unknowing.
We
address
you,
God
of
our
lives,
for
we
have
been
addressed
–
encountered,
touched,
moved
by
grace.
We
contemplate
our
world
and
we
stand
in
awe.
Wonder
overwhelms
us.
Are
you
the
cosmic
poet,
the
composer
of
this
cosmic
symphony,
the
grand
initiator
of
all
that
is,
the
ultimate
strange
attractor
that
beckons
all
life
and
existence
toward
the
Heavenly
City?
O
God,
we
worship.
We
bring
our
prayer
of
thanksgiving.
We,
your
children,
offspring
of
stardust,
gaze
with
awe
at
the
wonder
of
it
all
–
you
who
transforms
chaos
into
cosmos,
disorder
into
order,
dissonance
and
noise
into
the
language
of
a
poem
–
you
are
our
life;
in
you
we
live
and
move
and
have
our
being.
Conscious,
aware,
observers
of
a
cosmic
drama
–
we
sense
we
have
been
addressed.
We
have
been
touched
by
a
very
great
grace.
© Grand Valley State University
�Title…
Richard A. Rhem
We
praise
you.
We
give
you
thanks,
through
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord.
O
God,
we
bring
before
you
our
world,
the
world
that
is
a
minor
planet
on
the
edge
of
a
middling
galaxy
–
yet
a
world,
according
to
the
evangelist,
you
love.
Stretch
our
minds
and
expand
our
hearts
to
take
in
the
world
–
to
love
it,
to
care
for
it,
with
sensitivity.
We
are
so
aware
today,
for
the
world’s
anguish
is
vividly
portrayed
for
us.
Yet,
we
see
too
its
beauty,
its
potential.
O
God,
there
is
so
much
human
suffering,
so
much
tragedy.
Yet
there
is
so
much
possibility
for
the
flourishing
of
a
humane
community.
Ours
is
a
world
of
unspeakable
brutality,
of
beautiful
tenderness.
We
hold
our
world
before
you.
Make
us
instruments
of
your
peace,
agents
of
reconciliation,
creators
of
community,
healers
of
the
world’s
ills.
Hear
these
our
intercessions,
through
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-19970601
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1997-06-01
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Prayer for the World
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 1, 1997 entitled "Prayer for the World", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, World.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Prayer
World
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/212fd035fa5e4a2502b90099cbb47c64.pdf
49782a114afcf9f765884e58d9665b55
PDF Text
Text
Pastoral Prayer 1996
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
June 2, 1996
Transcription of the prepared text
O
God,
we
address
you.
Yet,
is
that
not
presumption?
For
you
are
the
high
and
lofty
One
who
inhabits
eternity.
How
dare
we
speak?
How
do
we
speak?
And
to
whom?
Yet,
we
speak.
We
cannot
do
otherwise,
for
in
some
deep,
primal
sense,
we
know
we
have
been
addressed
–
addressed
by
someone
beyond
us,
by
One
who
always
eludes
our
groping
attempts
to
grasp,
to
define.
Yet,
the
prophet
spoke
of
you
as
dwelling
with
those
of
humble
and
contrite
heart.
Moses
was
said
to
have
seen
your
glory
and
heard
you
speak
as
friend
to
friend.
The
evangelist
claimed
the
Word
was
made
human,
dwelling
in
our
midst.
St.
Paul
witnessed
to
seeing
your
glory
in
the
face
of
Jesus,
and,
while
he
acknowledged
that
now
we
see
in
fuzzy
images
only,
one
day
we
shall
see
face
to
face.
With
the
Psalmist,
we
affirm:
The
Lord
is
my
light
and
my
salvation,
whom
shall
I
fear?
The
Lord
is
the
strength
of
my
life,
of
whom
shall
I
be
afraid?
© Grand Valley State University
�Pastoral Prayer, 1996
Richard A. Rhem
In
your
presence
we
join
with
persons
across
the
nation
gathered
in
our
Capitol
–
standing
for
children.
O
God,
we
do
pray
for
children,
for
the
rising
generations,
the
generations
yet
unborn.
As
a
nation,
move
us
to
truly
human
values;
enable
those
who
care
for
the
children
to
turn
the
tide
of
neglect
and
abuse.
God
save
the
children.
In
your
presence,
before
your
face,
we
celebrate
this
community
of
faith.
When
alone,
isolated
with
our
fears,
our
questions,
you
seem
far
away.
Doubt
erodes
our
trust;
despair
threatens
our
deepest
hopes.
And
then
we
come
together,
the
Word
becomes
flesh
–
in
the
touch
of
another,
in
the
solidarity
of
community.
We
enter
this
sacred
space
and
know
again
what
is
beyond
knowing
–
life
together,
shared
experience
restores
our
trust
and
renews
our
hopes.
The
birth
of
a
child,
a
watery
cross
on
the
forehead
saying,
“This
child
is
loved,
belongs,
will
never
be
abandoned.”
Beautiful
young
men
and
women
rise
to
say,
“I
believe,”
light
a
candle
owning
for
themselves
their
spiritual
birthright.
Two
lives,
so
wonderfully
nurtured,
so
richly
endowed,
find
each
other,
kneel,
give
themselves
to
the
other,
yet
remaining
wholly
their
own
persons,
acknowledging
in
their
separateness
their
union
which
is
the
mystery
of
your
bonding
love.
A
tent
is
erected
on
a
parking
lot
and
over
half
a
thousand
of
this
community
let
down
their
hair
and
kick
up
their
heels
and
celebrate
in
sheer
joy–
all
that
is
human;
all
that
is
good
and
true
and
beautiful
–
and
a
people
knows
in
their
heart
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�Pastoral Prayer, 1996
Richard A. Rhem
that
grace
is
present
and
the
future
bright.
