25 24 1045 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c9813f854c92c6b8a3b181c8d70128cd.pdf 4d0e761bffcdac1f9b3f33446b4e6e14 PDF Text Text A Compelling Question: Does Sin Reap Suffering and Virtue Reap Reward? From the sermon series on Job Text; Job 6:26-30; Job 8:20 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 17, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon Job: "Do you want to disprove my passion or argue away my despair? Look me straight in the eye. Is this how a liar would face you? Can't I tell right from wrong? If I sinned, wouldn't I know it?" Job 6:26-30 Bildad: "Good never betrays the innocent or takes the land of the wicked." Job 8:20 (Translated by Stephen Mitchell) We are in the midst of a series on the Book of Job. Job is a dramatic poem found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Let me catch you up for just a moment, because we began last week, and it will be important to have the proper context. I noted last week that Job was a heretic. That word comes from the Greek language and it means " to choose." A heretic is a person who stands up apart from the rest and dares to speak one’s mind, to give expression to one’s conviction and passion. To defy conventional wisdom, to remove oneself from majority opinion, to stand alone if need be. Job was a heretic in that sense because he spoke against the conventional wisdom of his day. He spoke against those things that everyone knew, namely that human suffering was the consequence of human sin; that God punishes human sin with suffering. Everyone knew that. Everyone took it for granted. And then Job spoke out of an experience in which he said, "No, I don't believe that." And in standing up, and in challenging, and in protesting to God, he became a heretic, as it were, over against the orthodox opinion. Orthodox is also from the Greek. It means "straight opinion," or "correct view of things." That is, correct in terms of the majority vote of the establishment at any given time. Job made his protest and it comes to expression in chapters 3-42, the majority, the corpus of the poem. But it is encased in a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue and the epilogue say a contrary thing to what the whole middle of © Grand Valley State University   �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the book says. The prologue and the epilogue, those who study it believe, reflects an ancient legend that the author of the dramatic poem used in order to set forth his protest. The ancient legend said that Job was the most patient man who ever lived, that he was prosperous, came into calamity, endured patiently, and was prospered once again. That message is diametrically opposed to the message of, the protest of the poet who lived perhaps four, five, six hundred years before Jesus. The poet borrowed an ancient legend in order to set off his radical and heretical view: that there is no link between human suffering and human sin. That's what the poem of Job is about. Today, let's focus on the heart of the issue. I frame it as a compelling question. "Does Sin Reap Suffering And Virtue Reap Reward?" Maybe a more existential question, maybe with a deeper pastoral concern, I might simply say, "Does God punish us for our sin with suffering?” Is human suffering a consequence of wrong-headedness or wrong-heartedness or wrong action? Does God as the moral cop of the universe send thunderbolts to us, bringing about our suffering in order to punish us for our sin? Well, you say, "Everybody knows . . . it is conventional wisdom . . . it is the knowledge of the person on the street that that's not true. There is no link between suffering and sin, and its corollary is also not true. There is no necessary link between virtue and reward." Everybody knows that, don't we? But before we make short shrift of the question, let us recognize that if we know that . . . if everybody knows that at least in their head, it may be in part due to the fact that the Book of Job is in the canon. Because it is precisely to break the link between human suffering and God's punishment that that book came forth as an eloquent statement of a contrary view. So thank God for Job—if everybody knows that. We may know that now, but Job got into severe argument with his friends who, though they came to comfort him, had become miserable comforters when he began to raise his challenge to God. For in raising a challenge to God, Job threatens their belief system. So, forgetting that they are there for comfort, Job's "friends" go on the attack. They seem to have a lot of data going for them too. They were operating on the accepted opinion, the orthodox view, that God gives suffering. Job is suffering, God does not give suffering to the just. Therefore Job has sinned. Job accepted their major premise. We'll have to deal with that subsequently in another message, but he accepted their major premise: God gives suffering. But Job said, "I am innocent. Therefore, God is unjust." Now that is the radicality of Job's protest. He doesn't question whether or not God gives suffering, but he does say, "I am innocent, and therefore I will take my cause to heaven. God is unjust." That is how strongly his own concrete experience moved him. But, as I said, the friends of Job seemed to have some pretty good basis for their view that punishment from God comes in the wake of human sin. For example, maybe they were reading from Leviticus 26. At the head of the paragraph in my © Grand Valley State University �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Bible it says, “Rewards for Obedience. If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you your rains in their season…." It continues on and on about all the blessings that will come in the wake of obedience. If you move to the 14th verse, my Bible has a heading that says, “Penalties for Disobedience,” and there I read, "In turn, if you do not obey me, I will bring terror on you….” I selected Leviticus 26, but you can go to Deuteronomy 28 or you can read that marvelous statement in Isaiah 1:18, "Come let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool." That's where I'd like to stop. But it goes on, "If you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword. The mouth of the Lord has spoken." So you see, the friends of Job weren't just blowing a lot of smoke. They could quote a lot of Bible verses. We have to recognize that the earliest Jewish tradition was being expressed by these three friends. They could cite chapter and verse. Actually, when you stop to think about it, it does make sense. You don't really have to be a Bible student to know that there are certain manners of behavior and certain attitudes and certain spirits that lead to disaster. And there are other actions and attitudes and behaviors that lead to blessing. Perhaps that's why Job's protest has never really gotten through to us. We may say in our head there is no necessary link, but in our gut how quickly we say, "What have I done that is wrong?” What about the way we often look askance at the victim? Why did one in five Americans a year ago say the floods in Mississippi or the earthquakes in Los Angeles are God's judgment on human sin. Why is there this popular theology in the church and out of the church that somehow or other this is just the way things are, and that God does intentionally harm people and punish people. There is a deep thread in the human person of connecting behavior and painful consequences. It may be because preaching has a bad name. Do your kids ever say to you, "Don't preach to me?" Parents have a tendency to preach. "Don't you dare." "You had better." "Because of - - - this consequence will follow." Preaching. People don't like preaching. Why should they like preaching? The whole tradition of preaching in the Church is to turn the whole religious experience into a promise and reward system. We try to keep people on the straight and narrow and have them avoid the disaster. So preaching has a kind of heavy-handedness about it, which makes out that God is some kind of moral cop up in heaven and that you had better watch out. We transform the gracious God into Santa Claus. Santa Claus is coming to town. You had better be good, you had better watch out, because God knows if you have been naughty or nice. That's what religion can degenerate into. That's what comes through too often, overpoweringly. That's why people have left the church in hordes. Turn on your television today, and don't watch golf. Find some great evangelist. He will give you texts right out © Grand Valley State University �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 4   of context. They will promise you reward for thus and so. He'll give you all kinds of verses ripped right out of the context that will give you dire warnings of dire consequences. You can always be sure that when a text is ripped out of its context, it’s a pretext for something else. A text without a context is a pretext. There are all kinds of hucksters in religion and out of religion. There are all kinds of hucksters who are using religion as a means to sell their product, who are quoting the Bible all the time. I listened to some motivational tapes this week. I won't tell you why I got into it or how I got into it. I am just a sucker that's all. (Laughter) I've got to tell you, they used Deuteronomy 28:10, Exodus 5:14, and Joshua 3:16 to prove their point and sell their product. God says . . . God says, as though you can just take a verse of scripture and say, "God says," as though it’s right out of heaven, as though you could hear the voice of the Almighty. "If you will do thus and so … If you won't do that….” You would think that the whole of religion and the whole relationship to God is this matter of sin and get punished, be virtuous and be rewarded. It is ignorant, it is arrogant, it is an abuse of the Bible, and it is an abuse of people. It makes me angry! (And if you want to know something I am really passionate about, come next week!) (Laughter) I'm telling you, it's everywhere. That's popular religion, and it is used by hucksters out of ignorance at its best, arrogance at its worst, and it has ruined so many people. It distorts God. It distorts the grace of God. That's why you can say off the top of your head, "Of course there's no link between suffering and punishment," until you move into the darkness and begin to doubt yourself, and you begin to look up and say, "God, why?" Obviously there are some behaviors whose end is disaster; there are some behaviors whose end is blessing. But as William Safire says about Job, "There is a fire wall." The Book of Job is like a fire wall between the necessary link between human suffering and human punishment. We may not blame the victim, for it is not ours to judge. When we see someone in darkness, or when we enter the darkness ourselves, what we need to know is that God is there with us. God is not waiting in the dark with a club ready to beat us down. There is a mystery of human suffering. In the first service I read the Foreword from Night by Elie Wiesel, the renowned author and the survivor of the Holocaust, which occurred in our own century and in our own remembrance. The author of the Foreword, Noriak, quoted this paragraph from the book. These are the thoughts, the anguishing remembrances of Elie Wiesel. On the last day of the Jewish year the child was present at the solemn [ceremony] of Rosh Hashanah. He heard thousands of these slaves cry with one voice, 'Blessed be the name of the Eternal.' Not long before he too would have prostrated himself and with such adoration, such awe, such love. But on this day he did not kneel, the creature outraged and humiliated beyond all that heart and spirit can conceive of, defied a Divinity who was blind and deaf. That day I had ceased to plead. I was no © Grand Valley State University �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 5   longer capable of lamentation. On the contrary I felt very strong. I was the accuser and God the accused. My eyes were open and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God and without man, without love or mercy. I had ceased to be anything but ashes, yet I felt myself to be stronger than the Almighty to whom my life had been tied for so long. I stood amid that praying congregation observing it like a stranger." Our world is torn. It is bleeding. People are suffering, especially the children. Job said, "God is not doing it. God is not responsible. It is a mystery." His friends, representatives of the tradition, said, "God gives suffering: Job is suffering: Job is guilty." Job said, "God gives the suffering: I am innocent: God is unjust." No one thought to say, " Job is suffering: Job is innocent; therefore, suffering is a mystery that we cannot explain." Virtue is not necessarily met with reward. There are those who will tell you that. Those on the religious network, on the tapes I heard will promise you assured blessing, if only you'll subscribe, if only you will send in your contribution, if only you'll do this or that. It's not true. It's not necessarily so. Sometimes there is the person who is suffering deeply, and there are those who say, "If only you had faith and would pray." That's cruel. Don't we all know some who have had faith and have prayed and have died? God will not be manipulated into our schemes of things. Logical syllogisms do not work in concrete human experience. If you don't believe Job, would you at least believe Jesus? That life, wholly open to the will of God, lived before the face of God on behalf of the world, crucified, with a cry of dereliction on his lips, "My God, my God, why?" Not "Why are you punishing me?" That wasn't the question. The question had to do with the mystery of evil. "My God, where are you?" No, being virtuous carries its own reward. I can't promise you prosperity. Be careless and you may end up a wreck, but not because God punishes you. When you come into the darkness, look to the one who went before you, as the writer to the Hebrews invites you to do. We have this faithful High Priest, Jesus Christ, who was in all ways tested like we are; therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and obtain help in every time of need. There is a throne, there is a throne of grace. There is one to whom to go. This one is the God of all mercy. That you can count on. Reference: Elie Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, 1960. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3e9f73e628057f23ec7aa8fd87e11750.mp3 3b262edf461d5967b0f4b1bf5f2e365e 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 VIII Series The Job Series Scripture Text Job 6: 26-30, Job 8:20 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-0-19940717 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-07-17 Title A name given to the resource A Compelling Question: Does Sin Reap Suffering and Virtue Reap Reward? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 17, 1994 entitled "A Compelling Question: Does Sin Reap Suffering and Virtue Reap Reward?", as part of the series "The Job Series", on the occasion of Pentecost VIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 6: 26-30, Job 8:20. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Morality Open Mind Suffering Wisdom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f37ad496ed60f41eb0e02cfb0bce650d.pdf a1aecd0a321d35c8c503afa44a1504a0 PDF Text Text What It Takes to Make a Heretic From a sermon series on the Book of Job Text: Job 6:25-26 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost VII, July 10, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Teach  me,  and  I  will  be  silent;  show  me  where  I  am  wrong.   Does  honest  speech  offend  you?  Are  you  shocked  by  what  I  have  said?  "   Job  6:25-­‐26;  Translation  by  Stephen  Mitchell     I begin this morning a series of messages on the Book of Job. This is the first time I've ever tried to preach on Job in a serious fashion in order to handle the content of the writing itself because, to be honest, I haven't understood it. Oh, a text here and there—a text torn out of context to make a whale of a sermon on occasion. But an insight into the composition of the book sometime ago enabled me to crack open the enigma of the Book of Job. The Book of Job is a part of the Wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures—Job, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, some of the Psalms. The Wisdom literature is a particular genre of the Hebrew Scriptures which has its own characteristic themes. We don't do a lot with it in the Church, and I haven't done a lot with it in preaching. As I said, the Book of Job has been for me an enigma, and what I've found is that, in a new understanding of something of the composition of the book, it becomes a marvelous and powerful message which deals with the very concrete stuff which makes up our human experience. So I want to begin this morning in a kind of introductory fashion to deal with this book. I want to deal with the Book of Job because I think that it deals with the things that we wrestle with every day in our lives—the unvarnished stuff of human life. We'll see how far the series goes—four or five, six. Who can tell once a preacher gets started? The enigma that has kept me from ever treating the Book of Job as a whole has a couple of aspects. In the first place Job has become in popular understanding the "patient Job." We come by that honestly because in James 5:11 we are told, "You know the patience of Job." So in conventional wisdom, Job became a model of patience. To be sure, in what I read, in the prologue to the book, he certainly is patient. But when you read the whole central section of the book, Job is not patient. He is one of the most impatient people in the Bible. He rails against heaven. He calls God to account. He damns the day he was born. Job is not © Grand Valley State University   �What It Takes to Make a Heretic Richard A. Rhem Page 2   submissive, patient and enduring, but a "rebel with a cause." I could never put those two things together. If you read not only the prologue that I read a moment ago, but the epilogue, the last few verses of the last chapter you will find that, after his terrible suffering and total loss and the experience of God's voice in the whirlwind, Job gets everything back two-fold. So, it would appear that the messsage of Job is to suffer, be patient, so that finally you will be vindicated, rewarded. But that theme contradicts the whole powerful center of this poem. Well, the insight that helped me to make some sense of this book is that probably the prologue and epilogue is an ancient legend—probably centuries and generations old, and that the author of the central poem, if you glance at the Book of Job you'll see the shift from prose to poetic form sandwiched between a prologue and epilogue which are reflective of another age and a totally other philosophy and understanding, a protest. Now you say, "Well, what's the sense of that?" Why would the poet want to sandwich that between the telling of an ancient legend? Well maybe, as some have said, because he wanted to set his own point of view in sharp contrast to the other. The ancient legend says that God blesses those who are good and God punishes those who are evil. The ancient legend says if you suffer and endure patiently you will be rewarded. The poet says, "I don't believe it! It is contrary to everything that I experience and observe in human life, and I don't believe it." Maybe by setting that ancient legend at either side of his protest, he sets it off even more starkly. Or maybe he softened the edges of his protest by encasing it in this ancient legend just to get in touch. You know, it’s dangerous to swim against the tide. It’s dangerous to speak a word against conventional wisdom. It can cost you your life to hold an opinion contrary to that which everybody knows. Do you know how much we live by what everybody knows? The poet says, "I don't know that. I don't believe that." But, you had better be careful when you say "no," and everybody else is saying "yes." It would be an interesting doctoral dissertation to trace through history the significant written works that were published after an author's death, purposely, for fear that if they had been published in his or her life, the author would have lost his or her life, would have died sooner than he or she did. The poet gives Job the voice of a heretic—Job spoke a word against what everybody knows, and what nobody thinks about, but everybody believes. Job was not orthodox. He was heretical. The word orthodox means straight opinion. The prefix ortho is from the Greek language. When I was a kid I used to be able to spit through my teeth. And then my mother sent me to an orthodontist. The orthodontist made my teeth straight because my father had me set apart for the ministry. Otherwise I don't think they would have straightened my teeth. (Laughter) If you break your leg and it is at right angles, you go to an orthopedic surgeon who makes bones straight. If you are orthodox in theology, you hold the right opinion. You hold the straight, accepted, perceived view of things. This poet was not orthodox. This poet was a heretic. Heretic also comes from the Greek language. It means "to choose." © Grand Valley State University �What It Takes to Make a Heretic Richard A. Rhem Page 3   William Safire, the New York Times columnist, has a relatively recent book on Job. He calls it The First Dissident. Job was the first dissident, which comes from the Latin, descent, to sit apart. A dissident is one who sits apart, stands apart, and acts apart. I don't use the word dissident because I'm not thinking as Safire is, largely of the political and economic realm, but I am thinking more theologically. So I will use the theological term heretic. The author of Job ran contrary to the commonly accepted view of things in his day. He stood up and dared to say "no." He stood up and dared to be alone and have the passion and conviction that enabled him with courage to say, "I don't believe it." He was a heretic. What makes a heretic? Concrete human experience that can't be crammed into conventional wisdom as an explanation. Burning, passionate, concrete experience that you just can't shove into a ready-made pigeonhole. A heretic is one whose experience brings him to a point where he dares to stand up and to say, "No, I don't believe it. This is what I believe." Job is a heretic, because everyone knew that suffering was a sign of sin, that the one who was suffering was carrying some guilt whether known or unknown. In his day the poet ran into the conventional wisdom, the things that everybody knew, and that is that God blesses those who are righteous, and God punishes those who are wicked. Everybody knew that when you run into trouble, when calamity comes, when tragedy strikes there is either some open or secret sin in your life. So when you come into trouble, the question you ask is "What have I done wrong? Why me? What have I done? Am I wrong? Where have I gone wrong?" It was a cruel philosophy or theology, but it was deeply inbred into the human heart then, and it continues to be to a large extent even today. I think that's why it is so important to deal with it. The poet of these poems said, "I don't believe that." He said, "I look about me and I see a mystery of human suffering that cannot be explained. I see the innocent suffer. I see the good coming into calamity, and I see sometimes the careless getting off scot-free." Human experience—what I observe and what I myself experience – simply cannot be put into a neat formula: God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked. Job said, "I see innocent children die. I see cancer strike willy-nilly. I see fires rage and floods rise, and I see natural calamities which the insurance companies call 'acts of God', and I see human calamities when there are broken relationships and betrayals and denials. I see parents who find their daughters raped and mutilated or throats slit. I find young people blown away in war. I see good people, decent people struck down by any number of things that bring them into intense suffering and pain and loss." The poet said it is simply too simplistic—"I don't believe it. The innocent suffer. That is a mystery. I can't explain it. Sometimes there is darkness, and there is no word to say." Job's friends had words. And today, we have pious platitudes, which work for many people: "God makes no mistakes." "God has a purpose in it." Of course, when you are back in the age of legends, then God did it, or God's agent whom God controls did it. You can't have it both ways. You can't say God has a purpose and apply it only to minor inconveniences. How can you tell someone whose life has just been ripped apart with tragedy, that God did it. I don't really think we © Grand Valley State University �What It Takes to Make a Heretic Richard A. Rhem Page 4   mean it when we say, "God has a purpose in it," or "God makes no mistakes." Job stood up and said, "No! I don't believe it for a moment." He said, "I can't explain the mystery of human suffering. I don't know the whys of human tragedy, but I am innocent and I am suffering, and I see no good purpose in it." We have something else we resort to, as I mentioned a moment ago. We take upon ourselves feelings of guilt for our failures and for the things that go wrong. Last year I ripped this woodcut of William Blake out of the New York Times. It was woodcut of Job and underneath it says, "Many Americans in the flooded Midwest will sit like Job amid the ruins of their lives and ask why God has turned against them." Nearly one in five Americans told the Gallup Poll that the floods are God's judgment on the people of the United States for their sinful ways. The poet-Job says "I won't hear a word of it." Job was a heretic. He stood up against the received opinion, the common person on the street idea of things that everybody knows. He stood up alone because it was contrary to everything he felt in his gut. He knew it was wrong and he dared to say so, and thereby set himself apart. He paid the price, of course. His three friends who came to comfort him came and with delicate sensitivity, when they saw his disaster, they sat with him seven days and seven nights without opening their mouths. That's a good comforter. Don't say a word. But when Job's voice was raised against heaven, calling God to account, railing against this injustice, this mystery, this suffering—then they ran to the defense of God or rather to the defense of their belief system about God and they denounced Job. He was rejected by his friends and he felt abandoned by heaven, but he stood up anyway, and he didn't yield. Thank God for that. Thank God that this poem made it into the canon of the scripture, because Job gives me the permission to think, to experience, and then to seek to connect my experience with my faith. When faith explanation doesn't fit with the facts of my life, I keep probing and struggling until I bring them again into some kind of meaningful relationship. Thank God for this heretic-poet. Because, as it is, we are told that one out of five Americans say the floods are the result of God's punishing the sins of the people. But think what it would have been if we had never had this protest that said, "No! I don't believe it." Thank God for Job who called God into account and said to his friends, "I'm innocent and I'm suffering, and I don't know why." Thank God for Job, for in his darkness ,which was not penetrated by any ray of light, he wrestled with God. He wrestled with God and became the forerunner of another who in his darkness cried out, "My God, my God, why?," which is not a question seeking an intellectual answer, but a primal scream from a devastated human being, longing to know that there is someone there. Thank God for our confidence that, while there is suffering that has no meaning and tragedy that has no explanation when finally we must be silent, nonetheless we cling to the God of all mercy, who we believe will never let us go. If God plays with us like puppets on a string, you have every right to fear such a God, but you can never love such a God. But if we can trust in the darkness, © Grand Valley State University �What It Takes to Make a Heretic Richard A. Rhem Page 5   believing somehow or other in an infrastructure of mercy, that's a God you can love. That's a God you can love when everything goes wrong and nothing makes sense. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5560a1a7ae42bbecd6a16dc54fba8036.mp3 09be711552ea93fbbd31e719d9e51ef4 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 VII Series The Job Series Scripture Text Job 6: 25-26 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-0-19940710 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-07-10 Title A name given to the resource What It Takes To Make a Heretic Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 10, 1994 entitled "What It Takes To Make a Heretic", as part of the series "The Job Series", on the occasion of Pentecost VII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 6: 25-26. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives God of Compassion Hebrew Scriptures Nature of God Wisdom Literature https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/50e62e5a72d6122d63d8fa25f5076143.mp3 0af56c96d016a43df281b18755e4efef 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 Independence Day Celebration, Pentecost VI Series With Ken Medema Scripture Text Psalm 148, Acts 4:23-31 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-0-19940703 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-07-03 Title A name given to the resource The Spirit and History - A New World Dawning Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 3, 1994 entitled "The Spirit and History - A New World Dawning", as part of the series "With Ken Medema", on the occasion of Independence Day Celebration, Pentecost VI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 148, Acts 4:23-31. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/78c5c584301af8941d22f3166cc2c7a8.pdf 52678b667070e5ab62881239fca924a5 PDF Text Text Eucharist: Memory, Presence, Hope Pentecost V Text: Deuteronomy 16:1; I Corinthians 11:24; Mark 14:22, 24 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 26, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Observe ..by keeping the Passover... The Lord your God brought you out.." Deuteronomy 16:1 "Do this in remembrance of me." I Corinthians 11:24 "Take, this is my body... This is my blood of the covenant" Mark 14:22,24   In the first service there was a young pastor who is between assignments. He is on his way to a new assignment and he stopped here for Sunday morning worship. He said to me, "I've heard a lot about this place and I wanted to stop before I left." He said, "It’s strange the things you hear. I heard that you preached in a rocking chair." (Laughter) "Well," I said, "it sort of has that effect on the congregation, but I always use this stool." (Laughter) We had a reading from the Old Hebrew Scriptures regarding the institution of the Passover, at least an instruction to keep the Passover, one of the great feasts of Israel to celebrate their deliverance from Egypt in the Exodus. We read the account of the apostle Paul, probably the earliest Christian account of the celebration of the Lord's Supper, or Communion, or the Eucharist Feast, and we read the institution itself in Mark's gospel. If I were to read a contemporary lesson I would read from one of our own who wrote to me recently, "As I listen to the minister retell the Last Supper story and present the bread and the cup heavenward, I become drawn into a place of wonder and awe, a holy place where I may begin to experience a little bit of God in my own life. My head stops being in charge, and for those moments I become a child again, a child who has been allowed a glimpse of the heavenly. I feel infused with the love and, for just a fleeting moment, the understanding of God. It is the holiest of moments for me. My fellow participants become at the deepest level my brothers and sisters in Christ in an almost tangible way. I have yet to participate in a Eucharist celebration at Christ Community with dry eyes. For a brief time on those Sundays I am able to let go of my head, of my intellectual faith and questions and doubts, and experience faith on a deeper level. It is a level © Grand Valley State University   �Eucharist: Memory, Presence, Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 2   that is more enriching and rejuvenating, a nourishing faith that can sustain me throughout the week." Would that that would happen to each of us every time the table is set. In this congregation the table is set every Lord's Day at the early service, and from time to time at the second service as today. It is an experience of the presence of God that comes in a unique fashion through the elements of bread and wine. We look at the sacraments now because it is the season of Pentecost. I want to connect participation in Eucharist with the Spirit of God because without that, participation in itself can become empty ritual. But bathed in prayer and received in faith, it becomes a means of grace. It becomes a moment of encounter. It becomes experience. Last week at the baptismal font, there was prayer for God to breathe through the water. Today, if you followed the liturgy, there was the invocation of the Holy Spirit to make this bread and this wine the body and blood for us; to enliven the material with the spiritual—God's Spirit or God's Wind or God's Breath—Wind, Spirit, Breath—the Hebrew word RUACH, which means wind or spirit or breath, which is tangible, which is energy, which is energizing. Jesus said, the wind blows and you don't see it, but you see the tree and the leaves waving because there is an energy there. So in our Christian experience, in any religious experience that is genuine experience of God, it is the breathing of God. It is the present moment, the reality of the living God in our experience. The one who writes to me is fortunate, I believe, for she was raised in the Catholic tradition where there was developed a hunger for the sacraments. The elders in Geneva in the 16th century knew that the sacrament had become a routinized, too often mechanical magical ritual, and so they instituted a practice that has continued in the Reformed tradition to the present. In our tradition, according to our Rules of Order, it is a quarterly celebration—four times a year. As you have heard me say many times, what actually happened is that the good intention to make it special has backfired in that it has become optional. You cannot develop a taste for the Eucharist, taking it four times a year. The opening word of the Old Testament lesson was "Observe," and that word observe or observance is often connected with religious ritual. Thomas Moore says in The Care of the Soul, that we are "to observe our soul," we are to become attentive to ourselves, we are to become aware of ourselves. What's going on in us? What are we thinking? We are we feeling? What are we experiencing? Take a step back, reflect on ourselves. Be self-reflective in order to understand what's going on in us. Awareness or attention. To observe. The serve in observe is an old word that comes from tending sheep. It is as though we were tending our soul. But that word then goes with the practice of religious rituals too. We observe Holy Communion. We observe the Sacrament of Baptism. And in the observation, something happens to us if that observation becomes a part of us. Not if it’s an incidental observance, once in a while, but if it is a regular keeping, a © Grand Valley State University �Eucharist: Memory, Presence, Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 3   regular observance, it begins to shape us. You don't have to observe Christmas. You can be Scrooge. You don't have to trim the tree and hang the socks and wrap the presents. You don't have to do any of that. You could just come to church. That's what it’s all about. But if you don't trim the tree and hang the socks, and delight the children, your Christmas will indeed be a kind of Scrooge-like experience. But, if you trim the tree, and wrap the presents, and create the aura, if you observe Christmas, you will experience Christmas. The world becomes a softer place at Christmas. Miracle of miracles. Year after year. There is something in the observing that washes over us and shapes us and forms us. It is no different with the celebration of the Eucharist. In the observing of it there is a forming in us. As my correspondent said, "For a moment the mind, the brain stops, and I am open to pure experience—a kind of depth moment, a holy moment. A fleeting moment of knowing God's presence." Eucharist is commemorative sacrament. That is, we do it again and again and again. We do it in regular fashion in order that that to which it points might be brought to us again and again. Baptism is an initiatory ritual. Once is enough—marked as belonging eternally. One baptism, but many feasts at the table of our Lord. The background of that was just like Israel's experience. That sacrament of Baptism parallels the sign of circumcision in the old experience of Israel. And this table parallels the Passover Feast. It was a feast that Israel celebrated annually in order to remember and to hope, and in the meantime to experience the presence. The instruction to Israel was that they were to eat in a fashion that would remind them of that night when they were delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh's Egypt, when with a mighty hand God set them free. They were to roast the lamb and they were to eat bitter herbs so that they would remember the years of affliction—remember that from which God has sprung them free. And in the contemporary celebration of that feast, still in the Jewish tradition, as Rabbi David Hartman in Muskegon said recently when he told about the celebration of the Seder in his own family, the little children would watch until after the meal when he would pour the cup of wine for Elijah and they would say, "Daddy, will Elijah come?" And he would say "Sh-h-h-h, listen. Maybe he will come. Close your eyes. Is he coming?" And when his children would say, "Daddy, if he would drink our cup at our Seder feast, at all the Seder feasts he wouldn't be able to walk." To which the Rabbi said, "If you are the prophet Elijah you could handle it, you could handle all the chalices of all the Seder feasts." During the Passover celebration the door is always open, and the youngest child is sent out to the open door to see if Elijah is coming. Fantasy? Did you ever put cookies and milk out for Santa Claus? You see, children know that when he stops by on Christmas Eve he will have a snack and maybe be generous. Fantasy? Yes, like pouring the cup for Elijah, because we need to live with hope and expectation. The cry of the Jewish family is, "Next year in Jerusalem!" I wonder what it was like the first time that the Jews actually returned to Israel and a family sat down for their Seder meal, when after all those years they had said, "Next year in Jerusalem." Doesn't it give you goose bumps to think of it? © Grand Valley State University �Eucharist: Memory, Presence, Hope Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Do you think that anything is afoot in the world? Is God doing anything in the world? Do you live with any kind of hope? I don't know how it will happen. Jesus said," I won't drink this again until I come in the kingdom." Obviously he thought he was on the edge—at the end. He wasn't, was he? Here we are two thousand years later. Paul said, "We will not all die but certainly will be changed." Paul expected that. It hasn't happened now, but Jesus has risen; that's the first fruits. The first seeds have been planted, and the harvest would follow very soon. It hasn't happened. Jesus was wrong, Paul was wrong, Wrong in terms of the immediate end of things, but not wrong in the ultimate set of the heart, which is of hope and anticipation. Believing that whenever, however this God who has been in our past, this God who has met us in the past, intervened in our life, came to us, was the Word made flesh in Jesus. This God is the God of our future, the one from whom we have come, the one who has come to us, the one to whom we go, the one who is coming to us. And, in the meantime, in this in between time, the God who is with us. Breathing— breathing—breathing through water that marks us as belonging. Breathing through bread that becomes body. Breathing through wine that becomes blood. It is all so wonderful. It is a great pageant. It is a great way to live—between memory and hope. Sustained in the present moment. Mind shut down. Just open so that, even if just for a fleeting moment, I might be present with God and God present to me. Well, did it happen this morning? It doesn't always happen. It is not something that is automatic. It is not something that is magical. But, did it happen this morning? Was there a taste of bread and wine that said to you, "God has been gracious. God will be gracious. God has marked me. God will enfold me. And even now, dear God, I know here, face to face, now in bread and wine, but one day with unveiled face we shall behold God and we shall be made like God for we shall see God as he is." Beloved by God. What manner of love with which we have been loved that we can be called the children of God? "And of such we are now and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but when he appears we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is." Between memory and hope, just now, just a fleeting moment, I know the reality of the presence of the Living God. Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d308f28ea7a6b638a85b0959abd42bba.mp3 3f48f377e5f3d1f2305e8b5d37281c2d 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 V Scripture Text Deuteronomy 16:1, I Corinthians 11:24, Mark 14:22, 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-0-19940626 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-06-26 Title A name given to the resource Eucharist: Memory, Presence, Hope Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 26, 1994 entitled "Eucharist: Memory, Presence, Hope", on the occasion of Pentecost V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Deuteronomy 16:1, I Corinthians 11:24, Mark 14:22, 24. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Grace Pentecost Presence of God Ritual https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2f30a1e04a718c5ba78fd6bd297113be.pdf 58632e47771b99cca669bed4f95b5696 PDF Text Text Baptism: A Sign of Belonging Text: Genesis 17:7, 13; Acts 2:39 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost IV, June 19, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you... So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.” Genesis 17:7,13 "For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away..." Acts 2:39   In his best selling book, Care of the Soul, Thomas Moore deals with the spiritual emptiness of contemporary society. Thomas Moore writes not fluff. It’s a heavy book, and he has expressed his amazement that it found its way on to the New York Times hard cover Best Seller List, and now continues some 21 weeks on the paperback Best Seller List. Obviously, Thomas Moore has touched a nerve in our contemporary human experience. He says what all of us know down deep, that we have no depths, that we have neglected our soul, that depth-dimension of the human person. He gives us two images of our contemporary life. The first is fast food: fast food rather than the ritual of dining. The gathering of the family around the table to share a meal is an experience becoming more and more rare in our contemporary experience. And the second image: rather than reflective commentary and news analysis, journalism becomes sound bites. Fast food and sound bites. We live at an accelerating pace. Technological breakthroughs create new horizons for human experience. We are whirling on a planet spinning out of control and our lives show it. Perhaps Thomas Moore is right that what is missing is the very kind of thing we are engaged in here—a regular appointment. We gather in this sacred space with all of its associations of experiences past: its furniture, its whole setting, the environment, the feel of this moment. For so many of our contemporaries there is no longer a regular appointment like this. And even for us, increasingly it becomes an option when Sunday morning dawns. In my earlier ministry, I did © Grand Valley State University   �Baptism: A Sign of Belonging Richard A. Rhem Page 2   everything I could get you to come to church, not only on Sunday morning, but, God forbid, on Sunday evening too. The whole day shot to heaven. (Laughter) I’m afraid I probably did so because of certain ego needs. I was fooling myself saying that what I really wanted was God's people to hear God's word when I really wanted God's people to hear God's word through me. And, beyond that, if I had to be there, by George, they ought to be there too. So there was, in a previous era, some imposition of guilt, and a bit of manipulation. But, I am older now, as must be self-evident, and I wouldn't lay that on you. That's a heavy obligation. Now I would say to you, "You need to be here." You need to be here, not just occasionally, once in a while, willy-nilly. You need to be here because your soul needs what happens here beyond whether or not the sermon was scintillating, or suffocating. You need to be here to open your soul to something beyond the ordinary and the humdrum, the rapidity of the days that fly by. You need to be here because the soul needs to be nourished, and it is at appointments like this where there are certain ritual actions and there are certain words and formulas, that touch us, not necessarily rationally, intellectually, but down in our depths. We need to be here on a week like this, when Peter relays all those who have just been in the hospital, the birth and death of an infant, the birth and complications of another infant, the death of an aged saint, the celebration of marriage, the celebration of baptisms – all of these things in the mix of human experience. In a week like this, dear God, don't we know that we don't have stamina enough to make it on our own without that connection to a world beyond that which is time and space and manageable? Maybe a symbol of our contemporary society is O. J. Simpson. The whole nation was glued to their television sets in that bizarre Friday night tale as it unraveled, watching with apprehension one of the highest profile persons in the nation, with friends saying, "Oh, I talked with him and he seemed himself." Yesterday in the Detroit Free Press, was a column by Mitch Album. He pointed out that here's this person whose face everyone recognizes, who has achieved larger than life status: our hero, fantastic gifts, great accomplishments. Then, if the charge is true, in a moment of passion he erupts in violence, which results in a murder, which shocks the nation in its brutality. Yet as Mitch Album says, "Did you know him? Nobody knows him. Nobody knows nobody." We live with the facade with which we engage one another. But who knows the raging storm within? And O.J. Simpson is not unique. He is a symptom. It is happening every day with lesser known folk, so less is known about it. But the rage lies within people who do not know who they are, or whose they are. That's why a morning like this is so important. That's why what transpires at this baptismal font is so important. For baptism is the Christian Church's sign of belonging, belonging to that community of faith that stretches back into Israel's history – that community which gathered around Abraham and Sarah, which © Grand Valley State University �Baptism: A Sign of Belonging Richard A. Rhem Page 3   became Israel, from which Jesus issued, the One who was crucified, risen, ascended, and gave his Spirit. The Spirit of God breathed in the midst of that people who were gathered around that story and who were marked with a new sign, a sign of baptism. Water is the sign of the cross—a sign that one is a child of God. I have a friend, a colleague of mine in seminary who, in groups where one had to introduce oneself, the groups we often squirm thinking about, would always say his name and then he would add, "Child of God." Name, "Child of God." Who are you? Dick Rhem, Child of God. Who are you? Your name, Child of God. So we baptize. We bathe it in prayer because this ritual action which stretches back across the centuries and puts us in touch with that whole community of faith past is an action in which God is the actor. God is the agent and we simply are the instruments, by which the gift of God's breath, God's enlivening breath, wind Spirit, is received by the child. The most dramatic, most vivid example of grace in the Church, is that passive receptive child receiving the sign, the mark of grace, of eternal love, of covenant, binding one to the eternal God, a binding that will never, never be broken. What happens? Who knows. But in obedience we mediate the sign, believing that God is the actor. We do it differently than ten years previous. I came into the ministry along with the elders, understanding that baptism needed to be requested and sometimes granted, and perhaps sometimes not granted if those who requested had not proven their faithfulness. How wrong that is, you see, because baptism is not the Church's gift to be given to those who merit it. Baptism is a sign that God gives to a child on the basis of God's promise, "I will be your God and a God to your children." We used to gather parents here and would say, "Do you ... will you ... do you promise?" and then baptize the child. Then I heard in St. Pierre's Cathedral, the home church of John Calvin, how it was reversed. The baptism was performed and then the parents were given opportunity to answer such questions. I knew immediately that was right. Baptism is God's gift; God is the actor. It is pure grace and, in the light of that grace, one says, "Oh, yes I will, with all my heart." Of course, in the light of all of that. Maybe I can make it clear by a comparison. Sometimes comparisons help us to lift up certain dimensions. No criticism of the Baptist Church. Thank God for all good Baptists everywhere. But the Baptists also recognize and have increasingly felt the need of some kind of ritual for infants, even though the hallmark of the Baptist communion is that one must say that one believes and then be baptized so that baptism is an adult affair. Now increasingly in Baptist churches there are dedication services. Do you see the different nuance? Here God is the actor and the parental response is response to God's initiating grace. In a dedicatory service the focus is on the human person’s act of dedication. It is a different spin. It is a different nuance. I prefer it this way—all of God. All of grace. Pure gift. That which moves then in response of worship and adoration and following in the way © Grand Valley State University �Baptism: A Sign of Belonging Richard A. Rhem Page 4   of Jesus. Marked, belonging by God's choice. God's gift, so that when the bottom falls out and the roof caves in and the foundations shake, and it seems that darkness will overcome us, we can do as Martin Luther used to do in those moments of deep temptation and despair. He would cry out, "I have been baptized." Baptism is not a sentimental ceremony for little infants in arms. It is a gift of God that marks us throughout all of our days, so that come what may one is able to say, "I have been marked," with a sign of love, by a God that shall never let me go. Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a1378122c52fb924be64a019920a9c46.mp3 c45f84d9de2c31e607483f77025b625b 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 Scripture Text Genesis 17:7, 13, Acts 2:39 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-0-19940619 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-06-19 Title A name given to the resource Baptism: A Sign of Belonging Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 19, 1994 entitled "Baptism: A Sign of Belonging", on the occasion of Pentecost IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 17:7, 13, Acts 2:39. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Baptism Community of Faith Faithful God Pentecost Ritual Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2fe2cf0e90538ef39f41c25961656f93.pdf b1cb364e31be6a34b6918a286e41af79 PDF Text Text A Profile of a Christian The Story of Barnabas Text: Acts: 22:24-26; II Corinthians 3:17-18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost III, June 12, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon We come through the cycle of the Christian year and celebrate Pentecost, that day in which the Spirit of God is poured out with power on the followers of Jesus, and the Jesus movement which was called The People of the Way begins its way throughout the world; then, on Trinity Sunday, celebrate the God who breathes or whose breath is active in creation and who forms the world, and also forms people. We come now, finally, today to think about how that breathing God who was defined for us in the face of Jesus, this God who is revealed in Jesus, the God who breathes on us and breathes through us, and energizes us—this God whose breath is the life of the world is the God who also breathes through us, shaping us and forming us. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians tells them that they are letters of Christ, read by all people. He said, “letters written,” not with ink on paper but letters written by the Spirit, the breath of God, and written on the fleshly tables of the heart. He goes on in that passage to speak about the Christian beholding Jesus and becoming like Jesus. Contemplating the Lord, one becomes changed by degree into the likeness of the Lord. The Spirit involved in that, the Spirit of the Lord, is the Spirit that gives liberty and shapes and forms. Today I want us to think for a few moments about what it means to be Christian. What does it mean to live out this Christian life? What shape or what form does it take? And, as I do that, I’m going to call your attention to the life of Barnabas, but before I do let me make a couple of qualifications as we think about a profile of a Christian. Notice it is a profile, not the profile. There is not one set form to which everyone must conform. God is a God who obviously loves diversity, and one of the worst things we can do to one another is force ourselves into a certain mold, a certain pigeonhole, to say, “Now that’s Christian.” No, this is a profile of a Christian, recognizing that what we’ll see from the life of Barnabas doesn’t cover everything, but at least there are some hallmarks there that we can lift up. And then the second qualification I want to make is that this is a profile of a Christian, but the hallmarks that we lift up are not exclusively the possession of Christians. I heard a story one time, heard a sermon one time, of a Christian in New York City whose sanctuary was burned. Down the street was a Jewish synagogue and © Grand Valley State University   �Profile of a Christian Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the rabbi came to the pastor and he said, “Since your sanctuary is destroyed and while it is being renovated you are welcome to worship in our synagogue.” The pastor said to him, “How very nice. That’s a wonderful Christian thing for you to do.” (Laughter) The rabbi said, “No, it’s just a very Jewish thing to do.” (Laughter) And I thought to myself when I heard that, you know it’s a simple little story, but I thought how arrogant I am, how presumptuous I am to think that everything that is good and noble and true is Christian. I want to say at the beginning that I want to talk about some hallmarks of Christian life, but they are not exclusively ours. However, they are hallmarks that I see in one like Barnabas, who I believe was living in the flow of God’s breath and being shaped after the image of Jesus. If there is one model, of course, it is Jesus, but again Jesus is so many-faceted that all of us only reflect a small piece. Let’s look at Barnabas. His story is in the book of Acts. I read one passage this morning from the 11th chapter, but actually if we go to the beginning we’d have to go back to chapter 4 where, in the immediate wake of Pentecost when that community was really a communistic community, it was a real commune. Everyone shared, everyone according to his gifts, to everyone according to his needs. That was what was really happening there under the full impact of the Spirit of God – there was this mutual sharing; no one had any need. Everyone took care of everybody else, and for Barnabas it was no small matter. He was a wealthy estate owner in the Isle of Cyprus. He sold his estate and brought in the proceeds to be used by that Apostolic community. He became involved in the leadership of that movement, that early Jesus Movement, which was not at this point a Christian movement, you understand, but it was still within the pale of Judaism trying to find out where in the world it was going and who in the world they were. Then Stephen was martyred and persecution followed, and that Jerusalem community was scattered. But everywhere they went they were like sparks of fire that began to flame wherever they found themselves. At the beginning it was a cautious movement. They took the gospel to Samaria. They were half Jews. Then they began to go to some of the other cities of the Roman world, but they spoke to the Jews only because they were Jews, and they never gave it a second thought. They simply assumed that Jews were God’s special people, so to Jews they went, saying that Jesus was, “your Messiah.” Then, how it happened, we don’t know. Who they were we don’t know. That’s the remarkable thing. The critical breakthrough happened from people that we don’t know. They began actively to speak the Gospel to Gentiles. This happened in Antioch, which was the third city of the Roman Empire: Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, north of Jerusalem, a major metropolitan center. And there some of those who were scattered through the persecution began actively to witness to those who were non-Jewish. And, miracle of miracles, they began to believe and there was a community gathered there. Well, back at headquarters they said, “We’d better check this out,” because the Jerusalem core formed sort of that normative tradition-setting, credentialing community of that early movement. © Grand Valley State University �Profile of a Christian Richard A. Rhem Page 3   They sent Barnabas who came and saw the grace of God in the lives of these Gentiles who believed in Jesus Christ. And he rejoiced and he saw the possibility of a great world movement here, and he remembered a man named Paul. Originally his name was Saul. He was the one who was going out from Jerusalem to Damascus to decimate the People of the Way, you’ll remember, and he saw this light from heaven and was knocked off his horse and was brought to a conviction that Jesus was indeed Christ the Messiah. He began to witness, and when he came to Jerusalem everyone was in fear and trembling because this was the one who was decimating the Church and now that he is converted they say he is preaching Jesus. But how can you tell when everyone is afraid of him except Barnabas? Barnabas hears his story and believes him, and Barnabas gives him entré to the Apostolic circle. Now in this fresh situation in Antioch, Barnabas says, “I know the person for this job.” He went to Tarsus, Paul’s hometown, and brought him to Antioch where together they labored for a year in that congregation until it was a flourishing community. Then the Spirit of God said to the congregation, “Separate Paul and Barnabas for me and send them out,” and the Christian world mission was begun. At that point I can speak of the Christian world mission because it was in Antioch where they first brought the news of Jesus to non-Jews. It was in that community that the name Christian arose. It was used half mockingly. They were the Christones. But it became the name that stuck because these were the People of the Way. They were the followers of Jesus, Jesus the Christ, Jesus the anointed one. In fact, these people were anointed, amazingly as it happened with Cornelius. When the Gospel was preached, God breathed and they were moved by the breath of God, the Wind of God, the Spirit of God. They were the anointed ones, they were the Christ-ones, they were Christians, they were of Jesus the Christ and anointed one, the one who was breathed on by God. So, Paul and Barnabas went out into the Roman Empire to tell the Good News. They came back and there is quite a development there. They have to test whether that whole movement was authentic so they go to the Jerusalem council, etc. Eventually, Paul says to Barnabas, “Let’s go out again and visit the churches that we founded.” Barnabas says, “Fine, I’ll call John Mark.” John Mark was Barnabas’s cousin and he had gone with them on their first journey. He only lasted a week or two and deserted them; he missed his mother (I’m sure he missed his mother.) (Laughter) She had a home in Jerusalem and so he gave up the mission. Barnabas says, “I’ll call on John Mark.” Paul says, “No way. He started out with us the first time and he deserted us. Shame on him. I take him again, shame on me. No way.” Barnabas said, “Give him a chance.” He said, “No way.” “He was only a kid.” “No way.” Barnabas said, “If I go, I go with John Mark.” Paul said, “Then you go alone.” And Paul called Silas, and now you’ve got two teams going. That’s the way denominations go, you know. Through the © Grand Valley State University �Profile of a Christian Richard A. Rhem Page 4   orneriness of people you get a lot more people going. (Laughter) So he goes with John Mark and that’s about all we hear in the book of Acts. Barnabas was a remarkable person. He was one of the great leaders, not only by what he accomplished, but by what he foresaw. By his visionary leadership he was able to move the People of the Way, the followers of Jesus, into a world-wide movement—good news being brought to the ends of the world, literally. As I think about Barnabas there are a lot of ways you could go with him, and a lot of things one could say about him. But it seems to me that the first thing that underlies everything is that this man was a man who continued to be able to grow and was open to new experience. That is a remarkable quality. There’s something about us human beings that we always want to shut down. We always want to bring closure. We feel uneasy being pilgrims on the way. We’d like to have it finished. We’d like to have the bottom line. We’d like to have the package tied up neatly with a bow, no loose ends dangling. Barnabas was a remarkable human being. Barnabas, first of all, as a Jewish believer rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures and traditions, was able to see that Jesus, indeed, was the Messiah and he experienced the power of God in his life and he opened up to that. Not only did he just open up to it, in the sense that he believed it was true, but he acted on it. He sold his farm. He saw the future and he moved into it. He was one of vision who continued to grow, staying open, staying flexible and free, not knowing where the wind of God would blow him next. He was always ready. This is demonstrated once again because when there were things happening in Antioch, whom do they send? Not Peter. It took a vision on the rooftop to get him to go to Cornelius. Thank God they sent Barnabas. Barnabas comes to Antioch and here is a totally new situation. This is an impossibility. These are non-Jews. They’ve not been circumcised. They don’t keep the food laws. They don’t know anything about Moses and all the traditions. How can they really be accepted as bona fide members of this spiritual movement of Jesus? Barnabas says, “I can’t square it with the Bible, but it’s true.” Barnabas was one of those that recognized that, when the facts of life don’t fit the faith, it’s easier to change the faith. If you can’t change the facts, then blessed is the person who is able to stay open enough to honor human experience and to open one’s mind to new possibilities and to see that which was may not always be, and what has been said is not the last word, that human experience is a growing experience, and the Gospel is interwoven into the historical movement so that it is a continuing movement that develops and grows with the expanding horizons of the human experience. Barnabas was quite a guy. It there hadn’t been someone like that around they might have shut Antioch down. I want to tell you, if they had shut Antioch down, they would have shut the whole thing down, because it never would have come out of Jerusalem. You cannot trust Jerusalem. The action was not Jerusalem. Jerusalem acted in a supervisory capacity. They checked things out. They tested. © Grand Valley State University �Profile of a Christian Richard A. Rhem Page 5   They called councils. But the world movement started from Antioch. There was not vision and freedom enough at headquarters. First Church Jerusalem was stodgy and stuck fast. It was in Antioch that the Spirit found the openness and the freedom to blow to new possibilities. I like Barnabas. I like somebody that has a vision and enough faith and courage to act on it. In the eleventh chapter it says he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and faith. I like him too, because he got caught up in a movement that was larger than himself. He saw the possibilities of Antioch. He knew that’s where the future lay, and therefore, he went after the best person he could find in order to make that work come. He remembered Saul. He remembered his passion, his power, his fanatical zeal, his sharp mind. He said this is a work for none less than Saul. When He brought Paul over to work with him he worked with him side by side, but you know any man is a fool who upstages himself by the person he calls to work with him. It takes a lot of grace. One can never tell the grace it takes to play second fiddle well. I like Barnabas. He said, “What’s going on in Antioch is more than I can handle. I’m going to look for the strongest, most passionate, most powerful, brilliant person I know. And I’m going to call that person and I’m going to work in his shadow, because what is important is not my prestige and position, but that the Gospel be brought to a hungry world, parched and longing for the water of life.” He was self effacing, concerned about the truth, about the larger picture, and willing to do what he had to do in order to make it happen. Maybe the nicest thing about him was he was full of grace. I already mentioned that, on the one hand, when Paul came to town now soundly converted, everybody was scared to death of him, and it was Barnabas that reached out to him. It was Barnabas that said, “Tell me your story.” It was Barnabas that believed him. Do you believe people when they talk to you? Can you listen to someone’s story of newness? Can you hear something that blows your mind and not immediately shut it down, turn it away? Barnabas had grace, he said, “Talk to me Paul. Tell me what happened.” He said, “That’s really something. Come on, I want you to meet Peter.” Then, of course, he works in Paul’s shadow and they go off on the missionary journeys and when they are gone on that second or third journey, he wants to bring John Mark along. Paul says, “No way.” Barnabas believed in the possibility of the second chance. He believed in giving someone a break. He didn’t believe that because someone fails he or she necessarily must be a failure. So he took John Mark with him and he nurtured him, and Paul went his separate way. Barnabas had a lot of grace. Paul finally got a little grace, too. When he was old and imprisoned he wrote Timothy and said, “By the way, bring John Mark to me. He’s profitable to me.” He mentions him very positively in the 4th chapter of his letter to the Colossians. John Mark is most likely the guy that gives us the Gospel of Mark. What if Barnabas hadn’t believed in him? What if Barnabas had not had enough grace to withstand the strong Paul to his face and say, “Nonetheless, the boy gets another shot.” I like that about him. © Grand Valley State University �Profile of a Christian Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Barnabas wasn’t everything, but dear God I wish the winds of God’s spirit would blow through me with such creative and energizing power that I’d have visions to see where things are going and the courage to act on it; the willingness to be selfeffaced in the light of the larger movement and the grace to keep believing in my brothers and sisters as we go along together. That’s not everything, but that would be a lot… if we could more and more be shaped into a Barnabas or Jesus by the Spirit of God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b2995e44f1330ac9b0aa773a350e4fda.mp3 f8b6d2cec1604032034bd5e1373686d5 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 III Scripture Text Acts 11:24-26, II Corinthians 3:17-18 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-0-19940612 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-06-12 Title A name given to the resource Profile of a Christian: Life of Barnabas Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 12, 1994 entitled "Profile of a Christian: Life of Barnabas", on the occasion of Pentecost III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 11:24-26, II Corinthians 3:17-18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Christian Life Grace Jesus Movement Open Mind https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a61655e05589b62254b4290cf91a4139.pdf eb44f0ff840ad0ab3855729b323c9f12 PDF Text Text A Spirit and a World To Love Baccalaureate Sunday Text: Isaiah 58:12; Acts 1:8 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 5, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon In the prophecy of Isaiah 58:12 we have this wonderful image, this picture of those who would turn to their neighbor and love their neighbor, love their world on behalf of God, for those that have said, “Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundation of many generations, you shall be called the repairer of the breech, the restorer of streets to live in.” And on this weekend we are mindful again and again of that which happened fifty years ago in our world. We remember the D-Day invasion and the invasion on the Normandy beaches and that dark hour in world history when we and the allied nations rose up on behalf of freedom and human dignity. We cannot help but think of that text in terms of that mission that was executed by those who love freedom—the democratic nations. It’s incredible to relive it again. I am amazed to think that I am about as young as one can be and still have some personal remembrance. I was just a little kid, but had a couple of brothers-in-law over in the thick of it and remembered adult conversations about it, and felt some of the anxiety and tension of those days. That was a noble hour. I think in my earlier experience I tended to compartmentalize my religious or spiritual experience from that which happened in the world. But I recognize more clearly now that the Spirit of God, the breathing of God, is not restricted to what happens in a setting like this, but also impacts what happens in the larger landscape of the world. I believe that that noble effort to maintain the best of Western Civilization and the freedom and the democracy of the world was a response to the Spirit of God. There is a sense to which we were loving the world in the power of the Spirit, in that we were engaged in an effort for human freedom. [It calls forth] the image of the prophet in Isaiah: “You will restore the ancient ruins and foundations, and you will be a repairer of the breech. You will create cities and streets to dwell in.” © Grand Valley State University   �A Spirit and a World to Love Richard A. Rhem Page 2   That image of the prophet is so characteristic of the Hebrew prophet who had images of shalom, of that messianic age when Messiah would come, when there would be harmony and peace in the world. As I was reflecting on that text in the context of this weekend, I came across this document written by Rabbi David Hartman who was in Muskegon a month or so ago. It’s about the present Israeli/Palestinian peace process. Rabbi Hartman is striking a blow here for openness, to let that process happen. But in the midst of this document, he says this, “No period in history is immune to the forces of regression.” Then he quotes in quotation marks, “It can never happen here. Here tolerance, pluralism and decency are firmly established and secured.” And to that he responds, “Against such expressions of naiveté and false complacency stands the classical statement of Biblical realism. Behold I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life.” As I was thinking about that, I thought I’ve heard veterans interviewed in the documentaries that are on television these days, some who have said there will never be another battle like it. There will never be another naval assault like it, etc. All of those statements are true in the sense that the world and technology that happened at that time has been so greatly overcome. You think about sending coded messages across the channel. You think about the surprise element that was able to be effected in that massive movement of armaments and men and women. You realize today that our spy satellites circle the globe and from outer space track the movement of armaments and armies so that there’s a sense in which Normandy could never happen again. Then I read David Hartman and I recognize how easy it could be to become complacent and to say that that was the world’s hour of darkness and it could never happen again. That is not true. Darkness and evil are lurking always in the wings of human experience. If our technology has made it impossible ever to duplicate the Normandy invasion, so our technology has enabled us in an instant to wipe our masses of population, more than all who have died in all the wars of human history. If North Korea has a bomb, and if it would loft it over the demilitarized zone, in an instant it could wipe out more persons than in all of World War II. So I read a little more from Rabbi Hartman who says those beautiful prophetic images are not images of what will be at the end, but rather they are possibilities of what needs yet to be realized within history. They are a statement of historical inevitability. They are a statement of present possibility. The call of God to God’s people is to join God’s Spirit in the creation of justice and righteousness and Shalom. Those wonderful images of the prophet, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain. The lion and the lamb shall dwell together. They shall beat their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks. They shall learn war no more.” Those images from the Hebrew prophet are images that are to call us up short, and to present us with an alternative reality, an alternative possibility. © Grand Valley State University �A Spirit and a World to Love Richard A. Rhem Page 3   We are called as the people of God, not to sit by and wait for history to run its course when Messiah will come and Shalom will cover the earth. We are called to be the instruments and the ages of Shalom, of justice, of peace, of righteousness right here and now. We are called to the power of the Spirit of God to love the world. The God, whose heart was revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, and whom the followers of Jesus experienced as still powerfully present with them, is the God who continues to move through the landscape of history, and is a part of the human scene and is calling us to join in the cause of justice and righteousness, leading to peace. The one true and eternal God, the God of Israel shown to us in Jesus, continues to breath through us, to empower us to be the instruments for peace and the channels of grace in our day. The people of Judah in exile had a complaint against God. They said, “Look, we’re religious, we worship, we fast, we go through sacrifice and ritual, but you don’t notice.” The answer through the prophet is: “That’s not a fast I choose. The fast I choose is to set the prisoner free, to take off the yoke of oppression, to feed the hungry, to take the homeless into your home. Then your life will break upon you. Then you will call and I will answer, and I will say, ‘Here I am.’ ” In other words, in this Old Testament understanding of things, the service of God is the service of humankind, and the worship of God is the care and the love of a neighbor. Jesus knew this passage. Someone has said that Matthew 25, the parable of the sheep and the goats, must have been written right out of Isaiah 58. They said to him to whom he had said, “Come into the kingdom.” They said, “When did we see you hungry? When did we visit you in prison? When did we clothe you?” Jesus said, “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me.” There’s always a tendency to compartmentalize religion into one little part of life and then to get on with life in a kind of secular fashion as though God is divorced from that. Not so. God says, “Do whatever rituals you need. Do whatever worship you need. Go into the temple if you will, offer sacrifices if you will. Take bread and cup if you will. Do what you need in order to be conscious of my presence. But if you really, really want to know my presence and power, then take care of your neighbor—the poor, the oppressed, the homeless. Then miraculously, in your neighbor, you’ll find me. You cannot find me any other way.” If you don’t believe that Jesus knew this prophet, then turn a couple of pages to the 61st chapter of the same prophet, a couple of chapters later and you’ll find there, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me and has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” If you go to the 4th chapter of Luke, verse 18, you’ll find in the inaugural sermon of Jesus in his hometown of Nazareth the sermon that got his family and friends so upset with him. He cited those words. The agenda of Jesus was to set the prisoner free, to affect human dignity and human freedom. The mission of the Church, the calling of the people of God, is to love the world for God’s sake. If we would follow the way of Jesus, then we must take Jesus seriously. This is what Jesus was about. © Grand Valley State University �A Spirit and a World to Love Richard A. Rhem Page 4   I must admit to you at first I entitled this message “The Spirit and World Mission,” but I changed it because for me world mission spoke too much of my past understanding where I would send this graduating class out into the world to preach the Gospel in order to make the world Christian. But now I want to say to you graduates, if you want to know God in power, in fresh experience, love the world. Care. Be filled with compassion. Give your life away, and in giving your life away, find your life in the presence of God. That’s the paradox, isn’t it? Jesus said, “Go into all the world. Proclaim good news; the good news that Jesus proclaimed that God is near, that God is full of grace, that God is for human dignity, for human freedom, for the fullest realization of the human potential of all people.” It is the calling of the Church not to convert the world, but to love the world and let the consequences be in God’s hand and to allow the breath of God to flow through us empowering us in an outpouring of ourselves in love for a world so desperate for love and grace. I once thought that finally the world would become Christian and then Messiah would come. Now, now I don’t know so much about all of that, but this I understand clearly: Messiah has come and the Spirit is moving, and I am invited to follow in the Way of Jesus in loving the world and therein know the presence and the power of God. A Messianic age is not an historical inevitability. It is an ever present possibility if we dare to love the way Jesus loved. That’s why we’re in Romania. That’s why we’re in Wales. That’s why we’re in Africa. That’s why the world is our parish—to love the world for God’s sake. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/772fc780b1394b8e4f2c36776ade8d94.mp3 1963f8068cfb21c02358cffbac9264b5 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 Baccalaureate Sunday, Pentecost II Scripture Text Isaiah 58:12, Acts 1:8 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-0-19940605 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-06-05 Title A name given to the resource The Spirit and a World to Love Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 5, 1994 entitled "The Spirit and a World to Love", on the occasion of Baccalaureate Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 58:12, Acts 1:8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Justice Peace Shalom Transforming the World Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8571bd39f7a1907b6d758c6d2d5efe18.pdf 2c269e191e3ae47a0f442303af009f06 PDF Text Text God in Human Experience Trinity Sunday Text: Ezekiel 37:5-6; Acts 10:38, 44, 48 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan May 29, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon Trinity Sunday is the Sunday that follows the celebration of Pentecost, and rather naturally so. Just like in the Apostles’ Creed we say, I believe in God. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Spirit, but there is no mention of the Trinity or the doctrine of the Trinity. So in the early Christian experience there was a Trinitarian experience. We’ve just been through the whole cycle of the life of Christ, the great events of Jesus’ birth and life and death and resurrection and exaltation. Then the celebration of the coming of the Spirit of God, and then, as a Christian community we worship, we recognize that the God that we worship is the God who is come to us revealed in Jesus and is with us in the power of the Spirit, the one true and eternal God, the creator of all, the source of all and the goal of all. That one true and eternal God is known to us through the lens of Jesus and is experienced by us in the power of the Spirit. The experience of that early Jesus movement was a Trinitarian experience. It was the experience of God in just that way. There was no thought in that early community that they were leaving the God of Israel. They were not finding another God. They were not turning away from the God of their fathers and mothers and going in a new way. They were worshiping none other than the God of Israel who was the creator of all. They had no consciousness whatsoever that they were moving their allegiance to another. This was the God of Israel. That’s why you have throughout the whole of the New Testament scriptures the constant citation from the Hebrew Scriptures. That’s why, on the Day of Pentecost itself, Peter stood up and said, “This is that that was spoken by the prophet Job.” This is what we’ve been waiting for.” They were conscious of a total continuity with the worship of the God that they had known from their mother’s knees, so to speak, and to this present experience of that God revealed in Jesus, present with them in the Spirit. Their experience was a Trinitarian experience. They had not understood fully, obviously, in the experience with Jesus in the flesh. The Gospels were written decades later, and they were written on the other © Grand Valley State University   �God in Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 2   side of Easter, reflecting back on their experience with Jesus. But it is obvious they didn’t know what was going on. In fact, the disciples come through as rather dull. Now they weren’t really dull, but they didn’t know. It wasn’t obvious. It wasn’t self-evident. It was only in retrospect, and then they reached back to the Prophet Isaiah, and they took the name of that one who was promised, Immanuel — God with us. They said, “Jesus was God with us. Jesus was Immanuel.” In retrospect, reflecting on their experience, they said it was as though God was with us in this one. Now the day of Pentecost was a mind boggling, life transforming experience, an ecstatic experience that could not be contained, and they said, “This is God. This is Jesus. What is this?” And God said, “That’s right. It is I. I am with you in the flesh, in Jesus, now with you in the power of the Spirit.” They didn’t put all that together in neat formulas or write a creed there. They simply witnessed to an overpowering experience of the one God, the creator of all. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one.” That was their God. That was the God they were experiencing, the God they had rubbed elbows with in Jesus, and whom they now somehow or other knew to be present in them, a power and a presence that gave them energy and gave them peace, their experience. That early Jesus movement was a Trinitarian experience. First, is the experience, that to which they bore witness, and that witness comes through in the Biblical data. Let’s think about the Biblical data for a moment, starting in the Hebrew Scriptures. As we said last week, the Spirit of God was not inaugurated on Pentecost. Pentecost was a time of the outpouring of the Spirit universally, in a powerful way. Remember, when we baptize a child here we pray to God to breathe through the water to make the water an instrument of grace. And we usually refer to the first verses of the opening chapter of Genesis. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . . and it was all void . . . and the wind of God, or the breath of God, blew over the deep.” Remember? And out of that chaos came the creation, the cosmos. It was God breathing, because remember that Hebrew word Ruah, we translate “wind,” we translate it “Spirit,” we translate it “breath.” It is the same word, but it points to that energizing creative power of God, to the Spirit of God active in the creation of the heavens and the earth. Or the Old Testament prophecy that I read, the wonderful story in Ezekiel. Judah is in exile and in Babylon; they don’t have a prayer. Their bones are all dried up. Their hope is gone. And God takes the prophet by the nape of the neck and says, “Prophesy to those bones, that valley of dried bones.” “Do you think, prophet, that those dried bones can live?” The prophet says, “You know, O God.” God says, “Prophesy. Speak the word.” And the word comes and those bones begin to come together and there is muscle, and there is flesh, and there is skin, and they stand up. And God says, “Speak © Grand Valley State University �God in Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 3   again.” And they are full of life. A standing army as it were. Reborn, by the Spirit of God or by the breath of God, or the wind of God. And Mary, that young Hebrew girl, overshadowed, we are told, by the breath of God, or the wind of God, or the Spirit of God. And there is a conception, and there is a child born, and of that one the apostles say, “The word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” And Jesus, on the threshold of his ministry, goes into the wilderness and struggles with who he is and what he is to do and he comes out of that experience full of the power, the Spirit, the breath, the wind of God so that the life of Jesus is exercised in consequence of that breath of God blowing through Jesus. So, the Spirit of God didn’t begin on Pentecost. It’s like the movement we talk about: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but that’s a kind of Christian prejudice. Actually, if we wanted to be more correct, biblically, we’d say, God, Spirit, Word. Because it was God breathing that brought about the word made flesh. The story of Peter and Cornelius — it’s a wonderful story. I see it as a model for understanding so much of the New Testament development, and how really we ourselves ought to be doing theology today. Here’s Peter – remember the vision on the rooftop – and the call is to go to Cornelius, the Roman Centurion, a Gentile. Peter struggles a bit, but nonetheless he cannot withstand the power and the compelling force of that vision. So he goes, and Cornelius is there to greet him and Peter gingerly steps inside his house, where he shouldn’t even have been according to his Jewish regulation. Cornelius says he’s had a vision, too, and that it was the angel of the Lord that told him to beckon Peter. So what can Peter do? He scratches his head a bit. He starts out by saying, “God is not partial? Whew! That’s a new one.” Then he begins to tell the story of Jesus. I think it is so interesting in those verses that we read together that in the 38th verse it tells how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and with power. Now notice, it’s God who anoints. Remember, anoint is the same word for Messiah or for Christ. It’s like how God ‘Christed’ Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power. He tells the story of Jesus, and while he’s preaching would you believe it? Pfft — God starts heavy breathing. It’s obvious that the Spirit falls on that congregation. Now those of you who were here last week (some of you said it was really nice— once in a while. You know, it’s O.K. once in a while), but I’ve got to tell you last week’s worship was probably closer to the first Pentecost than today’s worship. Sure glad that’s over, aren’t you? Sure glad that we’ve moved beyond all that excess, that enthusiasm. I like it domesticated, a nice routine, where you can manage it a bit. I mean, after all, this is a worship of God, and one ought to be respectful and responsible and a little deadpan. One ought not to get involved too much, because if you get too involved, if you really started feeling the Wind of God blowing through you, you’d stand up and start hollering and dancing in the © Grand Valley State University �God in Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 4   aisles and singing and shouting. And I wouldn’t know what to do with you. (Laughter) And we might not be able to get through this service in an hour (probably won’t anyway). (More laughter) I like it calm. Dignified. Don’t you? Sure hope God never breathes heavily through this assembly while I’m on the stool. Well, that’s what happened. Peter is preaching along and the Holy Spirit falls and the people start praising God. That’s never happened while I was preaching. Thank God! (Laughter) It’s so obviously a work of God that Peter says he can’t withhold water for baptizing these people. So what does he do? He orders them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Well! They were really messed up. Peter knows this is from God, he sees it as an experience of God, and he invites them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ— Jesus the Christ, Jesus the anointed, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus, the one filled with the Spirit. That’s the kind of data you have in the Scriptures. It’s a bit unruly, it’s not neat. It’s hard to get it into a nice neat formula. It took three hundred twenty-five years before the Church was able to do that. At the Council of Nicaea they finally put together a creedal statement which you can still find in your hymnbook, the Nicean Creed which formulated very carefully in philosophical terms what they sensed was happening back there. That formula has come down to us today, so that we still speak of our faith as a Trinitarian Faith. Now the problem is, that when Peter was preaching in Cornelius’ house, this was as fresh as the present moment. This was an overpowering experience. They were actually ecstatic, out of their minds in the adoration of God through that overwhelming experience. Then the experience got regularized in a doctrine and put together in a creed. Now people can say the creed and talk about the doctrine, and don’t need the experience. Then, because there tends often to be a vacuum of experience – that is, a lack of reality in one’s spiritual life – one begins to hang on words and phrases as though the reality is the statement of it, when the statement of it is simply a reflection after the fact. The story of the Church is a story of outliving its experience, but continuing to reiterate the experience of yesterday. Let me give you a couple of examples, and we’ll be done. In November of 1993 there was a conference in Minneapolis, St. Paul. It was held under the auspices of the World Council of Churches, which designated 1988 - 1998 as a decade of solidarity with women. It was a response to the feminist concerns for an experience of God that connected with their experience. The Trinitarian formulation—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit – is, for many women in our day, no longer a kind of formula that speaks to them or that they are able to use in their worship. So the World Council of Church designated a decade of solidarity with women, during which they are sponsoring several events that are in the interest of finding new ways to express the understanding of God, or, simply focusing theological reflection on this question. © Grand Valley State University �God in Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Now, that’s what the Church should be doing every day, every year, every decade. It should be thinking about its faith so that it is constantly expressing its faith in a way that connects with its experience. When our expression of faith no longer connects with our experience, then we enter into fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is the reiteration of formulas, answers to yesterday’s questions, today. The thing that we really long for, all of us, is the expression of our faith that gives witness to our present experience. Well, this conference was held in November 1993 and a couple of the key players were the United Presbyterian Church and the United Methodist Church. And, oh my goodness, are they in trouble! The poor Presbyterians figure that they will lose 2.5 million dollars by the end of 1995 because of irate people who say that this was some kind of a pagan ritual or festival. The Methodists, they don’t know what they’re in for yet, but they’re in deep, deep trouble. There is a controversy brewing across the country. If you read the newspapers and magazines you’ll probably become aware of this. Ninety-nine percent of the pastors who retreat on this on Trinity Sunday would lead their congregations to say, “Isn’t that awful.” You happen to be that privileged group of the 1% where I want to say, what they were trying to do is perfectly alright, legitimate, necessary, the kind of thing we ought to be doing all the time, because the last word was not spoken in 325 or 451 AD. We cannot give the finest witness to our present experience of God through formulations that at one time were at white-heat, the expression of the way God was experienced then. I use this as an illustration, not to go into the subject of that re-imagining conference, but to say to you that it is the responsibility of the body of Christ, always, to be finding the freshest, finest way to worship God in terms of our present experience. If we simply reiterate yesterday’s formulas and creeds, we are really bearing witness to a hollowness of experience. And what we really need is that fresh taste of God today, that fresh experience of God breathing through us today so that our experience today is interpreted, or is able to be interpreted, in light of our worship of God and our trust in God. One other example: In our world, as I have been saying to you for a long time, religion is the most dangerous force alive. It is that which is fueling much of the ethnic conflict in the trouble spots around the world. We need to be in dialogue with our Jewish brothers and sisters, and with our Muslim brothers and sisters. And, as a matter of fact, our Jewish folk and Islamic folk are clear: God is one. We should be clear on that too. There is no formulation of the trinity that would claim anything else. And there is no question, as we saw in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Spirit of God is understood in Judaism as the creative, energizing force of God. So, we’ve got two down. That leaves the understanding of Jesus, and that’s why we’ve been working at it for a year—to understand how in that conversation we can come to a deeper understanding, recognizing what was happening back there and what needs to happen now. No one needs to be worried about that. It is incumbent upon us to do that. Yesterday’s answer won’t do for today or for tomorrow. © Grand Valley State University �God in Human Experience Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Theology is the constant challenge of the Church to interpret its faith in the light of experience, and experience is ongoing. So, on this Trinity Sunday, I want to say to you it is not enough for us simply to continue to say: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That’s a part of our past. It’s a part of our heritage. It gives us a guideline and a beacon light. It is within that context that we continue to think. But, to hold onto it in the light of experience to the contrary, is idolatry, is an act of faithlessness, is a refusal to trust the present Spirit of God to lead us into broader horizons and deeper vistas, more of the glory and the wonder of the one Eternal God whom we see through the lens of Jesus, who we experience in the power of the Spirit. We need to go back to New Testament data, take the raw data, allow all of the past to be that which shapes us and forms us, and then go boldly out into our world with some fresh word. When was the last time you caught God breathing through you? Friends, it’s time to let go and experience the freedom of the children of God who are constantly being led into the future by the God who beckons us, the God who is the source of all, and the goal of all. God blessed forever. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c228d993b10952a3d9cda228082b7eff.mp3 f8bbc694cf91b3665d96c065ba2c83ac 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 Scripture Text Ezekiel 37:5-6, Acts 10:38, 44, 48 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-0-19940529 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-05-29 Title A name given to the resource God in Human Experience Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 29, 1994 entitled "God in Human Experience", on the occasion of Trinity Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ezekiel 37:5-6, Acts 10:38, 44, 48. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Nature of Religion Trinitarian Experience Trinity Sunday https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4d1b83c09fef75cd185c897cfb7e8ebe.pdf b41a62410c41d94744ec7216ddcc306d PDF Text Text The Breath of God – The Life of the World From the Eastertide sermon series: Credo Text: Genesis 1:2; Ezekiel 37:5; John 3:8 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost Sunday, May 22, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "... a mighty wind (Spirit) that swept over the surface of the waters." Genesis 1:2 “I will put my breath (wind, spirit) in you and you shall live." Ezekiel 37:5 "The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So with everyone who is born from Spirit.” John 3:8   I have a very simple but a very wonderful word to share with you today on this Pentecost Sunday. I want to say to you that the breath of God is the life of the world. You've been around with me long enough to know that "the breath of God" is simply another way of saying "the spirit of God" or "the wind of God." For the Hebrew word Ruach means "spirit" or "wind" or "breath". In the Hebrew it has that enlivening, energizing vitality about it: the wind as a tempest, the wind as moving power, the wind as energy. It was the Ruach of God in the story of creation that shaped the cosmos. As we said earlier today at the baptismal font, it was the breath of God moving through the chaos, bringing creation to its fullness. It was the Ruach of God that caused Israel to have hope in its exile, the Ruach of God which caused the dry bones to come together in that vision of Ezekiel, that vision which spoke in metaphor of God's promise that that exiled people would come to life again. Then resurrection so to speak, would be through the Ruach of God. It was the Ruach of God or the breath of God that breathed, which blew through Mary and caused the Word to take on flesh and to dwell among us. And on the day of Pentecost that Ruach, spirit wind of God, rushed through that early community of the followers of Jesus turning them inside out and sending them out into the world. The unfortunate thing for us is that the Hebrew word Ruach that had about it this energy and vitality was translated into the Latin vispiritus, and into English by the word spirit. And for us, the word spirit is intangible. It's invisible. It's kind of ghostlike. In fact, the German translation is gist and we even speak in an older form of the Apostles Creed of the Holy Ghost. So there is something spooky about it, something intangible about it – quite the opposite of the imagery of the Hebrew word Ruach. © Grand Valley State University   �The Breath of God–The Life of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 2   What I want to say to you this morning is that it is that breath of God or that wind of God that gives life to the world, to all that is. Psalm One Hundred and Four, I said, is such a beautiful poem because it makes that point that every living thing – snails, and worms, and grubs, and birds, and the animals of the field, and the trees of the forest, and the meadows, and the skies, and the seas, and ourselves – is alive with the life of God! It seems that in the modern age, since the Enlightenment, with all of the past accomplishments of the natural scientists and the explosion of technology, there has come into our lives a compartmentalization, a division, so that we do this on Sunday and then go out to the rest of the week to do our lives where life really is. Others have no moment like this hour of worship, because life for them is lived altogether outside the sanctuary, and they're getting along just fine. Human powers, human ingenuity, technology, scientific experiment, production, the corporate world, all of that going on without any reference to God. There we live a profane life. Profane means, literally, outside the temple. We come into the temple, then we speak of the sacred. And to this day in life, there has been that distinction between the sacred and the profane. What I want to say to you this morning is that the celebration of the sacred, such as we do today, is in order to recognize the sacredness of the whole of life. But what has happened in our modern western civilization, western culture, is that the vast majority of our brothers and sisters live a purely secular life without any reference, without any recognition that it is the breathing of God that keeps all things in being. Someone from the outside could say to me, "We don't need God. That's just a hypothesis. The world is just a phenomenon that's there. It's just an accident the way things have developed. We can live purely out of our own resources." And I have to answer that is as reasonable as what I am claiming. But I'm claiming the opposite. I'm claiming that everything that is, is because God keeps breathing. As the Psalmist said, "God withholds God's breath and they wither and return to the dust. God breathes and they are created and renewed." That goes not simply for some spiritual realm of our human experience, but that goes for our bodies. That goes for our physical universe, our natural world, for the totality of reality. It is all God-breathed, moment-by-moment incessantly. God holds all things together. And we live and we celebrate and we can delight in the totality of it because it is all a consequence of the breath of God. On this Pentecost hear me say that I believe the breath of God is the life of the world. I had an experience recently on a beautiful morning, much like this morning. I had to go into Grand Rapids for breakfast. I came down Route 45 to Allendale, to Eastmanville, and then took Leonard Road into Grand Rapids. And if you haven't taken that route recently, do it again. It courses through valleys. There are wonderful green hills. That day the trees were coming out in marvelous blossom. © Grand Valley State University �The Breath of God–The Life of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 3   There were jonquils and farmyards. There were cattle staring at me with those large eyes. And because it was still cool at that hour, their breath was causing a bit of a vapor, almost a kind of mystical something in that morning light. It was a brilliant, shining morning. I had my sunroof open. The fresh air came in. After the long Michigan winter, I said, "Dear God this is it! Spring has come!" And when I began to tell somebody about it, I said, "It was almost a spiritual experience", when as a matter fact it was precisely a spiritual experience. It was exactly a religious experience because a spiritual or religious experience is simply the experience of the world in the conscious awareness of the breathing of God that makes it all possible and invites us to delight in it. I had another experience, not too long ago while I was on vacation. It was Sunday afternoon, on a Florida intercostal down in Marco Island. It was a ramshackle, broken-down, old, beat-up tavern scene, the kind of place where you find yourself a small table under a little thatched palm roof to keep out of the sun. Tied up to the nearby docks people were eating brats and hot dogs and there was a musical group (though not nearly as good as the Weideman family but with a certain similarity!) and the people washing down excessive numbers of brats and hot dogs with excessive liquids of various kinds. They had tied their boats together,"rafting" out from one another as it's called. I looked at that scene and I said to myself, "Dear God, in the church, we are missing it. We few Christians coming together decrying the worldliness of the world and the unspirituality of people. We are growing smaller and smaller, and it's getting tougher and tougher, and we have to shout louder and louder, and run faster and faster. And I thought, "We're missing it." What we ought to do is not simply invite people next weekend to come "casually" (for a casual Sunday) into the sanctuary, What we ought to do is all go to the shores of Lake Michigan somewhere and have a "kegger", and some hot dogs, and a hot band. Then at some point, give me just ten minutes. Give me just ten minutes for me to tell them that all of this sand dune, and sky, and sea, and the wonder of the world is all there to be enjoyed and be delighted in because God keeps breathing. It isn't an accident. It can't be taken for granted. It ought not to be presumed upon. We don't need to retreat to the temple to feel God's breath! If only we are aware, in that moment, that all that surrounds us is enlivened by God! A moment of awareness, that's what prayer is. A moment of attention, that's what prayer is. Attention and awareness to the breathing of God in a jonquil, in a tulip, in the forsythia, in sand, in sky, in food and friends. It should cause us to wonder and worship because the breath of God is the life of the world. Rather than living out in the world by my wits as best I can and sneaking into church on the weekend to be refueled, I ought to come here to this sanctuary to do sacred things, in sacred space, in order to go out and to see that all of space, and all of life and all of its lusty delight is the gift of God who keeps breathing, and breathing, energizing, vitalizing, enlivening us to be fully human, all to the glory of God. Isn't that wonderful? © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/640a377c649abf2ce6f0b5604e5e2fd1.mp3 ee1cc2466376609b228ebb9c2644017a 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 Scripture Text Genesis 1:2, Ezekiel 37:5, John 3:8 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-0-19940522 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-05-22 Title A name given to the resource The Breath of God - The Life of the World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 22, 1994 entitled "The Breath of God - The Life of the World", on the occasion of Pentecost, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 1:2, Ezekiel 37:5, John 3:8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Panentheism Pentecost Presence of God Sacred Wonder https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/318c01ede2f4a18b9ae77a8b79d704b0.pdf d73a8fa228a201791076edb7ca7317e4 PDF Text Text Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever From the Eastertide series on the Apostles’ Creed: Credo Text: Romans 8:34, 35, 39; John 14:18-19 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide, May 15, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "... Christ Jesus...at the right hand of God who indeed intercedes for us." Romans 8:34 "What will separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:35 "[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God." Romans 8:39 "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you... because I live, you too shall live." John 14:18-19 Well, this is the last Sunday of Eastertide. Eastertide, beginning with the celebration of Easter itself and extending really to the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost, which is next Sunday. Our focus this morning is on the consequence of the resurrection and the development of a faith and the hope with which we live that, because he lives, we too shall live. We see Jesus’ resurrection as a model. We believe that this is not all there is, that the best is yet to be, on the basis of our faith that Jesus who died was raised by the power of God. So today at the conclusion of the Eastertide series, which has gone under the Latin word, Credo, the verb that takes its own subject and is translated "I believe,” we consider the final section of the Apostles’ Creed: "I believe the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting". I always find that one of the great times to affirm that line from the Apostles’ Creed is at the edge of an open grave. It gives me goose bumps when I stand at the cemetery with those loved and lost a while. Together we unite our voices in that strong affirmation which concludes with those words: " I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." Before the yawning, grasping jaws of death, symbolized by that open grave, it is the right time for a Christian, and a Christian community to make the grand affirmation -"nevertheless." We bury our dead because our loved ones and we ourselves will die, really die. But to © Grand Valley State University   �Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever Richard A. Rhem Page 2   die in the wake of Easter is to be able to affirm over the grave, "I believe." "Credo, I believe." The Apostles’ Creed concludes there because when you have said that, you have said it all. That is the conviction with which we live. That is Christian hope, that we have life now and forever. What kind of word can we use? How can we describe this reality that is beyond our grasp, this final great mystery? We simply stammer and we say resurrection of the body, life everlasting, eternal life, life here and now and forever, that is the bottom line of our faith. It is the hope that inspires us, enabling us to live with some measure of equanimity and serenity and to die with some measure of peace. In the Apostles’ Creed that's where it concludes. But it concludes that way because of what we had confessed earlier in that middle section of the creed dealing with Jesus Christ, where we confessed that he was crucified, dead, buried, descended into hell or into the realm of the dead, and on the third day, rose again, ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the power of God, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. We confessed that about Jesus Christ. And what we confess about our own destiny is posited on our conviction of the experience of Jesus. Now it may seem that the creed is almost trite in its statement when it says crucified, dead, buried. It's like hammer blows. It's like, you know, saying it over and over again. And I think in the Heidelberg Catechism, there is a question about this statement. It asks, "Why does it say that he was buried?" And the answer is that it might be demonstrated thereby that he was really dead. The fact is that they found it necessary to confess that Jesus died. There were those at the time the creed was formulated, and even before, who were denying that very fact. There were those who didn't believe that Jesus came into the full reality of our humanity, that Jesus was genuinely bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, that somehow or another, at some moment, the spirit must have left, or the divine nature evacuated the body, or whatever. There were all kinds of theories and speculation. But in the final statement of the Christian creed, the most familiar affirmation of our creedal tradition, the Apostles’ Creed, that just gets hammer blows. Crucified, dead, buried, descended into the realm of the dead was the original significance of that phrase. And then on the third day he arose so that the resurrection of the dead is not somehow or another a soft peddling of death or it is not some kind of an accommodation of death. It is a transformation beyond death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ did not happen in our space and time world. And the creed was trying to say this life came to an end. This was really death. Jesus died. Jesus was buried. The body of Jesus was placed in a tomb. Period. © Grand Valley State University �Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever Richard A. Rhem Page 3   And Easter is a celebration. On the other side it is the affirmation of faith that that which had ended in a very human way, the cessation of life had been overcome by the power of God. To believe in the resurrection of Jesus is in no way to short circuit the reality of the death of Jesus. That, I think, was what was behind that creedal formulation that seems to bring the emphasis so strongly on the death of Jesus. In our experience we too believe we live with hope on the basis of our conviction about the destiny of Jesus Christ: that Jesus who really died is alive. Wasn't it about a year ago when I sent some of you out of here in fear and trembling because I said that Jesus' bones, that were interred didn't all come together like the bones in Ezekiel's vision, with the flesh and blood Jesus walking out of the tomb. I wrongly assumed that we understood that the resurrection of Jesus was not the resuscitation of a corpse. Remember that? I wrongly assumed that we commonly understood that. Let me go back to that once again. The flesh and blood of Jesus was as real as yours and mine, and that flesh and blood that died, was buried. And it was not that flesh and blood that was called forth by the power of God. The resurrection of Jesus was not like the raising of Lazarus. The raising of Lazarus, in John's story of Jesus, is the supreme miracle, the supreme sign. The raising of Lazarus is the sign that Jesus, present in the midst of that community, was the Lord and giver of life. But when Lazarus was called forth wrapped in his bandages, Lazarus had to die again. That was the resuscitation of a corpse. Not so Jesus. When Jesus was raised by the power of God, Jesus encountered people and they were sure he was alive. But as the apostle Paul said, writing the earliest on this of anyone, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Paul thought it was all going to end very soon and so he also wrote, "We shall not all die but we shall all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye." When we talk about the resurrection of the body we are talking about a transformation of this physical reality that we know as body. When the creed said of us" I believe in the resurrection of the body" it was trying to say something about a reality. It's not a fantasy. It's not an illusion. The authentic person is called to life. Now how do you say that? Well, the body seems so important to the definition of our person, yet we know that we are more than the body. One of the beautiful old men of this congregation– many years ago I went to see him and asked, "Fred, how are you?" He said, "Well I'm fine, but this old house I'm living in isn't so good any more." We can make that distinction and yet in the Christian and the Hebrew tradition there was never a denigration of the body. The body was good. It was part of the creation of God. The God who created all things had looked and said it is "very good." So when the Christian community wanted to affirm the reality of that which lies beyond death, it said resurrection of the body. We know that the body we plant is not the body that will be that resurrection reality, whatever that is. © Grand Valley State University �Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Paul says it will be a spiritual body. What in the world is that? Paul didn't know, and we don't know. But we believe it will be a reality that reflects the authentic personality that is now living. At the end it is not death, in darkness, in nothingness, but it is life and light in the presence of God. That's what the creed means to say – resurrection of the body and life everlasting or life in the world to come without end, however you want to say it. The bottom line of Christian hope is that what is now, will be transcended by what will follow, that there is more, that this is not all there is, and, what is more, it is the best that is yet to be. That is the Christian conviction on the basis of the experience of Jesus. Easter faith was the confirmation of the followers of Jesus that the end is not the grave. Dead, buried, to be sure, but then, then, resurrection, life eternal, the Mystery of God, whatever that is. We hadn't ought to try to be too clear in our definition of that. I went back to check on what I had mentioned to you on Easter. I looked at last Sunday's New York Times Book Review, the best seller list. Embraced By The Light was the title of the Easter message, the story of Betty Eadie and her near death experience. And I am not surprised to find that six weeks later Embraced By The Light is still number one on the nonfiction list. It would be number one if only this congregation was responsible for going out and buying that book. I see it popping up all over. Embraced By The Light is a good title, but for my taste Betty Eadie learns too much. She knows too much. She becomes too defining and too definite about these things. So be it. It doesn't matter. That mystery is full of light and life and that is the point. It is that existential need of us all, I believe, that cries out for some basis in which to place our feet and to set our hope. We long deep down to know that this is not all there is. Oh, I've read some sophisticated statements and philosophical treatises and some artful, creative treatments in novels and literature. There are those in the modern age who speak about this as an illusion. Hans Küng in his lectures, "Eternal Life," admits that there are those who say it is wishful thinking. And we have really no defense against that charge. That's why it is "Credo," resurrection, everlasting life, "I believe." It is an affirmation of faith. We are dealing with that which is beyond our ken and our knowledge. It is that which we cling to, that which we affirm, that in which we set our hope because of our conviction that Jesus who died and was buried was raised by the power of God, and that beyond that impenetrable veil, which becomes but a moment of transition and transformation, there is light and life in the presence of God. That deep existential need in the human heart is witnessed to by the fact that in our contemporary society these books are being bought up by the hundreds of thousands. The question is there. Medical technology has put it in the news, Jack Kevorkian and the whole euthanasia business, the possibilities presented by medical technology. But beyond that, deep down in the human heart there is that question. It faces me when I face that reality personally, or when I face it with one whom I love. Then all the cool, sophisticated argumentation evaporates in a moment. We are created for life and we need to know our labor is not in vain. © Grand Valley State University �Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever Richard A. Rhem Page 5   And we need to know our love is not finally empty in the end. The Christian community is a community that stands to say, I believe the resurrection of the body, the life everlasting. Two marvelous experiences have been in mind recently. Leon, if I had seen you ahead of time I would have warned you. Lee Stille's mother died the week after Easter. I was able to hold her hand, to see her smile, to give her the benediction, and to promise her the best was yet to be in the week following Easter. Unbeknownst to me it was within a day of her death, but that's not the point. The point is that when we finally got out to the cemetery, I thought that the cemetery crew had gotten it wrong. I thought we caught them with their equipment down. There was the front end loader with a scoop of sand. Across the street was that little putt putt machine that carries the top of the vault. There wasn't any of that nice green carpet, you know, that's supposed to be grass that masks the cold outlines of the grave. There was the cemetery assistant in his blue jeans, his work clothes, and it looked as though the funeral procession had come upon them before they were ready. But I proceeded with the committal service, only to find out that this was all planned. Three shovels were nearby. Lee, his sisters Sharon, and Donna took the shovels, bit into the sand in the front end loader, and began to throw it on the vault after the casket had been lowered and the vault sealed, all of that happening as we stood there. I can still see the vault being covered with sand. I can still hear the earth falling on the vault. And then the children were invited, the grandchildren were invited, the little great grandchildren, Zinni's beautiful old parents taking not the shovel but just their hands with the earthy handful of dirt and throwing it on the grave. As Christian people there is no need to cover the grave with some kind of masking, some green carpet that cuts away the cruel emptiness of the earth. There is no need to turn from that to mask it, to make it cosmetically acceptable, aesthetically pleasing. We can look into the grave. We can throw the dirt down there. It's over. It's death. It's painful. It's loss. Oh, it is so healing, so liberating to be able to stare death in the eye and not flinch because all of that has been overcome and transformed by the power of God as witnessed to in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We can deal honestly, authentically with the reality of death and loss and pain in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. Dying is transformed in the face of this kind of faith. And now I come to bear witness to my dear Menno Klouw, who died a couple weeks ago. Menno, who is so well loved in this community of faith, who cared with such tenderness, gentleness for this facility for so many years. On the night of his death I was privileged to be in his home. Menno had come home to die without tubes and wires, in his own home, surrounded by his own loved ones. Coming home to die, day by day, the end in sight. Friday night, his own dear grandchildren were gathered round. Dear God, how better can you die than with © Grand Valley State University �Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever Richard A. Rhem Page 6   your grandchildren there? The family gathered, death imminent. I took his hand. I began to speak to him. He turned his head. I said, "Menno, squeeze my hand if you hear me." And he squeezed my hand. I said, "Menno, it's all right. You're just fine. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." And I kissed him and I left so deeply moved that there is beauty even in the face of death, even in the midst of loss when it is surrounded by love, saturated with compassion and experienced in the sure and certain hope of the light that will dawn. Dear God. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. God knows I believe. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6f595abe4353170f8100778dd4529224.mp3 338d27c54b1e90b26a0c4eccf87aad33 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 Series Credo: A Series For Eastertide Scripture Text Romans 8: 34, 35, 39, John 14: 18-19 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-0-19940515 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-05-15 Title A name given to the resource Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 15, 1994 entitled "Christian Hope: Life Now and Forever", as part of the series "Credo: A Series For Eastertide", on the occasion of Eastertide VII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 8: 34, 35, 39, John 14: 18-19. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Creeds Eastertide Hope Life Resurrection https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e9b97e19fc44d03e2be56e33b287ed2f.pdf 8cb6e629a9ed43783b3493f31c7019da PDF Text Text Communion of Saints–Love, Forgiveness, and Freedom From the Eastertide series on the Apostles’ Creed: Credo Text: Genesis 21:9; I John 4:12, 18; Matthew 20:25-26 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Mother’s Day, May 8, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "... Sara saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with her son Isaac..." Genesis 21:9 ".. .if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us." I John 4:12 "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..." I John 4:18 "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them... It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant." Matthew 20:25-26 As someone has said, the art of life is to cooperate with the inevitable ... and so let us talk about mothers. Mother's Day is not a holy feast day in the calendar of the Christian church, but it has become rock solid in the culture of our society. And as a matter of fact, it gives us a good occasion to honor our mothers, something that we have all had, and if we have had it well, then there's no praise too high. Mother's Day at Christ Community gives us an occasion to focus a bit more broadly, and to think about the family, and to recognize the critical importance of the family not only for the nurture of individuals but for the wellbeing of society itself. And so on this beautiful Lord's day in Eastertide our focus is on the family, and to offer "Oh, Hail" to our mothers. It is right and proper so to do. There are a couple of qualifications I think that are always important to make on a day like this. For though Mother's Day can be a beautiful day with much to commend it, it is not an unmixed blessing. While it is a beautiful experience for so many, it is also an occasion for some sadness and pain for others, those who perhaps longed to find fulfillment in that role but were denied it, or those who feel that it was not fulfilled with all of its potential. There can be so much hurt and pain in human relationships. And so a day like this is a day to honor, to give thanks, to recognize, but also a day in which we are sensitive to the fact that within the human community there is also brokenness and pain. A second qualification is this: As we celebrate it here at Christ Community we talk about the festival of the Christian home. And that's right and proper too, for we © Grand Valley State University   �The Communion of Saints–Love, Forgiveness, Freedom Richard A. Rhem Page 2   are Christians and therefore we think of the home and the family in the context of our Christian tradition. But we ought not think of it as though all of the wonderful potential about the family is uniquely Christian. There are other cultures, and other societies, and other religious faiths that also have wonderful values of family. And so when I speak of the Christian family or the Christian home I want to acknowledge that what we're talking about is something that is a broader human phenomenon. The best context perhaps then in which to talk about interpersonal relationships, community, family, human bonding, human ties is maybe to borrow an article of faith from the Apostle's Creed, which we have been considering in the season of Eastertide. "I believe in the communion of saints," states the Creed. The "communion of saints." That's another designation for the church, and it's really perhaps the best and the broadest understanding of what we really want to talk about when we talk about family, to talk about the relationships that bind us together in communion, in community, the community of the saints, for a really Christian community is a community that is far more complex than simply the nuclear family. There is a lot in the press of the religious right that talks about family values and about the disintegration of the family. And certainly the family is a concern to us all. But we ought not to make an idol of the nuclear family consisting of father, mother, and child. Scott Peck, the psychologist writer, says certainly no one would argue that the finest situation in which to nurture a child is with a father, and a mother, and a stable home setting, and yet that is not the only setting in which there can be genuine family. So I suppose that we could say to Dan Quayle yes, you certainly have a point, but Murphy Brown has a point too. (In a presidential campaign, Dan Quayle, incumbent Vice-President, derided the television character, Murphy Brown, for choosing single parenthood.) I think it's important for us in the Christian community to affirm the family and marriage, and affirm that context for the nurture of children, but to avoid any self-righteousness or any arrogance, and to recognize that by the grace of God, human community is possible in a variety of forms, and that the grace of God and the love of God are operative in a diversity of circumstances. So if we talk about the communion of the saints we can be inclusive of the broader context. We think about those interpersonal relationships that bond us together with another and with a community, a bonding that transcends biology and bloodlines, though we value those and give God thanks for those. The communion of the saints is a creation of the Holy Spirit. Talk of "the communion of the saints" comes in the third section of the Apostles’ Creed. And the third section of the creed begins: I believe in the Holy Spirit. Human community is not a human possibility. Human community is a miracle. Human community is a gift. Human community is a gift of the grace of God effected by © Grand Valley State University �The Communion of Saints–Love, Forgiveness, Freedom Richard A. Rhem Page 3   the Spirit of God. Human community is a living together in love, and love is of God. I love the first letter of John I in the fourth chapter. For there so simply and so clearly it is stated that God is love. And further, that we love because God first loved us, and that when we love one another we experience the love of God. The love of God is not some abstract idea, nor is the love of God some mystical, emotional, spiritual, out-of-the-body experience. The love of God is as radically concrete as our love for another human being. That is really quite an amazing claim. I think, in the church, I can still hear being preached the sermons of all of my childhood, and my youth, and probably much of my own early ministry where we talked about the love of God as something that was given to us and that was obligatory on our part to give back to God. Those sermons stressed (still stress) something that was a purely vertical kind of thing, an individual kind of experience. But for the life of me, the older I grow, the more I experience, the more I fail to know how to love God, in this way. I'm really helped when I read this passage from John where he says, don't go looking for it. Love your brother or your sister. Love that significant other in your life and in that human relationship where love abounds, there God dwells. The one who abides in love, abides in God, and God abides in that one so that human community is not a human possibility. It is the creation of the spirit of God who ushers us into the love of God to be experienced as we love one another. There is a statement in this context where John says, If God so loved us ..." Now how would you finish that sentence, if God so loved us ... ? Well, again I'm thinking in terms of all of my Christian nurture and training and early experience, I would finish that sentence this way: If God so loved us, then we ought also to love God, right? No, not according to John. If God loved us then we ought also to love one another. That vertical love becomes experienced and expressed in our horizontal human relationships. So the communion of the Holy Spirit in the Apostle's Creed follows the article "I believe in the Holy Spirit." For human community is not a human possibility. It's a miracle. It's a gift. It's a grace. It's grounded in God who is love. I don't need to go searching for the experience of God. It is as close to me as you are. In the concreteness of human loving relationships is the possibility of experiencing the reality of the presence of God in our lives. The love of God is not other than our love one for another. You read through that fourth chapter in John I, once again. Human love, divine love, God's love for us, our love for God, our love for one another, they are all intertwined. John's very blunt. He doesn't pull any punches. He says, "You tell me, you love God and hate your brother or sister?" Then he says a hard word. He says, "You're a liar." Because, says John, it's simply not possible to be in love with © Grand Valley State University �The Communion of Saints–Love, Forgiveness, Freedom Richard A. Rhem Page 4   God and to be out of love with our brothers and sisters. And he is not speaking of simply biological brothers and sisters. I called my dear aunt, whom I call every Saturday night, and I wished her a happy Mother's Day. She is eighty-two, never been married, no children, yet she is the matriarchal center of our Rhem clan. She is the warm heart and center. She is the pulse beat. She cared for her parents into their old age until she buried them. She continued to care for two sisters who were invalids until she buried them. And she came night after night, weekend after weekend, to my parents to nurture them until she buried, we buried my mother. And then she moved in and took care of my father until we buried him. She has nieces and nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, grand-grand nieces and nephews, and we all know there is no more giving, loving, caring, nurturing, family-centered, family-rooted, person than Aunt Florence who has never married. Last night, we had a nice chat about that. She said, "Dick, I've not missed anything." I said, "Of course, you haven't because you've given everything." Salomee was a Jewish mother. Out of the Jewish community come wonderful stories about Jewish mothers. Like" How many children does it take to change a light bulb for a Jewish mother?" None. Because she just says, "It's O.K. I'll just sit here in the dark." But Salomee, the mother of the disciples James and John, had ambitions for them. She knew there were twelve disciples, but she thought positions one and two were not too much for her sons. After all, weren't they cousins of Jesus? Wasn't there a little special break here or a privilege? Couldn't she cut to the front of the line? " Oh, Lord when you come into your kingdom may my boys be number one and number two?" she asks. Jesus said, 'That's not mine to give." James and John, or Salomee, wherever the blame might lie, were wrongly ambitious. What she asked for angered the other disciples. The other ten would just as soon have been one or two as well, and so they were really only angry because James and John had an ambassador to make their appeal. The resentment and the anger and the tension within that disciple band is evidence of what happens when human community is not grounded in humility and service. And look at the story of Abraham and Sarah and Hagar. This is the first family of faith, isn't it? Did not God start out with the whole human race and for eleven chapters of Genesis saw the continual failure to live up to the calling, so in the eleventh of Genesis, God says, "I will start over. There will be a resurrection, new life. We'll start with barrenness of Sarah's womb and start something new. We'll start with one family in order, eventually, to reach all families of the earth." Remember the story? Abraham and Sarah go out. “And I'll make your family as many as the stars of the heavens and the sands of the sea.” But Abraham and Sarah were growing older and becoming less confident of the promise of God. And so Sarah, thinking to take things in her own hands, said, "Here take Hagar, © Grand Valley State University �The Communion of Saints–Love, Forgiveness, Freedom Richard A. Rhem Page 5   my slave girl from Egypt and begin the new line with a child from her womb." Which Abraham did. And Hagar conceived. And, now you have a situation so characteristic of the human situation. Hagar, full of Abraham's child, looks at Sarah with contempt. But can't you understand? The slave girl had the chance to look down her nose, just a little bit, at Sarah the barren one. And Sarah, of course, responding in kind, treated Hagar harshly. Hagar flees out into the wilderness. She is ready to die when the angel of the Lord says, "Hagar, rise up. Go back. Submit. I will make of the child you are carrying a great nation." Hagar goes back. She has the child. Abraham says to the Lord, "How about Ishmael. Will Ishmael do?" God says, "No, it's going to be from the seed of you and Sarah." And so eventually, doddering old fool that he was, at a hundred, Sarah at ninety, to them is born Isaac, a name that means laughter. What a joke. Then one day, little Isaac and Ishmael are playing in the back yard. Sarah suddenly thinks, " Ishmael just might cut in on my Isaac's promised blessing." No way. She demands that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham is distressed because he loves Ishmael as he loves Isaac. Do you feel the threat that Sarah felt? Do you sense perhaps that she was retaliating now for the contempt for which Hagar had held earlier? Do you see how fraught and fragile we are, how human relationships so easily sour, how hate creeps in and brokenness becomes the order of the day? In deep distress Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away into the wilderness which, to do so, meant to send them both to their death. But again there is the intervention of the Lord. Hagar has set the child a bit away from her, so as not to watch the child die of thirst and starvation. An angel of the Lord hears the cry of the child and says to Hagar, "Rise up. Hold the child in your arms." Hagar opens the eyes she has closed to shut out the horror of what is happening. She sees a well! And the promise of before is reiterated to her: This child shall become a great nation. (Which, by the way, is the Arabic Nation, it is believed.) What human drama! Aren't we fragile with all of our insecurities, our jealousies, our proud ambitions, our wounded egos, the anger, and the resentment, and the hostilities? Friends, we're talking about the first family of faith! Is it any wonder that the covenant into which God entered with this family and through this family, all of us, is called a covenant of grace? Is there any hope, apart from grace? Is there any community possible apart from miracle? Not with the likes of Salomee, James and John. Not with the likes of Abraham and Sarah. Not with the likes of you and me. I couldn't help but think about it when one of Isaac's children went in with a machine gun and massacred Ishmael's children. Jews and Christians claimed Abraham through Isaac, but the Muslim world claims Abraham through Ishmael. © Grand Valley State University �The Communion of Saints–Love, Forgiveness, Freedom Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I thought to myself, well, what might have happened if, in the first family of faith somehow or other, there could have been more love and forgiveness. What if Sarah could have forgiven Hagar, understanding that within Sarah too were the same kinds of feelings and emotions that caused Hagar to break community? And what if Hagar could have forgiven Sarah and understood her sense of threat and her insecurity? And what if there could have been reconciliation in the first family of faith maybe, what, thirty-five hundred years ago, thirty-five, thirty-seven hundred years ago? We're talking about the dynamics, the brokenness within the family millennia ago that still manifests itself in the horror of the Hebron massacre, when Isaac's child shoots Ishmael's children, and Ishmael's children retaliate by blowing up cars with bombs in the midst of Isaac's children. For some decades our world was poised on the brink of disaster through great ideological confrontation between east and west, and then suddenly that confrontation broke down. There was much rejoicing. And then underneath we see simmering, breaking out now in terrible violence and bloodshed and human pain. Bosnia and Herzegovina, and all the places in the world where there are ancient blood feuds, tribal feuds, and ethnic hostility. Dear God. Do you see what I mean? Human community is not a human possibility. It is the creation of the spirit of God by the grace of God. Is there anything we can do? There is something. I've got to start with me. You've got to start with you. Sounds like a rather meager beginning when you're thinking about a world being torn apart and bleeding. But I've got to start with me. I've got to recognize how my ego gets crushed and what I do in response. I've got to recognize that terrible need within me to be right and repent of it. I've got to recognize my tendency to be right by making you wrong. I've got to recognize that I tend to be loving and giving to you as long as it can be through the patronage of one in the superior position. I've got to recognize my pride, my jealousy, my insecurities that cause me to do the things that I despise, and I have to hear the gospel, that God is love and God loves me. And because God loves me, if it could ever get through to me, I could love. We could love. And God forgives us, and so we can forgive. And in that forgiveness we can find freedom, and we can set others free... In cooperation with the grace of God we can be part of a miracle in the making. What are the things that you ought to be letting go of this morning? What kind of baggage are you hauling around at the great expenditure of energy and emotional strength? What are you harboring? What are you holding onto? What continues to fester? What do you have to let go of? Today, here and now, by the miracle of grace, your life could be changed. That's the promise of the gospel. That's the possibility of the spirit of God. That's the foundation of the communion of the saints. People with all the stuff that we carry, flawed and fragile that we are, will you hear me? God loves you, and in that love we can love one another. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cd7298771f0fdcb7950a30568d642c40.mp3 d781405cd4e81e87b8447c4e43dc6792 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 Mother's Day, Eastertide VI Series Credo: A Series For Eastertide Scripture Text Genesis 21:9, I John 4: 12, 18, Matt. 20: 25-26 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-0-19940508 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-05-08 Title A name given to the resource The Communion of Saints - Love, Forgiveness, and Freedom Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 8, 1994 entitled "The Communion of Saints - Love, Forgiveness, and Freedom", as part of the series "Credo: A Series For Eastertide", on the occasion of Mother's Day, Eastertide VI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 21:9, I John 4: 12, 18, Matt. 20: 25-26. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Eastertide Grace of God Inclusive Mother's Day https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3b64ab8a16240feee7fb442b589eeee1.pdf 42bc2cebb3d5a0d1f45a2aff05742653 PDF Text Text God With a Human Face From the series for Eastertide: Credo Text: John 14:18-20; II Corinthians 4:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide, April 24, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon “I am coming to you... because I live, you too will live; then you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you.” John 14:18-20 “For the same God who said, 'Out of darkness let light shine,' has caused his light to shine within us, to give the light of revelation - the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" II Corinthians 4:6 Every Sunday is Easter Sunday and this Sunday in Eastertide reminds us again that Sunday is always a little Easter and the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lord is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. The hallmark of the Christian faith is "Alleluia." It is Doxology. It is praise. And the mark of a Christian is the posture of worship. It is the spontaneous eruption that comes from the realization that in the end it is not Darkness but Light. It is not sadness but joy. It is not death but life. And so we celebrate on this Sunday in Eastertide the Resurrection of our Lord, his exaltation, and his presence with us in power, in the spirit. Our Lord, in whose face we have seen into the heart of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given to us in his very embodiment a clue as to the nature of God so that Christian faith is faith that God is like Jesus, and that what we see in Jesus is a true reflection of what is in God. In Jesus we do not see all of God, for God is incomprehensible, a mystery beyond our ability even to faintly conceptualize or get our arms or minds around. No, Jesus is not all of God, but what we see in Jesus is true of God. God is like Jesus, and Jesus tells us that God has a human face. Paul said we've seen the light of the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. John's witness was "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." John's testimony to Jesus in the gospel, the fourth gospel, is the most elevated conception of Jesus Christ that we have in the New Testament. © Grand Valley State University   �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Last week I pointed out to you the simplicity of that very understanding. This Jesus whom you crucified, God raised up and has made Lord and Christ. That was probably the very early groping for expression of what had happened in this one, Jesus Christ. But within the New Testament itself there was development. There were different perspectives. The scripture is a very diverse and multifaceted witness to God so that we have in John not the kind of primitive simplicity of that statement in Acts: "This Jesus whom you crucified, God raised up and has made Lord and Christ." In John we have the word made flesh, dwelling among us. Now, as I said last week, no one would ever have thought in that first century to affirm Jesus was fully human. They knew that. They knew that as well as I know you're human and you know I'm human. They didn't have to confess that. But John even with his exalted Christology also is very clear. The word became flesh, human, and dwells among us. Jesus is seen as fully human in John who also gives us the most exalted understanding of Jesus Christ. So often we take paragraphs and isolate them out of their context so I went back and I began to look at the broader context of John's gospel. I saw that in the thirteenth chapter, where the passion story begins, we have Jesus acting out the servanthood role, washing the feet of his disciples. And then he starts to become distressed and concerned and he dismisses Judas. Remember he dismisses Judas. Judas goes out. And then John says, very significantly, "and it was night." Now John wasn't making a statement about the time of day. He was making a statement about the state of the cosmos. It was night. It was dark. It was black. The old conspiracy, the plot is coming now to its culmination, and as Judas leaves that inner band, John says, writing his story, "It was night." And then there's a little deal about Jesus going away and Peter saying, "I want to go with you." And Jesus saying, "You can't." And then we come to that marvelous fourteenth chapter about, "Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me," and so forth, and, "I'm going to prepare a place for you," and, "You know the way.” Thomas says, "We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way?" which is the setup for this classic statement, so familiar, so oft quoted in our Christian understanding, "I am the way. I am the truth. I am the light. No one comes to the Father but by me." And then Philip's dullness, "Just show us the Father," leads to the statement, "If you've seen me, you've seen the father." John couldn't say it any more boldly, with any more exalted conception than that. Jesus: Way, Truth, Life, in a kind of exclusive way, "No one comes to the Father but by me. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." I and you, you and me, we and the Father, this kind of Christ mysticism. There is an indwelling of God in Jesus, and an indwelling of Jesus in us, and us in God and Jesus. And the Easter promise: "Because I live you too shall live. I in you, you in me, we in God." That's John's stuff. © Grand Valley State University �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 3   In the Gospel of John you have it clearly stated that Jesus was human, and with equal clarity and power that God was in that human person. To meet Jesus was to meet God. To hear Jesus was to hear God. To follow Jesus was to follow God's way. Jesus was the embodiment of the eternal God, and in Jesus the eternal God is revealed, or is unveiled, or is laid bare, if you will. There is the embodiment of God. And seeing this one, John says, is seeing God. He says earlier this God is personal, is full of love, is full of grace, with an intention to save the world, having loved the world. All of that he weaves into his gospel. He says, "This God is reached by way of Jesus and in no other way." What you have is John's witness that we have access to God through Jesus. Sometimes I want to water John down. One of the temptations when you're in my business is to try to get around letting somebody say what they really want to say. Sometimes I'd like to water John down a little bit because, though I think that he made a magnificent witness to the revelation of God in Jesus, I think that in his exuberance he claims an exclusivity with which I'd want to argue. The Jesus of John is a Jesus you have to love. And the God that you see in that Jesus is a God that you love, a God you can trust, and that you would want to follow. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one comes to the Father but by me." I can understand that, I can affirm that. Jesus was the Way. You want God, you want this conception of God as personal, as Father, as caring parent, then Jesus is the Way to such a God. Jesus, in his life and in his teaching is true. He is the truth, and he is the life. He came to give us life, and he offers us life, and in the emulation of his life there is life, and it is in this Way, and in this Truth, and in this life that I come into relationship with God, the God I see in Jesus. That's the God I want. That's the God I love and the God I want to serve and follow. Now why do I like that God? Well, maybe I've just been brainwashed, you know, warped from the womb. It's true. So what? That's God for me, the God I see in Jesus, this God full of grace, this God who is represented in the Father, in the story of the prodigal son, this God who reaches out, who embraces, this God, who's personal, this God who is full of grace, that's the God I see in Jesus. That's the God I want. Maybe it is God's spirit in me that makes me want that. It's not the fact that I want it therefore I create it. I have experienced that God through Jesus Christ in the community of Jesus' people, in the Christian Church, in the Christian tradition. I have come to understand a God who is love, a God who is a depth and an abyss of mercy, a God full of compassion. That's God. I want to serve that God. I want to worship that God. I call you and invite you to join me in the praise and worship, in the service of that God. John can't say too much. John cannot lift that God represented in Jesus too high for me. The only thing I realize is that, in a context of that first century where the Jesus movement was necessarily trying to gain a separate identity, developing an © Grand Valley State University �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 4   over-againstness, that if I read John's gospel and am not sensitive to that context I could become an anti-Semite. I could get caught up with anti-Semitism because the Jews don't come off very well in John's gospel. Now we can understand that. If you want to have a good, honest, authentic, understanding of Martin Luther, don't go the archives in the Vatican. And if you want to have a fair evaluation of the Pope in the sixteenth century, at the time of the Reformation, don't read the writings of Luther. You get my point? The gospels do not give us a balanced, unbiased, fair portrait of first century Judaism, of Pharisaism. If I'm not sensitive in my reading of John's gospel, I could get a very negative feeling. It has caused that over the centuries. The Christian church simply has to acknowledge that we have a horrid record of antiSemitism. We have called the Jews God crucifiers, God killers. There has been a terrible record because there has not been a sensitivity to see that what was happening there was a natural sort of over-againstness, adversarial spirit. So must I read it with some sensitivity. Now I live in a world that is no longer separated by mountain ranges and by continents and oceans. I live in a world now that is like the size of a grapefruit where there is instant communication. I live in a world now where there are world religions of which mine is one. And now I say, "Could I water John down a little bit so that we could level things off a little bit and make some room for somebody else?" No, that's not the way to do it. Let me hear John. And when I hear John I say, "Go for it John." That's exactly my experience. That's my Jesus, and that's the God I see in Jesus. The only thing I'm going to argue with you about, John, is if you meant “no one comes to the Father except by me" in an exclusivistic sense as though anybody that didn't come in this avenue of Jesus was lost in darkness forever. Then I'm going to argue with you. I'm not going to take that from you, John. I'm going to say that, in the exuberance of that context in the first century with all of your conviction that Jesus was the final word, the last word, the full revelation, the authentic revelation, you claimed exclusivity too. You kicked off a movement that has become a worldwide magnificent movement, with this downside: its exclusivism had not made room for the authentic spiritual experience of others. It has not given room to the freedom of God, the possibility of reaching a world other than through the channels of the institutional Christian church. It has been a source of arrogance, of self-righteousness, of superiority, and it is time the Christian church simply faced up to that. Now hear me again. John doesn't say anything that I do not affirm. John doesn't tell me anything about Jesus that does not cause me to say "Alleluia." He doesn't show me anything about God in the face of Jesus that does not cause me to bow down, and to worship, and to adore. But why do I have to go beyond that and say © Grand Valley State University �God With a Human Face Richard A. Rhem Page 5   not only this is true, but it's the only thing that's true? Why do I have to say this gives me joy, and at the same time deny the source of someone else's joy? No I'm not going to water down John. I'm going to hear him. I'm going to hear that testimony and I'm going to say, Yes, that's the way I see it too, in terms of that Way, that Life, that Truth. Ah, yes, that can draw from me worship and adoration. That deserves my life, my soul, my all. Then I'm going to enter into dialogue and into relationships bearing my testimony, pointing to the God that my Jesus points to. Someone has said that our forebears sent missionaries into the world because they could not conceive of how men could die without Christ. I would say we would send missionaries into all the world because if we really got the story and the message, we would not be able to conceive of how people could live without Christ. It is not a matter of a secret door into heaven; it is the possibility of a fully human existence. It is the possibility of life in all of the richness that was embodied in Jesus, who lived totally committed to the eternal God, creator of heaven and earth, lover of the world. This God brought just this, tangibly. If you go into an Eastern Orthodox congregation you'll find them praying, and kneeling, genuflecting before an icon painted in gold and all different colors. I was raised to think that was some kind of idolatry. Well frankly that's not right. That icon, if you were raised in an Eastern Orthodox condition, if you were a good Greek, that icon becomes a focus that points beyond itself. It is a way of spirituality. If you were raised in the Roman Catholic Church there are certain rituals, certain sacramental acts, statuary, the whole Marian development, Maryology. All that is nothing more than our human need to have something that we can get hold of that can move us, through itself, to the invisible God, the incomprehensible One. I suppose that's why we've been so heavy on this book because, again, we needed something that can rein in our thoughts, and focus us, and give us a picture, something tangible. My God has a human face. He's like Jesus. I love God, and I'll serve God to my dying breath. I'll not water down John's gospel pronouncement. But I'll reserve the right to disagree, to believe that God is all John says—and maybe even more. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/188280855671b43b71021d5d095fdb5a.mp3 ac2be195f09e1941fec69434c0c60761 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide IV Series Credo: A Series For Eastertide Scripture Text John 14: 18-20, II Corinthians 4:6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19940424 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-04-24 Title A name given to the resource God With A Human Face Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 24, 1994 entitled "God With A Human Face", as part of the series "Credo: A Series For Eastertide", on the occasion of Eastertide IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 14: 18-20, II Corinthians 4:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Eastertide Grace Nature of God Resuretion Spirit Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b60c18b4fd73062347a2b9b542453598.pdf 1261aae62c595ab5d4f02dae52eccc36 PDF Text Text Jesus in a Reverse Angle Lens From Credo: A Series For Eastertide Text: Acts 2:32, 36; Mark 10:18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide, April 17, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon This Jesus, God raised up..." Acts 2:32 "... God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." Acts 2:36 "Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good?' No one is good but God alone." Mark 10:18   "Credo," "I believe." It is a Latin word, which takes to itself its subject and gives expression to the experience of faith, faith not in a proposition or even a person, but rather faith as trust in someone. That is the nature of faith as it has come to expression in the Christian tradition, as it has been experienced in the Christian tradition, I believe. Last week I tried to distinguish between a set of beliefs, such as we have in a creedal formulation, and the experience of faith. I felt that many of you said, "yes" to what was said last week and felt that distinction was meaningful. While the content of our faith is not unimportant, for it is that upon which we reflect and it gives us that which we can teach and pass along, what we really long for is the experience of faith. This week I picked up a little volume by a New Testament scholar whom I have mentioned from time to time. His name is Marcus Borg. He is a part of the Jesus Seminar, which is getting so much publicity these days in news reports, magazines, and newspapers. Borg had written an earlier book, Jesus, A New Vision, which was very helpful to me and to some of our thinking a year or two ago during the Eastertide season or Lenten season. But in this more recent book entitled Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time, he tells his own spiritual autobiography. It is often easier to get our heads around a story than it is a series of propositions, and Marcus Borg tells about his own story growing up in the church in the Midwest, a good Lutheran boy. He speaks of the hymns, Sunday school, all of those things. Then adolescence, some doubts, college, and a little time off from church. But then seminary, and the critical studies of the gospel. In © Grand Valley State University   �Jesus in a Reverse Angle Lens Richard A. Rhem Page 2   those studies comes the recognition that the gospels did not simply give us a news journalist's account of Jesus. They didn't give us a photograph; rather they gave us a portrait, or in his word," a sketch," of Jesus. Borg came to see that the gospels were faith documents. They were theological documents, which not only remembered the historical Jesus but also reflected upon the transformation of the community's understanding of Jesus after Easter. That experience of the Christian community after Easter was the transforming experience where the crucified one was experienced as living. That experience of the crucified one living caused them to look back on the life they remembered, and the life they remembered became colored through the experience of Easter. His account of his own history is preferred when he was asked by an Episcopal men's Bible study group to talk to them about Jesus and the word was "make it personal". Sounds like what some of you might say to me when you say, preach to me and make it personal. Borg tells about making a little note to himself," me and Jesus". It causes him to reflect on his own pilgrimage. The thing he began to see is that there was a moment in his life when he moved out of faith, as it were. There was a time when he intellectually could not believe anymore even though he kept studying all the stuff. But then there was a time in his life when he came to a kind of spiritual experience, a mystical experience almost, a sense of awe, of wonder – the kind of spiritual experience that is described by not only Christian people, but Jewish people, and really crossculturally, and even across the generations. The kind of "aha" moment, when it is as though the heavens open and one is encountered by, well let us say, God. After that experience, that encounter, that kind of mystical experience, he returned to his study of the gospels and he began to see a new image of Jesus. What he had learned to that point in his critical studies of the gospels, the things that we talk about here all the time, the fact that there was a pre-Easter Jesus, that very human individual who lived and walked and ate with his disciples and talked to multitudes, and a very concrete, historical person, the Jesus that the church remembered the Jesus that is spoken about in the gospels. But he had come to see also that post-Easter Jesus or the Christ of faith, the Jesus who, after Easter, in the reflection of the community, took on more and more awesome character – a process after Easter that moved this Nazarine Jew, Jesus, through the lens of Easter into Jesus Christ. This Jesus, eventually in the fourth century, is spoken of as true God, true man, of one nature with God. This post-Easter process eventuated in the understanding of the Trinitarian God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Borg’s new image of Jesus was a man who was filled with the spirit, who was a bearer of the spirit, a mediator of the spirit, one of those persons who seems so transparent to God that his very being and presence seems to radiate God, God's Spirit. © Grand Valley State University �Jesus in a Reverse Angle Lens Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Marcus Borg, who had believed naively in the Jesus of, "Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so,” Marcus Borg, who had gone through the critical fires of examinations, scholarly study and had been impressed with Jesus as a social, political figure but who couldn't do anything with all of the Jesus/God talk, suddenly through his own spiritual experience came to see Jesus as a person who was a bearer of the spirit, a spirit person, as he says. And as he speaks about Jesus at this point in his scholarly and professional life, it's obvious that there's another layer. This man has also encountered Jesus as the One who is the bearer of the spirit of God and who points to God, God who is spirit. I tell you that story because it's rather interesting to me that last week we spoke about that distinction between having a set of beliefs, and the experience of belief; then I come across this Jesus Seminar scholar who likewise has all of the scholarly understanding of the critical study of the gospel, but now points also to an experience, an awakening, a new awareness, and sees Jesus as one of those people who was filled with God's spirit and mediated God's spirit, to those who followed him, and who continued to be present to them. And that, Borg says, is what Easter is all about. Easter is about the fact that the One who is crucified was found by his followers yet to be with them, still to be powerfully with them, or as Dominic Crossan says: (I don't know if this is true or not but it makes a lot of sense to me.) You know there were followers of the kingdom movement, followers of Jesus up in Galilee who didn't know what happened down in Jerusalem. I mean you take the transportation, the communications, and that kind of thing – it wasn't like you could tune into CNN and find out that at three o'clock in the afternoon Jesus of Nazarus was crucified outside of the city. Crossan said, No, these followers of the Jesus movement were talking about Jesus, and God, and doing the miracles, and the healings, and all of these things. The movement was still moving. And suddenly they realized when someone came up north and told them, "Jesus is dead." "Well, when did he die?" "A month ago." Oh, no, they respond. It can't be, because nothing happened on that day. We kept on moving. The movement kept moving. Jesus the power, the spirit, everything is the same. It didn't end. And Dominic Crossan said Easter, was simply the realization of Jesus' followers that he could not be dead but must somehow be present with them. Because the very same spiritual power and presence of God that he seemed to mediate in his life was still being mediated to them. They knew Jesus, they knew spirit, they knew God in the same way they had known and experienced God and Spirit when they were breaking bread with Jesus in the flesh. "So what!" you say to me. Well, I'll just tell you how it helps me, It helps me to make some sense of the gospels themselves. In the gospels, just take the gospel according to Mark for example, three specific times Jesus says to his disciples, he was going to go to Jerusalem, he was going to die, and was going to rise on the third day. I think there are three times in the gospel of Mark where it says that. © Grand Valley State University �Jesus in a Reverse Angle Lens Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Well you read that and you say, "Well, obviously Jesus was God, Jesus knew everything, Jesus knew what was going to happen." Now you come to Gethsemane, and there you have Jesus pleading with God to take the cup from him. And then you go to the cross and you have Jesus saying, "My God, My God, Why?" And you have the disciples full of fear, hightailing it for Galilee. Now I mean, they may have been dull, but can you tell me if this impressive teacher sat you down on three different occasions and said to you, "Look, we're going to Jerusalem. I'm going to die. I'm going to rise again the third day", would you have been acting as though what happened was devastating and made no sense to you? You see, those kinds of things cause those who really study in depth to say, "Something doesn't fit." Or for example, the text of the morning: A young ruler comes to Jesus and he says, "What must I do to have eternal life, good Master?" Jesus said, "Why do you call me good?" Now it might seem Jesus was calling him up short saying, "Come on, get off it, get real." But as a matter of fact Jesus is really saying "There's only one good and that is God." I hear that as saying Jesus distanced himself from God in his human nature and his human consciousness. I think it clearly means Jesus never presumed to be God. "Good Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good? There is only one good, that's God." How does such a saying still remain in Mark? Matthew's got a story, Mark a story, Luke a story, John a story, and sometimes there's some stuff that was so much a part of the tradition that it got into the written record even though it really seems to be at war with some other things that were in the written record. Now Mark is the earliest gospel written, we believe. And so he is probably recording close to the actual words just like it was there. Only one is good, that's God. But that created a real problem for Matthew. Matthew's dependent upon Mark's written record and he's got the same story. But listen to Matthew's version, written after Mark. In Matthew, someone came to Jesus and said, 'Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good?" No problem in Matthew's gospel. The guy says, "What good thing must I do?" Jesus said, "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Now the original story in Mark is Jesus saying, "Why do you call me good, God is good." Matthew doesn't want to communicate that. Now here Matthew garbles Mark's story because Matthew knows that that little story is going to cause some confusion. Someone's going to say, "what do you mean?" Jesus, Son of God saying here only one is good, that is God. We have to face honestly what is happening here. © Grand Valley State University �Jesus in a Reverse Angle Lens Richard A. Rhem Page 5   When I really study these things, there is all kinds of stuff like that. So when I see someone like Borg working through, distinguishing between the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Jesus and acknowledging or understanding that through the event of Easter, the pre-Easter Jesus took on a different coloring, that helps me. Now I can understand. I can see the process. Example: In the book of Acts, on the day of Pentecost (that we read a moment ago), Peter's sermon concludes with the thirty-sixth verse: “Therefore, let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God is made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” God has made this crucified Jesus Lord and Christ or Messiah. It would seem that through the crucifixion and the resurrection Jesus became by God's designation, Lord,(the honoristic title of the Hellenistic Greek world) and Christ, the one the Jews were looking for. But if you go to the next chapter, the New Testament scholar, J.AT. Robinson, points out that after the healing of the lame man at the temple, Peter's speech there seems to reflect a little different conception. In the third chapter, the nineteenth verse: “Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send the Messiah, appointed for you. That is Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through the holy prophets.” Here it would seem that Jesus has been appointed by God to be the Messiah but he has not yet come as the Messiah. He cannot come as Messiah until Israel repents. And so the call, the appeal, here in this speech of Peter is repent. If you'll repent this Jesus whom God has appointed Christ will come and there will be the universal restoration of all things. There will be Shalom on earth. Well, why wouldn't that be a natural kind of understanding? That's probably reflective of what they sensed from Jesus himself. Jesus didn't go around spouting the fact that he was the Messiah. Jesus was preparing the way for the coming of the Kingdom of God, which he believed, along with all of his contemporaries, was just around the comer. Now I say it helps me to make sense of this stuff. I can see the process at work. I can see that they were struggling as much then as I struggle now to make sense of all this business. And so what I see as I approach the story of Jesus after Easter is that I have in the New Testament a memory of the historical Jesus, the Nazarene, the man reflected through the lens of Easter. I call the sermon, "Jesus In A Reverse Angle Lens." It's the wrong season. It should be pro-football season, particularly when they do the instant replay. I don't know the technology of a reverse angle lens but you know how it goes. The quarterback throws the ball and the tight end goes down, and he catches the ball, and his foot comes down. Is it on the line, or over the line? Are both feet in or only one? In the replay they're able to show the ball caught. And then you see the © Grand Valley State University �Jesus in a Reverse Angle Lens Richard A. Rhem Page 6   ball going back, eventually, to the quarterback whose arm starts here and eventually goes back here. And if you follow the reverse angle long enough you get to where he's taking the ball from the center. I don't understand that technology but it is looking at the end event and trying to understand it by going back and watching the process. Now that's what we have in the gospel records of Jesus. There is a memory of the historical Jesus plus the experience of the postEaster community of the presence of the risen Christ. Finally, what difference does that make? That enables me still to believe in Jesus. I can see him now as my brother who was filled with the Spirit of God, who was a bearer of the Spirit, who was so potently the bearer of the Spirit that those who met him experienced God. And following his death they continued to experience him alive as the bearer of God to them. Therefore, they began to speak of him with grand titles and to exalt him higher, and higher, and higher, into the whole creedal tradition of the church. As a matter of fact, he was God's man in whose face I see God and meet the Spirit. I was thinking about the day last Tuesday in Muskegon where Rabbi Hartman and Martin Marty dialogued for the day about "Religion That Heals, and Religion That Kills". If you are with David Hartman, the Jewish rabbi for long, you know you are with a man in whom the Spirit dwells. It struck me that when the rich young ruler came to Jesus to say, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" what Jesus told him is exactly what Hartman would tell someone today, "Keep the Torah." Jesus was a good Jewish Rabbi, in whom God's spirit was so regnant that those who met him knew that they were in the presence of God. The whole creedal tradition of the church is trying to say precisely that, and if you dare come back one more week, I will approach that high Christology of John's gospel, which was John's attempt to say simply that in the human existence of this man God was present, and this man said the God that was present in him was available to us all. Jesus was a Spirit person and the New Testament is the consequence of those who encountered God as spirit in Jesus, giving witness to the fact that there was life in his name, that God is available to us as Spirit. Thank God for that. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ba9e0b525f9648e7edee115e66420a53.mp3 c5a1126020ddde8d21cec0d990163592 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 Credo: A Series For Eastertide Scripture Text Acts 2:32, 36, Mark 10: 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-0-19940417 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-04-17 Title A name given to the resource Jesus in A Reverse Angle Lens Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 17, 1994 entitled "Jesus in A Reverse Angle Lens", as part of the series "Credo: A Series For Eastertide", on the occasion of Eastertide III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 2:32, 36, Mark 10: 18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Eastertide Historical Jesus Presence of God Spirit Trinitarian Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b1bf5f126c11e3592b6b92e2890d14f9.pdf a81d611d739cd5c2c7648a2ad9794c60 PDF Text Text Credo: I Believe Text: Acts 17:24; John 14:1,9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide II, April 10, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon Credo, that is a Latin word and in the Latin the verb takes its subject to itself. Credo means “I believe.” Not, I believe something. Or not even, I believe someone, but I believe in someone. That’s the sense of that word as it has come down to us in the Christian tradition. It is that personal affirmation of faith in God, which in our Christian tradition is the consequence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. If you read the Gospels, the story of Jesus’ life, the experience of the disciples with Jesus, it must be very obvious that if it had not been for the resurrection we would not have heard anything of Jesus. They didn’t understand. They were dull of understanding, dull of mind and heart. Jesus, certainly for them, was a remarkable teacher, a rabbi. But they scattered at the point of his death. He was abandoned, not only by God, but by those who followed him to that point. It was only in the wake of Easter, it was only in the encounter with the Living Lord, that the Jesus movement took flight. And the flame of faith spread through that ancient world and has come down to us these nearly two thousand years later. People have been able to say, Credo, I believe in God, because they have been encountered by the risen Christ in the Spirit, the sign of the presence and the grace and the love of God that upholds all things, and embraces us in that love and grace. Credo, I believe. It is a statement of faith. It is a statement of faith as experience, faith more than intellectual assent. More than conceptual understanding, it is experience. It is the encounter with that One beyond ourselves who overwhelms, who encounters us in grace, who reaches us, leaving us stammering and stumbling to give expression to what happened. Faith is the consequence of an encounter with the reality of God, with the reality of Love, with the reality of Grace. Faith is the transformation of a person through an experience with that which is beyond the person and which the person is never able to get his or her arms around, or head around, never able to give adequate expression to. Faith in that sense is that deep life-changing, life-transforming experience that is the result of meeting God. Faith. Credo. I believe. Let me distinguish that from a set of beliefs. I want this Eastertide season to make some reference to the Apostle’s Creed. The Apostle’s © Grand Valley State University   �Credo: I Believe Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Creed in its final form, coming from maybe the fifth century is perhaps the most familiar and the best loved of the Christian creedal statements. I am not going to give a careful exposition of every exposition of that creed. It is a valuable tool. I want to distinguish the faith about which I just spoke from the knowledge of that creed, because the faith of which I would speak this morning and to which I would invite you is more than a set of beliefs. A set of beliefs is the consequence of the experience to which I point. The experience of faith—the experience of God—is that which causes us then to step back and to reflect on the experience and out of that reflection on experience comes a set of beliefs. Our creeds are the condensation of the articulation of what happened in the experience, even though the experience itself is beyond articulation. God’s inexpressible gift, Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord encountering us leaves us speechless, but not for long. We will soon be trying to give some kind of witness to that experience as we always do. But a set of beliefs, as important as they may be, are not the same as the experience of faith. Do you hear me? Do you recognize that we might, all of us might witness to the experience of God and come up with a variety of sets of beliefs? Do you see that the experience of God is such that it cannot be reduced to a set of statements? A set of beliefs, a creed, that is inevitable and is necessary. It will always happen, but it is always a step removed from the experience. It is always after the fact, and it is always an inadequate expression of the thing to which it points. In fact, when a movement begins to write creeds, the faith is dampened and the vision is dimmed. You don’t write creeds in the midst of the fire of experience. You don’t define your faith when it is simply so overwhelming that it permeates every pore of your being and flows out of you in every word you speak. It is only later when the fires of faith have dampened and the vision of faith is dimmed that we try to give some expression to this and we come up with our creeds and our sets of beliefs. It is important to do that because somehow or other we have to say something, and it is important to do that because we have to have something to tell our children. We pass on the faith. There is a certain content of faith out of the experience we need to pass on, and if we are going to pass it on we have to do it in some kind of reasonable fashion so we write creeds and confessions. But, it is always a sign of the deterioration of faith and the dimming of vision, and it is always a sign that a movement has become an institution. How unfortunate that a movement has to become an institution. A movement of the Spirit cannot stay a movement of Spirit because Spirit seeks form, and Spirit will come to institutional form and become articulated in structures and creedal statements. But, do you see that that is a degeneration? Do you see that that is a movement away from the fresh experience of faith? The experience that draws out of one Credo. I believe. Ah, it’s necessary. It is inevitable. But now hear this too. Our creedal statements are negotiable. They are all historically conditioned. You show me a creed out of the two thousand year © Grand Valley State University �Credo: I Believe Richard A. Rhem Page 3   history of the church and I’ll tell you when it was written, because it will have been shaped by a certain historical context and determined by a certain cultural understanding, because it will be a human expression of the inexpressible and it will take the stamp of the moment of its arising. It is relative, it is historically conditioned, it can never be absolutized. It must always be provisional and should always be open-ended. Do you see, the experience of faith is not something that I will argue about, or debate about sets of beliefs. My goodness, the history of the Church is replete with theological discussion and debate and division over sets of beliefs. Sets of beliefs arise when faith is dampened and vision is dimmed. They are a necessary and unfortunate consequence of the experience. The experience is one thing, and in reflection on experience we write creeds. We may start the creed, Credo. I believe in God the Father Almighty , but that statement in itself is a pale shadow of the reality of the experience of the Living God. Paul, for example, believed from his youth up. He was trained in the rabbinical school. He was a devout and zealous follower of Israel. Then he met Jesus and his life was transformed, and he became open to something entirely different. There was new insight, new understanding, new faith vision. Paul was a changed person. He didn’t find a new God; He was still the God of Israel, but now the God of Israel he had met in the intimacy of encounter through Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord. And he went everywhere babbling this Good News. He came to Athens and talked about the God of Israel who was the Creator God, the only God. And he acknowledged that even the idolatry of the Athenian and Greek religion was an idolatry that, nevertheless, pointed beyond itself to this one God. Even the religion of Athens, with all of the idols and statues that provoked and disgusted him, nonetheless spoke to him of that religious yearning within the human heart for the one God. And he acknowledged, as some of the Greek poets had said, that God is God alone in whom we live and move and have our being. We are God’s offspring, said Paul. So in building bridges through that Greek religion, he pointed to the one true God, the God of Israel, the God of his fathers and mothers, the God who had encountered him through Jesus Christ and changed his life. Well, I know that it’s a good trick of preachers to point to someone like Paul and then say, “Go thou and do likewise,” or make you feel a little inadequate because you don’t have a Pauline experience. But, how about something a little more modest? Listen to this statement by a contemporary saint. “I don’t know who or what put the question. I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at that moment I did answer, ‘Yes’ to someone or something. From that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life in self-surrender has had a goal.” That’s from Markings by Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary General of the United Nations, now dead, but a beautiful statement. Modest. “…someone or something. © Grand Valley State University �Credo: I Believe Richard A. Rhem Page 4   . . .” just when or where or how I don’t know, except I know that from me was drawn a “Yes,” and from that moment my life has been life in self-surrender with meaning because in that moment I was convinced that existence is meaningful. Jesus was that kind of person. Marcus Borg, in his latest book Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time, talks about Jesus as a Spirit person, and says that, rather than being an article of belief, God becomes an experiential reality. You see, instead of God being an article of belief, God becomes an experiential reality. Creeds are necessary and they are important. They represent a dampening of faith and a dimming of vision. They are an unfortunate necessity, an inevitability. But, the downside of creeds is that they can become a substitute for the real thing. George Gallup will tell us that some 90+% of the population believe in God. Believe in God, as an article, as a belief. But, what about an experiential reality? Borg goes on to say that Jewish tradition in which Jesus stood speaks of persons who know God, “know” God. The Hebrew word for “know” is the same word used for sexual intercourse. God can be known in that direct and intimate way, not merely believed in. The experience of spirit persons in general, and of Jesus in particular, suggests that God is not to be thought of as a remote and transcendent Creator, far removed from his world, but imaged as all around us, as the one in whom we live and move and have our being as the Book of Acts puts it in words attributed to St. Paul. Within this framework, the pre-Easter Jesus becomes the powerful testimony to the reality and the knowability of God. That’s what they experienced when they were encountered by the Risen Christ. They came to know God in experience. They had never probably had a day in their life when they doubted the existence of God, but faith as experience is something other than a set of beliefs, as inevitable as those are. Ah, but don’t you see, don’t you see then, that faith means something other than a set of beliefs, makes those beliefs in themselves relative, negotiable, and that the thing that we need to strive for, open our lives to, is that experience of faith beyond all of the trappings of the institution. I get concerned about how much weight we place on our sets of beliefs. They are not absolute. They are not final. They are not to be held up as means by which people can determine whether they are in or out. Sets of beliefs, creeds, special statements— dear friends, they aren’t important. They can be instruments. They can prepare us for the experience. But it is, after all, the experience. It is the Living God, so that life is transformed. That’s the thing for which we must be yearning and striving. You say, “How do I get it?” I don’t know! I can’t do it for you. The Psalmist said, “Be still and know that I am God.” The mystics of all generations have spoken about awareness. Being still long enough to be aware of this moment, of myself, of my body, of my breathing in, of my breathing out, of the sunshine, of the budding tree, of the tulip pressing upward, of springtime, of sunset, of loving © Grand Valley State University �Credo: I Believe Richard A. Rhem Page 5   relationships, pausing long enough to become aware. Another word that is often used is attention. Good grief, we get in a treadmill existence, we grind on our way, we go lickety split. Do we ever stop long enough? Someone has said you have to actually shut down the brain —shut down the brain. Because, you know what? God isn’t available to the brain. God is not for intellectual pursuit. I should say that? (Laughter) I mean, it’s causing me great despair now. It’s the culmination of my great career. Everything I’ve tried to do all my life, to no avail. You can’t do it that way. I talk to you about the experience of God, doing it reasonably, doing it rationally. I can’t lead you into that experience because you can’t think your way into God. In fact, it helps if you stop thinking for a moment and let the mind be infiltrated, and let one’s being be encountered and embraced and submerged in the God who is closer than our breath, the God in whom we live and move and have our being. If we only had eyes to see that faith vision, that to which I point you this morning, not to make you feel guilty if you haven’t had it like Paul, or even if you haven’t had it like Hammarskjöld. God embraces you in grace whether you’ve had it or not. I give you the invitation to open your life to what could be transforming and wonderful. During the Lenten pilgrimage I twice brought to this stool Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, and I got a call yesterday that there was going to be a special on Dietrich Bonhoeffer last night. It was wonderful! Union Seminary is establishing a chair in theology in his name and yesterday marked fifty years since he was hung by the Gestapo. There was this marvelous concert with instrumentalists from around the world, from leading orchestras from around the world, over one hundred sixty pieces in Riverside Church in New York City, with narration by Bill Moyers telling the story of Bonhoeffer’s life and reading from his writing. Some of the reading I have read here to you. Powerful! Starting out with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, moving into Schomberg’s Survival of the Warsaw Ghetto, telling the story then of Bonhoeffer’s martyrdom with the orchestra and chorus breaking out into Brahm’s German Requiem, “How lovely are Thy Dwelling Places, O Lord God of hosts,” Bonhoeffer living his faith, and the Brahm’s Requiem giving witness to the conviction that there was life after life so that the praise of God here issues in the praise of God there. The director of the orchestra, Christof VanDallier, the son of Hans VanDallier, the brother-in-law of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, killed for his faith. The son of a martyr, Bonhoeffer being his uncle, leading this great orchestra in “How Lovely Are They Dwelling Places, O Lord God of Hosts,” as a witness to the conviction that his life could be ended, but it could not be ended and the truth and the cause for which he lived and gave his life goes on. You see, faith as experience leads us back into life. Playing in the orchestra was a man named Bethke. Everard Bethke was the biographer of Bonhoeffer and his closest friend. Bethke’s son was godson to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. On the day of his © Grand Valley State University �Credo: I Believe Richard A. Rhem Page 6   baptism, Bonhoeffer wrote him a letter telling him of the dark days through which he was living and how he was praying that there would be brighter days when this child, this infant at the baptismal font, could once again plan his life. But Bonhoeffer saying to his godson, from prison in jeopardy of his life, “I would choose to live this time.” You see, faith as experience enables you to go through hell. Faith as experience. The Psalmist said, “The Lord is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Faith as experience. Don ‘t worry about dotting i’s and crossing t’s, creeds come and go, but the experience of God, the Living God, if you have that the rest doesn’t matter. And if you don’t have that, the rest won’t help you. I don’t know what more to say except, let us be open . . .God, God, come to us . . . . come to us. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7fb615bf97ac6f65dcdb10414121981c.mp3 498db72e2bd5ed6da711192cf5e7d3ff 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 Credo: A Series for Eastertide Scripture Text Acts 17:24, John 14:1, 9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19940410 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-04-10 Title A name given to the resource I Believe Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 10, 1994 entitled "I Believe", as part of the series "Credo: A Series for Eastertide", on the occasion of Eastertide II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 17:24, John 14:1, 9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Eastertide Experience of Faith Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a3894faefaa41d2b7454989d2bf740d4.pdf 4a3faedb739404c4559afe13101d7b09 PDF Text Text Embraced By the Light Easter Sunday Text: I Corinthians 15:54, 57; Psalms 116:8; Mark 16:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 3, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon It’s good to celebrate the resurrection. This is not really a day for preaching. It’s a day for witnessing to a wonderful truth. It’s a day for praising and praying and singing and dancing. And the service is laced with all of that, and eventually we will come to receive the tangible sign of God’s everlasting love as we take bread and cup: an invitation to you to come to this table, for the Lord is risen, He is risen indeed. And we celebrate in bread and cup that ongoing life of Christ that is ours. This is a day in which we celebrate the fact that we now and forever are Embraced By The Light. The title of the message was intended to hook you if you had been aware of this book Embraced By The Light, by Betty J. Eadie. This book has sold in the thousands and, when I realized that it had become a phenomena in our day, I thought, what better to do on Easter than simply to celebrate what is celebrated in this book—the story of a near death experience and eternity being packed into those few moments in which insights were learned and intuitions were satisfied and fulfilled as Betty Eadie testifies to her grand tour of heaven, her encounter with Jesus Christ, even her encounter with God. Well, Embraced By The Light happens to be a phenomena in our day. The other day I got an article, which Nancy cut out for me. It was from the Detroit Free Press of a couple weeks ago entitled, “Spiritual Books Touch Many Readers”. She knew that I was going to refer to that book, and this article speaks about that book and Where Angels Walk and The Celestine Prophecy, and it goes on to describe what has got to be a trend and probably a fad of rather large proportions in our day of people who are witnessing to the fact that there is something deep down in us that wants to know what lies beyond, whether there is something more, or whether this is all there is. In last Sunday’s New York Times book review, as I opened up to the back, I recognized that in terms of the hard cover books that are out there, there is a fiction book The Celestine Prophecy, about an ancient manuscript found in Peru that provides insight into achieving a fulfilling life. That’s a novel. It’s number two in the fiction column. But in the non-fiction column, number three is How We Die, a physician and surgeon reflecting on life’s © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University   �Embraced by the Light Richard A. Rhem Page 2   final chapter. Number one is Embraced By The Light. Forty-six weeks on the list. Then, once the hard covers are out and you go to the paperbacks, some books just keep selling. Here in the paperback best seller’s non-fiction is number one: Care of the Soul, by Thomas Moore, whose latest book is on the other list number four or five, Soul Mates . Number two, The Road Less Traveled, by Scott Peck with which many of you are familiar, 542 weeks on the best seller list. How would you like the royalties on that one? Number four, Where Angels Walk, by Joan Wester-Anderson, stories about angelic interventions in human affairs. Now folks, this is not The Christian Century or Christianity Today, this is The New York Times Book Review list, and it evidences to the fact that there is a widespread yearning in the human heart to pierce the veil and to determine an answer to that primal question within us. Is this all there is? Or, is there something more? There is a whole world out there beyond the parameters of the organized church and institutional religion, people who perhaps long since have given up on religion per se, but who cannot finally deny that question that in our day has erupted again with a fury. What lies beyond the veil? Is there something more? Or, is this all there is? I began to look at that literature again; some of it I’ve had around for a long time. It was 1970 when Elizabeth Kiebler-Ross the Swiss psychiatrist wrote her book on death and dying, the consequence of interviewing terminally ill patients to see the stages through which they went as they came to terms with the fact that they would die. It was 1975 when another psychiatrist Raymond Moody wrote the book Life After Life , documenting 150 cases of near death experiences, these out of the body experiences, as Embraced By The Light tells Mary Eadie’s experience. Then, I remembered that in 1983 at the University of Michigan I had listened to the Catholic theologian, Hans Küng talk about “Eternal life?”