42 24 1045 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/610e8e2edd49d0fea005bf07ce7efef4.mp3 a39babbc66e586e3424c747897882101 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 Luke 19:9-10 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19860126 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-01-26 Title A name given to the resource You are Something Wonderful 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 26, 1986 entitled "You are Something Wonderful", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 19:9-10. 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/d778c67c81c99b2616ca6ebee5b49ec2.mp3 135f7c87af16b482979ee3b0b2b44870 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany II Scripture Text Philippians 4:6-7 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-0-19860119 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-01-19 Title A name given to the resource God's Cure for Anxiety 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 19, 1986 entitled "God's Cure for Anxiety", on the occasion of Epiphany II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Philippians 4:6-7. 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/b3c5c0b8e41c3d02e9519495c15162a2.mp3 a461e547f48b637fee05c5dbf2e34218 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 I Scripture Text Psalm 42:1-2, Matthew 2:2 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-0-19860112 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-01-12 Title A name given to the resource The Heart's Yearning: The Quest for God 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 12, 1986 entitled "The Heart's Yearning: The Quest for God", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 42:1-2, Matthew 2:2. 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/1457f7f572c90827a5783eef3d2c4407.mp3 f9cf3a39871b1f101155fe4f0c81bb44 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9259f1630daf2d1881bd95005839e647.pdf f1dadf7ecec7f9251fe4c1954f69bb8f PDF Text Text His Light, Our Life Text: John 1: 4-5, 9; Isaiah 9: 2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Christmastide II, January 5, 1986 Transcription of the spoken sermon All that came to be was alive with His life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines on in the dark, and the darkness has never mastered it…. The real light which enlightens every man was even then coming into the world. John 1: 4-5, 9 The prophet, announcing the birth of a child destined to be a Deliverer of his people, a foreshadowing of the Child the Deliverer, cried out, The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: Light has dawned upon them, dwellers in a land as dark as death. Isaiah 9: 2 The world has always known darkness, darkness that describes the tragedy and disaster that seems in every age to be present, a people living under the shadow of death. There is always enough darkness to go around. People cannot find their way; nations threaten, posture, and maneuver. One-upmanship is common in interpersonal relations. Anxious people, driven people, ruthless people, restless people. The world certainly knows enough darkness to go around. The newspapers and news magazines are full of the chronicle of the world's darkness. It is darkness that makes for news and we are bombarded with it daily— on the hour—even in continual stream from the news networks. Terrorism is the darkening shadow over our world. Ironically, it would seem that the super powers are at a standoff; we've looked at the horror of a nuclear winter and realized a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought, to use our President’s words. But what will we do with Khadafy? What if it is proven that it was Libyan agents that engineered the brutal murders at Rome and Vienna? Saudi Arabia has warned against military retaliation, claiming it will only escalate the round of terrorist activity and, I must say, I think they are right. © Grand Valley State University   �His Light, Our Life Richard A. Rhem Page 2   A Jew once said, "They that live by the sword shall die by the sword," but Israel has determined she will live by the sword and we stand in admonition of her ability to retaliate. But does that stop terrorism? Does it not only move it up a notch? Where will it end? Last evening’s news showed the most recent graduates of a splinter PLO group for whom Arafat is not militant enough. Their training complete in the Syrian mountains, they are ready to die for the cause of Palestinian liberation; their commitment is total, their fanatical zeal frightening. Khadafy says if we strike Libya he will bring the war to the streets of Middle America. And, of course, he will. Darkness. There is always enough personal darkness to go around, as well. Tension, betrayal, brokenness, grief—pain of a deeply personal nature is carried about by so many. Few of us escape deep wounds; most of us inflict deep hurt along the way. Darkness. This is the twelfth day of Christmas. This evening is called Twelfth Night. In some places gifts will be exchanged. Tomorrow is the day of Epiphany. The word means “manifestation.” The sign is a star; the central motif is "Light". Epiphany follows hard on Christmas because Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation—The Word became flesh—and the Word in flesh was Light to the World. The prophet announced the birth of a boy who would be a King and Deliverer. A ray of light scattered Israel's darkness. The Psalmist sang of the Lord, His Light and His salvation in the midst of life's severe testings. Light is a major theme of John's Gospel. Darkness shrouds, hides, mystifies, provides a cover for all manner of evil. Light reveals, clarifies, opens up, illuminates. Some years ago while traveling in California we were driving to Yosemite National Park where we had reservations for the night. Being unfamiliar with the territory and trying to do too many things along the way, night came and darkness fell before we reached our destination. Road signs were few. I thought I was going in the right direction but I was uncertain. It was very dark and totally unfamiliar; I proceeded with all the anxiety that accompanies such uncertainty. We twisted and turned and traveled on, seeming to be descending. And we were. Although I did not know it, we were descending into a cavernous canyon with walls of sheer rock. © Grand Valley State University �His Light, Our Life Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I had never before "felt" the darkness. It was almost tangible. Finally we came on a light, a sign, and we arrived at the lodge. But where we were or what the environment was, I had no idea except that it was the blackest darkness I had ever known. In the morning I stepped out of the room to see where in the world I was and it was a startling moment, for I stepped out in dazzling sunlight and found I was in a very deep canyon. Behind the lodge was a wall of sheer rock towering skyward. And falling from its height was a magnificent waterfall. The whole world was transformed by the rising sun, the coming of the Light. The darkness was dissipated; no more was there a sense of foreboding. Everything was transformed; the light had come. Epiphany is the celebration of the Light that came into the world at Christmas. The Word was made flesh and the flesh was the person of Jesus who said, "I am the Light of the world". John's Gospel uses certain ideas with which to tell the story of Jesus. Two words used in close cooperation are light and life. The prologue to the Gospel (verses 118) is a magnificent portrayal of God's movement out of eternity creating the cosmos, our time and space, and then moving into that very time and space to claim creation as her own. The themes with which John will build his Gospel find expression in this opening section and here we find his claim that the Word was life and that life was the Light of humankind. Listen: All that came to be was alive with His life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines on in the dark, and the darkness has never mastered it….The real light which enlightens every man was even then coming into the world. John 1: 4-5, 9 Beginning before creation, portraying creation as the cosmic framework for the revelation of Himself, building to the climactic statement of verse 14, "The Word became flesh", we have the deepest truths of God, the cosmos and the human family revealed. What an amazing story is here unfolded; here we have the miracle and mystery of Christmas and Epiphany conjoined. Here we are told that God is the source of the world's life and that in the revelation of Himself we have light. In the climactic statement of 1:14, "The World became flesh", or, as we might more simply state it "The Word became a human person" we have an amazing declaration. We are told that the mind and heart and deepest being of God came to expression in the humanity of Jesus. The first movement from the depths of God's being out of the depth of eternity was the movement of creation. John's claim is that what came to expression in Jesus, in the beginning, had come to expression in creation itself. God's Word—His mind, creative intention, will and © Grand Valley State University �His Light, Our Life Richard A. Rhem Page 4   loving nature was expressing itself in the creation of the world. We cannot miss this for John begins as Genesis begins: In the beginning… God is manifesting Himself in the creation of the world. God is manifesting Himself most fully and completely in the creation of Jesus—In Jesus what comes to expression in the fullest expression of God's intention in creation. In the film, "The Creation of the Universe" run recently on public television, the most eminent scientists of the world, some studying the cosmos through radio telescopes and some studying the intricacies of the nuclei of the atom, spoke of the quest for the one unifying formula or concept that lies at the mystery of the structure of all reality. They declared that when discovered it will be both profoundly beautiful and profoundly simple. A spark of energy, smaller than an atom, we are told, exploded into the Big Bang and the whole expanding cosmic drama continues as its unfolding. Those standing on the threshold of reality's secrets evidence an appropriate awe before the mystery and grandeur of the creation. Some seem open to spelling the heart of the mystery GOD. The God who in the beginning called all things into being was giving expression to His idea, His Word, His will. The Logos, the mind and heart and will of God, were expressing themselves in the creation of the cosmos. The inner Being of God was flowing out into the world. At the critical moment, in the fullness of time, the Inner Being, the Logos, the Word became flesh. The Word became a human person! That is the miracle of Christmas. God in human form; God within the structures of time and space; God in our history, one of us. Emmanuel. The creative movement of God in creating the cosmos moved even more dramatically in that the very Being of God now became incarnate in Jesus. Thus the amazing truth is that Seeing into the face of Jesus is seeing into the heart of God. This truth was expressed by the writer of the Hebrews: When in former times God spoke to our forefathers, he spoke in fragmentary and varied fashion through the prophets. But in this the final age he has spoken to us in the Son whom he has made heir to the whole universe, and through whom he created all orders of existence: the Son who is the effulgence of God’s splendor and the stamp of God’s very being. Hebrews 1: 1-3 The same theme is sounded here as in John's prologues. © Grand Valley State University �His Light, Our Life Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Paul wrote the following: The whole universe has been created through him and for him and He exists before everything, and all things are help together in him…. For in him the complete being of God, by God’s own choice, came to dwell. Colossians 1: 17-19 That is an amazing conception of things! Again the same theme is expressed. The God whose idea, reason, Word brought into being creation, now finds expression in Jesus, a human person. Again: Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all being comes, towards whom we move; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came to be, and we through him. I Corinthians 8: 6 And again in one of my favorite statements: 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 5: 6 The One, True and Eternal God is the Creator, and is our Saviour! Out of the abyss of His Being flows creation's wonder, the human family in His image, and, Jesus, in whom His fullness dwells and in whom we see into the Father's heart. Light is the symbol of God's life giving, creative action. The light took the human form of Jesus, and, now here is the great, hopeful affirmation of the Gospel The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John loved to use words with a double meaning. The word "overcome" can also mean "comprehend". The text could be translated that way, meaning the world simply does not understand God's action. And that is true. At the darkest moment of human history, as He was being crucified, Jesus prayed: "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing." And they didn't. And we so often do not. And the terrorists do not. And the darkness reigns. But not completely; for the promise of the Gospel is—now translated "overcome"that the light shines on in the darkness and the darkness has not—nor ever will it—overcome the light. © Grand Valley State University �His Light, Our Life Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Child of God, the world is still full of darkness; but the light shines on, and will shine on until that day when all the earth and the whole cosmos will be ablaze with Light. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world. He who believes in me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12) His life, our Light, now and forever. Thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ! Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmastide II Scripture Text John 1:4-5, 9, Isaiah 9:2 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-0-19860105 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-01-05 Title A name given to the resource His Light, Our Life 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 5, 1986 entitled "His Light, Our Life", on the occasion of Christmastide II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:4-5, 9, Isaiah 9:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Christmastide Creator Divine Intention Jesus Light Mystery https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8df493766ddfe3ee7b83101db8deafb2.mp3 eaefa1bd926930f8f2acf458785087d6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmastide I Scripture Text Luke 2:29-32 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-0-19851229 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-12-29 Title A name given to the resource Peace at the End 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 December 29, 1985 entitled "Peace at the End", on the occasion of Christmastide I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 2:29-32. 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/a748f5fe36a168f00f8659bb6c0273c8.mp3 32f591b058308dc1d4d6a132c11bdbe8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent IV Scripture Text Isaiah 7:14, John 3:16 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19851222 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-12-22 Title A name given to the resource Saviour of the World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 December 22, 1985 entitled "Saviour of the World", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 7:14, John 3:16. 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/264d5834425cc69103038c7a2e5d1e16.mp3 bad34bd955aceaba073d8e7b27b782fc https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ae91d9c2f20a64a447bc4cd0b6195a3a.pdf 79f5f7b94edba797fa64a6e412e07d31 PDF Text Text Why I Believe in Purgatory Text: I Corinthians 3: 14-15; Luke 12: 47-48 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent, December 15, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon Purgatory is a foreign word in a Protestant pulpit. It is even a greater surprise to find it in a title such as I have given to this message: "Why I Believe In Purgatory." Perhaps it is just a teaser: baiting you a bit to get you to return - an attention catcher. You will have to judge that for yourself when we are finished. In the meantime, I must declare the seriousness with which I am treating the subject. Purgatory conjures up all sorts of ghosts in our minds and certainly there is much in the history of the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church with which I cannot agree. Yet there is a reality, a truth to which that teaching pointed, and we may well have missed that truth because our forefathers in the Reformation threw out the idea of Purgatory with all of the many abuses that went along with it. Before we get into the idea itself, let me remind you of our deliberations this Advent Season. We are considering the great questions of the End. The drama of history will have its End. That is Advent's theme: the King is coming. God will bring Creation to its consummation. We personally will have our End; we will die. And then what? We have affirmed that there is life after life. Death remains the last enemy but its sting has been removed; it is a conquered foe. The grave has been robbed of its fearsome power. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again; even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (I Thessalonians 4:14) Therefore we do not grieve as those who have no hope; we have a basis for comforting one another. We have seen, too, that the New Testament sets forth a double image of the End: Heaven and Hell, Glorification and Condemnation, Union with God and © Grand Valley State University   �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Separation from God. We quoted the pithy statement of C.S. Lewis in The Great Divorce: There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." (p. 66F) The traditional teaching of the Church and the conventional understanding of most of the Church is simply that those who receive Christ will be saved and those who reject him will be damned. But a little sober reflection - and reflection on this subject ought to be sober shows us that the matter is not quite that simple. Even if those who are exposed to the Gospel are judged on their acceptance or rejection of Christ - what about those who never heard? What about those who die in infancy? What about the mentally impaired? A further serious question: What about those who have been terribly wounded by the Church itself? What about those who have been abused as children and are never able to trust? What about those who have received only a perversion and distortion of the Gospel? It would seem that we must begin to make some exception, some qualification. Then, too, we have noted that the witness of the New Testament is not consistent. Several texts in Matthew and Revelation especially speak of eternal torment but several statements in Paul's letters seem to point in the direction of universal salvation. Therefore I raised the question whether or not it might be possible that God's grace might finally triumph in the case of all persons; whether God would finally be "all in all" with every remnant of opposition to His Rule of Grace wiped out. I suggested that perhaps God's "Yes" to us in Jesus might be stronger than our "No." God respects our response. He will never coerce. His is always a gracious invitation. Therefore, just as our "no" turned to "yes" by His grace must be authentically our own, just so our "no" maintained is always a possibility. It remains a possibility and witnesses to the seriousness of our decision. But what if in His infinite patience He never gives up? (I asked you whether you hoped Hell might be finally empty.) I suspect you have thought about that. I suspect, too, I would receive a variety of responses. Let us admit at the outset we cannot know the answer to the question as to whether Hell will finally consume some eternally or whether Grace will finally triumph completely. In either case, the reality of judgment is a reality through which we all must pass. There is a double judgment for each of us. First, the judgment regarding eternal © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 3   salvation. Second, the judgment regarding the character of our lives - the story we write with our lives. The first is determined by our relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour of the world. God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:17 And Paul declared, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1 In John's Gospel we read: Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24 Thus judgment is passed. The verdict is not still out. The acquittal has been granted. We possess new eternal life. But there is a second aspect to judgment that remains to be experienced by every person, that is the judgment of our work or our lives. This judgment has nothing to do with whether a person is saved or lost. This judgment has to do with seeing our lives in God's light, seeing our lives played out before us in His