A
four-‐and-‐a-‐half-‐year-‐old,
beautiful
and
lovable,
visits
the
world’s
leading
cancer
center
to
be
treated
for
a
deadly
disease,
and
our
hearts
are
joined
–
pleading
for
her
healing,
embracing
her
loved
ones
with
compassion
that
wells
up
within
us.
Baptisms,
confirmations,
weddings,
life-‐threatening
disease,
tent
revival
and
pig
roast
–
a
rose
that
celebrates
a
birth;
a
rose
that
bespeaks
the
presence
in
absence
of
one
loved
and
lost
awhile.
Dear
God,
what
a
quilt
of
human
experience
we
share.
And
as
the
images
tumble
through
our
minds,
we
know
we
do
know.
We
do
believe.
Ah,
dear
God,
we
believe;
help
thou
our
unbelief.
We
cling
to
you;
there
is
nowhere
else
to
turn.
We
turn
to
you,
we
worship,
the
miracle
happens
again
–
not
once
for
all,
but
all
we
need
for
now,
token
enough
of
that
day
that
shall
know
no
setting
sun
when
we
shall
be
all
together
in
the
presence
of
Light
Eternal,
knowing
as
we
are
known
–
indeed,
face
to
face.
O
Lord,
hear
our
prayer,
through
Jesus
Christ
our
Lord.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-19960602
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1996-06-02
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Pastoral Prayer 1996
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 2, 1996 entitled "Pastoral Prayer 1996", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, Community of Faith.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Community of Faith
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/24da570cb8f339eb148bded094de0575.pdf
f7ccff7646a273e0c1d5cd7d32731153
PDF Text
Text
Advent Eucharist Prayer 1994
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent, December 1994
Transcription of the prepared text
O God, beyond our fathoming –
eternal, infinite,
terms we use to describe what is indescribable,
to express what is inexpressible.
We bow in these moments
conscious that we are in the presence of Mystery,
a Mystery that embraces us
and will always defy our lust to define,
to reduce to manageable terms.
Yet you are a Mystery not all mysterious –
for, eternal though you be,
yet you have taken time for us.
In the beginning you stepped out of eternity’s depths
and called a world into being.
In the fullness of time
you spoke once more
and the Word that wrought our time
became flesh in our midst.
A human face gave shape to the glory of your being
and revealed you full of grace.
And in this Advent Season we celebrate a time
that is not yet, but surely will be –
an end time when your love will gather our tattered times
into the abyss of eternity,
bringing all your children home.
Eternal, you have taken time for us.
We are amazed.
© Grand Valley State University
�Advent Eucharist Prayer 1994
Richard A. Rhem
Infinite God,
you are without form, limitless in your being.
How could we even begin to know you
if you had not appeared in the garments of our finitude –
indeed, in the concreteness of a child?
Standing on the threshold of another Christmas,
we are amazed again.
Who would have expected
that the Infinite would become finite;
that the eternal would become time-bound;
that the Creator would become creature;
indeed – that God should become human
so that one could write –
We declare to you what was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have looked at and touched with our hands –
a child, a human person, a crucified one,
one whom death could not bind.
Infinite God – there you are enfleshed –
and we find it so, still:
in the flesh of another whom we touch –
a newborn’s vulnerability,
a restless youth full of potential,
an old Simeon or Zechariah, an Anna or Elizabeth,
wise with many Christmases,
now severely limited, vulnerable again
yet full of grace.
Ah, dear God, there you are
in the other, the flesh we touch –
the souls with whom we become one –
there you are embodied:
Grace become tangible,
Love concrete.
There you are.
Down through the centuries you have been known
by those who have sought you,
yearned for your grace –
embodied in the flesh of your people.
You have given signs of your presence.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�Advent Eucharist Prayer 1994
Richard A. Rhem
A loaf broken, a chalice of wine –
the stuff of creation: grain from the field, fruit of the vine,
these you have impregnated with your life
in order that your people might remember
and find hope renewed.
Eternal God, be known to us at this time.
Infinite God, make your presence tangible
in these common elements.
Breathe through bread and wine –
inspirit them
that we might be inspirited
as we take them,
remembering, hoping
knowing in awesome ecstasy
a timeless moment,
an Infinite Grace.
And then, Spirit of God, enliven us
so that we may know the joy of which angels sang
as never before.
Hear our prayers
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Advent
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-19941201
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1994-12-01
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Advent Eucharist Prayer 1994
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 1, 1994 entitled "Advent Eucharist Prayer 1994", on the occasion of Advent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Advent, Prayer, Eucharist.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Advent
Eucharist
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ef491e75f01ba4ce45bbeba2f9573143.pdf
a2947b7c28743d5bf25ec22b27af7261
PDF Text
Text
Prayer
On a Tour Group Sunday
Richard A. Rhem
September 19, 1993
Prepared text of prayer
Let us be in the spirit of prayer,
aware that we have been gifted with life
not of our creation,
that we live at the far end
of a creative process spanning billions of years,
an extension of time beyond our capacity to comprehend,
evolving in a cosmic expanse of space
beyond our ability to imagine.
We have seen rugged mountain peaks
thrust heaven-ward by volcanic explosion,
issuing in a fiery river
that, after aeons of time,
became rivers of ice crushing all in their path.
All of this wonder would be beyond belief
except our eyes have seen the narrative
written in rock and ice and lake and rivers
and undulating oceans
stretching beyond where the eye can see.
