2 24 1045 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d9a267c353d6ef7061aaf5a3ea3f5ed6.pdf 54e6d912d2492721cab44c8b1ee4928b PDF Text Text Paul: A Larger God and a Grander Vision From the series: Varieties of Religious Experience Text: Ephesians 2:14-16; 4:4-6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 13, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon In the sermon this morning, I am going to return to Paul and try to redeem him somewhat. The last time that we thought about Paul, a few weeks ago, I said that he was simply wrong about history, and he was. I won’t take anything back from that. Paul had a religious experience in which he not only experienced the presence and the glory of God, but also was drawn into a kind of apocalyptic understanding of history whereby he expected the end to occur very soon. And he was wrong about that. But, what he experienced in that encounter with God, what he came to understand, gave him a sense of a larger God and a grander vision, and that is still a tremendously important understanding for us to gain from St. Paul. We have recognized that Paul is probably one of the great formative, shaping persons of mind and spirit in the whole of the Western tradition. Paul impacted St. Augustine, who probably would rank right there with Paul, and, on the basis of that experience, Martin Luther’s 16th century experience of the grace of God has put another filter through which we see Paul. And even in our own century, Karl Barth gives us a certain perspective of Paul that creates a lens by which we read him. But I came across a rather interesting source that gives me some fresh eyes with which to read Paul. A young Jewish scholar, Alan Segal, in a book, Paul, The Convert, returns to the first century and reads our New Testament as a source of information about first century Judaism, which, of course, was not only Paul’s context, but also Jesus’ context, and Alan Segal sees him, not through that Protestant experience of justification by grace through faith which Luther made to stick and to which Augustine had pointed; but, rather, Alan Segal as a Jewish interpreter of Paul, sees Paul’s struggle to create one new community or one new humanity out of the Jewish community and the Gentile community who Paul saw united in Jesus Christ. Segal would make the point, along with some others, that justification by grace through faith, which is so very Lutheran and very Protestant, was not really the center of Paul’s passion at all. He was saying that salvation is to be received by faith or by trusting God because God is gracious, and that means that the © Grand Valley State University   �Paul’s Larger God and Vision Richard A. Rhem Page 2   respective religious communities, trusting that grace and receiving it, not through any ceremony or any particular religious ritual, but rather, that grace received by faith could be that common entré to God for this diverse community of people in the first century. I think that there is some fresh insight that Segal brings us in a perspective on Paul. It’s understandable that the Jewish community for centuries has not fussed with Jesus and has not fussed with Paul because Jesus and Paul have been a source of the Church’s anti-Semitism and triumphalism and, therefore, there was a block. But, Alan Segal says if you read Paul in the New Testament, it’s the best source we have of information about first century Judaism which is so critical to understand if we want to understand both the message of Jesus and the ministry of Paul. So he begins by pointing to Paul’s authentic religious experience, and I want to begin there, too, this morning. There is such a thing as an authentic religious experience, and this spring I’ve been using William James’ classic text, The Varieties of Religious Experience, in order to say to all of us just that: that there is a variety of religious experience. Alan Segal says Paul had an authentic religious experience. He can say that 2000 years later as a Jewish commentator. There was reality, there was honesty, there was integrity, there was authenticity in Paul’s religious experience. We had here two or three weeks ago Marcus Borg and if you were here that Sunday morning and you stayed for the Perspectives hour afterwards, you heard Marcus Borg share on request a recent spiritual experience that he had which was a kind of mystical sense of the sacred, of the holy at the presence of God, and I could see that some of you were saying, "Oh, I feel like such a deadhead," that I reminded you that I’m a deadhead, too, when I told you, as I say many times, my little pinky’s never even tingled. Well, Marcus Borg wrote a note commending all of you as a community and speaking of the good time he had here, and he added this: P.S. And I like your theology. You say that you’ve never had so much as a tingle in your pinky finger, but you know about the sacred. We both know that religions are imaginative human constructions. [You’ve been hearing me say that, and one time he wrote me a note about where did that come from, and I said Gordon Kaufman was the author of that idea that religions are human imaginative constructions.] We both know that religions are imaginative human constructions, to sound like Kaufman/Rhem, and I sense that you know there is the sacred behind all those constructions. Not all, perhaps not very many "liberal" theologians know that, but I sense that you do, and I’m happy to be called a liberal theologian myself. Now, the nice thing about Marcus is that he not only shared his own experience in a very gentle way, in a way that really didn’t make anyone who didn’t have that © Grand Valley State University �Paul’s Larger God and Vision Richard A. Rhem Page 3   particular experience feel that they were sort of outside the tent. He has a very fine way of communicating that authentic religious experience that he has had. The nice thing about this little note is that he acknowledged that I can be in the tent with him, even though my pinky doesn’t tingle. The point is this, and I think it’s so important that you hear this, that there is a variety of religious experience, because what we’ve done, particularly in Protestantism, is we have taken this unusual experience of Paul and we’ve made it normative so that anybody who didn’t get it like Paul got it might suspect whether or not they really have it, and that’s just not the point. Authentic religious experience comes in lots of different forms through a lot of different experience, and I think that none of us ought to lust after the experience of another, but perhaps just breathe deeply and relax and trust that we are embraced by the grace of God. Sometimes there is a Paul who has a vision and it is so compelling and wedded to such a passionate personality, that that vision grows legs and begins to walk across the earth, and of course, this is what happened with Paul. He had an authentic religious experience; he had a vision of the holy and of the sacred; he saw the glory of God and the glory of God took the shape of Jesus, and in that experience, he felt himself called, particularly to the nations or the Gentiles or anyone who was a non-Jew. Now, the interesting thing is that Paul was a Pharisee, and we’ve gotten such bad press on the Pharisees from the New Testament which comes out of a conflict situation, but the Pharisees were the most sincere, the most serious, the most engaged of Jewish observers. They were careful, observant Jews who were deadly serious about observance of the ritual, of the ceremony, of the law, and Paul was one of those. In the wake of Paul’s encounter with this glory of God in the face of Jesus, he went off for a while simply to assimilate all of this and to put it all together, and then, sensing himself to be called particularly to the non-Jew, to the Gentiles, he began to hang out with them, and, as he hung out with them, he found that here were non-Jewish people who heard the story of Jesus Christ and the grace of God in Christ who came to the same kind of insight, understanding, and experience that he, Paul, the former Pharisee, had. I don’t even want to say "former Pharisee." I want to say Paul, the Jew, who continued to have high regard for Torah. In fact, Paul, in his letters, which Alan Segal tells us from a Jewish perspective are very Jewish in his argumentation and his reasoning – not systematic like John Calvin made him, but very Jewish in the concrete situation to which he was addressing Jewish Rabbinic kind of reasoning and so forth – begins to indicate that God’s intention is for one new humanity, that in Jesus Christ that middle wall of partition was torn down, that wall of hostility, and I think there is some basis at least in the Letter to the Ephesians that was read a while ago. But, even in the other writings of Paul, his biggest concern was to find out how to get people like him, with all that Jewish background, into community with people from all of the respective paganisms of the nations, all the non-Jewish religious observances, © Grand Valley State University �Paul’s Larger God and Vision Richard A. Rhem Page 4   how to get those people together, because the Jewish system had certain ways of preparing food and of eating at table and, of course, there was that sign of the covenant community, circumcision. How could you get those two groups into a unity? In the Letter to the Ephesians, he says this is the purpose of God hidden through the ages, this mystery of God hidden through all the ages, now coming to expression through me, through the gospel, through the church. There was an incipient universalism in the institution of the covenant of grace with Abraham. In Abraham the word was, the understanding of that calling of Israel, was that in Abraham, all peoples of the earth would be blessed. The particularity of the call of the Jew was on behalf of the universality of God’s claim on all. And Paul, now, begins to hang out with these Gentile Christians, and he sees they have the same kind of authentic experience that he has. It seems to be the same God, the same grace, it seems to be the same kind of response in life, and this is what Paul saw: God is bigger than ever I thought, and all of the religious observances, structures, forms, all of that is relative and relatively unimportant. Let’s just take the case of circumcision. A few weeks ago we looked at Acts 15, which is the Jerusalem Council where this dilemma of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians was to be resolved, how they could live together. One of the people at the Jerusalem Council whom Paul and Barnabas brought along was Titus, and Titus was a Gentile, and Paul makes a point of the fact that they didn’t require that Titus be circumcised in order to sit at the table of the Council of Jerusalem in deciding these matters. But, if you would go to the 16th chapter of Acts, you would find Paul meeting Timothy and wanting Timothy to go with him and finding out that Timothy’s mother was a Jew and Timothy had never been circumcised and so, Paul has Timothy circumcised in order to make him properly marked as a Jew who now is a believer in Jesus. Now, if you’re thoroughly confused on all that, let me say what it means. It means that Titus was never circumcised and it didn’t matter. It didn’t take away anything. And Timothy was circumcised later on as an adult, and it didn’t add anything. It was purely a pragmatic matter of sensitivity to the social, religious context in which Titus and Timothy, respectively, were to minister. And this is what Paul saw. This stuff doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. We have a baptismal shell there; we put water in it and we baptize infants; we cross their forehead with the water. We could really drip their big toe in paint thinner and, pointing to the same reality, it would be as effective. We have in the 8:30 service the Eucharist, the bread and the cup. We use grape juice. I’d rather use Gallo. But, it doesn’t matter. All religious observances and structures, according to Paul’s insight, do not matter. What matters is that the forms and the words and the structures are freighted with meaning, and are engaged in with authenticity, and then a community can be shaped in a wide variety of ways. Jews with Pharisaic background can come to the table of the © Grand Valley State University �Paul’s Larger God and Vision Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Lord, joining with Gentiles with no religious background or some Greek mystery religious background, coming to the table of the Lord and they can break the bread and pour the cup and know that they are one humanity because throughout all ages, God had no other intention, according to the insight of Paul, than to create one new humanity. And I think to Paul it was a larger God and a grander vision. Isn’t it strange how our respective religions crimp God and try to package God? It’s like having a pail at the seashore. We take our pails to the water and dip our pails in and the pail is a container for the water, but the pail, the container, cannot contain the ocean. God is so much more than our respective visions, our respective manners of worship, our mode of organization, our doctrinal systems. Paul saw that and, in seeing that, he became this passionate person. Now, if you read his Letter to the Galatians, an early letter, he got rather testy; he got rather nasty, because the thing he saw was that all of the things we do that are all relative are not the things that bring us into the experience of God. His own experience was that God is given to us by grace, and we simply trust that; we simply accept that, or we have faith that that is the case. We don’t do anything to earn or gain or secure that experience. We simply open our lives to whatever spirit, whatever rift in the sky, whatever manner in which God might come to us. There is a variety of religious experience, and we ought not to pigeon-hole anybody or have the sure set of dies by which a Christian can be cast, but the important thing is that, whatever that immediate experience, we see it as that which brings us into the community under the one God Who would create one new humanity, one human community. Paul prays for them powerfully in this Letter. And then in this third chapter, particularly, he prays in the name of the God for whom every family on earth is named. You get it? The God for whom every family on earth is named - this God will give to you an experience of God’s love that you’ve come to know its breadth and its length and its height and its depth. To know the love of God which is beyond knowing, you see? That what God wants is for people to have the experience of an ultimate, absolute love that is the Mystery of all things. Paul says, "Now, to God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above anything I can ask or think, to God be glory in the church ..." and then he goes on to a practical application of it all in that fourth chapter, "with all humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace" for, he says, "there is one body and one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all, through all, in you all ...." Almost sounds like Stoicism, almost sounds like Pantheism, or maybe better the Panentheism of a more contemporary expression, God who is not "out there" stirring the world with a stick now and then, but a God who is permeating the whole of reality, that dwells within us and binds us together and makes us one, © Grand Valley State University �Paul’s Larger God and Vision Richard A. Rhem Page 6   because there is no division in the whole of reality, be it cosmic, physical or human. That’s what Paul saw. That authentic religious experience saw him, enabled him to transcend the respective religions. The secret, folks, is to be serious about the religion you pursue without absolutizing it and without fear, somehow or other, of being threatened that if you don’t dot the i or cross the t, you’re out of luck, to be able to see the variety of religious experience and the diversity of religious expression. One must be passionate, following one’s own experience, knowing the love of God in all of its dimensions, with humility, gentleness, patience. We see the critical nature of things in the Balkans right now, as was alluded to in the prayers. It’s the old human story - the wounded Russian pride that will make its statement. So, shall we in NATO stand up to it and make it back down? Shall we put the barrel of the gun to the temple of that wounded giant? If we would do that, we would only be acting out what has been acted out in the respective religions, Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic, and Muslim, which fuels that ethnic division that nurses hurts and grudges and wounds over centuries. You see, Paul’s vision was not about religion. Paul saw religion, finally by the grace of God, as simply a means, relatively important, legitimate in diversity, but just a means to come to the experience of God Who is every dimension of love, Who calls us to peace. It’s a larger God; it’s a grander vision. References: Alan Segal. Paul, the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee. Yale University Press, 1992. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ac30452f91e2a3996cc4530290801d2c.mp3 3b38cc29e6b14334d2eb1fa187d9c1ea Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost IV Series Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture Text Ephesians 2:14-16, 4:4-6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Alan F. Segal. Paul the Convert, 1992 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990613 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-06-13 Title A name given to the resource Paul: A Larger God and a Grander Vision Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 13, 1999 entitled "Paul: A Larger God and a Grander Vision", as part of the series "Varieties of Religious Experience", on the occasion of Pentecost IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ephesians 2:14-16, 4:4-6. Compassion Inclusive Theology of Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bd49ff8d266b2b0adfd855c7c5811cab.pdf 8258595388722de2a946ce5176b0d3a0 PDF Text Text The Experience of God is Salvation From the series: Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture: Acts 10:34-48; I John 4:7-16 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Trinity Sunday, May 30, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon In the liturgical year that we follow, this is Trinity Sunday. It is the Lord’s Day following Pentecost which we celebrated last week, the Festival of the Holy Spirit, and it concludes another cycle of the Christian Year that begins four Sundays before Christmas with the Advent Season. There is a certain logic to designating this day Trinity Sunday because we have gone through the cycle that moves through the history of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ and presence in the Holy Spirit. There is probably no more philosophically difficult theological discussion than that which deals with the doctrine of the Trinity, or the Triune God - that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one God. The originating language was the conceptuality of Greek philosophy and the long history of dispute was in part the fact that the Eastern Church used Greek while the Western Church used Latin. The problem the doctrine of the Trinity was attempting to solve was how these Jewish monotheists who brought the Gospel to the Gentile world could maintain that monotheism, that God is One, while speaking of Jesus as God in human flesh, God incarnate. And not only Jesus Christ as God incarnate, but as with them still as Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ. The discussions were philosophically sophisticated, often acrimoniously asserted and politically motivated. We do not think any longer in the philosophical language and conceptuality of the Greek world of those ancient times. Yet, what those early thinkers were trying to bring to expression is still critical to our understanding of God and the Divine-human relationship. And stripped of its philosophical terminology and mode of thought, what the early Church was trying to say is quite simple. It is that God is the Absolute, Ultimate Mystery, the ground and source of all that is. God is beyond our knowing, beyond our capacity to know. God is Mystery, not as we speak of a mystery that baffles us, that we are © Grand Valley State University   �Experience of God is Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 2   working on, and expect someday to solve, to explain. God is Mystery in the sense that we cannot comprehend the being of God. The older theology spoke of God’s incomprehensibility. But we speak of God. How can that be? We speak of God because God reveals God’s self in our human flesh; indeed, God identifies with our humanity. We see, we hear, we touch the Word made flesh. To use our Lenten language, God is mirrored in a human face. That is the Christian claim. Something can be known of the nature and character of the ultimate Mystery of God because it has come to expression in the human. The Christian idea of the Trinity goes one step further; it claims that that ultimate Mystery whose nature and character are expressed in a human life is really the life of all that is - that the whole of reality is in-spirited with God. Nothing exists but the life, the breath of God. All of that is not so difficult; in fact, it is quite obvious – The Ultimate MysteryGod must hold all things in being, must be pervasively present in all things, the Source, the energy, the creative center, moving the whole along the emerging, the unfolding of the bio-historical, evolutionary process, thus God’s Spirit - the wind, the breath that is enlivening. And the Ultimate Mystery, if it would be known, must show itself - communicate its nature and intention. Thus, the intention or idea of the Mystery "lands," so to speak, in history, takes on flesh, shows itself and so it is the claim of the Christian revelation that the character and nature and intention of God can be read off the face of Jesus Christ - flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone. That is what the Christian religion claims. That is, Christian theology, or doctrine, or dogma is an attempt to articulate the experience that grounded and founded the Christian movement. We are thinking animals; we want to understand our experience and so we reflect and we do our best to put experience in word and concepts. Those words and concepts are not the experience; they are a step or more removed from the experience – To understand the doctrine of the Trinity is not the same as having the experience of God. Yet, the concept arises out of experience. Look at I John 4:7-16. The letter begins, 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, concerning the word of life. © Grand Valley State University �Experience of God is Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Now remember this is John or the community of John, the Gospel of which begins, In the beginning was the word ... Which calls to mind immediately Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God ... Now, is that accidental or is this writer intentionally connecting what he is writing about with the word made flesh that emerged from the Creator of all? And what is he trying to say? Well, among other things, in the lesson I read from the fourth chapter, he is calling those to whom he writes to love one another. Why? Because God is love. How does he know? Because he believes Jesus Christ was a revelation of the character and nature of God. And this writer claims that one can know the love of God by loving another; in the love of one person for another is experienced the love of God. God is love. If we love one another, God lives in us ... How do we know? By this we know that we abide in God and God abides in us because God has given us his Spirit. Again: God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. This is my point: the raw material of the Trinity which is a theological construct lies in experience, the concrete experience of that early Christian community. The theological formulation of the Trinity is sometimes criticized because it is not in the Bible. Well, the term is not, but the experience that grounds the concept that points back to the experience is in the Bible. One more illustration - Peter at the house of Cornelius. We come back to this passage often because it is a paradigmatic story from the early Church. Cornelius is a God-fearing Gentile, a Roman officer. He prays and has a vision in which he is instructed to send for Peter. Peter has a vision to prepare him for this call. © Grand Valley State University �Experience of God is Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Peter goes to Cornelius’ house, contrary to his religious training and conditioning, and says, "Why did you send for me?" Cornelius responds by asking that Peter tell them what the Lord has commanded him to say. Peter tells the story of Jesus - quite amazed that all this could be happening. I truly understand that God shows no partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Can that be you speaking, Peter? And what does he say? The message ... how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power ... There it is again - God, Jesus, Spirit. And before Peter was through preaching, the Spirit fell on all who heard ... The experience demanded a modification in the construct of God for Peter. Now, this is my point. The idea of a Triune God or the Trinity is a theological construct - an intellectual articulation of an understanding which resulted from reflection on experience. The doctrine of the Trinity was not thought up by some ancient Christian or church council to confound and mystify the faithful forever. Rather, a community of folk gathered around Jesus of Nazareth had this experience. Paul knocked off his horse; Peter had a vision; James had an appearance of the brother he couldn’t countenance, present to him after he was crucified. What can they make of it? Jews all, they believe God is One - but did they not experience the Holy, the Sacred, indeed, God - when they were with Jesus? And now that he is no longer in the flesh, having been crucified, dead and buried, do not their hearts burn within them yet - his Spirit is a living presence with them. How does one express what one experiences? Words, concepts. But, they are inadequate; in fact, they distort; they becloud as much as enlighten. What now; must I believe in the Trinity? No, of course not. It is a human conceptual scheme that points beyond itself to the Ultimate Mystery whose nature and character can be read off from the life of Jesus whose spirit is the Spirit of God which is God’s pervasive presence in all that is. What do I have to believe? Nothing. God is not about our believing something. God is to be trusted, experienced, rested in. This is where we’ve done such a poor job in the Church, © Grand Valley State University �Experience of God is Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 5   insisting on right belief, as though we know, as though our ideas correspond to reality, to the Mystery that is God. Right belief - that is orthodoxy. The philosopher Santayana said, Orthodoxy sanctions and supports the natural man while remaining open and congenial to the possibility of his spiritual development. Do you "hear" that? Orthodoxy - careful doctrinal delineation - that has a place, just as the early Church attempted to bring some order and structure to its experience. But, our finest articulations of the experience of God are but crooked fingers pointing beyond word and concepts. Think of all the words I’ve used to point to the limited usefulness of words and concepts. Of course, we desire to understand, but even more, we must understand that we cannot understand - Then we will perhaps be silent; then we will perhaps learn to wait on the Lord. Then in the silence, we may see, as I did this morning, a silver moon hang over a glassy sea, creating a path of light - or see the sun rise and hear a cardinal sing a celebration of the dawn, and simply be still, and know that God is God, and all is well. Then we will understand that, in the moments of silence that follow my speaking, there is more possibility of experiencing the presence of the Holy than in all the chattering of my voice. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7f588bfc8fbf193ecde0525add9af5c8.mp3 7b165db200675363dad52238281029c9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II Series Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture Text Acts 10:34-48, I John 4:7-16 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990530 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-05-30 Title A name given to the resource The Experience of God is Salvation Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 30, 1999 entitled "The Experience of God is Salvation", as part of the series "Varieties of Religious Experience", on the occasion of Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 10:34-48, I John 4:7-16. Mystery of God Trinitarian Nature of Religion Trinity Sunday https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2918a555c90130bbfa04aa564b0907a7.pdf f3ffc870db418f1f3e51b81c82310bb5 PDF Text Text James: The Best of Conservatism From the series: Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture: Acts 15:1-21; James 2:14-26 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide, May 16, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon We have been noting in the Eastertide season that there is a variety of religious experience. When one surveys the landscape of the Church, that must be obvious. And it is obvious, as well, in the early leaders of the Christian movement as we find them in the New Testament documents. I have dealt with Paul in regard to his recognition of the Spirit/flesh civil war that rages with the human being and in regard to his misreading of the time line of history where his generation was in the unfolding drama of history. I will come back to him in a few weeks, but I mention him now because today our focus is James, and James and Paul are studies in contrast. Both were of the strictest observants of Judaism. Paul was encountered by a vision of the risen, ascended Christ and made a radical departure from his former Pharisaic Jewish observance. James was given an appearance encounter by Jesus after Easter, according to Paul, convincing him that Jesus was the Messiah, but he remained an observant Jew until his execution in the 60s, having become the Bishop of the Jerusalem Mother Church, a "Christian" Church of observant Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah, crucified, raised from the dead, ascended to the presence of God from whence they expected his imminent return. Paul, the radical innovator. James, the conservative guardian of tradition. Reflecting on these matters is not simply for the purpose of historical interest; it has everything to do with how we today conserve the core insights and truths of the Christian tradition and at the same time incorporate the ever growing knowledge available to us from ancient times, from historical study of Christian origins, from biblical research, and the exploding knowledge of the world of © Grand Valley State University   �James, Best of Conservatism Richard A. Rhem Page 2   which we are a part, and how we accommodate the tradition to new understanding. Think with me about James, the brother of Jesus, whom I point to as representing the best of conservatism. Conservatism has become a label we put on political parties or parties within an institution such as the Church. Conservative is usually paired with liberal as its opposite. But, that is really unfortunate. I have carried with me since the 60s when I first read it, a statement by Walter Lippmann: Every truly civilized and enlightened man is conservative and liberal and progressive. He is conservative because the roots of our civilization lie in those three ancient kingdoms of the Mediterranean: Israel, Greece, and Rome. He is liberal because the laws must be administered with charity and magnanimity. He is progressive because the times change and we must act in the world as it is and as it is becoming. Here, liberal points to a liberal spirit as open and magnanimous, while the word progressive is probably what we think of as liberal - at least in the Church. If we agree, then we would see Paul as progressive and James as conservative. But, if we believe Lippmann, a civilized and enlightened person will hold in tension conservatism and progressivism and that, because we are shaped by a tradition that is rooted in history when certain core values and understandings come to expression, and we are in the stream of history whose one constant is change, evolution, and emergence of the new. Unfortunately, in times like ours, marked by culture wars and in the Church by the rhetoric of the religious right and defensiveness of the mainline, we tend to label and to engage in name calling and we fail to recognize that there are truths and values that shape the tradition that must be preserved and yet must be allowed to evolve with the changing landscape of history. I use conservative in that proper sense of the word as the concern to learn the roots of the tradition and preserve the core values and insights in order that they may be passed on and not lost. Note: Such an understanding of conservatism is not at all fundamentalism which is simply the reiteration of yesterday’s answers to today’s question. James was a Conservative in contrast to Paul who was a Progressive, but both James and Paul were both conservative and progressive - one more this, the other more that, but both struggling with a very real and still present struggle preserving the best of the past while opening to the needs of the present and openness to the future. © Grand Valley State University �James, Best of Conservatism Richard A. Rhem Page 3   The James we are talking about is the brother of Jesus, the author of the Letter of James in the New Testament, called James the Just or the Righteous. I’ve never really thought about James in terms of his religious experience, but it is fascinating to think about where he came from and where he moved. Because it is so difficult to think about Jesus as a real flesh and blood human being, I suspect we don’t think much about what it must have been like in the home of Mary and Joseph while he was growing up. James grew up with him. They must have played together, worked together, argued, fought. All of that is without record. We do know, however, that when Jesus left home for his ministry he proved embarrassing to the family. Mark 3 tells how the word was out that he was mad and Mary and his brothers came to take him home. He did not go out to talk to them. Rather, he said, "Who is my mother, my brother, my sister - the one who does the will of God." Obviously, there was alienation and estrangement. From non-canonical sources we know that James was an ascetic, perhaps a Nazirite, one who life long follows a very strict rule of holy living. If James was a Nazirite, would he not have been shocked and incensed at the loose practices of his brother? Would he not have been scandalized by Jesus’ overturning the conventional wisdom of the day - his open table fellowship and his disregard for the ritual purity laws? While we have no way of knowing, I find it fascinating to think about how contrasting were these two brothers out of the same home. Of course, we can simply say the radical newness Jesus proclaimed and lived out was the consequence of the Spirit that filled him. He saw something; he acted on it. James remained faithful to the whole tradition that was part of their parental home. But, Paul tells us the risen Christ appeared to James and we know from Paul’s letters and the Book of Acts that James became the leader of the Jerusalem Church. If we follow the story in Acts, Paul goes on the missionary journey with Barnabas, sent out by the Church in Antioch. Now, Antioch was a great metropolitan center. It was there that non-Jews, Gentiles, were first evangelized and it was in Antioch that followers of Jesus were first called Christians. Now you have a mixed congregation, an integrated congregation - Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The burning issue was whether the Gentiles would have to become Jews by practicing circumcision and observing the food laws. Some Jewish Christians came to Antioch from Jerusalem, saying there was no salvation except by observing the Jewish law. Paul strenuously objected. He had quite another vision. © Grand Valley State University �James, Best of Conservatism Richard A. Rhem Page 4   To settle the issue, a Council was called in Jerusalem. Each side presented their case – Peter told of his experience with Cornelius and the obvious lesson that God showed no partiality. Paul and Barnabas told of their experiences of God’s grace experienced by Gentiles on their mission trip. It was then James, leader and conscience of the Council, who spoke. He went to the Hebrew scriptures which pointed to a time when the Gentiles would be included and he made the decision ... we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God – He did counsel that they abstain from certain practices that would be especially offensive to the Jewish Christian congregants. The decision was affirmed. There you have James the Conservative who was also progressive – a new situation, new times, therefore modifications - Gentiles received as members of the Christian Church, recipients of the grace of God, possessors of the Holy Spirit, but not having to become observant Jews. James was conservative in that he searched the scripture tradition and found a basis for this innovation. But, what of James; what of James’ religious experiences? I am looking forward to the weekend in November when the Jewish scholar, Amy-Jill Levine, is with us. Her theme will be the breakup of Judaism and Christianity - What was lost? What was gained? We have in Paul and James the dilemma of two differing visions – Paul remained a Jew and the God of Israel was his God. But, the traditional religious observances came to be for Paul, and I suspect Peter, matters of indifference - to observe or not to observe; it was not something of critical import. Not so for James; he remained to his death fully observant and he was the leader of a Jewish Christian community, fully observant. He has an Epistle in the New Testament. It is interesting to read it next to Paul’s letter to the Galatians, for example, or Romans. James’ famous claim is Faith without works is dead. Paul claimed we are saved by grace alone through faith alone without any religious observance. Good works follow, worship follows, righteous living follows, but no religious observances or good works are elements of our salvation. Paul said Faith without works; James said Faith was demonstrated in works. What James calls for is certainly what we would claim as the proper response of grace - if a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, you supply those bodily needs. Faith without such works of compassion is dead. Certainly Paul would agree. But, where then was the difference? © Grand Valley State University �James, Best of Conservatism Richard A. Rhem Page 5   It was nuance; yet it was not without consequence. It created two different tone qualities in the religious communities. James was the best of the conservative end of the Christian spectrum because he made room for new practice and conditions in a new situation. But, he was conservative in that he remained in the original mold. Martin Luther with his explosive experience of God’s grace loved Paul and strongly disliked James. He called his letter an Epistle of Straw, although later in life he wondered if he had been too hard on James. Human society, political institutions, educational establishments, religious traditions are always in tension because all are enmeshed in the stream of history which is ever moving into new territory, gaining fresh perspective, discovering new information, creating novel experiences that call for innovative solutions and creative adjustment. For example, one of the great institutions of this nation is under siege - the Public School. Governor Jeb Bush has apparently succeeded in his intention to make Florida a total voucher system state. The Walton Foundation, created by the success of Wal-Mart, is behind a scholarship program to provide money for some 40,000 students to afford private schooling. These are simply examples of a sharp debate going on currently and destined to become more intense between advocates of public education ad advocates of private schooling. Where will it lead us? The conservative impulse warns about losing what has been a great shaper of the American ethos. The progressive reformers point to the weaknesses and failures of the public school. The Conservative will not stand pat, refusing change, but will insist that certain values and truths not be lost. The Progressive sees much that could well be left behind in the realization of a new vision. It is not so dangerous to speak of education in the Church; it is a step removed from the center of the religious community and thus not of such emotional intensity. But, what if we speak of confessional loyalty, biblical interpretation, congregational practice? It is the same kind of tension. That is why we have established the Center for Religion and Life and that is why we are bringing in the best of scholarship and people on the cutting edge of theological reflection and historical research. We are committed to conservatism and progress in a spirit of liberality. James lives here. He says with a sigh and some fear and trembling, "Well, okay. But remember, don’t forget!" He knows movement, evolution of knowledge and practice is the rule of life, but he is committed to preserving the light and truth of the founding vision. © Grand Valley State University �James, Best of Conservatism Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Marcus Borg, who will be with us next weekend, is not a James; he is rather a Paul in terms of a new vision. But, while his scholarship pushes him to a new vision, he clearly brings to that scholarship the experience of communion with God; he is a deeply spiritual person. His most recent publication is in collaboration with an English scholar, N. T. Wright, who is James all over again. In The Meaning of Jesus, they each write on the same question in each chapter, for example, "What Did Jesus Do and Teach?," "The Death of Jesus," on resurrection, virgin birth, "Was Jesus God?," "The Virgin Birth," the Second Coming and the Christian life. They were students together at Oxford University and they remain good friends, holding each other in high esteem and affection. And they take differing views on all the cardinal points of these biblical and theological questions. Thus, they are a model of civil discourse, of civility and humane value. From their conversation comes insight and fresh understanding. I read The Meaning of Jesus and have no question but that Marcus Borg has pursued the critical analysis of Christian origins, discerned the implications and created a fresh paradigm of the Christian vision. Wright’s scholarship is not in question, but he refuses to follow the data and continues to hold to an understanding of the Christian message not much different than I held when I left seminary 39 years ago this month. What makes a James, a Paul, a Marcus, a Tom Wright? What determines how we receive fresh insight, new information? How we respond to the implications of new knowledge? Some of us have conservative genes, some progressive genes, perhaps. Some of us float above with no earth-shaking experience; for some of us the earth moves beneath us and we see something radically different than we ever saw before. We need each other. We need to be in conversation. We don’t need fundamentalists, those who refuse to open themselves to new knowledge, refuse to think and simply reiterate yesterday’s answer to today’s question and most often with defensiveness and hostility born of insecurity. But, we need those like James who recognizes the need for new ways for new situations in the unfolding of history, but who holds to the ways of the past, finding there still that which keeps him in conscious communion with God. James was a really good person, serious, faithful, trustworthy - and you could talk to him. He was the best of conservatism. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c5e92c2efeb003348d8a10bed0dcfe50.mp3 188182a38f3a3f02ede6491c19500da4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide VII, Ascension Sunday Series Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture Text Acts 15:1-21, James 2:14-26 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990516 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-05-16 Title A name given to the resource James: The Best of Conservatism Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 16, 1999 entitled "James: The Best of Conservatism", as part of the series "Varieties of Religious Experience", on the occasion of Eastertide VII, Ascension Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 15:1-21, James 2:14-26. Conservative Grace Inclusive Progressive https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c683d499784cd6ea888f5a633a573be3.pdf 6b63068b7d4658c1281d86474b60e216 PDF Text Text Peter: A Rocky Road From the series: Varieties of Religious Experience Text: Acts 10:9-16; 34-35; Galatians 2:11-14; Matthew 16:13-23; 26:69-75 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan May 9, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon A gentleman visited a congregation on Sunday. He was quite taken with the service and really got into the sermon. He shouted "Amen," and a little later, "Hallelujah." People around him felt a bit uncomfortable, distracted, and some were annoyed. Then came the outburst of enthusiastic affirmation, "Amen, praise the Lord!" An usher approached the gentleman and tapped him on the shoulder, suggesting he restrain himself to which the man replied, "But, I got religion!,” to which the usher replied, "Well, you didn’t get it here!" That is a humorous way of saying that there is a variety of religious experiences and there is a classic study of religion by the American philosopher William James. He delivered the Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh in 1901-02, nearly a hundred years ago, and entitled his lectures The Varieties of Religious Experience. This Eastertide season we are looking at several examples of religious experience and the insight or understanding that marks the respective expressions. I am particularly focusing on the variety aspect of religious experience today because, along with the celebration of Mother’s Day, we broaden the focus to the Christian family and especially today, the welcoming of a group of young people who have completed a course of study about Christian faith and life as we understand it here. We have called this moment of recognition The Rite of Christian Identity, a rite of passage which we mark here in their lives - and not only theirs, but others of our youth who may not have followed this particular path of group instruction and experience. What we are doing is very intentional and it represents a significant change from the more traditional way we have viewed this moment in the past, a way that is still standard in most congregations. What we are doing is affirming our young people as members of this community of faith, this faith family, and encouraging them to assume responsibility for their ongoing faith journey along with us. © Grand Valley State University   �Peter: a Rocky Road Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In our ritual, what we do symbolically is transfer the candle to their hands. As an infant in arms they receive the sign of belonging; they are family - we baptize them and a candle is given to parents as a sign that they belong and as a sign that parents can use to nurture them in the consciousness that they belong - to God – to the family of God. Now a candle is placed in their hands as a sign that the time has come for them to assume the responsibility to nurture their own flame of faith. We have made two very significant changes as Christ Community. The first we made some years ago. Someone told me that at St. Peter’s Church in Geneva, Switzerland, where John Calvin preached, the pastor baptized the infant and then asked the parents to speak vows of faithful nurture. This was just the opposite from our practice, which I think reflected the practice of most congregations namely, asking the parents to speak their vows before baptizing the child. Upon hearing of the practice at St. Peter’s, I knew immediately that was the proper order, for it placed the baptism in the grace of God before any human intention or obligation. Sheer grace is bestowed in baptism; the child belongs because God claims the child - not because parents promise to be faithful. The second change we are enacting this morning. The traditional way of receiving young people into the Church was through the personal profession of faith in God through Jesus Christ, which in recent years we called Confirmation. Confirmation is a good word; we may yet resurrect it. The idea of confirmation is that the promises spoken over the infant at baptism are confirmed as true in the life of the youth. That is not so different from what we are doing this morning with this significant change. Today, as their pastor, I am not saying, "Do you believe this and that?" "Will you promise this or that?" Today I simply welcome; I declare to them what is already, in fact, true: they belong. They are members of this community of faith. Today I do not ask them to declare anything or step over some line. I do not call them to be converted, or to be saved, or whatever. Today we make one significant shift; we put the responsibility for spiritual growth and development in their own hands. Not that we abandon them now. They continue to live in our love and our prayerful concern for their wellbeing. But, we face them with the fact that we have done what we could for them. Finally, there is no force-feeding in the Christian life. They are a vital part of this community; they belong. But how they live out their life and develop their spirituality is now shifted to them, to their determination. These two significant changes are deeply rooted in our theological and biblical understanding. They are rooted, as well, in our understanding of human development. © Grand Valley State University �Peter: a Rocky Road Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Let me say a word about human development first. We have come to realize that these adolescent years are precisely the time young people do not need to be pressured to make a life decision. I do not claim to know much about developmental psychology, but this seems very clear to me; our young people in these tumultuous years with all the pressures of growing into young adulthood need to be embraced, included, assured and told quite clearly in word and ritual that they belong, that they are loved, respected, and cared for. There was a time, and in most places it is still the practice, when what we did was draw a line and invite them to step over to join us by some faith profession. And what if they weren’t sure intellectually, or secure emotionally? What if pressure of parent or pastor caused them to do it, but with some question or resistance? What if peer pressure said do it or peer pressure said don’t do it? And what of those who resisted the pressure and did not go through the routine? Or, going through the routine, decided not to proceed? All such considerations finally convinced us that this was not the time to put our sons and daughters through that kind of experience. Now is the time they need our warm, assuring embrace. That’s what we do today. You belong. Theologically, I believe that is proper. These young people have in their baptism the sign and seal of God’s Spirit. That is not a conditional promise with a time limit. There is no sunset clause connected with their being part of the family of God. A child baptized in infancy, nurtured in the biblical faith and Christian tradition cannot "join the Church." They are the Church. And I believe the best way to ensure their spiritual well-being is to let them know that, feel that, and to let them know that we are all together on a path of spiritual adventure and experience. Toward what do we point them today? Toward the movement from secondhand to firsthand spiritual experience. In the Gifford Lectures of William James, to which I referred earlier, James distinguishes secondhand religious experience and firsthand religious experience. What is secondhand experience? Let me quote him: I speak now of your ordinary religious believer, who follows the conventional observances of his country, whether it be Buddhist, Christian, or Mohammedan. His religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit. (Lecture I) That is an insightful analysis. What can we say but that that is the description of most religious observance of most religious people: someone else’s vision and awareness, transmitted over the generations by tradition, expressed in fixed forms which are imitated, ongoing through habit or custom. Secondhand religion © Grand Valley State University �Peter: a Rocky Road Richard A. Rhem Page 4   has its value; it has given structure to human existence as well as understanding and meaning to life. I suspect most of us who continue in religious observance do so in the secondhand variety. But, there is something more; something richer and more compelling - there is firsthand religious experience, religious experience that consists of my own insight, conviction and passion. It is the difference between saying, "The tradition or the Church teaches," and "I believe, I am convinced!" That it is to which we point our youth and, indeed, not only our youth, but all of us. For all of us the spiritual life is not a static set of beliefs and practices. If it is a vital part of our life, it is an ongoing adventure of fresh insight, deepening trust, sometimes the desert, the wilderness, the dark night of the soul. Sometimes a period of refreshing joy like the rain, rebirth. It is not a matter of being saved or lost - or being lost until one is saved by repeating the right words and phrases or praying "the believers prayer." Spiritual life is a journey with highs and lows, sunshine and heavy skies, and in it all is the God Who embraces us and through it all we are never abandoned. I think Peter is an example of the topsy-turvy ride of religious experience. In the Gospels, he seems to be the spokesperson for the disciples. In Matthew’s Gospel there is a critical juncture in the 16th chapter - Jesus asks who the disciples think he is. Peter blurts out his confession, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." Jesus says, "Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father in heaven." Then Jesus gives him a new name, or, perhaps better, a nick name. He calls him in Greek Petros, which is in the Greek language, "Rock." His father’s name was Jonah or John. Bar Jonah means son of John or we would say, John’s son, or simply Johnson. So, instead of being Simon Johnson, Jesus names him Rocky Johnson. Was Jesus endeavoring to give to Simon a new identity - of being like a rock? And if so, was it because Simon was shaky? After the question, "Who do you say I am?" Jesus went on to tell of his suffering and again Peter jumps in, not at all sensitive to what Jesus was saying, denying it in fact, so that Jesus rebukes him. "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me ..." From Rocky to Satan in one afternoon! © Grand Valley State University �Peter: a Rocky Road Richard A. Rhem Page 5   And then we read the story of Jesus’ arrest and Peter’s denial that he knew Jesus. Jesus had warned Peter of his proud presumption saying Peter would deny him three times and now Peter had done it - and he wept bitterly. Of course, in John’s Gospel, Peter is restored to service by Jesus, but it is interesting that when Jesus asks if Peter loves him, he uses the old name, Simon, son of John. Perhaps we shouldn’t make too much of that, but it is interesting. The lessons from Acts and Galatians are simply further indication of the unsteadiness of Peter. He has a vision on the rooftop, the message of which is that nothing is unclean. The vision has to do with foods clean and unclean - the ritual food laws of Judaism, but the message has to do with the wiping out of the distinction between people - Jews and Gentiles. Peter has the vision, is invited to the house of Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, and realizes God’s Spirit has been there before him. He gets the message: I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.... Acts 10:34-35 Great insight, Peter. Paul learned that, too, and he was preaching the Good News throughout Asia Minor. Peter visited him in the Galatian congregation and sat at table with the Gentiles - until some church visitors, Jewish Jesus folk from Jerusalem, arrived. Then Peter got up from the table of Jews and Gentiles and joined the Kosher only table. I use these snapshots from the life of Peter simply to illustrate my contention this morning that the Christian life is a spiritual journey with peaks and pitfalls. It is uneven, knowing periods of passionate engagement and lean seasons when there is little joy or passion. If it was true of Peter - or, should I say, Rocky Johnson, it will be true for most of us sometime. This is what I want our young people to know - that throughout their journey, whether it be faith’s springtime or winter chill, God keeps them. God was at your beginning, God will be at your end, and God will be with you . . In the meantime. That is so critical to know, to believe. You will hear other messages. And maybe other approaches to the life of faith will move you and attract you. And that is fine. We are not all the same; we respond to a variety of approaches and appeals. © Grand Valley State University �Peter: a Rocky Road Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Reading the Saturday newspaper, I read an article about a March for Jesus to be held in this community and the nation this month. I am not inclined to be a part of that, not because Jesus is not for me the way, the truth and the life, but because I sense something in the movement that doesn’t feel right to me. It is almost as though we need to hit the world over the head with Jesus. There is a militancy, a triumphalism about it that makes me uncomfortable. And that gives me occasion to say that the Grand Haven City Manager, Mr. Cotton, is absolutely right - constitutionally, of course, but even in terms of civility and sensitivity, in recommending that the cross be not raised on Dewey Hill in what is a national holiday. Thank God for our nation, our freedom, but do not connect cross and nation. It is to denigrate the cross, to identify its universality with a national celebration. That is sacrilege. Is that not part of what is happening in Kosovo and other points of conflict resulting in ethnic cleansing? Again, are we so insecure that we must become so blatant? Next month an evangelist, John Guest, will conduct an evangelistic crusade in Grand Haven and there will be a youth dimension as part of the crusade. There you will hear quite a different word than you’ve heard from me. John Guest is a friend, an honorable Christian leader. Some years ago he preached here and some of you knew and came to love him during the 60s when he carried on a beach ministry. There will be a straightforward preaching of the traditional Gospel of salvation and an invitation to turn one’s life over to Jesus, to be saved, to use the old language. And some of you just might need such a clear call and challenge. But, hear it as a further challenge on your spiritual journey, not as one lost in danger of hell. I read the publication of a high school youth ministry in this area, First Priority, which also clearly distinguishes the saved from the lost and seeks to use the "saved kids" to win "the lost kids." Apparently they are successful. But, I wince at the easy classification of the saved and the lost. Who has a right to determine that, and on what basis? Again, there are varieties of religious experience; different people respond to different approaches and appeals. I do not want to be understood this morning preaching against anyone or any organization. But, I do want to be clear with our own youth. I want the message of this community to be loud and clear because I do believe we offer an alternative variety of religious experience. You belong. God loves you. God’s grace includes you. And you are invited to the rich spiritual adventure of living in this faith community and finding your own firsthand experience. © Grand Valley State University �Peter: a Rocky Road Richard A. Rhem Page 7   We have done what we can do. We have given you the ingredients of a secondhand religious experience. Now, with that as part of you, find your way to your own personal experience, knowing all the time you cannot fall out of the love of God. And you will know when you are well on the way when the fruit of your life is marked by compassion, joy, peace, love, gentleness, kindness, and self control. You are beautiful. We believe in you. Find your way and know you will always be home here. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/afa8ffbd76f1258321a6515a8341cc2d.mp3 50b691dc8b2f94cb6f6b78b10082ec77 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide VI, Mother's Day Series Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture Text Acts 10:9-16, 34-35, Galatians 2:11-14, Matthew 16:13-23, 26:69-75 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990509 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-05-09 Title A name given to the resource Peter: A Rocky Road Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 9, 1999 entitled "Peter: A Rocky Road", as part of the series "Varieties of Religious Experience", on the occasion of Eastertide VI, Mother's Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 10:9-16, 34-35, Galatians 2:11-14, Matthew 16:13-23, 26:69-75. Community of Faith Inclusive Mother's Day https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b9a293fd373dc0a6b7b58b0923580fff.pdf b5c3ab4334ea60fc6feabb2d2758b308 PDF Text Text Paul: Simply Wrong About History From the series: Varieties of Religious Experience Text: I Thessalonians 4:16-17; I Corinthians 15:22-24 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 25, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon Nancy and I have finally succeeded in securing our future just in case Jesus doesn’t come in the year 2000. We consolidated our pension funds. We have a very fine financial advisor who lives in New Jersey and we’re so very happy with him. Michael is not only competent and honest, but he is also a committed churchman, a Christian, who seems to have a real personal concern for us, and he comes through once or twice a year to hold our hand and say, "All will be well." Michael came through this week. He is just finishing a term as Moderator of a large Presbytery in New Jersey, and so he’s really interested in the Church and he has been interested in Christ Community and in case anybody is at all interested, I have a dozen or two tapes I have at all times at the ready. (Silver and gold have I none, but sermons I have aplenty). And so, I share these around; they grow legs and crawl all over the globe. He must have gotten a tape from Advent, this past Advent when I announced rather boldly in the season in which we celebrate the fact that Jesus came and is coming again, that Jesus wasn’t coming. Remember that? Jesus isn’t coming again. Michael said he was listening to that as he was driving along on the New Jersey Turnpike and he almost ran off the road. He said to me, "Could you get me a printed copy? I’d like to study that." And he sort of still had a dazed look. Well, what I’d like to do today is to say that Jesus is not coming again and the reason we’ve been confused about that for so long is that Paul had it all wrong. Paul was wrong about history. Paul was wrong about history in terms of the time line, where he thought he was in the time line of universal history, and that caused him to be wrong about the meaning and significance of world history. Now, I understand it’s a bit presumptuous to take on the great Apostle, but hear me out this morning. Paul was obviously wrong about the time line. I have said that here for a long time. I mean, you can’t deny that. Paul had it wrong about where things were in the whole cosmic journey. Paul didn’t even grasp, through no fault of his, but simply that the information was not available about the whole nature of the unfolding of the cosmos and billions of years and this bio-historicalevolutionary trajectory on which we find ourselves. Paul thought that the End © Grand Valley State University   �Paul Wrong About History Richard A. Rhem Page 2   was very near, the end of his world as he knew it, the world as it was organized at his time. He thought the End had come, and he believed that in the death and resurrection of Jesus the climax had been reached and all that was left now was a brief interregnum, that is, a brief interim period in which Jesus was reigning from heaven, soon to return and bring all things to their consummation. Now, as I said, I have said for a long time here that Paul had that wrong. That’s obvious. Paul said Jesus was coming soon. Jesus hasn’t come yet. You can’t very well get the Apostle off the hook on that. He expected the imminent return of Jesus to wrap up all things, and that’s obvious in the readings of this morning. The first kind of labored paragraph that I read beginning with verse 12 shows that in Paul’s mind there was an intimate connection between the resurrection of Jesus and the general resurrection. If one didn’t happen, the other wouldn’t happen. If one happened, the other would happen, and they were intimately connected, and in order to maintain that intimate connection, even though Jesus was resurrected and glorified and the rest hadn’t happened, Paul used the figure of speech, the "first fruits." Jesus was the first fruit of those who would rise, but the first fruit, you know, is the first ear of corn that is ripe, the first tassel of oats that is ripe, the first apple, the first strawberry, that is the first fruits. You say, "Ah, we got one ripe." But, the first one ripe doesn’t precede the rest by very long or you have a problem, and when there is a hiatus between the first one ripe and the rest, something is out of kilter. That was the image that Paul was using Christ the first fruits, and then the rest at his coming, and his coming has to be rather soon in order for him even to conceive of first fruits, and he had to conceive of it that way because there was an intimate connection between the resurrection of Christ and the general resurrection, in Paul’s thinking. Paul goes on, then, to give us the scenario of the End in his understanding at that time, for Christ is presently reigning, subduing all contrary powers after which he will yield up the kingdom to the Father in order that God may be all in all. All of that, obviously, is to happen in relatively short order. Jesus will return after he has subdued all contrary power. The dead in Christ will rise, and he will turn it all over to God, big "G." That he believed that and that he preached that is obvious from his letter to the Thessalonians. He went there, founded a congregation, then kept in touch with them, as he did with the congregations he had founded, dealing with the problems that cropped up, and at Thessalonica, the problem that cropped up was that he had taught them so well that Jesus had come, died, was resurrected in order to give them eternal life, and would soon return, that they got up every morning and said, "Maybe today is the day," and they looked skyward hoping there would be a rift in the sky and the appearance of the Son of Man on clouds. Then, a loved one died, and then another loved one died, and they began to look at each other and ask, "Will our loved ones who died before the grand event miss out?" © Grand Valley State University �Paul Wrong About History Richard A. Rhem Page 3   So, Paul said, "I write these things to you that you grieve not as those who have no hope, for if we believe that those who fall asleep in Jesus God will bring with him," and then he gets into the apocalyptic imagery of the trumpet and the angel and then we who are alive at the time, Paul expecting still to be a part of that company who would be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, who has brought with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus before the grand event, and so he says the only thing that’s really important in that paragraph, "We will be forever with the Lord. Comfort one another with these words." He was dealing with a very concrete, pastoral problem that was precipitated by his preaching of the imminent coming of Jesus who didn’t come soon enough in order to get there before Aunt Bessie died. Obviously, this is what Paul believed. This is what he proclaimed, and he was wrong. He was wrong about the time line of history. And being wrong about the time line of history, which is beyond refute, he gives us a distorted sense of the significance of history, of our present experience, of our human experience, of our ordinary experience before the face of God, and I think that you will see that quite readily when you will remember that Paul was obviously in the apocalyptic mode and the shorthand for explaining that is simply to say that Paul was a throwback to John the Baptist. We’ve looked at that, time and again here, most recently in our Lenten series where we saw how Jesus distanced himself from John the Baptist because John the Baptist was calling down fire and judgment from heaven and the outpouring of the wrath of God and the vengeance of God on all that was evil and in opposition to God, as well as the salvation of the chosen. John participated in the very widespread and pervasive apocalyptic expectation of his day, and so did Paul. If we had time, we could read on in the second chapter of Thessalonians, and you would see all of the apocalyptic imagery is there, including the vengeance of God. Paul is talking now about the vengeance of God being poured out at the coming of Jesus from heaven who has been received into heaven for this little brief period of time. Paul was apocalyptic, and apocalypticism was in the air between 200 before Christ to 100 after Christ. During that whole 300-year period, Jewish thought was permeated with apocalyptic expectation; it was in the air. John the Baptist was the one who was waiting for God to do something, and Paul knew that God had done something but hadn’t finished it yet and would soon take care of the rest, bringing all things to consummation - God’s vengeance on the unbeliever, God’s chosen justified. Thus for Paul and his contemporaries, life between Jesus’ ascension and his coming again was an interim. They were cooling their heels and waiting for the end to come. To Corinth he writes, ... the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not © Grand Valley State University �Paul Wrong About History Richard A. Rhem Page 4   rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. I Corinthians 7:29-31 So, sit loosely, don’t get encumbered. That was counsel for an interim, temporary experience and that must be a limited, less than normal kind of human existence. Paul was quite uninterested in everyday ordinary human life. And Paul was not really interested in the life of the historical Jesus. Once he says we knew him after the flesh, but we know him thus no more. The reigning Christ about to return was Paul’s total focus. Jesus’ life and concrete existence played no part. Now, this is the opposite of the case with the Gospels. There God’s salvation is embodied in a very real human life. Incarnation is key and the historical Jesus is concerned about very concrete human life, about justice and mercy, about table fellowship and healing of the body - in a word, about transforming the human situation dominated by power issuing in violence. For Paul, the present was a time of feverish activity - proclaiming the Gospel, calling to repentance, getting as many into the number of the saved as possible before the end arrived. Now to make Paul’s understanding of the time between the two comings normative would miss the meaning and significance of human existence and human history which comes to expression much better in the life of Jesus, where we claim the eternal God was embodied, incarnate. What’s an alternative to Paul’s missed reading of the times, which led to a misunderstanding of the nature of things? Well, the alternative, I think, is what we see currently in the research on the historical Jesus. Dominic Crossan introduced us to a Jesus whose life was a non-violent protest in the name of the God of justice. The Jesus who distanced himself from John the Baptist who had said, "God can’t you do something," and Jesus rather representing a God Who said, "Why don’t you do something?" The difference is a God in the face of Jesus, as Marcus Borg will speak of Jesus, a Spirit person, concretely in human existence, healing and embracing. I mean, you have to sense that this is so. Obviously, if the curtain of history is going to ring down very soon, as Paul thought, then you adjust your life one way. You certainly don’t celebrate birthdays. No need to plant a seedling or to clean up a river. I suppose you might celebrate flowers, but you’d see a cut flower as a symbol of everything that was soon to wither away. The alternative would be to see that God is to be known and served and worshiped in this life, that it is not "out there," but right here and right now that I am to live before the face of God, that it is here and now that I am to find © Grand Valley State University �Paul Wrong About History Richard A. Rhem Page 5   meaning for my human existence, that it is here and now that I am to be the continuing embodying of the Spirit of God as was uniquely embodied in Jesus. It makes all the difference in the world how I look at my world, how I meet my day, how I live my life, whether I think that I have to simply endure and hold on until ..., or whether I recognize that this is the place, for God’s sake, where God has placed me to live before the face of god, to love justice, kindness, walk humbly with my God, embrace my neighbor and to find meaning and significance in my ordinary days. "Ah," you say, "this world? This life? What of shootings and violence in Colorado? What of bombings in Kosovo and Belgrade? What of the constant eruption of evil and darkness? This world is that to which you would point us for meaning and significance and communion with God?" I would say, "Yes," for this life is not only violence and darkness. It is also a marvelous spring morning in which there are blossoms with the prodigality of color to delight the eye. It is also a world of an Olivia and Alexandra, beautiful creatures, children who smile, as well as dirty diapers. It is also a world in which one can look into the eyes of another and say, ‘I love you.’ It is a world that has all the potential to self-destruct and lie in ruins, or a world that has all the possibility of being a human community, a family where hands are joined and hearts entwined and peace reigns. NATO at fifty? Bombing, but bombing in order to say "No" to an inhumane monstrosity because we have come to see that we cannot stand by and allow that to be. Haclav Havel, addressing the NATO leaders, said, "Peace is something which we must be willing to defend." I can understand the temptation to cry: “God, can’t you do something? Take me out of here!" The answer is "No, I have put it in your hands. You do something." Paul was wrong in the time line. He is not a prophetic voice to follow in wringing the best out of human life and history. There’s something so much better. David Hartman, the Rabbi who has taught me so much, is the first person who incarnated for me one who could live fully today without all of that eschatological baggage and all of those questions about the future that we really don’t know anything about, but could well just leave to God. I got a letter from him recently and in a lecture that he gave, the Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture, he concluded it with these words, My primary interest is in being alive and in finding significance in everyday reality. History has holiness, not because it points to the messianic kingdom. History has holiness when it provides opportunities to © Grand Valley State University �Paul Wrong About History Richard A. Rhem Page 6   live in a covenantal relationship with God. History has significance when we can bring God into everyday life. And all God’s people said ... Amen. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/28a24b66e41746f4045e6e1be44a5921.mp3 720078e80e231a9ee2639b9563fb845c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide IV Series Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture Text I Thessalonians 4:16-17, I Corinthians 15:22-24 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990425 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-04-25 Title A name given to the resource Paul: Simply Wrong About History? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 25, 1999 entitled "Paul: Simply Wrong About History?", as part of the series "Varieties of Religious Experience", on the occasion of Eastertide IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Thessalonians 4:16-17, I Corinthians 15:22-24. Compassion Eschatology Justice Resurrection https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/86deabe2a1764b120a9f44f4ccac802e.pdf 2fd3f8468b2e3ed7649e09e3c319fb70 PDF Text Text Paul: Civil War; The Human Dilemma From the series: Varieties of Religious Experience Text: Acts 8:1, 8:3, 9:14; Romans 7:19, 24-25 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 18,1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon In 1902, William James, considered by many to be America’s foremost philosopher who had moved into the field of psychology, delivered the Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh, Scotland, one of the most prestigious lecture series still in the world today, and he entitled his lectures, "The Varieties of Religious Experience." His lectures have become a classic, The Varieties of Religious Experience, a very fine read if you ever see it on the book shelf. I read those this week, because in Eastertide I want to be thinking about some of the different responses to Jesus Christ, to his death and resurrection and the expectation of his coming. People are different, and our religious response varies from individual to individual, and I was somewhat interested in what William James had to say about Paul, for example. Paul’s story is familiar to us. I didn’t read the account in Acts, but we know that he was a Pharisee, the strictest sort of observant Jew, who were very fine people, but who get bad press in the New Testament because of the antagonism. Paul was also so committed to the Jewish faith and its propagation that he saw the Jesus Jewish movement as a threat, so he was on his way to stamp it out, on the way to Damascus, for example. He was knocked off his horse with a bright light and a voice said, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Going into Damascus, received with fear and trembling by the little community of Jewish Jesus people there, he receives baptism and he becomes the great Apostle, St. Paul. St. Paul is one of the significant figures in the whole of our western history and has had a tremendous shaping affect on our understanding of the Christian gospel. Paul did see something. Paul was a radical in that he went to the root and he had a vision, an understanding of the gospel of God in Jesus Christ which has shaped the whole Christian tradition, subsequently. There are those who say Jesus was not the founder of Christianity, but Paul was, and one can make a case for that, actually. Paul saw something and he spent the rest of his life telling the story of Jesus, proclaiming faith in Jesus Christ, establishing churches, and so forth, and we © Grand Valley State University   �Paul: Civil War, Human Dilemma Richard A. Rhem Page 2   speak about that Damascus Road experience as Paul’s conversion. But, that really isn’t right, for Paul wasn’t converted. Paul never thought of himself as anything but a Jew. Paul never served or worshiped any God but the God of Israel. What happened to Paul in that Damascus Road experience was not so much a conversion as a calling, and it was in that experience that he felt called to take the news of Jesus to the Gentile world, because what Paul believed, what he saw, what so startled him was the fact that Jesus Christ was the means by which God was overcoming that ancient separation of the Jew and all the rest of the people. Jew - Gentile. If you weren’t a Jew, you were a Gentile. In his Letter to the Ephesians, he uses the term, "That middle wall of partition" that separated the Jew from all the rest. In Jesus Christ, Paul was convinced that that wall was taken down and the grand vision that Paul had was this sense that, in Jesus Christ, what God was doing was creating one new humanity. That great gulf was being bridged, and Paul had as his passion to be the instrument by which that Gentile world would come to God through Jesus Christ and, in that, be united with Israel, with the Jew, and there would no longer be that great separation, but one community of the people of God. He began to see that he was the instrument of the bringing in of the Gentile, and the bringing in of the Gentile was literally bringing into the covenant of grace, bringing into the aegis of the God of Israel. That’s really what was happening. There were congregations that he founded all over the place and they were composed of Gentile converts and Jewish Christians, or we can say Jesus Jews. And in any community where he went, that was the makeup and in such a makeup there was the beginning of the realization of his great hope and his vision, but also there was great tension. Paul had no argument, really, with the Jew. Paul remained a Jew. Paul was an observant Jew when he was with Jews, according to his own word. Let’s just say, for example, that this half of the house are Jewish Christians, Jews who have come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. This half of the house, Gentiles. Any kind of a mix of religious experience was pagan, whatever you want to call it. Now, Paul, when he’s with this crowd, is kosher. When he’s with the other crowd, he has ham on buns. And he does that with good conscience, because he realizes that all of those religious rituals and ordinances and regulations are finally inconsequential. He has had an experience of God in Jesus Christ that transcends all of his religious observance. But, he doesn’t derogate it; he’s not negative about it, and he continues, in order to win the Jew, to be a Jew when he’s with Jews, and to win the Gentiles, to be a Gentile when he’s with the Gentiles. Problem: As long as you stay on your side of the house and you stay on your side of the house, no problem. But, what happens when we have a banquet, a potluck, and the Gentile Christians say, "Ach, we’ll cook this time?" Menu? Ham. What are you going to do? You’re observant Jews, even though you believe in Jesus as the Messiah. Now there’s a little kink in the community, and we can laugh about it, © Grand Valley State University �Paul: Civil War, Human Dilemma Richard A. Rhem Page 3   but it was a serious problem. We know that it was so serious that Peter and Paul had a confrontation in Galatia, and those good Jewish people who came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah continued to think of themselves as Jewish, they continued to follow Torah, they observed Sabbath, they observed the dietary laws, they practiced circumcision. Nothing really changed so much, except that they saw in Jesus God’s onward movement, Jesus the Messiah who eventually will come and finish it all. But, over here, there is no knowledge of that background, no sensitivity to that background, and now you’re trying to forge one new community, a people with that kind of diversity, and there was tension. Paul had been a happy Jew. Sometimes we think of Paul as having this bad conscience and burden of sin, but that’s not Paul. If you read Paul through Martin Luther and St. Augustine, then you get the bad conscience and the heavy burden of sin and heavy guilt and all that. Augustine with his profligate life, never got over it, and screwed us up in the West in our understanding of sexuality ever since. And Luther with his tormented soul, learning from Augustine. Tormented soul: "How can I find a gracious God?" Both of them went back to Paul, and we read Paul through Luther, through Augustine. But, that wasn’t Paul. You read in Philippians, the third chapter, Paul’s autobiographical notes, he says in regard to the law, "I was blameless," and as Krister Stendahl says in his discussion of Paul, Paul had a robust conscience. Paul didn’t go mealy-mouthing around, groveling in the dust. Paul had a very good sense of who he was and what he had been as a Jew, and he is not really responsible for what has been done to him and the interpretation through Augustine and Luther and into Protestantism, especially Reformed Protestantism. Paul, himself, Krister Stendahl says, according to his character and his academic achievements, was a very happy Jew. But, he had seen something more, and what he had seen is that it was possible to transcend his highly respected Judaism into a more spiritual, transforming relationship with God, and his concern was to get these two groups together. He knew that in order to get them together, that this group could not go over here and become Jewish. He fought that to the death. And he knew that these people couldn’t simply come over here and give up their Judaism, but he knew both of them could find a meeting place in the grace of God in Jesus Christ by faith, not by religious observance. Now, you may ask, "If Paul wasn’t one of these guys groveling in the dust, what about chapter seven of Romans that you read?" Well, let me tell you about chapter seven of Romans. You have to read it in the context. To whom is Paul speaking? Paul is speaking to Jewish Christians. If you read the beginning of the chapter, he’s speaking to those who know about Torah and all that stuff. And so, he wants to show them that the Torah way won’t finally get the job done. He’s come to see that, and he wants them to see that so that they can let go of it, so that they can move here. And so, he gives them a little commentary on Genesis, chapter three, verses 7-12 of the seventh of Romans. He © Grand Valley State University �Paul: Civil War, Human Dilemma Richard A. Rhem Page 4   says, "You remember the story - in the beginning when God formed a garden, created Adam and Eve and said to them, ‘Now look, there is orchard after orchard after orchard. You can eat any of the fruit. But, there’s one tree in the middle. Don’t touch it.’" Paul says, "What happened? They touched it." I mean, what happens to you when I say, "No?" You say, "Yes." Or, when I say, "Yes," you say, "No." Paul said, "I’ve discovered there is something in the human being that is contrary and you say you can’t have it, covetousness begins to generate, and I want it." And so, Paul says there is nothing wrong with the command, nothing wrong with the Law. But the Law exacerbated the human situation. The old serpent, the liar, comes and says to Eve, "What did God say?" Eve says, "Well, God said we could have a lot of stuff." "Oh, but not that one, eh? You know why? Because God knows that the moment you eat that fruit, the moment you go against the command, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, and you will have the knowledge of good and evil." For once, the old liar wasn’t lying, because that’s just what happened. She took the fruit, she shared it with Adam, and their eyes were opened, and they looked at each other and knew that they were naked, which is not a statement about having no clothes on, but is a statement about their real condition. They took the fruit and awareness dawned on them. They took the fruit and they became like God, knowing the difference between good and evil, they gained a moral sense. They came to consciousness and awareness and their mind blew. That is a parable. It is a profound parable, and Paul says, "That’s what the Law does. It exacerbates that in the human person which is contrary and it excites the opposite response." Well, we call that the Fall. I think it’s Milton in his Paradise Lost who speaks about the paradox about the fortunate Fall. Now, tell me, if you were Eve and you had it to do all over again, what would you do, knowing what you know? Would you live in blissful ignorance, unconscious, unaware, like the rest of the animals that Adam named? Or, would you also, knowing the consequence, take the fruit and have your eyes opened and come to awareness and find in the wake of that all of the hell on earth, from Kosovo to the Holocaust to broken promises and the tragedy that stalks our steps? What would you do? Garden of Eden? Garden of Eden in Paradise? Unaware so that, well, excuse my language, like a dog you could urinate, defecate or copulate at ease, any time, any place, with total unawareness. Do you ever look at a dog and envy the dog? That © Grand Valley State University �Paul: Civil War, Human Dilemma Richard A. Rhem Page 5   beautiful innocence, unaware. Or, would you, too, bite the apple and pay the price of human being? Now, Paul paints that picture in order to say to Jewish Christians who are following Torah, "Look where following religious observances finally leads. Legalism, moralism, obligation, dotting the i, crossing the t, can keep you hedged in, but it will never transform you inwardly so you are sprung free to soar with the Spirit." He was trying to say to the Jewish Christian community there is another way than Torah. He says, "Look, Torah? It is good and righteous and holy. It is of God. With my mind, I affirm it. Everything that it entails, I affirm with my mind. But, this mental, spiritual part of us," Paul says, "is housed in a body and because it’s housed in a body with all of the drives and all of the coercions and all of the temptations and all of the seductions, there’s a civil war going on within the human being. With the law of my mind, I serve God. With the law of my flesh, I serve sin." Paul says flesh battles against spirit and the spirit battles against flesh, and I don’t understand my own actions. The good that I would, I don’t do, and the evil I would not do, I do, oh wretch that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Can any of you identify with that? Don’t tell me. Don’t raise your hands. I wouldn’t want your spouse to know. Can you identify with that? Is that not the human dilemma? Are we not the battleground? Are we not caught up in a civil war between that which we affirm in our spiritual selves and that which we actually live out in this body of death? Paul was trying to say to the Jewish Christian community which was still observing Torah that that’s not the answer, and we could get you all together if you could see what I see, if you could see that there is the possibility for a freedom in the spirit of Jesus Christ. The eighth chapter of Romans is that marvelous chapter on life in the Spirit and it is Paul’s answer to that civil war that he finds within himself. I read William James and found him fascinating. Paul is Paul. Augustine was Augustine; Luther was Luther; John Bunyan of Pilgrim’s Progress, with the load on his back, was John Bunyan - we all respond differently. We all come with a different set of hormones and genes and backgrounds, environments, but William James did say there were two distinct kinds of people: there were the healthy-minded and the sick soul. The healthy-minded, the sunny personality, like a Walt Whitman who revels in this life, revels in the world, revels in the grass and the flowers and the trees, who never seems to have a cloud in the sky. And then there are the Augustines and the Luthers, such like, that seem tormented always with this sense of failure, of condemnation, the burden of guilt they never seem to get rid of. There are different people and religions can exacerbate it or reinforce one or the other. © Grand Valley State University �Paul: Civil War, Human Dilemma Richard A. Rhem Page 6   But, William James says, in regard to the healthy-minded like a Whitman, there is finally a superficiality there because, he says, it won’t do for one to just whistle a happy tune. It will not do for one to whistle in the dark, to deny the darkness. We are not isolated individuals. We cannot be cognizant of what’s going on in Kosovo without our being caught up with it, and if we think long enough and deeply enough into our own hearts and look around us, we know that there is a certain tragedy that is a part of the human scene. There is suffering; there is misery; and finally we die, and anybody who thinks long and hard about that, knows that it is not enough simply to whistle under a sunny, blue sky as though that’s all there is. There’s more to it than that, and Paul knew that that "more to it" was the very kind of nature that we have, this human nature that can affirm the law of God with the mind and get all caught up in selfishness and greed and hostility and hatred and anger and create a Kosovo or a Holocaust and the impossible darkness that is a part of our human scene. So, William James, very sensitively dealing with these things, says, "Healthy-mindedness has its limits." And while he would not advocate that we all become examples of the sick soul person, nonetheless, we do recognize that also within us there is raging a civil war which sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, and I suspect that Paul, who had this vision of one grand humanity, and the possibility of it by seeing this salvation by faith in the grace of God, may have overplayed his hand. If you read the eighth chapter of Romans, it will give you goose bumps. There are marvelous passages there, but I’m not sure that one moves chronologically from Romans seven to Romans eight and ever gets rid of Romans seven. I think to our dying day we will live as divided personalities. I think to our dying day we will struggle with this body of death which will not cooperate with the nobility and the magnificence that this mind can envision, and our soaring with the Spirit of God in the heights will never pull us free fully from our anchorage in the mud and the physicality of this body that is the house and the ground of the Spirit. Paul may have promised more than any of us will ever realize, but he did see that it is not in religious observance, it is not in the fulfillment of heavy obligation, it is not in prescribing to legalism or moralism, but it is in catching a glimpse of grace that there lies the possibility for some freedom from the struggle. He did understand that what we all need to hear is that we are accepted. This is the point at which traditionally and still too often in the Church the minister takes the occasion to exacerbate the load of guilt and the sense of failure of the people. This is the point in this message when this preacher would like to say to you, "Drop your guilt. Let it go. It doesn’t help. There’s nothing positive about it. It will do you no good, except keep you bound at a point at which you will not know the freedom of grace." © Grand Valley State University �Paul: Civil War, Human Dilemma Richard A. Rhem Page 7   We’ll never shed this shell as long as we live. We’re never going to get beyond the human dilemma. But, it’s a human dilemma. It’s a human possibility, and it’s a humanity embraced by God, Who, after all, as the Psalmist says, "Knows our frame and remembers that we are dust," making us thus. Maybe the finest statement of what I am trying to say was written by Paul Tillich: It strikes us when our disgust of our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us, as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes, at that moment, a wave of light breaks into our darkness and it is as though a voice were saying, "You are accepted. You are accepted." Accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now. Perhaps you’ll find it later. Do not try to do anything now. Perhaps you will do much later. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted and, if that happens, you have experienced grace. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b63efb6c4c3ceec0e2825ef99eb719b0.mp3 e8ab868094ec9b7909183b74d5e4190e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide III Series Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture Text Acts 8:1, ,9:14, Romans 7:19, 24-25 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990418 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-04-18 Title A name given to the resource Paul: Civil War; The Human Dilemma Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 18, 1999 entitled "Paul: Civil War; The Human Dilemma", as part of the series "Varieties of Religious Experience", on the occasion of Eastertide III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 8:1, ,9:14, Romans 7:19, 24-25. Forgiveness Grace Inclusive Transcendence https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/16dd2ff5245dadf2f636d112ef2e7e02.pdf 9407e0b0c1ca8b8a6a0575953663d5d0 PDF Text Text Jesus: Episode or Epiphany? From the series: Varieties of Religious Experience Text: John 1:1, 14, 17; II Corinthians 4:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 11, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon I find that it’s really wonderful to grow old; actually, every decade has been better than the one before. But, there is a downside, too - one doesn’t necessarily go right off into dreamland immediately, as sometimes one wakes up two or three times during the night, for whatever reason. When I can’t get to sleep, I do a little late night surfing. When Jay Leno’s having a bad night and when I’m really, really desperate to sleep, I’ll tune into a TV preacher because preaching, you know, has been defined as one man talking in another man’s sleep. Of course, I’m always thinking about what’s coming up to preach and I just happened a couple nights ago to see a rather well known TV preacher and he was preaching about the resurrection of our bodies and, toward the end of the service, as these services tend to go, there was the presentation of the Gospel, the invitation aspect where one is invited to become a Christian, to believe in Jesus, and so forth, and the ritual is pretty much the same. I’ve done it myself in years past. I know it pretty well; I know all the Bible verses that go with it. We are sinners; we cannot help ourselves; we stand under the condemnation of God; God sent Jesus, God’s son, into the world to bear our sin as a penalty for our sin on the cross, and God raised him up as indication that the sacrifice had been received and now there was forgiveness and there was heaven for all who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus. And that was all very familiar. I’m sure it’s very familiar to almost everyone here. At one point the TV preacher got down on his knee, and he said, "If you will say, ‘God, I believe Jesus was Your Son, I believe Jesus died for my sin, I give myself to him, forgive me and make me Your child,’" and then he said, "It’s done. If you do that, it’s done. You are a new creation and you are no longer under condemnation and you have the promise of eternal life." I tell you that story because I’ve been thinking about Jesus - whether or not Jesus is an episode or an epiphany, and I thought to myself that that is the traditional Gospel paradigm of evangelical, conservative Christianity really in all of its aspects, all of its branches. Jesus is an episode. Now, the word episode comes from the Greek language, and it refers to the entrance of something in-between, such as in the Greek tragedies, with two great © Grand Valley State University   �Jesus: Episode or Epiphany? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   choral pieces and an act, a part of the play between separating the two great choral pieces, and so an episode is something complete in itself, but a part of a larger picture. I thought to myself that is the traditional understanding of Jesus Christ and what Jesus has done. Jesus is an episode in God’s grand creative sweep of things. Jesus came in from outside because God is outside. Jesus becomes the Divine Intruder; God sends Jesus who intervenes into our history for a brief time in order to do something, in order to effect our salvation primarily, supremely, in his death bearing our sins, taking our guilt, making a sacrifice acceptable to God, making us, thereby, who believe in him, acceptable to God. Jesus comes in, accomplishes that work, and departs. He’s in again, out again. It’s an episode. That really is the way traditionally that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been presented. And like the TV preacher says, that was good news because we are fallen, under condemnation, incapable, and therefore in need of being saved. Now, there’s nothing new in that. That’s just "old hat." You learned it first in Kindergarten. But, what if the world is not fallen? What if creation is not fallen? What if humankind is not totally depraved and totally incapable of salvaging itself? What if there was not a moment of pristine perfection in paradise from which everything fell to this present abysmal state? Then, how would one understand what Jesus did? Then why would Jesus come? What if we are not fallen from some pristine perfection but, rather, what if we are clawing our way out of the jungle? What if we are slithering out of the slime? What if we, in our animality and our bestiality, are trying to move by the nudging of God’s creative Spirit toward the manifestation of Spirit? What if we are as humankind on a long trajectory which began billions of years ago in an inanimate state, moving to animate state, to life, to self-conscious life, to human life, to tribal existence? And what if we do not so much need to be redeemed from a fallen state, but continue to be beckoned to that intention of God for us? What if, in the midst of our human darkness, we saw a face, we encountered a human being, and we saw there something that was deep and true, and we said, "Oh, I see." That, of course, would be an epiphany, wouldn’t it? For epiphany also comes from the Greek language, and the epi begins it as episode, but that’s the prefix which can be moved around a bit in terms of the context of the root word of the intention of the statement. An epiphany is manifestation; it is that moment of intuitive insight. It is that flash of insight. It is that "Aha" moment. It is that which we speak of when we say, "It dawned upon me. Suddenly it dawned upon me." We see something and we see deep down into the truth and the nature of things. What if Jesus was not sent from outside in to assume our human nature, but what if Jesus, in the intention of God, became that moment in our history when there was full-blown a human being whom to look upon would be to say, "My God!" and whom to look upon would lead one to say, "And there, by the grace of © Grand Valley State University �Jesus: Episode or Epiphany? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   God, I ought to be. I must be." What if such a manifestation were not coming into the historical drama, but arising within the historical drama? (Even now that I say that, I can hear Karl Barth rolling over in his grave, so intent to deny that history could lead to the manifestation of anything divine. Nonetheless, down, Karl, listen to me.) What if the historical, biological, evolutionary track on which we find ourselves at that point, call it the fullness of time, if you will, but at that point, emerged in the humanity of Jesus who, according to the intentions of God and through the creative Spirit of God was that epiphany of what God is all about, what God is and what God is about? Then Jesus would not be simply an episode, sent, then, to do something, a grand transaction, leaving again, preparing for us a kind of salvation that would spring us loose from this veil of tears, this realm of darkness, promising to us peace with God and eventual home in heaven. But, what if Jesus came into the midst of history according to the purpose of God in order to show us what history was to be all about, what the intention of God was for our history? What if Jesus wasn’t just an episode? What if Jesus was that manifestation of what is true everywhere at all time, what God has been about from the beginning and what God will be about to the end? What if Jesus was the epiphany, a realization, an incarnation of God’s eternal intention? I think Paul and John were trying to say that, but let me be honest. Paul and John were episodic. Jesus was an episode for Paul and for John and I don’t try to make John and Paul into something else. Jesus came in from outside and left again, and in the Gospel of John, the 14th chapter, Jesus says, "I came from the father and I return to the father." John understood Jesus as an episode. Paul understood Jesus as an episode. Paul understood Jesus as an episode coming in to effect the salvation of the world which was going to end very soon. Now, I grant you that. What if we read them and if we understand them better than they understood themselves? What a presumptuous thing to say! But, what if we see what was operative in them? What were they saying? John starts his gospel by saying, "In the beginning was the word," in the beginning obviously referring us to Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." John is talking about the one true and eternal God, Creator of all. He is connecting the word, the intention, the idea of this Creator God with, in the 14th verse, this word, idea, intention becoming flesh, and he says we beheld him and behold, we saw in him the glory of God. He says no one has ever seen God, that Ultimate Mystery of things, but the son has revealed God from an eternal realm into the realm of our history, John episodic at that point, nonetheless understanding that Ultimate Mystery of God landed in our history and in our history became incarnate so that we could look upon the flesh of Jesus, look into the face of Jesus, and we could see the nature of God. In fact, this is what Paul says explicitly in the second letter to the Corinthians, the fourth chapter, the sixth verse, where the God who said, "Let light shine out of © Grand Valley State University �Jesus: Episode or Epiphany? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   darkness." Whose God is it? Of course, it’s the Creator God Who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth and said, "Let there be light." The same God John is talking about Paul is talking about. They want to be very clear. We’re not talking about some little tribal deity over here; we’re talking about God! And this God Who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. Fantastic claim, but again both of them suggesting that in the midst of the trajectory of history which has behind it that biological evolutionary development which has behind it all of those eons of cosmic development. At this point there arose in this process one whose very flesh became the incarnation of God and it is no wonder that, when the Church for several hundred years struggled to understand who Jesus was, what happened in Jesus, what in the world God was doing, the Church came finally to make a contradictory statement in the Council of Chalcedon, 451, but that’s where we get that famous phrase with which the Church has rested for all these centuries, "Jesus Christ, true God, true human." What they’re saying is, I see Jesus and I say, "Oh, God!" I see Jesus and I say, "There’s the human in the midst of this historical, biological, evolutionary continuum upon which we are traveling; there has been a moment in which there was a face that shined the light of the eternal God into our hearts as we beheld him." That, I think, is Jesus as epiphany who in his incarnation was telling us what is true about God and what is true about humanity and what is true about human history. In Jesus we get the clue as to the grain of the universe. When I see a preacher do as admittedly I myself have done in earlier years, boil it all down to a Jesus coming from outside in order to die for my sins in order that I might have heaven, I want to say to myself that’s really not terribly important. That’s awfully self-centered and frankly, simply irrelevant to what’s happening in my world. I don’t think Jesus would even recognize himself, for was Jesus about getting us to heaven, or was Jesus about changing the world? Was Jesus about some future age, or was Jesus about the here and now, the rough and tumble of history? Was not Jesus that non-violent resister of the world as it is in order to bring it to the intention of God, the God of justice and mercy? And I am so struck by it because our world is again in the convulsions of war. A couple of weeks ago I said to you if you were meeting with the President this morning, how would you vote - do we bomb or not? And last week it seemed as though that bombing which was the decision was simply violence eliciting greater violence. And now here we are on a third Lord’s Day and I really can’t gather you in worship and speak to you of eternal things without constantly having before my mind and putting before your mind what’s going on in the world because I think that’s what the Gospel is about; I think that’s what God is about; I think that’s what Jesus is about, and it would seem today, in spite of all the spin doctors and all of the critique that we have to do with the filtered news that we get in quotation marks, it would seem that there is a horror being perpetrated in our world. It would seem that there are some resemblances, not in numbers, but © Grand Valley State University �Jesus: Episode or Epiphany? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   nonetheless in intention and in consequence to the Holocaust of the Second World War, and it would seem that in a world where we would follow Jesus who stands for the God of justice non-violently, that our world has not yet come to a point where non-violent protest will stop the slaughter, and so in this world which is still so much in darkness, so marked by brokenness, we are having to use violence on behalf of humanity. I say to myself it’s Easter Sunday in Orthodox country, it’s Easter Sunday in Serbia Yugoslavia, and I think about not only the orthodox church, but the Roman Catholic Church and all brands of Protestant church and I think for 2000 years we have made Jesus Christ into a salvation figure; we have made Christian faith into a salvation cult; we have made the Church into an institution of salvation, and we have done precious little to effect the things that Jesus was about. The darkness continues, and we are satisfied to have a Savior when that one who was the epiphany, the manifestation of the intention of God in our history was about the concrete stuff of history. We do our liturgy and we let our incense flow heavenward and repeat our creeds and we have, in my opinion, missed it so drastically that Easter can be celebrated in Serbia today with not much connection with ethnic cleansing that is going on over there. But, wasn’t Jesus simply the exemplification of the intention of God? Didn’t Jesus say to his disciples, "As the father has sent me, so send I you. Receive the Holy Spirit." Did Jesus ever say, "I am unique and have a monopoly on this?" Did not Jesus rather say, "As I have been, you are to be. Go forth, do this as I have done. Be what I have been." We in the evangelical Church have been so concerned about the uniqueness of Jesus. Tell me why. Why is it so important that Jesus be the only way? Why must Jesus be unique? Of course, if he is a salvation figure, if he’s someone from outside who came in to do this thing, I can see, I suppose, that you need to hedge him around and make him unique. But for God’s sake, he didn’t want to be unique. He wanted to be one of us in order that we might be one with him. I think what Jesus was about was for all of us, more and more to manifest that spirit, that fullness that dwelt in him in order that we might stand in solidarity with him, in order that we might make our world a different place. So, here we are in Europe again, in war. I was reminded of the book, A Man Called Intrepid, I read several years ago by William Stevenson about Sir William Stephenson, the Englishman who ran the secret war in the Second World War. He writes about November 5 of 1940, shortly after Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been elected to his third term, Roosevelt gathered with his neighbors in Hyde Park. His opponent that year was Wendell Wilke who had said that electing Roosevelt to a third term would mean, "dictatorship and war." Roosevelt had said, "I will not send our boys to fight a foreign war." But Roosevelt saw more than the American people. For two years he had been working with Churchill and the English, and then the English were able to break the Nazi code and in order to © Grand Valley State University �Jesus: Episode or Epiphany? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   make that a valuable accomplishment, they couldn’t let the Nazis know that they had broken the code, and so now Hitler, irate, was ready to begin to bomb cities, non-military targets. November 14, 1940, Churchill learned through the breaking of the code, the decoding of the message that it was to be Coventry, England. If you go there you will find a grand contemporary cathedral on the ruins of the old, bombed out cathedral. Coventry was to be bombed. Did Churchill let them know so they could evacuate the city? That would have tipped off the Nazis that they had the code. And so, a sleepless night he tossed and turned and while Coventry was bombed, he knowing that they would be bombed, not able to let them know, lest they faltered in the larger picture. You see, this world of darkness where there is all this ambiguity, and FDR said to Sir William Stephenson shortly after that, "We are being forced more and more to play God." And I would say, "Exactly, exactly. We are called to play God!" God is not the God of the quick fix, dipping in here and there, fixing that, healing that, saving this one. Damning that one. God of infinite patience has come to full expression in humankind in a human face; we have looked into the face of Jesus and we have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and Jesus said, "As I am in this world, you are to be." God is waiting for us to play God. We are making those hard decisions with particular judgment and not enough knowledge, fallible and flawed that we are, we are called to be that, the Church of Jesus Christ, the people of God in the midst of this world to break that cycle of vengeance and retaliation and hatred. What’s going on in the Balkans is the result of centuries of tribalism, us against them, nursing old wounds, blood feuds. We have to stop it. We have to address it. We have to deal with it gently, kindly, now firmly. But, we cannot sit by and allow evil to happen. It has happened with the knowledge of the Holy Father and the President of the United States during the Holocaust. And maybe, eventually, maybe more and more will come to a dawning of the truth if they see it, that which came to expression in Jesus, coming to expression in more and more who are not nearly so concerned about heaven as earth, about the next life as this life. In last night’s news there was a note about millions being raised in Israel for relief because they remember, you see. They remember when it was them. And there was the flash of 75 Israeli doctors at the Macedonian border ministering to Kosovars who are Muslims who, during the second World War, supported Hitler. You see, that’s what has to happen. There has to be a forgiving; there has to be resistance to violence; there has to be a refusal to do any harm; there has to be where possible that manifestation, that epiphany, that grace that came to expression in Jesus, and here and there, now and again when someone in solidarity with Jesus decides to heal and forgive and to embrace in order that the world may be changed. Heaven can wait. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/64dc013092819ee8444e5cb6b8d53b4c.mp3 97738b02ec3ff25b16f6666788c8d2b9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide II Series Varieties of Religious Experience Scripture Text John 1:1, 14, 17, II Corinthians 4:6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990411 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-04-11 Title A name given to the resource Jesus: Episode or Epiphany? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 11, 1999 entitled "Jesus: Episode or Epiphany?", as part of the series "Varieties of Religious Experience", on the occasion of Eastertide II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:1, 14, 17, II Corinthians 4:6. Cosmic Evolution Divine Intention Epiphany Incarnation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ccc94f31963d0e4caf82e54df89265b1.pdf 19d3f10da40dcbaad6336cf9e14c3a4b PDF Text Text If That’s How It Is, I Can Live With That From the series: God In the Mirror Of a Human Face Text: Psalm 82:3-4; Micah 5:8; Acts 2:44; John 20:21 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Easter Sunday, April 4, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon I suppose it may be somewhat the world situation that has caused me to be hounded by two particular thoughts and those I would share with you this morning as the Easter message. I want to speak about my problem with Easter, and then the promise of Easter. Let me begin with my problem with Easter. We have followed for forty days of the Lenten journey the way of Jesus. We have seen him move ever deeper into the darkness; we have come to that time when we knew events were culminating into a climax that would not be good. We have seen him enter the city, negate the Temple system, find himself under survey by those who would put him to death. We’ve been with him at that last supper around the table, in the garden with its anguish, the arrest and the execution, and as we have done that, we have celebrated in our ritual form, following the Holy Week events and we have sensed something of the nature of Jesus and the God that Jesus mirrored. We have known that he was on a collision course because, in a world dominated by power relationships, Jesus pointed to a God of non-violent justice. We could see that it would have to end this way because the power of this world has the power to snuff out the light. We have recognized the darkness of the world and we can identify with a John the Baptist who would say, "God, can’t you do something?" But we’ve come to see that Jesus saw something far deeper, more profound, that God was not the God of the quick fix, that God was not some God Who would come in with blinding power to damn the wicked and establish the righteous. Rather, with infinite patience, God waits for that inward transformation. Nonviolent protest against injustice was the way of Jesus, and we have a sense of that. We’ve come to this place on Thursday evening and as we’ve been at the table, we’ve come here in the darkness and that contemplative mode of Good Friday. It has seeped into our pores; we’ve begun to see something. This is the way the world is. This cosmic, historical drama of which we are a part is in constant conflict, injustice eliciting violence, eliciting more violence in an ever-deepening © Grand Valley State University   �I Can Live With That Richard A. Rhem Page 2   cycle of violence that ends in the kind of chaos that is so much a part of our Easter world today. We begin to feel it; we begin to sense it. Then barely twenty-four hours later the lights go on, the flowers come in, the bells are rung, the music sounds forth and we shout "Hallelujah!" That’s my problem with Easter. It’s just too quick; it’s too sudden; it’s too strident; it’s too triumphalistic. In that twenty-four hour period, the darkness is not dissipated. In fact, the darkness hangs heavy upon us, even now 2000 years later. Oh, I know, this is pageantry. The Christian Year is the symbolic celebration of those events that point to the very real historical happenings, and yet, the way we celebrate them is not the way they happened. But, it’s necessitated, I suppose, if we are to remember those things in some kind of liturgical fashion here as a people. So, what we celebrate is what comes to us in the four Gospels. But, the earliest gospel was forty years after the events and the Gospel lesson of this morning was some sixty-five years after the event. By that time, the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection in the tradition is honed to a consistent story. What we have is the finished product, and if we would take it as it’s written, one would think that by Easter morning the darkness was scattered and by Easter evening the disciples were glad to see the Lord and we could get on with life. God knows we’re anxious to get beyond the darkness. God knows there is something in us that doesn’t want to dwell in the darkness, and it is true there’s only so much truth that we can bear. Philip Hallie, to whom I referred last week, in his book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, wrote about the village of Le Chambon in France, a city of refuge and an oasis of grace, because, in the midst of his researching Holocaust documents, he felt himself so mired in the darkness and evil that he said, "I was coming under the coercion of despair," and that can happen to us. We can lose our perspective and we can lose our joy. Then, too, I suppose that we’re able to make that quick transition from darkness to light, to celebrate with all of the glory of this morning because we have really transformed the message of Jesus. I was going to say we have distorted the message of Jesus, because, you see, if Jesus really was a divine intruder whom God sent dipping into this world to be the sacrifice for our sins offering us forgiveness and life beyond, then the world can reel on its way to hell and all of its darkness and it’s not really significant because then what I have done is I have blunted that radical edge, that radicality of Jesus who came to a world of darkness and protested against it non-violently, looking evil in the eye. Then I can say, "Let the world go to hell! I’m saved; I’m saved. Hallelujah!" But, that’s not really what Jesus was about. That’s too easy. It’s too facile; it’s too superstitious; it’s too superficial. It is not what he was about. It’s so easy. If I can transform what Jesus was really about - the transformation of this world through the inward illumination of persons who come to see the nature of God reflected in © Grand Valley State University �I Can Live With That Richard A. Rhem Page 3   his face, the God of non-violent justice, moving with infinite patience toward a world community marked by justice and mercy, I’m home free. The God of Psalm 82 calls the lesser gods into counsel and dismisses them because they have failed to effect justice on the earth, with the result that the foundations of the earth are shaken. The God of justice who, in the words of the prophet, calls us to do justly, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God is the God of Jesus. If I can just make Jesus a salvation figure, if I can make Christian faith a salvation cult, if I can think that it’s all about my salvation and my getting to heaven, then I can let the world go to hell and it’s a helluva lot easier! But, that’s my problem with Easter, you see, because that is not what Jesus was about, and God is not a God of the quick fix. We saw Jesus facing the inevitable, crying out, "If it be possible ..." dying in godforsakeness, and God was silent because the very God that Jesus reflected was the God Who does not send the thunderbolts that will spring Jesus free in the last moment. The God of Jesus is a God of infinite patience. When we cry out, "Why don’t You do something?" God says to us, "I’m waiting for you to do something!" That’s my problem with Easter. I wanted to stay here in Good Friday for a while. I wanted to absorb the truth that I saw following Jesus in his passion. I wanted to let that truth seep into the pores of my being because that’s reality. You don’t dissipate the darkness with a snap of a finger. But, I’ve come to see the promise of Easter, as well. You might say to me, "Haven’t you jettisoned precisely that which Easter is about?" and I would say not so, for I have come to see something far more magnificent as I have looked into the face of Jesus and have seen there mirrored the eternal God. I have seen a God Who will never abandon Creation, Who will never let us go and will never finally let the darkness overcome the light. For, think about it for a moment, have you ever felt sorry for Jesus? I don’t think so. Jesus was not a tragic figure. You don’t feel sorry for him as some pathetic do-gooder, some social reformer. Much rather, when you see Jesus, are you not fascinated with him? Are you not moved by his passion? Are you not impressed with his strength? Does not your heart cry out to be like him when you see the integrity with which he lived and with which he died? Jesus in all of the strength and wonder of who he was reflected the God who waits for us, the God of non-violent justice, whose purpose is world community marked by justice and compassion and mercy and love. And when I see Jesus, I see one who is simply magnificent because he was able to live to his death in the strong conviction about the God whom he served who would never quit and never finally let the truth be defeated. You can attempt to execute the truth, you can kill the prophet, you can crucify the prophet, but you © Grand Valley State University �I Can Live With That Richard A. Rhem Page 4   can never finally put the truth to death and you can never finally snuff out the light. We started out this Lenten season around this same table with John Dominic Crossan here reminding us that where there is bread and wine it represents body and blood and where body and blood are separated, one from the other, it speaks of violent death, execution. And then he suggested that those of us who come to this table to take that bread and that cup, thereby are standing in solidarity with Jesus in the conviction that the truth will never die and the light will never be snuffed out. Execute, crucify, oppress, repress, but finally, because God is God, the light will break forth. Some of us on Wednesday evening were at the Jewish community Passover Supper, and on Thursday evening I shared a paragraph from a writing about the meaning and significance of Passover and the Seder Supper in the Jewish community. This particular writer says of the Jewish community that we have been "heirs to those who struggled and quested, we are old-timers at disappointment, veterans at sorrow, but always, always prisoners of hope." There’s an image for us. That’s the promise of Easter. If you’re following in the way of Jesus, you can be stripped of everything, but you can finally not be defeated. The promise of Easter is that the truth will live and the light will shine and, ultimately, finally, justice will be done and will pour down the mountains as a mighty, rolling stream. We cannot change the whole world, but we can embody in this community that justice, that kindness, that love and that grace. We can stand where we must and go where we must, unflinching, with full integrity, in total commitment, saying, come what may, we stand in solidarity with Jesus who embodied God, whose Body we continue to be. If that’s the way it is, I can live with that. (The Sanctuary Choir chanting The Christ Community Church Credo) We live together in the awe of worship in the Presence of the Mystery of God Whose inclusive grace moves us to embrace all with unconditional love and gracious acceptance, irrespective of race, gender, economic status, age or sexual orientation, loving the world as God loves it, following the way of Jesus, sensitive to the winds of the Spirit, seeking to discern the Word of God in the biblical tradition, the Movement of God in the context of our culture. We are an ecumenical community in background in faith perspective in worship expression; a blending of all the great Christian traditions. We find our window to God in the face of Jesus © Grand Valley State University �I Can Live With That Richard A. Rhem Page 5   while affirming the quest and insight of other faiths; opening ourselves to dialogue and mutual enrichment in our pluralistic world. We are intentionally a community of open mind and warm heart ... Where the broken find healing, the doubting learn to trust, the anxious find peace, and the strong are confirmed, trusting God ... The God of The Beginning, The God of The End, The God with us in The Meantime ... This in-between time. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/217a354504b27eb5958e60347a3962c0.mp3 703636ec5fcd8513ace0ec0f702c1264 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Easter Sunday Series God In the Mirror of a Human Face Scripture Text Psalm 82:3-4, Micah 5:8, Acts 2:44, John 20:21 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990404 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-04-04 Title A name given to the resource If That's How It Is, I Can Live With That Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 4, 1999 entitled "If That's How It Is, I Can Live With That", as part of the series "God In the Mirror of a Human Face", on the occasion of Easter Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 82:3-4, Micah 5:8, Acts 2:44, John 20:21. Community of Grace Easter Non-violent Justice Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a55e8de6bf283f168ec9fbbcbc212684.pdf a1edbacaa278b4297bce40e2232af77e PDF Text Text Night Light Maundy Thursday "The Light of the World," by Jean Pasquet Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 1, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon I knew immediately when Mr. Bryson showed me the choral piece being performed this evening, "The Light of the World," what the theme of the meditation would be. That is a rare experience, but it came to me immediately that it should be "Night Light," and I thought of this profound statement with which the lesson ended, "It was night." John’s gospel plays on the duality of light and darkness. You can find it throughout; you heard it in the readings this evening. Light and darkness. Jesus, the Light of the world, and the darkness that continues to threaten the light. In the prologue to the gospel in that first paragraph, John speaks about the light that has come into the world and he says in words that we use so often here, "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." John not only played with the themes of light and darkness, but he loved to use words that could be interpreted in more than one fashion. In the translation that I read, that the darkness will not overcome the light, there is a decision made to interpret the Greek word behind it in one way, that is, that the darkness will never finally be able to crush out the light. But, the Greek word actually could also be rendered, "the darkness will never comprehend the light." There are good exegetical reasons for translating it either way, and knowledge of the Greek language would not indicate which way it should be translated. There are possible parallels throughout the gospel to either understanding. Did John mean that the darkness never got it, never understood it, never comprehended what the light was all about that had dawned in the world? Or, did he mean to affirm, as I read it a moment ago, that the darkness, though ever threatening, would never be successful in snuffing out the light? Edgar Goodspeed has a modern translation in which he tried to bridge that duality of meaning. He used the word mastered. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never mastered the light, never mastered it in the sense of comprehending it, or mastered it in the sense of overcoming it. Or another possibility - the darkness never absorbed the light, never absorbed it in terms of © Grand Valley State University   �Night Light Richard A. Rhem Page 2   taking it in, comprehending, or absorbed in terms of swallowing it up. John loves to play with us that way and leave us thinking about it. In any case, I think an argument could be made for both meanings. On the one hand, it seems as though, although the light has come into the world, the world doesn’t get it. Indeed, to what extent do we get it? Or, did we get it so clearly that it scared us and we made it into something else? It is true that human history is a long tale of darkness. There is darkness enough, it seems, at every age and every generation. When Jesus gathered with his disciples on that last night, he gave them an example of that servanthood which was the hallmark of his life with them, he washed their feet. And then, beginning to feel the pressure of the crush, his soul in anguish, he came out with it, "One of you will betray me." And even then, he extended bread to Judas. But, finally he dismissed Judas and, perhaps seeing no change of demeanor, he said, "What you have to do, do quickly." And Judas went out, and it was night. The night of the world. That was not the first time the world knew darkness, nor the last. I have in my hands this little account of the Holocaust by Elie Wiesel. It’s entitled simply, "Night." If you’ve never read it, perhaps, for your Holy Week meditation, it would be a profitable reading if you want to understand the darkness. In the prison camp in which Elie Wiesel as a young boy was incarcerated with his father, he tells of an incident when, coming back from the work detail, the prisoners saw that the gallows had three ropes ready, and there were two men and a child. A child had been tortured for a number of weeks in order to force him to reveal the names of those that might have been engaged in some revolt against the camp authority. The child would not mention one name and was therefore condemned to die. And so, as the custom was, the whole camp of prisoners was lined up in front of the gallows and the two men and the child in the middle. The three necks were placed at the same moment into nooses. "Long live liberty!" cried the two adults. But the child was silent. "Where is God? Where is He?" someone behind me asked. At a sign from the head of the camp, the three chairs tipped over. Total silence throughout the camp. On the horizon, the sun was setting. "Bare your heads!" yelled the head of the camp. His voice was raucous. We were weeping. "Cover your heads!" © Grand Valley State University �Night Light Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Then the march past began. The two adults were no longer alive, their tongues hung swollen, blue-tinged. But the third rope was still moving; being so light the child was still alive... For more than half an hour he stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet glazed. Behind me I heard the same man asking: "Where is God now?" And I head a voice within me answer him: "Where is He? Here He is - He is hanging here on this gallows..." That night the soup tasted like corpses. And it was night. As I got ready to come this evening and walked to and fro past the evening news on television, it seemed that every time I walked past, there was an unending column of humankind, men, women, children, older people, some being wheeled in wheelbarrows, their faces heavy with the anguish of the experience, the hell through which they’re going. And it is night, still night. Because we still haven’t comprehended it. We still don’t get it. I hope John meant, and I want to believe, the other nuance of that word, as well, that finally, finally the light will not be overcome. Some of us last evening joined the Jewish community in the celebration of Passover and in our program there was a toast to freedom written by Leonard Fein of the Shalom Hartman Institute. Its reference is to the Passover Feast in the Jewish context, but as I read it, I couldn’t help but think of tonight. Each cup we raise this night is an act of memory and of reverence. The story we tell this year, as every year, is not yet done. It begins with them, then; it continues with us, now. We remember not out of curiosity or nostalgia, but because it is our turn to add to the story. Our challenge this year, as every year, is to feel the Exodus, to open the gates of time and become one with those who crossed the Red Sea from slavery to freedom. Our challenge this year, as every year, is to know the Exodus, to behold all those in every land who have yet to make the crossing. Our challenge this day, as every day, is to reach out our hands to them and to help them cross to freedomland. © Grand Valley State University �Night Light Richard A. Rhem Page 4   We know some things that others do not always know - how arduous is the struggle, how very deep the waters to be crossed and how treacherous their tides, how filled with irony and contradiction and suffering are the crossing and then the wandering. We know such things because we ourselves wandered in the desert for forty years. Have not those forty years been followed by thirty-two centuries of struggle and of quest? Heirs to those who struggled and quested, we are old-timers at disappointment, veterans at sorrow, but always, always prisoners of hope. The hope is the anthem of our people (Hatikvah), and the way of our people. For all the reversals and all of the stumbling-blocks, for all the blood and all the hurt, hope still dances within us. That is who we are, and that is what this Seder is about. [And that is what this table is about.] For the slaves do become free, and the tyrants are destroyed. Once, it was by miracles; today, it is by defiance and devotion. [For us, to the way of Jesus.] From the book, A Different Night: The Family Participation Haggadah. For it is still night. But, he is our Night Light. Reference: Noam Zion and David Dishon. A Different Night: The Family Participation Haggadah. Shalom Hartman Institute, publishers, 1997. Elie Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, revised edition, 2006. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/93dab9db1b28d96eb6d139af32d934d9.mp3 b2bfb17347dd00f6b5432ac21b06ed96 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Maundy Thursday Scripture Text "The Light of the World" by Jean Pasquet Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Noam Zion, David Dishon. A Different Night: The Family Participation Haggadah, 1997. Elie Wiesel, Night, 2006. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990401 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-04-01 Title A name given to the resource Night Light Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 1, 1999 entitled "Night Light", on the occasion of Maundy Thursday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: "The Light of the World" by Jean Pasquet. Darkness Light Maunday Thursday https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c66877a16ee019104e3eb13442a67054.pdf c147e2271c03ea72b369168fa1cdb35b PDF Text Text Jerusalem and Jesus: Déjà Vu Forever? From the series: God In the Mirror of a Human Face Text: Luke 19:42 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 28, 1999, Palm Sunday Transcription of the spoken sermon Luke’s portrait of Jesus was written over a half century after the events. By the time he wrote, the Temple at Jerusalem was an ash heap and the city no longer the center of Jewish faith nor of the Jewish Jesus movement. Thus, the words he puts in Jesus’ mouth as he overlooks the city from the Mount of Olives are not prediction but description of the actual situation when Luke wrote. But the core of Luke’s story, as well as that of the other Gospels, is most certainly true; Jesus came to Jerusalem. In the Synoptics he came only once; in John, three times. In any case, Luke, after the birth narratives, the Galilean ministry, puts Jesus on the way to Jerusalem (9:51.) The crisis will build until it spills over in his tears; he weeps for the City. He needed not to be a predictor of future events; any sensitive, insightful person might have known catastrophe was around the corner. In spite of his sense of the inevitable disaster, he entered the City and went to the heart of the religious, spiritual life of his people - the Temple. His coming was peaceful. Mark, followed by Matthew, has overtones of the Messiah King coming to claim his place. Neither Luke nor John present it as such, using instead the images found in Zechariah 9:9-10 of humility, peacefulness, non-apocalyptic, non-political. Jesus acted out symbolically his non-violent protest - he negated the Temple and all it stood for. It had become a den of thieves. The politics of domination and the economics of injustice were all tied up with the Temple as symbolic center, and Jesus’ symbolic action was the climax of his non-violent protest in the name of the God of justice. It was a dangerous, subversive action, for it called in question the legitimacy of the whole structural, religious, political, economic life of the Jewish nation under Roman imperial domination. For this action he was executed as a threat to the safety of the State. So, there Jesus is on the crest of Olivet overlooking the city - weeping, "O Jerusalem, if only you were able to recognize the things that make for peace. ... © Grand Valley State University   �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   but they are hid from your eyes. Devastation approaches, for your violence in response to Roman violence will bring on greater violence and you will finally be destroyed, the Temple a charred ruin." Yogi Berra said, "Déja vu all over again." Seeing Jesus and Jerusalem, one wonders will it ever be so? Will humankind forever experience déja vu, injustice creating violent reaction leading to violent response, a cycle unending? Is there no hope for the human endeavor, indeed, for the cosmic drama that has incubated the human for 15 billion years and seen its emergence over the last 10,000 years? Philip Hallie, the Jewish philosopher at Ephesus was immersed in Holocaust documents in the 70s. He had grown up in New Lenox, Illinois and, as a young child, had his face smashed in simply because he was Jewish. He had gone to World War II as an American soldier; he had fired 155 mm shells at German troops and had seen the butchered bodies of those along the road that had been slain by the artillery assault, and in the midst of the immersion in the darkness and the evil of Holocaust, he became totally overcome with despair at the evil and darkness and the seeming hopelessness of the human situation, and he said to himself, "If this is the way it is, life is too heavy a burden to bear. What lies will I have to tell to my children to give them any hope which they need like plants need sunshine?" And he went on to write, "I needed to find passionately some ground for hope, lest I succumb to the coercion of despair." In the midst of his studying of the documents of the Holocaust, he came across the story of a French village, Le Chambon, the story of the village that was led by a French Huguenot, French Reformed pastor, André Trocmé. André Trocmé grew up in northern France near the Belgian border, the child of wealth and privilege. He, however, had some early experiences. During the First World War, he hated the Germans, although his mother was German. But, he hated them because he saw the way they were treating Russian prisoners who were slave laborers. Then one day as a seventeen-year-old he saw the German wounded coming down the road in retreat. He saw a man stumbling, led by two others, his head all bandaged, his jaw blown off, and in that moment he knew that this also was a human being whom he could not hate. And then he had an encounter with another German soldier, a man named Kendler who offered him bread, and he said, "I wouldn’t take bread from you if I were hungry because you’re the enemy," and the soldier said, "I’m not the enemy. I’m a Christian. I belong to Jesus. I carry no weapon. I would shoot no one." Kendler eventually came to a religious union meeting with Trocmé, and Trocmé came to a profound experience of Jesus Christ and of Jesus’ non-violent way. Led by this German soldier into an understanding of non-violence, Trocmé wrote, "If Jesus really walked upon this earth, why do we keep treating him as if he were a disembodied, impossibly idealistic, ethical theory? If he was a real man, then the © Grand Valley State University �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Sermon on the Mount was made for people on this earth, and if he existed, God has shown us in flesh and blood what goodness is for flesh and blood people." Trocmé became a pastor, eventually in Le Chambon in the late 30s, and through the four years of occupation, 1940-1944, when the Germans had occupied France and a provisional French government Nazified France, the Vichy government. Le Chambon became, through Trocmé’s leadership, a city of refuge. The network spread and many Jewish people came to find refuge there, to be hidden there or to be brought over the border to Switzerland. There was a deliberate and conscious resistance on the part of the people of Le Chambon under Trocmé’s leadership. It was not just a willy-nilly kind of thing; it was a deliberate intention to do no harm. He was informed by his own Vichy French government that he must deliver up the refugees, the Jews, and he said, "I don’t know any Jews. I only know human beings." He refused. It is a fascinating story, full of peril and risk, of heroism and dedication and commitment. He, himself, served some time in an internment camp, which was filled with all sorts and conditions of humankind, including some Communist rebels against the French national government and against the Nazis, of course, and he turned the camp almost into a revival meeting. First of all, derided because of his principles of non-violence, but finally through the integrity of his person and the consistency of his witness, breaking through even to some of the officials. The story of Trocmé, a village pastor and the village people is an amazing tale which Philip Hallie researched and finally wrote about in a book, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed. That was in the mid-70s, about thirty years after the events themselves. He was able to meet many of the people and find out exactly what had gone on there in those years of occupation in the early 40s, when this became an oasis of grace through an insistent non-resistance and the determination to do no harm, no matter what the cost. Trocmé was a violent man himself, full of energy, dynamic, ready to burst like a volcano, but Jesus conquered him and kept him in tow, and he was able, through that commitment to the way of Jesus, to contain himself and his own emotions and the power of his person, and was able to lead that village into that kind of consistent witness. He would be called a pacifist and yet he never liked the word because of the nuance of passivity. His mother was German; he spoke German fluently. In 1939 he even writes about debating whether he should infiltrate the entourage of Hitler in order to assassinate him, in order to stave off the catastrophe that obviously lie ahead. But he decided No, because he said, "I must not be separated from Jesus." I said last week that these are very complex matters. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in 1944, likewise a brilliant and strong person who was also a pacifist in his conviction as to the way of Jesus, determined he must become one of the conspirators in the attempt on Hitler’s life. Two Christians, two followers of Jesus, two followers of Jesus convinced of the way of non-violence as being the way of Jesus, the one © Grand Valley State University �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   through active resistance but without moving to violence. The other fighting it all the way but finally believing he must take that violent step to end the horror of a Hitler. You see, these things are not easy; they are very complex and different people will finally have to wrestle out in the concrete situation what their response will be. But, certainly if we’re serious about Jesus and we must know that there is a calling to follow in his steps which is not passivity and standing on the sidelines. Trocmé was convinced that the most dangerous people in the world were the people who simply stood apart, unengaged, allowing evil to happen. He was active; he did not simply allow evil to happen, but in his standing the way of evil happening, he was non-violent because, we he writes, he was convinced that Jesus was non-violent and refused to defend himself in the face of the crime that was about to be perpetrated against him. And here we are in 1999 and we are at war as a nation, and one wonders, if there any hope? Will it be deja vu forever? I asked you last week what you would do if you were meeting with the President on Sunday morning. Well, the decision was made, the rockets are flying and the bombs are falling. We have ostensibly for humanitarian reasons moved to violence, and we already have the violent backlash, and whatever devastation we have inflicted has stiffened the resistance. Our violence has not caused the violence to cease, but at least at this point, exacerbated it. What is one to do in such a world? When Trocmé was in the internment camp, the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad and the Communist internees rejoiced, but Trocmé couldn’t enter into their celebration and years later he was asked, "Should the Russians simply have given up Stalingrad?" And he said, "No, it was too late. For them at Stalingrad, to have given up would have been suicide. It was too late." The way of non-violence has to be carefully laid and preparations have to be made and the groundwork has to be laid for it. The Berlin Wall fell in the late 80s after the Cold War that had ensued upon the euphoria of the victory of World War II, and we thought perhaps the decade of the 90s would usher in a whole new world order, and it has continued to be a decade of war and violence, and one wonders, will it be deja vu forever? Is there no hope? I find at least a ray of hope in that I believe that we, as an American people, are becoming more critical of the spin doctors that would shape our mind. I’m not at all confident about the veracity of the reports that come out of the Pentagon or the State Department or the Administration. I try very hard not to become cynical. I want to believe, but I think a certain self-doubt and a critical mind in receiving such reports is important for us and I think it’s happening across the body politic. And then I see an interview or two of an American pilot or a young man or a young woman on a ship from which are being launched the missiles, and I see in them not a rage, but a question - "Are we doing right? Are we doing right?" I would hope no trigger © Grand Valley State University �Déjà vu Forever? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   could ever be pulled or any rocket ever launched without that serious question, Are we doing right? And maybe, maybe the way of Jesus will be picked up here and there by a growing number of people who will commit themselves like an André Trocmé to do no harm. We cannot take on the whole world, but we live in a network of relationships in families and in communities, and if before the face of Jesus there was that inward commitment on our part to do no harm, just maybe, just maybe sometime the critical mass of humankind will come to realize that the way of Jesus was not the embodiment of an impossibly idealistic ethic, but the only viable solution to the human dilemma. Jesus may be our only hope. References: Philip Hallie. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There. Harper Perennial, 1997. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f5c3ae073e2582507daf2f92a9598714.mp3 e32e4311c55d597632b42270c13de9b1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday Series God in the Mirror of a Human Face Scripture Text Luke 19:42 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990328 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-28 Title A name given to the resource Jerusalem and Jesus: Deja Vu Forever? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 28, 1999 entitled "Jerusalem and Jesus: Deja Vu Forever?", as part of the series "God in the Mirror of a Human Face", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 19:42. https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/10f53f9540bd5d4d7197013a0e0c947a.pdf 238f0a5a270343cb71ff597e636b6f44 PDF Text Text “Father, forgive them…” From the series: A True Story: The Gospel and Forgiveness Text: Luke 23:34 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 24, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon "A True Story: The Gospel and Forgiveness," has been our Lenten theme this season. The story is the story written by Simon Wiesenthal reflecting his own experience in the Nazi concentration camp, being pulled aside at one point and taken into the room of a dying Nazi officer who poured out his confession, his terrible atrocity that he had perpetrated as one of the SS troops, burning alive a village of Jews, a horrible story, pleading to this one token Jew, as it were, to forgive him. Wiesenthal listened to the story, sat almost paralyzed, then he rose and left without saying a word, and the little book, The Sunflower, that he writes, concludes with the question, not an answer, but with the question, "What would you have done?" That’s where we began a few weeks ago and tonight we bring our reflections on that question to a conclusion. Probably not to a conclusion in terms of being finished with it, but at least for these Wednesday night considerations. The matter of forgiveness is much more complex than I had ever been aware, which may sound very strange because it would seem that being in the ministry almost 40 years now, would not forgiveness be the stuff that I have dealt with every day? In thought and reflection and in relationships, preaching and teaching, forgiveness - it seems like it is the most obvious commodity with which we in the church have to do. And yet, I think that in these weeks I have thought about it at a level at which I have never thought about it before, and it’s a much more complex matter than I ever realized. That’s why I began with the question a few weeks ago, "Is it possible, is it moral?" The Jewish traditions say I cannot forgive you for something that you’ve done to another. I can only forgive you for what you’ve done to me. It is very easy for us, with our Gospel of grace, to move into cheap grace and cheap grace would fail to take seriously the plight of the victim. It would devalue the victim and tend simply to shove everything under the rug. It’s very easy to do that. We have seen that actions and attitudes do have their consequences. © Grand Valley State University   �Father, forgive them… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Forgiveness does not rule out the consequence of what we have done. There is a harvest at the end of our days and, in the meantime, as well. And yet, forgiveness certainly must be possible, for we are in a dead-end situation of unrelieved darkness, but it is a complex matter, and I wonder if the fact that I hadn’t really ever wrestled with the nature of forgiveness or what was involved or its possibility is not because I was raised, as I suppose most of you were, with a very traditional idea of the atoning death of Jesus Christ as the place where forgiveness was procured for us. Are you with me? God is holy; we have sinned. We cannot do anything about our situation, for we daily increase our debt. Does that sound like catechism? And consequently, if anything were to be done for us to deliver us from the weight of our sin, it would have to be by another. God provided another. Jesus came to die for our sins. He bore our sins away, thereby making possible forgiveness. That’s the way you learned it, isn’t it? And there’s something powerful about that image and when I speak about it tonight, I don’t want you to hear caricature. I hope I won’t caricature nor ridicule. I simply want you to know that, as I’m thinking about that and it’s not just in this Lenten season but in these more recent years, I’ve come to recognize that that image falls short, and I think it falls short here - that atoning death of Jesus that took away our sin and created the possibility for God to forgive us in the traditional understanding, that was a transaction that happened apart from us. Martin Luther was so strong at that point. It happened apart from us, on our behalf, and it had a very objective element about it. There was a debt to be settled, a score to be settled, and to use the phrase of another Lutheran writer, Jesus took the rap for us, and that happens in the evangelical and orthodox presentation of atonement theory, that happens apart from us. There’s an old hymn, "‘Tis done, ‘tis done, the great transaction’s done," and that imagery has been repeated in the old hymns and in our liturgies. The Reformed Church liturgy of many, many years had this statement, "He was forsaken by God that we need never be forsaken." "Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow." "There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins and sinners plunged beneath that flood loose all their guilty stains." Something happened between God and Jesus objectively, out there, on my behalf, quite apart from any engagement by me. That’s a rather powerful imagery and one can see what was going on. Our debt, our sins transferred to another who suffered the wrath of God on our behalf in order that we might be set free, forgiven. Now, I’m suggesting that I never really wrestled with forgiveness that much because that was all so matter-of-fact and taken for granted, and so what’s the big deal? Well, that’s not quite fair, because it was a big deal. Some of us might have © Grand Valley State University �Father, forgive them… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   sung some of those old hymns with tears in our eyes. There was a deep emotional engagement with that idea because there was this gracious act of God in that God supplied the one who took the rap for us. But, think about it for a moment: In that conception of things, there is no forgiveness. That is not forgiveness. God got God’s pound of flesh. Someone took the rap for us. The penalty due was meted out. God didn’t forgive anything, which means that even God is subject to a moral absolute. Even God couldn’t simply say, "I forgive you." God had to arrange this elaborate structure of substitutionary atonement because the absolute, the moral absolute, the law is even above God, and it will be satisfied by God. And so, if God would embrace us and take us home, God has some dealing to do. But, once again, this is quite apart from anything really happening in my being. Do you hear me? You could learn this stuff in the catechism. You might on occasion even be moved at the thought that there was a love of God that provided that elaborate institution by which God could now embrace us, but God had a problem and God had to deal with it and so, as a matter of fact, there was no forgiveness. God can’t forgive, obviously. I think that that old, traditional imagery which we took for granted, had been spoon-fed from childhood up, showed us the formula by which to receive our reprieve without it ever necessarily touching us or changing us. Now, I want to suggest that that image of God has been called in question here, that image of God sitting on a super throne, that moral governor of the universe out there, apart from us, setting up these respective transactions. Haven’t we been more inclined to seek God as an Ultimate Mystery flowing out into the whole cosmic drama, this 15 billion year adventure on which we are, beginning with whatever Big Bang was with the coalescing of matter, the emergence of inanimate matter, then animate matter, life, and then conscious life, and then human being, and then human history, human culture, that trajectory on which we are ourselves as we speak? And if God is that Ultimate Mystery Whose Spirit is the enlivening, energizing, creative force moving through all that is, pushing, nudging, driving toward human humanity, humanization, then it is not as though some governor outside created us perfect, we falling, therefore taking upon ourselves the guilt for violating the law of the universe that even was above the governor, and that whole thing had to be somehow figured, but rather, we are in an emerging mode and we are still so much animal struggling for survival, clawing our way from the jungle, emerging out of the slime, moving toward human community, here and there, now and again it breaks forth, but it’s constantly driven back. We find ourselves moving in a humane fashion, only to find all of the old stuff in us rising up now and again. And it seems to me that the God of this process is not about satisfying some moral absolute that even holds God hostage, who needs some sacrifice, some satisfaction, but rather, a God who keeps pushing us, pushing us along, waiting © Grand Valley State University �Father, forgive them… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   for us patiently, a God who is not into punishment, not into retribution, for what is punishment, what is retribution in terms of where this thing is going? We bring upon ourselves our punishment. Certainly in the ordering of society it is necessary for law and order and all of that. That’s another whole complex thing. But, I’m thinking about the soul of the universe now. I’m thinking about where it’s all going; I’m thinking about that creative Spirit that’s pushing toward ultimate world community, ultimate humane existence, ultimate humanization and whatever other levels of being there may be beyond us. It seems to me that our new image of God might suggest, as the Psalmist suggests, that with that God there is forgiveness, not having to satisfy some external moral absolute out here, but with that God there is forgiveness and the image even more powerful of Jesus of the prodigal son who comes home, not to receive recrimination and condemnation and retribution, but the embrace of the father. And I come, finally, to my test. There’s Jesus dying who says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The most powerful, evocative emblem of the whole life and work of Jesus is in those words. "Father, forgive them." Just simply forgive them. Let it go, please. Because they don’t know what they are doing. Oh, they knew what they were doing; they knew good and well what they were doing. They knew as well what they were doing as Slobodan Milosevic knows what he’s doing, and our Administration and our Defense Department and our military know what they’re doing in these hours. They knew what they were doing in the short run. They were maintaining power and position and prestige and the status quo and business as usual and conventional wisdom. They knew what they were doing, in the short run. They didn’t know what they were doing in terms of this 15 billion year process that we’ve come to understand. They didn’t know what they were doing in terms of God’s intention and purpose, moving toward fuller humanization. They didn’t understand. They were blocking, they were hindering, they were throwing up barriers against where the Spirit would go with this whole thing of which we are a part. So, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, because they don’t understand." Now, there he is, true God, true human. There you see it. There you see the heart of the Divine. There you see the intention of the human. And it seems to me that when we are encountered with that kind of spirit reflective of the divine Spirit, but incarnate in the human, our defenses are defeated. What happens when you are as guilty as hell and you face the one you have offended and you’re all ready to marshal your arguments, make your denials, line up your excuses, rationalize your behavior, and you meet grace and forgiveness. All of that which you have gotten ready with which to carry on a defense of your life project melts, and you begin to weep and there is a contrition that cannot be contrived that rushes to the surface, and you say, "Oh, my God." Then there’s a moment of self-awareness, a © Grand Valley State University �Father, forgive them… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   moment of honesty. There is then in the presence of such grace the capacity to own my story as my story, and then I’m forgiven. References: Simon Wiesenthal. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Shocken, revised, expanded edition, 1998. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3772345027dd2f3e5dc99e5b032d623a.mp3 7f756cd38c93d8f4bba1b09847cd4738 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lent Series A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness Scripture Text Luke 23:34 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990324 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-24 Title A name given to the resource Father, forgive them... Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 24, 1999 entitled "Father, forgive them...", as part of the series "A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 23:34. Forgiveness Grace Lent https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3f5a00df92002a507eb429a2babad46d.pdf dbf4c2556624e1df8af1fc5a7cee8420 PDF Text Text I Really Can’t (Choose Not To) Follow From the series: God in the Mirror of a Human Face Text: Mark 8:34; I Peter 2:21 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 21, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon My contention: We must get Jesus right, the historical Jesus, because Jesus’ face is the human face that mirrors the nature and character of God. If we get Jesus right, we will get God right, and if we get God right, we will be right. The God we imagine and worship determines the kind of people we become. In the Gospels we have two very different images of God: That of John the Baptist who, with many of his contemporaries, was living in the expectation of the dramatic in-breaking of God to end the world as it was organized, a world of oppression under the heel of Imperial Rome. God would come in fiery judgment to throw down the social structures of oppression and human abuse; the wicked would be burned as chaff, the righteous established in God’s kingdom of righteousness. That final solution involved God in counterviolence to the violence that God’s people had suffered from imperial power. Though beginning with John, at some point Jesus distanced himself from John, moved north to Galilee and inaugurated a ministry of grace whose keynote was the nearness of God to all, the unbrokered presence of God accessible to all, symbolized in the open table, the shared meal. Jesus’ vision was not apocalyptic; it was, to use the designation of John Dominic Crossan, “ethical eschatology.” Jesus, like John, believed the normal way the world was organized and run was fundamentally wrong, for the organizing principle was power - political, military, economic, religious– power that, said Jesus, is not reflective of the nature and character of God, nor of God’s intention for Creation. Not Power, but Justice. But not simply justice: rather, non-violent justice; that was the key. John wanted justice, too, and he wanted God to level the playing field any way God could - let wrath roar, but square the accounts of the world. © Grand Valley State University   �I Can’t (Choose Not To) Follow Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Not so Jesus; he came to see that justice by coercion fails to create a new world. "One convinced against one’s will is of the same opinion still," claims the old adage. As we gather, an emergency meeting of the Defense and Security people in Washington are gathering with the President about the situation in Kosovo. What are you guessing will be the decision? How would you make the call? Here is one of those terribly difficult decisions that this government is called on to make - not alone, of course - but nonetheless as the lone superpower. I mention that because, should we take military action, we may avert a human slaughter, diminish human suffering, halt an aggressor. Force can do that. But will we change anything? There would be service to some semblance of justice, but a coerced semblance of justice holds in check a greater evil while failing utterly to effect the kind of transformation that is reflective of the world order that was envisioned by Jesus. Jesus went another way - the way of non-violent protest. He did that in a very concrete cultural situation - in rural Galilee under Roman rule Commercialization was driving peasant farmers off their land. He did not need to call those who followed him to leave all. They had lost all. And if on occasion a person of wealth inquired about what he should do to enter the kingdom of which Jesus spoke, he said, "Sell all, give it away and follow me if you want to be part of this movement. Get out of the system; let your known, familiar world cease to be and join us in a “companionship of empowerment." That’s Crossan’s descriptive term, not teacher-disciple. That would still be a structure of domination, not a fellowship of equality. The best example I can give you in our century is Gandhi, who recognized that somehow or other British rule in India was focused around salt and the fabric industry. Remember Gandhi’s march to the sea? Well, they began to make their own salt and they began to spin their own cotton, and when a mass of people opt out of the way a world is running, that world collapses, it breaks down. You remember in the film the moment when the masses were there in front of the British guns and the guns began to bark and then had to be called off, because any oppressor with a modicum of humanity cannot just mow down human beings. Unfortunately, our world has known instances of those who could do that, but anyone with a grain of humanity within cannot simply gun down a mass of people who offer their bodies because they will no longer play the game that way. That’s really, I think, what Jesus was about, and if our world had known more people who would have followed the radicality of Jesus such as a Gandhi, our world just might be farther along in this emerging evolutionary movement toward humanization. © Grand Valley State University �I Can’t (Choose Not To) Follow Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Oh, it’s not easy - I really can’t follow, nor can I choose not to follow. That’s the Lenten dilemma, when I’m faced starkly with Jesus’ call to take up my cross. To take up my cross is not to buy a bathrobe and sandals and give away everything I have and go out on the street. That’s imitating Jesus in a literalistic fashion and it makes no sense. Let me be clear - following Jesus is always a culturally specific action. It is an action in light of my concrete situation. It is not the imitation of Jesus; it is doing what Jesus would do, were Jesus in my shoes, for Jesus’ enemies are not my enemies, and Jesus’ concrete instances of injustice are not mine. I’ve got to determine what it means to follow Jesus in an economy where the stock market is nudging 10,000. I have to determine what following in Jesus’ steps means in a world that is driven into consumerism by PR, advertising firms that encourage me to acquisition. I have to learn what following Jesus means in a world that is under threat of pollution, a world that is marked still by terrible racism that obtrudes itself occasionally in the disastrous brutality of the police slayings of recent times. I have to decide what it means to follow Jesus in a world of gay bashing and neo-Nazi manifestation. I have to decide what it means to follow Jesus in a world where the most shrill voice and meanest spirit– I say in the presence of God – I find in the representatives of the religious right. That’s how I have to determine the shape of following in his steps, and it’s not easy. It’s very complex. The Church should have known long before it did that it belonged on the side of the civil rights struggle of the sixties, of the feminist issue in the recent decades, and the present era of homophobia. The Church should know long before it finally comes kicking and dragging into the kingdom where it ought to be on issues like that. But, it’s not always clear. I can never get through Lent without going to my dear Bonhoeffer who was convinced in his heart of hearts that Jesus called us to non-violence, who was essentially himself a pacifist, and yet who left the safety of this country in 1939 returning to Germany, finally to be joined up by a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, a conspiracy which failed and which resulted in his incarceration and his martyrdom. Eduard Bethke, his biographer, was asked when he came to this country on a speaking tour how Bonhoeffer, with his convictions about pacifism, could have gotten involved in that violent solution, and Bethke said, "What do you do when someone is going up and down the street killing people?" It’s not easy, you see. Because we live not in the kingdom of God. It has dawned, but it has not fully arrived and, consequently, there’s light and shadow and it’s all intertwined and we are all caught up in it, all heavily invested in the way things are. There are often situations that are not clear-cut, and we need to be patient with one another and in conversation with one another. But finally, finally I am called to follow in his steps because I do believe that the heart of God is mirrored in the face of Jesus. I believe that what Jesus was about is what God was about © Grand Valley State University �I Can’t (Choose Not To) Follow Richard A. Rhem Page 4   and that it has cosmic, historical, human implications all the way down the line. The possibility of the realization, the dream of God, that dream of a human community, of humane existence, of the humanization of society - that that is what Jesus was about because he believed that was what God was about and I do believe that is the grain of the universe moving that way. But God, with infinite patience, waits. Not full of wrath ready to bubble over, saying to us, "It’s your only possibility. Power won’t do it. Violence, even my violence, will defeat the very purpose with which I said ‘Let there be ...’ I only wait until finally here and there, now and again, someone catches the dream, the vision, the impossible dream for this world that I love, and I can imagine that when Jesus moved from Gethsemane to the judgment hall, he might well have written the words from The Man of La Mancha – To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go. To right the unrightable wrong, to love pure and chaste from afar, to try when your arms are too weary, to reach the unreachable star. This is my quest: to follow that star, no matter how hopeless, no matter how far. to fight for the right without question or pause, to be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause! And I know, if I’ll only be true to this glorious quest, that my heart will lie peaceful and calm when I’m laid to my rest. And the world will be better for this: That one man, scorned and covered with scars, still strove with his last ounce of courage to reach the unreachable stars! (Joe Darton) – because God so loved the world. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e0c40486f6dbb367d29248d6492cd911.mp3 92c96e66e37e14d4fd112f5c1d35eecb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent V Series God In the Mirror of a Human Face Scripture Text Mark 8:34, I Peter 2:21 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990321 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-21 Title A name given to the resource I Really Can't (Choose Not To) Follow Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 21, 1999 entitled "I Really Can't (Choose Not To) Follow", as part of the series "God In the Mirror of a Human Face", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 8:34, I Peter 2:21. Divine Intention Grace Justice Non-violence https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/92992b6aa3d8b5d4a4a8903f5ff9588f.pdf 3d9d78ff830b00b996f30c61a03257b1 PDF Text Text God, Can’t You Do Something? From the series: God in the Mirror of a Human Face Text: Mark 14:36 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 14, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon It has been my contention this Lenten season that it is critically important that we get a proper fix on the historical Jesus, because if we get it right on Jesus, we’ll get it right on God, and if we get it right on God, we’ll get it right in ourselves, for Jesus is the human face that mirrors God, and the God that we worship, the God that we serve, the God that we imagine is the God that will shape us, determine the contours of our life, the attitudes, the posture of our spirit. So, it’s so very important to get it right on Jesus in order to get it right on God, in order to be right ourselves. We have seen thus far two varying visions of Jesus, one by John the Baptist and the other by Jesus. Now, both John and Jesus were looking for the end of the world, not the space-time world so much as the end of the world as it is, structured through its institutions, through its society, through the powers that be. Both John and Jesus believed that there was something fundamentally wrong with the world, that it did not reflect the justice and the compassion that were the intentions of God. Both John and Jesus believed that there was a divine mandate for world transformation. Both of them were committed totally to the bringing in of the kingdom of God, and both of them were looking for God to break in dramatically and to execute righteousness with violence, at least for a time. That was basically John’s view, and there was a time in which Jesus identified with John. He was baptized by John. He and his disciples were baptizing and carrying on a mission similar to John in the vicinity where John was ministering in the early days of Jesus’ ministry. John’s vision was apocalyptic, the in-breaking of God, the purifying of the righteous, the damning of the wicked, the setting of things right, violently. Something happened in Jesus’ consciousness. Maybe it was reflected in the temptation narratives, where Jesus was seeking his own identity and the nature of his mission. But, there was a point, at least, when Jesus separated himself from John the Baptist. He moved from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north and there he was carrying on quite a different kind of ministry. We might describe it as a ministry of grace, a ministry of healing, a ministry that proclaimed good © Grand Valley State University   �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   news to the poor, that God had drawn near to all people, including all and excluding none. It was quite a different message than that with which he began, the message of John the Baptist, of the imminent judgment of God. What happened? Well, whatever happened, John wondered, too. He was, in the meantime, imprisoned by Herod, and in the prison he heard reports of Jesus’ gracious ministry, quite out of sync with that with which he had nurtured Jesus and mentored Jesus, and he sent two of his disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one? Or, should we look for another?" Jesus said to the disciples that came from John, "Go tell John what you see and hear, how the blind see and the deaf hear and the lame walk and the poor have good news preached to them." But, as a matter of fact, what Jesus was saying is, "Go tell John the answer to his question is ‘No, I am not the one he thought I was.’" John’s ministry, John’s vision was that of a God of justice who affects justice on the earth violently. Jesus’ vision and ministry was of a God of justice, non-violent justice, a God of infinite patience who would wait until justice would rise in the earth. Jesus distanced himself from John the Baptist, saying, in effect, to the disciples that came to him, "Go tell John I am not who he thought I was, because I have a different vision of the nature of God which, in turn, gives me a different cast to my mission to bring in the kingdom of God." John, obviously, must have been disappointed, and we can understand that. Certainly we can identify with John. John was one who wanted God to do something. Don’t you often want God to do something? Aside now from the great affairs of nations, cosmic events, even in our own lives, don’t we often want God to do something? Don’t we want a God that does something? Isn’t there something within us that stirs when we see corruption in high places and low places? Isn’t there something within us that rises up and wants God to do something when we read of yet another hate crime, another brutal slaying, another abortion clinic bombed? Isn’t there something in us that wants God to do something about the ugliness of all of the darkness in all of the tragedy that is visited upon humankind by structures of domination and oppression, by those in positions of power and privilege who would perpetuate that privilege and power by the oppression of the rest? That was going on in Palestine at the time of John the Baptist, Roman commercialization driving the peasants off their land, driving them into destitution. There was enough reason for one like John the Baptist who believed in God, who believed in justice, who believed in righteousness, there was enough in John the Baptist, to cause him legitimately to cry out to heaven and to say, "God, why don’t you do something?" © Grand Valley State University �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I can identify with that, can’t you? If we can’t, then we aren’t aware of our own heart in which there resides always just beneath the surface the potential for violence in all of us. But, Jesus had come to the insight that by violence the kingdom of God could never come. Jesus must have arrived at the insight that it was only non-violent protest in the midst of the battle, in the heat of the day, consistently and firmly that would ever be the means of the transformation of the world. Jesus must have come to see that violence begets violence, begetting violence and more violence, even when it is the violence of God, for the kingdom of God could be imposed upon us violently, it could be brought upon us with coercion, it could be held in place by domination, and we would be the same as we are now. A totalitarian tyrant can enforce total morality and absolute justice, but that’s not the kingdom of God. Jesus must have come to see that the kingdom of God will dawn only when there is an inward awareness and a personal and social transformation of the world, and therefore, he followed the course that he did, a course which now led him to Jerusalem, to his denunciation of the establishment of the temple, to his last supper at Passover time on the eve of his death, of which he must have been fully aware, and he went to Gethsemane with his disciples to pray. That’s where we find him, in prayer. Falling on his face on the ground, crying out, "O God, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." "Afraid to die, Jesus?" Oh, probably not, although execution on a Roman cross is enough to create fear and trembling in anyone. "Feeling the absence of God, Jesus?" Probably not, at least in Mark’s portrait we have Jesus using the most intimate address possible, "Abba," "Pappa." "What was it, then, Jesus, this cup that you wanted removed, this foreboding, this sinking feeling, this being torn inside, this wrenching of your soul, this being totally distraught, this condition worse than death? What was it, Jesus? Was it that you were now in the position that John the Baptist had been a year earlier? When John sent his disciples with his question, when John was wondering whether he, John, had gotten it wrong, whether his whole life project had been wrong? Was it like that, Jesus? Were you wondering, did you get it right? Were you wondering in the face of the darkness that you were encountering, were you wondering in the face of the entrenched evil in the world, were you wondering whether or not your vision of God was adequate? Could a God of non-violence ever bring in the kingdom of peace? "Jesus, were you wondering whether or not that vision by which you lived that you learned in Isaiah, the suffering servant, the suffering servant who does not © Grand Valley State University �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   crush the bruised reed or snuff out the smoldering wick, the servant who goes as a lamb to the slaughter, who resists not, are you wondering whether that model of your ministry which was reflective of your understanding of God - were you wondering whether or not it was adequate to the darkness of the world that you were facing? Is that what you were struggling with, Jesus? For, certainly in the heat of the battle, you must have sensed the overwhelming power of the way things are, which is fundamentally wrong. "Did you wonder if maybe John, with his God Who affects justice through violence, might have been wrong, after all?" Whatever he was wrestling with, he finally won through to freedom when he was able to say, "Not my will, but Thy will be done." I suspect that if we could have encountered a conversation between Jesus and his Father in heaven, Jesus might have said, "Is there no other way? Can’t you do something?" And the answer would have been, "No, I can’t do anything, given Who I Am, and the intention of creation and the goal of My dream. No, Jesus. There’s no other way." "What, then, must I do?" "Stay the course." "But, if I stay the course, I’ll die." "Yes. You will die." Was it, then, the will of God that Jesus die? Absolutely not. It was the will of God that Jesus should continue to be what Jesus had been, continuing that nonviolent protest against all that was wrong, standing for all that was right, revealing the compassion and the grace of God that embraced all and excluded none. That was God’s intention and will for Jesus. But, it would get him killed, executed, the separation of his body and his blood. Was there no other way? No other way, because violence, even God’s violent, final solution, breeds violence, stiffens resistance, builds walls, and can never create community. Jesus died, but he was free, he was free, because, you see, if I look into the mirror and I see at least some semblance of similarity to the contours of the face of Jesus, then I’ll know that my face reflects what his face reflects, which is the justice and the grace and the compassion of God. And if I’m sure of that, I’m free. You can do anything. You can strip me of everything, but if I see the reflection of my face in the mirror that had all the reflection of Jesus, then I’m strong, then I’m free. © Grand Valley State University �God, Can’t You Do Something? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   "God, why don’t You do something?" "Why don’t you do something? You’re waiting for me? I’m waiting for you. It’s in your hands, this world that I’ve created." "Well, then certainly a God like You, a pansy God, a milktoast God, a passive God will never bring in the kingdom. How long will it take?" "I don’t know. How long will it take?" Is that God of Jesus too weak for you? Does it disquiet you a bit, that passive God of grace and justice? Well, let me just remind you that we know the agent of imperial power resident in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus; his name was Pontius Pilate. We know him because his name was inserted into the creed that confesses Jesus as Lord. And Jesus, the one whose blood was separated from his body, through 2000 years has continued to elicit the best, create the highest nobility and commitment of those who have followed in his steps. Of course, it will cost everything ... as Gandhi found, Bonhoeffer found, Martin Luther King found. It will cost everything, but, by God, you’ll be free. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ff945147a66586d6caf9967444e1145d.mp3 5905a82cdb590daf9f12316e116c2842 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent IV Series God In the Mirror of a Human Face Scripture Text Mark 14:36 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990314 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-14 Title A name given to the resource God, Can't You Do Something? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 14, 1999 entitled "God, Can't You Do Something?", as part of the series "God In the Mirror of a Human Face", on the occasion of Lent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 14:36. Compassion Divine Intention Justice Nature of God Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/139f4481f621ddf12e571e8dcb6eb02a.pdf 380923680575ca04bb2aa81a0d07174a PDF Text Text Brazen to the End From the series: A True Story, the Gospel and Forgiveness Text: Luke 23:39 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 10, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon "A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness." That’s the overall theme of our reflections during this Lenten season, midweek, and we have raised the question about the possibility of forgiveness and whether or not it’s even moral, and we have seen that attitudes and actions do have their consequences, quite apart from whether or not forgiveness is possible and moral. This evening the meditation is entitled, "Brazen to the End," and I was going to deal with the one criminal crucified with Jesus who was brazen to the end, to be followed next week by the other criminal who pled for mercy in his dying hour. But, next week we’ll have a special opportunity to hear The Rev. Dr. Mel White, our evening preacher in a Lenten service of this format, but with a special theme and emphasis. So, I’m going to have to lump the two criminals together and retitle the meditation. Perhaps I could say "Broken or Brazen at the End." That’s pretty good, eh? You get the whole thing and I only have half the work, you see. "Broken or Brazen at the End." Last Lenten season on a Sunday morning I made history; it was the first time from a Christian pulpit that a rebellious criminal got any good press. I suggested that there was something heroic about his "No" all the way to the end. (We only lost one family. No sense of humor, I guess.) Well, obviously, Luke sets us up and his intention is clear. He has that magnificent word of Jesus, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," which will be the text for two weeks from tonight. And then he has the two criminals, the one brazen to the end, railing at Jesus with his last breath, with no intention or indication that there was anything like repentance or second thoughts going on in his life. And then the other criminal, of course, pleading with Jesus to remember him, acknowledging that what he was receiving was the just dessert of his deeds but pleading for mercy, nonetheless, which mercy was granted him by the promise of Jesus. And, of course, the Gospel intention of Luke was to show the magnificent grace of Jesus and to show two opposite reactions, one a brazen attitude all the way to the last breath, the other a brokenness that opened oneself up for mercy. © Grand Valley State University   �Brazen to the End Richard A. Rhem Page 2   If I were to deal only with the one this evening, I would simply have pointed out the fact that one can only receive forgiveness when one is open to being forgiven. I can forgive you for something you do to me, in spite of your desire for it or your openness to it or any response to it. Of course, I can do that. And it will, as a matter of fact, be good for me to do that, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually. But, I can’t effect in you the benefit of being forgiven if you are not open to it, and the reason a year ago I tried to look at the rebellious criminal from a little different angle was the fact that we are so quick to look at that snapshot from the cross and to say the one was bad and damned in his rebelliousness, the other was bad, forgiven in his plea for mercy, and premature closure says that’s all there is to it. But, that’s not all there is to it, really. The story that has triggered this series is The Sunflower, the account by Simon Wiesenthal of his experience as a prisoner in the death camps of the Nazis, who is pulled aside by a nurse to come to the bedside of a dying SS officer who pours out his awful tale of the horrendous things of which he has been a part and for which he accepts responsibility, needing to confess and, pouring out this story in the presence of a Jew because the Jewish people were the object of the terror and the violence of which he was a part. The story ended with Wiesenthal’s question, "Should I have forgiven him?" Actually, he listened to the story and he left without saying a word. No word of human compassion or pity, and certainly no word of forgiveness. He just left the room. I think the very fact that he tells the story is perhaps indicative of the fact that he needed to do what that Nazi needed to do. He needed to tell his own story because he has never rested quite easily with the fact that he left a dying man pleading for some word of compassion or forgiveness without saying a word. But there are many respondents to the story, which Wiesenthal leaves with the question asking each of us, "What would you have done?" Most of the respondents did as one particular British journalist did, saying, I cannot answer the question, what I would have done. I don’t think any of us knows what we would have done, given that circumstance, given the depths of the suffering of those prisoners in that situation. I don’t think any of us knows what we would have done. So, I’m not going to judge that. But let me deal with it in terms of the question, What should I have done? This is one of the respondents who very clearly says there should have been offered some word of compassion, some word of grace, and he, as a matter of fact, points to this Gospel paragraph that we read where Jesus says, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." When you read Wiesenthal’s story and when you see all the respondents who struggle over that question, "What would I have done?" or "What should I have done?" you realize the complexity of this matter of forgiveness in human relationships and, of course, ultimately, forgiveness in terms of God and the © Grand Valley State University �Brazen to the End Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Ultimate, the Absolute. We realize that it is just not as simple as we are wont to make it. Forgiveness is such common fare; we talk about it all the time; we use it in our liturgies and in our sermons, and yet, the more I think about forgiveness, the more I recognize what a complex matter that is, for forgiveness must affect something in the one forgiven. The reason that I say a good word about the criminal who never repented is that he was one of those, like a Simon Wiesenthal. Barabbas, the person mentioned in one of the other Gospels whom Pilate wanted to release, is called an insurrectionist, and the Romans didn’t crucify petty thieves. You can bet that all of the crosses that lined the hillsides out of Jerusalem were political terrorists, rebels, revolutionaries, threats to the peace and order of the State, and we know that Jesus made his protest against the way the world was with non-violence, but we know, as well, that there were zealots, there were guerilla bands, there were revolutionaries roaming the countryside, and who of us can say where we would have been in a case like that? Where there is the heel of the oppressor on the neck of a people. We, ourselves, American people, are the beneficiaries of those who rebelled and revolted against that which they considered unjust which was nothing compared to what was going on in first century Palestine. So, once again, the reason that I’m just not ready to damn that brazen thief is that, like with Wiesenthal, I don’t know what he was suffering. I don’t know what he went through. I think it’s possible for a human being to be so damaged and so wounded that he can never, never emotionally yield his hatred and his violence. It’s just too easy for me just to say, "Well, then he’s damned to hell." But, to die that way is a terrible way to die, and Luke was obviously setting up the other criminal as a model modeled after Jesus. What I am experiencing and suffering I have earned, nevertheless, I plea for mercy, for forgiveness. And what’s going on in these two cases? What is not going on in the brazen one is that coming to self-awareness that sets him free from his anger and his hatred and his woundedness. That’s what’s going on. And what’s going on in the other one is that same self-awareness that overtook that young German SS officer who said, "My God, what have I done?", whose repentance was deep and genuine. To come to that awareness, a certain integrity of being, an owning of one’s life and one’s story, is the prerequisite for receiving the benefit and the blessing of forgiveness. So, is that it, then? In spite of the fact that we handle gently the brazen one because we don’t know how wounded he may have been, and affirm the other one because his awareness came before his last breath, is that all there is, then? It was thinking about that that got me thinking years ago, back in the mid-80s, about the ancient Church’s teaching of purgatory, the fact that none of us at the end of our life, in spite of whether or not we may have perceived the word of forgiveness, is ready for the presence of God. That for the best of us as well as the worst of us, there is a good deal of cleaning up that must be necessary, a good © Grand Valley State University �Brazen to the End Richard A. Rhem Page 4   deal more of self-awareness and consequently of repentance and transformation. It was at that point that I began to see the wisdom of the ancient Church’s teaching on purgatory and then I came across this marvelous paragraph from C.S. Lewis in his Letters to Malcolm, who says, Our souls demand purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, "It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy!" Should we not reply, "With submission, Sir, and if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleaned first." "It may hurt, you know." "Even so, Sir." I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering, partly from tradition, partly because most real good that has been done to me in this life has involved it, but I don’t think suffering is the purpose of the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much better than I will suffer less than I or more, no nonsense about merit. The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much. My favorite image on this matter comes from the dentist chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am coming ‘round, a voice will say, "Rinse out your mouth with this." This will be purgatory. And so, you see, I think it’s much too simple and superficial to have us live our respective lives, some a little better, some a little worse, but like C. S. Lewis said, no nonsense about merit. But, it’s too simple and too superficial to say that at the end of it all one says, "Forgive me," or one continues to say "No" and to have that be the eternal issue of our being. I heard tell some time ago of an old fellow whose funeral was conducted and the family was so delighted by the fact that two days before he died he was led to the Lord by a nurse. Well, that can be wonderful. But, I mean, the family was so happy about the fact that the old man escaped the fires of hell and was entered into the pearly gates because two days before his death he finally said, "Yes." Does that really make sense? Does that really resonate with you? It doesn’t with me, frankly. Much more, our lives are being lived out as a tale that is told and we’ll come, sooner or later, before the face of God, and some of us sooner and some of us later may find all of the stuff of our lives that’s so sour, causing such dysfunction and distortion, finally draining away, and then, then maybe that moment of awareness will come. And is not salvation finally simply awareness, honesty and integrity before the face of God? Isn’t that all God intends in the creation of complex creatures like us? © Grand Valley State University �Brazen to the End Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Christopher Hollis, the journalist who responded to the Wiesenthal story, told of an old medieval legend in which the disciples re-gathered around a table in heaven with Jesus to re-celebrate the Last Supper, and there was a vacant chair until the door opened and Judas entered and Jesus rose and kissed him and said, "We’ve been waiting for you." I don’t think God will quit until the last child has come to the table. References: C. S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Harcourt, Inc., 1964. Simon Wiesenthal. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Shocken: revised expanded edition, 1998. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/eb5708f240f6bdebb02b11ecf725263a.mp3 dd17db0daffdffa559e8e6d94d11c1c4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lent Series A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness Scripture Text Luke 23:39 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, 1964 Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, 1998 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990310 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-10 Title A name given to the resource Brazen to the End Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 10, 1999 entitled "Brazen to the End", as part of the series "A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 23:39. Forgiveness Lent Purgatory https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bd0958e0b23468c1b0e06363637568d8.pdf 3858645f84883019c07fb74e25de0eb2 PDF Text Text If God Is…That Means…But… From the series: God in the Mirror of a Human Face Text: Luke 7:28; Luke 6:27; 35-36 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 7, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon This is the second Lenten sermon and the second week in a row with a funny title. Last week, "That Means ... And That Can’t Be." and I filled that in for you by saying that if the message of John the Baptist was right, that means that God is a violent God and that can’t be. And this week, "If God Is ... Then ... But .." Now, it must be obvious where I’m going with that again. If God is, indeed, nonviolent, as we suggested last week, in contrast to John’s image of God, taking our cue from Jesus instead, that means that we must be nonviolent, too, but ... but I’m not ready for that kind of discipleship. I’m not capable of that kind of discipleship. That means that if God is a God of nonviolent justice, then we, God’s people, are called to be a people of nonviolent justice, but do you realize how radical that is? This is so very important because, as we said last week, the God that we worship will shape us. Over a lifetime the God that we image in our worship and devotion will determine the kind of people that we are. We’ll be killer children of a killer God, or we’ll be nonviolent children of a nonviolent God of justice, and I suggest to you that it is critical to get a proper fix on the historical Jesus because Jesus is the human face that mirrors to us God, and that which is mirrored in the face of Jesus will give us insight into the nature and character of God, and the nature and character of God will determine the kind of people we are. That’s why it’s so very important to get it right with Jesus in order to get it right with God in order to get it right in our own lives. This morning I want to try to establish the fact that my statement last week that Jesus, indeed, presents an alternative vision and program to that of John the Baptist, can be read out of the Gospels themselves. It’s like a good detective story, but as we have come more and more to understand what we have in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the finished Gospel products have layers within them and there are pressures and forces that get pressed into a certain final portrait which still reveals the lines of some of that conflict within. And if you read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John about John the Baptist and Jesus, you get the impression, you get what was being created as the proper perspective, namely that John the © Grand Valley State University   �If God Is…That Means Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah, and that there was continuity between the ministry of John and the ministry of Jesus. I want to suggest to you that, when you probe beneath the layers a bit, you will see that that was a patching over of what was break and discontinuity, that, at some point in the ministry of Jesus, Jesus moved from being a disciple of John the Baptist to creating his own alternative vision and program over against John the Baptist. John was an eschatological person. Jesus was an eschatological person. An eschatological person believes there is something fundamentally flawed about the way the world is organized. John believed it; Jesus believed it. A world organized around power with structures that perpetuate injustice, inequality, that lack mercy and compassion, that is marked by violence, is a world that a person who is eschatological, who is concerned about the end, must reject and protest against. An eschatological person is a person who wants the world to end the way it is, not the space-time world, necessarily, but just the way the world is, almost the normal way the world is. John believed the way the world is was fundamentally flawed; Jesus believed the way the world is was fundamentally flawed. And such a person, John and Jesus, both believed that there was a divine mandate to right the wrong of the world and that it couldn’t come just through human tinkering or human engineering, human ingenuity or human creativity, but rather, it had to be the act of God. There was a third element in being an eschatological person and that is how one lives out that conviction, and there are at least three ways that that has been done. The first way was John the Baptist and the apocalyptic vision, the sense of the imminent in breaking of God, to damn the wicked and establish the righteous, the winepress of the wrath of God overflows with the blood up to the horse’s bridle in a river of blood 200 miles long. We saw it last week in that vision in Revelation. The apocalyptic vision is the vision of the God Who will come in dramatically, violently. The final solution to the righting of the wrong of the world involves violence which edges towards vengeance. That was the God of John the Baptist. There’s another possible response to a conviction that the world is fundamentally wrong. You can withdraw from the world. There were communities at the time of John and Jesus, the Essenes, for example, the Qumran community, the communities connected with the Dead Sea scrolls. They left Jerusalem and went out into the wilderness, forming their own communities of prayer and fasting and waited for the appearing of the Messiah. They gave up on the world; they withdrew from the world into monastic community. There’s a third possibility and that’s the way of Jesus, staying in the heat of the battle, but making a protest nonviolently, being full of grace and compassion, making the protest obvious but nonviolently. Dom Crossan calls that ethical eschatology, and it is my conviction, and I didn’t invent this, but it is my © Grand Valley State University �If God Is…That Means Richard A. Rhem Page 3   conviction, on the basis of the study of the Gospels going back to an essay of 1962 by the Anglican Bishop, John A. T. Robinson, confirmed in current historical Jesus scholarship by the likes of Dom Crossan, I am convinced that if you look at those Gospels in the layered view, you will find that Jesus began as a disciple of John the Baptist, identifying with John’s mission, being baptized by John, but at some point rejected the vision of John, separated himself, went into Galilee and began his own mission on the basis of another vision. That’s what I believe can be established from a study of the Gospels if you weave it all together. It’s only in the fourth Gospel that we know that Jesus had a period of ministry before the Galilean ministry, a ministry down south in Judea where John was baptizing, and if you read the third chapter of John’s Gospel, the fourth Gospel, verses 22-30, you will find that John is carrying on his ministry of baptism and Jesus and his disciples are carrying on their ministry, and I would say at that time that Jesus and his disciples must have been considered a part of the Baptist movement. And then in the fourth chapter of John, in the first verse, you will find Jesus leaving the area and going through Samaria to Galilee. Then in that first verse of the fourth chapter of the fourth Gospel you will find an indication that maybe there was some competition developing between John and Jesus. (I’m so glad that in the religious life of today’s world, competition doesn’t exist anymore.) Whatever the reason, that movement from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north marked geographically a fundamental change in the vision and the mission of Jesus, and the change was the rejection of Apocalypticism and the movement to ethical eschatology, which is simply a protest carried out nonviolently. Jesus began with John and I’m sure it might even have been assumed that he would pick up the reins from John. Early in his ministry, only in the fourth Gospel does Jesus go to the temple and "cleanse" the temple. You remember that dramatic scene - Mark, Matthew, Luke tell us that it happened during Holy Week, but in Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus only goes to Jerusalem one time, and so if he’s going to cleanse the temple, it has to be during Holy Week. Now, if it was during Holy Week or not, I don’t know, but the interesting thing is that in the Fourth Gospel he goes to the temple very early in his ministry and further, during Holy Week, according to Matthew, Mark and Luke, when he cleanses the temple and they ask him by what authority, he says "By what authority did John baptize?" In other words, Jesus’ response in Holy Week with John long dead, connects his cleansing of the temple with John the Baptist. I suspect that John, the Fourth Gospel, may be right at this point, that Jesus went very early to cleanse that temple. Jesus was under the spell of John the Baptist. Jesus was waiting for God to come in dramatically to intervene and to bring about the ultimate judgment that involved violence, and his address at the temple at the early part of his ministry, according to the Fourth Gospel, is indicative that he was growing in the mode of John the Baptist. There’s another interesting thing in the early part of the Gospel. The temptation narratives – where Jesus is struggling in the wilderness according to what kind of © Grand Valley State University �If God Is…That Means Richard A. Rhem Page 4   person he is, what kind of ministry he is to have, what his identity is to be – are early in Matthew, Mark and Luke. John A. T. Robinson suggests that maybe those temptation narratives were indicative of the fact that Jesus, beginning with John the Baptist in the mode of John the Baptist, comes to a point of personal crisis and struggles with who he is to be, and he comes out of the wilderness, out of the temptation narratives. Go to Luke’s Gospel, in the fourth chapter, where Jesus is now in Galilee giving his inaugural sermon. What does he do? He stands up to preach, quoting Isaiah 61, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor and to give sight to the blind...." and that quotation concludes, "to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." Now, if you go the Isaiah passage from which he is quoting, you will find out that the prophet did not stop at "the favorable year of the Lord." The prophet said, "to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, the day of God’s vengeance." That is deleted. Either Jesus deleted it or Luke interpreting Jesus deleted it, but in any case, there is a very, very clear clue that Jesus was not about vengeance, and Luke, when he writes this Gospel, knows Jesus was not about vengeance, even though the passage from which Jesus quotes to proclaim his program and his vision of healing concluded with “the day of the Lord’s vengeance.” Jesus didn’t say it because he was no longer about a God of violence that edged toward vengeance. Jesus was about healing; he was about grace; he was about the stuff we read in that passage from the Sermon on the Mount, which is in Luke the Sermon on the Plain. That impossible stuff about turning the other cheek, about lending and not expecting it to be returned. That impossible ethic that comes out of Jesus and that sermonic material that says love your enemies. Love your enemies! Love your enemies, in order to emulate God. Be ye therefore merciful as God is merciful, God who is good to the selfish and the ungrateful. Or, in Matthew’s version, who causes the sun to shine on the just and the unjust, and the rain to fall on the gardens of the good and the evil, the God who make no discrimination. Be children of God, be merciful as God is merciful. Be compassionate as God is compassionate. Well, even in the dungeon in Marchaerus where John the Baptist who had been arrested was mouldering away, they slipped in The New York Times and he read what Jesus was about. Pansy stuff: healing, forgiving, being gracious, soft stuff, stuff that seemed to lack discrimination. Where was the fire! Where was the sickle being ready to be thrust into the vineyard to reap the earth in order that the winepress of the wrath of God might overflow? John had a vision for Jesus. It was the vision of Elijah returned. It is the vision of Elijah which comes from Malachi that I read a moment ago, that messenger of the covenant that will come, who will prepare the way of the Lord, the great and terrible day of the Lord, who will be like a refiner’s fire, who will purify the righteous and damn the wicked. Elijah’s return was to prepare for the dramatic © Grand Valley State University �If God Is…That Means Richard A. Rhem Page 5   in-breaking of God. John the Baptist saw Jesus as Elijah. You may say, "No, no, no, John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus the Messiah." No. The first chapter of John’s Gospel records the question to John the Baptist, "Are you Elijah?" "No. No. I’m not Elijah. I’m a voice. I’m pointing to Elijah who is to come, who is to prepare the way of the Lord." Now, John is reading The New York Times about what’s going on in Galilee, all kinds of healing and nice things happening, gentle things happening, and he says, "What in the world is going on?" He sends two of his disciples to Jesus to say, "Are you the one? Or do we look for another? Did I get it wrong? Are you not the one I thought you were?" Years ago in the days of my youth I preached a marvelous sermon on that text. It was about John in the dungeon, almost losing his faith, full of doubt, sending his disciples to Jesus to say, "Is it going to be okay?" And Jesus says, "Sure, look what’s happening. Go tell John it’s going to be okay. I’m the one. Tell John to relax and die in peace." That was how to deal with religious doubt; it was a great sermon. And it was wrong. It’s not what this is all about at all. John is in prison. I think John was ready to die, that wasn’t the problem. But, John’s boy has it wrong! The program! Where’s the program? Where’s the fire? Where’s the judgment? Jesus, very indirectly and carefully, says to these disciples of John, "Go tell John what you see and hear. The blind are seeing, the lame are walking, the deaf are hearing, the poor have good news proclaimed to them." And then he says a strange thing. "Happy is the one who takes no offense in me." John took offense in Jesus. Jesus was a pansy. Jesus compromised the program. Jesus wasn’t preparing for the winepress of the wrath of God. He was talking about forgiveness and grace and compassion. So Jesus said, "Go tell him what you see," but actually, contrary to what I preached many, many years ago, that Jesus was saying, "Go tell John, Yes, it’s fine. Yes, I am, I am," Jesus was saying, "Go tell John No, I’m not the one. As a matter of fact, John, you are Elijah, the Elijah figure from the prophecy of Malachi is the projection of you, John. You are Elijah fulfilling that role. "Who am I, then, John? Well, in my own struggle, John, my mentor and my friend whom I respect, let me tell you there’s another part of the prophetic witness: Isaiah. There is the suffering servant, one who doesn’t snuff out the smoldering wick or crush the bruised reed. There’s the suffering servant who doesn’t lift up his voice. There’s the suffering servant who goes as a lamb to the slaughter. John, I am not the one you thought I was. I cannot fulfill the role of Elijah in Malachi. It’s Isaiah for me, because I’ve come to see, John, that your God is a God marked by violence, edging toward vengeance to effect the final © Grand Valley State University �If God Is…That Means Richard A. Rhem Page 6   solution and, John, I don’t believe that violence and vengeance can ever effect the final solution." The disciples left and Jesus began to talk about John. He said, "Whom did you go out to see? A reed? Someone dressed in gorgeous robes? Of course not. Did you go out to see a prophet? Yes, you did. Yes, and more than a prophet, let me tell you. Of all of those born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist." Great affirmation. Great respect. But then Jesus went on to say, "But I tell you the least in the kingdom of God (that is, the movement that I am leading), the least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist, because John the Baptist isn’t even in this ball game. This is a protest of nonviolent justice because I sense that God is that way." What triggered that move in Jesus? Well, of course, who knows? But I wonder if it was not simply the fact that Jesus could see that violence begets violence. Look at the generations and the centuries of the feud in Ireland and the Balkans and the Middle East. Blood feuds never die. Violence begets violence, and there is no transformation. Violence can coerce, violence can crush, violence can destroy, but violence cannot transform, and I suspect that Jesus came to see that and to see that the alternative was to face violence non-aggressively, nonviolently. Now, of course, when you do that, you make yourself vulnerable to death, and they killed him. They killed Gandhi, too. They killed Martin Luther King, too. One whose God is a nonviolent God is one who stands in nonviolent protest against the way things are and absorbs the darkness and receives the world’s verdict which is to die. If God is nonviolent, then those who see God through the lens of Jesus are called to nonviolence, but, but, but, ... I’m not ready for that. Are you? But, maybe, even the acknowledgment of that might be one moment of honesty and truth-telling in the midst of Lent. To be continued. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9d850bd6186524b8a3dc96a21c00694d.mp3 746ff15a96876ff54e98330b05f1a6f3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent III Series God In the Mirror of a Human Face Scripture Text Luke 7:28, 6:27, 35-36 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990307 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-07 Title A name given to the resource If God Is...That Means...But... Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 7, 1999 entitled "If God Is...That Means...But...", as part of the series "God In the Mirror of a Human Face", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 7:28, 6:27, 35-36. Historical Jesus Lent Nature of God Non-violent Justice https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/12eaa873cee307ab0e5107b197c78e8e.pdf 4a2cda06f12ab300dc7880077bae345f PDF Text Text Action and Attitude Have Consequences Midweek Lenten Service Text: Luke 19:42 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 3, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon This Lenten season we are taking our cue from a true story and listening to that story in relationship to the Gospel, and in the context or in relationship to the matter of the forgiveness of sins or the idea of forgiveness. I find that this is a subject about which it seems I’ve preached all my life, this matter of forgiveness, and yet I don’t think I’ve ever thought about it quite so thoroughly or deeply as I have in getting ready for these meditations. Forgiveness is the common fare of our Christian tradition, it is the offer of the Gospel; it is central to everything we are and everything we do, and yet I wonder how often we have really reflected on forgiveness. Last week, "Forgiveness: Possible? Moral?" And for those of you who were here, you know that I am basing these meditations, or at least taking off from the story by Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower, in which he records his experience during the Holocaust when he was bounced from one concentration camp to another, barely escaping death a dozen times, having lost 89 of his own relatives to the gas furnaces. Wiesenthal, on one occasion, in a work detail in a makeshift hospital, was pulled aside by a nurse and brought to the bedside of a dying SS officer who poured out his awful tale of the atrocities that he had perpetrated, and in his dying hours, looked to this Jew to offer him forgiveness on behalf of the Jewish people for all of the horror and the hell of which he had been a part, and as you remember, Wiesenthal was paralyzed as he sat by the bedside listening to this terrible, terrible tale. After hearing most of it, Wiesenthal writes, ... I stood up ready to leave but he pleaded with me: "Please stay. I must tell you the rest." I really do not know what kept me. But there was something in his voice that prevented me from obeying my instinct to end the interview. Perhaps I wanted to hear from his own mouth, in his own words, the full horror of the Nazis’ inhumanity. © Grand Valley State University   �Action, Attitude: Consequences Richard A. Rhem Page 2   When we were told that everything was ready, we went back a few yards, and then received the command to remove safety pins from the hand grenades and throw them through the windows of the house (into which they had herded two to three hundred Jews with cans of gasoline). Detonations followed, one after another. ... My God!" Now he was silent, and he raised himself slightly from his bed: his whole body was shivering. But he continued: "We heard screams and saw the flames eat their way from floor to floor... We had our rifles ready to shoot down anyone who tried to escape from the blazing hell... "The screams from the house were horrible. Dense smoke poured out and choked us..." His hand felt damp. He was so shattered by his recollection that he broke into a sweat and I loosened my hand from his grip. But at once he groped for it again and held it tight. "Please, please," he stammered, "don’t go away. I have more to say." I no longer had any doubts as to the ending. I saw that he was summoning his strength for one last effort to tell me the rest of the story to its bitter end. "... Behind the windows of the second floor I saw a man with a small child in his arms. His clothes were alight. By his side stood a woman, doubtless the mother of the child. With his free hand, the man covered the child’s eyes ... then he jumped into the street. Seconds later the mother followed. Then from the other window fell burning bodies ... We shot... O God!" The dying man held his hand in front of his bandaged eyes as if he wanted to banish the picture from his mind. "I don’t know how many tried to jump out of the windows, but that one family I shall never forget - least of all the child. It had black hair and dark eyes..." He fell silent, completely exhausted. The child with the dark eyes that he had described reminded me of Eli, a boy from the Lemberg ghetto, six years old with large, questioning eyes eyes that could not understand - accusing eyes - eyes that one never forgets. The Sunflower, S. Wiesenthal, 41-43 © Grand Valley State University �Action, Attitude: Consequences Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Paralyzed, as it were, knowing that this man was begging for some word of forgiveness, pity, Wiesenthal rose and left the room without a word, and his account ends with the request that we would put ourselves in his place and answer the question: What would I have done? Well, that, again, is the story that triggered my thinking about this thing, and the last half of this little book has about twenty responses from philosophers, moralists, rabbis, priests, every one very cautious, quite unwilling to say to Wiesenthal, "Yes, you should have given forgiveness," or "No, you did right in not saying a word." Everyone very cautious because who dares make a judgment in such extreme circumstances? What would I have done? What would you have done? Wiesenthal doesn’t claim to answer it; he leaves us with that awful question, and those who responded recognized the severity and the importance of the question. One or two say, "I would have killed the man on the spot." One or two are sure he should have given a word of forgiveness. And in between, all of the rest waffle to and fro. So, what would you have done? What would I have done? I noted last week that one thing that I have learned from the Jewish tradition is that it is a strong teaching in the Jewish tradition that I cannot forgive you for what you’ve done to another. The victim, alone, can grant forgiveness. And I’ve also come to see how easy it is for us to deal in "cheap grace," not taking radical evil seriously, or taking seriously enough the damage and the injury done to the victim, and therefore letting it just brush off. There’s also that tendency in all of us, I think, to want to be done with these awful things, simply to pass them over in silence and avoidance, not really wrestling with the depth of the issue. And yet, I concluded with the fact that it would be a bleak, bleak world, indeed, if there were no forgiveness, and that forgiveness we saw from Psalm 130 is rooted in God. "O Lord, if Thou shouldst mark iniquity, who could stand? But with Thee there is forgiveness." Tonight I want to say, forgiveness, yes, but not the removal of the consequences of our actions and our attitudes. Forgiveness does not mean that I escape clean of the consequences of my actions. Forgiveness doesn’t really have anything to do with the eradication of the consequences. The consequences will be reaped. Our actions and our attitudes have consequences, and history itself is the judgment of history, and we do reap what we sow. I’m thinking of the story in the Gospel of Jesus confronting Jerusalem. "How oft would I have gathered thee as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but ye would not." That kind of cry or plea on the part of God can be placed again and again throughout the biblical story. "How often would I, but ye would not?" And, consequently, we reap the consequences. It has always been true; it always will be true. Jesus said, "You will not see me again until you cry, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,’" and on that triumphal entry into the city, when the children were praising him, he came © Grand Valley State University �Action, Attitude: Consequences Richard A. Rhem Page 4   to the crest of Olivet and wept over that city, a city that he loved and for whom he had all of the hopes of Israel’s past, a city that he knew would be doomed because he said, "You know not the day of your visitation. If only you had known the things that make for peace." Isn’t it true again and again? Jerusalem is just a paradigm of the human experience, whether it be the secular governments of the world, or whether it be the institutions, the church, for example. We plod on our way with blindness and stubbornness and obstreperousness in spite of all of the signs to the contrary, and we reap the reward. It was the cantankerousness of the human heart and mind that disallowed the possibility of the Jesus movement and the faith of Israel to be one. It was the obstinacy and that mind set in concrete in the 16th century that rent the body of Christ into Catholic and Protestant, and it has continued to be so ever since, in the Church and in the world. Governments, leaders, the Saddam Husseins and the Malosivecs and God knows who else who will not, for whatever reason – pride of place or position or prestige.– who will push it to the limit until there is hell to pay. Actions and attitudes have their consequences. I have in my hand a rather strange and interesting magazine, a thoughtful magazine called the Utne Reader. It just came and it just happens to be on forgiveness. There are several very fascinating articles on the very thing we’re wrestling with here this Lenten season. A David Gelernter, for example, says, What do murderers deserve? A Texas woman, Karla Faye Tucker, (remember her?) murdered two people with a pickax, was said to have repented in prison and was put to death. A Montana man, Theodore Kaczynski, murdered three people with mail bombs, did not repent, and struck a bargain with the Justice Department: He pleaded guilty and will not be executed. (He also attempted to murder others and succeeded in wounding some, myself included.) Why did we execute the penitent and spare the impenitent? However we answer this question, we surely have a duty to ask it. And he goes on wrestling with that knotty question of capital punishment. Why do we murder the murderer? Should we take the life of one who has taken a life? One of the writers of the Utne Reader, Jeremiah Creedon, in an article entitled, "To Hell and Back," talks about the necessity of breaking the cycle of violence in the world. Professor Martha Minow of Harvard, in her book interestingly titled, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness, just the kinds of things we’re thinking about here, points out the necessity of reconciliation if we are to have a humane world. But, how close lie vengeance and justice, and at what point is the execution of the law more harmful than moving beyond in an attempt at reconciliation? For © Grand Valley State University �Action, Attitude: Consequences Richard A. Rhem Page 5   example, as it’s going on in South Africa, with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was chaired by Bishop Desmond Tutu, in which the South African perpetrators of violence in the past were offered immunity if they would come and tell their story. Is there something more healthy about having the truth being told without the infliction of the penalty? In order to have the truth stated, is it better for us to come to an awareness, victim and victimizer, of the truth? Can there then be reconciliation and healing? You see, I’m just like Wiesenthal; I’m not giving you answers. I’m asking you questions, because there aren’t easy answers. But God knows that it is true that the cycle of violence in the world must be broken. Jesus knew this. Some say that Judas betrayed him in order to push him, to show his hand, to lead the zealots, to overthrow the Roman oppressor. Jesus’ way was not the way of violence, but it was violence whose consequences were ultimately reaped. The violence of Rome, the violent response of the Jew, the violent response of Rome and the absolute devastation of the city. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! How oft would I, but you would not." So, actions and attitudes have their consequences, and a society desperately needs to wrestle with the question of how justice can be done without the escalation of violence, and it’s very complex. I would leave you with a picture of God, because finally we have to go back there. It is finally, I believe, the nature of God as we understand God that will determine how we live. If I could only pick out half a dozen passages of the scripture to take with me on a desert island, Hosea 11 would be one passage. The tenderness of God Who rescues his child from Egypt’s slavery and takes the child and nurtures the child Israel and brings the child to his cheek and the child turns away, and so, the very natural kind of response now is attributed to God: Destruction will come in the wake of your disobedience and your turning away from me. And then, in the midst of the meting out of the sentence, those words, "But how can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I give you up? I grow warm within, my compassions surge forth. How can I give you up? I will not give you up. Because I am God and not human." Thank God, God is that way, for God knows that we go blindly, stupidly on our way with actions and attitudes that continue to create all of the devastation and the brokenness in human relationships, personal relationships, national affairs, and there are actions and attitudes that will bear consequences. But, that’s not the last word. The last word is a God whose compassion will disallow God doing what God knows ought to be done, and therefore, going against every reasonable response, saying "I will not, I will not let you go." Thank God. © Grand Valley State University �Action, Attitude: Consequences Richard A. Rhem References: The Utne Reader: alternative coverage of politics, culture, and new ideas (Founded in 1984 by Eric Utne, purchased in 2006 by Ogden Publications) Simon Wiesenthal. The Sunflower:On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Shocken; revised expanded edition, 1998. © Grand Valley State University Page 6   � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/66436f163ae417a731c66d0a3e61bb86.mp3 d84a8ae2edae90088f88d9d481eb8223 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lent Scripture Text Luke 19:42 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References The Utne Reader, founded 1984 Simon Weisenthal, The Sunflower, 1998 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990303 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-03-03 Title A name given to the resource Action and Attitude Have Consequences Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 3, 1999 entitled "Action and Attitude Have Consequences", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 19:42. Compassion Lent Forgiveness Nature of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/32f99da01ae988fc0618092601feff33.pdf 0b3ad7834c635024bb2ed81e0dc0cf0f PDF Text Text Then God Is…And That Can’t Be From the series: God in the Mirror of a Human Face Text: Revelation 14:20; Matthew 3:12 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan February 28, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon Before I left on vacation in January, I set up the sermon series for Lent and my main concern was to be able to pick up the themes with which John Dominic Crossan would deal in his presentation last week and especially on Sunday, ushering us into the Lenten season. He was, fortunately, able to come at the time of our first requested date, the first Sunday in Lent, because I thought it would be a stimulating and provocative way to be launched into Lent, but during January when I was trying to determine how I would pick it up from him, I had to hunch somewhat what he would do and anticipate how he might lead us in order that I might pick it up with some kind of continuity, and so, before I left for vacation, I had a series set with a little bit of anxiety as to whether or not we would skip a beat. Well, I’m pleased with it. Of course, if you look at the title of today’s message and next week’s message, you might think I was hedging my bets. Today, "Then God Is ... And That Can’t Be." Do you get it? Next week, "If God Is ... Then ... But ..." Now, you can see I really narrowed down where I could go with that. But, as a matter of fact, I did know what I was doing or intending to do and it’s going to work, I think. Check with me afterwards, or I’ll check with you. This morning, "Then God Is ... And That Can’t Be." Then God is what? If John the Baptist was right, then God is a God of violence with a measure of vengeance slipping in, and that can’t be. Now, that’s a rather bold and simple declaration. If John the Baptist, if his preaching, was right, then God is a God of violence in terms of the final solution and there’s a bit of vengeance there, and I’m saying that can’t be. That’s not new at Christ Community, but perhaps the simplicity and the sincerity and the boldness of the declaration is simply one more turn of the screw. I am saying what has been said in various ways and various times - that Jesus moved away from John the Baptist, rejecting the vision and program of John the Baptist and created an alternative vision or program marked by a God of non-violence. Now, that was one of the key insights of John Dominic Crossan, and it has arisen out of his research into the New Testament and documents of that time, out of his © Grand Valley State University   �God Is…That Can’t Be Richard A. Rhem Page 2   quest for the historical Jesus. It’s not new here. There was an essay by Bishop Robinson, John A. T. Robinson, the Anglican back in the 60s; it’s an essay I’ve used here several times entitled, "John and Jesus," that contrast between John and Jesus set forth by Robinson some decades ago. It struck me then and I’ve preached it here a number of times, as you well remember. But, to set forth as clearly as I can this morning that contrast, I’m going to say it as simply and as boldly as I can - if John was right, God’s final solution involves violence and that can’t be. I don’t believe it, at least. It certainly can be, but I do not believe it is that which is reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. And that’s what this Lenten series is going to be all about - the God that is mirrored in a human face. The God that is mirrored in a human face, that face being Jesus, that God is a God of non-violent justice, to use Crossan’s description. And that God is set in contrast this morning with the image of God that is reflected through the ministry of John the Baptist. There was a time when I could not have been as clear and simple as that because I would have worried that somehow or another John the Baptist was also a prophet of God and is in the Bible and, therefore, I’ve got to somehow or other be able to put together John the Baptist’s ministry and vision and program and Jesus’ ministry and program. Didn’t the one prepare for the other? Didn’t the one set up the other? Wasn’t it all in the providence of God? And I say "No," because this book needs to be handled respectfully, carefully, and thoughtfully with reason and intuition. But it must not be an inerrant, infallible word of God that fell out of heaven so that everything in it I’ve got to be able to put in its little place. I wrote an article in a theological journal one day about the Bible; I entitled it "The Book That Binds Us." Of course, everyone thought what I meant was that the Bible binds us into community, but what I really meant was that the Bible binds us like cheese binds us. The reason we have been so unable to deal with the issues that arise in the scripture in an honest manner is that we are constipated by the Bible, spiritually constipated, and I find that, in all of my nurture and all of my education, I came to the Bible knowing the answers before I opened the book, and it is so refreshing to be able to go to the Bible with fresh eyes and to say, "What is here and how can we make sense of it?" I’m going to suggest to you this morning that, within this book, there is a vision and a program of John the Baptist that was rejected by Jesus because John’s vision and program involved a God whose final solution involved violence that borders on vengeance, and Jesus said that can’t be. Why is this so important? It is so important to get a proper fix on Jesus because Jesus is the human face that mirrors the nature and character of God for us, and the nature and character of God will determine our nature and character. You get it right in Jesus, you get it right in God. You get it right in God, and you’ll get right. You get wrong in Jesus, you’ll get wrong in God. You get wrong on God, and you get wrong right here. © Grand Valley State University �God Is…That Can’t Be Richard A. Rhem Page 3   One of the great problems of our world today is that there is more religion, Christian, Jew, Islamic, Muslim, that is modeled on the God of John the Baptist than the God of Jesus. The world is in great peril today. Our state department is worried about its embassies around the world. Our government is talking about the threat of terrorism and wondering how much the public should be informed about the real threats that are afoot today in our world. And the fuel of the terrorists is religious conviction. It is religious conviction that is drawn from an image of a violent God, to use Dom Crossan’s neat turn of a phrase, creating killer children of a killer God. It is so important to get straight on Jesus because Jesus is the mirror of the character of God and the character of the God we worship will shape our character and our community. Now, I’m going to say to you that Jesus and John were both marked by eschatology. That’s that long word that means the things pertaining to the end. Now, not necessarily the end of the planet, the stars, the sun, the moon, and the physical universe, but the end at least of a world that is structured by those in power, the structure of an age. In John’s time and Jesus’ time, it was the world of imperial Rome. If you want to know about a world at any given time, ask where the power lies. Where the power lies will determine the shape of an age. John and Jesus were both eschatological in that they believed that it was necessary for the world to end, that is, that world shaped by imperial Rome with power. A person who is marked by eschatology is a person who believes that there is something fundamentally wrong with the world; it is so fundamentally wrong that it cannot simply be tinkered with and fixed up a little bit here. The whole basis on which a world, a society, is structured is fundamentally wrong and it needs to be stood on its head. John thought so. Jesus thought so. Both of them were alike also in that what they believed about the end being of this world order and the issuing in of the kingdom of God was a mandate from heaven. This isn’t something they dreamed up in their sleep; this wasn’t something they arrived at after calling together a task force about the shape of things. This was something that was burned into their souls as a mandate from heaven, as a word from God. There was to be a radical intervention by God in order to turn the world upside down and to right its wrongness. John believed it; Jesus believed it. But, if you believe the world is fundamentally wrong and if you believe you have a divine mandate to right the wrong, then it will still have to be determined how you declare the message and how you live out the vision. Jesus began with John. John must have been his mentor. It is not unlikely that there was the assumption that Jesus would pick up the reins from John. But, at some point, Jesus said, "No." At some point Jesus said I can’t go that way. At some point Jesus distanced himself from John. We’ll see next week that he did it with great respect for this great prophet, but nonetheless, creating an alternative vision and an alternative program because essentially Jesus’s God was different than John’s God. John was eschatological in believing that there was something fundamentally wrong with the world and that God had called him to do something about it, and © Grand Valley State University �God Is…That Can’t Be Richard A. Rhem Page 4   the manner in which he did it was within apocalyptic eschatology, which means, in his terms, and they were general terms at the time, that God would soon intervene in a dramatic fashion into human history and that the wrath of God would be poured out on all unrighteousness and there would be a separation between the righteous and the unrighteous, and the unrighteous would be cast into eternal Hell and the winepress of the wrath of God would overflow. John was an apocalyptic; he believed at any moment the end would come and God would make the wrong right through an intervention that involved a judgment that was full of violence and that bordered on vengeance. Matthew’s Gospel tells us about John’s ministry down at the Jordan River; we’re familiar with that. They came out to see John and to hear him and to see what was going on, and he said, "You brood of vipers," and he looked at the one who was coming and he said his winnowing fork is in his hand and he’s going to separate the wheat from the chaff and the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. The commentator of the Anchor Bible Series of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in John, the last book in the New Testament, suggests that John the Baptist may have been the author of that revelation. That’s not been traditionally the understanding. Traditionally biblical scholarship does not think it is John the Evangelist, the one that wrote the fourth Gospel, but just some other prophet named John. But, there’s a pretty good argument for the fact that the material in the middle of the revelation may well have come from John the Baptist and the circle of John the Baptist, and that some Christian writer later on tacked on the first three chapters and the last chapter. If you take the first three chapters of Revelation and the last chapter away, you don’t have very much about Jesus Christ in there. It could as well be a Jewish apocalyptic. They’re looking for the same thing. They were expecting the same kind of imminent event, and there’s a pretty good argument for the fact that maybe it was out of John the Baptist himself or his circle, because there was a Baptist movement that was in competition with the Jesus movement. We can still see it in the layers of the New Testament, even though it’s handled very gracefully. Nonetheless, out of that John the Baptist movement may well have come a writing like the Revelation that we have at the end of our New Testament, and what is the picture? The picture is that there is going to be hell to pay; the wrath of God is ready to boil over; the command comes to stick the sickle in, to harvest the earth, to cast it into the wine press of the wrath of God, and to trample those grapes until the wine press overflows with blood, a river which is 200 miles long and up to the horses’ bridle. That’s tough stuff! If we lived in that Roman world and didn’t have any power and had no economic possibilities and we had the heel of an imperial power upon us with its legions marching up and down the streets, if we had seen our infants slaughtered, if we had seen our whole life blown up, our dreams shattered, if there seemed to be no © Grand Valley State University �God Is…That Can’t Be Richard A. Rhem Page 5   hope, if history had lost all possibility for us, well then, I mean, I can almost feel it now, can’t you? Doesn’t the human person get driven to a point where you want hell to be paid, don’t you want the wrath of God to be poured out on those powers that have warped and distorted the human situation, don’t you want God to do something about all of those structures and all of those forms that have caused the distortion of a world that is fundamentally wrong? If you live and you suffer in a world that is fundamentally wrong, don’t you cry out, "How long, O Lord, how long?" What happens to us when we see this fellow named King who dragged a black man for three miles down an asphalt road? What do you feel in your heart? What do you feel in your stomach? Do we want justice done? Would we mind a little vengeance thrown in? What do you feel when you see Milosovich in the Kosovo situation? How do you feel when you see a world leader such as Saddam Hussein who uses the people as a human shield, caring only for the possession of his own power and the preservation of his own life and using his people as fodder - what do you feel? Don’t you want God to do something? Don’t you wonder if there’s any justice in the world? Doesn’t it turn your stomach? Isn’t it easy to slip from justice to vengeance? Isn’t death by injection for Mr. King almost too good? Would anybody here cheer for putting a chain around his neck and dragging him three miles down an asphalt road? The very fact that I could think of that tells you what’s in my heart. So, I’m not going to criticize John the Baptist. I don’t know what he suffered; I don’t know what he saw. He believed it couldn’t go on that way because he did believe that God was right and righteous, and he did believe this world was wrong, and he did believe that God would do something about this world, and it couldn’t be too soon for John the Baptist. But the justice slipped into vengeance and it’s reflected in our New Testament documents. The God of John the Baptist is the God for whom the final solution involves violence and vengeance. And Jesus said, "That can’t be." It is so important that we see this clearly because, as I began, our character and our nature and the ambience of our community will be reflective of the character and the nature of God, and the character and the nature of God we gather from what is reflected in the face of Jesus. Get Jesus right, get God right, and then we’ll be right. References: John A. T. Robinson, “Elijah, John and Jesus,” Twelve New Testament Studies. SCM Press, 1962. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bbc687e1ddd3cacb879d5c7c03088b8b.mp3 9a4c75183ed7635736b7f56beb4993f2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series God In the Mirror of a Human Face, Lent II Scripture Text Revelation 14:20, Matthew 3:12 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References A.T. Robinson, "Elijah, John and Jesus," Twelve New Testament Studies, 1962 Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower, 1998 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990228 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-02-28 Title A name given to the resource Then God Is...And That Can't Be Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 28, 1999 entitled "Then God Is...And That Can't Be", as part of the series "God In the Mirror of a Human Face, Lent II", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Revelation 14:20, Matthew 3:12. Lent Nature of God Non-violent Justice https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9c086c421e5f9e87626dc5c7691c1dd1.pdf c85cd24fb92675ec31ff53b6b1f4469d PDF Text Text Forgiveness: Possible? Moral? Midweek Lenten Worship Text: Luke 7:36-50 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan February 24, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon The theme stated in the bulletin, "Forgiveness: Possible? Moral?" is really the theme of the evening, but there is an overall theme for this Lenten series which I failed to get printed. It’s called "A True Story: The Gospel and Forgiveness," for I want us to think on these Lenten meditations about the possibility of forgiveness, the nature of forgiveness, and the qualities of forgiveness, and what it is that we understand about forgiveness. The story is a story called The Sunflower, by Simon Wiesenthal. It is recorded in this little book, which I was given sometime within the course of the last year. His name may be familiar to you; he is the Jew who has founded a center located in Vienna with a branch in Los Angeles. It is a documentation center and Simon Wiesenthal is one who survived the concentration camps and has given himself to the pursuit of all of those Nazi war criminals who have managed to escape punishment. He has given his whole life to their pursuit; he has dogged their steps. Not so many years ago he was able to track down Adolph Eichmann, you may remember. Some call him a dangerous fanatic, and yet, Simon Wiesenthal is a man who, having gone through what he went through, is convinced that the Holocaust, that story, must be told. He wrote in The New York Times that the schools will be silent, the churches will wipe out the Holocaust with forgiveness, and parents will be in denial trying to evade and avoid the raw terror of what happened fifty some years ago. The Sunflower is his story. Simon Wiesenthal lost 89 of his relatives; he saw his aged mother crammed into a boxcar on her way to the death camp. His wife’s mother was shot in the staircase of her own home. He, himself, miraculously escaped death a dozen times. He is a man who has two engineering degrees, and was a successful architect living in Poland, a land where there had been a long history of antiSemitism. He finally was arrested in October of 1943. He made his way through various camps for the next nearly two years, finally to be liberated by the American troops in May of 1945. He tells his story in The Sunflower. © Grand Valley State University   �Forgiveness, Possible, Moral? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   I won’t go into the sunflower symbolism; can’t possibly give you a sense of this story in a few moments this evening, but the heart of the story is his recounting of an encounter with a dying Nazi SS officer. He was a prisoner in a death camp; he was in a detail that was dispatched to a makeshift hospital and, arriving there, a nurse led him into the room of this dying SS officer whose head was totally bandaged and who was obviously in his last moments, and the SS officer poured out his story to Simon Wiesenthal. This is a young German SS officer, 22 years old, knowing that he is about to die, but recounting the horrors of what he had done, the most vivid instance that of herding two to three hundred Jewish people in the village into a three-story house in which they had to carry cans of gasoline into which were lobbed grenades with the obvious result - explosions and fire, and with the SS officers around the house with their machine guns at the ready to gun down anyone who would try to jump or escape in any way. This SS officer saw a father with a little child in his arms, dark hair and dark eyes. The father put his hand over the child’s eyes and they leaped from the second story window, followed by the mother, and whether or not they died on impact or were dead because of the machine gun, he doesn’t know, and he went on to describe other horrors of which he was a part, but that particular scene he could not erase from his mind. Wiesenthal, near death himself in the death camp and his work detail, sat frozen on the SS officer’s bed. He wanted to run, but the officer held him firmly and said that Wiesenthal had to listen to it all. And then the SS officer, after completing his tale, said, "When I was still a boy I believed with my mind and soul in God and in the commandments of the Church. Then everything was easier. If I still had that faith, I am sure death would not be so hard. "I cannot die ... without coming clean. This must be my confession, but what sort of confession is this? A letter without an answer ..." No doubt he was referring to my silence. But what could I say? Here was a dying man - a murderer who did not want to be a murderer, but who had been made into a murderer by a murderous ideology. He was confessing his crime to a man who perhaps tomorrow must die at the hands of these same murderers. In his confession there was true repentance, even though he did not admit it in so many words. Nor was it necessary, for the way he spoke and the fact that he spoke to me was a proof of his repentance... He sat up and put his hands together as if to pray. "I want to die in peace, and so I need ..." I saw that he could not get the words past his lips, but I was in no mood to help him. I kept silent. © Grand Valley State University �Forgiveness, Possible, Moral? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I know that what I have told you is terrible. In the long nights while I have been waiting for death time and again I have longed to talk about it to a Jew and beg forgiveness from him, only I didn’t know whether there were any Jews left... I know that what I am asking is almost too much for you, but without your answer, I cannot die in peace." Now there was an uncanny silence in the room. I looked through the window. The front of the buildings opposite was flooded with sunlight. The sun was high in the heavens. There was only a small triangular shadow in the courtyard. What a contrast between the glorious sunshine outside and the shadow of this bestial age here in the death chamber. Here lay a man in bed who wished to die in peace, but he could not because the memory of his terrible crime gave him no rest. And by him sat a man also doomed to die - but who did not want to die because he yearned to see the end of all the horror that blighted the world. Two men who had never known each other had been brought together by a few hours by fate. One asks the other for help. But the other was himself helpless and able to do nothing for him. I stood up and looked in his direction, at his folded hands... At last I made up my mind and without a word I left the room. The account is relatively brief, only ninety-nine pages. These are the last couple of paragraphs that Wiesenthal writes: Was my silence at the bedside of the dying Nazi right or wrong? This is a profound moral question that challenges the conscience of the reader of this episode just as much as it once challenged my heart and my mind. There are those who can appreciate my dilemma and so endorse my attitude. And there are others who will be ready to condemn me for refusing to ease the last moments of a repentant murderer. The crux of the matter is, of course, the question of forgiveness. Forgetting is something that time alone takes care of. But, forgiveness is an act of volition and only the sufferer is qualified to make the decision. You who have just read this sad and tragic episode in my life, can mentally change places with me and ask yourself the crucial question, "What would I have done?" The last half of the book is a series of brief responses from some twenty philosophers, theologians, priests, rabbis, giving the response to his question, © Grand Valley State University �Forgiveness, Possible, Moral? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   "What would you have done?" and the book ends without an answer, it remains a question. It’s a question that I would like to leave with you tonight. It’s a question that I would like to have us continue to reflect on in this Lenten season. A dying man in anguish pitifully asks forgiveness from another human being, in this case, a Jew on behalf of the Jews. He listens to the whole story, but then he leaves in silence. What would you have done? All of the respondents, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, are very subdued in their response because we are so far from that situation that I don’t think there is anybody that would presume to put themselves in his place and answer for him. I don’t think that it is possible for us to begin to take in the horror of those years. Nonetheless, a step removed from the concrete situation in which Wiesenthall found himself, the moral question is there and that’s why I raise the question tonight. Forgiveness: Is it possible? Is it moral? I have learned in the Jewish tradition that there is a very strong tradition that no one can forgive another for a crime against a third person. I could not forgive you for something you did to another, that it is only the person sinned against that can offer forgiveness. And, as I have reflected on that particular thing, I’m also aware that in the Christian tradition and in a church like Christ Community which has been marked by grace, there is always the danger of "cheap grace." Sometime in the last year or so there was one of these awful school shootings, I think in Arkansas, and the newspaper showed signs of neighbors and young people having the name of the young man that perpetrated that tragedy saying, whatever his name was, "(Jim), we forgive you." There is a Jewish commentator, writer, journalist, Dennis Prager, who wrote a very sharp article on the dummying down of Christianity, saying that such offering of forgiveness before there was any admission of guilt or any indication of repentance was the dummying down of Christianity and an abuse. That’s "cheap grace." The attitude of "Oh, it doesn’t matter," thinking now not about that Holocaust situation, but thinking more in general, those who say something doesn’t really matter, offering easy absolution are not dealing with the reality of evil and the necessity of repentance and reformation in human life. Forgiveness can be bandied about easily if we don’t take seriously the extent to which we injure one another. Forgiveness ought not to come easily. And yet, forgiveness is rooted in our image of God, our sense of God. Forgiveness was imaged in the God of Israel. The Psalmist said, "Oh, Lord, if you should mark iniquity, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness." And that forgiveness of the God of Israel was reflected in the ministry of Jesus. The woman who came to him off the street, a woman of the night, into the Pharisee’s house, to whom he extends forgiveness, seeing in the love of her life a kind of human transformation that is affected by the touch of grace. © Grand Valley State University �Forgiveness, Possible, Moral? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   My favorite novel, drama, musical, "Les Miserables," has Jean Valjean fleeing the police inspector, taking refuge in the convent, robbing in the middle of the night the silver of the priest, only to be apprehended and brought back to the priest by the gendarmes, and the priest saying, "I gave it to him." And then looking Jean Valjean in the eye, saying, "I exorcize the evil of your heart. Go out a new man." And the story is of the transformation of the human being. Forgiveness. What darkness there would be if, when one comes to that point of self-knowledge and the honest confronting of oneself and lays it bare, that one would meet only with silence. Doesn’t it give you a chill to think of that? Not in any sense to take away from Wiesenthal or to judge him, and to recognize that perhaps he had no right to offer forgiveness to the SS officer for crimes against those who had suffered. Nonetheless, as one commentator suggested, maybe just some word of recognition and understanding short of the offer of absolution. And yet, as we will think in these Lenten weeks, it is God who forgives, but that remains abstract until we forgive one another, not lightly, not nonchalantly, but seriously in the light of honest repentance which is a change of mind and a raising of consciousness or a coming to oneself. Then the Gospel says that for such a one there is forgiveness, forgiveness because that’s the way God is, ultimately, ultimately, full of grace. References: Simon Wiesenthal. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness. Shocken; revised expanded edition, 1998. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/712f57623b2683c126167329b9299a9a.mp3 25c97ec529099e6e194699fb5e07fe43 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lent Scripture Text Luke 7:36-50 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990224 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-02-24 Title A name given to the resource Forgiveness: Possible? Moral? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 24, 1999 entitled "Forgiveness: Possible? Moral?", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 7:36-50. Forgiveness Grace Lent Nature of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f6eb2e1878eaa6372f26ab1c9ba57b88.pdf 2112a69ab7ef73991b5607c0da8f5967 PDF Text Text The Quest for the Historical Jesus From the series: Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question Text: Mark 3:20-21; Luke 4:23 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan January 24, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon The book, The Historical Jesus, by John Dominic Crossan, is rather thick, 500 pages, and it became a bestseller. In a conversation, Crossan said, "I never intended it to be a bestseller, for popular consumption. I was trying to get a discussion going in the scholarly world." But he said it became a bestseller, and he said, "I think all kinds of people didn’t really get it." So he wrote The Birth of Christianity to try to explain what he was trying to do in the last one. This has 640 pages. Since I won’t have an opportunity to speak with you prior to the weekend in which John Dominic Crossan is with us, the first weekend in Lent, February 1921, I want to take this opportunity to say a few words about him and about his work, and the importance of The Quest for The Historical Jesus, because we have a lecture series this year which really focuses there. Certainly, John Dominic Crossan is considered one of the, if not the preeminent historian and researcher in this quest. And a colleague of Crossan, Marcus Borg, is widely published in the quest. We have the Jewish scholar, Amy-Jill Levine, who will talk about the break between the Jesus Movement and Judaism, and, therefore, focus again in those early years of origination. Then, of course, Bishop Spong who will deal with the larger church and the larger theological issues in light of all the biblical research that is going on. We are very fortunate to have these people come to us, and I want to say a word about John Dominic Crossan this morning. Colette will follow up with that next week, as well, because I think it is important to set a context for someone like this. John Dominic Crossan is a preeminent scholar. He is brilliant. When I read his work, when I see the kind of material that he marshals, and how he handles it succinctly, communicating that breadth of study, I just cry and want to throw in the towel. I mean, he’s just one of those brilliant scholars. But he is also able to communicate with people in a very wonderful way, with a fine turn of phrase and memorable statements. Beyond that, John Dominic Crossan is a fine human being. I’ve only met him briefly, talked with him a couple of times, but others of you have been with him, and I want to say this to you as a congregation that, if © Grand Valley State University   �Quest for Historical Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 2   you would expose yourself to this person, I am sure you will like him, because he’s not only brilliant, but he’s gentle. And he is a person of great integrity. That impresses me so much. In the scholarly debates, it can get rather heated at times. But Dom Crossan is a person of great integrity who seeks to set forth his presuppositions, put them on the table, set forth clearly the methods he’s following and then, on that basis, does his research so you know how he is going about what he does and, therefore, the conclusions that he reaches can be judged on that basis. He would not claim that his methods are infallible or that his conclusions are absolute. Those who work in the field of historical research know that there is always a degree of probability connected with it. We’ve known for a long time, and he is very quick to admit, that we will never get a photograph of the historical Jesus. From the documentation that we have in the New Testament, the canonical Gospels, and in the non-canonical materials that were written about that time, and other non-canonical gospels out there — from all of that study it is impossible to be absolutely certain that we have the exact contours of that mystical figure who stands behind it all. But, through that kind of research, it is at least possible to get a good feel for Jesus — that one of whom we confess, "the word made flesh," that one who, in the Christian story, is the concrete embodiment of God in our historical context, the Jesus who is our window to God, is the center of that story as a part of that Christian tradition for over 2000 years. John Dominic Crossan is, then, a brilliant scholar, a fine human being, and a person of great integrity who with great passion pursues his research of the birth of Christianity, a very important scholar, and we are very privileged that he would come into our midst. As he will share with us in greater extent, we are engaged at the present time in a very vital discussion and very vital research, seeking to find the contours of Jesus of Nazareth. A quest of the historical Jesus is going on with great passion and great intensity in our day, and it’s a very important engagement. The historical Jesus is that figure behind the Gospels, behind the Apostle Paul, behind the Christian communities, behind the Christian creedal tradition. Crossan and others have been criticized for engaging in this research by some who would say, "Well, you’ve got Matthew, Mark, Luke and John." There’s one writer who analyzes twenty such scholars and their research for the historical Jesus and says, "They’re all wrong." And they come to distorted conclusions because they never see the whole Jesus, they just look at parts, they fragment Jesus. Well to that, John Crossan would say, "The whole Jesus, which whole Jesus?" "The whole Jesus of Matthew, of Mark or Luke or John?" We know that those basic four canonical portraits differ considerably, not only in nuance; even within those Gospel records we know that Jesus makes some contradictory claims or contradictory claims are made about him. © Grand Valley State University �Quest for Historical Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 3   You have heard me say before that, when I was going through college and studying Bible, we studied a course on the Harmony of the Gospels, and we meshed it all together. If there was a loose end dangling here, well, we had ways of getting rid of that, so we had one uniform portrait — the whole Jesus, so to speak. But when you really research the Gospels, you have varying portraits even within the Gospel. For example, within the same Gospel, Jesus will say, "The end is imminent," "This generation will not pass away before the son of man appears," and "The end is unknown, only the Father in heaven knows the time and season." Which did he mean? Did he say one thing one time, and one thing another time? Did he change his mind? Or did he say one thing and his interpreters say another thing? Those are the kinds of questions that are asked, but, as a matter of fact, you can’t just say, "Well, read Matthew or Mark or Luke or John and get the whole Jesus." You have to say, "Which whole Jesus?" So there’s work behind the scenes, because we recognize now that those Gospels are layered traditions, and each Gospel was written with a specific perspective to a concrete community in a concrete context in order to deal with certain things. What was needed to be said in John’s time, near the end of the first century, was not the same as what Mark needed to communicate around 70 A.D., all the Gospels being decades after the event itself, all the Gospels written reflecting a cumulative growing tradition, in various Christian locales, dealing with various challenges and crises. I don’t preach the same Jesus that I preached in 1960 when I came here the first time. And you can be happy about that! I don’t preach the same Jesus that I preached in New Jersey. I don’t preach the same Jesus I preached in 1971 when I came back. Part of that is my own growth and understanding, but part of that is the fact that you’re not the same, and the world is not the same. If preaching is to be in any sense relevant, the proclamation of the word of God to concrete people in the here and now, then it will be an evolving kind of message. It will be pertinent to the context, time and space, locale, community. The crises and challenges that any people face at any given time, that’s what draws preaching to its focus. And so it was with the Gospel writers, and so we have this canonical foursome that represent how that mystical figure back there was proclaimed in different places at respective times. But how do we get behind that? Well, that’s the purpose of this historical research. Why is it important? Because Jesus is our window to God, and the kind of Jesus we envision will impact the kind of God we worship, and the kind of God we worship will determine the kind of people we are. History has been replete with examples of what Crossan would say, "killer children of a killer God." If God is that way, then we are empowered and legitimized to be that way. So, it is a very critical thing. Those Gospels, when you consider them carefully and in a scholarly manner, will indicate those layers to those who are trained to do it. Colette didn’t read from Mark, but I have a text © Grand Valley State University �Quest for Historical Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 4   printed in the liturgy from Mark 3, where the word is out that Jesus, in the blossoming of his Galilean ministry, is out of his mind, and his mother gets his brothers and they go to bring him home because he’s "gone over the edge," according to rumor. Well, that kind of material, those who research would say, "You know, that’s not really very complimentary." That must have been such a hard nugget in that tradition, that they couldn’t wipe it out, although Matthew softened Mark, and Luke doesn’t refer to it at all. Jesus’ mother going after him and saying, "Come home, boy. You’ve lost it." In the Gospel of Luke we have this wonderful inaugural sermon of Jesus in his home synagogue. There he reads from the prophet Isaiah. It was the reading of the day apparently, and he read those words of the prophet, which were read here from Isaiah 61, except he left out one phrase. He said, "To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." Isaiah said, as was read here, "To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the day of vengeance of our God." Jesus was a teddy bear. He didn’t like to talk about God’s vengeance. That’s why he up and left John the Baptist. John the Baptist was talking about the day of vengeance, because the year of the Lord’s favor for the righteous was a year of God’s vengeance on the wicked. So Jesus left that out. (Selective, huh, Jesus?) Or did Jesus read it, but Luke left it out? We can’t really tell, can we? Somebody left it out. Isaiah said, "To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, the day of vengeance of our God." Either Jesus left it out because it was contrary to where he was going, splitting off John the Baptist, or when he was splitting off John the Baptist, impressed somebody enough so that in the growing tradition there was a sense that Jesus was not about vengeance. How do you tell? Well, you ask John Dominic Crossan. It’s difficult to tell. We probably can’t tell, but do you see what this is all about, trying to get back as best we can to that concrete historical figure in the misty flats behind those Gospels. But if the biblical text is a problem, even a bigger problem is the growing creedal tradition of the Christian movement. Dom Crossan will tell us that Jesus was one of the dispossessed and destitute persons of lower Galilee and that his movement gathered those who had lost everything. They didn’t have to give up everything to follow Jesus; they didn’t have anything. They were an itinerant group that went about to proclaim — and this was the amazing thing about Jesus, he was able to say to the destitute of the world, "You can be kings and queens, you can live fully human. If you lose your life you will gain it; grasping life, you lose it." Jesus had something about him that made people stand and walk tall, from the inside out. So, whatever started as a proclamation of good news to the poorest of the poor, it was a social movement; it had political and economic implications. Then three centuries go by and there is a Roman vying for imperial power, and his name is familiar to you all, Constantine. In 312, he said, "Give me victory, I give you the empire." He wins, and Christianity becomes the established religion of the Roman Empire. Absolutely amazing, isn’t it when you think about it? Three hundred years and a leap from a peasant movement by the dispossessed to © Grand Valley State University �Quest for Historical Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 5   imperial power, the religious establishment of the Roman Empire. But there were strings attached. Constantine called a church council. This is the emperor, now, calling a church council in 325, the Council of Nicaea. And like with the MBA boys, Constantine locked up the bishops and said, "Come out with a uniform statement about the nature of this one in relationship with God," and the Council of Nicaea came out with a creed, the Nicene Creed. If you are from the Catholic tradition, it’s the creed recited at every Mass. On the 21st of February here, our choir will chant the Nicene Creed. It will give you goose bumps. "Light of Light, God of God, before all worlds." Now, to celebrate their victory by coming out with a creed, Constantine threw the bishops a supper. There is a marvelous statement from the Church historian, Eusebius, who shows how the bishops walk through the rows of armed soldiers, the legionnaires. They walk into the royal apartments, into the depths, into the dining room where they recline on couches and sup with the emperor. Well, that’s seductive! I mean, it would be for any of us. When Nancy and I were watching the movie version of that marvelous novel, Thornbirds, at the part where Father Ralph is all regaled in brilliant red robes and he prostrates himself on that shiny marble of St. Peter’s, with all of the gold and glitter. I said to Nancy, "You know, I was made for glory." I mean, it’s seductive. Here we are a bunch of nobodies, and somebody invites us to a royal banquet. Well, I could distort quite a few texts, as a gift in turn. The Church tradition from that point on continually elevated its Christological statements, because, if the emperor is going to bow a knee to Jesus, Jesus better be the Lord of the universe. So he became Pantocrator — the ruling, reigning Jesus Christ, Lord of the worlds. I can understand how that happened. If it hadn’t happened, where would we be today? I don’t know. Could a poor, peasant movement in lower Galilee have ever swept the world without achieving that escalation? I don’t know. But, can you see that you would lose something too? Wouldn’t establishment take the heart out of that movement? Seems just like common sense that that inevitably is going to happen. You see, you’ve got layers in the text. Now you’ve got creedal layers in the tradition. So, how are you going to get back there? Or, why should you? Well, let me suggest that it’s important because the triumphalism of an imperial established church isn’t going over so well in our world today. Don’t we have a suspicion that the Church is not going to be the triumphant institution of the world? Don’t we realize that the great religious traditions are vying to gain their own positions in the sun? Aren’t we recognizing the necessity, the importance, the enhancement and enrichment of the interfaith dialogue? Elsie and Hung Liang are back in town, having buried their dear daughter Priscilla, and Elsie called and told about how Priscilla, being Chinese, raised in America, then living in Singapore, was part of a network in an international community, and a young Indian was so upset with her death that he went off to Nepal for a month of prayer and fasting. Buddhist friends gathered their © Grand Valley State University �Quest for Historical Jesus Richard A. Rhem Page 6   community in prayers for Priscilla and for the rest of her soul. What would you say if your daughter was dying, or if your daughter had died and somebody from another tradition said, "We’re praying for you." Would you say, "Could I check your creed to see if it has any credence?" Of course, you wouldn’t. We know these things down here. We know that all of us in the great movements of religious faith throughout the world are reaching for rest in that ultimate mystery of things. So, we live in a time of dis-establishment. That’s what Douglas Hall said to us when he was here that weekend. The Constantinian era is over. We live in a global community, in a pluralistic situation where there is mutual interfacing between the great religious traditions and a triumphalistic church, and a triumphalistic Lord Jesus Christ isn’t going to do it in our world. But, Jesus still does. The great Albert Schweitzer, concert organist, brilliant biblical scholar, theologian, by the age of thirty years had written his classic Quest of the Historical Jesus, had written about Paul and the kingdom, had been a pupil of Francois-Marie Voltaire and studied with Franz Liszt, and was a leading pupil who could have played the organ around the world. He was an accomplished theologian and accomplished musician, and he goes to medical school at the age of thirty to learn to be a doctor to go to Africa, where he lived his life out in that humanitarian gift to those people. Why? In his Quest of the Historical Jesus, from which our hymn came, because it is his poetic words, "He comes to us as one unknown." He says that Jesus was wrong, dead wrong, he got it wrong. Jesus thought the end was near. Jesus thought he could get God to act. Jesus, in a desperate action, cast himself on the wheel of history and it didn’t budge . . . and then it began to move and it crushed him. Jesus, Albert Schweitzer said, was wrong. Dominic Crossan will tell that further research has said that probably Jesus did not expect an imminent end of the world, but that’s another story. For Schweitzer, Jesus was wrong . . . a marvelous martyr. But, did he leave Christianity? No! Instead, he emulated Jesus and went to Africa. He gave up promising careers in music and in theology and he became a doctor for people in Africa. Why? Because Jesus got to him, that Jesus who was the embodiment of God, by the Spirit of God, that same Spirit moving in a Schweitzer who says, "Jesus was wrong about that," therefore, certainly not this exulted creedal Christ. But, by God, he’s what being human is all about. It is what following God is all about. It is about using world communities, which is what Jesus was all about. Schweitzer followed Jesus, and I want to follow Jesus. And, I believe you want to follow Jesus. That’s why it’s so critical that we get the best take on it we can, because the closer we look, the better he looks. References: Albert Schweitzer. Quest of the Historical Jesus: A Critical Study of its Progress from Reimarus to Wrede. Dover Publications; Dover Ed Edition, 2005. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9707698d29a31212ad74d66c0b429689.mp3 6b8efa5c9e40c4959c8964f6c6ea3e12 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany IV Series Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question Scripture Text Mark 3:20-21, Luke 4:23 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Albert Schweitzer, Quest of the Historical Jesus, 1906 2006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990124 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-01-24 Title A name given to the resource The Quest for the Historical Jesus Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 24, 1999 entitled "The Quest for the Historical Jesus", as part of the series "Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question", on the occasion of Epiphany IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 3:20-21, Luke 4:23. Historical Jesus Nature of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dca5b6012803d657d610ab5fbc57535a.pdf 3f33dfe5aa55610c41c235afad8bc53a PDF Text Text The Question: Q & Q, Not Q & A From the series: Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question Scripture: John 23:1-10, Luke 4:1-13 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany, January 17, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon My Epiphany series continues. The theme, "Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question," points to the vision of the Center for Religion and Life that we are inaugurating, as I announced last Sunday. That vision assumes a religious quest as intrinsic to human existence. That quest is triggered by the questions that confront our human awareness. The particular mark of our vision is that in our quest we uncover the questions that meet us in our human experience and that the clarifying of those ultimate questions is the purpose of the quest. As the title of today’s sermon indicates, at Christ Community we understand our human journey as one marked by Quest and Question, Q & Q, rather than Q & A, Question and Answer. I touched on this last week when pointing to the religious quest. Institutional religion has been in the Q & A model, not Q & Q. The very fact that a religious founding experience - such as Moses at the burning bush, or the life and death of Jesus – ever achieves institutional form is because answers are provided to the human questions. A picture is painted, a story is woven, a ritual develops to channel devotion, a way of living is prescribed, and a people is formed who shape a tradition and there emerges: Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam. If I were to put my finger on the significant transformations in my own faith understanding in recent years, one would be in the area of the nature of religion. I learned from my mentor Hendrikus Berkhof in The Netherlands 30 years ago that every religion has three aspects -a teaching or dogma; a ritual or form of worship; and, a moral code or way of life. More recently, I have come to understand that every great religious tradition begins in a founding experience - Moses at the burning bush leading to the Exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, Jesus’ life and death and the experience of his living presence still in the community. Professor Boyd Wilson, with us again for a few weeks, could relate such founding moments for all the © Grand Valley State University   �Q & Q, Not Q & A Richard A. Rhem Page 2   great traditions and he could go on to portray how those founding experiences led to the shaping of a tradition, a world view. Some of us are studying a work by Gordon Kaufman, In Face of Mystery, in which he demonstrates that a religious tradition, be it Christian or any other, is a creative, imaginative, human structure by which a people has gained orientation for life, a life-map for the human journey. Those life-maps answer the questions raised by our human experience, give a sense of meaning and purpose to human life, and reflect God’s being and intention. For me, that understanding has been liberating, for I have come to see our respective religious systems and institutional forms as human creations rather than Divine givens. This has been a great part of my freedom to examine critically my own tradition and to be open to the insights and values of other traditions seeing them not as false paths and a threat to the one true way, but complementary ways of responding to the Ultimate Mystery that is God. If my religion, the Christian religion, was the direct result of God’s structuring rather than human response to God’s revelation as the Ultimate Mystery of our existence, then I am struck with it so to speak, no matter what further unfolding of knowledge there is about the universe or further development of human history. Then I have a religious structure that arose in an ancient time as Divinely authorized but incapable of making sense of the exploding knowledge of the world, the human being and human culture. But, if I understand it as an authentic response to the experience of God in an ancient time with a developed story and developing tradition, then I can be part of an ongoing transformation of its insights and teachings. Then I stand within my religious tradition and seek understanding of the mystery of my existence before the face of the Ultimate Mystery that we call God. Then I come to realize that I must continue the quest because the questions are mine and I must live with them because that is the very nature of being human; we are historical beings. Our lives are lived in the unfolding story of history, which is part of the unfolding of cosmic history of billions of years of spatial dimensions beyond our capacity even to imagine. How will we find our way? Let me suggest that, given the nature of being human, that is, being historical, in movement into the future with further unfolding the constant experience, we can do no more than clarify the questions that drive our quest -Ultimate Questions – another way to describe religious questions, because when they are consciously faced, we are on the religious quest which is a quest for meaning. How, then, do we live in the dynamic movement that is our history? © Grand Valley State University �Q & Q, Not Q & A Richard A. Rhem Page 3   By faith, trust in God - trust which rests without knowing. It is not that we do not think nor that we are without knowledge which arises out of our thinking and experience. And we do not begin with a clean slate as though we are the first creatures to ask deep questions. But, it is precisely our human situation of being caught up in the stream of history that makes all our answers provisional, tentative, and open to critique. Faith is a gift and a choice. A gift - bestowed by the Spirit, but also a choice before the mystery of our existence. We are not dealing with that dimension of reality that is subject to verification through the scientific method. In light of experience, through serious thinking, a religious tradition develops and we are nurtured in it, find a place to stand within it, an attitude of trust grows and we find meaning, direction; we have a life-map which gives us a sense of orientation. We trust. We live by faith. But, knowledge grows, experience widens, new questions arise, and we bring new discovery and fresh experience to our religious tradition, causing that tradition to adjust to assimilate the new. Ultimate questions keep us on the quest. The quest raises new questions that challenge our belief system, forcing us to find a more adequate understanding of our human existence. There is an interesting dialogue going on at present in the Christian Church. Some weeks ago I mentioned an article in The Christian Century by the Sociologist of Religion, Peter Berger, who addressed the question of "Protestantism and the Quest for Certainty." Berger is a sociologist; he observes what is actually going on with people and social institutions. He expresses precisely what I have been trying to describe above - that history has brought us to a situation of pluralism where much that was taken for granted and never questioned suddenly no longer can be simply taken for granted because we become aware of alternative news and responses. That is our world. We are living with this every day. Recognizing there is within the human mind and heart the quest for certainty, at least on the most important question, there is tension set up in the human soul and we may be tempted to a radical relativism, even nihilism, denying any Truth accessible to human cognition, or, to fundamentalism and even fanaticism. References: Gordon Kaufman. In Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology. Harvard University Press, 1995. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/48390cfb7bbaa87948a1a4968b2ff271.mp3 e47b2fd43102886009e43cc2970645e1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany III Series Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question Scripture Text John 23:1-10, Luke 4:1-13 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990117 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-01-17 Title A name given to the resource The Question: Q & Q, Not Q & A Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 17, 1999 entitled "The Question: Q & Q, Not Q & A", as part of the series "Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 23:1-10, Luke 4:1-13. Mystery Nature of Religion Religious Quest https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c9245356d84ed98ff9659fd6c979a504.pdf dd9730e1f7dc5a95b2797f7a468305b5 PDF Text Text The Quest From the series: Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question Text: Micah 4:5; Matthew 2:1-2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany, January 10, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon Since worship had to be canceled because of the weather last week, this is the first time we gather in worship in 1999, and I wish you a Happy New Year. The calendar is not all that important; we are on the threshold of the turn of the century and of the millennium, but, that really is no big deal, if you really stop to think about it, for the calendar is a rather parochial matter. It’s a human product; we’ve produced it and it’s a western Christian calendar. If you were in China, I suppose it would be the year 6000 or something. If you were in Jerusalem, last year you would have celebrated the 3000th anniversary of the city and I think for the Jewish people it’s the year 5,600 and something or other. I didn’t know where to find all that information, but it’s close. The point is, the year 2000 is no big deal. If it really were a big deal, it would have happened four years ago because there is a mistake in the calendar from when it was first put together. Anyway, what I’m saying to you is don’t get excited about going into the year 2000. Relax. Have a party. And don’t believe any of the rubbish that’s around; just don’t believe it. There are a few advanced human beings who I understand use computers - they may have a problem for a while. But, outside of that technology, there’s going to be no big deal at all. But the calendar does have this advantage: it reminds us that our life is involved in a movement and there’s nothing we can do about it. We can dig in our heels, we can fret, we can try all sorts of things to freeze the moment and hold it back. We can sing the song, "Stop the World and Let Me Off," but it won’t do any good, because time marches on and our human story marches on. We are historical people marked by the movement of time. Our days and weeks and months and years go on and the calendar’s turning. The calendar on the wall is a sign of the fact that time moves, we move, inevitably. And so, the calendar is an opportunity for us at this time of the year to take stock and to look to the future. In the Church, the 6th of January is the Feast of Epiphany which means the manifestation, the celebration in the Church of its conviction that Light has come into the world, that the child that was born who we believe was the Word made flesh, whose name in the Gospel of Matthew was Emmanuel, a name hardly ever used beyond that, and yet perhaps the finest name of all, that in the flesh of the © Grand Valley State University   �The Quest Richard A. Rhem Page 2   child, Emmanuel, God with us, that is the heart of our faith and that’s the heart of Christmas. On the Feast of Epiphany we celebrate the fact that in the child, God became human flesh and we have Light in the world, Light in the world for our ongoing journey. For that is the nature of our human existence - we are on a journey. Within us, deep within us there is a quest. We don’t pause often enough to acknowledge the quest. We probably don’t think about it very often, and then those moments intrude themselves upon us when we ask the ultimate questions, and we ask about the mystery of our existence before the face of the Ultimate Mystery - Who are we? And Why are we here? From whence have we come; whither are we going; and what in the world is God doing? We are people who have within our depths a question and a quest. It is the very nature of our humanity, and the quest that is endemic to our humanity is the religious quest. The questions are religious questions; they’re questions about the Ultimate, about meaning, about purpose, and there is that within our human nature that senses that we are on the way, that we are not where we are going, and that what we have yet experienced lacks completion and fulfillment. When we stop to think about it, we know that that’s the very nature of being human, that we are people on the way. We have a past and today we are able to have a sense of that past as no generations before us, recognizing that whole cosmic story of billions of years that emerged into a story of life, and then life at some point emerging into selfconscious life, some creature in its animality, in a moment becoming aware of itself and of the other, and at that moment, the universe became conscious, and we, humankind, are the consciousness of the cosmos, and it is that which marks us as humans that we ask those ultimate questions, that we are able to go back and to trace that long, long progression, that we become aware of ourselves at this moment and that we contemplate a future into which we are moving, a future uncharted that has surprises that we have not yet dreamed of. That’s really the nature of being human. To be human, I believe, is to be on a quest. And to be on a quest is to be asking the religious questions. Something within us, some yearning, some longing for some clue as to what this is all about, who we are, and what in the world God is doing. A beautiful statement written by C. S. Lewis entitled, “The Signature of the Soul,” found in The Problem of Pain, says very well what I want to say about that mark of our humanity as having a question embedded in its depths. C. S. Lewis writes, There are times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether in our hearts and our heart of hearts we have ever desired anything else…Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling of that something which you were born desiring and which amid all the flux of other desiring and passion, day and night, year after year, from childhood to old age you have been looking for, watching for, listening for. © Grand Valley State University �The Quest Richard A. Rhem Page 3   You’ve never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it, tantalizing glimpses of it, promises never quite fulfilled. But, if it should ever really become manifest, if ever there came an echo of it that did not fade away but grew louder and swelled into the sound itself, you would know it. Beyond all doubt, you would say, "Here it is. This is that for which I was made." We cannot tell each other about it; it is the secret signature of the soul, the incommunicable, unappeasable want, the thing desired before we made any conscious choices which we shall still desire on our deathbeds. To lose this is to lose all. The signature of the soul is the quest for meaning, for completion, for fulfillment, for some sense, some clue as to the mystery of our lives before the face of Mystery. That’s the nature of our human existence, and maybe the turning of the calendar, if it does nothing more, reminds us that we are a people on the way, living always with that deep question, "What is it all about? Who am I? Whence have I come? Whither am I going? And what in the world is God doing?" Micah speaks of a vision of another world where they’ll turn their weapons into farming implements and the nations will learn war no more, where Israel will walk in the name of its God and the nations will walk in the name of their God, and everyone will be unafraid, sitting under his or her vine and fig tree. That peaceful, serene setting that must be at the depths of the longing within us when we realize that what is cannot be all there is, that there must be something more, some other world, some new age. But, it was not only the Hebrew prophets who had such a longing, who had a sense of quest, for it is the symbol of Epiphany that a star aroused Magi, those mysterious astrologers from the East, to seek out the birth of one whom they felt signaled in the stars was destined for royalty, and they made their way to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem and knelt before the child. The Church has, somewhat triumphalistically said, "You see, it was the beginning of the coming of all nations to the true God, to the true Light." Well, I would say rather, it is an indication of the universality of the longing of the quest for God, for truth, for reality. The journey of the Magi is simply symbolic in the way we tell the Christmas story of our conviction that we are on a quest for the living God, and the celebration of the fact that that God has caused the Light to dawn upon us, not to end our quest, but to whet our appetite, to dig more deeply into that quest, following the star, seeking to fill that hole in the soul that marks us as the restless ones who are ever on the move. On this first worshiping Sunday of the New Year, I’m really excited to announce the establishment of a new ministry at Christ Community. It is an adjunct ministry of The Center for Religion and Life. I have in my hands a brochure which you’ll all have in your hands before long. The Center for Religion and Life, which announces the coming in February and the first weekend of Lent, February © Grand Valley State University �The Quest Richard A. Rhem Page 4   19-21, the presence of John Dominic Crossan, who is, I think I can say without refutation, the world’s preeminent scholar in the research for the historical Jesus. John Dominic Crossan will inaugurate a lecture series in 1999 under the auspices of The Center for Religion and Life. He’ll be followed by Marcus Borg, the most popular writer and author in this whole historical Jesus quest. In the fall, we’ll have Amy-Jill Levine who is a Jewish scholar teaching New Testament at Vanderbilt University, and then perhaps the most controversial churchman in America today, Bishop John Shelby Spong coming to us, as the brochure says, to help us re-imagine Christian faith for the third millennium. This Center for Religion and Life has a logo, which is Q & Q, selected very deliberately, because today popularly you will see, "Q & A." What’s the question? This is the answer. And I think throughout the long history of the Church, Q & A would fit appropriately. What’s the question? We have the answer. Christ Community is going to inaugurate a Center for Religion and Life that will be marked not by Q & A, but by Q & Q, by Quest and Question, for we come to acknowledge, as I said a moment ago, that it is the very nature of our human existence that we are in movement, on a journey, and that within our depths there is a quest for meaning which is, I believe, the quest for God. We will honor that quest, seeking to help people clarify the questions, for to be human, to be honest is to live without absolute answers. Life is a mystery. Too often, for too long in the Church, we have promised too much. We have made premature closure on those Ultimate questions that drive our restlessness, and so we felt that it was time for a congregation to establish a Center where the quest can be honored and the questions sought to be clarified, the quest of our human existence, the questions that impinge upon our human existence, a Center where, as an adjunct to this total ministry, we can create a space, a forum, if you will, where those questions can be honestly pursued. Why? Because the Christian faith needs desperately to be translated in light of the explosion of modern knowledge. I am not being critical; I am stating a fact quite simply: The Church at large has never come to terms with the knowledge, the explosion of knowledge in the modern world. Why do it? Because our story comes out of an ancient world and an ancient framework which is not in any way to denigrate the truth that came to expression, simply to recognize that the structures within which the story was told are structures that have long since been put to rest while a whole new world has exploded, a world that needs to have the interpretation and the critique of the faith, but which also must critique the faith drawing from it new answers and new understandings and insights in order that faith and life may illumine each other. Why do it? Because the Gospel is good news, and it does need to be presented in such a fashion that it can connect with people of contemporary experience so that the Church doesn’t become a museum piece, lauding yesterday’s answers to today’s questions, but allowing the Gospel fresh expression through hard work, © Grand Valley State University �The Quest Richard A. Rhem Page 5   theological reflection, biblical study in order that we may find a way to speak good news into the future. Why Christ Community? Well, because we’ve been doing it for a long time here. You have been a wonderful congregation that has encouraged me to continue to think the faith, and Christ Community is a rather rare situation. Not many people with my passion and my interest go into the ministry or stay in the ministry. Not in the pastoral ministry. There are all kinds of places to go where one can think unfettered by the pastoral setting, but it has been who I am, but you have allowed me in this setting to continue to think and to think out loud on this stool, and we’ve always had a freedom here to think the faith, reflect on the faith, probe the edges. Why Christ Community? Because this is a most rare place where over a quarter of a century of theological reflection has been translated into preaching that has developed a community that is the laboratory by which the theology can be tested. You are the fruit of the theological reflection which has found expression in preaching, and there aren’t a lot of situations like this. But there’s another reason why Christ Community and that is that we have not only that tradition of free inquiry combining evangelical passion with intellectual integrity, but we also have a new burst of freedom and freshness. We, in our independent status, have no ecclesiastical pressures or obligations. We are free to think the faith as never before. I’ve had an interesting experience in the last year and I’ve mentioned it to you, I’m sure, in conversation, if we’ve talked about it. I’ve always felt I had a free pulpit here and you’ve been a wonderful congregation to allow me to indulge my habit, but I have today a freedom that I didn’t know I didn’t have, and that’s a fascinating experience. I have a freedom today I didn’t know I didn’t have. And so, while this is nothing new, really, we’re going to do it with a new intentionality and a new deliberateness and a new publicness. We’re going to do our best to create here an oasis where every question is honored, where there is no subject that is off limits, where in conversation, in community, we can think together in the presence of the mystery that is God. Why do it? It needs desperately to be done, and there aren’t many, either in academy or congregation, that are doing it. Why do it here? Because of the position of freedom that allows that kind of honest inquiry. Why do it now? I’m getting old. I don’t have long to go anymore. I have to get on it. If we’re ever going to do it, we’ve got to do it. I mean, if you want to do it with me, and I’d like to do it with you, so let’s do it together. Honoring the quest, clarifying the questions; breaking new ground, unafraid, because we really believe in the Good News, in the grace of God that has appeared in the Word made flesh who is the Light of the world, who beckons wise ones. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/37f08f1b5913669c88e7388e4ca19f47.mp3 f543154db5e7a11d12d3649f9b35eaed Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany II Series Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question Scripture Text Micah 4:5, Matthew 2:1-2 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Gordon Kaufman.In Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology, 1995. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19990110 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-01-10 Title A name given to the resource The Quest Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 10, 1999 entitled "The Quest", as part of the series "Q & Q: The Religious Quest and Question", on the occasion of Epiphany II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Micah 4:5, Matthew 2:1-2. Epiphany Meaning Mystery of God Religious Quest https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d35ad21ca9a04a7cf4b1ecce71c3cb46.pdf 2830632108a9d503a25862aa2dc3ae2e PDF Text Text The Self-Emptying of God: A Crib and a Cross Text: Philippians 2:8; Luke 2:12 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Christmastide, December 27, 1998 Transcription of the spoken sermon The Christmas story is the heart of the Christian story. That is, the Christmas story is connected to the issue of the story, if we remember that that which occurred on Christmas continued to that which occurred on Calvary. It is the emptying of God, the self-emptying of God, which is manifest between a crib and a cross. The Christmas story begins and the cross completes the picture of God as we understand it in our tradition. A crib, not in a royal palace, not a child born to royalty, but a child born to peasants in a stable. And the issue of it was not a throne and glory and pomp and circumstance, but a cross, crucifixion and loss. The Christmas story connected to the story of the cross, the crib and the cross, really is a picture of the self-emptying of God. From that story we learn the nature of God and the being of God, that it is love. That the ultimate mystery is love. That the nature of God is to give God’s self away in a reckless outpouring of love. Paul in his letter to the Philippians, where he is appealing very practically for harmony and unity within a Christian community, holds up the model of Jesus in his humility. Paul in that context pleads with that congregation to have within them the mind that was in Christ Jesus, and then he begins to portray that downward spiral - the one who, in the imagery that he uses, is one who, having been in equality with God, emptied himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. So, we have in that hymn that Paul cites the story of the humiliation of the word that was made flesh and dwelt among us. The story, the Christian story, gives us a clue into the nature of the Ultimate Mystery, and that is love. Love is a word that is so easily used and used so broadly, one almost hesitates to say it that simply, that the Christian story, and particularly its initiation in the Christmas story, is a revelation of the ultimacy of love, but that’s what I see there, the ultimacy of love. I have been trying in this Advent season to switch some images in your mind, trying to create a new model or a new paradigm, a new framework within which to understand the happening of the Christian story. The Advent theme of the one who came will come again, I suggested, needs to be adjusted to understand that the one who came comes again and again and again, in the Spirit, Immanuel, God with us, God with us, God become human as the word became flesh. That’s the © Grand Valley State University   �Self-Emptying of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   miracle of Christmas, that’s the mystery of it all, that Ultimate Mystery finally manifested itself billions and billions of years in a cosmic unfolding that eventuated in life, in conscious life, aware life, human life, that eventuated in human culture and human history, all of it of a piece, all of it one fabric, all of it one tapestry, all of it continuing to develop, to unfold, all of it continuing to move into a future unknown, uncharted, all of it into which we are laced, a part of one whole, a cosmic, historical reality. I think John was trying to say that when he began his Gospel with those words, "In the beginning was the word," reminding us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, that it was the Spirit of God in the beginning that brought the cosmos out of the chaos, the Spirit of God that brought the fruit of Mary’s womb to fruition, that it was the Spirit of God that was the continuing presence of Jesus, Immanuel, in human history, and that presence of God in human history is the here and now of incarnation as the Spirit indwells the Church, the people of God, humankind. So, in the Advent season we recognized our responsibility for our world, for history, and that the only hope for the transformation of the social order, the only hope for history was to emulate the word made flesh, to follow in the way of Jesus. On this Christmas Sunday, let me just say it simply, clearly, that the Christmas story which emerged in the fullness of time with the word becoming flesh is a revelation of the Ultimate Mystery which is love. That Ultimate Mystery that overflows in creative action, that Ultimate Mystery that is the enlivening Spirit of all that is, that Ultimate Mystery that is the ground and origin and source of everything, that Ultimate Mystery is revealed in the word made flesh as love, as a love that gives itself away. As the Ultimate Mystery empties itself in creative action, so the Word made flesh emptied himself in obedience to death, even death on a cross, so that what we have in the manifestation of the mystery in the face of Jesus is a clue to the nature of Ultimate Reality which is love, and love which is so commonly spoken of and bandied about is a very rare reality in the midst of human history and in our lives, because real love, authentic love, the love that we see manifested in Jesus as a reflection of the love that is in that Ultimate Mystery we call God, is a precarious thing, because when you love, you give the issue of your love into the hands of the other. You cannot love and control. It is risky to love, because you empty yourself for the sake of another and put the issue of that action in the hands of the other. When you love, when you create the other and love the other, you no longer can coerce. True love would not manipulate. True love is precarious because it can only wait. Its issue, whether that be triumph or tragedy, rests in the one loved. Not many of us dare love that way, that total giving of self, that total emptying of self so that the expression of love will be received or not, totally out of the lover’s control. Not only is loving precarious, the lover becomes vulnerable because the lover loves so much that love can be killed, damaged, hurt, crushed, and if there is authentic love, there is no recourse. © Grand Valley State University �Self-Emptying of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   The poet George McDonald said "They all were looking for a king to slay their foes and lift them high. Thou camst a little baby thing that made a woman cry." Precisely. The God revealed in Jesus at Christmas and Calvary is not a God we would choose. It is not the God the Church has preached and portrayed. The God of Christmas and Calvary, honestly seen, insightfully understood, is a God Who is self-emptying love, Who loves precariously and loses, Who loves vulnerably and cried out, "My God, my God, why?" "They all were looking for a king to slay their foes and lift them high." Wouldn’t we love it so? God in control. God, the Supreme Power. Don’t we love all of those latinized words, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent? Don’t we want God to be everywhere, everywhere present, knowing all things with absolute power? Is not the old scheme in which we have been schooled through the centuries a scheme in which God comes out right, on top, right is right, justice wins, and we are the triumphant ones, ultimately? And it flies in the face of the human experience of our everyday lives. If we think again, is not the message really that of selfemptying love that gives itself away without guarantees, no guarantees, no guarantees with love? Take Shawn and Molly with their Jonathan and Megan, or Chris and Annie with their Caroline. Love created those beautiful children, and love will nurture them, and then what will the issue be? Pray God it will be the issue that we saw concretely demonstrated in our presence this morning, but is there any guarantee? Has authentic love that creates a child as truly another, any guarantee, or has not authentic love created that which is other which becomes its own center of being? Is it not true for all of us who are parents or grandparents that if we love, truly, we cannot control, we would not coerce, we will not manipulate? All we will do is love and wait, and I suspect that our relationship with our children that we create in an act of love and nurture and send on their way is probably a fair image of that which the Ultimate Mystery engaged in the act of creation, creating that which was other, that which would be waited upon for its response, that which would be loved unconditionally, precariously, vulnerably, knowing that the issue of it lies with the other and the ultimate consequence is not to be seen or predicted ahead of time. That’s a shaky way to live, isn’t it? Isn’t that to live out of control? Precisely. And the heresy this morning is that creation is out of God’s control, except the love of God that will never quit. What comfort is there, what hope is there, then, what security is there? There is none in terms of outcome predicted and guaranteed and certain. There is only this - that in every tragedy it will be encompassed in the love of God Who will not quit, Who is able to turn tragedy into triumph, a triumph which again comes into risk which may end in another tragedy before which God will not quit, but continue to love until that tragedy, too, is transcended in a greater triumph. © Grand Valley State University �Self-Emptying of God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The clue to God is the crib and the cross. My God, how could we have gotten it so wrong for so long? How could we have had this Almighty, muscular God on a throne in control? When you look into the face of a child in a crib and the anguish of one nailed to a cross, that’s God, that’s love. It gets defeated again and again and again, but it never stops loving. That sounds like a parent. Maybe a parent is the best reflection we have of that eternal mystery whose overflowing in creative love brought us into being and Whose love, through all the meanderings of history and all of our tragic darkness, will never let us go. That’s our hope - not that things will be fine, but that God will never stop loving. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4aa7268804238d8826f6e7499252e6ad.mp3 b9459d0c28bfebefea60e515cd833267 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmastide Scripture Text Phillippians 2:8, Luke 2:12 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19981227 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-12-27 Title A name given to the resource The Self-Emptying of God: A Crib and a Cross Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 27, 1998 entitled "The Self-Emptying of God: A Crib and a Cross", on the occasion of Christmastide, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Phillippians 2:8, Luke 2:12. Love Nature of God Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1176b9f3952e7bdc571f685e86b951ab.pdf 336b528adbcaf306f9b056935b81f250 PDF Text Text Incarnation Here and Now From the series: The Presence of the Future Text: John 1:14; I John 4:12; 16 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent, December 20, 1998 Transcription of the spoken sermon The Advent season is a season whose theme traditionally has been "The One who came is coming again." A main emphasis in the Christian tradition and a clear biblical teaching is that the one who was born in poverty and humility is the child who will return in power and glory to judge the nations and issue in the end and the consummation. On the second Sunday in Advent, I suggested to you that we have to rethink that: that Jesus is not coming again in that sense. As someone said to me, "You’re not usually that dogmatic." I said, "Well, I’m not usually that sure." Well, I didn’t say that. Nancy said to me, "Why do you say things like that? You don’t know everything." Amen. But, I said it the way I said it because I wanted you to hear me. I could be the perfect heretic and preach all my life and you would never know it. All one has to do is fudge a bit, use vague terms, dance around, and I don’t want to do that. I’m too old; I’ve got too little time left. I want to be simple and I want to be clear. I do not think that the Christian model, the biblical model of history coming to an end with the appearing of the Lord from the clouds of heaven is, as a matter of fact, the way it’s going to be. I think history is going to continue to unfold and to develop, and going I know not where. But it is a part of a cosmic process of 15 billion years, unfolding in this cosmic wonder and majesty all those years, until finally there was the arrival of the human, the unfolding, then, of the story of history, even to the present moment, and I do not know where it is going, but I suggested to you that the good news is that, though I don’t expect Jesus to come from the clouds of glory, Jesus has come. Jesus has come again and again and again, and the key to our understanding, I believe, a more profound biblical understanding beneath that structure of things is a sense of Immanuel, God with us, here and now. Thus, Jesus with us, in spirit. "If you ask anything in my name, I will pray the Father, and God will give you the Spirit, the advocate, one to stand with you, one who will lead you into all truth, one who will call to remembrance the things that © Grand Valley State University   �Incarnation Here and Now Richard A. Rhem Page 2   I have said." And so, the present has within it the seeds of the future. The present is pregnant with the future. The vast potential beyond our conception is already incubated in the present, in the cosmos, in our history, in our humanity. But that future that is already in our present, is always under threat. We noted last week that the future that is trying to be born is always threatened by the present establishment for, if we have achieved a position of prestige and power and affluence, why in the world would we work for the transformation of tomorrow? And that’s the story of human history. As I said last week, if nature is red in tooth and claw, then human history is a veritable river of blood, violence and destruction, war and death, most often because the future that is trying to be born will be crucified by the present that is established and very happy with the way things are. Herod, on the throne, wanted to hear nothing of a royal child that might threaten his position and so, not being able to find the child, simply decreed that all children two years of age and under should be slaughtered. The Slaughter of the Innocents is the subtitle of the story of history. It has always been thus, for the future that would be born, the dawn that would break in this unfolding story of history which is the unfolding development of the cosmic reality, will always be threatened by those who would vie for power and position and stifle the spirit and crucify tomorrow. That’s human history. But, that’s not the whole story. If we are not to wait for someone to come and clean up our mess, then, as I said to you last week in concluding, it is our responsibility. History is our responsibility. The future is our responsibility. It is for us who have caught a glimpse of the vision, who’ve dared to dream the dream, to engage in the ongoing story, to stand for justice and righteousness, to live with compassion and to work for peace. The transformation of tomorrow is incubated in today and it is our task to midwife it into birth. The old model, that really doesn’t work anymore because it’s inconsistent with our experience of history and our knowledge of the cosmos, the old model would have us at this season of the year look for the big event somewhere out in the future, another place and another time. My Advent theme is a plea to you to find it here and now. Incarnation here and now. For that is the radical and profound declaration of the Gospel - that God has been embodied in human flesh. In the beginning was the word, reminding us of the first chapter of Genesis, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." John, in telling the story of Jesus, is trying to connect the whole cosmic reality from the beginning with that historical manifestation in the midst. The Creator of the heavens and the earth is embodied and enfleshed in the humanness of Jesus. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. Incarnation, here and now. Human history now manifesting divinity in the concrete. Paul said we have seen the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Jesus, in John’s Gospel, is purported to say, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." The © Grand Valley State University �Incarnation Here and Now Richard A. Rhem Page 3   incarnation here and now in human history, and the image that Paul uses in his letter of the body of Christ simply says that that was not a one time happening. That was not a once-for-all-event. That was an emergence into history which continues in the body of Christ, where you are the body of Christ, you are the flesh of God in the world. You are the concrete manifestation of God in this marvelous, awesome, wonderful, unraveling of cosmos and history and humanity. Incarnation, here and now. The big event is not in the future. The future is incubated in the present and the present is pregnant with the future, and it’s for us to allow it to come to birth. That’s our task as humankind, in history, the children of the Big Bang, stardust children of cosmic reality manifesting our life in an ongoing story of history. I don’t want you to lose the moment. I don’t want you to live with anything less than awe and wonder at the gift of life and the marvel of the ongoing drama. How can I speak with such glowing terms on the Sunday after the week through which we have just lived? As I thought about this message and I thought about Christmas and incarnation, I was all too well aware that, unless something is said this morning about the debacle that has been played out in our midst as a nation, then I will simply give credence to the widespread sense that the pulpit is the epitome of irrelevancy. But, how does one speak about the crisis of our times? How does one speak with some objectivity and sensitivity without partisan bias? It’s impossible. So, let me warn you at the beginning that anything I say is no word from the Lord; I have no word from the Lord. Let me speak about it, however, as one responsible to say something in the face of that which faces us, is in our face. Someone who simply broods on these things and muses on these things, let me say a word, if I may, and let me share with you something that’s been very helpful to me in giving me some perspective. Andrew Sullivan is a journalist. He writes in The New York Times Magazine of October 11 a marvelous article in which he addresses the present situation and, although he is himself a liberal, he speaks very fondly of Conservatism at its best and the great tradition of Conservatism historically. He suggests that the Conservative movement today is betraying itself and its own finest principles. Let me read you a few paragraphs, even though I know that’s a boring exercise, but it says it better than I can say it, and I want it said here. Speaking about the Conservatives, he says, ... Conservatives have always been concerned with morality - and rightly so. They have long understood that political order rests upon a vibrant civil society, and on the morality that such a society sustains. But conservatives have also always been aware of the dangers of excessively policing that morality, and of the evils that can occur when the morally certain gain power. Hence the apparent conservative paradox. Conservatives want morality but they don’t want the big government that © Grand Valley State University �Incarnation Here and Now Richard A. Rhem Page 4   could effectively enforce it. For true conservatives, the evils of moral chaos are usually outweighed by the evils of a moralizing big brother. And so conservatives have learned over the years to live with a little paradox. They have resisted the temptation either to become morally indifferent libertarians or to become morally repugnant ideologues. Although they have worried about moral and social trends, they have resisted easy pessimism and the jeremiad. And they have left the impositions of morals to the churches and preachers and mothers and fathers and teachers and friends of America to sort out. When it comes to preaching, true conservatives would much prefer to praise the examples of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa than to demonize the likes of Dennis Rodman or Marv Albert. Above all, true conservatives have not been depressed by freedom. This, after all, is where the modern conservative movement in America started in the 1950's - in a revolt against the creeping power of the postwar welfare state. When American conservatives lose sight of that central strain in their philosophy, when their love of freedom becomes an afterthought to their concern for morality, then they lose sight of what makes them both conservative and quintessentially American. They lose sight of what distinguishes them from the darker history of European conservatism... Truly American conservatives would not recoil at the greater liberty enjoyed by women, racial minorities and homosexuals, as the truly American conservative Barry Goldwater showed. In the last decade, true American conservatives would have been heartened by the declines in divorce, crime and teen-age births, and encouraged by the move among gay people for more stable, responsible relationships. They would have been elated by the collapse of collectivism and totalitarianism abroad, and encouraged by the return of fiscal prudence and social responsibility at home. They would have seen in Bill Clinton a dangerous proclivity for dishonesty and abuse of power, but they would not have seen him as the degenerate apotheosis of an entire generation - let alone an entire nation. And they would have seen the emergence of religious dogmatists on the far right as a threat to constitutional order and political civility, not as a boon for votes. Above all, they would not have fatally overplayed their hand and tried to impeach a President not for illegality but for immorality, and they wouldn’t have shredded the virtues of privacy and decency and common sense for the emotional release of a cultural jihad. ... Well, he goes on, and I find what he says to be profoundly true, for what has happened in this nation is that, in the debacle we’ve experienced before a President that should have resigned a long time ago, I suppose, Andrew Sullivan suggests the same, but nonetheless, we have come to focus on that which is © Grand Valley State University �Incarnation Here and Now Richard A. Rhem Page 5   miniscule, in light of the constitutional tragedy that is being played out in our midst. And the Congress has stooped so low that Larry Flynt can remove the Speaker-elect of the House of Representatives, not because Larry Flynt has become a major player in the American political scene, or somehow or other risen from his normal arena of operation, but because the Congress of the United States has descended into that arena for partisan mean-spiritedness, and that decrying of the social condition of America which is rampant in conservative intellectual journals in our day fails to take seriously the Christmas miracle of incarnation. In this day, on the threshold of another Christmas, I want to speak of incarnation, here and now. I want to say that what has happened in our nation’s capital is a betrayal of that which is highest and best and most noble in the American tradition. I want to say that I refuse to join in the bitterness and the cynicism and decry this present moment. This is human history; human history is messy! Whoever said it was anything else? It is violent, it is destructive, it is deathdealing, it is power hungry, it is all of that, and it is also the arena into which God has emerged. I want to give you another image, the old Christmas image of love coming down at Christmas is an image of intervention from beyond. That won’t work anymore. It is not love came down at Christmas. It is that love emerged in the incarnation 2000 years ago in Jesus Christ, the embodiment of God emerged out of the process and has been emerging ever since. It is trying to be born, the spirit of the flesh of Jesus trying to be born in this world of ours. I don’t give up on it. I have hope in history, as did the prophets who didn’t blind their eyes to anything that was wrong, to the darkness, to the evil, to the destructiveness. But, nevertheless, because they believed that God was in the process, God was in the midst, they believed in God, trusted in God, hoped in God, and therefore, dreamed a future and a vision. I do not believe that America is going to hell in a hand basket. I know you. I know too many people. I believe in the basic decency, honesty, civility of the American public across the board as well as around the globe. I do not believe that this is the worst of times. There have been good times and bad times vying for position throughout the whole spectrum of human history. This is a time at Christmas to remember that, not an intervention from beyond, but an emergency from within has resulted in one like Jesus in whose face one could see the heart of God. The heart of God is like the face of Jesus. Jesus is the human flesh – a concrete sign of God with, Emmanuel – the same kind of human flesh that you and I possess. I believe in you. I know you well. I believe in the future; I believe in history because history has emanated from cosmology that has emanated in the beginning from the God who said, "Let there be ..." I believe in the future; I believe in Christmas; I believe in you. © Grand Valley State University �Incarnation Here and Now Richard A. Rhem Page 6   This is a great day in which to be alive; this is a day to believe. We know all too well all of the dissembling - dishonesty, lack of integrity of a William Jefferson Clinton, and we don’t know it because we’ve seen it in him. We know it because we’ve seen it in our own hearts. When will we stop this kind of moralism and judgmentalism? Isn’t that perhaps why Jesus said, "Judge not, lest ye be judged?" Is it not we need a word of hope, a word of courage? Hope in history, hope in history’s God, confidence that we’ve not come this way through thousands and billions of years to end up in some fiasco of human conjuring. Oh, I think we have the potential to ruin it all, but one of the surest ways to do it is to become meddlesome, mean, small, and forget, by God, it’s Christmas! God in human flesh! God in flawed human flesh! God in your face and mine. God is love, and if one abides in love, one abides in God. God is present where two human beings love each other. Where love is, God is. I’ve seen God because I’ve seen you. I’ve experienced God because I’ve touched your flesh, and by God, I believe! I believe. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4d561c3f94442bddf3ebd4a11ab78d0c.mp3 f15d3cf618295bb94005e1c09d53cf50 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent IV Series The Presence of the Future Scripture Text John 1:14, I John 4:12,16 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19981220 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-12-20 Title A name given to the resource Incarnation Here and Now Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 20, 1998 entitled "Incarnation Here and Now", as part of the series "The Presence of the Future", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:14, I John 4:12,16. Advent Emergence Love Presence Spirit https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a7c503237a64b9af6921e548d3afc0b2.pdf 45e95dd2e89b03109196977835877092 PDF Text Text The Threatened Present in the Presence of the Future From the series: The Presence of the Future Text: Matthew 2:3; 2:18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 13, 1998 Transcription of the spoken sermon I left off last week with the question, "Where is the future going? What will become of us? Where will the process lead next?" And I admitted that we simply do not know. We do not know about the things of the beginning and that’s why the Hebrews long ago wrote stories, stories of a Garden of Eden, of a tree and a couple and a snake. Neither do we know things of the future and therefore, people have created stories about the end, visions and dreams of what might be. Visions and dreams that reflected their deep yearning and their longing. But, we noted last week that those stories of the end, the visions painted by the biblical writers, the expectation and anticipation of the Apostles simply were not realized in the way that they thought they would be, and for 2000 years now we have perpetuated those stories, even though they don’t really mesh with our understanding of reality and its cosmic form or its historic manifestation. And so, we noted that it is time for a new paradigm, for a new model of the end. We no longer really, literally, actually wait for the coming of our Lord in the sense of that Second Coming as it is expressed in the scriptures. But, the good news is that Jesus has come again and again and again and again, for he said, "I will come to you, I will not leave you alone, orphaned." And so, we noted that the key to a biblical understanding of history can better be understood under the word Immanuel, the name God With Us, God with us in the midst of the process, the Creator-Spirit from the beginning in that cosmic development of 15 billion years, emerging finally into history with the development of human consciousness and awareness, the development of human cultures. The story of human history of which we are at the vortex, moving into the future, continuing to write the story. And so, we need a new vision, a new dream, a new paradigm, a new model for that understanding of the cosmos from which we have emerged and the history in which process we find ourselves, so that we might have a life map and some orientation in order to find meaning and purpose in our present day, given the understanding we have of the human, of the world. We need a new paradigm in order that our faith vision may connect with our actual experience. © Grand Valley State University   �The Threatened Present Richard A. Rhem Page 2   To the question, "Where is it going?" as in the Advent season we think about the future, we really don’t know. I like the image of Martin Luther who gave expression to it this way. He said, if you can picture the infants baptized this morning, the secure and warm floating in the embryonic soup of the mother’s womb until the moment of birthing arrives, the pain that shoves that little embryo down the birth canal and out into a world, kicking and screaming, what infant in the womb could conceive of the drastic transformation of its world in a moment’s time, coming out into the harsh light and the chill of the real world into which it is being born? I saw a photograph someone showed me this week, taken by the Hubbell space telescope of the Eagle Nebula, which was caught exploding. I don’t know all the details, and I would be better off not even to attempt to describe what I saw in the photograph. It was like a cloud or an exploding star, I don’t know, but there were a couple of little fingers that went up at the top of this mass of whatever was happening and the person who showed me the photograph said those two little fingers each are larger than our whole galaxy. You can’t conceive of it, can you? Space and time beyond our imagination and in such a world so amazing, so full of wonder, where the future is already present in incubation, where the future is already present in the Spirit, where the present is pregnant with the future - in such a situation, we have to come to understand Advent anew as it calls us to our task to be engaged in the human endeavor. We need a new story that will energize us and motivate us to take responsibility for this history which is unfolding with us and through us, for, and I almost don’t dare say this, lest I be struck with lightning, being raised a sturdy Calvinist as I was, but, even though I almost don’t dare say it, I must say it - the future is in our hands. The future is in human hands, not apart from the Creator Spirit, but certainly in our hands now to move from that jungle survival instinct situation into which we have emerged, still having at the ready all of those survival skills that cling to us, threatened creatures that we are. It is our responsibility to move this cosmic drama, this unfolding history, this human story now, God’s story - to move it into a future, into a new day, into a brighter tomorrow. That’s the Advent task. And it’s a heavy responsibility, and of course, we’re not equal to it, we’re not up to it, and we will foul it terribly. Such is the nature of human history. Such has been the course, and will continue to be the course, because the present is not only pregnant with the future, full of promise, it is full of peril, as well, and it is our responsibility to address that reality. Let me give you a historical illustration from Matthew’s Gospel. The birth of Jesus is being recounted. The story of the Magi from the east, the astrologers who saw the star that signalled the birth of royalty, they followed the star until it came to Jerusalem and, naturally, they went to the royal court to learn of the birth. But, the birth was not in the royal court with King Herod the Great on the throne, and © Grand Valley State University �The Threatened Present Richard A. Rhem Page 3   when he heard of a star to announce a birth of one born to be king, he was terribly threatened. He was alarmed and afraid, and all Jerusalem with him, and he inquired of the scriptures where this event might be, and the scholars said to him, in Bethlehem. He sent the Magi there to seek out the child, requesting that they return to give him information, that he, too, might worship. But they, being warned, returned another way and when he recognized that he had been tricked, he was in a furious rage and decreed that all male children two years and under be slaughtered. That would fix any threat to the throne. And in the calendar of the Church, we call the event the Slaughter of the Innocents. One could write a story of human history under that title, the Slaughter of the Innocents. Matthew, in telling the story, reaches back to Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 15, where Jeremiah holds up the image of Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are not. Rachel was the wife of Jacob in the Genesis story, his favorite wife who birthed him Joseph, his favorite son, who was given a coat with sleeves, whose brothers were jealous of him, who sold him off into Egyptian slavery, bringing back the special coat drenched in animal blood in order to convince their father that a wild beast had done him in. Jacob wept for his son, and we read that he refused to be comforted, because his son was not. On his way back from his uncle Laban, where he had gotten his wives and a family, Jacob came to Ramah in Galilee, where his beloved Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin, and Rachel’s tomb is in Ramah, and centuries later the poet-prophet Jeremiah saw the devastation of Jerusalem, the torn down walls, the charred temple, the rape of the city, and he lamented over the terrible horror that had befallen Jerusalem and the people of God there, even though he had clearly foreseen it, and Jeremiah reached back to Rachel, because Rachel’s tomb was on the way that the exiles had to take from Jerusalem to Babylon in captivity. Jeremiah said, as the exiles were making their way into captivity, passing Rachel’s tomb, that Rachel was weeping in the tomb and would not be comforted because her children were not. And, when Jesus was born and King Herod decreed that the innocents be slaughtered, Matthew reaches back to weeping Rachel, weeping because her children are not, refusing to be comforted. Those images are the stories of human history. If nature is red in tooth and claw, then the human story is a veritable river of blood and violence. It is a story of brutality and unthinkable cruelty. That is the story, the history for which we are responsible. Such a history and such a story certainly makes it obvious why those who were dreamers and visionaries, who saw all of the hell on earth, longed for another world, for another day, for another reality - the prophetic vision of the lion and the lamb lying down together, therefore, the reconciliation of nature, where they would not hurt or destroy in all God’s holy mountain, therefore Peace, Shalom coming to earth. Were they not responding to the terrible violence and the hurt © Grand Valley State University �The Threatened Present Richard A. Rhem Page 4   and the pain, the Rachels weeping for their children because they were not? Certainly we can understand that eschatological hope, that yearning for something else, just as in the beginning they created stories about human responsibility because certainly the hell on earth could not be the consequences of a good God creating a good earth, therefore, stories of human rebellion. So, in the end are not those stories the human response to the harsh reality of human history, dreaming of another place and another time wherein dwells righteousness and justice marked by compassion and peace? We can understand how the stories arise. But, if it denigrates our present unfolding historical reality and our engagement with it, then we need a new model and a new paradigm, because the Herods of this world are all too plentiful yet in our day. Herod was half-Jew and half Edomite, the descendant of Esau. Herod had within himself Jacob and Esau, the conflict of brothers. It ran in his veins. He made himself useful to Rome and in 47 B.C.E. was appointed governor and then in 40, king, and he’s called Herod the Great. He was great. He at one time melted down his own gold to buy corn for the starving masses in a famine. On another time, in difficult times, he remitted the taxes in order that the people might have some relief. That disruptive, disorderly people was brought to law and order, and peace reigned for that long reign of Herod the Great. He was a great builder. People came from the ancient world to see Jerusalem and the marvels of its architecture, the glory of its buildings. Herod the Great. And he was a suspicious man. I suppose we’d call him a paranoiac today. He had his wife murdered, and her mother, Alexandra. He had his eldest son murdered, and two other sons. When he came to power, he had the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, slaughtered. At another time he had slaughtered 300 court officials. He had a long reign, you see. And when he was about to die, he retired to Jericho, having had the leading citizens of Jerusalem arrested on trumped up charges and imprisoned with the order that at the moment of his death they would be put to death, because Herod said no one will mourn Herod’s death, but at Herod’s death, nonetheless, tears will flow. Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome, said it is better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son. So, he was Herod the Great, at times moved with compassion, able to administer, create order and peace. And he was a murderer, taken over by brutality and violence and unspeakable horror, causing Rachel to weep in her tomb because her children are not. That’s the human story, and again, one can understand in the midst of the furnace, as was true of those early Christians at the end of the first century when the fires of persecution were burning, that they looked heavenward and said, "Maranatha. Our Lord come." Who wouldn’t want to escape the fiery furnace? © Grand Valley State University �The Threatened Present Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Who wouldn’t want release and relief from the anguish of this human experience? But, it is not so and it will not be so. It is for us to take responsibility and to change our world by the grace of God and the Spirit that is at work within us, the Spirit of the Jesus who comes again and again and again to those who are of open heart and open mind. It is for us to bring in a new day in our world, not to yield to cynicism or to bitterness, never to give up, but to work with hope unconquerable for a better world. On the 10th of December in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a fine document, speaking to the rights of every human being, social, political, economic, the kind of rights, the kind of regard that one, simply being human, should be accorded. It was celebrated this past week. It has only made a small dent in the realities and the brutalities of our history, and yet, it has made a mark, for this same week Jack Straw, the British Home Secretary, determined that General Pinochet could be extradited to Spain to be tried for human atrocities. And those who study these things are celebrating the fact that there is at least this one token sign that no dictator or totalitarian, evil leader of any nation can with impunity slaughter and kill. Herod is still alive and well on planet Earth, and we could point to several places on the globe where it is happening, even now. But, at least Pinochet, who was the military leader who led the coup that led to the assassination of the Socialist, duly elected Aliende some years ago in Chile - you remember the story? We were complicit in that action. We supported the coup that upended Aliende whose politics was threatening to the U.S. of A. This place of human rights and freedom and liberty has a very colored, checkered past in regard to universal human rights. We have been self-serving and self-protective, like every other people. We have had a strain of Herod in us, now and again, as I think Roosevelt said, who was instrumental in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, about some Latin dictator that we were supporting. "He’s a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch." In Advent 1998, if we want to keep Advent, if we want to be faithful followers of Jesus, it is that kind of pragmatism, that kind of politics of expediency, the kind of toying that’s going on in the Congress of the United States, even now, it is that against which we must speak as the followers of Jesus. As the angels said to the disciples when Jesus was ascending in clouds of glory, "Why stand you gazing up?" Get on with the work, because the responsibility is yours and mine, and we might be utterly frustrated if we try to change the whole world, but at least let us be certain that in this community of faith every human being is accorded dignity, that no one is excluded, no one is slighted, no one is denigrated, no matter who they are, no matter what their history, and that when it comes to the broader © Grand Valley State University �The Threatened Present Richard A. Rhem Page 6   community, let us be with clear voice taking the stand for all of the things for which the prophet longed and the church in its cry, "Maranatha," has yearned for. Jesus is not going to come back and do it for us. Jesus waits for us to follow him into the fray. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/94a321f88a80b11c6b7fef07d72756c6.mp3 f8bebd78284195863149a380e600e899 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent III Series The Presence of the Future Scripture Text Matthew 2:3, 2:18 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19981213 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-12-13 Title A name given to the resource The Threatened Present in the Presence of the Future Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 13, 1998 entitled "The Threatened Present in the Presence of the Future", as part of the series "The Presence of the Future", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 2:3, 2:18. Advent Incarnation Inclusive Grace