presence. The main contention of this message is that God is not done with us at the moment of our death. I can base that contention on Scripture in regard to those who die trusting in God through Jesus Christ. I will suggest that the possibility of an "empty hell" can be based only on the possibility of a continuing process of encounter between God and the person who dies without an experience of His grace. Let us first look at the Scripture. To begin with, we must recognize that there is not much to go on because the whole thrust of Scripture is the imperative to repentance and faith and the whole stress is on the urgency of decision. Yet there are indications that there is something more. Our first Scripture investigation is Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 3. Let me acknowledge immediately that this passage can be used only indirectly for the purposes of establishing the main contention of this message - namely that God is not done with us at the moment of our death. Paul is talking to a particular © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 4   congregation about a specific problem - divisions in the Church. Dealing with that issue he decries the choosing up of sides, identifying with one leader rather than another and thus forming factions in the Church. He points to the one foundation of the Church, Jesus Christ, and says all who build on that foundation, which he had himself laid in Corinth, must take care how they build. But all are co-laborers. Whether they plant or water, they work as a team. I Corinthians 3:8 That refers to the image of the garden. One plants, one waters, but God makes it grow. The image of the building picks up the idea of foundation and superstructures. Christ is the foundation. He, Paul, Apollos and the other apostles build the superstructure. If they build well the building will stand; if they build of faulty materials the building will not meet the test. This is where we touch our interest - the idea of judgment: This is not a judgment regarding one's eternal salvation; this is a judgment of one's works or a judgment of one's life. This is a judgment through which all God's children will pass. The question is not whether one will be finally redeemed and enter the presence of God - enter "heaven." The question is how will one fare as one's life comes under the scrutiny of the Eternal God. The text speaks specifically about ministers of the Gospel and the building of the Church. I do not think we err, however, in seeing what here has a specific focus as being generally true of all persons regarding their life's issue whether that be in building churches or building houses or laboring in business or industry or living in community, nation, family. Will the things to which we devote our lives, our time, our energy stand God's refining process or will they go up in smoke? Notice: The one who builds with precious stones, gold and silver, will see his creation stand the test. He enters life beyond life with something good and positive going with him. The one who builds with wood, hay, straw - one who cuts corners and just gets by will see his life's devotion consumed before his eyes. But now note carefully: He will bear the loss but he himself will escape with his life, as one might from a fire. Such a person will enter life beyond life having lost everything, secure in God's eternal presence, yet with nothing to show for his life. © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 5   From this text I conclude that there is beyond death or through death an encounter with God in which one's life will be tested. The issue will not be salvation or condemnation. The issue is whether we bring into God's presence something, or nothing. Now I am going beyond the text's specific teaching but drawing, I believe, a legitimate inference from the text: Through death, beyond death, at death, there is something more. Does this text not indicate that Paul thought in terms of encounter with God and perhaps continuing the process beyond death? If it is a matter simply of being saved or lost as we enter the moment of death - if there is a status called "Salvation" and a status called "Condemnation," and that is all there is, then why be concerned about what one brings to death's moment: a fruitful life, or a barren life? I see in our text Paul's conviction that there is not only the discontinuity between our time and God's eternity, death being the break, but also continuity between this life and the life beyond death's passage. We bring something (or nothing) with us and whatever lies beyond is influenced and determined by what we bring (or fail to bring.) Let us look at one more text: Luke 12:47-48. These verses are in a context of the teachings of Jesus. The immediate context is a call to be watchful and ready for the End - the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus is encouraging loyal, faithful stewardship of life. Happy that servant who is found at his task when his master comes! (Verse 43) But then Jesus speaks of two kinds of servants. One knew the master's instructions and failed to comply with them. The other did not comply either, but he was unaware of the demands. The first was flogged severely; the second was flogged less severely. This vivid, picturesque language of Jesus must not be pushed too far. We certainly could not build a whole system of judgment on the basis of these words. Yet, perhaps it is legitimate to draw at least this teaching: the sentence will vary in light of individual circumstances. Again, we have here not a judgment to eternal salvation or eternal condemnation; we have here a gradation of judgment on the basis of the individual life being examined. The moment of death, the moment of encounter with God will be very personal, individual and discriminating. The sentences will vary. Does this point to a process beyond death's moment? If this were the only text it would be risky to claim so. But again, this seems to point in the direction of Paul's teaching explained above. To be sure, the Luke passage speaks of a gradation of severity of judgment depending on knowledge or opportunity while the Pauline passage © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 6   speaks of entering God's presence beyond the testing of judgment – with positive fruit of one's life, or denuded of whatever constituted one's life. Yet in both cases there is judgment in terms of one's life being put to the test and then the entering into the consequences of what that judgment revealed. The traditional understanding of our texts is that, in the case of the Luke passage, there are gradations of punishment - yet to be lost, eternally condemned is to remain in a state spoken of as hell - separation from God. In the case of the passage from Paul, the understanding has been that the "saved" enter into heaven, or union with God, but some with greater, some with less capacity to experience the joy of salvation. But let us push those conventional interpretations. Let me repeat what I said earlier: we cannot finally know answers which remain for us veiled in mystery. Yet it is important to come to some place where we can live with faith, conviction and peace. Think with me then; let your imagination loose. Think about the God of grace, His creation purpose, His covenant faithfulness, His final triumph over all. Think about the whole impact of the Scriptural revelation beyond individual texts. I entitled this message, "Why I Believe in Purgatory," because I did want to grasp your attention. Surely you know that in a day when Catholic theology itself is very self-critical and is engaged in serious encounter with Scripture, I am not about to suggest we reinstitute a teaching that has been a means of distortion of the Gospel and open to great abuse. We cannot forget that it was precisely at the point of the teaching of indulgences, the exploitation of the faithful for purposes of raising money and manipulating people, holding them in spiritual bondage, that the Reformers rose up in protest. But my title is more than a ploy. It expresses a conviction to which I have come through study and reflection, which is as much a surprise to me as it may be to you. I am convinced that, behind all indefensible practice and abuse of the Church, there is yet a true intuition. There has been over the centuries a sense that God was not through with us at the moment of our last breath. Now the traditional Reformed faith never said He was through with us; there remains the judgment with its double issue - to salvation or condemnation. But the traditional teaching has been that with the last breath the issue is irreversible. It is this claim that I am calling in question. I do recognize that the strong call to decision, the seriousness of choices in this life is stressed. I would not deny that or even downplay the urgency of that call. However, is it not possible that in the experience of death itself, understood as an encounter with God, there is the possibility of something of eternal significance occurring? I raise the question for reflection. Let me share with you some of the best thinking available on the subject. My first serious consideration of the idea of purgatory or the reality toward which that © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 7   teaching points was in Berkhof’s Christian Faith. Because of my high regard for the thoroughness of his scholarship, depth of biblical and theological understanding, and deep personal faith in Christ, I had to take seriously his suggestion that there was really something here to be taken seriously. In his discussion of the judgment of the works done by believers, which we discussed above, Berkhof writes: In protestant theology, this viewpoint is almost completely pushed aside by the accent on grace. In Roman Catholic piety it is (or used to be) very prominent in connection with the veneration of saints and purgatory. The Roman Catholic Church assumes correctly that believers differ greatly in regard to their progress and fruitfulness... So the idea of a judgment according to one's deeds leads of itself to the consideration of a process of purification, called purgatory in Roman Catholic tradition. ... The Reformation broke with that doctrine because of its moralistic conception of salvation and its detrimental effect on the practice of piety (indulgences; intercessory prayers and masses for the dead.) It imagined a sudden, radical transformation after the judgment, usually without giving it further theological reflection and without connecting it with the struggle for sanctification on earth. Meanwhile Roman Catholic thinking, too, has become much more reserved. Typical of the modern R.C. conceptions is the idea of "ripening" ... which K. Rahner develops in "The Life of the Dead." Referring to our text, I Corinthians 3:15, Berkhof asserts, ... that statement does suggest that Paul thought of more than an abrupt re-creation of man; salvation is accompanied by a painful becoming aware of one's own failures on earth. The difficulties here are more an open question for theological reflection than a subject for back and forth theological denouncement. (p. 489) In the previous message I cited Berkhof s statement about the question of whether "Hell" was forever. He writes: God is serious about the responsibility of our decision, but he is even more serious about the responsibility of his love. The darkness of rejection and God's forsakenness cannot and may not be argued away, but no more can and may it be eternalized. For God's sake we hope that hell will be a form of purification. (p. 532) That word "purification" is one used by the Catholic theologian Hans Küng. It was Küng who stimulated me to pursue these matters. His forthright handling of them at the University of Michigan convinced me that these questions do not go away; they are deeply written on the human heart. In the published lectures © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 8   Eternal Life? Küng treats the idea of purgatory in his discussion of the question whether hell is eternal. Some theologians argue that it is not God who damns man by a verdict imposed from outside. They are human beings themselves, by sins committed with inward freedom, who damn themselves. The responsibility lies not with God but with man, and by death this selfdamnation and distance from God (not a place, but a human condition) becomes definitive. Definitive? Do not the psalms say that God rules over the realm of the dead? What is supposed to become definitive here, contrary to the will of an all-merciful and almighty God? Why should God, who is infinitely good, want to perpetuate enmity instead of removing it and in practice to share his rule forever with some kind of anti-God? Why should he have nothing more to say at this point and consequently render forever impossible a purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment, of guilt-laden man? (p. 137) Then he refers specifically to purgatory. Purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment: Here perhaps may be I want merely to prompt a few reflections - the particle of truth, the real care, of the problematic idea of purgatory, which has been translated in German from the Middle Ages onward with the unfortunate designation of Fegefeuer ("winnowing fire") -This may be the true core, but it remains only if the idea is not reified. ... as no human being is entirely bad, neither is anyone entirely good. Any human being, even the best, falls short of what he might be, fails to meet his own demands and norms and thus never wholly realizes himself. For if he is to be fully himself, even the "saint" needs completion, not after death, but in death itself. And, in view of so much unpunished guilt in the world, a number of people wonder not entirely wrongly - if dying unto God, the absolutely final reality, can be one and the same for us: The same for criminals and their victims, for mass murderers and the mass of the murdered; for those who have struggled a whole life long to fulfill God's will, true helpers of their fellow human beings, and for those who for a whole life long have only carried out their own will and at the same time shut out others? ...how this ... purification, cleansing, follows is not left to the speculation or calculation of human curiosity but remains a matter for God as merciful judge, in God's all-embracing final act of grace. The key idea Küng would stress is the shattering effect of the encounter with God. We die not into nothingness; we die into God. Küng cites Karl Barth: Man as such therefore has no beyond. Nor does he need one, for God is his beyond. Man's beyond is that God is his Creator, Covenant-partner, Judge and Saviour, was and is and will be his true Counterpart in life, and finally © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page 9   and exclusively and totally in death. (Church Dogmatics Vol. Ill, 2, pp. 632-33) Küng also cites a Catholic theologian, Greshake: From this standpoint we can understand what was pointed out earlier, that God himself, the encounter with him, is purgatory. But this means that we need not fall back on a special place or still less on a special time or special event to grasp the meaning of purgatory. Still less do we need to work out crude ideas about the 'poor' souls. Instead we can understand what the Church teaches and has taught from the earliest times as an element in the encounter with God in death. ... we should avoid any talk of fire and speak instead of purifying and cleansing as an element of the encounter with God. At the same time what should be particularly clear is that purgatory is not - as it often seems to be in popular piety - a "demihell" which God has erected in order to punish the person who is not entirely bad, but also not entirely good. Purgatory is not a demihell but an element of the encounter with God: that is, the encounter of the unfinished person, still immature in his love, with the holy, infinite, loving God; an encounter which is profoundly humiliating, painful and therefore purifying. (Cited on p. 139) Küng concludes, That is to say that, since it is a question of dying into the dimensions of God, where space and time are dissolved into eternity, nothing can be discovered, either about place and time or about the character of this purifying, sanctifying consummation. (p.139) A Lutheran theologian, Hans Schwarz, discusses the views of Tadislaus Boros who suggests something similar, the significance of the final decision at the moment of death. ... decisively modifies the traditional concepts of purgatory and death. Boros agrees that the Church has only gradually developed the doctrine of purgatory. Though the Scriptural basis of purgatory may be obscure, the fact and the essential nature of purgatory are of such quality that it must be called a "truth of revelation." However, through his hypothesis of a final decision, Boros seems to view purgatory as the "point" of intersection between life and death. Purgatory is no longer conceived of as a process of purification which can be measured similar to the days and years we live here on earth. According to Boros, "purgatory would be the passage, which we effect in our final decision through the purifying fire of divine love. The encounter with Christ would be our purgatory. ... Boros replaces an untenable concept of purgatory with the idea of a confrontation with Christ in death. ... he calls death "man's first completely personal act;" and, "therefore, by reason of its very being, the place above all others for © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page10   the awakening of consciousness, for freedom, for the encounter with God, for the final decision about eternal destiny." (On The Way To The Future, pp. 142F) It has been obvious to me as I have pursued this subject that those who have reflected on the biblical material, the whole context of Scripture, the revelation of God as He has shown Himself in Jesus Christ and the human person are very restrained in their conclusions and very cautious in their statement. There is in all serious inquirers into this question a recognition of the serious nature of human decisions, an acknowledgement of the urgent need for repentance and faith, the reality of evil and human wickedness that demands response if there is any justice, the judgment as the exposure of our lives to the scrutiny of the God of truth. All serious biblical thinkers recognize that God takes us seriously and that our wrong and guilt are not simply soft-pedaled and our exposure to God's light and truth will be painful even while we are conscious of being embraced within a larger grace. Judgment will be experienced: No one will "get away" with anything. If an eternal hell is questioned, it is not because passing through God's final examination is not a serious matter and neither is it because there is no sense of the need for change and renewal of the person who through the earthly pilgrimage has become scarred and tainted and twisted. Recognizing that we cannot simply move from the ambiguity, partial insight, fickleness and unfaithfulness of one's human experience into the presence of the God of light and truth, there is the belief on the part of some that a purifying process will be necessary. What have we believed traditionally? Simply that God sees us in Jesus; his righteousness is our righteousness now and when we pass through death to life we will be made like him - instant perfection. What I am questioning in this message is the instant perfection. Certainly the question is not whether God is able in a moment to totally transform us. But does He ever work as far as we can trace His work in Creation apart from process? How often we wish He would work by a "snap of the finger;" but God takes time and allows the process to work. Further, we must recognize that we can only think in terms of time but when we speak of moving through "the moment of death," what do we mean? At that "moment" we move beyond "moments in succession" - we move into the dimension of Eternity. It is far beyond our purpose or capacity to enter into the discussion of time relative to eternity here, but we must not naively project our time-conditioned thinking beyond death. © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page11   C. S. Lewis has dealt as creatively and profoundly as anyone of whom I am aware with the question of heaven, hell and purgatory. He points to the relation of time and eternity in a fascinating imaginary discussion with the Christian writer, George MacDonald: 'In your own books, Sir,' said I, 'you were a Universalist. You talked as if all men would be saved. And St. Paul too.' 'Ye can know nothing of the end of all things, or nothing expressible in those terras. It may be, as the Lord said to the Lady Julian, that all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well. But it's ill talking of such questions.' ‘Because they are too terrible, Sir?’ 