In the familiar words of the song
brought to such beautiful expression by Louis Armstrong –
What a wonderful world!
And yet, when we have stood in awe,
amazed at our earthly home,
wondered at its wonders,
we have only begun to scratch the surface
of the miracle, wonder, glory and joy of life.
For we have not even begun to contemplate the beauty of the human –
the likes of us who have emerged in this creative process
billions of years in the making.
Here we are, conscious, aware –
reflecting on it all...
We have become the awareness of the cosmos,
© Grand Valley State University
�Tour Group Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
the voice of that awareness,
creating poems that paint pictures with words,
writing music that lifts our spirits in worship
and sets our feet to dancing,
celebrating the wonder of it all.
And still we have only begun
to touch the depths of our human experience,
for we have not yet spoken of human relationship,
the human kaleidoscope
of faces, of languages, of body form and skin tone –
all this diversity but the manifestation of the oneness
that unites us in our common humanity.
We have experienced the beautiful reality of that oneness
in the diversity of those who have cared for us so well –
cleaning rooms, waiting tables,
creating the ambience of grace and pleasure of comfort.
The external differences fade
before the sparkle in the eye, the smile,
the appreciation of being well served and serving well.
And still there is more –
for we have experienced again the joy of communion –
knowing afresh the wonderful process
of the knitting of human bonds forming a new family
where there is appreciation, mutual care, affection, laughter
and a new circle of love.
These days have been too full, fully to take in.
We will relive them and their beauty,
and wonder will continue to wash over us.
How blessed we are!
How grateful!
And now we enter these final days –
still much to see, to do.
And yet home begins to beckon –
those we love, waiting for us,
and the routines of the ordinary days
that fill our lives with order and meaning.
For home and deep human relationships that await us there,
we are thankful as well.
Surely goodness and mercy have followed us
all these days and we dwell consciously
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�Tour Group Prayer
Richard A. Rhem
in Your presence, Holy Mystery,
from whom all emerges and to whom all returns,
a mystery for us come to expression
in the Word become human –
Jesus, who taught us to pray.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 3
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Event
Group Tour in Greece
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
RA-1-19930919
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-09-19
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Prayer during Group Tour in Nauplia, Greece
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 19, 1993 entitled "Prayer during Group Tour in Nauplia, Greece", on the occasion of Group Tour in Greece. Tags: Prayer, Wonder, Emergence, Awareness, Community.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Awareness
Community
Emergence
Prayer
Wonder
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8c4ecc4496fec1db38950243de26b4ab.pdf
f0bec0d38a39383cae10d02bee823065
PDF Text
Text
Autumn Prayer, 1982
For Artists and Creators
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
October 10, 1982
Transcription of the spoken sermon
O God whose love of beauty has written beauty
into the very fabric of nature,
we offer you the praise of our lips,
the gratitude of our hearts
for all that we experience
in these nostalgic Autumn days:
The ravishing beauty of the woods,
dressed in a splendid many-colored coat;
the brilliant sunsets surrounded by dark clouds,
stippled with flecks of gold;
the crisp freshness of the first breath of morning;
the mellow warmth of an autumn afternoon;
pumpkins and cornstalks; apples and cider;
football and marching bands.
And with all the sights and sounds and smells of these days,
amidst a schedule too full,
the gentle grieving that another Summer is gone;
the sense of slight foreboding
that another Winter is coming,
that another year is well nigh past,
Father, we give you thanks that, in the changing seasons of our lives,
you do constant remain;
that in the rapid passage of our days,
you change not.
Your mercy is new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Today, Father, we are especially mindful of and deeply grateful for
the sound of music,
© Grand Valley State University
�Autumn Prayer, 1982
Richard A. Rhem
for the elevation of our spirits
through all forms of artistic expression:
for human voice and the sound of instruments,
for oil and canvas and the artist’s touch that creates beauty,
for poets who paint with words
and writers whose words are sharper than a two-edged sword,
laying bare the human soul.
For all rich gifts of creativity
and for all whose gifts are offered to you
as a sacrifice of praise and adoration,
we give you thanks,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
Page 2
�
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
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-1-19821010
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1982-10-10
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Title
A name given to the resource
Autumn Prayer for Artists and Creators 1982
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 10, 1982 entitled "Autumn Prayer for Artists and Creators 1982", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Prayer, Creators.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Creators
Prayer
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d231fca775b89e18eb1d88b1d484a96d.mp3
0484af615f2a0326a01a5853a395b074
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.
Series
Summer Lecture Series: How My Mind Has Changed, #4
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RA-3-19990726
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-07-26
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
audio/mp3
Title
A name given to the resource
The Institutional Forms of Religion
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Description
An account of the resource
Talk created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 26, 1999 entitled "The Institutional Forms of Religion", as part of the series "Summer Lecture Series: How My Mind Has Changed, #4", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc991d1446f3d5124cbb8e3022ad184b.mp3
dfd32d5de4325c62b7350d543881dcb7
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.
Series
Summer Lecture Series: How My Mind Has Changed, #3
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake,MI
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Revelation, Bible, Tradition and Experience
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Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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Talk created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 20, 1999 entitled "Revelation, Bible, Tradition and Experience", as part of the series "Summer Lecture Series: How My Mind Has Changed, #3", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake,MI.
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dc9fb5ec87656c25a44f374a24718fea.pdf
5e804818a1b0ad975f077a7946500f15
PDF Text
Text
The Nature and Function of Religion
From the 1999 Summer Lecture Series
How My Mind Has Changed
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
July 13, 1999
Transcribed from the handwritten document
As I have been brooding over the ways in which my mind has changed over the
course of the last three decades, and especially in the decade of the 90s, I am
aware that there has been a major shift in my understanding of the nature and
function of religion - the subject of this second lecture. When I determined the
four themes to be treated in this series, I was thinking in the broadest of
categories that constitute my present understanding, this lecture being the
broadest, leading then to how I understand the manifestation or revelation of the
Sacred, the Holy, the Mystery we call God which has been articulated and
expressed in the tradition in creedal formula, liturgical forms, progress, rituals
and music, all of which has been institutionalized in ecclesiastical structures.
That is the flow of my thinking as I have attempted to map out how my mind has
changed and thereby to express where I find myself as a Christian, as a religious
person.
But, as I begin to articulate how I understand the nature and function of religion,
I become aware that where I find myself is the consequence of several small steps
taken as a consequence of a growing awareness that was emerging on the basis of
ongoing study, reflection and experience. And that makes me aware that I might
have structured this mind change series quite differently. I might have thought
through the specific doctrinal formulations that came into conflict with my
ongoing experience of being human and of dealing with others in the ambiguity
of their lives, as well as simply living in the world with its social, economic,
political and religious realities. I could then have dealt with those small steps, one
by one, building the cumulative result into a new framework of understanding of
religion and specifically, Christian faith.
Such an approach would take a great deal of reflection, of reconstruction of how a
doctrinal claim of the tradition began to be questioned or how some new insight
that proved compelling conflicted with a traditional doctrinal formulation. What
were the triggers of the smaller changes that eventuated in a wholesale
revisioning of the tradition?
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Doctrinal systems are just that - systems. We speak thus of systematic theology
that gathers biblical data and doctrinal statements into a coherent whole. One
will usually begin the re-thinking process with specific questions to the tradition
and there is certainly room for some adjustment within a systematic theology, but
eventually, if the process of calling in question and reformulation continues, the
system itself is broken and a revisioning occurs.
I have chosen, for better or worse, to begin with the big picture – how my mind
has changed on the nature and function of religion. But, in setting that revision
forth, I will obviously make reference to those significant points of conflict and
shifts in understanding that eventuated in my present perspective.
The Nature of Religion
The word religion derives from the Latin: religio from refigare, “to bind back;” re
and tigare, “to bind, to bind together.” Among the dictionary’s several
definitions, I find “a state of mind or way of life expressing love for and trust in
God, and one’s will and effort to act according to the will of God ...,” and also,
“any object of conscientious regard and pursuit.”
In his classic study, The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James
acknowledged a certain arbitrariness in the manner in which he would treat
religion, defining it for his purposes as “The feelings, acts, and experiences of
individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in
relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” Hendrikus Berkhof in his
Christian Faith, described religion as “The relationship to the Absolute,” and
amidst all the diversity of religious expression and content, Berkhof noted that
nearly all religions have three elements: “The element of myth, teaching, or
proclamation; a sacred rite or cult; and rules for moral conduct.” He goes on,
The first concerns the manner in which the Absolute opens up, the second
man’s immediate response, and the third the consequences of such
knowledge and salvation for his everyday life. (p. 8)
Some add a fourth element, Berkhof notes, “That of inner experience, the
mystical component of religion.”
William James was not interested in the established institutional forms and
observances of the respective world religions, but rather, the immediate
experience of the Holy, the Sacred, of God in personal experience. In making this
point he describes, in contrast, the ordinary religious believer who follows the
conventional observances of his country, whether it be Buddhist, Christian or
Moslem. Of such a person, he writes,
His religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by
tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit.
(Varieties, p. 24)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
Such conventional observance James calls “second-hand religious life.”
That is a critical distinction which becomes obvious when we think about it, but
still it is seldom recognized; the great world religions are institutionalized and
regularized. There is a teaching, an observance, a way of life and the adherents of
the respective religions receive all of this second-hand. It may or may not become
the means by which and through which one has a first-hand religious experience.
But, it is also obvious that the great religious traditions each had a beginning in
some founding, first-hand experience, which then eventuated in the tradition,
regularized and routinized.
Where does the religious experience arise, an experience that is universally
human? In his study, Enduring Issues in Religion, John Lyden writes,
... human experience seems to contain a religious dimension, however we
may define that dimension. We cannot ignore the human desire to
question our origins and our goals, the meaning and purpose of our
existence, the reason for our lives. We strive for something more, even
when we are unsure what it is. A mystery pervades our existence - a
mystery we can approach through means such as faith, hope and courage.
Some have said that no answer can be found to the mystery, for humans
have created it and no suprahuman or supranatural answer exists. Perhaps
we long for a purpose to our existence, hidden in some other plan of reality
and flinch at the idea that there may be no such transcendent purpose.
But, even if one chooses to see no purpose, one still acknowledges that the
desire to find a purpose is part of human life. For better or worse, we
almost instinctively seek meaning, and this is when we enter the religious
realm. (p. 12f)
Lyden points to what has been perhaps the critical issue regarding the
phenomenon of religion:
Is it the consequence of God, or the Sacred, or the Holy impressing
itself upon the human consciousness, or is it a humanly created,
humanly generated phenomenon having no counterpoint, no
objective reality beyond the human who would then be simply
projecting outward from inward consciousness a Being or Reality of
its own creation?
This question will need to be faced more in depth in the following lectures
when we deal with the idea of revelation or manifestation. I point to it
here, however, because this critical issue was raised by the German
philosopher/theologian Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) who published in
1841 his The Essence of Christianity, in which he claimed religion was the
result of human projection of an infinite, transcendent Being on the screen
of reality. In an introductory essay to the Harper Torchbook edition
(1957), Karl Barth wrote,
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
He [Feuerbach] only wants the honest confession that the alleged
mystery of religion is of man: that man is dreaming when he
imagines that a Something Other, objectively confronting him, is
that ground, that whence, that necessity and that law; is the source
from which his wishes and ideals flow, and is the sea of fulfillment
toward which they tend. Man is dreaming instead of recognizing
that it is his own being, his desire and duty to live as a man, which
he, as a religious man, quite rightly equates with God. (p.xvi)
Barth quotes Feuerbach thus:
In religion man frees himself from the limitations of life; here he throws
off what oppresses, impedes, or adversely affects him; God is man’s selfawareness, emancipated from all actuality; man feels himself free, happy,
blessed only in his religion, because here only does he live in his true
genius, here he celebrates his Sunday.
In the opening chapter, “The Essential Nature of Man,” Feuerbach writes,
Religion, being identical with the distinctive characteristic of man, is then
identical with self-consciousness - with the consciousness which man has
of his nature. But religion, expressed generally, is consciousness of the
infinite, thus it is and can be nothing else than the consciousness which
man has of his own - not finite and limited, but infinite nature. (p. 2)
Under a section entitled “The Essence of Religion Considered Generally,”
Feuerbach claims without qualification,
Consciousness of God is self-consciousness; knowledge of God is selfknowledge. (p. 12)
And further:
Hence the historical progress of religion consists in this: that what by an
earlier religion was regarded as objective, is now recognized as subjective;
that is, what was formerly contemplated and worshiped as God is now
perceived to be something human. (p. 13)
One readily recognizes that these claims will have to be dealt with in the following
lecture theme on revelation, scripture and tradition, but I set Feuerbach’s claims
here in the discussion of the nature and function of religion because we are
focusing on this human phenomenon and no one has pointed as clearly or
described so acutely the human element in religion as Feuerbach. In his Does
God Exist? (1978), Hans Küng gave extensive treatment to Feuerbach from whom
he traced the whole development of modern atheism through Marx, Freud, and
finally the nihilism of Nietzsche. He writes.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
Even today - it is scarcely necessary to stress the fact - Feuerbach is
anything but passé. From that time onward there has been no form of
atheism that did not draw on Feuerbach’s arguments. Even today, then, we
must ask seriously if Feuerbach’s critique of religion is not really justified.
(p. 204)
Feuerbach’s claim must be taken seriously, but Küng’s critique is certainly valid.
Even if we grant that there is a good deal of projection in the practice of religion
and if we grant that religion is a human phenomenon, that does not establish the
non-existence of God. Küng grants the possibility of Feuerbach’s contention:
For why should it not be possible for our consciousness, knowledge,
aspiration to be oriented to nothing, to a sham and not to a real infinite?
Certainly the intention and infinity of our consciousness is still no proof of
the existence of an infinite reality independent of our consciousness?
(p. 205)
However, Küng continues, though this was Feuerbach’s claim, he never proved it.
The question must in fact remain open. The only conclusion that logically
follows from Feuerbach’s argument is that the orientation of human
consciousness toward an infinite does not provide any evidence of the
existence or non-existence of an infinite reality independent of our
consciousness. (p. 206)
I find it fascinating to trace the course of this question from Feuerbach through
Karl Barth to the present represented in the work of Gordon Kaufman, recently
retired from Harvard.
Barth claimed the roots of Feuerbach can be traced to Friedrich Schleiermacher
(1768-1834), who published in 1799 his famous lectures On Religion- Speeches to
Its Cultured Despisers. In the Forward to a 1994 edition, Jack Forstman wrote of
this work that, in it, Schleiermacher had
…presented an utterly fresh understanding of religion. It was, of course,
not without points of contact in the past, but Schleiermacher’s
presentation stood in bold contrast with the views that were prevalent in
that time (dogmatic orthodoxy, speculative neology, enlightened “natural
religion,” and Pietism). Second, he set forth a view of religion that was in
principle free from reliance on authority. Third, he described religion as
belonging essentially to the human sphere and thus as essentially limited.
Truly religious people are never able to claim that they possess the truth as
such, and in its entirety. Fourth, his approach to religion was descriptive
and analytical... he tried to “display” what actually constitutes religion.
Finally, he tried to show that religion is inevitably social and thus always
has a definite form... (p. ix,f)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
In the highly educated, highly cultured Berlin society, Schleiermacher was
attempting to make the case for the reality and authenticity of religion and
religious observance. The “climate of opinion” disallowed appeal to an
authoritarian base or dogmatic formulations of the past. His only alternative in
that context was to find a new foundation for religion and he found that new
foundation in human nature itself in the “feeling of absolute dependence.”
The common element in all howsoever diverse expressions of piety, by
which there are conjointly distinguished from all other feelings, or, in
other words, the self-identical essence of piety, is this: The consciousness
of being absolutely dependent, or, which is the same thing, of being in
relation with God.
In attributing religion to the feeling of absolute dependence, Schleiermacher was
rooting religious life in the human subject, although he was in no sense denying
the reality of God. It was God who created the feeling within the human that
pointed him or her to such dependence. In placing the root of religion in the
human, however, Barth claimed Schleiermacher transformed theology into
anthropology. Küng following Barth raised the question:
Was Feuerbach not right to see his philosophy as the end phase of a
Protestant theology that -as he thought- long before his time had become
an anthropology so that he needed only to understand and appropriate its
real intentions? Does not the danger become apparent at this point of a
theology in Schleiermacher’s style which makes the reality of God
dependent on the religious experience and emotional needs of the devout
human subject? But is not the danger also evident of a contemporary
“political theology” which reduces theology to a “critical theory of history”
or of “society”? Is it not clear at this point how close we are to atheism if
we do not distinguish between theological and anthropological
propositions, if we identify man’s interest with God’s, if we one-sidedly
stress God’s nonobjectivity, almost see God as absorbed in our neighbor
and the mystery of being, simply as the mystery of love? (p. 214)
Küng quotes Feuerbach as declaring unambiguously,
My atheism [is] merely the unconscious and actual atheism of modern
humanity and science, made conscious, untwisted and openly declared.
(p. 211)
Karl Barth had respect for Feuerbach, for his passion, his clarity of understanding
what he was doing. Barth saw him and his views as the inevitable end to which
beginning to talk of God by talking about humanity must lead. Barth’s great
reversal of 19th century liberalism, which had been fathered by Schleiermacher
and had developed throughout the 19th century in Continental theology,
especially in Germany, was the total rejection of beginning with the human
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
subject. Barth begins with God, the “Wholly Other” who encounters the human in
the Word, a word of judgment and grace.
I cannot go into this further except to say that Barth’s strong emphasis on God’s
revelation - the word that came “vertically from above” and contradicts humanity
was the needed proclamation in post-World War I Europe as the demonic
National Socialism was on the rise in Germany. Eventually, however, even his
younger admirer and colleague, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, criticized Barth’s theology
as marked by “the positivism of revelation.”
References:
Ludwig Feuerbach. The Essence of Religion. Prometheus Books, 2004.
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study of Human
Nature. (First published 1902) Create Space Indep. Publishers, 2009.
Hans Küng. Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today. (Originally published 1978)
Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006.
John Lyden. Enduring Issues in Religion: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven
Press, 1994.
Friedrich Schleiermacher. On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers.
(originally published 1797); Nabu Press, 2010.
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/df8c8cc109f896d4156fa63c08482cd4.pdf
da03f1427b93014baedcbb583fe82d24
PDF Text
Text
The Nature and Function of Religion
From the Summer 1999 Lecture Series
How My Mind Has Changed
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
July 13, 1999
Prepared Text
As I have been brooding over the ways in which my mind has changed over the
course of the last three decades, and especially in the decade of the 90s, I am
aware that there has been a major shift in my understanding of the nature and
function of religion - the subject of this second lecture. When I determined the
four themes to be treated in this series, I was thinking in the broadest of
categories that constitute my present understanding, this lecture being the
broadest, leading then to how I understand the manifestation or revelation of the
Sacred, the Holy, the Mystery we call God which has been articulated and
expressed in the tradition in creedal formula, liturgical forms, progress, rituals
and music, all of which has been institutionalized in ecclesiastical structures.
That is the flow of my thinking as I have attempted to map out how my mind has
changed and thereby to express where I find myself as a Christian, as a religious
person.
But, as I begin to articulate how I understand the nature and function of religion,
I become aware that where I find myself is the consequence of several small steps
taken as a consequence of a growing awareness that was emerging on the basis of
ongoing study, reflection and experience. And that makes me aware that I might
have structured this mind change series quite differently. I might have thought
through the specific doctrinal formulations that came into conflict with my
ongoing experience of being human and of dealing with others in the ambiguity
of their lives, as well as simply living in the world with its social, economic,
political and religious realities. I could then have dealt with those small steps, one
by one, building the cumulative result into a new framework of understanding of
religion and specifically, Christian faith.
Such an approach would take a great deal of reflection, of reconstruction of how a
doctrinal claim of the tradition began to be questioned or how some new insight
that proved compelling conflicted with a traditional doctrinal formulation. What
were the triggers of the smaller changes that eventuated in a wholesale
revisioning of the tradition?
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Doctrinal systems are just that - systems. We speak thus of systematic theology
that gathers biblical data and doctrinal statements into a coherent whole. One
will usually begin the re-thinking process with specific questions to the tradition
and there is certainly room for some adjustment within a systematic theology, but
eventually, if the process of calling in question and reformulation continues, the
system itself is broken and a revisioning occurs.
I have chosen, for better or worse, to begin with the big picture – how my mind
has changed on the nature and function of religion. But, in setting that revision
forth, I will obviously make reference to those significant points of conflict and
shifts in understanding that eventuated in my present perspective.
The Nature of Religion
The word religion derives from the Latin: religio from refigare, “to bind back;” re
and tigare, “to bind, to bind together.” Among the dictionary’s several
definitions, I find “a state of mind or way of life expressing love for and trust in
God, and one’s will and effort to act according to the will of God ...,” and also,
“any object of conscientious regard and pursuit.”
In his classic study, The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James
acknowledged a certain arbitrariness in the manner in which he would treat
religion, defining it for his purposes as “The feelings, acts, and experiences of
individual men in their solitude, so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in
relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” Hendrikus Berkhof in his
Christian Faith, described religion as “The relationship to the Absolute,” and
amidst all the diversity of religious expression and content, Berkhof noted that
nearly all religions have three elements: “The element of myth, teaching, or
proclamation; a sacred rite or cult; and rules for moral conduct.” He goes on,
The first concerns the manner in which the Absolute opens up, the second
man’s immediate response, and the third the consequences of such
knowledge and salvation for his everyday life. (p. 8)
Some add a fourth element, Berkhof notes, “That of inner experience, the
mystical component of religion.”
William James was not interested in the established institutional forms and
observances of the respective world religions, but rather, the immediate
experience of the Holy, the Sacred, of God in personal experience. In making this
point he describes, in contrast, the ordinary religious believer who follows the
conventional observances of his country, whether it be Buddhist, Christian or
Moslem. Of such a person, he writes,
His religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by
tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit.
(Varieties, p. 24)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
Such conventional observance James calls “second-hand religious life.”
That is a critical distinction which becomes obvious when we think about it, but
still it is seldom recognized; the great world religions are institutionalized and
regularized. There is a teaching, an observance, a way of life and the adherents of
the respective religions receive all of this second-hand. It may or may not become
the means by which and through which one has a first-hand religious experience.
But, it is also obvious that the great religious traditions each had a beginning in
some founding, first-hand experience, which then eventuated in the tradition,
regularized and routinized.
Where does the religious experience arise, an experience that is universally
human? In his study, Enduring Issues in Religion, John Lyden writes,
... human experience seems to contain a religious dimension, however we
may define that dimension. We cannot ignore the human desire to
question our origins and our goals, the meaning and purpose of our
existence, the reason for our lives. We strive for something more, even
when we are unsure what it is. A mystery pervades our existence - a
mystery we can approach through means such as faith, hope and courage.
Some have said that no answer can be found to the mystery, for humans
have created it and no suprahuman or supranatural answer exists. Perhaps
we long for a purpose to our existence, hidden in some other plan of reality
and flinch at the idea that there may be no such transcendent purpose.
But, even if one chooses to see no purpose, one still acknowledges that the
desire to find a purpose is part of human life. For better or worse, we
almost instinctively seek meaning, and this is when we enter the religious
realm. (p. 12f)
Lyden points to what has been perhaps the critical issue regarding the
phenomenon of religion:
Is it the consequence of God, or the Sacred, or the Holy impressing
itself upon the human consciousness, or is it a humanly created,
humanly generated phenomenon having no counterpoint, no
objective reality beyond the human who would then be simply
projecting outward from inward consciousness a Being or Reality of
its own creation?
This question will need to be faced more in depth in the following lectures
when we deal with the idea of revelation or manifestation. I point to it
here, however, because this critical issue was raised by the German
philosopher/theologian Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) who published in
1841 his The Essence of Christianity, in which he claimed religion was the
result of human projection of an infinite, transcendent Being on the screen
of reality. In an introductory essay to the Harper Torchbook edition
(1957), Karl Barth wrote,
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
He [Feuerbach] only wants the honest confession that the alleged
mystery of religion is of man: that man is dreaming when he
imagines that a Something Other, objectively confronting him, is
that ground, that whence, that necessity and that law; is the source
from which his wishes and ideals flow, and is the sea of fulfillment
toward which they tend. Man is dreaming instead of recognizing
that it is his own being, his desire and duty to live as a man, which
he, as a religious man, quite rightly equates with God. (p.xvi)
Barth quotes Feuerbach thus:
In religion man frees himself from the limitations of life; here he throws
off what oppresses, impedes, or adversely affects him; God is man’s selfawareness, emancipated from all actuality; man feels himself free, happy,
blessed only in his religion, because here only does he live in his true
genius, here he celebrates his Sunday.
In the opening chapter, “The Essential Nature of Man,” Feuerbach writes,
Religion, being identical with the distinctive characteristic of man, is then
identical with self-consciousness - with the consciousness which man has
of his nature. But religion, expressed generally, is consciousness of the
infinite, thus it is and can be nothing else than the consciousness which
man has of his own - not finite and limited, but infinite nature. (p. 2)
Under a section entitled “The Essence of Religion Considered Generally,”
Feuerbach claims without qualification,
Consciousness of God is self-consciousness; knowledge of God is selfknowledge. (p. 12)
And further:
Hence the historical progress of religion consists in this: that what by an
earlier religion was regarded as objective, is now recognized as subjective;
that is, what was formerly contemplated and worshiped as God is now
perceived to be something human. (p. 13)
One readily recognizes that these claims will have to be dealt with in the following
lecture theme on revelation, scripture and tradition, but I set Feuerbach’s claims
here in the discussion of the nature and function of religion because we are
focusing on this human phenomenon and no one has pointed as clearly or
described so acutely the human element in religion as Feuerbach. In his Does
God Exist? (1978), Hans Küng gave extensive treatment to Feuerbach from whom
he traced the whole development of modern atheism through Marx, Freud, and
finally the nihilism of Nietzsche. He writes.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
Even today - it is scarcely necessary to stress the fact - Feuerbach is
anything but passé. From that time onward there has been no form of
atheism that did not draw on Feuerbach’s arguments. Even today, then, we
must ask seriously if Feuerbach’s critique of religion is not really justified.
(p. 204)
Feuerbach’s claim must be taken seriously, but Küng’s critique is certainly valid.
Even if we grant that there is a good deal of projection in the practice of religion
and if we grant that religion is a human phenomenon, that does not establish the
non-existence of God. Küng grants the possibility of Feuerbach’s contention:
For why should it not be possible for our consciousness, knowledge,
aspiration to be oriented to nothing, to a sham and not to a real infinite?
Certainly the intention and infinity of our consciousness is still no proof of
the existence of an infinite reality independent of our consciousness?
(p. 205)
However, Küng continues, though this was Feuerbach’s claim, he never proved it.
The question must in fact remain open. The only conclusion that logically
follows from Feuerbach’s argument is that the orientation of human
consciousness toward an infinite does not provide any evidence of the
existence or non-existence of an infinite reality independent of our
consciousness. (p. 206)
I find it fascinating to trace the course of this question from Feuerbach through
Karl Barth to the present represented in the work of Gordon Kaufman, recently
retired from Harvard.
Barth claimed the roots of Feuerbach can be traced to Friedrich Schleiermacher
(1768-1834), who published in 1799 his famous lectures On Religion- Speeches to
Its Cultured Despisers. In the Forward to a 1994 edition, Jack Forstman wrote of
this work that, in it, Schleiermacher had
…presented an utterly fresh understanding of religion. It was, of course,
not without points of contact in the past, but Schleiermacher’s
presentation stood in bold contrast with the views that were prevalent in
that time (dogmatic orthodoxy, speculative neology, enlightened “natural
religion,” and Pietism). Second, he set forth a view of religion that was in
principle free from reliance on authority. Third, he described religion as
belonging essentially to the human sphere and thus as essentially limited.
Truly religious people are never able to claim that they possess the truth as
such, and in its entirety. Fourth, his approach to religion was descriptive
and analytical... he tried to “display” what actually constitutes religion.
Finally, he tried to show that religion is inevitably social and thus always
has a definite form... (p. ix,f)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
In the highly educated, highly cultured Berlin society, Schleiermacher was
attempting to make the case for the reality and authenticity of religion and
religious observance. The “climate of opinion” disallowed appeal to an
authoritarian base or dogmatic formulations of the past. His only alternative in
that context was to find a new foundation for religion and he found that new
foundation in human nature itself in the “feeling of absolute dependence.”
The common element in all howsoever diverse expressions of piety, by
which there are conjointly distinguished from all other feelings, or, in
other words, the self-identical essence of piety, is this: The consciousness
of being absolutely dependent, or, which is the same thing, of being in
relation with God.
In attributing religion to the feeling of absolute dependence, Schleiermacher was
rooting religious life in the human subject, although he was in no sense denying
the reality of God. It was God who created the feeling within the human that
pointed him or her to such dependence. In placing the root of religion in the
human, however, Barth claimed Schleiermacher transformed theology into
anthropology. Küng following Barth raised the question:
Was Feuerbach not right to see his philosophy as the end phase of a
Protestant theology that -as he thought- long before his time had become
an anthropology so that he needed only to understand and appropriate its
real intentions? Does not the danger become apparent at this point of a
theology in Schleiermacher’s style which makes the reality of God
dependent on the religious experience and emotional needs of the devout
human subject? But is not the danger also evident of a contemporary
“political theology” which reduces theology to a “critical theory of history”
or of “society”? Is it not clear at this point how close we are to atheism if
we do not distinguish between theological and anthropological
propositions, if we identify man’s interest with God’s, if we one-sidedly
stress God’s nonobjectivity, almost see God as absorbed in our neighbor
and the mystery of being, simply as the mystery of love? (p. 214)
Küng quotes Feuerbach as declaring unambiguously,
My atheism [is] merely the unconscious and actual atheism of modern
humanity and science, made conscious, untwisted and openly declared.
(p. 211)
Karl Barth had respect for Feuerbach, for his passion, his clarity of understanding
what he was doing. Barth saw him and his views as the inevitable end to which
beginning to talk of God by talking about humanity must lead. Barth’s great
reversal of 19th century liberalism, which had been fathered by Schleiermacher
and had developed throughout the 19th century in Continental theology,
especially in Germany, was the total rejection of beginning with the human
© Grand Valley State University
�The Nature and Function of Religion
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
subject. Barth begins with God, the “Wholly Other” who encounters the human in
the Word, a word of judgment and grace.
I cannot go into this further except to say that Barth’s strong emphasis on God’s
revelation - the word that came “vertically from above” and contradicts humanity
was the needed proclamation in post-World War I Europe as the demonic
National Socialism was on the rise in Germany. Eventually, however, even his
younger admirer and colleague, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, criticized Barth’s theology
as marked by “the positivism of revelation.”
References:
Ludwig Feuerbach. The Essence of Religion. Prometheus Books, 2004.
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study of Human
Nature. (First published 1902) Create Space Indep. Publishers, 2009.
Hans Küng. Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today. (Originally published 1978)
Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006.
John Lyden. Enduring Issues in Religion: Opposing Viewpoints. Greenhaven
Press, 1994.
Friedrich Schleiermacher. On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers.
(originally published 1797); Nabu Press, 2010.
© Grand Valley State University
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/51fac5a1a31b44cdfb78dbf02e610fb4.mp3
b5c128296a32aba34019c52cfadcc852
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>
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
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
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Series
Summer Lecture Series: How My Mind Has Changed, #2
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902, 2009, Ludwig Feuerbach. The Essence of Religion, 2004, Hans Hans Küng. Does God Exist?, 1978,2006, John Lyden. Enduring Issues in Religion,1994
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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RA-3-19990713
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-07-13
Type
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Text
Sound
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Title
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The Nature and Function of Religion
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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eng
Description
An account of the resource
Talk created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 13, 1999 entitled "The Nature and Function of Religion", as part of the series "Summer Lecture Series: How My Mind Has Changed, #2", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Tags: Nature of Religion, Reimagining the Faith, Spiritual Quest. Scripture references: William James. The Varieties of Religious Experience, 1902, 2009, Ludwig Feuerbach. The Essence of Religion, 2004, Hans Hans Küng. Does God Exist?, 1978,2006, John Lyden. Enduring Issues in Religion,1994
Nature of Religion
Reimagining the Faith
Spiritual Quest