—question mark— with all of these questions: death?, and hell?, and heaven?, purgatory and judgment?, etc. He begins with this near death experience and he examines that and he’s writing an account from somewhere and it sounds a little bit like it could have come out of Embraced By The Light , and I’m thinking where is Küng getting this story, only to find, as I concluded the paragraphs that recount this experience, that it was written by none other than the Greek philosopher Plato, twenty-five hundred years ago in Book X of The Republic. As Küng points out, you can document this from Indian philosophy and in religious writings from ancient Egypt across the world, across the generations, universally—there is this question. Is this all there is? Or is there something more? Well, Easter is the day in which in the Christian church we bear witness to our conviction that this is not all there is. But, rather, that the best is yet to be. On the dawn of Easter morning when Christ arose, he became for us a light that illumines our life backwards and forwards. And the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the heart of the Christian Gospel. We worship not only on Easter morning but every first day of the week in celebration of that event. Every Sunday is a little © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Embraced by the Light Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Easter. It is the very heart and center of the Christian message. In Mark’s account simply, “He is not here. He is risen.” St. Paul says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I don’t know whether the Psalmist had a near death experience or not. I am sure they didn’t call it ‘clinically dead’ at that time, but he speaks about being “enwrapped in the snares of the hades, of Sheol . . . the pangs of hell that hold upon me,” he says. And then he praises God and says, “You have saved my eyes from tears. My soul from death. My feet from falling.” So the Psalm is a Psalm of praise in which he begins, “I love the Lord.” Well, who loves the Lord? The person who has been touched deeply in the depths of their being, the person who has had some life-transforming experience. The Apostle Paul says, “I show you a mystery, and it is a mystery, it is a mystery about which none of us know in terms of scientific verification. It’s not for verifying. But the person who has had a deep experience finds themselves transformed. I had wished that Betty Eadie had been a bit more modest. She learned an awful lot in those moments. My goodness, what she learned! However, she doesn’t know, and I don’t know, and you don’t know, but her life was changed. Thank God, she used her experience in order to call people to kindness, to say that ultimately all is love, and apart from love there is nothing. Embraced By The Light, yes indeed! That’s the Easter message. That’s what we celebrate today— the gospel of Jesus Christ is the Good News about life beyond life, and both are important, and both perhaps should receive equal emphasis. Life beyond life—this is the life—and the best is yet to be. That’s the story of Easter. And as I reflect on that I recognize that the Church has this marvelous message that the center of it is the Gospel, and that means Good News. Then I realize that the whole world out there is so hungry, yearning for some answer, some peek through the veil. And I say to myself, “If we have the Good News, and if the world is longing for that news, why have we become so much the place of bad news in the minds of so many of the human family? If the world is asking the question and the heart of our faith is the answer, why . . . why has the Church been identified with legalisms and moralisms and oughts and shoulds and musts? Why has the Church been identified with the imposition of guilt and the exploitation of that guilt with threat, with the fear of judgment and the possibility of hell? Why? If Easter is our day, if it is the heart of our message, if this is the question that finally will not be dissolved in the human mind and heart, then must we not become once again a place of Good News? A few years ago I coined a phrase for Christ Community, calling it “An alternative to church as usual.” I’m wondering if we have to be even more radical than that? The Christian tradition is a grand tradition, but with all of the baggage of the Church that we get brushed with, perhaps it should be the “Unchurch,” like the “Uncola,” so that we could separate ourselves from all of that that is so dark, so © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Embraced by the Light Richard A. Rhem Page 4   dismal, so miserable. I mean, the world longs to know this, but somehow or other, the way we have packaged it, the message isn’t getting through. And what a message it is. Look at Jesus. Look at that life. Just look at that life. We’ve gone seriously through that life again in this Lenten season. What a life! What a man! What integrity, what strength, what grace, what love! What a life! I can understand that the writer of the fourth Gospel would say, “This is the way, this is the truth, this is the life. No one will come to the Father except that way, with that truth and that kind of a life.” What a life . . . and what a death. Look at the shadow side of the whole human condition, which comes to expression in the crucifixion of such a life. Then today, what a story: He lives, not because of him, not because of any human possibility, but because God will not give up, because God will not abandon creation, because God will not let us go. There is life beyond life because it’s God’s gift, and God will never quit. This past week I visited the nursing homes where a number of our people live in various states and conditions. I must say to you this morning, if you are young and able bodied, doing well, prospects good, go ahead and deny the question or nibble around the edges of a bit of cynicism, but if you would walk the halls of the nursing homes with me, up and down the halls with me, you would see concentrated in that place — what is the end of this human experience, physically, biologically, physiologically. The question would press in upon you and you would say then too, “Is this all there is? Is there nothing more? My word to our dear people in nursing homes this week was simply this: This is not the final stop. This is not the last chapter. Thank God Easter is coming, and the best is yet to be. And, by God, I believe it! I believe it! Credo. That Latin word that says I believe. I don’t know, but by God, I believe it! © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/21f8c857c9e4640951ba595507d1233b.mp3 1a214b40d478e0feea14ab0cc9174d52 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 Scripture Text I Corinthians 15:54, 57, Psalms 116:8, Mark 16:6 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-0-19940403 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-04-03 Title A name given to the resource Embraced by the Light Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 3, 1994 entitled "Embraced by the Light", on the occasion of Easter Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Corinthians 15:54, 57, Psalms 116:8, Mark 16:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Easter Love at the core of reality Spiritual Quest Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7a196a23f5fbadeabfe99a1ff95c94c4.pdf fc78b0095bf17bdbfcfbf3a1d66e5753 PDF Text Text “Father, Into Thy Hands…” From the series: The Seven Last Words From the Cross Text: Luke 23:46 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Maundy Thursday, March 31, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Into Thy hands I commit my spirit," Jesus' final words as Luke paints the picture for us. This last word is a word of trust. For John, the last word was a word of completion; for Mark, followed closely by Matthew, the last word as they recorded it, a word of abandonment. For Luke, a word of trust. "Father, into Thy hands I commit or commend my spirit." The one who was conceived by the Spirit and baptized by the Spirit and ministered in the power of the Spirit now returns the spirit to God Who had given life in the beginning, and the cycle is complete. The last word in Luke's picture is a word of trust. You have perhaps sensed by now, as we come to the last of the seven words from the cross, that John's picture stands out by itself. Matthew, Mark and Luke are closer to each other. Mark, the earliest, is followed closely by Matthew. But there is some significant distance in Luke and the picture is different; it has a different feel. In Luke, the whole story is softened a bit. In the Garden, the observance of which we are here tonight to celebrate, Jesus prays the same prayer in Luke's account as in Matthew and in Mark, and then is ministered to by an angel who strengthens him. He prays more earnestly and sweats, as it were, great drops of blood. But there is missing, in Luke, that phrase about Jesus' soul being wrenched within him. For Luke, in the Garden there was no breaking of that constant communion with God, or that succor, supplied here by the angel of God. And then on the cross, Luke's Jesus gives us a most powerful witness to the good news of the Gospel. The three words of Luke, "Father, forgive them ...," "Today Paradise," and finally this word, a word of trust, "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." That trust was not a cheap article. It was not the consequence of sunny skies and smooth seas, birds singing and all well. It was a word of trust that issued from one that was in the midst of Hell's darkness, without a scrap of evidence that everything that he had banked his life on was true. Jesus, to me, is believable, not because he was so full of confidence and went about with such great certainty, but because of the very vulnerability of his faith. His trust was not the trust of the religious fanatic who has no questions, only answers, sure and simple and © Grand Valley State University   �Father, Into Thy Hands… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   certain. No David Koresh here. No Jim Jones. No Bible-thumping, fingerpointing TV evangelist here. This one trusts in the darkness with fear and trembling. That's why I believe him. That's why I would follow him. That's why I would trust him, because he finally is able to still trust in the darkness. "Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." Luke is citing Psalm 31, verse 5, a different citation than the one Mark gives us, "My God, my God, why?" which comes from Psalm 22. Here in Luke's picture we have Luke's conviction that this one who found no scattering of his night and no alleviation of his pain and no answer to his question died in trust, nevertheless. And that is perhaps as powerful a witness, as powerful a statement of good news as I have to share with you any time. For this trust is a trust that is unmovable. It is a trust in spite of everything. It is a trust that will not let go. It is a trust that finally issued from one who had lived in trust and died in trust, with the mystery and the terrible suffering still intact. He died. There's an old Lenten hymn that says "Learn of Jesus Christ to Die," and well we might. Death is something that we face, all of us, as we lose those we love, or as we come to the point of our own terminus. Death, I learned over ten years ago, is a matter that presses for some answer, some primal need in the human breast, no matter how far one may be removed from religious practice and faith. I learned it in the fall of 1983 when I went to the University of Michigan where Hans Küng was lecturing and holding a seminar, and I saw that great secular university flock to the largest hall on campus to hear this man read a lecture for two hours on the subject of death and judgment and purgatory and heaven and hell and whether there was really eternal life. And I thought to myself, no matter how sophisticated we become, no matter how far we may be removed from childhood faith or religious tradition, finally we humankind must die, and we know it, and we wonder about it, and every once in a while it erupts upon us and we must face the fact that we will die. The hymn says, "Learn of Jesus Christ to Die," and well we might. Death was never a terribly fearsome reality for me personally, if I may tell you my story tonight. It was because, I suppose, of my father being an elder and I being a child that came along lately, some would stay a mistake, some would say a surprise, nonetheless when three sisters had been raised and gotten along with their lives, I was still there to be dealt with and so I was dragged around to everything that my parents went to. My father was an elder, and so I went to every funeral home in the city. It seems like every Sunday night we were at a funeral home. Somebody would die in that congregation, and my father always went. Death was so much a part of life. One Sunday night I remember going to a couple with whom my parents were very close. I called the lady Aunt Jenny. I didn't realize how ill she was but, while we were there, she died. I remember my father taking me by the hand, taking me into her bedroom, and there she lay on her bed, eyes wide open, breathing no more. The minister came, and the funeral director was called, and I was a little child in the midst of all of that. I remember another © Grand Valley State University �Father, Into Thy Hands… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   occasion, as a teenager, coming to my grandparents' home to pick up my parents. It was also a Sunday night it seems, and I came into the house and my grandfather had died. The clan was gathering. At some moment everyone gathered around, and my father led us all in prayer. Death was very much a part of life, but death was very much set in the context of a deep trust in God. As a young seminarian I preached one Sunday night on the air in Holland, Michigan, at a city-wide hymn sing. It was a service that was broadcast live. A good friend of mine had lost a little child to leukemia. It was a tragic loss and a great sorrow, but the child had died so beautifully with a vision of angels, and I told that story. And, as young preachers are wont to do, I generalized the experience and made as though it was a rather simple thing for everyone to die beautifully. The next morning one of the faculty members came to me and said, " I heard you on the radio last night," and I said, "Oh, how nice." And she said, “My father was a marvelous Christian man,” and I said, "Oh." She said, "He died a terrible death." And I said, "Oh." I knew what she was telling me. I learned that one ought to be very reticent about the way one speaks about departure from this life, and one ought to be very loath to generalize the way in which that will happen for others. Nonetheless, it didn't change my basic conviction that it is possible for us to "Learn of Jesus Christ to Die," and to deal with the reality of our mortality in a context of trust that will stand us well in the whelming flood. I loved the prayer as a child, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee Lord, my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray Thee Lord my soul to take." I understand there's a Revised Standard Version of that now. I called my granddaughter Stephanie tonight and I said, "Steph, tell me your bedtime prayer," and she said, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray Thee Lord my soul to take." I said, "Good. You pray it just like Bumpa prayed it." I am not a child psychologist, and I recognize that there may be certain appropriate stages of a child's development when it is more appropriate than at other stages to introduce certain concepts, but my experience would tell me that in childhood it is possible to wrap death in such fundamental trust that one will never forget it and will be able to carry that into one's final moments. I prayed every night, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray Thee Lord, my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray Thee Lord my soul to take," and I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you this next thing, but when I grew and, long after the time when I began to formulate my own prayers upon retiring, I always concluded with my childhood prayer. There was something about that word that spoke of the ultimate trust, a way through which to go in one's day, and a confidence with which to pillow one's head through the night. And I tell you that not simply to bare my soul to you tonight, but because Psalm 31:5, "Into Thy hands I commit my spirit," was the "Now I lay me down to sleep" of Jesus' day. It was the Hebrew child's bedtime prayer. In fact, it was the last petition of the evening prayers for the Hebrew people. So when Luke portrays for us the final word of Jesus, he gives us the prayer that Mary taught her son when © Grand Valley State University �Father, Into Thy Hands… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   he was a child when she tucked him into bed. The word he would have recited as he drifted off to sleep was, "Into Thy hands I commit my spirit." The only word that Luke adds to that prayer is that intimate word of address, "Father." "Father, into Thy hands I commit my spirit." And then he died. A final word of trust. If there is anything that we can take away from this I would think it would simply cause us to redouble our efforts and our commitment as parents and as grandparents and as a community of faith to recognize that it is those very earliest impressions imprinted upon the mind of the youngest child that travel with us through all our days. And if those impressions are impressions of trust, then even death, when wrapped in trust, loses its fearsomeness and becomes for us the possibility of movement from life through death to life, which is eternal. The hymn says "Learn of Jesus Christ to Die." Well might we learn that, to trust in the beginning is to be able to trust in the end, and then there is nothing, nothing, finally, that we need fear. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/991c457e3e791c65d7e8fd895e03be5d.mp3 db895a440b55b509832939c114ecc036 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 Series The Seven Last Words of Christ Scripture Text Luke 23:46 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-0-19940331 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-03-31 Title A name given to the resource Father, into Thy Hands Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 31, 1994 entitled "Father, into Thy Hands", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Maundy Thursday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 23:46. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Historical Jesus Maundy Thursday Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f67b969880b158fde955ec077c47d23a.mp3 bd6dae6f3768d5ae5e5d322b320af9e6 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 The Seven Last Words of Christ Scripture Text John 19:30 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19940327 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-03-27 Title A name given to the resource It Is Finished Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 27, 1994 entitled "It Is Finished", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 19:30. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1d327033b00fdaf9745d431ab19df687.pdf 72f678974b884815864dd65a4367ab41 PDF Text Text “I Thirst” From the series: The Seven Last Words From the Cross Text: John 19:28 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent V, March 20, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), "I thirst." John 19:28 "I thirst," the fifth word from the cross, is as the fourth word is, a word of suffering. Certainly it is an expression of physical suffering, and we're told by some who have experienced it that there is perhaps no greater physical anguish than to suffer thirst. But the word from John, we have learned, is always layered. Certainly John would point to the terrible physical torment of Jesus. But we’ve come to know from John that the word is never there at its purely literal or simplistic level. John always has something more symbolic to say. Note for a moment, if you would, the contrast of John's lens with the lenses of Mark and Matthew and Luke. That's been the special angle of vision we've been trying to sort out in this Lenten series: to use the words of the cross as lenses through which the respective Evangelists understood the meaning of the depth of Jesus. These Evangelists, as we have said, were not journalists working for the Jerusalem Times. They weren't court reporters getting down every word. They were portrait painters. They were novelist, theologians. They were giving us an interpretation of what was happening. And I think we get an insight into their understanding of what was happening by the words they put into the mouth of Jesus as he's dying – in this case, the word "I thirst." Note for a moment, the contrasting pictures that we get from John as opposed to the other three. Don't hear me saying that one is right and the other is wrong. Hear me saying that they're different because they are being viewed through a different lens. These are interpretations. For example, last week, we spoke of the word from Mark and Matthew, "My God, My God, Why hath thou abandoned me?" In Mark (which we believe to be the earliest of the four gospels) and in Matthew, this is Jesus' only word. It is a picture of the utter spiritual dereliction and abandonment of Jesus at the time of his crucifixion. Not so in John. In John's gospel, the dying Jesus is in charge as he has been in charge throughout the whole portrait that John paints of Jesus. You remember in the tenth chapter © Grand Valley State University   �“I Thirst.” Richard A. Rhem Page 2   of John, the Good Shepherd passage, Jesus says no one takes my life from me; I lay it down. Jesus is active in the discharge of his ministry, of his mission. John's Jesus is a Jesus who is in control of the circumstances. And when he says, "I thirst," Jesus is triggering something more than simply expressing his physical anguish. Now the Jesus that John tells us about, again in contrast to the synoptics Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is a Jesus who when he comes to the crunch (spoken of by John as "the hour") says, "now is the hour and what shall I say, Father remove this from me? No for this hour came I forth. Father, glorify your name." And in the Garden of Gethsemane there is no prayer as in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, "Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me." Rather, in John there is simply the arrest in the garden. Peter draws his sword, hacks off an ear of one of those who have come to arrest Jesus, and Jesus reproves him. Jesus says, "The cup that the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" Do you feel the difference? To the other gospel writers the picture is of a Jesus who is still struggling against the inevitability. John's picture is of one who says, "Father glorify your name, the hour is here. Let's go through with it. Give me the cup. I must drink the cup." What cup? The cup of suffering, the cup representative of God's will for Jesus’ life following faithfully through all the way. That cup. But cup? That's interesting, isn't it, to speak of it as a cup. There's a cup there. Where does that cup come from? Well, it comes from the Old Testament feast of Passover, doesn't it? John's Jesus is the Passover lamb. Not for Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The timing of the crucifixion in John is different from the other three. The other three have Jesus celebrating the Passover with his disciples on the night before he was betrayed. John has a different chronology. For John, Jesus is crucified at the very hour when the Passover lambs are being slaughtered at the temple because for John Jesus does not eat the Passover. Jesus is the Passover. What was the Passover? The people of Israel are slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh is abusing and oppressing them, the sons and daughters of Jacob. God calls Moses and says, "Take my people out of there." So Moses goes to the Pharaoh and the Pharaoh says, "No Way, José." God says, "O.K. we'll start a little action." The plagues. Do you remember the ten plagues? Do you remember what the tenth one was? The first born of every household would be slain by the Angel of Death. What would the Angel of Death do? The Angel of Death would pass over the houses of the people of Israel. That's where we get the name Passover. The Angel of Death passing over. Well, how did the Angel of Death know if it was an Egyptian or an Israelite household? The Israelites were prepared by Moses, who got the word from God. What were they to do? They were to get ready to go, ready to move out, and they were to have a final feast. The central element of the feast was to be a lamb, a lamb roasted whole, no bones broken. And with a branch of hyssop they were to sprinkle the blood of this lamb on their doorposts, so that when the Angel passed over the Israelites, their first-born would be spared. Every year after that, Israel © Grand Valley State University �“I Thirst.” Richard A. Rhem Page 3   kept Passover, which was a feast, a celebration. What were they celebrating? Sins forgiven? No, liberation. Freedom. The exodus was perhaps the first great freedom flight in history, and Moses was that revolutionary leader that led God's people out of the house of bondage into freedom and toward the Promised Land. Every year when Israel celebrated the pass-over, there were several cups of wine. And after the final cup of wine, the feast was over. Now John has Jesus on the cross saying, "I'm thirsty." Is John telling us simply that Jesus was thirsty? That Jesus was suffering terrible physical anguish? Yes, but in this important document in which John is talking about eternal life, do you suppose in that account John would stop simply to have Jesus say, "I'm thirsty" to note a physical thirst? Might there be something more going on? Do you note in the text that we read how Jesus got his thirst quenched? Vinegar. The other gospels say wine. Whatever it was, how did he receive it? On a hyssop. Hyssop, the same sort of hyssop that the Israelites used to sprinkle the lamb’s blood on their doorposts. Do you think it possible that John was making all of those associations so that we might see that his intention was to present Jesus at this point as symbolic of the Lamb of Liberation? The Jesus who is always in control in John's gospel, who says, "No one takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own free will. I do it for my love for the sheep" et cetera, et cetera. This Jesus now, becoming aware that it was all finished, says, "I thirst." I think John was showing us a Jesus in control, who knew now that the work was done. The hour had gone. The hour was there. He had been lifted up. God was being glorified. He said, "I am thirsty," which was another way of saying, "Give me the cup. I am ready to drink it now. I am ready to drain it. I am ready to drain it to the final dregs." Now I suspect that every time you have ever heard this word preached on over the years the concentration has been on the physical suffering of Jesus. I want to suggest to you that the physical suffering of Jesus is real. And Jesus as a human being really suffered and that's not unimportant. That's why the creed says, "suffered under Pontius Pilot, was dead and buried." Because one of the greatest challenges to the central understanding of the early church about Jesus and what Jesus did, one of the greatest challenges was the heresy of Gnosticism. Gnosticism believed that matter was evil, and that God could never become entangled with matter. And so the Gnostic denied incarnation, that God could be identified with human flesh, that the word was made flesh. Gnosticism said Jesus walked on the beach but left no footprints. The Gnostic said Jesus' spirit had already left him when he was put on the cross because God could not be identified with that kind of suffering, that kind of material human flesh. The early church said "no" to that. This was a man. This man really suffered so the physical suffering is not to be devalued. Some Latin American Catholics, this time of year, parade a crucifix through town, and the pilgrims actually flagellate © Grand Valley State University �“I Thirst.” Richard A. Rhem Page 4   themselves and draw blood in order to identify with the physical sufferings of Jesus. It works for some who have been raised in that, for whom that conveys real meaning. But I want to suggest that probably, at further review, it's spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically unhealthy. In Protestantism we have our own ways of flagellation. We don't carry the crucifix, but we sing awful hymns. They are full of our vileness, our unworthiness, and of Jesus' awful suffering. I suspect, however, that if you read through the Lenten hymns, the text of the Lenten hymns, which are so familiar that we don't even think about them, in all honesty you would have to say, "no." "No, It doesn't really bring tears to my eyes. I only say that in a song." The physical suffering is not to be devalued but the physical suffering is not to be exaggerated either because that misses the point of what was happening in the death of Jesus. I do not believe that the death of Jesus was a religious event. I do not believe the death of Jesus was something that happened between Jesus and God for the salvation of the world. More and more, I am believing that the death of Jesus was a political event. The death of Jesus was the consequence of the way he lived, because the way he lived was a threat to the institutionalized religious hierarchy and the structure of his society. Jesus sought the liberation of people. Jesus sought to break all forms of human bondage. That's what John is telling us when he makes Jesus the Passover lamb. Jesus was doing for the whole world what Moses did for Israel. Jesus was doing for the whole world what happened when the slaves were set free from the house of bondage in Pharaoh's Egypt. John understood the death of Jesus as a liberating act, as the culmination of a life that had called people to human dignity and to human rights and to freedom. Jesus' life was not, first of all, a religious life, the life of some aesthetic or some monk. Jesus, in the name of God and in communion with God, with a vision that he felt he received from God and a call and a claim upon his life by God, sought to liberate people, sought to bring dignity to people, sought to include the excluded ones. He sought to touch the lepers, to break down the barriers and all of the exclusivism that ruled people out. And because he did that, they killed him. Jesus was the Passover lamb. And now he said, "I'm thirsty" in order to trigger the final cup and to empty it, and to complete his work, his work of human liberation. He knew it was now over. He had done what he could do and now it was in God's hands. That's the real nature of Jesus' suffering. The physical suffering should not be devalued but the focus on the physical suffering, and to try to identify oneself with a poor broken Jesus, is to privatize it, to individualize it, to spiritualize it, and to fail to realize that Jesus lived radically in this world. Jesus lived in order to change the world. Jesus lived in order to set people free from political bondage and from religious structures that bind, and from every © Grand Valley State University �“I Thirst.” Richard A. Rhem Page 5   form that devalued and dehumanized the person. It was a political act, and it happened in the world. The best example I know in the twentieth century was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. About once a year I get this book out. This book cannot be replaced. It's sacred to me. As you know, it kept me alive in Europe: Letters and Papers from Prison. Bonhoeffer joined a group that conspired to assassinate Hitler and was imprisoned when the plot failed. And, as you know, on April 8, 1945 he was hung. Bonhoeffer tells in these Letters about how he talked with a French pastor whose goal was to be a saint. And Bonhoeffer said, "I respected him even though I disagreed with him." But he said, "I myself thought that I could acquire faith by trying to live a holy life," in other words, the whole religious thing. He says, "It was at that period in my ministry that I wrote The Cost of Discipleship". And he said, "I still stand by that book, but I would make some changes now.” Now he has sat in prison. Now he has seen the world explode. Now he has faced the awful hellish demon of Nazism, and he says, "I am discovering up to this very moment that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself. Whether it be a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman, a righteous or unrighteous one. This is what I mean by worldliness. Taking life in one's stride and all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness. It is such a life," he says, "in which we throw ourselves into the arms of God and participate in the sufferings of the world." Here he was in prison for a political act because of his religious conviction and he says, "I don't want to be religious. I want to be worldly in the sense of participating in the world, in the things that God is about, in the causes of human liberation." Then he says, "Then I join the sufferings in this world, and I watch with Christ in Gethsemane." To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to cultivate some particular form of asceticism, but to be a person, a human being. It is not some religious act, which makes the Christian what he or she is, but participation in the sufferings of God, in the life of this world. That was tough business. That was tough business for Bonhoeffer. For him to be a follower of Jesus was to join a political conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. See, it had nothing to do with the sanctuary or the altar. It had to do with the life of this world. It had to do with what goes on in Washington and Beijing and the power centers of the world. It's not easy. Bonhoeffer wrote lines that are the most moving that I know of because I suppose they speak to me, in the poem "Who Am I?" And he tells about how others say, "My goodness, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, you are so full of joy, so full of power, of hope, you are such a strong man, and they clung to him in prison. But he says, "To myself, Oh, I am weak, full of fear, and trembling. Who am I, this or the other? Am I one person today and tomorrow another? Am I both at once, a hypocrite before others and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling? © Grand Valley State University �“I Thirst.” Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions. Whoever I am, Oh God, thou knowest I am thine." I think that is a modern story of what Jesus was about. He suffered but he might have said, “The physical anguish of thirst was nothing compared with the torment within my soul. I believed God called me. Did God call me? Did I get it right? Why me? Who am I? Who am I to turn over institutions and traditions? Who am I? Have I got it right?” It's not easy to stick with one's conviction and to live by one's vision. It's much easier to fold up one's tent and fade off into the sunset. Sometimes I wonder about some of you who stick with the church. Why do you do it? Sometimes I wonder about myself. There certainly would be more peaceful ways to live one's life. Why care? Why make an issue? Why stick to one's guns? Bonhoeffer refers to Luther, who was called to account because of the oppression of the church and he said, "Here I stand, I can do no other." Can do no other, yet you could have done other, Martin Luther. You could have said, "Forget it." You could have said, "Oh, have it your way." But somehow or other he couldn't. He had to say, "Here I stand. I can do no other." Jesus certainly knew what he was about. Jesus undercut all of the sacred, solid, secure ways by which the power leaders of society controlled the masses and maintained their position. Like the article in the New York Times said, referring to the lobbyists against Clinton's health care plan: The Gold Diggers Are Lining Up In Washington. They're also jockeying for positions so that when it finally comes down they will be in a position to cash in. That's what the world's about. It is about power. It is about greed. It is about oppression and abuse and the dehumanizing of people and the using of people for personal prerogatives. And every once in a while there is a Bonhoeffer or a Mother Teresa or a Martin Luther King. And they get killed, just like Jesus got killed. Now Jesus said, "I'm thirsty." John said Jesus said, "I'm thirsty." What John is really signaling to us is that Jesus was saying, "Give me the cup. Give me the cup. I'll swallow it to the last drop because I know it's over, but, by God, I've lived my truth." If you really are serious about identifying with Jesus' suffering, I'll tell you what you do. Don't go off in a closet with a hymnbook and read those awful hymns and weep a while. Hear this word of Jesus: "If you would be my disciple, take up your cross, and follow me." I've got to warn you it could prove very painful, but the end thereof is joy inexpressible. What, greater possession could you possibly have than your soul intact? © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5d42e849a065d675dda53497ab8718d7.mp3 73550d0fdf9f539e5ca7c6ee59d4de7b 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 The Seven Last Words of Christ Scripture Text John 19:28 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19940320 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-03-20 Title A name given to the resource I Thirst Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 20, 1994 entitled "I Thirst", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 19:28. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Inclusive Lent Liberation Passover Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6445f66e6bb3749084003288945f25b1.pdf 98c92710c5b6e9a20a2d4da8b2baa236 PDF Text Text My God…Why? From the series: The Seven Words From the Cross Text: Mark 15:34 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent IV, March 13, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "My  God,  my  God,  why  have  you  forsaken  me?  Mark  15:34   My God why? The fundamental central question of our human existence. And it is the fourth word from the cross. Actually, for Mark and Matthew where it is recorded, it is the only word from the cross. But when we combine the four gospels, as we are doing during the Lenten season, then tradition has ordered them in such fashion that it becomes the fourth word. Luke and John decided not to use this word, although they had the tradition from which it was taken. Were they somewhat frightened by the cry? Was it too strong? Was the darkness too great? Would they soften the sharp reality of that cry which pierced the night noontime? Whatever their reasons, at least from Mark and from Matthew these words are recorded, "My God, My God, why hath thou forsaken me?" During this Lenten journey we're taking a special angle on the traditional words from the cross. We've noted that it's not as though there was a court reporter down at the base of the cross recording words that came from the lips of Jesus, but rather that the evangelists selected these particular words and placed them on Jesus’ lips, in order to give us insight into their own particular understanding of the meaning of Jesus' death. These words are simply windows. From the respective evangelists these words are the windows through which we can see how they understood what was happening when Jesus died. And so what was Mark telling us by recording this awful cry, "My God, why?" It is the primal scream that arises involuntarily from the human heart in the midst of the cauldron of human suffering from time immemorial. But the cry itself, the phrase, Jesus didn't invent, nor did Mark, for it's a citation from Psalm 22. Psalm 22 is an anguished cry. It begins with those words, "My God, My God, why hath thou forsaken me?" There are some who say that what Mark is doing is reflecting the idea that Jesus was attempting to route this Psalm. If you would read Psalm 22 to its conclusion, you would find that, while it begins in deepest darkness and is a cry of human anguish, nonetheless, if you follow through to the end, the light breaks through. At its conclusion there is vindication and deliverance and praise to God. © Grand Valley State University   �My God…Why? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   There are interpreters who say that that's what Mark is telling us; but I can't really accept that because, if that's what Mark is telling us, then those to whom he wrote would have had to know that he was citing a Psalm, and there is no indication that that would have been true. Most of Mark's listeners would not have been well educated in the scripture readings. And his listeners would have had to know how the Psalm ended, would have to really know the whole Psalm. If you stop to think about it for a moment, if Mark's telling us that Jesus was reciting a Psalm that ended in trust and vindication, then what he would be conveying would be precisely the opposite of what he actually conveys with the actual words he uses: "My God, My God, why?" That is a cry of dereliction, of desolation, a shriek of horror, a wail in the darkness. That's what comes through. That's the picture. No, I don't think it was simply the beginning of a long recitation, I think it was borrowing the Psalm's opening cry of deepest anguish. There is another very common, classic, traditional theological interpretation of the cry as well. Some of you may remember the old communion liturgy that speaks about Jesus on the cross bearing the wrath of God for us. That on the cross, when he cried, "My God, My God, why hath thou forsaken me?" he was forsaken of God that we might never be forsaken. Well, wherever you might go in scripture in support of that idea, you will have to grant me that it's not in Mark. That is a theological interpretation laid on the passage. It's not in the passage itself. No, No, I think what we have here is one crying out a fundamental central question of our human existence. In the extremity of human suffering, which knows no explanation, the cry is, "My God, My God, why hath thou forsaken me?" Mark is picturing for us Jesus in the most profound suffering, crying out at the silence of heaven as his whole life in ministry is being contradicted. For it was not simply death against which Jesus was railing but the fact that in his death, everything for which he had lived seemed to be over. His strong proclamation of the nearness of God in grace, of the open accessibility of God to all, excluding none, of the presence of God in his presence at table fellowship, in his touch of compassion for those who were sick, in his incarnation of that gracious Presence of God whom he addressed in the intimacy of "Abba," the address that a child would use for a loving and trusted parent. Such intimacy had characterized his whole life. Even in the garden, even when three times over he prays, if it be thy will let this cup pass from me, even there it's "Abba." But not now, not here. Here it's "Eloi." Here it's God. The intimate communion is broken you see. He is abandoned. Heaven is silent. He is in utter despair. And he raises the question. Thank God he raises the question. A primal scream from the depths. It is an involuntary exclamation. Thank God Mark tells us that Jesus said, "My God, Why?" because that legitimizes the question you see. That means that there is human experience for which there is nothing to say but "Why?" Not an intellectual question looking for an answer, but the cry of a breaking heart looking for succor: "My God, Why?" That is a valid human experience. The bible tells us so. Jesus tells us so. © Grand Valley State University �My God…Why? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   That cry has become more poignant to me this Lent than ever before because my friend Arie Brouwer died in October. You know Arie Brouwer. He's been in this congregation. As Executive Secretary of the Reformed Church, he dedicated this sanctuary in 1978. He preached for us a couple of years ago. He was a classmate of mine, a colleague in ministry over many years. Moving from The Reformed Church to The World Council of Churches in Geneva to the National Council of Churches of Christ in this country, he was a born leader, a significant churchman, a believing Christian servant of Christ. In December of 1992, cancer was discovered. In October of 1993 he died. And a year ago during Lent he preached on the seven words from the cross. He tells a story in one of his sermons about coming from New York and a hospital examination after surgery where his son Steven asked, "Dad, you mentioned living by faith, what does that mean?" And he said, "Well Steve, I've had a love affair with God all my life, and I'm not going to let cancer come between God and me." And Steve said, "You and Mom have given your whole lives to the ministry of the church and to the kingdom of God. This seems like a strange way to repay you." And then Arie heard himself saying to his son, "Steve, I don't think that God wants me to have cancer. But I don't think God can do anything about it." And he said, "I know that that challenges something I've always believed about the almightiness of God, but I've been so busy with survival issues that I haven't been able to think about it. But I am going to think about it, and I can hardly wait until I preach on the fourth word from the cross." And when he preached that sermon in Glenrock Community Church in New Jersey just a year ago you could tell that he could hardly wait to get to the sermon because it had become his own existential quest, his wrestling in the dark in the midst of cancer, struggling with his question, "My God, My God, why?" He tells how he picked up the book by Rabbi Kushner. If you were here twelve years ago during Passion week, holy week, I treated When Bad Things Happen To Good People. Rabbi Kushner had lost a child and had gone through deep personal tragedy. Arie found himself coming to the same conclusion that Rabbi Kushner had come to: God is good. God is full of love but God cannot change this situation. The almightiness of God. Because Kushner had said, in classic logic, "If God is almighty, and will not change it, God cannot be good. If God is good and would change it but cannot, then I have to rethink who God is." In the midst of his cancer struggle this was the process through which my friend Arie was also struggling. He went to the Bible. He found out that almightiness is spoken of God ten times in the New Testament but nine of them appear in the book of Revelation. And the book of Revelation, as you know, is a book about the end time, the end of history. It confirmed Arie's conviction, as he wrestled with his question in a very personal way, that God's love and light will ultimately triumph, but that in the meantime there is no tinkering with the process of history. Whether it be God's self-limitations or however you want to explain it. And as he saw Jesus saying, "Why?" in the darkness, with the heavens sealed, his © Grand Valley State University �My God…Why? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   own experience was illuminated. And he was convinced that he must change his understanding of God in order to have God, that Loving Presence, with him in the darkness. I almost hesitated to preach on this word having heard my friend speak out of the anguish of his own dark night. It made me realize how facile is so much pulpit work. So much prattle. It is one thing to talk about the will of God and about the mystery of human suffering when one is healthy and all is well. It is another thing to speak out of the fiery furnace. As I reflected on the experience of my friend, I recognized the value of a Christian formation and the danger of it, and the inadequacy of it. Oh, a Christian formation is valuable. When cancer struck and Arie faced his mortality, he had a tradition to which to turn. He was steeped in it. He had been taught from a child. He had lived in the faith, in the church, in the community of God's people. He had a tradition of faith to which to turn, to test, to plumb. Obviously, we need to tell our children. Obviously we need to nurture our adolescents, giving them a place to stand, a compass for their lives. Obviously we all need a reason for the hope that is within us. We need to be able to speak of the things we believe and the things by which we live and for which we live. There is value in that. What a precious gift to be deeply steeped in a strong tradition of faith. But there is a danger too. The danger is that my understanding of the faith will be, in my mind, identical with the God to whom it points. The danger of a strong traditioning in the faith is that I will see my faith understanding as the absolute truth, rather than a relative grasp of something that is far beyond my grasp. The danger of a strong Christian tradition is that I will come to a moment, as Arie came, when I am face to face with an idea, a conception that no longer works. Then if I have identified my idea of God with God, as though the two were absolutely identical, then if my idea crashes, my God crashes. If I have failed to recognize that all of my catechisms and creeds and confessions are stammering, stumbling, human attempts to express what is beyond expression, to apprehend what is incomprehensible, if I don't know that my best wisdom and insight is a partial piece of a larger puzzle, then, when I come into the crunch and it doesn't work, I will be afraid not simply that my formulation needs reworking, but that my God is gone. Arie went through that experience. He told how, throughout all of his ministry he'd thought about these things, as we all do. And he had tried to rationalize the problem by making a distinction between the prescriptive will of God and the permissive will of God. Now it's a neat scheme. The prescriptive will of God says these are the things God wills, and the permissive will of God is about the things that God does not will but allows. That can work in some situations. He tells, however, that shortly before preaching that sermon a year ago he saw Billy Graham interviewed by David Frost. Arie knew Billy Graham and respected him. He had crossed paths with him many times. David Frost was pressing Billy Graham. He said to him, "What do you say to a parent whose child has born © Grand Valley State University �My God…Why? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   severely handicapped, or what do you say about your own Parkinson's disease?" And Arie heard Billy Graham give this distinction between the things that God wills and the things that God allows, adding, "When I see God, I'll have a lot of questions." With great passion Arie reacted, "Billy it just won't do! If you tell me you've got good news from God about all kinds of lesser things but when it comes right down to the center of my existence you have no news, it just won't do. It won't do for me anymore because it won't do anymore for those who love me." Fortunately, Arie was one who was open and growing and who could look his faith formulations in the face and say, "that won't work anymore. I've got to break through that and move beyond that." Fortunately, he was one who had learned the truth of the poet who penned these words: "Our little systems have their day, they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of thee, and thou, Oh Lord, are more than they." But unless one is open and growing, strong faith formation can be dangerous when you get in the crunch. The finest gift I could give you would be if you hear me, if you could learn from me, if you could receive from me, that you ought to trust God with all your heart, and hold all of your convictions lightly. But an inherited faith, valuable though it is and dangerous though it can become, is finally inadequate. If I have only that which has been given to me, if I have a system of faith, a creedal confessional background, assumptions untested, simply absorbed, they'll not do it for me in the darkness. Finally, one must own one's own faith convictions, and that will not come apart from concrete human experience. If I have a set of truths that I have to impress upon my experience in order that I may understand my experience, I'm in deep trouble. It is rather out of an honest living of my experience that I come to reflect on the tradition that has been given to me and then make it my own through reformulation and new insight. Secondhand faith will not do it for you in a crisis. Somebody else's convictions and conclusions will not allow you to float in the storm. Finally, I must believe what I really believe. I like Mark's gospel. I'm grateful that Mark brought Jesus to his last breath with no shout of triumph, no light breaking through, just simply the awful question, "My God, why?" because that's honest. That's the way it is all too often, for all too many. But if that's Jesus last word in Mark's portrayal, it's not God's last word. For following Good Friday dawned Easter Sunday. I mentioned Arie’s funeral in December during Advent. He had become fascinated with Greek Orthodox liturgy and the music of worship of the Eastern Rite. And the funeral service began with a long prelude of entrance music and then the service ensued. The point at which we would come to the committal service, dust to dust, ashes to ashes, there was once again the entrance music. I thought perhaps it was a mistake until I realized that the first entrance music was the entrance into the presence of God in worship, and the second entrance music pointed to the entrance of my brother into light eternal. As the congregation was © Grand Valley State University �My God…Why? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   acknowledging dust to dust, God was saying, "Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.” No easy solution this side of the final breath. But there is light beyond, thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fa6fd6b910172cc5eba98f79eb69613e.mp3 4ab11f0a86c446faf4c7651bd03d01d2 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 The Seven Last Words of Christ Scripture Text Mark 15:34 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-0-19940313 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-03-13 Title A name given to the resource My God, ...Why? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 13, 1994 entitled "My God, ...Why?", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Lent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 15:34. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Creeds Lent Nature of God Reimagining the Faith Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/20a8e0c67a5f73858405c898c53b5cc0.pdf 96b765c33d65e6a86f5ecf2d3720b1c1 PDF Text Text “Woman, Behold Thy Son…” From the Lenten series: The Seven Words From the Cross Text: John 19:26-27 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent III, March 6, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "He said to her, ‘Mother, there is your son;’ and to the disciple, ‘There is your mother...’”John 19:26-27 My old sidekick of eighteen years, Gordon VanHoven met me in the Narthex last Sunday, and he said to me, "I regret so much that we are leaving for Florida this week, and I'll be unable to be there next Sunday for the third word from the cross." Well, I didn't work with Gordon all those years for nothing. I saw the twinkle in his eye. He was teasing me. You see, you don't have to be in the ministry many years before you get the opportunity to be a part of one of those community Good Friday services. Did you ever attend one of those three-hour services where the community worthies each take a word from the cross and string you out from twelve to three? Well, if you are a participant in one of those services, your "word" is determined by casting lots, or drawing verses out of a hat. Just before you draw you pray "May it not be the third word, Oh Lord." There are some dramatic words, you know, "Father forgive them," or "Today... Paradise ...," or "My God, Why?" but the third word, "Mother your Son. Son your Mother." If you're going to do the seven words of the cross, as I have been this Lent you have to include it. You would know if I just skipped over it. And certainly, there are some good things to say. I mean sons ought to provide for their mothers. There's parenting responsibility. This year, it seems the timing is right. Saturday morning we were having a seminar, "Parenting Parents." I thought, if I go to that seminar, I'll probably get at least half of the material for the sermon. And, as a matter of fact, it was just a wonderful seminar. Very helpful. Some wonderful insights and the kind of support, and talking about family relationships, and responsibilities, and dysfunctions, and so forth, that are so important. © Grand Valley State University   �Woman, Behold Thy Son… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   And even better, I knew that, by coincidence, this Sunday we would be gathering around the baptismal font. The family is going to be front and center. What a remarkable providential timing! Yet, deep in my heart, I really knew that this word was not about what is always said about this word in community Good Friday services. This word is not really about a responsible son providing for his Mother. This word is not really about mutual support or faithfulness until death, or Jesus being so remarkable because, in his dying anguish, he still has time to think about his mother. Those things are important, but really now don't you know that there must be something more going on? John is telling the story of Jesus. John is painting the portrait of Jesus. John is presenting Jesus as the Christ so that you might believe and have life. John has written the first half of his gospel, the first twelve chapters, giving the signs that Jesus effected, and then the second half of his gospel begins with chapter thirteen. It is the passion narrative, which now comes to its climax at the moment of Jesus dying. And Jesus dying, from John's viewpoint, is a cosmic, redemptive event. Then all at once there is a moment when the action stops and Jesus says, "Mother, your Son, Son, your Mother." Really don't you know that something more is going on than that? What's happening here isn't really a matter of family values, is it? What in the world is John saying to us by this statement of filial responsibility in the midst of this cosmic event? Think about the fact that Mary appears only one other time in John's gospel. Do you know where the first appearance is? Remember the wedding at Cana in chapter two? A party was going on and either it went on longer than they expected, or the guest list was expanded, or the party was crashed. I don't know which, but they ran out of the good wine. And so Mary, the epitome of the Jewish mother, Mother Mary comes and says, "Boy, they're out of wine." And he does what? He rebukes her. He says, "Woman, what have you to do with me?" "Woman," not "Mom, but "Woman," a still respectful, but a distancing word, not the kind of address that a son gives to a mother. "Woman, understand there is something else going on here. I am not about providing wine for wedding receptions. I am not about the kinds of domestic trivialities that characterize ninety percent of the lives of all of us. Something else is going on here. Woman. My hour has not come." John uses terms very carefully. He is full of nuance, of subtlety, of artistic creation. "Hour" is John's word for that inexorable plan of God that is being put into effect through the life and ministry of Jesus. And Jesus says, "Woman, back off. The hour is not here." Now it's interesting that the second time that Mary appears in John's gospel is here at the cross. And John addresses her with the same word, "Woman" not "My dear mother." "Woman." And then, after addressing her thus, John moves to the conclusion of the crucifixion. It was like this third word, where he effects the relationship between Mary and the beloved © Grand Valley State University �Woman, Behold Thy Son… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   disciple John, brought him to the realization that now it was finished. He utters first another word, according to John, "I thirst." And then the final word, "It is finished," which means it is completed. The work is done. It is over. As I think about the words that John uses to tell the story of Jesus and how, in the first place, he said, "Woman, my hour has not come" in the second chapter and now "Woman." I'm realizing that Jesus, according to John's portrait, knows now that God's hour has arrived, and God's hour has come to fruition, and its consummation. As the first half of the gospel ends, remember that story where Philip and Andrew come to Jesus and they say there are some Greeks here that would like to see him. You never hear again about the Greeks. You never hear again whether or not Jesus ever saw them again or not, but what happens? It's almost like that request from the Greeks was symbolic of those outside of the folds of Israel. Their request to see Jesus triggers something in Jesus. He begins to talk about the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies. If it doesn't die, he says, it abides alone; but if it falls into the ground and dies, it bears fruit. And then he says, "Now is my soul troubled. Now is the hour. What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? No, for this hour came I forth. Father, glorify your name." And then there is a dramatic voice response from heaven. "I have glorified it and will glorify it again." Then we have Jesus' words following those words saying, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all people to myself." Jesus knew now that the hour was upon him. Jesus knew now that he had come to that critical moment in which he would effect the eternal purpose of God. The thing that he was not doing in this moment was talking of some domestic duties. You want some further proof that family values is not what this word was about? In the gospel of Mark, the third chapter verses 31-35, you read that little story about how Jesus' mother, Mary, having not learned that her son was at Cana got Jesus brothers and they went out after him because they had heard he was mad. He was doing all kinds of stuff out there. They wanted to bring him home. Remember that? They couldn't get into the room where he was teaching and so they send a message. The message said, "Your mother and brothers are out there calling for you." Jesus said, "My mother? Who is my mother? My mother, my brothers, my sister are those who do the will of God." Jesus was not about domestic relationships, Jesus was about an eternal spiritual kingdom. Jesus had to distance himself and to break those physical and biological ties in order that he might accomplish that eternal purpose of God to which he was called: the vision that he had, by which he lived, and for which he died. At the cross he finally is able to say, "I create this new community of this woman and this man, this ideal disciple and this woman, who now is at the foot of the cross, this new Eve. Now I effect a relationship between them." Mother this is © Grand Valley State University �Woman, Behold Thy Son… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   your son. It's not her son physically and biologically, but Mother, this is your son. Son, this is your mother. You are in a community. You are in a family. This is a new family. It has nothing to do with blood ties, nothing biological, nothing physiological. This is a community of the spirit because that's what Jesus was about, according to John's gospel, from the very beginning. He came to his own, and his own received him not. But to those who received him he gave power to become the sons of God. Those who were born not of the will of man, not of human will, of human flesh, but of God, of the Spirit. Old Nicodemus came to him and said, "I don't understand what you're about." And Jesus said, "You're a teacher in Israel and you don't understand? You've got to be born again, or you've got to be born from above, or you've got to be born of the Spirit. Only those who are born by the Spirit and the water, only those will be part of the kingdom of God." And Nicodemus said, "How can you be born when you're old?" And Jesus said, "If you're not born again, if you're not born from above, if you don't transcend every human relationship and every earthly circumstance and configuration, if you are not lifted out of all of that into this eternal breath of God, you don't know yet the first word." John in his gospel gives us this word from the cross because he wants us to know that Jesus was effecting something new, daring, and universal that transcended every human alignment and alliance. John Dominique Crossen in his Biography of a Revolutionary gives us a little insight into Jesus’ relationship to Mary. He says that, in that society, in that time, in that Mediterranean society, it wasn't a sandwich society, such as ours, where there is an upper class, and a middle class, and a lower class, but rather there was a series of pyramids. If I'm a patron, you're a client in our situation right now. But then there will be other relationships in my life where I'm the client and someone else is the patron. And the whole society was perceived that way. If you had goods or services to sell by which you could survive you would peddle it. That's the way you would survive. Now John tells us in the seventh chapter that Jesus’ brothers didn't believe in him and we know that there was never much of an involvement on the part of his brothers. And Mary had her problems. She wanted to bring him home. "But it wasn't," says Crossen, "that they didn't know that Jesus had a power, had something about him, that there was another dimension. It wasn't that they didn't know that Jesus was a healer. What they were irritated about was the fact that he didn't set up shop in Nazareth. Can you imagine what a good thing it would have been for the family to have someone like Jesus to peddle his power? Look at my brother Jesus. Look what he can do. Why, my goodness, they could have had clients all over the place. In the first chapter of Mark's gospel we have a day in the life of Jesus where he teaches, and he preaches, and he heals, and then he comes to the home of Simon © Grand Valley State University �Woman, Behold Thy Son… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Peter's mother-in-law. She has a fever, and he heals her. She gets up, and she gives him dinner. And then they said after supper the whole town was outside the door. They're all there. They're saying, "Hey, Jesus, help me, help me." He could have exploited that. My goodness what a good thing he could have had. Mark 1:35 says: In the great while before dawn Jesus went up into the mountain to pray. And here come the disciples after him. They said, Hey, we've been looking for you. Everybody is looking for you. Everybody is calling for you. Jesus said, "That's why I'm here. That's why I came out. Because I have other places to go." You see, Jesus, according to Crossan, had mediated the direct, immediate experience of God, because it was his premise that there are no brokers in between. It's not a case of patrons and clients. It's not a case of priesthood or pastors or church institutions or structures. You don't need a priesthood. You don't need a temple. You don't need any of that because God is as close as your breath. God loves you, whoever you are. Jesus' table fellowship was a statement of the fact that everyone is included and no one is excluded. Crossan says that the very fact that Jesus was an itinerate preacher was the only way he could live out his message. He had to keep on the move because the moment he stopped, people would have built an institution around him. They would have created a liturgy. They would have had rituals to procure his power. They would have been selling healing. They would have been building a kingdom. Jesus wanted none of it. That's why they crucified him. That's why religious people crucified him because, when religious people get a good thing going, they build a church. They build a congregation. They take an offering. Jesus would have none of it. He said, "God is present to you all. And all of you may come to my table. And I will touch the person with Aids. I will make no distinctions. And I will write nobody out." Now, having lived that way, he was ready to die that way. And as a symbolic gesture of what his whole life in ministry had been about, John, at this climatic moment, has Jesus create a new community. He had Jesus say, "Woman, that's your son." And to the son he says, “That's your mother.” It had nothing to do with blood ties. It had nothing to do with biological relationships. It had everything in the world to do with Jesus' whole life and ministry because, according to his understanding of the purpose of God, God wanted to create a community of people that transcended every human barrier and separation. We had a wonderful morning here yesterday. The church is in the business of supporting families, bringing families together. It is good that parents are concerned for children and children for parents. But we also learned yesterday that while there is a natural bonding because of the biological, the blood ties, that bonding is not all there is. Sometimes there's tension. Sometimes there's abuse. © Grand Valley State University �Woman, Behold Thy Son… Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Sometimes there's brokenness. And if it's true in the family, it's even more true in larger communities. It's true in ethnic groups. It's true in nations. We live in the twentieth century, which is the bloodiest century, the most violent, the most war filled, the most blood curdling century in the world, and why is that? Because we have not yet learned how to live in human community. We live in families and ethnic groups, and tribes, and nations. We build community spirit by creating over-againstness with the others. We live in a world where Jew massacres Muslims, and a Muslim fires a machine gun into a van of Jewish young people. We live in a world of Northern Ireland, and of South Africa, and of Latin America, and of American city ghettos. We live in a world that is torn apart. What Jesus was about, dear friends, was not taking care of his dear old mother. You've got to go some other place than the gospels to find an affirmation of family values. Jesus said if you don't hate father and mother, that is, if you will not give a prior commitment to that relationship, if you can not unbind yourself; and parents, if you cannot set your children free, if you cannot recognize that there is a transcendent community, a community of water and blood and Spirit, then you haven't begun to understand what I am about. I am about creating a human community that transcends every human relationship on every other basis. That means that our relationship together in water, in the Spirit, is the tightest bond and becomes the model for what God intends for the world. And all of our nationalisms, and all of our ideological alignments, and allegiances, and all of our ethnic purity, and all of that that tears apart human community is that which Jesus died to put away in order that there might be a new relationship. "Mother, that's your son." "Son, that's your mother." That's the community and that's what the third word is about, even though certainly it's good to do the best you can for your parents. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/542eb8df17eaf2fe38fd9acf54e4c579.mp3 ba0942359385b7b172a3908ee735a7d5 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 The Seven Last Words of Christ Scripture Text John 19: 26-27 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-0-19940306 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-03-06 Title A name given to the resource Woman, behold, thy Son Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 6, 1994 entitled "Woman, behold, thy Son", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 19: 26-27. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community Inclusive Jesus' Ministry Lent https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c0816778f9d21ff725ac66f3b03db380.pdf c90b780f62da8ad157c5cbb7fefbd3d1 PDF Text Text Today…Paradise… From the series: The Seven Last Words of Christ Text: Luke 23:32-43 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan February 27, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon In the four Gospels there are seven utterances recorded from the cross. We call them the “Seven words from the cross.” They are not words that were taken down by a court reporter, as it were. They are, rather, windows through which we can see how the respective evangelists understood the meaning of the death of Jesus, how they interpreted the cross. Those words give us insight into their understanding in those decades following the death of Jesus when they tried to tell the story and make some sense of that crucifixion of the one whom they had called Lord and Messiah. Luke records three words. The second we take up this morning. It has to do with the dialogue between Jesus and the criminal who was crucified with him. Luke tells us that there were two criminals crucified with Jesus: one on his right hand and one on his left. The two criminals were colleagues together in their revolutionary activity, but they are contrasted by Luke in the manner of their death in relationship to Jesus who hung between them. The one, angry, railing on Jesus, dying with a curse on his lips. The other, broken, overwhelmed by the grace of Jesus, asking for Jesus to remember him. The one dying in belligerence, the other dying in grace. Who were they, and what was going on in this drama on the cross? Well, as a matter of fact, we don’t know. Nothing is told of these two men, not even a name. Although, wherever there’s a vacuum, pious imagination will fill in the blanks. So, one has been named, and legends by the legion have been told of these two, and how it happened that the one turned to Jesus in his dying hour. But all of that we know nothing of, really. What we do know, however, is that the time of Jesus was a time when there was a great revolutionary ferment in the air. That we know. The more they study and understand the historical situation, the social, the political, economic context in which Jesus lived and died, the more we understand that this was a time in which there was a ferment in the air. There was a widespread Messianic expectation, and there was an apocalyptic spirit abroad. © Grand Valley State University   �Today…Paradise… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Apocalyptic is a word that means unveiling. And what people were looking for was that moment when God would unveil God’s self and reveal his rule of righteousness, throwing down the evil and establishing the right. Apocalyptic is what people turn to when they get desperate in their human situation. A person who is caught up with apocalypticism is a person who has given up on history, has given up on human government, who has given up on human structures and systems, sees absolutely no hope, totally despairs, sees the human scene as futile and, therefore, cries to heaven that the heavens might be rent and God would come down and make things right. There were all kinds of forms of this, but we do know that this was operative because, in all of the four Gospels, the name Barabbas appears. Barabbas was that insurrectionist, we are told, who was imprisoned and Pilate, in order to get Jesus off his back, having a sense that he really was a ploy and guilty of nothing, offered to the Jewish leaders the release of Barabbas or Jesus, hoping they would choose Jesus and he could be done with this Jesus affair. That story is in all four Gospels in various degrees, the idea that, at the festival of the Passover, this time of great ferment in the city of Jerusalem, a political prisoner would be released to the crowd. Matthew even calls Barabbas, Jesus Barabbas. Luke, not so, just Barabbas. Matthew makes it so pointed as to have Pilate say, “Will you have me release for you Jesus Barabbas or Jesus of Nazareth?” Of course, they cried, “Barabbas. Crucify Jesus.” And so it goes. Those who were crucified with Jesus were most likely insurrectionists, revolutionaries, perhaps a part of a guerilla band, dedicated to the overthrow of the occupying power. Now, they certainly knew the odds. But whenever a people are desperate enough, and this apocalyptic vision stirs them, and messianism is in the air, they take radical measures in order to change their situation, which is hopeless anyway. Whenever you see this happening in the human story you know that the massive peasant class is being pressed down below subsistence level. The world is a dangerous place whenever there are any people who have nothing to lose. And the peasant masses of Palestine under the occupying Roman power, with which the leadership of that people also collaborated and accommodated, were a seedbed of violent revolution. Jesus did not take that way. But Barabbas did. And very likely the two who hung, the one on his right hand and one on his left, were a part of some guerilla band. We know from the historical sources of the time that there were any number of messianic pretenders at the time of Jesus. Jesus himself did not claim to be Messiah. He was acclaimed to be Messiah after his death by the Jesus movement. But there were any number of those at that time who did claim to be the Messiah, and they came to nothing. And there were those who led a band across the Jordan into the wilderness in order to duplicate the movement of ancient Israel when Joshua led them into the Promised Land, and in their duplicating that event, hoped that somehow or other God would move and some miraculous deliverance would come. This was what was in the air, and those who hung with © Grand Valley State University �Today…Paradise… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Jesus were probably caught up in that kind of revolutionary activity. And the one continued to his dying breath, full of anger, full of hate, full of curses, joining in with the soldiers and the leaders mocking Jesus, saying, “If you are king of the Jews. If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us.” There’s something rather heroic about that. This was a “rebel with a cause,” and he died. He went down in flames — for the cause to which he had committed his life. No whiner, no wimp. This one died! With his fist clenched! Throughout the human story we can see this kind of thing. Remember the 60s? Some of you are too young. There was Martin Luther King with his nonaggression, his passive resistance. There was Malcolm X whose life has been brought to the screen a year ago and reminded us of one who looked at Martin Luther King and thought he was a wimp, who could bring a few folks to a lunch counter and maybe from the back of the bus, but wouldn’t really change the situation because the situation needed radical surgery — transformation — revolution! Malcolm X himself went through a transformation. But he would have been one before that, who would have been the railing criminal on the cross, deriding Jesus to his closing breath. Time Magazine this week has Louis Farrakhan on its cover because one of his deputies recently at Keene College in New Jersey made a speech full of venom and hate over against the Jews, and because of this there is now a discussion in our own society about the Nation of Islam that Farrakhan heads, and the antiSemitism which is becoming so obvious and belligerent in that group. That kind of rhetoric in our world is so terribly dangerous. It is the kind of rhetoric that puts fear in the hearts of people and causes people to do terrible things. A young man is on trial for his life down South because, shaped and formed by that kind of scare tactic and high decibel rhetoric, he pulls out a gun and shoots a doctor as he approaches an abortion clinic, claiming now that it was the literature and the rhetoric that brainwashed him, as it were, making him not responsible. Religious fundamentalism, such as we see in those settlers in the West Bank in Israel, living with that kind of righteous anger, causing a doctor to go into a mosque with a machine gun and massacre those worshiping there. And so we cannot speak strongly enough against that kind of hate-filled rhetoric, that venom and bile that spews from a heart symbolized by the clenched fist. But as Michael Lehrner, editor of Tickon, a Jewish magazine, says, “It is one thing for us with all of our righteous indignation to look at the Nation of Islam and a Farrakhan and to decry the venom and the hate, but it is another thing for us to ask the question, ‘What is it in the human story, what is it in the human situation that causes one to become so venomous, so hateful, so angry? What is it in the social fabric of the United States of America that causes Louis Farrakhan to be able to fill any hall, gathering thousands and thousands and thousands at any appearance? Is it not because he touches a raw nerve and speaks truth to them? Truth that © Grand Valley State University �Today…Paradise… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   they have lived and experienced. It is not enough for us to decry the terrorist and to speak against violence. It is for us to say, ‘Why?’ and in that we are all in complicity.” The one, at his crucifixion, went to his death with clenched fist, cursing. And the other one? The other one rebukes his brother, acknowledges the justice of his own situation, and then unclenches his fist and with open hand reaches out to Jesus. “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Broken. Suddenly, in a moment like that with not much time to live, changed, transformed. Was it the prayer of Jesus? Certainly, Luke would point us to that. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The grace of Jesus with which he lived and with which he was dying. Was it that grace? We are really only ever changed by a concrete encounter with grace, only when we experience grace in another. And then that grace washing over us — in a moment can transform us. “Jesus, remember me.” And Jesus responded far beyond that humble request for he said, “Today you’ll be with me in paradise.” What is it that makes one person go to his death full of anger and hate, cursing, with fist clenched all the way while another opens the hand and seeks grace? Frederick Beuchner has said, “With a clenched fist you can prevail, you can grow, you can bend, you can survive, but you cannot become human. For to become human it is only the outstretched hand, acknowledging one’s dependency on grace that transforms.” Why one this way and one that way? I don’t know. I don’t know. That word from the cross today, “You will be with me in paradise.” Paradise , a word borrowed from the Persian language meaning a walled garden. The Persian king would sometimes bestow the highest honor on his subject. He would make him or her the companion of the garden. This person could be the companion of the king in walking in the walled garden, reminding us, of course, of the creation story in the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Delight where the Lord God walked with those he had created in the cool of the day. Jesus said, “The walled garden, the Eden of Delight, in the presence of God will be yours. Not because somehow or other I am dying here for you but, as I die with you, you will come with me into the presence of Eternal Life, the God who dwells in light inaccessible.” And not later, but today, here and now. For you see, when grace washes over one, then one does not wait until one’s last breath in order to experience the embrace of the Light, but rather one begins to know heaven on earth, for this is life eternal to know God, to be embraced by that Light, to be a companion in the garden here and now so that as one moves toward death, whether that be eminent, as in the case of the criminal, or whether it be afar off it matters little. For death becomes simply that portal through which one moves from Light to Light, from Light to Life with Jesus into the presence of God. © Grand Valley State University �Today…Paradise… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Luke loves to set contrasts. He painted that portrait on Palm Sunday of Jesus weeping over the city saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if only you knew the things that make for peace, but now they are hid from your eyes. You’ve missed God’s moment.” Now Luke gives us two ways to live and two ways to die. And he says, “God simply waits to grace and forgive, both the one and the other.” And the choice we have is whether we will meet that grace now and extend the hand and make the plea and know heaven on earth as did the one criminal, or whether we will go raging into the night. Martin Luther used this text as a wonderful statement against the use of the doctrine of purgatory. That was the burning issue, of course, in the 16th century. The Pope was raising St. Peter’s and all of its glory on the basis of all the indulgences that were being sold, and if you had an extra hundred or two and you had a relative who had died and was, according to Catholic teaching, “in purgatorial fires,” going through the process of purgation, then in that abusive system of the 16th century, a little money shortened the sentence. Why, Tetzel the traveling monk would say, “when you hear the coin fall in the coffer, the soul springs out of purgatory to God.” And Martin Luther wanted none of it. He could see what a manipulative, coercive thing this was. Unfortunately, in the Reformation the Church jettisoned that insight and wisdom of the ancient Church that, even at our death we have soul work to do. Think of it for a moment. One died with clenched fist, cursing and the other with opened hand, full of grace. But their histories were very much the same. Do you suppose that the moments that the one had yet to live would have been so transformative that their destinies would have been light and darkness? Or might it be that the Light that began to dawn on the one with open hand was a Light that the other met also, with a curse only half spoken, as his breath ran out? I suspect that, in the wisdom of the ancient Church, the whole idea of purgatory was the recognition that, for all of us as we move through our life and toward its terminus point, there is yet soul work to be done. And I would like to think that there is no darkness for anyone except perhaps the one who has been embraced by the Light but who persists in saying, “Not thy will be done;” the Lord of Light might say then, “Thy will be done.” But other than that here are two ways to die. They really also represent two ways to live. The one is with clenched fist, a certain amount of strength . . . survival. But you can’t be human that way. To be human is to open the hand and simply to say, “Jesus, remember me, for God’s sake.” Then you begin to live before you die. Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/22edfa4dd084ee082da70054a564e07f.mp3 d0addfcc4a9ee8346c9d8b11f6e7c61e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series The Seven Last Words of Christ Scripture Text Luke 23:32-43 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-0-19940227 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-02-27 Title A name given to the resource Today...Paradise Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 27, 1994 entitled "Today...Paradise", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 23:32-43. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Apocalyptic Forgiveness Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c9aa8983e9ad140ccc482690ee40ba75.pdf 00950e97db74a3e10265705c40671a2b PDF Text Text “Father, Forgive Them” From the series: The Seven Last Words of Christ Text: Luke 23:32-38 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan February 20, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon For the Sundays of Lent our meditation will be on the seven words from the cross, the seven words uttered by Jesus in the time of his crucifixion. No one Gospel has all seven words. The most that any one Gospel has are three words. You have to take all four Gospels in order to come up with seven utterances from the cross. Mark’s Gospel, the earliest Gospel, has only the groan, “My God, my God, why?” In these Lenten weeks, with these familiar utterances before us, let us think about them not so much as words that Jesus spoke, as though there were some scribe with a dictating pad down at the foot of the cross. Let us understand them as they probably were intended, that is, as the windows through which the respective Gospel writers were finding meaning in the death of Jesus. Those seven words, which appear collectively in the four Gospels, give us a window. We can look through that window with the respective evangelists to sense what they sensed was going on and, thereby, hopefully to find for ourselves renewed meaning, as once again we contemplate the crucified one. The first word, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” is an amazing utterance in the context of the paragraph in which it appears. We have the leaders scoffing at Jesus, the crowd mocking Jesus, the soldiers making sport of Jesus. In the midst of the excruciating pain and anguish of crucifixion, the cruelest blow that could be delivered in that ancient world, Jesus had the grace and the compassion to pray, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” That statement really is like a concise creed of Christian faith. For therein we find a word about ourselves, and we find a word about God, and we find a word addressed to us as well, giving us a way to live. It is a word about us. Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And we don’t know what we are doing most of the time, do we? It wasn’t a matter of whether they were educated or uneducated, whether they were intelligent or lacking in intelligence. It wasn’t a matter of that kind of knowing. It was that totality of their being and the totality of our humankind that simply drifts into all kinds of circumstances and situations that lead to brokenness and © Grand Valley State University   �Father, Forgive Them Richard A. Rhem Page 2   hurt and pain and tragedy. Most of the time we don’t mean it. We don’t intend it. We get caught up in it. And there is a kind of solidarity about humankind, so when Jesus prayed that prayer I think he had in mind not only those gathered at the foot of the cross, the soldiers, the religious leaders, and a few scattered followers. He had in mind those to be sure, but he had in mind really the whole body of humankind — all of us as well. For it is true of us so much of the time — we just don’t know the implications and the consequences. We get caught up in the solidarity of the human situation. And Jesus holding us not in contempt is the beautiful thing about Jesus. He never held a person in contempt nor did he hold us all together in contempt, but rather with deep grace — amazing grace – said, “Father, forgive them. Because they don’t know what they are doing.” And we don’t, do we? Some time this evening the deadline will be reached for whether or not the guns have been pulled out of Sarajevo or whether the air strikes will commence. That tragic war has been going on for nearly two years, and we have watched it night after night — the misery, the anguish, old women weeping over graves, parents grasping bleeding children, bodies blown apart. And we say to ourselves, “What in the world is going on? What are those people thinking of? Ethnic cleansing. All of the tragedy of that situation in the former Yugoslavia and we don’t know what to do about it. A friend of mine preached a year ago, saying (and he’s had a good deal of experience in terms of international affairs) that the judgment of history will be harsh for not doing something. Others have said we stand by in this century and watch the horror of the Holocaust, and now we’re sitting by again. But, as a matter of fact, what do you do? A civil war, a civil conflict, ethnic rivalries, blood feuds, what do you do? What do you do if you are a world leader? What do you do if you are a politician? We haven’t known what to do. Voices have been raised, but the risks are there too and the stakes are high. It took the explosion of a shell in a market place, killing over 60 people, that finally galvanized public opinion and gave the administration, I suppose, the green light to move and to gather the NATO forces and to come to some decision to act, at least to lay down an ultimatum. I suspect that Pilate gathered his national security council around him also as Passover was approaching, and the possibility of this Nazarene coming to town was discussed. What were they to do? Ah, Pilate doesn’t come off very well — washing his hands as though he could absolve himself from this whole thing. He couldn’t absolve himself, but what should he have done? I imagine they went back and forth with hot debate. What does a politician do, having to test the winds because another election is coming? Does one act according to one’s conviction, or is it true of the politician as it is true of all of us that our personal ambitions and our personal motivations and our own egos and our own pride get so wound up and so involved with our desire to serve the public good and to do what is right that it is hard to separate them? What does one do? We don’t know, often we simply don’t know. Jesus said, “Father forgive them. They just don’t know. They don’t know what they are doing.” © Grand Valley State University �Father, Forgive Them Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Can you imagine the discussion in the Sanhedrin cloakroom on Good Friday afternoon when Annas and Caiaphas conferred about the fact that now the deed was done? It would not have been difficult for them to rationalize everything that was done for the well being of the people, for the peace and tranquility of the city, for the accommodation of the Roman occupier. It wasn’t easy, folks. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They really don’t know. It’s not that they aren’t intelligent. It’s not that they are not responsible. It’s not that they’re not guilty. It’s not that they will not have to live with the implications of their actions. But, really, forgive them. Forgive them!” Jesus didn’t stand in contempt of humankind in the ambiguity of our situation, but with deep compassion and deep insight said, “The only thing that can do anything is Your grace, O God. Forgive them.” One of the advantages of vacation time is I can read books in the daylight and go to movies at night. In the Name of the Father is a powerful film taking place in about 1974, about some early bombings of the IRA. London, England is upset. A young Irishman is arrested with his friends. The evidence is rigged. There is police brutality and coercion such that one is disillusioned. One is disillusioned who has such a respect for the grand British tradition of law and of rectitude, one who has a vision of British police as the London Bobby without a gun, with nightstick, tipping his hat. Here was coercion. Here was a keeping away of evidence. This was a skewing of the system because the English were nervous, because there was terrorism in their land, in their city. Something had to be done. Someone had to be nailed. Someone had to be arrested. Someone had to be proven guilty in order that the people would feel secure again. And that British system of law and justice, that wonderful system, these remarkably dignified people with their wigs and all, held people in prison for fifteen years for a crime they hadn’t done when they knew they hadn’t done the crime. You don’t want to believe it can happen. But you sense the pressure they were under to make it right. They didn’t know what they were doing. They did know what they were doing, but they didn’t know what they were doing because we are constantly caught in that kind of bifurcation to do what is right, or to survive. Schindler’s List, a powerful film that must be on your list, shows the Holocaust in all of its horror. The most dastardly deed in human history, in this century. Not a film without hope, however. Schindler, a swash-buckling reckless, hard drinking, woman-chasing exploiter of other human beings, going to the Krakow Ghetto during the Nazi occupation to exploit the vulnerability of the Jews, to get their money in order to establish a factory, to hire them cheaply in order for him to make a fortune — pure and simple. He was clear about that. But he ends up beginning to see these people as people, begins to use his considerable fortune to bribe the system and get around that awful Nazi horror in order to save little children and old people and those in between. His list is those ostensibly working in his factory. But Schindler, this swash-buckling, kind of careless German becoming human, has had his own heart broken with compassion. Schindler is I, © Grand Valley State University �Father, Forgive Them Richard A. Rhem Page 4   and I am Schindler, the light and the shadow that are always coexistent within me. Jesus knew it, and Jesus did not hold me in contempt, nor did he hold Schindler in contempt. But Jesus said, “Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.” Ah, there’s a word about us here. I grow so angry with people. I get disgusted. I get impatient. I despise gutless leadership full of guile. I criticize and I judge, and when I do that I set myself apart as though I am not in complicity with the whole human scene. But you see, I can’t do that. I am in solidarity with it all; the light and the shadow run through my heart too. I am a part of the picture, so it is not a question of whether I can stand apart and judge. It is rather the fact that with you I stand before the cross and hear Jesus say of me and of you, “You just don’t know.” What grace! What insight! What empathy! What compassion for us, such as we are. And it’s a word about God. “Father, forgive.” It’s a word about God. It’s a prayer that issued from Jesus’ deepest, most profound sense of who God was. “Father, forgive.” In the intimate connection, that Abba relationship, relationship of parent and child, that intimate connection of Jesus and Father. Divine parent. “Loving God, forgive.” It is what he taught. He was living out simply what he taught, for in the Sermon on the Mount he said, “Be children of your heavenly father. Love your enemies. The sun shines on the just and the unjust. The rain falls on the good and the evil. Your heavenly father embraces the whole human family and graces them all together. Be children of your heavenly father. Love your enemies.” It was the God he pictured so beautifully in the story of the Prodigal Son, which is really the story of a prodigal father, a father’s love. The son coming home, humiliated, with his speech well rehearsed, ready to make a plea to be put up in the bunk house and finding himself rather overwhelmed by the father’s love, drenched in the father’s tears, embraced in the father’s bosom. Jesus, knowing God as Jesus knew God, said, “Forgive them,” because he knew that forgiveness is God’s thing. Forgiveness is God’s thing. You notice what’s not here? There’s not the slightest hint here in this word from the cross that Jesus was somehow or other standing between an angry God and a sinning people. There’s not a word of that in this word. In fact, I will be pointing out throughout the season of Lent that if we had only the four Gospels, which seem to me would be enough– if we had only the four Gospels, if only we had these seven words by which to interpret the cross – there would be not the slightest hint that that one whom Jesus addressed was full of wrath, ready to strike. There’s not a word of that. It is rather out of our tradition, coming from Anselm, the archbishop of Canterbury in the 11th century, that the idea comes that there is some kind of inexorable law that needs to be satisfied and that God could not be just and forgive unless God exacted the pound of flesh and that inexorable law was satisfied. Not a word of that here. Just — “There is forgiveness with Thee,” as the Psalmist said. “Father, forgive them.” Ah, it’s a word about God. God is like that. © Grand Valley State University �Father, Forgive Them Richard A. Rhem Page 5   And it is a word for you and for me, for Jesus has given us an example that we might live as he lived, being forgiven so that we might forgive one another, being love that we might love one another, being the recipients of amazing grace that we might be gracious one to another. The model of Jesus, the life he lived, the grace he conveyed, if only we could do it, would change the world, the only thing that would change the world. Being lived out before us these days in the Olympic Games is the drama of Nancy Carrigan and Tanya Harding. I would love to have five minutes with each of those young ladies, individually. I would like to say to Nancy Carrigan, “Nancy, if you want to have freedom, if you want to skate as a swan with grace and delight, then although I don’t know the horror of that experience, let it go and forgive whoever is guilty. Let it go so that your heart will not be alienated and your mind filled with fear. Let it go. Pray Jesus’ prayer, ‘Father, forgive; because certainly they didn’t know what they were doing.’ Oh yes, they did know what they were doing, but they didn’t know what they were doing.” Have you ever been caught in something like that? And I would say to Tanya, “I don’t know if you are guilty or not. If you’re not guilty, God give you grace and courage. But if you are guilty, God forgive you.” And I would hug her. That girl needs a hug. Doesn’t she need someone to love her and to tell her that she too is lovely? And, that’s just two people whom the media have lifted high before our view, but in those two the paradigm of Bosnia, and of East and West, and of the whole world. The world would be changed if we could do just two things, if we could hear the prayer and know it is for us, and be forgiven. The last bastion of pride is the resistance to the word, “I forgive you.” Then, if we could forgive one another it would change the world. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1eff76346fc91fa68656c5ba5af2dfed.mp3 305cf187a8da209672a2f8a4dcff8431 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 I Series The Seven Last Words of Christ Scripture Text Luke 23:32-38 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-0-19940220 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-02-20 Title A name given to the resource Father, Forgive Them Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 20, 1994 entitled "Father, Forgive Them", as part of the series "The Seven Last Words of Christ", on the occasion of Lent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 23:32-38. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Compassion of God Forgiveness Grace Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7a069eea19154a0c35787505caabb2be.mp3 484f40c9f474d659ca4081436d56e384 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 Scripture Text Lamentations 3:21-23, John 9:5, 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-0-19940130 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-01-30 Title A name given to the resource Fear Not, Let Go: The New is Dawning Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 30, 1994 entitled "Fear Not, Let Go: The New is Dawning", on the occasion of Epiphany IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Lamentations 3:21-23, John 9:5, 25. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f7b24a3267fe81b3081209774c9801a9.pdf 00a003b87ef039bd3a3f6dffab422ac4 PDF Text Text Our Hearts Are Restless Until… Text: Acts 17:27; John 1:9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany III, January 23, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon “Our hearts are restless until . . .” so goes the title of the message and it comes, of course, from the oft quoted statement of St. Augustine, whose claim was “Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.” I do believe that. The longer I am in the ministry, the more I am convinced of that. I remember coming into the ministry a rather scared and fearful and defensive person, wondering whether or not this enterprise into which I was entering had a future. Being very fearful for the faith, worrying about what seemed to be, at that time, the unraveling of the world. I was not a child of the 60s – the 50s, for goodness sake. Such was my narrow, cribbed understanding of things. Now, looking back over more than three decades of ministry, I know that Augustine was right because God has created the human person with a hole in the heart, with an empty space in the soul, which nothing can satisfy save resting in the grace of God. We may in restlessness struggle to stuff it full of all sorts of things—some destructive, some delightful, but finally all of us really need to know, want to know, long to know that God is, and that God is for us, and that grace is ours. Yes, Augustine was right. I am sure of that. “Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.” It seems as though we have come to a period in the human experience when maybe there is again a more general recognition of that. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, incarcerated for his attempt on the life of Hitler in the dark days of national socialism in the depths of the Second World War, wrote Letters and Papers From Prison, which is a marvelous spiritual testament. He spoke about “man come of age,” and he had the sense that God was being edged out of the world. We all speak out of our own context, and his context was so vivid in his experience, of course. He was reflecting the high point in human culture, in the German civilization of the day, the high point in so many respects—highly educated, the arts, culture, technology, scientific achievement. It was as though in Bonhoeffer’s perception the human perception and human society had come to the point where we could do without the hypothesis of God. The human person in charge, shaping and determining his or her own world, having the reins of one’s own © Grand Valley State University   �Our Hearts Are Restless… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   destiny in one’s hands. I am sure as Bonhoeffer traverses the celestial courts in the company of the Church Triumphant he must shake his head at this near end of the 20th century. For, less than half a century later, there are all kinds of evidence of belief on the part of the human person. Some of it is rather bizarre. But it is not at all true that the human person has come through stage after stage after stage to where finally superstition or belief or faith are no longer necessary or present. We are as believing for good or ill, as superstitious, as gullible for good or ill, as I guess any previous generation. There’s a positive side to that, and that is a new openness, a new recognition that, as Bonhoeffer was living at the end of a couple hundred years of constant development and achievement through the exercise of human reason, human rationale, he recognized the faithlessness of that—the assertion of human rationality and human autonomy, and he saw it almost as the end of the process. We can look back over the last decades and see that making the human mind the measure of all things has brought us up empty. We have come to see that it’s not seeing is believing but that, in that invisible world of spirit, it is rather believing is seeing that is the perceptive mode by which we gain insight and understanding. In this season of Epiphany we celebrate the fact that that which is not available at the disposal of our human investigation has been given to us as gift in the gracious God who unveils that heart of love at the center of things deep down. This is what Paul discovered. I find myself returning to this experience of Paul in Athens again and again. It fascinates me. He had such hutzpah. Here he was, this Jew, who was convinced that God spoken supremely in Jesus who was the Messiah. He goes to the very font of western culture and civilization, to the height of academic achievement, to Athens itself, and has the audacity when asked about his beliefs to say, “I saw an image. You are very religious, and I saw an image with an inscription to an unknown God. This unknown God whom you worship, I proclaim to you.” Is that boldness? Is that daring? Is that the passion of faith and conviction? I guess it is. Some of you were with me in Athens this past September as I stood at Mars Hills. I even have a photograph to prove it. We talked together about the experience of Paul in Athens. It disturbs me a little bit that Paul was disturbed when he came there having done the city tour, because he was at the center of the highest achievement of human culture and civilization. He was provoked. At least as Luke tells us the story, he was provoked because of the pantheon of gods and goddesses. I wanted to say, “Paul, don’t you have some appreciation for the marvel that is this cultural achievement? Don’t you have some sense of the glory that is Greece?” But then I remember that Paul was catching that culture and civilization as its fame was fading. He was seeing only the dying embers of what once had been the brilliant light, the most brilliant light of human achievement. Cultures have their © Grand Valley State University �Our Hearts Are Restless… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   dawn and their zenith and their fading away. So perhaps I can forgive Paul for not standing in awe on Mars Hill in the presence of the Parthenon, because what he saw in the marketplace in that time, 500 years after the Golden Age of Greece – what he saw there were the academic intellectual discussions that had become mere play, mere games. They weren’t serious any more. They lacked passion and conviction. They were just philosophical discussions, the way to spend an idle hour. They enjoyed this kind of thing. Luke tells us that they did nothing but discuss things and ideas all day long. Well, that can be a wonderful pursuit, but it can also be an empty pursuit, a superficial pursuit, a pursuit that has not the pulsing passion of life and conviction about it. That’s what Paul ran into. When he came to Athens he was at a hinge point in history. Five hundred years after its glory, it had degenerated into mind games. And he proclaimed Jesus, and he said, “The God whom you grope after—you’re very religious.” Paul didn’t say that was of no account. He didn’t denigrate it. He acknowledged the quest. He honored the yearning. And then he said, “Let me tell you about the one who is behind all of those representations that you have set out in your pantheon of gods and goddesses. Let me proclaim to you the one who is the font of life, the creator who gives us life and breath, the one in whom we live and move and have our being. This one I declare to you, this one who has become unveiled to us in Jesus, this man appointed by God to reveal, to redeem, to judge and to save.” Paul proclaimed Jesus as the light that gives insight into the heart of God, which is what John, of course, testified to in the marvelous prologue to his gospel—this one who is light and life coming from God who is the source of life and light—this one becoming flesh and dwelling among us so that we could behold him. “No one,” John says, “has ever seen God.” But this one, as a father’s only son, this one, has made God known. That’s what Paul believed. He had his own Epiphany experience. Paul never turned his back on his own tradition either, nor did he disparage Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and the Law. But he had come deeply rooted in all that, then to be uprooted suddenly in the brilliance of the light of the risen one who encountered him and called him to take this light of the knowledge of the Eternal God to the nations, this God whose heart was laid bare in the flesh of Jesus. So at that critical hinge point in history, Paul was able to let go, as it were, and not to cling to all of what had absolutely shaped him and formed him and about which he had conviction and passion. He was able to let go in order to respond to the heavenly vision. He said, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, believing in the Christ, reigning present in the Spirit.” He came to Athens, mighty Athens itself, in a time of its own decline to say, “Here’s light and here is life. Here’s the Eternal God whom you seek, the God whom you grope after; this insatiable hunger of the human heart, this inevitable yearning and groping satisfied through the God unveiled in Jesus Christ.” That’s the story of Epiphany © Grand Valley State University �Our Hearts Are Restless… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   and that’s the God in whom we believe. And our hearts are restless until we find our rest in that God. I used to wonder whether the enterprise into which I was entering as a young preacher had any future. With white-knuckled intensity, with great defensiveness and fear, overcompensating I suppose with bombast, I tried to hard sell the Gospel, not knowing that there’s a hole in the human heart. If only we can find access, because the human heart is hungry for God, and human beings are insatiably religious. We are learning again in our day that is not seen as believing, but that faith itself is a manner of perception, and in believing we see. But, even then, I can’t stop there, for the moment I believe and I see, I’ll begin to think again. And, when I begin to think again, I’ll find that my heart cannot long rest where my mind cannot follow. I was going to bed last night at midnight. I set the alarm and suddenly I got the note pad out and scratched something down. Nancy said, “Bingo.” I said, “Bingo, that’s it.” The heart cannot long rest where the mind cannot follow. If that resting place in God, which might happen in an overwhelming moment, cannot be tested by our experiences in full light of all that we know and understand, its foundation will not last. Therefore, for our day, just as Paul did for his day, as Martin Luther did for his day, at every hinge point in human history, what we need to do today, – also at the end of an age, perhaps at the twilight of western culture and civilization: twilight, not because of some inevitable historical determinism, but because conviction and passion dissipate, confusion reigns, and easy tolerance and lack of conviction may be at the end of this our western cultural experience – what we need to do is find a way to say, “Jesus Christ, today—for tomorrow.” I heard a very eloquent speaker recently who represents the very finest of evangelicalism, who gave a very accurate and articulate description of our contemporary situation—with its confusion, and its chaos, and with its crises. His call was to go back and to capture the clarity and conviction of the 16th century. I wanted to stand up and say, “No. You can never go back.” That which ignited passion and instilled conviction because it was the confession and profession of the moment in its context can never be simply dusted off and polished up and set in use again. What we need to do is to believe so deeply today in the grace of God that we’ll be able to let go, let go of all of that that has shaped us and formed us, not afraid but trusting in the Spirit who beckons us into the future, the Spirit whom Jesus said “would come and lead you into all truth.” Even John in that day recognized that there were things that they could not handle, but that would be revealed subsequently by the Spirit. Why should we believe that process ever stopped? Just as Paul had to let go in order to proclaim something grander and brighter than ever he knew, so we today have to be able to let go and to rest in that grace. © Grand Valley State University �Our Hearts Are Restless… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Our hearts are restless and we rest in God, but resting there with freedom and joy to find the way to say to our neighbors, to those with whom we work, our family, our children and grandchildren, “Come, walk with us in the Light, which is the Life, which has come to us through the Eternal God who created all things and whose heart was laid bare in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Come walk with us, for you are hungry, and there’s food and drink in this One.” Said, maybe in a new way, in new shapes and forms— nonetheless, the same Light, the Light of the world, Jesus Christ, our Lord. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cc2cb999dcc27739ce795bb5e6cb3aef.mp3 5754253f0216b64e5e7faacce068f812 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany III Scripture Text Acts 17:27, John 1:9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19940123 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-01-23 Title A name given to the resource Our Hearts Are Restless Until... Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 23, 1994 entitled "Our Hearts Are Restless Until...", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 17:27, John 1:9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Epiphany Grace of God Love at the core of reality Spiritual Quest