'No. Because all answers deceive. If ye put the question from within Time and are asking about possibilities, the answer is certain. The choice of ways is before you. Neither is closed. Any man may choose eternal death. Those who choose it will have it. But if ye are trying to leap on into eternity, if ye are trying to see the final state of all things as it will be (for so ye must speak) when there are no more possibilities left but only the Real, then ye ask what cannot be answered to mortal ears. Time is the very lens through which ye see - small and clear, as men see through the wrong end of a telescope - something that would otherwise be too big for ye to see at all. That thing is Freedom: the gift whereby ye most resemble your Maker and are yourselves parts of eternal reality. But ye can see it only through the lens of Time, in a little clear picture, through the inverted telescope. It is a picture of moments following one another and yourself in each moment making some choice that might have been otherwise. Neither the temporal succession nor the phantom of what ye might have chosen and didn't is itself Freedom. They are a lens. The picture is a symbol: but it's truer than any philosophical theorem (or, perhaps, than any mystic's vision) that claims to go behind it. For every attempt to see the shape of eternity except through the lens of Time destroys your knowledge of Freedom. Witness the doctrine of Predestination which shows (truly enough) that eternal reality is not waiting for a future in which to be real, but at the price of removing Freedom which is the deeper truth of the two. And wouldn't Universalism do the same? Ye cannot know eternal reality by a definition. Time itself, and all acts and events that fill Time, are the definition, and it must be lived. The Lord said we were gods. How long could ye bear to look (without Time's lens) on the greatness of your own soul and the eternal reality of her choice?' (The Great Divorce, p. 114 F.) In his imaginary conversation with MacDonald, Lewis is told that it is possible for people in hell to take holiday excursions to the boundaries of the heavenly country, Lewis exclaims, © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page12   'But I don't understand. Is" judgement not final? Is there really a way out of Hell into Heaven?' 'It depends on the way ye're using the words. If they leave that grey town behind it will not have been Hell. To any that leaves it, it is Purgatory. And perhaps ye had better not call this country Heaven. Not Deep Heaven, ye understand.' (Here he smiled at me). Ye can call it the Valley of the Shadow of Life. And yet to those who stay here it will have been Heaven from the first. And ye can call those sad streets in the town yonder the Valley of the Shadow of Death: but to those who remain there they will have been Hell even from the beginning.' I suppose he saw that I looked puzzled, for presently he spoke again. 'Son,' he said, 'ye cannot in your present state understand eternity: when Anodos looked through the door of the Timeless he brought no message back. But ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all their earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me but have this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven; the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven", and the Lost, "we were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.' 'Is not that very hard, Sir?' 'I mean, that is the real sense of what they will say. In the actual language of the Lost, the words will be different, no doubt. One will say he has always served his country right or wrong; and another that he has sacrificed everything to his Art; and some that they've never been taken in, and some that, thank God, they've always looked after Number One, and nearly all, that, at least they've been true to themselves.' 'And the Saved?' © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page13   'Ah, the Saved ... what happens to them is best described as the opposite of a mirage. What seemed, when they entered it, to be the vale of misery turns out, when they look back, to have been a well; and where present experience saw only salt deserts, memory truthfully records that the pools were full of water.' 'Then those people are right who say that Heaven and Hell are only states of mind?' 'Hush,' said he sternly. 'Do not blaspheme. Hell is a state of mind - ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind - is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakable remains.' 'But there is a real choice after death? My Roman Catholic friends would be surprised, for to them souls in Purgatory are already saved. And my Protestant friends would like it no better, for they'd say that the tree lies as it falls.' "They're both right, maybe. Do not fash yourself with such questions. Ye cannot fully understand the relations of choice and Time till you are beyond both. And ye were not brought here to study such curiosities. What concerns you is the nature of the choice itself: and that ye can watch them making.' (The Great Divorce, pp. 61F.) Lewis' fertile imagination is thought provoking. Great caution is there; our curiosity will not be satisfied this side of death's portal. Yet it is clear that Hell, he seems to be saying, is porous. If one spends Eternity there or, conversely, if one never comes to the light, it will not be so much God's verdict as one's own fatal choice. Much lies veiled in mystery. Yet all that is needful is clear and how can it be more clearly set forth than simply, Now is the day of salvation; Now is the day to choose the things that matter, things of ultimate concern; now is the day to live faithfully - covenant with the Good and Gracious God. Then already we possess Eternal life and death will move us "from splendour to splendour 'til we see Him face to face." Amen. © Grand Valley State University �Why I Believe in Purgatory Richard A. Rhem Page14   References: Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith. Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979. Hans Küng. Eternal Life? Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical and Theological Problem. Doubleday, 1984. C. S. Lewis. The Great Divorce. First published by HarperCollins, 1946. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent III Scripture Text I Corinthians 3:14-15, Luke 12:47-48 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979 Hans K C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1946 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-0-19851215 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-12-15 Title A name given to the resource Why I Believe in Purgatory 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 December 15, 1985 entitled "Why I Believe in Purgatory", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Corinthians 3:14-15, Luke 12:47-48. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Death Eternity Forgiveness God of Grace Judgment Nature of God Purgatory Salvation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fd3e1a45c5ccdee19a20297a00082140.mp3 7ab1e0fe1367b6447a45ff865e14d25d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent II Scripture Text Matthew 25:32, Revelations 21:3 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core 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-0-19851208 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-12-08 Title A name given to the resource Heaven and Hell: The Double Image of the Future Creator 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 December 8, 1985 entitled "Heaven and Hell: The Double Image of the Future", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 25:32, Revelations 21:3. 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/c75614e6c706bdfd2fe6754571b6aaed.mp3 c1a13aa53db129e8a1d15093ed0f85e8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent I Scripture Text Isaiah 11:1, I Thessalonians 4:14, 17 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-0-19851201 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-12-01 Title A name given to the resource The Hereafter - Wishful Thinking Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 December 1, 1985 entitled "The Hereafter - Wishful Thinking", on the occasion of Advent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 11:1, I Thessalonians 4:14, 17. 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/2791b3195ad04dd2d1cd1d3d360264bf.mp3 01d5864195fa09b61e035813daa1d833 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Thanksgiving Scripture Text Genesis 12:3 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-0-19851128 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-11-28 Title A name given to the resource God's Strategy for a New World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 28, 1985 entitled "God's Strategy for a New World", on the occasion of Thanksgiving, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 12:3. 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/66c0b652a4bd4c312e30a4976d9edb6a.mp3 8332e7db20b6cef533be9086b3f4f536 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 XXVI Series This is Our Father's World Scripture Text Genesis 11:7, 9, Acts 2:8 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core 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-0-19851124 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-11-24 Title A name given to the resource The Chaos of Secularism and the Community of the Spirit 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 November 24, 1985 entitled "The Chaos of Secularism and the Community of the Spirit", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 11:7, 9, Acts 2:8. 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/83ea86d6e8f8eccfc4cb66938f5247b4.mp3 dde03e324bff6c56add29cc9d3888530 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ac774425ba1616e8a5e0b61f743dd599.pdf ee4ad2c16c4745e3534df8837730d4ba PDF Text Text The Judgment That Aims At Salvation From the sermon series: This Is Our Father’s World Text: Genesis 6: 5-6; Genesis 8: 21; Isaiah 54: 8 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 17, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon …The Lord saw that man had done much evil…his thoughts and inclinations were always evil, he was sorry he had made man…he was grieved at heart… Genesis 6: 5-6 …I will never again kill every living creature… Genesis 8: 21 …I hid my face from you for a moment; but now have I pitied you with a love which never fails… Isaiah 54:8 The story of the Flood in the early chapters of Genesis is a story of judgment and grace. That duality is found throughout the Scriptures. Judgment and grace are not, however, two equally balanced responses of God toward humankind, each equally ultimate. Rather, God's judgment is a means toward the end of Salvation. God judges a recalcitrant and resistant creation in order finally to redeem and recreate according to His eternal purpose of love. Judgment is God's instrument. Salvation is God's ultimate intention. The story of Noah and the Flood tells us of a resolve in the heart of God never to abandon His Creation but to stay with it with limitless patience and forebearance on the basis of a radical grace that will not finally be defeated. Thus the story of Noah and the Flood is not simply a curious, ancient tale from a stage of primitive religious development. Rather, it was finally cast in the written form in which we have it during the dark days of Judah's Exile as a proclamation of the faithfulness of the God of Israel, Who would yet remember and redeem His people. In a word, this story is a proclamation of the Gospel of Grace. Chapters six through nine of Genesis present an exceedingly dismal picture of the inclinations of the human heart and thus the fractured reality of the Creation © Grand Valley State University   �The Judgment That Aims At Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the betrayal of God's purpose of a faithful, harmonious created order in covenant with Himself. But these chapters present a most hopeful picture of the resolve of the heart of God to stay with, renew and redeem Creation, which has run afoul of His purposes. These chapters then are gospel, Good News. We can be assured that this is our Father's world and we can rest in the deep assurance that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. The story is familiar and need not be rehearsed here. Let us rather begin by recognizing once again that Genesis 1-11 throughout is a preface to the history of God's redemptive action in our history. These eleven chapters are constituted by a series of episodes which reveal deep and ultimate convictions about God, the world and humankind, convictions which are the premise of the whole biblical story of God's saving action in the midst of the world's resistance and revolt. We have reflected on God's creative intention for humankind made in His image. We have examined the failed test in the case of Adam and Eve, the fatal choice to give way to jealous anger in the story of Cain and Abel. The fourth chapter points to the development of culture in the descendants of Cain and now we come to the story of Noah and the Flood. Yet these chapters are not really about a flood that covered the earth and an ark that some religious groups are still trying to locate. Much rather, these chapters relate the truth about the human condition and the response of God to that situation. The real drama of this story occurs in the heart of the Creator; this is a story about the grief and faithful love of God. The story is introduced by God's taking notice of the wickedness that corrupted His good creation and betrayed His purposes in Creation. Notice the anguish of God's heart and His decision to destroy what He had made: ... The Lord saw ... (vs. 5) …he was sorry he had made man ... (vs. 6) I will wipe them off the face of the earth ... (vs. 7) I intend to destroy them. (vs. 13) This sets the stage for the story. God's heart is grieved at the state of affairs He observes on earth. His first reaction is to destroy what He has made for He sees that evil has permeated to the core of the human heart and the corruption of Creation is complete. There is no hope that things might turn around of their own accord. It is a hopeless situation going from bad to worse. Destruction is God's determination. Creation has refused to be God's creation and God's decision is death to the whole world. The "very good" of Genesis 1:31 has become the "I will blot out" of this narrative. This story reminds us of the most severe preaching of the later prophets. © Grand Valley State University �The Judgment That Aims At Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 3   But, contrary to the human response to such a situation which would be anger, we find in the heart of God anguish; He is grieved in His heart. The evil heart of humankind troubles the heart of God. This is indeed "heart to heart" between humankind and God. How it is between humankind and God touches both parties. (Brueggemann, Genesis, p. 77) Thus we are dealing with a God Whose purposes have been betrayed, a God Who brings a serious charge against His creature and Who resolves to destroy, in light of the recalcitrance of the world; but we are not dealing with an angry tyrant Who might use His almighty power to crush in a fit of rage. This is not a hostile God Whose dignity has been offended. Rather, this is a God of gracious intent, willing life and harmony and completeness for His Creation, finding to His deep anguish that such purposes of loving intention are being resisted and betrayed. The world stands condemned; the sentence is destruction, but the sentence is rendered from an anguished heart, not from a jealous rage. Could God abandon His world? Could He bring it to an end? The answer of this story – a reflection of Israel's faith and understanding – is obviously, Yes, He could. He could change His mind about His Creation and bring to nothing that which He created out of nothing. Brueggemann writes: Can he abandon the world which he has so joyously created? That is a central question for Israel. Many people hold a view of God as unchanging and indifferent to anything going on in the world, as though God were a plastic, fixed entity. But Israel's God is fully a person who hurts and celebrates, responds and acts in remarkable freedom. God is not captive of old resolves. God is as fresh and new in relation to creation as he calls us to be with him. He can change his mind, so that he can abandon what he has made; and he can rescue that which he has condemned. (Ibid., p. 78) Thus Brueggemann points out we come to the heart of this narrative which has to do "not with a flood, but with a heavy, painful crisis in the dealings of God with creation." The real crisis is the crisis in the heart of God - "because of the resistant character of the world which evokes hurt and grief in the heart of God." What is going on here is a parallel of that familiar and moving passage from Hosea where the same conflict rages in the heart of God. Israel's unfaithfulness is documented; certain judgment will be the result. Yet that judgment cannot be the last word. How can I give you up, Ephraim, how surrender you, Israel? ... My heart is changed within me, my remorse kindles already. I will not let loose my fury, I will not turn round and destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst. Hosea 11:8-9 © Grand Valley State University �The Judgment That Aims At Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 4   And then we meet Noah and Noah won favor in the sight of the Lord. You know the story from that point - the ark, the rescue of some of all kinds of living creatures, the terrible flood and eventually the return of the dove with a sprig of olive branch, the dry land and an altar built to offer thanksgiving to God Who had surely judged but, rather than destroy, had saved Creation. Now Creation can begin again; this is a point of re-creation and a fresh start. Thus we find the resolution of the conflict in the heart of God. The sentence of death is overcome by a gift of new life. Grace prevails. God begins again with a resolve greater than that which prevailed at the beginning. Note the end of chapter 8. Noah and his family are restored to dry land and he builds an altar. In response God says, Never again will I curse the ground because of man, however evil his inclination may be from his youth upwards. I will never again kill every living creature, as I have just done. While the earth lasts, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall never cease. (8:21-22) Here is God's pledge of unwavering faithfulness to Creation; He will never destroy it. The conflict in His heart has been resolved and resolved in favor of mercy. A great change has occurred but the change is not in Creation nor in the heart of the creature; rather the change is in God Who determines to be gracious, come what may. It is critical to note that this resolve is not made in the light of the judgment that has just occurred in the belief that a fresh start will make everything all right. Notice the words "Never again ... however evil his inclinations may be from his youth upwards." To put it bluntly, God took the persistent evil of the human heart as a given and said I will redeem anyway. In this passage we have a statement of radical grace - a grace that saves because of God’s decision quite apart from human merit. Perhaps the wonder of this passage can best be seen by putting in juxtaposition two statements: The human situation is hopeless. God will redeem the human situation anyway. or In the creature himself there is no hope; the hope of the creature is God's grace alone. or Humankind is hopeless. Our hope is in God. © Grand Valley State University �The Judgment That Aims At Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Just as Hosea discovered, so the Genesis writer believed: God will never abandon the world or the people He has created. How can I give you up? By rights I should give you up! I cannot give you up! I will not give you up! He takes as his vocation not judgment but the resilient work of affirmation on behalf of the death-creature. The flood has effected an irreversible change in God, who now will approach his Creation with an unlimited patience and forbearance. To be sure, God has been committed to his Creation from the beginning. But this narrative traced a new decision on the part of God. Now the commitment is intensified. For the first time, it is marked by grief, the hurt of betrayal. It is now clear that such a commitment on God's part is costly. The God-world relation is not simply that of strong God and needy world. Now it is a tortured relation between a grieved God and a resistant world. And of the two, the real changes are in God. This is a key insight of the gospel against every notion that God stands outside of the hurt as a judge. (Ibid., p. 81) This story found written expression at the time of the Exile. A people under judgment through their own folly and disobedience heard this as a story of their God Who would never abandon them but finally bring them to salvation. Second Isaiah reminds the Exiles of the story of Noah and the Covenant pledge of the faithful God. For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you ... For this is like the days of Noah to me; as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you ... (Isaiah 54:7-10) Within the course of history judgment continues to occur. There is no sense of indifference to human wrong, no blasé attitude about creation's perversion and human sin. However, judgment is always embraced within the resolution to redeem and save. Judgment aims at salvation. This is the message of radical grace and our hope must rest in the God and grace and in nothing else. The Summit meeting brings the heads of State together. We pray for mutual understanding and progress with the reduction of world tension. But our hope is not in the negotiating skill of our leaders; our hope is in God, the Sovereign of the nations. © Grand Valley State University �The Judgment That Aims At Salvation Richard A. Rhem Page 6   In our personal lives, too, we encounter difficult experiences; we go through deep water. We do our best to handle the situation and we find what help and support we can. But finally our hope is in the God Who through His prophet said, When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. (Isaiah 43:2-3a) God has resolved in His own heart never to leave us nor forsake us. He will never abandon Creation. His steadfast love endures forever. Amen. Reference: Walter Brueggemann. Genesis: Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. John Knox Press, 1982. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XXV Series This is Our Father's World Scripture Text Genesis 6:5-6, 8:21, Isaiah 54:8 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Walter Brueggemann. Genesis: Interpretation: a Bible Commentary_, 1982 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19851117 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-11-17 Title A name given to the resource The Judgment That Aims at Salvation Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem 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 November 17, 1985 entitled "The Judgment That Aims at Salvation", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XXV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 6:5-6, 8:21, Isaiah 54:8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Intention Flood Genesis God's Radical Love Hebrew Scriptures Judgment Noah https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dc9db04259de56e78cea1300d9e677e2.mp3 d04cc1ee5f5f2f3eb40fc84becb7a3fb Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier 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 Installation of Peter Theune Pentecost XXIV Scripture Text Ephesians 3:17-18, 20-21 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19851110 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-11-10 Title A name given to the resource On the Threshold of Greatness Creator 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 November 10, 1985 entitled "On the Threshold of Greatness", on the occasion of Installation of Peter Theune, Pentecost XXIV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ephesians 3:17-18, 20-21. 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/ee8a36ba0b794e707ff1fc0cc8253975.mp3 35c4c0991c6b2bcf1efa8b271d2f16a0 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 XXIII Series This is Our Father's World Scripture Text Genesis 4:6, Luke 15:20, 28 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core 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-0-19851103 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-11-03 Title A name given to the resource Alienation and Homecoming Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 3, 1985 entitled "Alienation and Homecoming", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XXIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 4:6, Luke 15:20, 28. 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/045f1ed44d00c68d0de586feee0aac78.mp3 a3c63b3a70f42088495a9ecc872fb5eb https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/743dcb215101ac73b41b4cb8736b597d.pdf 7633130373880364236bb916d97c8ade PDF Text Text God’s Grace in Our Gloom From the sermon series: This is Our Father’s World Text: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20; 6: 2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Reformation Sunday, October 27, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them… II Corinthians 5: 19 …be reconciled to God. II Corinthians 5: 20 …now is the day of salvation. II Corinthians 6: 2 It is fitting that on Reformation Sunday we should address the theme, "God's Grace in Our Gloom,” because it was especially the Grace of God that came to expression in the 16th Century in the Reformation of the Church. It was the message of justification by faith, which was rooted in the gracious outreach of God toward His lost and straying children that was the good news of the Gospel that reverberated across the European continent. It was that message which had gotten buried under Traditionalism; that message, that good news which had been lost in the Church's control of people and its manipulation of people through tradition and structure and a kind of sacramental practice that did not come off as good news, but rather as bad news. God's grace in our gloom is a fit Reformation theme and it is also a fit subject for discussion of these early chapters of Genesis that we are looking for in these weeks. This is our Father's world, and in this world He has a struggle because He created us with the ability to disobey and turn our backs upon Him. He called us to a great destiny but gave us the freedom either to respond or not to respond and since He doesn't crush us or coerce us, since He doesn't use His almighty power to roll over us like a steam roller, but rather waits and pleads, there is built into the very structure of Creation the possibility that the one created in His image will not respond to Him, but rather will reject Him; will not find his peace in being the creature in the care of the Creator, but rather, as a rebel, will revolt against the Creator and the authority of God. © Grand Valley State University   �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The early chapters of Genesis are foundational for all that follows, and in Chapters two and three we find the creation of man and woman and their Temptation and Fall, falling out of fellowship with God and bringing with it all the consequences that came in the wake of that rebellion. As we look at these chapters, I want you to see that in Chapters one and two we really have two Creation accounts. We looked at the first Creation account the last two weeks; the fact that all there is, is because God said, "Let there be ..." And then the most fundamental fact about the human being - that he and she are created in the image of God. I said last week that was the most fundamental fact, and it is. I said last week there is more to be said, and we will do that this week, but before I go on to say any more, I want to stress once again that the human being is created in the image of God. That means that you are a person of dignity, of worth and of value. It means that the human being, then, can never be put down, and it means that we ought never to put ourselves down. We have been created in the image of God, and that is the most fundamental truth about our human nature. We reflect God. As the Psalmist said, He made us a little lower than Himself. It was precisely in the grandeur with which He created us that there lay the potential for the disaster that has ensued upon our turning away from Him. But even in our turning away from Him and the tragedy that we have introduced into the world, we have not overcome the most fundamental fact and that is that we are created in the image of God, we reflect God; in other words, you are really something! Now, I think in the Church we have perhaps had the stress the other way around. We have stressed the human being as sinner rather than the human being as creature. I don't want to make that mistake. I want to say it again loud and clear the human being created in the image of God is really something! You are really something. And our sin and rebellion with all of its disastrous consequences has never wiped out that most fundamental fact - that we were created like God and we are still called to be His ally and His friend and companion to live in relationship with God and with our fellow men. That is fundamental. Now, in these opening chapters, after Chapter one where we have the Creation account, we have in Chapter two a second Creation account where the focus is on the creation of man and woman. This is that delightful story of God's scooping up the clay and forming the man and breathing into him the breath of life, subsequently also seeing that it is not good for man to dwell alone, creating the woman from Adam's rib from which some have derived the idea that woman is really a "de-rib-ative" of man. (Sorry about that - I can never resist those.) Actually, that creation of the woman, a second act of Creation, would indicate that man and woman are created equally, that they stand equally before God. We could have a whole sermon and a whole series of sermons on the legitimacy of the feminist movement on the basis of Genesis one and two, and we could point out the tale of error and of horror which has ensued from a misreading of those © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 3   chapters in regard to the oppression of women down through the centuries. So, women of the world, unite! You've got biblical basis. But I'm not going to go into that today. I simply want to say that in Chapter two you have man and woman created by God and set in a garden in what we call that state of paradise. And then we have Chapter three and there we have the Temptation and the succumbing to temptation and the consequent judgment of God. And then Chapter four we will look at next week -the first murder. - it would seem that there is another Fall. And Chapter six, the story of the Flood, the disobedience and the judgment of God - another Fall. And then God starting over again, but in Chapter nine the Tower of Babel - another Fall, where finally the race demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that they will not live as the creatures of God under His care and His communion, but rather as rebels against God and structuring life apart from Him. The early chapters of Genesis are the prelude to the story of Israel, to the call and the election of Abraham and the whole redemptive history that followed. The first eleven chapters are like a prelude to all of that specific history, and in these first eleven chapters the great issues of humankind and of God and of history are dealt with. And what I want you to see is that man and woman created in Chapter two and in that garden of paradise may not be separated from man and woman in Chapter three. The chapter divisions of the Bible are very handy for reference. I don't know what I would do about my text if it wasn't that there is Genesis one and two and three and so on, and all of those little verses that give preachers text, but as a matter of fact, what comes through is the idea in Chapter two that you have man and woman perfect in paradise, Chapter three as though now you make another step and you have man and woman in the Garden rebelling and falling into sin. If I were to try to wipe out of your mind the idea of a perfect state in paradise in Chapter two and the Fall of mankind in Chapter three, I would give up before I would start. It is so deeply engrained in our consciousness; we have thought so long that way that I don't think it is possible to get that out of your head, but if I could get it out of your heart, I would, because then I would say to you that what we have in Genesis two and three is not the story of Mr. Adam and Mrs. Eve, two historical figures way back in primeval history. What we have in Genesis two and three is the story of every man and every woman; the story of Adam and Eve is the story of you and me. The story of Adam and Eve is not about some primeval, distant past at the dawn of Creation. The story of Adam and Eve is the story about every human being that has ever been born, and those chapters which make one continuous story and ought not to be read in two stories, are not historical accounts such as we find later in the Old Testament when, for example, we read the exploits of David. David was a real historical figure, he was a king of Israel, he fought battles and did all kinds of things and we can read that in the kind of interpreted history that we have in the Old Testament. © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 4   We are not dealing with that kind of material in Genesis two and three. In the first chapter we are told that God spoke and created all things, and we are told that He created the human being in His own image. And now Chapters two through eleven will begin to unravel that story in preparation for the real story of the Bible that begins with Abraham. And these chapters are necessary because the Israelite who knew God as the God of Redemption said, "How do we relate to the rest of mankind? How does God relate to the rest of mankind? And if God is good and Creation is good, why is life so tough? If God is good and Creation is good - if it all came from Him, then why are things in such a mess? If God is good and this is His good Creation, then why is there such sorrow and such pain and such tragedy in the world?" Those are ultimate questions. Those are not questions about fig leaves and apple trees and snakes and two primeval human beings scurrying around the bushes. Those are the ultimate questions of life. Why is there anything rather than nothing? Who created the heavens and the earth? What relationship does the human being have to God? He is created in God's image; he is like God; he reflects the very being of God. Well, if the human being came from God and if all of Creation was pronounced good, then why is the human being like he is? Why are there wars and trials and all of the dark shadows that are a part of the human scene? Those are the questions underlying those early chapters. And in the third chapter, which we read a moment ago, we have the people of Israel, the people who had come to know God, the people who came to believe that their God was a God Who redeemed them in the Exodus experience and was also the Creator of the heavens and the earth. God alone. We have their testimony as to the fact that God is good and Creation is good and that humankind was created by God for His own purpose: created to live in relationship and fellowship with God, but given such a great gift of freedom, there was the opportunity for him to become a rebel rather than one who lived in relationship. And so those chapters are there to tell us the story of the Fall. Let me say it again: Not an historical story as though on Day One of Creation Adam and Eve walked to the Garden and picked grapes and chewed nuts and had fellowship with each other and a chat with God that evening. Day Two maybe went all right, and maybe Day Three, maybe six weeks, maybe six months, but eventually a snake came in and then there was a time when it all fell apart. Friends, that’s not what the story is all about. The story is a symbol; it is a sign, and it says to us that there is something about human nature that has endemic within it this struggle against the God Who is its only hope and its salvation, and in that story what it is saying to us, first of all, is that there are things that are wrong in the world, and there certainly are; it's not God's fault. What it is saying to us as human beings is that God created us good with a potential for good and for obedience, for following the path of life, but that there is something within us © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 5   that seems to choose the path that leads to disaster. It is saying to us that whatever sin is, it is not part and parcel of Creation. It does not stem from God, and you can't blame it on the Devil. Whatever sin is, whatever is wrong, is wrong because you and I choose to be wrong. That's the biblical message. It's a tough message because it holds us accountable. It does not allow us to slough off the accusing finger in any direction. We cannot blame God. We cannot blame the Devil. We cannot blame the environment or the circumstances, for that symbolic story tells us that we were created in the image of God and put in a situation that can be described as paradisiacal, that we had everything going for us and that in spite of all that, we turned our back on the One Who is life-giving and the source of all blessing. That is what the story is trying to tell us. And you see, it is my story and it is your story. Until we read the Bible as not some ancient book with answers to the questions that our curiosities might raise, but rather as a book that addresses us - until we can read this book so that my story becomes a part of The Story, then I see that I am a part of Adam and then I realize that whatever is wrong in my life and whatever dire consequences have flowed from those wrong choices, they are my choices. I am responsible. And that is one of the greatest things you can say to a human being. You are responsible. You are responsible for your life; you are responsible for your choices; and you are guilty when you choose the wrong way. Otherwise, what are we? Animals cannot be guilty. They have no freedom of choice. And those who have no mental capacity and no freedom of choice - neither can they be guilty. It is only people who are created with that God-like characteristic that can be held accountable as we are accountable, and in the story, this ancient story by which Israel came to understand itself, it was saying that there is something that is deadly wrong in the human heart and it stems from the human will. It is not because God did it to us, and it is not because the Devil did it to us, and it is not because the situation is so bad. Now, some situations are bad and environment does shape and there does, over the centuries and the generations, come to build up a kind of fate that does have its impact upon us. I don't want to say that we all come into the world with pristine situations where we can choose freely without any influence, any impact of environment or of heredity. All of that is true. But finally to be human is to be responsible and to choose. And the scriptures tell us that we chose to be gods rather than to be creatures of God. And so, the story will go on, the prelude to that history of God with Israel and Jesus, that we have in the Old and New Testaments, will go on and we will see another instance and another instance and another instance of this fatal flaw within us. But as we see that, we will also hear the more dominant note - the note of Grace. Even in this third chapter, if we had gone on to read, we would find that God speaks to that serpent and says that, although the serpent will bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, the seed of the woman will finally crush the head of the © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 6   serpent, and that has always been seen in the history of the Church as the first promise of the Gospel, so that the seed of the woman Paul interpreted as referring to Jesus. And the final crushing of the serpent's head as Jesus' crucifixion whereby he put an end to death taking upon himself our sin and our guilt. Even in Chapter three of Genesis there is a foregleam of something to come. But if we go to the New Testament we find those great themes that set Martin Luther afire and Zwingli and Calvin and the rest. For the theme of the Bible is not human disobedience, is not human depravity and human sin. Oh, it's there and really you cannot underscore it enough, but if you stay there you miss the theme of the Bible, which is the theme of Grace. It is the story of God's grace in our gloom. Now, the thing that happened in the medieval Church was that the Church became the controlling agent of people's lives. It was almost as though the Church said, "You are sinners, and we're glad, because now we can control you." And the thing that really set off Luther and set off Zwingli was that agents of the Church were going through the land and were collecting money to say prayers to release loved ones from purgatory and one could even buy one’s indulgence into the sins that one might commit next week. And of course this was not the whole Church, but it was right at the heart of the Church and there were those who were going through the continent of Europe raising funds for the erection of St. Peter's. And there were good Catholic priests who said, "This is wrong." Martin Luther was one of them. Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, Switzerland, was another. And they began to preach the Grace of God and as they began to preach the Grace of God, people responded to good news, because now it was no longer, "Come forward and drop in a coin or burn in Hell." Now it was not the continual laying on people their guilt and their unworthiness and their sin in order to hold them down and control them and manipulate them, but now it was the announcement of what God had done in the face of their sin. So that we have a proclamation like Paul's in the New Testament lesson where he says certainly we are sinful; certainly the whole world is guilty before God. But God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself so that if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are passed away; all things are become new. So that Paul understood himself as an ambassador of Christ and he went through the world and he said, "Be ye reconciled with God. Stop hiding in the bushes!" Oh, that profound question of Genesis three as God walks through the Garden in that symbolic story and he says, "Where are you?" and Adam says, "I was afraid." Guilt, fear, shame. And the Lord God comes down and says, "Where are you?" Where are you, not because I want to lombast you, but where are you because I want to embrace you. Where are you because I want to love you, I want to tell you about my Grace which is greater than all your sins. For the New Testament message was that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, for God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be © Grand Valley State University �God’s Grace in Our Gloom Richard A. Rhem Page 7   made the righteousness of God in him. And so the Apostle goes on to quote the Old Testament and he says, "In the day that you hear his voice, harden not your heart. This is the day of salvation. Now is the day of salvation." In other words, receive this good news. Accept this Gospel. Come and get a forgiveness that is already provided. If we would take one other New Testament passage, the fifth chapter of Romans, we would find Paul dealing with Genesis three and he says, "As in one man all sin, so in one man all are made righteous." And in that fifth chapter of Romans, it is the most glorious song, anthem, proclamation of the superiority of Grace. For one man sinned but the obedience of one man far surpassed it. And the disobedience of Adam was one thing, but the obedience of Christ was greater and the greater triumph of Grace throughout that passage is a marvelous testimony to the fact that the Church has one theme to proclaim and that is the triumph of Grace. That's the good news. And so you see, I didn't spend very long in Genesis three. It is the recognition of the Old Testament people of God that there is something wrong; there is something deadly wrong. I am wrong and you are wrong, and there is no softpedaling the guilt of the human heart. But I am Adam and I am Eve and you are Adam and you are Eve and the last word is not, "Get out of the Garden." The last word is, "Be reconciled to God." For where sin aboundeth, Grace did much more abound. Now, how can the Church be a place of bad news? How can the Church ever send anyone out guilty? How can the Church ever send anyone out in despair and hopeless, burdened with all of the rock of their life? There's only one message that ought to be sounded from the pulpit, from the evangelical pulpit, from the Christian pulpit, from the pulpit that is grounded in the Word of God and that is, "Be reconciled to God. Accept your acceptance, because you are already accepted and there's nothing you can do about it, except say, 'Thank you.'" God's Grace in our gloom. That's the bottom line. Thanks be to God! © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> 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 Reformation Sunday Pentecost XXII Series This is Our Father's World Scripture Text II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core 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-0-19851027 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-10-27 Title A name given to the resource God's Grace in Our Gloom 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 October 27, 1985 entitled "God's Grace in Our Gloom", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Reformation Sunday, Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 5: 19, 20, 6:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Creation Forgiveness Freedom Genesis Grace of God Hebrew Scriptures Judgment Reformation Sin https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0120e21bbd6370e290d139caf3c21b40.mp3 afc648e986bb202fbbe57fea09b0b1eb https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/33fed34f89f0317aef1833a8500d9624.pdf cb2feedc0669bc8e77548048aa5bd1ff PDF Text Text Human Community in the Image of God From the sermon series: This Is Our Father’s World Text: Philippians 2: 1-11 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan October 20, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves which you have in Christ Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2: 1-11 This is our Father's world. We can be comfortable here because it is not an alien environment; it is a created reality made for us, and we for it. This is our Father's world. This is the great affirmation of the opening chapters of the scripture. As we look for a few weeks at those first eleven chapters of Genesis, which are so foundational for all the rest of biblical faith, I want to focus today on the creation of man and woman, on the creation of the human person. I want to say that we are created for human community; created in the image of God for human community. We are created for God and for one another, and our creation from the hand of God reflects our value and our worth and our dignity. I can't say everything in this message that there is to be said about the human being, the human creature. I'll have to come back in another week and I'll have to deal with the shadow side, that rebellion that has led to alienation and all of the havoc that we have created in the wake of that. So, what I'm going to say today is far more fundamental than what I'm going to say next week. It's far more important for © Grand Valley State University   �Human Community in the Image of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   you to hear that you are a creature of God and loved by Him and created for His glory than it is to hear that you're a sinner. We've reversed that in the Church. We've stressed so much that we are sinners, and I suppose that is because the need has to be created before the remedy can be applied, but the most fundamental thing is that we are created in the image of God. Human potential and human possibility, human dignity and human worth - that's more fundamental than human deviation. It's a great message. And incidentally, perhaps if that message were heard more, there would be less of the shadow side manifesting itself. If we could ever get hold of the fact of who we really are, we might start acting like it. So, this message is to underscore the simple truth that as human beings, as men and women, we are created by the good and gracious God. I want to say just a couple of simple things which you know already, but I'll say them again - we are created by God, we are created in the image of God, and we are created by God for community with Him and with one another. That's as simple as it is. We are created by God, and to say that we are created by God is to make an affirmation which in the Church may seem a truism which everybody believes and nobody would deny, but we don't live our lives out just in the Church and in the community of faith, and we have to recognize that, when we say that we are created by God, that is not a self-evident truth; it is not something believed by everybody; it is not something believed by every thinking person. It is a biblical statement. It is an affirmation of faith. We have to recognize that our conviction about creation based on the scriptures is a conviction that arises out of the proclamation of the scripture. The opening chapters of Genesis are like the creed of creation. They are a song, they are a message, they are a sermon. They are not a religious speculative statement; they are not a philosophical discussion. They are not a scientific statement. They are affirmations of faith based on the experience of God's grace in Jesus Christ, or in Israel's case, God's grace in that deliverance from bondage in Egypt. The conviction about creation is an article about faith. We believe it, but we have to recognize that it is not self-evident. We have to recognize, too, that it is so foundational for so much else that we believe that we cannot simply take it for granted, but we must continue to make that affirmation intelligently, selfconsciously with awareness. Because if we lose that, we lose everything. Almost everything that we believe subsequently in our biblical faith is posited on our conviction that we are creatures of worth and value and dignity because we have come from the hand of the Creator. There are other philosophies about, and there's a good deal of contrary opinion, and in very scholarly circles. Sometimes to make a point it is good to hear the other side, and I did that last week, and I want to do it once again. This time I cite as an example a Nobel Prizewinning biologist, Jacque Monod, in his book, Chance and Necessity. Already the title tells you something, doesn't it? Chance and necessity as over against © Grand Valley State University �Human Community in the Image of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   purpose, intelligence and loving intention. Chance and necessity. This is what he said after a very negative statement about the human situation: If he that is a human person accepts this negative message in its full significance, man at last must wake out of his millenary dreams and discover his total solitude, his fundamental isolation. He must realize that, like a gypsy, he lives on the boundary of an alien world, a world that is deaf to his music and is indifferent to his hopes as it is to his suffering or his crimes. We say we are created by God. Well, wait a minute. What if that isn't true? If that is not true, then the other is true. Then we can't say this is our Father’ s world, and that somehow or other we are a part of the whole created reality. We say that this is a friendly environment which is good. According to the commentary of the Creator, there is a place where we can become what He has intended us to be. If that isn't true, then the other is true, that we live on the boundary of an alien world contrary to our purposes. Or worse, just indifferent to our purposes. Indifferent to our music. And indifferent to our hopes, our sufferings, our crimes. What that statement says is that, however we are involved in this process of human history as human creatures, there is no one at the beginning and there's no one at the end, and we aren't going anywhere in terms of any purpose or meaning. Now, I quote a very scholarly opinion so that I don't give the impression that biblical faith is just obvious and self-evident. No, there are good thinking people who have come to this kind of conclusion. That's why I say it is important for us to hear this as a declaration of faith. Then it's important for us to begin to draw the implications. The implications of Jacque Monod are that we have to wake up, grow up, face up to the darkness, to the coldness, to the meaningless of it all, so that whatever meaning there is, we'll have to create; whatever love there is, we'll have to generate. But there's no one and there's nothing more. We don't believe that. We believe that God created us with an intention for our good. We believe that God created us with a thought in mind, with a selfconscious intelligence, and with a great purpose, and that this world is not an alien environment, but a friendly place in which human potential may be developed to realize the high calling with which He calls us. Carl Sagan, the cosmologist, the one who does such a fantastic job with the films about the cosmos, and his book Cosmos, gives the other explanation. The other explanation is that some inanimate, non-living cell was triggered by some ray of light at some point, moved across the abyss from the inanimate to the animate stage, continued from that point in the development of cellular structure to increasing complexity to the present complexity of the human being. And where the primeval pea soup came from in the beginning, where the cell that God triggered came from in the beginning, how the ray of light ever activated it, about all of that, nothing is said. But what is claimed is that whatever is, is the © Grand Valley State University �Human Community in the Image of God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   consequence of accident, of chance, moving on with the kind of inbuilt necessity, but going nowhere and having no accompanying purpose. It's always good to look beyond the surface statement and say, "Then what does that mean?" So to say that God created us is a rather simple affirmation of faith, but it makes a world of difference as to how we view ourselves and understand our situation. We affirm that God created us, and when we say He created us, we're not talking about wind; we're not talking about techniques; we're not talking about the process. The Bible doesn't know anything about when it happened. It says, "In the beginning..." The Bible's affirmation is that all that is, is because He said, "Let there be ...," and that's all the Bible is interested in. All the rest the scientists can fight about. In my class on Wednesday night, someone told me that the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe is being challenged. The Big Bang has been popular of late in the circles of the physicists, and I could smile and say, "Oh, really? Well, I hope the scientists have a field day fighting about it. I don't care." Now, if I had said, "The Book of Genesis finally is verified," because a group of very scholarly people has said that the universe started in a Big Bang, which therefore spoke of an original moment of creation, then when the Big Bang blew up, my faith would blow up, too. I can't identify this Book with any ideology, philosophical position or scientific plank of any platform, because when I do, that which is transient and of human generation will be an unsteady foundation for this word of God. This word of God only says one thing. It says, "Whatever is, it is because He said, 'Let there be...'" And then the whole world can try to figure out how it happened. I mean, it doesn't really make any difference, does it? I told you last week that I saw the jawbone of the Heidelberg man in the University of Heidelberg Museum recently. Six hundred thousand years old, they say. It was discovered just outside the city of Heidelberg, and up on the chart they had visualized what they thought this creature had looked like. He stood up straight, with a little resemblance to primates (big monkeys). Now, the Bible doesn't know anything about the linkage backward from where we are. And there are some people who have been offended by the claim that maybe we've got monkeys in our past. Well, I would say that just an objective observation of human behaviour would give a great deal of support to the idea that there might be a lot of monkeys in our past. "There's a lot of monkey business going on! But, you see, that's not even a biblical issue; it doesn't even matter. And yet, oh, has not the Church churned over that issue? When did a human being become a human being? Well, I'll tell you when. That's the second thing I want to say. It's when the whatever was there was addressed by God and knew himself, knew herself to be addressed and was able to respond in kind. It was in the moment in which consciousness dawned and that created person, animal, whatever you want to call it, suddenly understood itself, gained a beginning sense of identity and self-awareness, self-reflection and the ability to respond to being addressed. The first word of a first human being was a prayer. And when that creature learned to © Grand Valley State University �Human Community in the Image of God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   pray, that creature could be called human. For to be human is to be created in the image of God, to be like God. And it doesn't really matter whether the human being sprang fresh from the word or at some point in the process heard the word, the creative word that called him or her forth. The fact is that when this creature came face to face with God we could speak of being human. In the image of God, our scripture tells us, is like God. God made us like Himself. It's an amazing truth. Therefore, we accord to one another dignity and value and worth, and we never put ourselves down either; for the most fundamental fact about us is that we are a reflection of God. If I could pile up scripture upon scripture this morning I could have also read Psalm 8, "Lord our God, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy hands, the sun and moon, which Thou hast made, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man that Thou visited him?" Ah, the Psalmist who didn't have an inkling about the expanses of the cosmos as you and I do, nonetheless looked into the starry sky and knew that those stars were a long way away, and he felt himself in the expansiveness of his world to be insignificant and small. But then he had even a deeper intuition, for he went on to say, "For Thou hast created him a little less than God and given him dominion." Reflecting our chapter this morning, the most profound thing is that we are created by God and made like Him to reflect Him. My Professor Berkhof coins, at least in the English translation, the word "respondable," in reference to the human being. Respondable. By that he is meaning to say he is responsible to respond, or he might not, but he can. Respondable. He has the capacity to respond. He has the capacity to respond to the address of God and he is created for love and he is free in that condition of respondability. So you're really something! I preached on that subject one time. You are really something. You can never put yourself down. No matter how tarnished and tainted and withered and wilted. No matter how great the failure, how deep the abyss - you can never put yourself down. Nor may we ever put one another down. For we've come from the hand of God, and we're a reflection of His glory. And He has created us for communion with Himself and with one another. To be human is to be addressable, respondable, to be in covenant with God. If we believe that He created us, then He created us with purpose, on purpose, with meaning and, of course, He created us to be that over against Him with whom He could commune and upon whom He could shed His love. And we'll have to speak next week about the fact that we've not taken well to that, that we've not opened ourselves up to that potential that is ours to live in the light of that love and grace. But there's still good news, because there is one of us that has done precisely that and that is Jesus. Paul, obviously with reference to Genesis 1, in Philippians 2 tells us about Jesus. Jesus who, though he was in the form of God, thought equality with God not to be © Grand Valley State University �Human Community in the Image of God Richard A. Rhem Page 6   something grasped after, but rather emptied himself, indeed was made in fashion as the human being and became a servant and humbled himself unto death, even the death of the cross. And that passage has been the center of Christological controversy over the centuries, but it's such a paradox because it is such a practical, pastoral appeal to this congregation whom Paul dearly loved. He wrote, If our common life in Christ yields anything to stir the heart, any loving consolation, any sharing of the Spirit, any warmth of affection or compassion, fill up my cup of happiness by thinking and feeling alike with the same love for one another, the same turn of mind and the common care for unity. There must be no room for rivalry and personal vanity among you, but you must humbly reckon others better than yourselves. And then he appeals to Jesus. And after saying all of this, after this warm appeal for warmth and the binding together of human community, he said, "Well, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus." That's why he talks about Jesus and his relationship to God and his emptying and his death. Not to give us some Christological discussion about the divine and human in Jesus, but to say to the human congregation, "Will you be human and will you allow community to flourish and blossom through lowliness in mind, esteeming others better than yourselves, through warmth and affection and compassion, in a word, let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus." The first Adam grasped after the prerogative of the Creator. The second Adam, the new man, Jesus, offered himself up in total obedience and subservience to the Father and became the instrument of reconciliation between God and human beings, between human being and human being, and between human beings and the whole created order, so that now in Christ we can say we are new creations, restored in the image of God and if anyone is in Christ, it is a whole new creation. There is harmony with nature and peace with God and reconciliation one with another, human community, realizing the intentions of the Creator. The creation story in the first chapter ends with the celebration of all of this in the Sabbath rest. And the Sabbath rest is a sign pointing to the ultimate Sabbath rest when the Shalom of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. How important it is, then, that we begin now to incarnate, to live out this peace with God through Jesus Christ and reconciliation with one another in harmony with the created world. You are really something! We are called to become what we are. Let us pray. God, our Father, enable us to catch a glimpse of the wonder of being human and then, through the power and grace of Your good Spirit, enable us to live humanly and to provide in the community of faith an alternative society and © Grand Valley State University �Human Community in the Image of God Richard A. Rhem Page 7   a sign pointing to that Kingdom which is surely coming when there shall be peace on earth. Hear our prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title 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 Peace Sunday Pentecost XXI Series This is Our Father's World Scripture Text Phillipians 2:1-11 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-0-19851020 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-10-20 Title A name given to the resource Human Community in the Image of God 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 October 20, 1985 entitled "Human Community in the Image of God", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Peace Sunday, Pentecost XXI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Phillipians 2:1-11. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Grace Covenant Creation Divine Intention Faith Hebrew Scriptures Image of God Shalom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/64bb203cf082ff3d7d68f925dd935276.mp3 acf8b6cf4816709938acdd3ce3f07020 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dc8a8c5ea56944240d0c30d3919a5c1f.pdf 71f323b369625f32bd744e62e681a1b2 PDF Text Text Creation – Covenant - Consummation From the sermon series: This Is Our Father’s World Text: Genesis 1:1; Ephesians 1: 9-10 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan October 13, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon My message this morning introduces a new theme which will be with us for a few weeks, and what I want to say, in dealing with the doctrine of Creation and the early chapters of Genesis which are so foundational for all the rest of scripture, is that this is our Father's world, and our lives have meaning and purpose because they are rooted in reality, a reality that is embraced in the sovereign and gracious God. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and that statement from the Apostle Paul is rooted in that kind of conviction and goes on to say that in the fullness of time God revealed Himself in Jesus Christ and is moving all things toward a point of consummation when He will realize the purposes of love with which He created in the first place. Creation, the whence from which we come; Consummation, the whither toward which we are moving; and in the meantime, a God of Covenant Grace and love Who calls a people into being to witness to the larger world about His creative intent and His consummate purpose. God, the Eternal God, calls us as His people to be His witnesses to a drama of cosmic dimension, of eternal scope. And I want to say to you in a very pastoral way this morning that, in thinking about the doctrine of Creation, what I would like to have you go out of here with is a sense that your life is plugged in and has a part in a movement that has meaning and purpose; that in the chaos of our lives which can so often be the case, there is a deeper order and foundation, for the Eternal God is our Refuge and underneath are His everlasting arms, and He is moving all things toward the realization of His purpose of love, which is to bring all things into a beautiful harmony in Christ. I don't know the dimensions of that beautiful harmony in Christ, or just exactly what it means that He will unite all things in Jesus Christ, but it would seem to mean at least that all of the various dimensions of our human existence and the created order and the movement of history will become something beautiful, and that even now we can begin to rest in the assurance that the Eternal God is moving things along from that beginning point at which He said, "Let there be…" © Grand Valley State University   �Creation-Covenant-Consummation Richard A. Rhem Page 2   to that end point when he shall say, "Let time be no more," and all things come into the full expression of His loving intention. And so, this morning we have a great word from Paul who assures us in the midst of our days, in the midst of history, in the midst of the kind of history which we have experienced again this week with hostage-taking, terrorist actions, encounters in the sky – in the midst of a crazy, bizarre world like this – we can be sure that there is Someone Else, something else of ultimate reality, of purpose, of love, and a goal that will be realized one day, somehow, because God is God. In the administration of the periods of time, the Eternal God Who began it all is bringing it toward an end in which we will say with Him Who said it at the beginning, "It's very good." That's the message. Not everybody believes that. Sometimes we take these biblical truths as truisms and the familiar almost become clichés that lose their cutting edge. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Doesn't everybody believe that? In the end, "the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ." Doesn't everybody believe that? Can't you take that for granted? No, you cannot. Not in our day and our world. For example, sometimes a word on the opposite side can make that biblical truth sharper. An example is a statement by Eric Fromm, the psychologist, behavioral scientist, a very profound thinker and excellent author. In his book, Man For Himself, he says there is only one solution to his problem, to the human problem: to face the truth, to acknowledge his fundamental aloneness in a universe indifferent to his fate. To recognize there is no power transcending him, which can solve his problem for him. Eric Fromm is saying, "Brother, Sister, you are alone. There is no one else. There's no other dimension. There's no place to call, no one upon whom to trust. You are on your own." Now, I can identify a little bit with Eric Fromm. He is a psychologist who deals with human personality and he probably sees a lot of people who use religion as a crutch, who can't face the harsh realities of life and use religion as an escape. That's weakness. That's not healthy. And there are times when I would like to say to some people, "You must grow up. You must take responsibility for your life. God calls you to be responsible. Don't blame it on the Devil, and don't wait around for God. He calls you to be a responsible person." Perhaps some of that is behind Eric Fromm's statement. Yet it also expresses what he really believes, or what he really does not believe, and he really does not believe that there is another reality, there is a personal reality, that there is a purposeful intention in Creation moving toward consummation. He says, "You are all alone and the only meaning there is in life is any meaning that you can create. The only love there is in life is the love you can generate. There is no one else. There's nothing else." © Grand Valley State University �Creation-Covenant-Consummation Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Well, the French thinker, Andre Maurois, says this: "The universe is indifferent." He said, "Who created it? Why are we here on this puny mudheap spinning in infinite space? I have not the slightest idea, and I am quite convinced that no one has the least idea." That's the opposite from the Apostle Paul. He simply said, "I don't know why we're here, and I don't believe anyone knows why we're here on this puny mudheap spinning in infinite space." Reflective of a good deal of sophisticated thought in our day. In his inaugural lecture in Cambridge University, the historian, G.N. Clark, wrote, "There is no secret and no plan in history to be discovered. I do not believe that any future consummation could make sense of all the irrationalities of preceding ages. If it could not explain them, still less could it justify them." It's the other side of the pole. The irrationalities, contingencies, the universe as an accident - an accident going nowhere, with no reason or no purpose, with no goal. That's the opposite side of the pole of what the Apostle Paul said in our text. Remember Dag Hammerskjold, the former Secretary General of the United Nations who was such a deeply spiritual person? He understood what Paul had to say. He wrote this God does not die on the day that we cease to believe in Him, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by a steady radiance, renewed daily of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason. Hammerskjold knew better than to argue for the existence of God, but he did say with a kind of serenity that is rooted in some experience of that reality, "God does not die on the day that we cease to believe in Him, but we die on the day that our lives cease to be illumined by a ... radiance, renewed daily of a wonder ... beyond our human reason." The Apostle Paul knew what he was talking about. He believed that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and he did not believe that the unraveling of time and space was simply an accident, that life was living itself out and reality playing itself out and the cosmic drama on its way just willy-nilly, meandering hither and yon, going nowhere; but rather he believed that the God Who in the beginning said, "Let there be ..." is the God Who through the periods of time continues to administer, to direct and to guide in a way that is beyond our comprehension toward a point of consummation where there will be a realization of His purposes and we will be able to join with all the hosts of heaven and say, in affirmation of what He said in the beginning, "It is really good!" The first chapter of Genesis is simply the proclamation that the Creator creates Creation. It is the proclamation, it is the article of faith that states that all that is, is because the Eternal God, the Sovereign and Gracious God, said, "Let there be © Grand Valley State University �Creation-Covenant-Consummation Richard A. Rhem Page 4   ..." That's really all it says. It says that all that is, is because He said, "Let there be ...", and it is not interested at all in science, it is not interested at all in portraying the history of how that happened. It has no interest in technique. As a matter of fact, this chapter is not as old as the second chapter, which is a companion account of the Creation. But this chapter was probably penned in about the 6th Century B.C. and was addressed to the Exiles in Babylon, who were wondering about their God as over against the pagan gods of Babylon (since they were a conquered people and Babylon was the dominant power): wondering about the comparative worth of their God against Babylon's god; wondering whether or not they ought to switch loyalties, trade allegiances; wondering, in the alien land and alien environment, where God was and whether now all of the purposes and promises of kingdoms and of the exaltation of Mt. Zion and all of that which made them what they were, whether all of that now was down the tubes; and wondering whether that put an end to the possibility of faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In that community, in the midst of its chaos, in the moment of its darkness, when its faith was faltering, when its worship was withering, this word came written by some priest or prophet, we know not whom, saying, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the pagan deities of Babylon are but the inventions of the mind and hand, but the God Whom you worship is present in this your judgment and will be present in the greater Grace." "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Trust the Creator Who has made Himself known as your Redeemer and Who will redeem you yet again. This chapter is a proclamation. It is a theological statement; it leaves all the room in the world for whatever science can come up with, and all of the unfortunate debate over the centuries between science and religion is needless. And of that debate we should be heedless. Unfortunately, in our day, in the courts even today Evolution and Creationism are being battled and you can bet that whoever is arguing for Creationism in the courts of this country is not a friend of biblical religion. It is a benighted kind of obscurantism that does great harm to the cause of truth. But people get exploited in their fears and don't fully understand the nature of this biblical word. This word about Creation was the proclamation to a people in trouble that they could trust their God in the darkness, that He was indeed the Author of Reality, He Who said, "Let there be ... ," then let it be and gave Creation elbow room and room to develop. He Who is the Sovereign Lord Who brought all things into being also created the space and time where that created order could develop. He Who is Sovereign is not coercive. We're going to see that in those early chapters. He Who could, figuratively speaking, snap His fingers and control the winds and the world doesn't deal with Creation that way. Rather than coercing, He evokes response, He elicits love, He pleads, He waits, He anguishes, but He will never © Grand Valley State University �Creation-Covenant-Consummation Richard A. Rhem Page 5   abandon nor forsake, and He will wait and love until finally He conquers with grace. He will have His way. This first chapter of Genesis says that all of reality is graced. Three times over He blessed the created order. The grace of God that is right in the structure of reality – in the morning the sunrise, and in the evening the sunset, in the magnificent chords of the harp and the anthems and in a landscape resplendent with October colors, in the fact that the body heals itself and there's human relationship, and there is community – in the whole of everything there is Grace. All of reality is filled with Grace. And beyond that, it is the proclamation of the God Whose fatherly care will sustain and keep us so that we can celebrate "This is our Father's world." When we pause in so simple a moment as table grace and simply bow our heads and say, "Dear Lord Jesus, be our guest and to Thy service may these gifts be blessed," we are acknowledging that there is a deeply rooted Grace in the whole of reality that for us who are His people has been manifested fully in the face of Jesus. We can say with the Apostle Paul, '"Thanks be to God Who has created space for us to be and Who has loved us and continues to woo us, never crushing us or overpowering us, but never abandoning us until finally one day He'll bring us home and we'll look Him in the face with unveiled face, and we'll say, 'It was really good.'" Let us pray. O God, Whose artistry is able to weave sunlight and shadow, pleasure and pain, victory and defeat into a tapestry that spells love, we bow in wonder, love and praise, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. © Grand Valley State University � 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 XX Series This is Our Father's World Scripture Text Genesis 1:1, Ephesians 1:9-10 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19851013 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-10-13 Title A name given to the resource Creation-Covenant-Consummation 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 October 13, 1985 entitled "Creation-Covenant-Consummation", as part of the series "This is Our Father's World", on the occasion of Pentecost XX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 1:1, Ephesians 1:9-10. 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/b940f6e884ccfcdbeb0f7820b74edc8b.mp3 72c7daeff82291e6639776a2855c1ded 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 World Wide Communion Pentecost XIX Scripture Text Isaiah 65:17 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-0-19851006 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-10-06 Title A name given to the resource The Church - A Sign of Newness 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 October 6, 1985 entitled "The Church - A Sign of Newness", on the occasion of World Wide Communion, Pentecost XIX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 65:17. 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/bf54456a97fb95779eaa39070d16d5fa.mp3 e2219ef36adcf4cdfeb6ff3d1dc7e05f 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 XVI Series God Our Ally Scripture Text I Chronicles 29:9-13 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19850915 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-09-15 Title A name given to the resource The God Whom We Worship 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 September 15, 1985 entitled "The God Whom We Worship", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost XVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Chronicles 29:9-13. 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/bdf38aa651e02ac5c31c296b74937148.mp3 4b9335edc13c403d8822f523ab9edc9e 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 XV Series God Our Ally Scripture Text Deuteronomy 6:4-9 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-0-19850908 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-09-08 Title A name given to the resource The God Who Blesses Our Homes 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 September 8, 1985 entitled "The God Who Blesses Our Homes", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost XV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Deuteronomy 6:4-9. 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/ab4238bb9bbb8bb6147c93b98f68d0b6.mp3 33ea2e940926a57988d6155d29c5a27f 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 XIV Series God Our Ally Scripture Text Isaiah 58:13-14, Mark 2:27-28 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-0-19850901 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-09-01 Title A name given to the resource The God Who Invites Us to Sabbath Refreshment 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 September 1, 1985 entitled "The God Who Invites Us to Sabbath Refreshment", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost XIV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 58:13-14, Mark 2:27-28. 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/464b1eb62053df6c35ed462ef8342aa9.mp3 cf9d4b8d96760f9368f21d4cf4eaff11 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c74e44ab7a3365f9c7fad18100cc5c86.pdf e134ceba68982673df8ef23e77c70d87 PDF Text Text The God Who Never Gives Up On Us From the sermon series: God, Our Ally Text: Hosea 11: 8-9, 32; Hosea 14: 4 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 25, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon God is our Ally. He will never give up on us - not because finally we will come round and deserve His love, but rather because His love, flowing out of His own depths, will never let us go. That is the theme of this message: He will never give up on us; He will never let us go. This is a message about the unconditional love of God. It is a message about what is translated from the Hebrew word hesed as God's "steadfast love." This is a message about God our Ally Who has called us into a covenant relationship to which He remains faithful even when we prove unfaithful. This message is a love story, the story of a love beyond compare, a love beyond human conception. This is the story of a love that will never give up, never let us go; a love that will finally heal us and bind us to the bosom of God. The message comes from Hosea, a great Eighth Century B.C. prophet who experienced deep pain in his own marriage and therein discovered the pain of God at the unfaithfulness of His people Israel, but discovered something more amazing - that God's love is unquenchable. The first three chapters of Hosea deal with biographical material from the prophet's own life. There has been much debate about the interpretation of these chapters. I cannot give you the whole discussion, but will summarize what I believe is the most adequate understanding of Hosea’s experience. In Chapter 1:2, we read, …The Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.” This was probably a reflection after the fact. Hosea married Gomer and she proved unfaithful. The verse above summarizes what happened rather than indicating that Gomer was a harlot before Hosea married her. The first chapter © Grand Valley State University   �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 2   records Goner's unfaithfulness. Although it is not clearly stated, it would appear that Hosea divorced Gomer because of her wantonness. (cf. Hosea 2:2a, 4-5a). Then in chapter 3:1, we read, And the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a paramour and is an adulteress; even as the Lord loves the people 0f Israel, though they turn to other gods..." So, Hosea redeems Gomer - buys her back out of the bondage of her harlotry and restores her as his wife. In his own experience, thus, he found a "lived parable" that pointed to the unquenchable love of God. He was tormented by his separation from Gomer, he felt maimed and incomplete, and he realized that however little Gomer might deserve his love… yet she retained it to an undiminished degree, and he was constrained even against his own judgment to attempt to restore the old marriage relationship. The mystery of the compulsive power of his own love for Gomer made Hosea reflect upon the love of God for erring Israel. It was thereon that he founded his message of hope for his people… (Interpreter Bible, Vol. VI, p. 562) Martin Buber writes, That a particular person should be bound to love another particular person in utter concreteness, is there such a thing as this? The word can only be spoken to one who already loves. He loves, he still loves the faithless one, he cannot suppress this love, but he does not want it, for he feels himself degraded by it. ...Into this state of soul God's word descends, "Continue loving, thou art allowed to love her, thou must love her; even so do I love Israel." (The Prophetic Faith, p. 113) Hosea loved Gomer still. He redeemed her and brought her back. She did not deserve such love and grace. But if Gomer did not deserve such merciful treatment as Hosea felt constrained to give her, no more did Israel merit the mercy and love of God. Her redemption from sin and shame was an act of God’s grace and of his love that would not let her go. (Interpreter Bible, p. 562) The statement of God's unconditional, unquenchable love is beautifully stated in the first verse of the eleventh chapter. Now the figure is not the marriage relationship, but that of God the Father and Israel the son. When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 3   But Israel was unfaithful; she worshipped the Canaanite gods. Tenderly, God nurtured her. I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love… (11:4) But still they failed to live faithfully in that covenant love. They succeeded only in eliciting God's anger. Judgment was surely coming; Hosea could feel it. Hosea prophesied around 745 B.C. Jeroboam II had brought the Northern Kingdom to prosperity, but Hosea could see the dry rot in the soul of the nation. Judgment would come and judgment did come. In 721, the Assyrian Empire came in and overthrew Israel, dispersing the ten northern tribes. But judgment was not the final word. Judgment was only a means to the end of finally bringing His people to their senses and causing them to return to Him. Listen to the "last word:" How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I hand you over, O Israel! How can I make you like Admah! How can I treat you like Zeboiim! My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger. I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come, to destroy. (11: 8-9) There you have the text, a text to ponder. There you have a statement of God's unconditional, unquenchable love, a love that will never give up on us, a love that will never let us go. In God's relationship to Israel, we see mirrored His relationship to all nations. God created the nation Israel in the event of the Exodus. Israel was a chosen nation. God elected Israel to be a representative people for all peoples. We cannot fathom the mystery of that choice, that election. It was not an election of one nation cutting off the rest of the nations, but the choosing of one on behalf of the rest. It was a particular choice with a universal purpose. Remember the call to Abraham: …by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves. Genesis 12: 3 The basis of God's choice of Israel was simply love: It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love upon you and chose you…but it is because the Lord loves you… Deuteronomy 7: 7-8 © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Israel was the representative of us all. Berkhof calls Israel God's "Experimental Garden." In her concrete history – thus in the arena of our history – it has been demonstrated that the human covenant partner will never prove faithful. ... in an experimental garden the soil and what can be done with it are tried out, so that other fields, to which these experiments are applicable, may benefit from it. ... in the Old Testament, Israel, in distinction from other nations, is more than once pictured as a specially cultivated and tended vineyard, from which might thus be expected a greater yield, but whose unproductivity arouses the greater anger of God. (Christian Faith, p. 245) Pointing to Israel's election, Berkhof shows that as a People she had a special privilege and a special task; the outcome of the Old Testament is the demonstration in our history of the faithlessness of the human covenant partner and the faithfulness of the Divine covenant partner. Berkhof writes, And we who are witnesses of this way know that Israel is no better or worse than the other nations, but that her guilt and fate disclose the way of the whole human race. The abiding relevance of the Old Testament is that the experimental garden Israel has shown once and for all how unfruitful we humans are in our faithfulness to God and our neighbor; and then, too, how unimaginably faithful God remains to mankind which ever and again seeks life apart from him. (p. 245f) What is the solution? Certainly there is no hope from our side; there is no solution possible from the human covenant partner. When God moved to effect a solution through the gift of Jesus in whom He dwelt in fullness, we crucified him. This is the New Testament history that corresponds to Israel's failure. Thus we have in both Old and New Testaments the concrete history of radical human guilt. What is the solution? The solution is the radical grace of God, which flows from the unconditional love of God. It was this insight that gripped Hosea, written indelibly in his own soul through his personal experience. God says, in effect, “You deserve to be given up; I should give you up. But how can I give you up? I will not give you up.” In his book Unconditional Love, John Powell writes, In the Old Testament God reveals himself to the People of Israel as a God of unconditional love. His gift of himself in the choice and creation of "My People" is totally unsolicited, undeserved and unmerited. ... God decides, God chooses, God offers his gift of love. He is by his own free act forever committed to his People. The prophet Hosea uses the image of God taking a bride: "And I will betroth you to me forever." (2:19-20) Through the prophet Isaiah, God says, "Even if a mother should forget the child of her womb, I will never forget you." (49:15). © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 5   The unconditionality of God's love for his People is a constant refrain in the Old Testament. God has promised and God will always be faithful to his promise. Jeremiah writes of God's constant willingness to forgive: "With an eternal love I have loved you. Therefore, in loving-kindness I draw you to myself." (31:3) (Unconditional Love, p. 97F) Hosea understood the faithfulness of God to his covenant which was rooted in a love that would never give up. As Bernard Anderson writes, Just as Gomer played the harlot, so Israel had broken the covenant. According to Hosea, this was the real historical tragedy, and all the contemporary troubles of Israel were only symptoms of it. The "wife" whom Yahweh had chosen and betrothed to himself had become a whore. A "spirit of hostility" had inflamed the people, and they had become estranged from their God. (4:12) Hosea's critique of Israel's society went far deeper than a mere condemnation of social immorality, political confusion, or religious formation. He was concerned with men's motives, with the devotion of the heart, with the things in which men place their trust. (Understanding The Old Testament, p. 247) Sounding the keynote of Hosea's message, Anderson writes, The deepest note struck in the book of Hosea is the proclamation that God's "wrath" or judgment is redemptive. God's purpose is not to destroy, but to heal. Through historical crises that shake the very foundations of human self-sufficiency, Yahweh acts to free his people from their enslavement to false allegiance and to restore them to freedom in the covenant loyalty. Just as Hosea's love was greater and deeper than Gomer's infidelity, so Yahweh's love for Israel is truly steadfast. It is a divine love that will not let his people go, despite their fickleness and harlotry. His "wrath" is not capricious, vindictive, and destructive; it is the expression of a holy love which seeks to break the chains of Israel's bondage and to emancipate her for a new life, a new covenant. (Ibid., p. 251) ... divine judgment is not the last word ... (verses 8-9). For even in the hour of catastrophe Yahweh does not abandon his people, nor does his love for them cease. It is not his will that Israel be destroyed as Admah and Zeborm were leveled during the holocaust of Sodom and Gomorrah, (cf. Gen. 19:24-25; Deuteronomy 29:23). Rather, the purpose behind Yahweh's judgment is love, like that of a parent who lovingly disciplines a wayward child. These verses passionately describe a struggle, as it were, within the heart of God - a struggle that doubtless reflects the agony of Hosea's experience with Gomer. But the triumph is on the side of the love that will not let Israel go. (Ibid., p. 252) Thus Hosea ends his prophecy with words of healing, © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I will heal their apostasy; of my own bounty will I love them. (14:4) The secret of such love lies in God. We cannot fathom it; we can only bow before its majesty. It is beyond human comprehension. God points to His own "Godness" as it were, differentiating Himself from us. ... for I am God and not man. Such is the amazing story of the love of God. It is interesting to relate Hosea's sense of God's love that never gives up on us to Paul's struggle with Israel's rejection of Jesus. Romans chapters 9-11 relate that struggle. Paul cannot understand how to put together God's faithfulness to his covenant promise with Israel's disobedience. His final conclusion is that, through Israel's rejection, the Gospel is being brought to the Gentiles. He concludes that section of struggle with these words: For in making all mankind prisoners to disobedience, God’s purpose was to show mercy to all mankind. (11:32) Then he breaks out in a great doxology, praising the God of so great salvation. What are we to make of this amazing love story, this tale of unconditional, unquenchable love? Must it not seem too good to be true? If it seems too good to be true, it is because we are not accustomed to hearing this message stated simply and straightforwardly. As the message has come to us filtered through centuries of Church tradition - our own Church tradition included - the message has been garbled and the unconditional love of God has been hedged in with numerous qualifications and conditions. I think it accurate to say that for the most part the message that has come through is that of a conditional love of God, conditional on our response, conditional on our good behavior. We speak much of grace, but we operate on the basis of good works and self-righteousness. Is it not perhaps that we are afraid to let the truth of the radical grace and unconditional love of God out because people might really believe it and presume upon it, take advantage of it? Do we dare tell people that the love of God will finally overcome their disobedience, their unfaithfulness, their unworthiness, their fickleness, in a word - their sinful rebellion and self assertion? Do we not rather make God's gift of salvation conditional on saying the right words, confessing the right beliefs, conforming to accepted morality? Have we not transformed the Gospel of God's radical grace and unconditional love into a morality game? Has not the message of the Church been strongly flavored with "Santa Claus theology" - that is – not "You better be good 'cause Santa's coming to town," but "You better be good 'cause Jesus is coming again?" © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 7   That is so very human, just like us. We use reward and punishment on our children; good behaviour gets a reward; bad behaviour gets punishment. That seems only reasonable; that seems like a just mode of operation. Is that not also the way God operates? The answer is simply, "No." Is that not why when He makes His amazing declaration about not being able to give up on Israel, He explains, ... for I am God and not man. Similarly in Isaiah 55 we read after the gracious invitation to return to Him Who freely forgives, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways… For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts; and as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return until they have watered the earth, making it blossom and bear fruit, and give seed for sowing and bread to eat, so shall the word which comes from my mouth prevail; it shall not return to me fruitless without accomplishing my purpose or succeeding in the task I gave it. (Isaiah 55:8-11) God is God. God is other than we are. In His dealings, Love always triumphs. God will never give up on His People. His anger burns. His judgment falls. But His love wins out and the last word is grace. We hardly dare let this good news be known for we fear then we will lose our hold on persons, we will lose our control factor. A good dose of threat and a pinch of fear, the reinforcement of the guilt that is present and well deserved tends to keep the Church in the driver's seat and the people subservient and docile. What would happen if we really let it out that God's love is the final reality, the last word? A great Christian leader and spiritual giant of an earlier day, A.W. Tozer, wrote a beautiful essay entitled, "God Is Easy To Live With." He writes, Satan's first attack upon the human race was his sly effort to destroy Eve's confidence in the kindness of God. Unfortunately for her and for us he succeeded too well. From that day, men have had a false conception of God, and it is exactly this that has cut out from under them the ground of righteousness and driven them to reckless and destructive living. (These Times, 1-74, p. 10) He points out how our notion of God must always determine the quality of our religion. Instinctively we try to be like our God and if He is conceived to be stern and exacting, so will we ourselves be. We can speak of salvation by grace, but we reduce the glory of the Gospel to the drudgery of legalism. Tozer goes on: © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 8   From a failure properly to understand God comes a world of unhappiness among good Christians even today. The Christian life is thought to be a glum, unrelieved cross-carrying under the eye of a stern Father who expects much and excuses nothing. If we think of Him as cold and exacting we shall find it impossible to love Him, and our lives will be ridden with servile fear. ... The truth is that God is the most winsome of all beings and His service one of unspeakable pleasure. He is all love, and those who trust Him never know anything but that love. Unfortunately, many Christians cannot get free from their perverted notions of God, and these notions poison their hearts and destroy their inward freedom. These friends serve God grimly, as the elder brother did, doing what is right without enthusiasm and without joy, and seem altogether unable to understand the buoyant, spirited celebration when the prodigal comes home. Their idea of God rules out the possibility of His being happy in His people, ... Unhappy souls, these, doomed to go heavily on their melancholy way, grimly determined to do right if the heavens fall and to be on the winning side in the day of judgment. We please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and believing that He understands everything and loves us still. Tozer had read Hosea. He makes such an important point. It is precisely the knowledge of God's unconditional love that has the power to change us inside out. What have we produced in so much of the history of the Church? Not happy, grace-full persons, but fearful, guilt-ridden persons whose external conformity to the Law is a mask over seething hostility and rebellious resentment. James Sandeishas written a book with the interesting title, God Has a Story Too. He points out that the Bible is a story about God's action first of all, not about human reaction. He argues that we moralize the Bible when we should theologize the life. By this he means that the biblical narratives are stories not about human achievements, human obedience, human goodness. We are not given a series of models to emulate in the Bible. Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife and laughed when God said they would have a child. Moses murdered and was a fugitive from justice. David was guilty of murder and adultery. Paul persecuted the Church. Peter denied Jesus. The Bible is the story of what God can do through the likes of such people - in spite of them. The story is God's story - a love story, a story of a love that never quits, a love that never gives up on us, a love that will never let us go. © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page 9   Thus when we become wiser than God, feel we must guard the morality of persons and keep their religious practice in line by qualifying the burning passion of His unquenchable love, we not only distort the amazing wonder of that love, we also miss the greatest single catalyst for transforming human personality and the greatest motivation for a life of trust and devotion lived in the light of His grace. Moralism produces self-righteous, proud and judgmental persons. Legalism produces tense, guilty persons lacking joy and assurance in the freedom of grace. Stressing a conditional acceptance produces fear and finally despair. In a word, the shading of the truth of God's love that knows no limits simply backfires; it does not accomplish the purpose. It does not work. In a quarter century of pastoral ministry, I must say that it is grace that is most difficult to receive and God's unconditional love that is most difficult to believe. We do not deserve it. We know we do not deserve it. We are guilty people and we know it. We despair of ourselves; why wouldn't God despair? We condemn ourselves; why wouldn't God condemn? We are faithless and fickle; we resolve, we perform, we fall away again, we have done it a thousand times; will the pattern ever be broken? And here is the greatest peril of spiritual existence: We despair and give up. Rather than responding to the call of the higher, we give up and yield to the lower. We write ourselves off: "Hopeless Case." The old Baptismal liturgy contains great insight and wisdom. Explaining the meaning of the sacrament, it teaches that Baptism is a sign and seal of our ingrafting into the body of Christ... By this assurance we are called to new obedience: to hold fast to this one God, ... to trust and love him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength; and to forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and holy life. Fine. That is what we are committed to. But who can realize that high calling? The Saints, right? Abraham, Moses, David, Peter and Paul? Maybe the Elders. Maybe even the Deacons. But that holy life is hardly within the range of ordinary mortals, is it? Maybe for some. Some folks seem full of goodness and steadiness and from all outward © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Never Gives Up On Us Richard A. Rhem Page10   appearance it would seem they are walking the straight and narrow. But as for me ... Then our liturgy comes with profound spiritual insight: And if we sometimes, through weakness, fall into sin, we must not therefore despair of God's mercy, nor continue in sin, since Baptism is the sign and seal of God's eternal covenant of grace with us. There you have it! Again, the liturgy does not at the point of our weakness issue a warning, but reminds us of a promise. It does not focus on what we ought to be, but on what God has already established. Baptism is a sign and seal of an Eternal Covenant of Grace. That Eternal Covenant of Grace flows from the heart of the Eternal God, which is Love; unquenchable love, unconditional love, love that will not quit, love that will not give up on us, love that will never let us go. Radical grace. Radical love. That is mind-boggling. If that is Who God is, then He is easy to live with, easy to love, a joy to serve, a delight to please. God is our Ally. He will never give up on us. His love will finally triumph. I do not know how; sometimes through judgment, sometimes through adversity, sometimes through death. That is His prerogative; for us the "how" remains a mystery. But the "that" is clear: Love is the last word. God is love. He will never give up on you! References: Bernhard W. Anderson. Understanding the Old Testament. Prentice-Hall, 2nd edition, 1966. Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to a Study of the Faith. Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979. John Joseph Powell. Unconditional Love: Love Without Limits. Resources for Christian Living; first printing edition, 1978. A. W. Tozer, “God Is Easy To Live With,” These Times, 1, 1974, p. 10. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XIII Series God Our Ally Scripture Text Hosea 11:8-9, 14:4, Romans 11:32 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Bernhard W. Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament, 1966 John Joseph Powell, Unconditional Love, 1978 A.W. Tozer, "God Is Easy to Live With," 1974 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-0-19850825 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-08-25 Title A name given to the resource The God Who Never Gives Up On Us 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 August 25, 1985 entitled "The God Who Never Gives Up On Us", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost XIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Hosea 11:8-9, 14:4, Romans 11:32. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Covenant of Grace God's Unconditional Love Hebrew Scriptures Hosea Judgment Prophet Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/119cab40c8ace5c44f5ec182217df4b3.mp3 d96aaefcbdc4d7d1797a9ad5aef15577 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cbe72f6ebf61b1e64ee79a26ebfd3bc2.pdf 9cc3758d69dc66d8406053ed81a40908 PDF Text Text The God Who Cares From the sermon series: God, Our Ally Text: I Peter 5: 7, 10 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 18, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you. …The God of all Grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish and strengthen you. I Peter 5: 7, 10 God is our Ally; He is a God Who cares. He cares about you, a creature of His making, a child of His love. He cares about all that pertains to your life and touches your existence. He cares about you so much that that which affects you, affects Him. He is not an impersonal determiner of your fate nor an impassive observer of your pain or your pleasure. He cares about you. He cares about the whole creation. He cares about the twists and turns of human history. He cares about His Kingdom, His rule present and coming. God is engaged with us; He is engaged with the movement of history. In that engagement, He is for us, on our side, at our side. This has been emphasized from various angles in this series of messages. The focus today is on the personal dimension of God's relationship to us. The message is a personal address to you. God cares for you. He enters into healing closeness with His people. He is our Ally. The text is from the first letter of Peter - a simple, concise imperative with a beautiful promise Cast all your anxieties on him (the imperative); For he cares about you (the promise). Let us begin with the promise declared in the text: God cares about you. That simple declaration contains a whole world and life view of things. It is a faith statement. It affirms a total perspective on the cosmos, history and human © Grand Valley State University   �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 2   existence. It is a statement about the nature of God and the meaning of life. All of that is embraced in the promise of our text that God cares about you. Let me remind you of the place we left off in the last message - the watershed of faith decision - There is No one, or There is Someone. Both alternatives, as I indicated last week, are faith decisions. If you want to study the question in depth, I would refer you to Hans Küng's great study on the question of God in the thought of the last two centuries, Does God Exist? Küng cites one of the leading logicians and epistemologists of our time, Wolfgang Stegmuller, who asserts: The academic expert, concentrated on his special field (mathematics, history, natural science,) does not like to be told that basic assumptions of his thinking are metaphysical in character; the metaphysician does not like to be told that his mental activity rests en a prerational, premordial decision; philosophers of all types - apart from skeptics - do not like to be told that the kinds of skepticism that are to be taken seriously are irrefutable; and skeptics themselves, of all shades, do not like to admit that they cannot prove their standpoint. Such a complex assessment more or less provokes the indignant protest: "This cannot possibly be your last word. One way or another, there must be a solution of some kind." To which I can only reply: "The solution is in your hands, at any time. Make up your mind. Decide." (Metaphysik, Skepsis, Wissenschift, pp. 1-2) Without belaboring this point, I do think it is important for us who have decided to believe in God to know that one can also decide not to believe in God, but in both cases it is a faith decision. We are the people who have decided to believe in God. Thus we have Someone, not No one. That is a fundamental life decision. But having made that fundamental decision, we still have to determine the nature of the "Someone" to whom we look and before whom we bow. Stoicism appeared in Greece in the Fourth Century B.C. and continued to find expression into the Roman period into the Second Century A.D. At its center, it was Pantheistic, believing that God was the principle of Reason that permeated all reality. The Cosmos was a vast machine grinding on its way according to the Divine Logos, the Divine Rationality. The individual found his peace in bowing to his fate. At the heart of things was not a heart, but a principle of reason, impersonal, unfeeling, untouched by the pain and pleasure of humankind. We might call this view of things fatalistic because whatever will be, will be. The world was not seen as capricious and arbitrary; it was moving rationally, but without a Personal Center. Perhaps we could say there was Something, but not Someone. Stoicism produced strong persons. We still use the term "stoic" to describe someone who bears unflinchingly life's adversity. A dash of stoicism would do us © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 3   all good. However, we must recognize here a world and life view which teaches fortitude in the face of whatever happens because of a belief in a cosmic determinism, a universe permeated by a divine principle but wholly indifferent to the human cry, be it an anguished prayer or a joyful exclamation. Sometimes we understand a teaching best by setting it in contrast to another. Our text makes a great claim, which is quite different from the stoic view which says that at the heart of things is not Someone, but Something – an impersonal principle of Reason. Our text claims that at the heart of things is not Something, but Someone - a loving, gracious Presence. He cares about you. Care is an interesting word. Henri Nouwen in his meditation, Out Of Solitude, points out the ambivalence of the word. For example, if one says, "I will take care of him!" it is probably the announcement of an impending attack rather than an expression of tender compassion - but it could be either. The word "care" has also come to be used as an expression of apathy and indifference. "I don't care." Given various alternatives, one may simply shrug one's shoulders and say, "I don't care." That may mean all alternatives are equally satisfactory, but the "I don't care" usage has come to mean not infrequently "I'm really not interested in any alternative - it doesn't matter to me." But, as Nouwen points out, care in its original and deepest sense has nothing to do with indifference and apathy and certainly not with belligerence. The root of care is in the Gothic, Kara meaning “lament.” He writes: The basic meaning of care is: to grieve, to experience sorrow, to cry out with. (p. 340 Nouwen declares, I am very much struck by this background of the word care because we tend to look at caring as an attitude of the strong toward the weak, of the powerful toward the powerless ... we feel quite uncomfortable with an invitation to enter into someone's pain before doing something about it. (p. 34) Yet, he continues, who really helps us? What kinds of persons make a difference? Is it not, Nouwen asks, Those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 4   can tolerate not-knowing, not-curing, not-healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is the friend who cares. (Ibid.) Thus the friend who cares is not the one with the ready solution, the quick fix, the explanation for it all, but precisely the one who is present with us, present to us, owning his own powerlessness and lack of simple answers. To be present with another in their pain is often avoided and evaded by us. Nouwen is quite right when he says, Our tendency is to run away from the painful realities or to try to change them as soon as possible. But cure without care makes us into rulers, controllers, manipulators, and perverts a real community from taking shape. (p. 36) Nouwen is speaking about human community, human caring, but what he says of the horizontal relationship, person-to-person, sheds great light on the care of God for His people. Our text affirms, "He cares about you." That contains a whole world and life view; that claims there is Someone; that Someone cares. That care is the opposite of apathy and indifference. That care is not manipulative and controlling. That care is a loving, gracious Presence with us in the pain and pleasure of our human existence. Many times we might wish that the God Who cares about us would show His hand, intervene, demonstrably move things around to fix matters for us. We would like God to be a manipulator, controlling things from His throne room beyond the ambiguity of history's drama. A not infrequent cry of anguish is, "Why don't you do something?" The people to whom Peter wrote were enduring persecution and knew great suffering and hardship. I am sure they would not have been offended at God's moving in on their situation even if it did infringe on the arena of freedom He carved out for the drama of history. But just here the insight Nouwen shares on the nature of care illumines the care of God for His people. To cure without care is to do violence to the subject of the cure. That is not God's mode of operation. He cares; that means He grieves, experiences sorrow, cries out with. Speaking of Jesus who is the reflection of the heart of God, the writer to the Hebrews says, For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities… (4:15) Stated positively: He is touched. He is affected by that which affects us. © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Again, let me stress that our text contains a fundamental world and life view. There is not No one, but Someone; not Something, but Someone; not a manipulative controller, but a loving, gracious Presence. M. Scott Peck is a psychiatrist. He wrote a book in 1978 entitled, The Road Less Traveled. In that book he speaks of God and of Grace, although at the time he was not consciously a Christian. The response to the book made him examine the Christian Faith and he received baptism. He begins his book with the straightforward statement, Life is difficult. He claims that most of us do not recognize this fact, but rather, ... moan more or less incessantly, noisily or subtly, about the enormity of their problems, their burdens, and their difficulties as if life were generally easy, as if life should be easy. (p. 15) He writes about the disciplines by which the array of problems life presents can be handled. He writes about Love and Growth and Religion and then, in the final quarter of the book, he writes about Grace. His insights are so fascinating because he came to them from long experience as a psychotherapist. From his experience He came to believe in a powerful force originating outside of human consciousness which nurtures the spiritual growth of human beings. (p. 260) The religious, he explains, ascribe the origins of this grace to God. He calls the force love, but then asks where love comes from and his answer is from God. To explain the miracles of grace and evolution, we hypothesize the existence of a God who wants us to grow - a God who loves us. To many this hypothesis seems too simple, too easy, too much like fantasy; childlike and naive. But what else do we have? (p. 269) I cannot develop here the extended argument of Peck and his purpose is different from mine in this message. But his final word expresses vividly what I would express from our text and I find it fascinating that the truth of the text coincides with the data gathered by a contemporary psychiatrist prior to his conscious Christian commitment. He writes, The fact that there exists beyond ourselves and our conscious will a powerful force that nurtures our growth and evolution is enough to turn our notions of self-insignificance topsy-turvy. For the existence of this force (once we perceive it) indicates with incontrovertible certainty that our human spiritual growth is of the utmost to something greater than ourselves. This something we call God. The existence of grace is prima © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 6   facie evidence not only of the reality of God but also of the reality that God's will is devoted to the growth of the individual human spirit. What once seemed to be a fairy tale turns out to be the reality. We live our lives in the eye of God, and not at the periphery but at the center of His vision, His concern. It is probably that the universe as we know it is but a simple stepping-stone toward the entrance to the Kingdom of God. (p. 312) Again, Peck's purposes are different in his book than mine in this message, but his discovery of that positive, nurturing force from beyond ourselves – in a word, his discovery of grace – is the heart of that reality to which the text points. God cares about you. That means that Reality is benevolent. That means that in the human experience with joy and sorrow, victory and defeat, agony and ecstasy, there is a loving, gracious Presence that undergirds us, overshadows us, nurtures and sustains us. The text contains this promise: God cares about you. The text contains an imperative: Cast your anxieties upon him. We could translate this directive with the word "cares", thus achieving a beautiful parallelism, Cast your cares ... He cares... The words in the Greek language are not the same, however, just as their meanings are not the same in English. The "cares" of the first part of the text are anxieties, worries; it refers to anxious caring, the exercise in futility in which we all engage when we worry about things beyond our control. The Greek word Merimna comes from a verbal root which means "to divide." Anxiety distracts and divides the mind so that there can be no peace of mind, no wholeness. The instruction of the text then is to take those matters, which are eating away at us like an acid dissolving our peace and serenity, and handle them up and throw on God. The tense of the verb to cast is aorist in Greek, which speaks of a single decisive action. Clearly, Peter is pointing to a conscious, deliberate action. The problem with anxiety is that it is a vague dis-ease whose cause (or causes) are not always readily apparent. Peter would counsel us to set down and determine to the extent possible what it is that is jabbing away at our peace of mind, what it is that is "eating away" at us. Once determined, "pitch it," turn it over to God. Such an imperative is found elsewhere in Scripture. The Psalmist's word is perhaps being cited here by Peter: Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. (Psalm 55:22) Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, taught us, © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 7   ... put away anxious thoughts ... ...do not be anxious about tomorrow ... (Matthew 6:25, 34) St. Paul wrote, …have no anxiety, but in everything make your requests known to God in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. Then the peace of God, which is beyond our utmost understanding will keep guard over your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4: 6-7) Of course, the fact that these biblical references can be lined up does not make the accomplishment of the action any easier. Indeed, just the bold imperative, "Stop worrying!" can increase anxiety and we must be sensitive when dealing with others caught up in anxious care that we do not add to the load of their care, guilt because they are worrying and not trusting. But this message has as its aim to point to the possibility of peace of mind and a restful heart not simply by offering the imperative, "Cast your anxiety on him," but by lifting up the promise that grounds the imperative, namely, "because He cares about you." The imperative calls for a conscious, deliberate action - a decision. But it is not an act in isolation, but an action on the basis of a new vision of reality. That is why I began with the promise rather than the imperative even though that reverses the order of the text. If once the promise sinks into our minds and filters down to our hearts, then we begin to see reality as it is; then we gain a fundamental insight into the nature of God, of human existence, of the meaning of the world and history. Then we begin to glimpse the Truth that we are undergirded, overshadowed, loved and graced. Then we can realize that life is difficult but precisely in the difficulties of life we are being spiritually trained and disciplined, prepared for a fuller, richer existence here and now and for fullness of life in the presence of the Eternal God. The imperative then becomes a real possibility for all of us once we see the truth of our situation. Then we can act on the text and turn our cares into prayers. We are not alone. We are not shut up to our own resources and ingenuity. There is Someone. That Someone cares about us. His is a loving, gracious Presence. Communion is invited. Conversation is natural. Our cares become prayers and the consequence of prayer is peace. Prayer is not talking to one's self. It is conversation with Someone Who cares, that is, Who is present to us, present with us, in tune, in touch, feeling what we feel. © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 8   A Methodist Bishop of the last century, Bishop Quayle, tells of a time he sat up into the night worrying about the Church. There were so many cares that weighed down that he could not sleep, but simply sat there exhausted, full of anxiety. Then he says it was as if a voice spoke, the voice of God, saying, "You can go to bed now, Quayle, I'll sit up the rest of the night." Have you ever known such a moment when the load of care was suddenly lightened in the presence of God's loving, gracious presence? Such a moment can change one's life forever. We have heard the promise. We have heard the imperative. Let me close with the prelude to both. Peter enjoins those to whom he wrote who were in the heat of battle: Humble yourselves…under God’s mighty hand, and he will lift you up in due time. (I Peter 5: 6) That is the key. Have you humbled yourself under God's mighty hand? That is often where the battle lies. Life can be cruel and tragic and sometimes it is like swimming through asphalt, but we think we have to do it on our own. With Henley in his poem of defiant independence we may be "bloodied, but unbowed." We make it so difficult for ourselves. We fret and grow frustrated, struggle and complain and just when we think we have made it, the bottom falls out or it all goes up in smoke. Why do we fight the God Who is our Ally? Why do we flee that gracious Presence? Why do we resist yielding to Him Whose service is perfect freedom, Whose fellowship is perfect peace? Dorothea Day took Henley's poem and wrote its counterpoint: Out of the light that dazzles me, Bright as the sun from pole to pole, I thank the God I know to be For Christ - the Conqueror of my soul. Since His the sway of circumstance I would not wince, nor cry aloud. Under that rule which men call chance, My head, with joy, is humbly bowed. The outcome of such humbling of oneself beneath the mighty hand of God is a sense of freedom and release, a sense of being undergirded, overshadowed. Then one moves on taking life one day at a time, tending to those things that are within © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Cares Richard A. Rhem Page 9   one's competency and leaving to God the major issues which all the anxiety in the world cannot alter or control anyway. And you approach life with confidence, from a position of strength, knowing that the God of all grace, Who called you into His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself, after your brief suffering, restore, establish and strengthen you on a firm foundation. Therefore - To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen, indeed, so let it be. The Truth is simply this: God is our Ally. He cares about you! Therefore, humble yourself. Cast your anxieties on Him and rest in His loving, gracious Presence. References: Henri Nouwen. Out Of Solitude. Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 1974. M. Scott Peck. The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth. Touchstone, 1978. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XII Series God Our Ally Scripture Text I Peter 5:7, 10 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude, 1974 M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, 1978 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-0-19850818 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-08-18 Title A name given to the resource The God Who Cares 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 August 18, 1985 entitled "The God Who Cares", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost XII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Peter 5:7, 10. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Grace Faith Love Meaning Nature of God Peter Presence of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8f4ed85998d92d6d8f526c81e93c99f4.mp3 c17db53599bd8df6c8eb53dfd9c299df 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 XI Series God Our Ally Scripture Text Psalm 139:1, 7 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-0-19850811 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-08-11 Title A name given to the resource The God Before Whom Our Life is Open/The God We Cannot Flee 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 August 11, 1985 entitled "The God Before Whom Our Life is Open/The God We Cannot Flee", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost XI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 139:1, 7. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives