44 24 1045 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/44c51af84095a33d50d0cac4902b9f3a.mp3 ecee59979c42771d14e67381f09e91d1 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 Bible Study at Crystal Cathedral Scripture Text Luke Location The location of the interview Crystal Cathedral, Orange Grove, CA 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-0-19840902 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-09-02 Title A name given to the resource Only Love Changes People 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 2, 1984 entitled "Only Love Changes People", on the occasion of Bible Study at Crystal Cathedral, at Crystal Cathedral, Orange Grove, CA. Scripture references: Luke. 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/36f8d445c84874816fe81f8f38adbee1.mp3 d3dd9bb9c6dcbbe46fa3853a3692047e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday 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-0-19840415 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1984-04-15 Title A name given to the resource Jesus, You Are Really Something 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 April 15, 1984 entitled "Jesus, You Are Really Something", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. 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/c605b62e13ccccb71c79b96915de1c16.mp3 1e18a14f81ae402188ea003331a2121c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/80240669a58a179132f39cb0f78dd0ca.pdf f0d56eaa9b173b3b3f9ba87d5ba164ee PDF Text Text On Being Available to Another Final sermon in the series: What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Text: Galatians 6: 1-10 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan September 5, 1982 Transcription of the spoken sermon "...set him right again very gently... Help one another to carry these heavy loads... So let us never tire of doing good ...as opportunity offers, let us work for the good of all." Galatians 6:1-10 Our capacity to love reaches its full maturity when we "can look upon the twisted features of a fellow human being in pain and not turn away in fear or disgust but catch a glimpse of the face of the suffering Christ and minister to him in all simplicity and tenderness." (Timothy J. Gannon, Emotional Development and Spiritual Growth, p. 31, cited by Morton Kelsey, Caring, p. 181.) Human maturity can be measured in one's capacity to love and one's capacity to love can be measured by the extent that one is willing to be available to another. Being available to another is what Step Twelve of Alcoholics Anonymous' Twelve Step Program for recovering alcoholics is about. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs. With this step the recovering alcoholic moves outward to engage in a caring, compassionate ministry to another person caught in the bondage of alcohol addiction in order to witness to the way of human transformation. AA does not spend time and energy arguing over terminology and definitions and I suppose I should not either. Yet I must say that the mere statement of Step Twelve does not adequately convey what is involved. "To carry the message" is more than "telling one's story", although that is an essential element. Step Twelve Work for an AA member involves being willing to go anywhere, anytime and to do anything necessary in order to heed a call for help. The "message" is clear because it is acted out; it is lived. To use a good term from Christian theology, the © Grand Valley State University   �On Being Available to Another Richard A. Rhem Page 2   message is incarnated; it is clothed with flesh, the flesh of another human being. Step Twelve as it is stated might seem to involve no more than "witness" in Christian terms. To be sure, the biblical conception of witness also demands more than words - proclamation. Yet the danger of the phrase "to carry the message" is that it might be reduced to "mere words" as has too often been the case in Christian witness. To counter this danger in the Church we have come to speak of witness in word and deed, of "word-deed". There is probably not so much danger of misunderstanding in AA because again here, as at every other point we have examined, AA practices what it "preaches." It is what Christian faith should be for the Church - a way of life. What the Church has forgotten, AA remembers because it will not continue if it forgets. What the Church has forgotten - that its witness must become action, redemptive, reconciling, tangible, love in action, AA remembers and practices. There is no more amazing or beautiful aspect of the organization we have been examining than its Twelfth Step Work: the willingness of the recovering alcoholic to go anywhere, anytime, to do anything in order to help a brother or sister in need. Alcoholics Anonymous presents a model which the Church could well emulate. The fellowship of AA practices unconditional acceptance, supportive love and total availability to anyone in need. In so doing, it has borrowed a page from the Gospel and has become in fact what the Church ought to be. And being true to itself - the incarnation of redemptive grace and supportive love - AA is growing. In fact, the growth is phenomenal when one remembers that its appeal is to only a limited group of persons. I want to say a few things about AA's manner, method and motivation in its outreach program, its Twelfth Step work and then show from the New Testament that this is also the mission and ministry to which we are called. AA's manner is one of being available. An AA member will go anywhere, do anything, anytime. This is the response he makes out of gratitude for the recovery he has experienced. This is the action that flows out of his transformation. This is the outward expression of his new life. Having gone through all of the steps, finding himself and living in the flow of a Power beyond himself, his spontaneous response is ministry to others who are suffering what he knows only too well. The "circle of quiet" issues in a life of service. © Grand Valley State University �On Being Available to Another Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I use the word available because it conveys the manner of AA's approach to the person in need. AA does not go where it is not invited. It comes with no axe to grind and no manipulative or coercive methods are used. Alcoholics Anonymous has found it is unproductive and fruitless to try to help someone who is not convinced he needs help. AA does not try to force its recovery program or its fellowship meetings on anyone. But just let someone indicate the need and desire for help. Someone will be there. And they will stay there as long as they are needed. Obviously there is much Twelfth Step work which begins in the real hell of a sufferer's misery. There is urgency about it, a kind of emerging rescue work at the beginning and then a consistent follow through, sticking with the one who is seeking deliverance from bondage. I do not want to create the impression that every time an alcoholic calls out for help and an AA member responds, there is a new member for AA and another person is on the way to sobriety. Many reach out but are never rescued. Many reach out and are rescued only to fall again and again before finally they arrive at a consistent sobriety. The success of AA is astonishing but success in terms of the growth of the organization is beside the point. Here I would simply lift up the posture of availability. AA does not force itself or its program on anyone. AA does not write off the person who makes many false starts. AA never gives up on anyone. AA is and remains available. That is the manner of its outreach. AA's method is a caring presence and humble witness. I link presence and witness. Presence is "being there" for the other. Witness is telling one's own story. The adjectives caring and humble are extremely important. One is present to another not because of heavy obligation simply to render a duty. One is there because one genuinely cares. A recovering alcoholic who has moved toward health and wholeness and happiness has deep compassion for the one struggling in the hell of addiction. He has been there. He knows the hopelessness, pain, loneliness and despair that overwhelm the sufferer. He is present because he cares and thus his is a caring presence. Humility. That spirit runs through all twelve steps. No one gets past Step One without a painful humbling which then is cultivated and nurtured with each progressive step. A recovering alcoholic lives a day at a time, moment by moment. He depends on a gracious power beyond himself. Apart from that, he cannot make it. He has nothing of which to boast. With genuine humility he tells his own story helping the victim he has come to help to realize that he is not alone, that his friend knows whereof he speaks, understands the agony he is experiencing and without judgment or condemnation accepts him just as he is. © Grand Valley State University �On Being Available to Another Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The recovering alcoholic tells his own story in an effort to identify with the one who is seeking help, letting him know that there is no lost cause, no person beyond redemption's point. Witness, not preaching! Acceptance, not judgment! As one of AA's co-founders counsels in the book As Bill Sees It, Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you. Offer friendship and fellowship. (P. 192) That's the method: a caring presence, a humble witness. The motivation for Twelfth Step work is compassion for the alcoholic and self-preservation for the recovering alcoholic. One who has suffered the horrors of bondage to alcohol will most naturally feel compassion for another person caught in that bondage. The desire to help another person flows naturally from the new way of life he has found. To be delivered, freed, released and transformed again into a useful citizen with a measure of happiness and serenity will issue in a longing to tell others the secret and lead them toward health and wholeness. The one who goes to help will naturally suggest the AA meetings and witness to the effectiveness of the Twelve Step Program, but not for the greater glory of AA or its program. Fortunately, Alcoholics Anonymous has been able to keep the institutional aspects of AA in low profile. The meetings, the disciplines are not ends in themselves and no one is out to make a name for himself in AA or to build a super organization. Motivation is compassion for the alcoholic and a desire to see him restored to sobriety. Nothing is asked in return. Twelfth Step work is selfless service. But there is another motivating factor: self-preservation. It has been the experience of AA and the testimony of countless recovering alcoholics that the best therapy in the world, the strongest defense against relapse is Twelfth Step work. Through his selfless service, in the paradox of grace, the recovering alcoholic finds his own life strengthened, his joy deepened, his own soul refreshed as he finds himself the instrument of restoration for another to whom he has made himself available. There you have the manner, the method, and the motivation of the Twelfth Step of the AA program. © Grand Valley State University �On Being Available to Another Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Does it not sound strangely familiar? Have you not heard it all before? Is it not precisely the biblical conception of Christian witness? I have gone into considerable detail on this step because, once I have set forth AA’s conception of outreach, I can simply say, "Go thou and do likewise." Nevertheless, this is a sermon, so let me take you to the Scripture lesson where I believe we will find the same manner, method and motivation for Christian witness, the same conception of what the Church should be and do. Paul's letter to the Galatians is his letter of Christian freedom where he sets forth in all its radical glory the grace of God. In the course of his discussion, Paul describes the fellowship of the Church as a community of forgiveness and mutual support, a community of supportive love in a spirit of gentleness, a community of care, one for another. Galatians 5:25 could well serve as a motto for the whole Twelve Step Program. If the Spirit is the source of our life, let the Spirit also direct our course. AA would speak of "Power" or "God as we understand Him." The New Testament tells us that God active in our life is the Spirit. Salvation is effected by the Spirit and it is in the Spirit that we live the life of a Christian. But then Paul deals with the Church as a community of mutuality and support. Restoration of the fallen is counseled: If a man should do something wrong, ...set him right again very gently. Gentleness and humility are counseled because you may be tempted, too. Recognizing that life is not easy, Paul goes on to say, Help one another carry these heavy loads. And in the 10th verse he says again, Therefore, as opportunity offers, let us work for the good of all. . . There are so many points of contact between this letter and the Twelve Step Program, but I must limit myself to the spirit of this passage as it relates to AA and its posture. The spirit is one of kindness and gentleness as we deal with one another, sharing each other's load and walking in humility. Grace must permeate the fellowship of the Church. Unconditional acceptance and supportive love must be its hallmarks. The concern that comes through strongly is the restoration of the person to wholeness and Paul pleads that we will never tire of doing good. © Grand Valley State University �On Being Available to Another Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I submit to you that the spirit of this passage permeates the fellowship of AA and the practical counsel is what is acted on in Twelfth Step work. Now let me apply this to the outreach of the Church. If Step Twelve is AA's outreach program, why did I select Galatians 6 as my scripture rather than a passage dealing specifically with Christian witness? I chose this passage because I want to say that effective evangelism happens through compassionate ministry. Earlier I said the phrasing of Step Twelve does not convey the manner and method of Twelfth Step work. "Carry the message" might sound like "witness to Jesus Christ" and be thought of in terms of "words." Words are important. It takes words to tell one's story. Yet that is only part of the outreach. The caring presence is that which puts flesh on the words. The story is told in the context of a humble, gracious presence. It is being available, being present to another in unconditional acceptance and supportive love that creates the environment where the words, the witness, can be heard. This is what the Church has forgotten. This is what AA remembers and puts into effective practice. The Church has been too "word" oriented, forgetting that God's great move toward us was a Word made flesh. There are too many words. We are too wordy. We print tracts and we talk ceaselessly. But in the final analysis, it is the compassionate, caring presence of a community of persons that is the most effective instrument of evangelism. And what we need in this church and every church is not more committees on Evangelism, but more Stephen Ministers, persons who will carry out a ministry of care, persons who will provide a caring presence in a spirit of humility with kindness and gentleness. This is not a new note being struck here at Christ Community. It has been our posture over the last decade. We are probably the only congregation in the world with a Minister of Evangelism and no Evangelism Committee, and no formal program of outreach. Gordon has always maintained that the best evangelism is a happy congregation. This is what I meant earlier when I said that AA is growing by simply being true to itself. So the Church will grow if it is really the Church - if it is a community of compassion, care, humility and grace. As an interesting sidelight, Gordon just gave me a note. The statistics of the Reformed Church for 1981 are just out: In 1971 we numbered 678 members; at the end of 1981 we numbered 2430. In 1971 we were 130th in size in the RCA; at the end of 1981 we were 4th. In 1971 we were 36th in size in Michigan; at the end of 1981 we were first. © Grand Valley State University �On Being Available to Another Richard A. Rhem Page 7   I share that not as a matter of pride. Even to share it is dangerous because it so easily leads to pride of institution. But I share it as the best evidence I know next to the phenomenal growth of Alcoholics Anonymous that a community that cares about people cannot help but prosper. There is an Institute of Church Growth in California where they have stressed the imperative of the New Testament that the Church grow. They have approached the matter scientifically and set forth certain sociological principles for church growth. But I have never been impressed. Church growth smacks of institutionalism. Church growth smacks of competition. Church growth smacks of pride. What matters is not church growth, but people, people touched by grace; people accepted, loved, healed; people forgiven and given hope. Church growth is an accident, a byproduct of the Church being true to itself, being a community of compassion and care. We really do not need more evangelistic tracts, or crusades, or evangelism seminars. We need a whole army of people who have been touched by the grace of God who are willing to be available to another. In such a church, the Word becomes flesh and the love of God becomes tangible and the grace of God flows out to embrace, to forgive and to renew. Numbers are not important but the human beings for which they stand are all important and I do believe that where persons are primary - primary over all institutional considerations, primary over all doctrinal definitions, primary over all rules of order, primary over all confessional loyalty – there the Church will grow, and the grace of God will flow, and Christ will be magnified. It is as simple as being available to another. © 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. Series What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Scripture Text Galations 6: 1-10 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-0-19820905 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-09-05 Title A name given to the resource On Being Available to Another 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 September 5, 1982 entitled "On Being Available to Another", as part of the series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Galations 6: 1-10. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Alcoholics Anonymous Empathy Transformation Unconditional Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e401f59c1b5e07f75a89362a3755c57a.mp3 0488fa85e4fae8e4910594c9726df648 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/326d6b9176de8f7e3e743299c2960091.pdf 0ab0b7d00fbf92f950d1f22d837b81ef PDF Text Text A Circle of Quiet Sixth sermon in the series: What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Text: Isaiah 26:3-4; Psalm 46:10; Romans 12:1-2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 29, 1982 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Be still, and know that I am God..." Psalm 46:10 "Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock." Isaiah 26:3-4 "...present your bodies as a living sacrifice, ...which is your spiritual worship...be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God..." Romans 12:1-2 Madeleine L'Engle writes, ...often I need to get away completely, if only for a few minutes. My special place is a small brook in a green glade, a circle of quiet from which there is no visible sign of human beings. There's a natural stone bridge over the brook, and I sit there, dangling my legs and looking through the foliage at the sky reflected in the water, and things slowly come back into perspective….The brook wanders through a tunnel of foliage, and the birds sing more sweetly there than anywhere else; or perhaps it is just that when I am at the brook I have time to be aware of them, and I move slowly into a kind of peace that is marvelous….If I sit a while, then my impatience, crossness, frustration, are…annihilated, and my sense of humor returns. (A Circle of Quiet, p. 4) She wrote that in a book entitled, A Circle Of Quiet. From that passage she named the book after it was finished and the title is a happy choice. It describes the book which, in journal fashion, records Madeleine L'Engle's deepest thoughts and intuitions, the kind of reflections that come to one who has developed a circle of quiet in her life. I borrow the phrase “a circle of quiet” for this message, which deals with the importance of solitude, meditation and prayer in the nurturing and sustaining of the new life in Christ, a truly spiritual existence. © Grand Valley State University   �A Circle of Quiet Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Once again, what the Church has forgotten, AA remembers. In the wonderful logic of the Twelve Step Program for recovering alcoholics, AA recommends a daily practice of meditation and prayer. I am jumping over steps eight and nine which have to do with making restitution for whatever wrongs one has done, where amends can be made without doing further injury, and step ten which encourages a continued moral inventory such as we have earlier discussed in step four. I turn now to Step 11, which deals with the discipline of a devotional life: We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. Such a practice is not new to us in the Church. Perhaps it is not fair even to say that the Church has forgotten it. I think, however, we would not be far wrong if we said that for most of us in the Church it is a practice not practiced. Here again perhaps the recovering alcoholic is more fortunate than those of us that do not share his particular problem. His problem is such that, once having been rescued from his plight, he knows he can continue on the road to health and wholeness only by the daily appropriation of the power and peace of God. That is why we speak of a recovering alcoholic, not a recovered alcoholic. He is never cured; he lives one day at a time – indeed, moment by moment. The Power - God, as he understands Him - has set him free from the tragic slavery that held him bound. But that freedom is nurtured one day at a time and the secret is a day-by-day conscious cultivation of the power and peace of God. I hope you know by now that this series is not primarily for recovering alcoholics, nor is it for the purpose of advertising AA, although I am happy to do so. I have stressed throughout that the alcoholic is not unique. He has a particular problem but then, we all do of one sort or another. The Steps of the AA program are simply borrowed from the Scripture and translated into the language of one particular group of people. But the steps follow diagnosis and remedy of the human condition found in the Scripture and they go on to counsel how that new life must be nurtured and sustained. What the recovering alcoholic knows to be absolutely essential, too many of us believe to be optional. He cannot make it without daily prayer and meditation. None of us can, but because we don't necessarily fall on our face without it, we think we can get by. But we are only fooling ourselves, or, I should say, cheating ourselves out of the richest dimension of human experience - the practice of the presence of God. Let me suggest to you today that every life needs a circle of quiet. Let me encourage you to set about developing for yourself the habit of devotion, a time for solitude, meditation, prayer. © Grand Valley State University �A Circle of Quiet Richard A. Rhem Page 3   AA provides practical helps for the development of the discipline of devotion. There are several publications which are very helpful. What I suppose one could call the AA Bible is a little pocket-sized book entitled Twenty Four Hours A Day. There is a brief paragraph on some aspect of life, a meditation and a prayer. For today's date, for example, this is what is written: We cannot get along without prayer and meditation. On awakening, let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking. Our thought lives will be placed on a much higher plane when we start the day with prayer and meditation. We conclude this period of meditation with a prayer that we will be shown through the day what our next step is to be. The basis of all our prayer is: Thy will be done in me and through me today. Am I sincere in my desire to do God's will today? In another AA publication, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, Step Eleven is discussed in a very practical way. Recognizing that for many a daily practice of meditation and prayer may be totally new, simple hints are given as to how to begin. The suggestion is made that one take the Prayer of St. Francis, "Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace..." and let it soak into one's consciousness. Read it. Read it over. Read it slowly, thinking about every phrase, savoring every word. This, of course, is but one example of how devotional material can be used to get us started. The literature available is immense and the devotional suggestions many. The aim of all our striving must be the practice of the presence of God, the developing of conscious contact, communion with God. For us who would nurture and nourish our spiritual life, our life in Christ, the greatest source of devotion, the greatest aid we have is the Bible, and the practice of daily Bible reading is indispensable for one who would have his life conformed to the image of Christ. The Old Testament lesson is Psalm 46, one of the most familiar and best loved of the Psalms, which are the favorite source of devotional reading in Scripture. Psalm 46 celebrates the safety and security of God's people because of His presence with them. Perhaps it was written to celebrate the preservation of Jerusalem from the Assyrian hosts. But the historical situation is not important. In itself, it breathes of the security that comes to God's people because of His presence with them. The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. How many times have not these words brought calm and peace to those in peril, confusion and fear? Be still and know that I am God. © Grand Valley State University �A Circle of Quiet Richard A. Rhem Page 4   What steadiness comes to one who repeats those words and with those words comes into the conscious presence of God? The Psalms are full of such comfort and strength and not only the Psalms. I added another example of the promises of God's words from Isaiah: Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord for ever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4 That statement was inscribed on a plaque and hung in our living room when I was growing up. It promises precisely what AA knows the recovering alcoholic needs. It promises what each and every one of us needs. It promises peace to the mind concentrated on God. It calls us simply to trust in God, the Rock of Ages. Christian hymnology has taken up texts such as these and enabled us to sing our faith. Martin Luther's great hymn, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" is based on Psalm 46. Augustus Toplady based the familiar "Rock of Ages" on Isaiah 26:4, where "everlasting rock" is literally "rock of ages." Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee. These two hymns are directly based on words of Scripture and the hymnal is a great source of Christian devotion, providing much substance for meditation and prayer. The Old Testament texts I offer as examples of what one finds in rich supply in the Scriptures, great statements that, once imbibed and appropriated, bring peace and calm to the heart. But I selected the New Testament text as the biblical parallel to Step Eleven, the call to spiritual worship, which leads to the transformation of life. Paul urges, Therefore my brothers, I implore you by God's mercy to offer your very lives to him; a living sacrifice, dedicated and fit for his acceptance, the worship offered by mind and heart. Adopt yourselves no longer to the pattern of this present world, but let your mind be remade and your whole nature thus transformed. Then you will be able to discern the will of God, and to know what is good, acceptable, and perfect. Romans 12:1,2 The Apostle with his "therefore" moves in this great statement of Christian faith to the practical application of Christian truth in the everyday life of the believer. He appeals on the basis of all that has been set forth as the foundational truth of Christian faith for a life wholly offered up to God. The sacrificial system of the old cultic worship is now superseded. Jesus, the Lamb of God, has been offered over for all -the perfect sacrifice. No longer do we come with sacrificial offerings as the token of our lives offered in worship. Rather, as new creations in the Risen Christ, © Grand Valley State University �A Circle of Quiet Richard A. Rhem Page 5   we offer ourselves in the totality of our lives to God. Our worship is the offering of our whole being, the worship of mind and heart in the practical affairs of our every day. A change has taken place; a transformation. The mind is remade. The whole nature transformed. Now all of life's energy is focused on learning to know and do the will of God. In his paraphrase, Phillips renders Paul's words thus... Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity. I submit to you that no statement could better reflect what AA suggests is the goal of human existence than this word from Paul. Step Eleven counsels prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him and the focus of prayer is the knowledge of His will and the power to carry that out. Living out God's will for our lives by the power of God is an excellent statement of maturity, of full human existence. If one would read the rest of this twelfth chapter as a prelude to every day, one would find its shaping impact on one's life and this, of course, is the purpose of a life of prayer and meditation, the purpose of practicing the presence of God. Let me speak personally for a moment. Over the years I have spoken on the subject of prayer and spiritual formation. I did so because it is a subject that from time to time should be addressed in the course of one's preaching. I have tried to do so honestly, never claiming to have cultivated the art of Christian devotion with great skill, nor to have achieved great success in the practice of devotion. In fact, what stands most vividly in my mind about my attempts to speak to this area of Christian life is that I was most helpful because I admitted my own failure, neglect and inconsistency in the life of prayer and meditation. After an experience of regular prayer with a prayer list, a weary morning appointment and a sense of heavy obligation during my years in seminary, I backed off any kind of regular devotional practice. I think there was some negative reaction on my part as well as recognizing, in a more positive vein, that the devotional life cannot flourish under legalistic constraint. After all, I reasoned, one can pray any time, anywhere. And it is true. Yet I think it is also true that one does not pray "without ceasing," any time, anywhere unless one has some more purposeful, disciplined pursuit of prayer and meditation. I have had another barrier to meaningful devotion. I have wrestled with the theology of prayer and have too much made prayer a matter of the head than the heart. © Grand Valley State University �A Circle of Quiet Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Now as I speak to you on the subject of practicing the presence of God, of a circle of quiet in your life, I can speak of that circle of quiet out of the experience of a circle of quiet in my own life. I want to share with you what I have found rich and meaningful. I sense finally in my own life the real joy and richness of a daily experience of solitude, prayer and meditation. I simply recommend it to you - not on the basis of legal constraint or religious duty, but rather as a way to be human, whole, at peace with self, others, the world and God. Step Eleven puts the central concern of such prayer and reflection into sharp focus Show me thy will and give me the power to do it. There, too, I have battled with God. I have not always wanted to say, "Nevertheless, Thy will be done." Yet when we really sense the grace of God, the graciousness of God, then what better can we desire than His will? What better can we ask than His power? His will fulfilled in our lives through His power. Is that not life's highest possibility? And that will is made known to us in the circle of quiet; that power flows through us as we move out of the circle of quiet into the demands of our ordinary days. He will speak gently to us all. Be still and know that I am 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. Series What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Scripture Text Isaiah 26:3-4, Psalm 46:10, Romans 12:1-2 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-0-19820829 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-08-29 Title A name given to the resource A Circle of Quiet 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 29, 1982 entitled "A Circle of Quiet", as part of the series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 26:3-4, Psalm 46:10, Romans 12:1-2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Alcoholics Anonymous Meditation Prayer Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/02cd9fb24e9d9f5ccc1b473ccf0e110e.mp3 f9c4e7a981799d63fbddd98b447d5d08 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/64b29f5b4287791a35ae38aa7a422f35.pdf 9aa61f64592a50159b3e73adbb028b2d PDF Text Text The Place of Confession in the Christian Life Fifth sermon in the series: What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Text: Psalm 32:1; I John 1:10; 2:2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 22, 1982 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven..." Psalm 32:1 "If we confess our sins, he ... will forgive our sins and cleanse us..." I John 1:9 How did you react to the Corporate Prayer of Confession this morning? You probably recognized it as one of the more familiar Prayers of Confession because we use it from time to time. If you were ever part of the Episcopal or Anglican tradition you likely knew it by heart. It is the General Confession from the Book of Common Prayer. Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done; and there is no health in us. But Thou, 0 Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare Thou those, 0 God, who confess their faults, restore Thou those who are penitent; according to Thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, 0 most merciful Father, for His sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of Thy holy name. Amen. I ask about your reaction because it has often elicited strong reaction. In a book written in 1942, an Anglican priest, D.R. Davies, discussed the prayer phrase by phrase. He gave the book the delightful title Down Peacock Feathers. That says it very well. Honestly to offer the General Confession is to have one's wings clipped. It is an exercise in genuine humility. But that is precisely why the prayer elicits such strong reaction - it hits us where it hurts; it assails the citadel of our pride. Davies writes, Nothing has been a subject for greater merriment or jeering raillery in the pages of our modern novelists than that part of the Confession on which © Grand Valley State University   �The Place of Confession in the Christian Life Richard A. Rhem Page 2   people describe themselves as "miserable offenders." I seem to remember that Mr. H.G. Wells found this a particularly rich vein for his brilliant and riotous pen. With his incomparable facility for skinning people's souls, he has pictured Anglican congregations – which, of course, were very bourgeoisie, very complacent and very respectable – describing themselves, with the greatest hypocritical gusto, as "miserable offenders." And somehow the whole confession withered away in the contempt that flowed from Mr. Wells' pen. And how his readers - of whom I was one rocked with laughter. That was a long time ago, and today we are rocking with something that is very different from laughter. Mr. Wells himself has ceased to laugh. (p. 116, The Centenary Press, 1942) D. R. Davies makes reference to World War II and the great peril in which Europe and the world stood. In a most penetrating analysis of the historical scene of his time he shows that the General Confession is not overstated but rather the kind of humble confession that alone is fitting in the world writ large with war, bloodshed and violence. I came across another reference to the General Confession in a more recent book, Madeline L'Engle's A Circle Of Quiet. She was raised in the Episcopal tradition and attended an Episcopal boarding school. She tells of her encounter with the prayer, which was part of the liturgy at chapel every morning. She writes, When it came to the General Confession in Morning Prayer I was, with proper humility, willing to concede that I occasionally left undone a few things which I ought to have done (I was, after all, very busy), and I occasionally did a few things which I ought not to have done. (I was, after all, not "pi" (pious); but I was not willing to say that I was a miserable offender and that there was no health in me. (p. 233. The Seabury Press, 1972) Later in her life, having married and in process of raising her family, she lived in New England and attended a Congregational Church. They came out with a new hymnal which had a section of prayers in it, as does our own. The General Confession was printed but without the two offending phrases. She says. It is an interesting commentary on human nature in this confused century that precisely those words which I could not, would not say as an adolescent were deleted from the congregational prayers. But by now a mature Madeline L'Engle had lived enough and had enough selfknowledge to know that it was precisely those words which reflected honestly the human condition. She goes on, © Grand Valley State University �The Place of Confession in the Christian Life Richard A. Rhem Page 3   By that time, in the midst of my fumbling agnosticism, it had become very clear to me that I was a miserable offender, and that there was very little health in me. (p. 234) She told her pastor, It's all right to think you can be virtuous if you try just a little harder when you're an adolescent, but I don't like having the Church behave like an adolescent. (p. 234) Coming from a different perspective, Robert Schuller contends that the Prayer of Confession in the liturgy is detrimental to human self-esteem. You will never have to confess to being a "miserable offender" with "no health in you" at the Crystal Cathedral. Schuller has a point. The Church has certainly done the world a disservice with its dour emphasis on human sin and failure and its failure to communicate effectively the Gospel of Grace. He is quite right that the Church has been responsible for creating for many of its people low self-esteem, producing a lack of ego strength and thus crippling psyches. But the question remains whether the remedy lies in deleting the Prayer of Confession from the liturgy. If we were to submit the question to Alcoholics Anonymous they would tell us in no uncertain terms that to drop the element of confession of sin from the Church's liturgy and from the Christian life is to court disaster. I suspect there is a good deal more honest and humble confession going on in AA than in the Christian Church, and AA claims that only through such confession and forgiveness is human transformation possible. Human transformation. That is what we are about. Since it seems to be happening with greater regularity and greater effectiveness through AA than through the Church, perhaps we ought to ask why. That is what this series is about. What the Church has forgotten, AA remembers. What is the central act of Christian worship has become a practical steppingstone for the recovering alcoholic on the way to health and wholeness. AA recognizes the truth D.R. Davies was driving at; the great human problem is to rein in the peacock feathers. Step One was a giant first step: We admitted we were powerless...our lives were unmanageable. © Grand Valley State University �The Place of Confession in the Christian Life Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Steps Two and Three were a reaching beyond oneself to a Power greater than oneself to find help - to be rescued. Step Four was the beginning of the life of sobriety - a searching and fearless moral inventory, revealing the roots of one's drinking in character faults. But having gained self-understanding, having gotten insight into who one really is, standing exposed with all one's glaring faults, what does one do? To whom does one turn; what does one need? It must be obvious: one needs Grace. One needs forgiveness, the assurance that all the wrongs one has discovered and all the damage one has done do not hang around one's neck like an albatross, but rather are removed, pardoned, covered. One needs the freedom that God's forgiving grace alone can provide. That is where we are: Step Five: We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Step Six: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Step Seven: We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. There you have confession in the life of the recovering alcoholic. Again, here there is great wisdom and insight. After taking the moral inventory, which we noted last week was a painful process, the alcoholic is counseled to come to terms with it. It must be admitted to God. Now that is an awesome assignment. If we have a sense of the majesty and holiness of God, then, to borrow a phrase from Kierkegaard, we will come before Him with "fear and trembling." But that is not all that is required. We must have faced our faults honestly and owned them ourselves and then, further, shared them with another human being. It is one thing to tell God; but we can get accustomed to that. It is another thing to blurt out the whole sorry tale to another person. Confessing our sins to another gives a certain concreteness to the act. Here is the wisdom of the Roman Catholic practice of the confessional booth. You have no doubt heard many Protestant sermons affirm that Jesus is our High Priest. He is the one mediator between God and humankind and we need no other priest. That is true in theory, but it is less than successful in practice. We should have reflected more carefully before we did away with the booth. Did not God reach us in the flesh of Jesus? Should not the incarnation have given us a clue that God's love and grace and forgiveness are always mediated through the tangible encounter with another? © Grand Valley State University �The Place of Confession in the Christian Life Richard A. Rhem Page 5   If we really believe and act on the priesthood of all believers, we will still be all right. This is in fact what happens in AA. Fellow members hear confessions and mediate grace. This we must learn again in the Church, for there will be no profound religious experience for anyone, who has not given place to confession in the Christian life. The Scriptures give wide place to the experience of confession and forgiveness. Psalm 32 is a classic statement of the confession of sin and the joy of forgiveness. The opening verse is a ringing announcement of the happiness of one who has confessed his sin and experienced the grace of God's forgiveness. The Psalm is attributed to David. This would then be a song written sometime after that passionate cry for cleansing found in Psalm 51. David loved and longed for a woman who belonged to another. He took her to himself and she conceived his child. Failing to cover the transgression, he had her husband, Uriah, the Captain of his army, exposed to the thick of the battle where he lost his life. He then took Bathsheba as his wife and she bore a child. David lived with all that on his conscience and the experience, he writes, on reflection, was pure hell. Confronted with his sin by Nathan, the prophet, he acknowledged his wrong and sought the mercy of God. Now he sings of that experience, expressing vividly both the agony of guilt and the freedom of forgiveness. The New Testament tells the story of Jesus who came to mediate to us a knowledge of God, of His grace and to secure for us, for the whole world, the forgiveness of sin. John writes in his First Letter, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is the Gospel. This is the Good News! To those who truly repent, acknowledging their sin, genuinely seeking its removal, God will grant forgiveness, full and free. Involved in that forgiveness is the love of God and the agony of crucifixion. He will forgive us and cleanse us because Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree, in the words of Peter, and God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, in the words of Paul. In another marvelous expression of the same truth, Peter says, There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. © Grand Valley State University �The Place of Confession in the Christian Life Richard A. Rhem Page 6   This is the word we so desperately need. There is no health in us and, as AA well knows, as long as wrong rages within us, unrecognized, unacknowledged and unconfirmed, it creates hell within us. The manifold disturbance of human personality is the devastation wrought by wrong-headedness and wrongheartedness, rationalized, excused, justified by the person who uses huge amounts of emotional and psychological energy to repress the truth. Great relief has come to troubled people through the insights of psychoanalysis, and Sigmund Freud has made a large contribution to our knowledge of ourselves. There is a great deal of distortion and misconception, resulting in a sense of guilt which has no basis in reality and much relief can come to one who gains such insight. But when all wrong-thinking and damaging psychological experience has been discovered and exposed, there is still one great problem remaining... Real guilt. For we are wrong. And for this hard core of real guilt, what we need is not insight, but forgiveness. Grace is our only hope. It is precisely Grace that is offered through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Psychoanalysis can expose and reveal; it cannot heal. Only God can heal; if we confess our sin, He forgives our sin. The General Confession can be prayed only by one who has faced his sin, admitted it, and sincerely desires its removal. It is a strong statement: There is no health in us, miserable offenders. Why does that offend us so? Perhaps we can understand that better if we remember that it is offensive both inside and out of the Church, but not in an AA meeting. For those outside the Church there is still the need to mask the truth, to deny the dark reality. For those taking their chances, leaning on their own resources, there is the necessity of self-justification. No one going it alone is about to admit such a devastating truth. For those in the Church - at least for many in most churches the reality of sin has been handled, not in the context of grace, but in a moralizing, judgmental manner. Too often in the Church we have not addressed the biblical doctrine of sin but rather have condemned sins, too often concentrating on minor matters while leaving great issues untouched. I am convinced that any serious, thinking person can read the biblical doctrine of sin written large in the course of human history as well as reading it in his own heart. And such a person will recognize that the only answer to radical evil is the radical grace of God. But the Church majors in minors and denies its own message of grace with the self-righteous posture of the Pharisee. Congratulating itself that it is not like others, it fails to take sin with sufficient seriousness. © Grand Valley State University �The Place of Confession in the Christian Life Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Here we must learn from AA. There is no soft-pedaling what is wrong. The recovering alcoholic knows too well the folly of excusing his behavior. He learns to say, "I am wrong." And in the environment of grace provided by those in the meeting - which is concretely an expression of the grace of God - he dares to look at himself honestly. He experiences grace. He finds himself forgiven. He learns to forgive himself and others. Let me suggest that, if the Church is to be a redeeming, reconciling fellowship, if the Church would be the instrument to set people free, give them hope and a new self-image, filling them with self-esteem, the best method is not to downplay the problem but to lift up the forgiving grace of God that is the salvation to our greatest human need. The Church, then, must reclaim this truth - that the Grace of God, mediated through persons, alone brings health and wholeness to humankind. The Church is not institution. The Church is you and me, in honest relationship together, embraced by the Grace of 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. Series What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Scripture Text Psalm 32:1, I John 1:9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19820822 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-08-22 Title A name given to the resource The Place of Confession in the Christian 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 August 22, 1982 entitled "The Place of Confession in the Christian Life", as part of the series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 32:1, I John 1:9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Alcoholics Anonymous Confession Forgiveness Grace Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6fd4ef89af77cff0482a45870bfdd8f7.mp3 e17b783ad80ade701de0df7a632beeca https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/317666d5c073b7eb886135e979808b1c.pdf 5688549704c5c610d5126701eb2023b6 PDF Text Text The Grace That Enables Us To View Ourselves Honestly Fourth sermon in the series: What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Text: Psalm 139 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 15, 1982 Transcription of the spoken sermon Thoreau said that all men live lives of quiet desperation, and I often believe that he was right. One evening this week the telephone rang and the person on the other end told me of a young man who had entered this sanctuary some months ago. Being in his 30th year and never being a part of the Church, he was amazed at what he heard and what he felt here and was one of the most sincere and serious seekers with whom I had ever dealt. In a number of sessions I developed a real fondness for him, the reality of his questions, his search, his struggle to find meaning, his reaching out after God. The voice on the other end of the telephone line informed me that last week he committed suicide. And so, one recognizes that Thoreau was right. All over this community churches gather, congregations assemble to worship very much as we have done here with our Sunday clothes, our respectability, and our cordiality. We meet one another, but we do not really meet. We manage to keep things on the surface and we major in trivialities. We major in trivialities because any deeper probing might unmask us and reveal the quiet desperation and the storm that rages within. Churches meet, people singing hymns and saying prayers and going forth from the sanctuary still bleeding and bruised and wondering what to make of it all. And not only in the churches, but also in the streets of the city, the throngs go to and fro, carrying within the raging storm. How can we penetrate the thick armor with which we shield our deepest hurts, our anxieties, our fears? How can we learn to live lives of health and wholeness? How can we come to an honest self-awareness that is the prelude to human wellbeing? Today we make a significant shift in our study of the parallels between the Twelve Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous and biblical faith. In the terminology of the Church we begin at Step Four to speak of the Christian life. To use the doctrinal term, we begin now to speak of sanctification or the way of holiness, which I would like to translate as the way to wholeness. © Grand Valley State University   �The Grace that Enables Us to View Ourselves Honestly Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Step One was a step of diagnosis - Our lives had become unmanageable. Step Two took us beyond our misery to a Power beyond ourselves - We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Step Three was the watershed moment - We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him. With those three steps we have admitted we have a problem - or better, we are a problem - and we are powerless to help ourselves and we have committed our lives, turned ourselves over to God. In biblical terms, we have entrusted our lives to God. Where do we go from here? I have entitled this series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers" because AA is actually doing what too often for us in the Church is only a way of life acknowledged but too little lived. AA is responsible for the transformation of millions of lives that once were broken and miserable. Human transformation is what we in the Church are about. We must learn again our own faith in order again to be effective in changing human nature, bringing healing and creating wholeness. Step Four calls for a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. For the alcoholic, sobriety has been won through the admission of powerlessness and the commitment to the Power of God. But now that sobriety has been achieved, how can one go on to a new life? How does one appropriate the power of God on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis not only to stay sober but to find the fullness of life? Step Four calls for an honest self-appraisal - true self-knowledge as the way to a transformed life. Self-knowledge is not an end in itself. It is, however, a necessary first step toward the goal of accepting responsibility for our own lives and beginning to work at behavior modification. The Gospel too calls us to an honest appraisal of who we are and sets before us the model of Jesus Christ as that fully human existence to which we are called. My thesis in this message is that the Grace of God enables us to view ourselves honestly. Knowing that we are loved unconditionally and accepted just as we are gives us the courage to accept ourselves, own our own behavior and take responsibility for our lives. Let me suggest first of all that seeking self-knowledge takes courage. We must admit that we avoid self-knowledge both because we are proud and we are afraid. By self-knowledge, I mean a knowledge of who I am, an understanding of myself, why I react as I do, my strong points and my weak points, my deepest desires, my greatest fears. I mean a knowledge of how I react in given situations, how I affect © Grand Valley State University �The Grace that Enables Us to View Ourselves Honestly Richard A. Rhem Page 3   people and how other persons affect me. By self-knowledge I mean understanding myself, understanding the past which has shaped me and the present which conditions me and the future which determines me. By selfknowledge I mean an honest appraisal of my strengths and my weaknesses. In a word, self-knowledge is knowing who I am. In the case of AA, it is obvious why the new life begins with a searching and fearless moral inventory. Alcoholism is a disease and for some persons there is an immediate chemical reaction, which leads to addiction. But for most people alcohol is first of all a way of escape from life and its realities. It is a cover for fears and anxieties, feelings of resentment or frustration, a compensation for feelings of inferiority. The first requirement was the admission of powerlessness and then the willingness to turn one's life over to the power of God. Thus sobriety is achieved. But the problems that lie behind the turning to drink in the first place remain. It is those problems that need to be named, owned and dealt with. But the alcoholic is not unique. He is not the only person with problems. We are all alike. Our problems differ. The way we handle our problems differs. But we all devise some method of coping with life. We may choose some escape mechanism that does not lead to an addiction such as alcohol, but we all have our ways. Some of us chain smoke. Some of us bite our fingernails. Some of us keep on a merry-go-round of activity. Some of us overeat. Some of us withdraw into ourselves. Some of us overwork. Some of us play too hard. Some of us know it. Some of us don't. Self-knowledge is painful, but living without self-knowledge is pitiable. AA is very serious about the moral inventory. As I have mentioned in each message, AA is a spiritual organization but it is not a religious organization. It is not precise in the definition of its terms. It leaves to each person to form his own conception of God and, in regard to the moral inventory; it leaves to the individual the freedom to define the problems of his own character. The biblical term would be sin. That term is expressed by several biblical words meaning missing the mark, or transgressing the bounds, something twisted or distorted; sometimes it refers to rebellion. Sin is not a popular word. If one prefers, as one approaches the inventory one can speak of character defects or maladjustments. However one speaks of it, what is being asked is to be completely candid about those attitudes and actions and behavior patterns in one's life which are the roots of the disruption one experiences within one's self and in one's relationships. AA is not only very serious about this process; it is very practical, as well. It calls for a written report. The inventory is very concrete and specific, naming the fault, © Grand Valley State University �The Grace that Enables Us to View Ourselves Honestly Richard A. Rhem Page 4   how one behaved in light of the fault and the consequences of that behavior. For example, from the outstanding clinic for alcoholic recovery, Hazelden, comes this pamphlet, "A New Fourth Step Guide", which is an instrument to help one do the Fourth Step meaningfully. In the instructions it says: Step Four (like each of the Steps) marks the beginning of a new way of life. It says that today I will begin to take a realistic assessment of myself. We hope this guide will help you begin to learn to know yourself. Three attitudes are important: To be searching, fearless and moral. 1. Are you searching? Are you really digging into your own selfawareness and describing your behavior as it really is? 2. Are you fearless? It takes courage to face yourself in terms of what has really been going on in your life. 3. Are you moral? Take a good look at the "good-bad" implications of your behavior, your own values? How does it size up with your own values? Then there are some thirty pages, most of which are blank spaces for one to write in response to questions raised at the top of the page. Let me cite just a couple: FALSE PRIDE What we mean is excessive pride; being so thin-skinned that we have trouble admitting any human weaknesses at all. Another word for this kind of pride is grandiosity. Describe how your pride has kept you from looking at your own behavior. HUMILITY Now that you are learning that it is safe to admit your powerlessness and unmanageability, do you find it easier just to be human? Being humble doesn't mean being weak. It means accepting ourselves - our strengths as well as our weaknesses. Do you know something now about what humility really means? Are you able to be less defensive? To enjoy the peace that comes with genuine humility? Explain. SELF-PITY This is hard to recognize, and it's something no one likes to admit. It's a matter of feeling sorry for ourselves. Maybe because we feel people just don't understand us. Or maybe it's feeling that people don't respect us or don't love us enough. It means feeling hopeless, feeling like a victim of © Grand Valley State University �The Grace that Enables Us to View Ourselves Honestly Richard A. Rhem Page 5   circumstances. Have you ever felt self-pity? Do you feel sorry for yourself right now? After each brief statement, it is your turn to respond. Sounds scary, does it not? That is why I began by saying that honestly to seek knowledge of ourselves takes courage. As I said earlier, self-knowledge is painful. Yet I also said to live without self-knowledge is pitiable. That brings me to the second point I want to make Self-knowledge is freeing. As much as our pride and our fear resist self-knowledge, there is nothing more freeing than the honest admission and acceptance of who we are. So many of us expend so much energy covering up who we are. We spend our days in selfjustifying behavior. We explain ourselves and excuse ourselves and when we are cornered, we strike out in defensiveness. To some degree we all play roles. We wear masks. We hide the person we are behind a cloak of respectability. The roles we play, the masks we wear depend on where we are and with whom we are. We tend to live up to others' expectations and so much of human relationship and human society occurs on a very superficial level. We have surface contact and we major in trivialities. What a relief it is to be able simply to be ourselves in the presence of someone with whom we feel safe, not worrying that we will be discovered for what we are rather than known for what we project as our facade. This brings me to the Old Testament lesson, Psalm 139. This magnificent poetry sings of the sovereign and gracious presence, power and knowledge of God. After reciting the completeness of God's knowing, His inescapable presence, His limitless power, the Psalmist concludes with a morning prayer for God to search his inmost being, to make him transparent and to lead him in the way of truth. I submit to you that only one who has found God to be gracious would dare to offer such a prayer. Obviously this is the prayer of one who knows God intimately and has been convinced of His steadfast love for he cries out, "How precious are Thy thoughts to me!" To be known completely, and to take comfort in that, is to know that God is gracious. But does the recovering alcoholic necessarily know God in the intimacy of His love and grace? Not necessarily. He may still be at the stage of speaking of an Anonymous Power. Whence, then, comes the Grace? © Grand Valley State University �The Grace that Enables Us to View Ourselves Honestly Richard A. Rhem Page 6   In the AA experience it comes from another person, perhaps his sponsor, and from the AA group. The mediation of grace comes through persons who know where the recovering alcoholic is coming from and who reach out without judgment offering total acceptance. The AA fellowship provides the tangible expression of God’s grace to the person who has finally come to seek help much as Jesus mediated grace to the woman at the well. That fascinating narrative which John has written into his Gospel for his own purposes of telling the story and significance of Jesus is a beautiful instance of the Grace with which Jesus dealt with persons. Jesus, gracious Jesus, able to engage in conversation a woman of Samaria. Every word is loaded; for him to talk to a woman, for him to talk to a Samaritan woman - all of that immediately spoke volumes, which he did not have to say in so many words. Jesus, gracious Jesus, reaching out to a woman living in quiet desperation, communicated to her that kind of grace that enabled her to come to self-knowledge. It is an interesting little story. Starting out at Jacob's Well, a drink of water, Jesus moving directly to the point... "Bring your husband." "I have no husband." "You're right, you have no husband. You have had five husbands, and the one you are with now is not your husband." She says, "My, you must be a prophet. Let's talk about worship." But he had gotten to her. Not an unmasking that left her denuded, but a gracious peeling away of the facade that opened her up to the healing of his acceptance and unconditional love, enabling her to go back home to say, "Come, meet a man that told me everything that I ever did." Honesty can only happen in the context of grace. I wish the Church could learn that. The Church is the last place in the world you would want to be honest. A sinner wouldn't be caught dead in church, for the Church is for the righteous, for the religious, for those that need no physician. But Jesus said, "I came to call not the righteous, but sinners, sick people, people with problems, people with fears, with resentments, wallowing in self-pity, people with self-destructive tendencies. People who are poor bets and high risks, bleeding people, bruised people, people beaten in the game of life. I've come to help people say, "That's who I am, and God loves me anyway'" - the prelude to movement toward wholeness. © Grand Valley State University �The Grace that Enables Us to View Ourselves Honestly Richard A. Rhem Page 7   It is grace that enables us honestly to look at ourselves. Apart from grace we keep our defenses up and go on our self-justifying way, expending tremendous energy to avoid the reality we would rather not face. Grace enables the courage of self-knowledge. Grace, enabling self-knowledge, creates the possibility of freedom. Grace alone provides the climate for healing and the fullness of human existence. When we have seen the Father in the face of Jesus and experienced His grace in the acceptance of another in whom the Word becomes flesh, we can view ourselves honestly, accept ourselves and take responsibility for our lives and find the flow of God's power, which moves toward wholeness. Thank God! 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. Series What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Scripture Text Psalm 139 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-0-19820815 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-08-15 Title A name given to the resource The Grace That Enables Us To View Ourselves Honestly 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 15, 1982 entitled "The Grace That Enables Us To View Ourselves Honestly", as part of the series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 139. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Alcoholics Anonymous Grace Humility Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6e9969320ea8676eab566d86bb163913.mp3 8a892bc3c3e6c110509b1962fe6e6bc0 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/097e028340500adc6941bfd440c6e7c6.pdf 4c29f2bfd768b1583fe119b54ebcd23a PDF Text Text Trust Third sermon in the series: What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Text: Romans 7 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 25, 1982 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Miserable creature that I am, who is there to rescue me... God alone, through Jesus Christ, our Lord " To trust is to have faith or confidence in; to rely or depend upon; to commit oneself to. Faith is a key word in the New Testament, being the term regularly used to denote the many-faceted religious relationship into which the Gospel calls persons - trust in God through Jesus Christ. Trust in God involves the whole person. If faith is the most common umbrella term, trust carries with it strong connotations of the total commitment of oneself to another. When one says, "I believe," it is a conscious and deliberate act, but it carries with it the idea of surrender to a new reality. A variety of terms can be used to describe this surrender, but implicit in the act of faith or trust is the element of acknowledgement - one knows and acknowledges the one in whom one trusts and the element of commitment - the entrusting of oneself to another. Volumes have been written on faith or trust. The nature of faith and its place in the Christian scheme of redemption have been endlessly discussed and debated. Too often trust has been defined and delineated in abstraction and what has resulted is a sterile theological proposition or doctrinal statement. Our interest in this message is more practical and experimental. We will look at trust as an act of stepping out of ourselves and outside our experience, looking to a gracious Power beyond ourselves, surrendering ourselves to the care of that Power - that Power that for us has been made known as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this series of messages we are paralleling the Twelve Step program of Alcoholics Anonymous with the Gospel of Christ, not in order to learn AA’s Twelve Steps, but rather to learn again the Gospel diagnosis of the human situation, the remedy in the Grace of God and the way of life to which the Gospel © Grand Valley State University   �Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 2   calls us. These things AA has discovered and by them alone they live. These things too often the Church forgets, encrusting this way of human transformation with religious burden and institutional baggage. Step One: We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -that our lives had become unmanageable. Step Two: We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. That Power was left undefined, our relationship to that Power left unexplained. In the AA program - which is spiritual, but not religious, that Power is never defined, nor must one subscribe to a carefully delineated formula of relationships. Step Two is little more than a positive response to the cry out of desperation -Is there Someone who can help? Step Two points to the existence of a higher Power. Step Three takes us further We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. Step Two speaks of little more than our openness to the truth of the existence of a higher Power - of God. Step Three speaks of opening one's life to God. It speaks of decision, thus to a deliberate act. The decision is to turn one's will - indeed, one's whole life - over to the care of God. Steps One and Two were reflective in nature: My life is unmanageable! Possibly there is Someone who will help! Step Three requires more than the acceptance of the truth of a statement. It calls for affirmative action. At Step Three the alcoholic is called to act to let God into his or her life. It is the profound conviction of AA that anyone can begin to let God into his life if he is willing. Willingness is the key. One has acknowledged he is powerless. One has come to a point of at least minimal faith that there is a Power - gracious Power. Now one is at the point of decision; one decides to turn over one's will, one's life to the care of God. AA shows great wisdom in separating Steps Two and Three. The world is full of people who believe there is a God, but too few have ever experienced the power of God operating in their lives. It is the entrusting of one's life to God that allows the © Grand Valley State University �Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 3   flow of God's power to effect our lives. It is trust - which is more than intellectual assent to the proposition "God exists" - which puts us into vital relationship with God. Trust is the action called for when Steps One and Two have become our profound conviction. Step Three is the watershed. It is the end of the self-life. It is the beginning of the God-controlled life. This step is what the New Testament means by conversion. It is a turning point. A turning from self to God, from independence to dependence, from self control to God-control, from self will to God's will, from impotence to Power, from death to life. There are many people who are religious. Too few people experience power in their religion. It is when one consciously and deliberately turns from oneself and turns to God that one is in a place to appropriate the Power that transforms human existence. Only a vital, personal, total surrender of our wills to God puts us in touch with His life-changing Power. There is much that could be said about the background of this commitment according to Christian teaching. Behind the commitment must be the prior work of the Holy Spirit convincing us of our need. And the work of the Spirit points to the Grace of God - His initiative as He reaches out for us and pursues us through the labyrinth of our human predicament. But it is clearly a biblical teaching that decision is demanded. That decision may be an undramatic, quiet resolution of the heart. That decision may come at the end of a long process of conflict and struggle. That decision may be made as a result of a sudden crisis experience. There is no stereotype that can be advocated. What must be insisted upon is that one must decide to turn over one's life to God. There is an interesting aspect of AA's understanding of this decision to turn one's life over to God which is largely forgotten in the Church - especially that part of the Church that most stresses conversion. Conversion is not once for all, as though once accomplished one was through with it. Too much of the evangelical Church stresses the initial commitment so strongly that the impression is made that once that is handled one simply goes on as a Christian. Perhaps this is why there are so many professing Christians who demonstrate little power, little of the reality of God in their lives. AA has discovered what the Heidelberg Catechism understood in the sixteenth century; conversion is not once for all, but daily - the daily dying of the old man and the daily making alive of the new man. AA goes further; it is the moment-bymoment turning over of one's life to God. One day at a time - one moment at a time. Living by the power of God is a dynamic process of appropriating that power, of turning over our wills to His. © Grand Valley State University �Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 4   There is another AA insight the Church needs to relearn. While we must stress the deliberate, conscious act of the will in commitment, we must know that we are dependent on the enabling grace of God even for such an act of faith. If it were I who finally chose for God it would still be "I", the self determining the self. But it is precisely self-sufficiency of which I must be rid. Thus the appeal to the will of so much hardcore evangelism is still an appeal to self-determination. Rather than having confidence in his self-determination, the alcoholic says only he is willing. To clench my fists, to grit my teeth and to say, "I am determined..."is quite different from saying, in total self-resignation and surrender, "I am willing..." The latter is AA's way. It is a way that acknowledges that rescue comes by grace. As one recovering alcoholic put it, You don't reach for God. You become willing to have Him take over, and He reaches for you! Trust is surrender. AA lives by this truth and, if we understand ourselves and our faith, so do we in the Church. Surrender to God. Total dependence upon God. Moment by moment appropriation of His grace and power. That is salvation, rescue, redemption. Consider now the experience of St. Paul. I chose Romans 7 as the biblical basis for this message even though it is not one that would seem to speak to the matter of conversion as the church has understood it. Yet I believe this passage illustrates vividly what these first three messages have been trying to point out. Romans 7 is a hotly debated chapter. Was Paul speaking autobiographically, telling his own story, or was he speaking of the human situation in general? And even more hotly contended is the question whether he is describing the experience of a believer or the experience of one before conversion. Perhaps as with no other passage, there continues to be little agreement on that question and excellent biblical scholars, ancient and contemporary, can be lined up on either side of the questions. Obviously, I will have to give you space to understand this passage as you become convinced in your own mind. I will, however, tell you how I read it while admitting one should not be dogmatic and should always remain open to a new insight and angle of truth. © Grand Valley State University �Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 5   I believe the passage describes the human condition - the enigma of our human nature; but I believe Paul does that so poignantly, so vividly, so powerfully because it is a description of his own experience. So much for the first question. I believe as to the second question that Paul is describing in Romans 7 the experience of a believer rather than a pre-conversion struggle. As we look at the passage I trust that my reasons for adopting these positions will be clear. Let me begin the exposition by pointing to the text - a cry of miserable despair, an expression of grateful trust. Listen to Paul: "Miserable creature that I am, who is there to rescue me out of this body doomed to death?" There you have despair, although not absolute despair. Paul has not given up on the possibility of Someone to rescue him. Do you recognize Steps One and Two? There follows an expression of grateful trust: "God alone, through Jesus Christ our Lord! Thanks be to God!" Do you recognize there Step Three? Although the word trust or faith does not appear, it is obvious that Paul points to God Who has reached him through Jesus Christ - God alone; God his only hope, the God of Salvation in Whom he trusts, to Whom he commits himself, the God to Whom he has made unconditional surrender. Having begun with the conclusion, let us now examine the dilemma out of which Paul cried for deliverance. The great question Paul is dealing with is how a person becomes right with God. Essentially there are two ways, two ways which divide all religions into two camps. Either through human effort and achievement one makes oneself right, or one trusts the grace of God to make one right, trusting God to do what one has found impossible to do. Paul's position is... Salvation (being right with God) is God's gift. It is of grace. It can never be achieved, earned or merited. His antagonists, in this case, Jewish legalists, believed Salvation must be achieved through obedience, the performance of God's will in obedience. The Jewish position saw the human will as having the ability, the power, to perform, to keep the Law. © Grand Valley State University �Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Paul saw the human will as powerless so that the more one was concerned fully to follow the Law, the deeper one mired oneself in the misery of powerlessness. Paul's position will be illustrated somewhere in this area today. On a beautiful Summer Sunday with thousands flocking to the beach, the parking lots will be filled and people will have to park on the street and just off the street. Someone will misjudge the shoulder, not realizing it is nothing but sand. The car will sink. As they try to accelerate to gain sufficient power to extricate the car, the wheels will spin, but rather than propelling the car forward and out of the sand, the wheels will spin where they are, digging themselves in. The more gas that is given, the quicker the car will burrow down until the axle will be resting solidly on the sand. The only possible deliverance is for a power from the outside to pull the car out - its own wheels moving in response to the power of the other vehicle, but simply turning as they are turned with no power applied from the buried car itself. This was precisely Paul's experience. Read his autobiographical statement in Philippians 3. He says if you want to talk about credentials, confidence on external grounds, qualification, achievements, in sum, one's own record, let me mention mine. "Circumcised on my eighth day, Israelite by race, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born and bred; in my attitude to the Law, a Pharisee; in pious zeal, a persecutor of the Church; in legal rectitude, faultless." Phil. 3:5-6 That is some record. Never was one more serious about life's ultimate concern. Not one of his detractors could match that achievement. Paul knew whereof he spoke. And where did it get him? In despair. What did he learn? The powerlessness of his own will to perform what his reason agreed was the just requirement of the Law. He knew the problem was not with the Law. He says, "...The Law is in itself holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good." But what did that good Law accomplish in him as he tried to follow it fully? It brought about his death - spiritually. Why? Because he says, "...The Law is spiritual; but I am not. I am unspiritual, the purchased slave of sin." In utter amazement, Paul says, "I do not even acknowledge my own virtues as mine, for what I do is not what I want to do, but what I detest." What is the solution? © Grand Valley State University �Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 7   To look to Someone who can do for me what I cannot do myself. Here is Step One - Misery; life unmanageable/ Here is Step Two - A Power beyond myself. And Paul took Step Three - God alone - through Jesus Christ our Lord! I believe what Paul describes here is universal. Surely not every person goes through that agonizing struggle because not everyone has been sensitized by the claim of God upon his life. Paul acknowledges that, before the Law came, rebellion was out of the question. But for the person who becomes serious about being right with God - having one's life in conformity with the Law of love and justice and compassion, the greater the struggle, the greater the sense of powerlessness. But I am convinced Paul can speak so vividly of a universal condition because he read the experience out of his own heart. Is there no let up, no abatement of the struggle? Yes, there is. That is why I added the first four verses of Chapter 8. The power of the Spirit, which is the Power of God, sets us free from the Law of sin and death. When I entrust my life to another, when I surrender to God through Jesus Christ, the grace and power of the Spirit accomplish in me what I through my own efforts could not accomplish. Are there any more blessed words in Scripture than this marvelous declaration? " There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Here we have the victory cry! Here is rescue, redemption, salvation, help, healing and wholeness. Is the struggle over? Do we move from misery to victory once for all? Is Romans 7 the state of unbelief and Romans 8 the state of faith? I do not think so. I do not think we ever move finally from Romans 7 to Romans 8, from the life of misery to the life of victory. Notice the summary of Romans 7 in the 27th verse... "In a word then, I myself, subject to God's law as a rational being, am yet, in my unspiritual nature, a slave to the law of sin." To be sure, Paul has made other statements that would seem to contradict this. For example, "If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” II Cor. 5:17 And we know the truth of that statement, too. But it is not as though we move beyond the first into the second once for all. Here the AA experience has much to © Grand Valley State University �Trust Richard A. Rhem Page 8   show us. It is precisely the day by day and moment by moment appropriation of the power of God or, to put it more precisely, the moment by moment trusting, yielding, surrendering to the Spirit that enables us to live in the realm of victory and escape the situation of misery. Is there no alternative to the life of Trust? There is none. But to live in conscious trust is to live in constant power. And to live in constant touch with God's saving power is to live in grace. And to live in grace is to live in gratitude. And to live in gratitude, in grace, in touch with God's power is to live indeed! AA leaves to each person the task of defining God. Note Step Three speaks of God as we understand him. Here the Gospel of Jesus Christ leaves us no doubt. We see Him in the face of Jesus. We come to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus said we come to the Father through him and he said, "He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." Have you come to the Father through Jesus, the Son? Can you remember some moment past that was filled with the glory of His presence, power and grace? Can you remember when you said clearly and deliberately, "Jesus, I come"? Have perhaps the years passed and the stress of life taken its toll? Would you now in the sanctuary of your heart surrender again to the gracious God Who calls you to Himself, to rest and peace, Who calls you simply to trust Him and find in Him salvation, healing and health? Come... He will set you free! © 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. Series What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Scripture Text Romans 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-0-19820725 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-07-25 Title A name given to the resource Trust Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 25, 1982 entitled "Trust", as part of the series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 7. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Alcoholics Anonymous Grace Spirit Transformation Trust https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b5155090b59250db8cbbd5273b649ddf.mp3 4249f0aef42f89f291aaa6fc225e6f83 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ebed986fd94159edf0e532bbc2a33d3b.pdf 82786c59cf5eb1d5de10cd10948752da PDF Text Text The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God Second sermon in the series: What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Text: Mark 9:23-24: “I believe; help my unbelief.”” Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 18, 1982 Transcription of the spoken sermon Once you accept the existence of God - however you define Him, however you explain your relationship to Him - then you are caught forever with His presence in the center of all things. You are also caught with the fact that man is a creature who walks in two worlds and traces upon the walls of his cave the wonders and the nightmare experiences of his spiritual pilgrimage. So declares Morris West in a preparatory note to his bestselling novel The Clowns of God. I think Alcoholics Anonymous would subscribe to that statement. They would appreciate the simple statement of the existence of God without an attempt carefully to define the nature of God with exactitude. They would agree, as well, that the acceptance of the existence of God has profound implications for our lives. And I think they would identify with this idea of human existence as being a very mixed bag - that humankind walks in two worlds: a world full of wonder and a world of nightmare experience. In this second message of the series, “What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers,” we move to Step Two of the AA program for a recovering alcoholic. Let me repeat what I said last week: I speak of AA not simply to publicize it, although I am greatly impressed with this fine organization. Neither am I concerned in these messages with the use of alcohol per se. Rather, I wish to use the AA program to illustrate the biblical truths which constitute God’s method of human transformation, for I believe what AA has discovered and put effectively into practice is nothing new but rather the simple application of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What the Church too often only talks about, AA practices, and the persons who have been helped and healed are legion. In the first message we addressed the question of control - "Who is in charge?" Step One of the AA program is the admission that one's life is out of control "Our lives had become unmanageable." I suggested last week that to the profound realization, "I need help!", comes the obvious question, "Is there someone who can help?" That is what Step Two is all about. © Grand Valley State University   �The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. That may sound like a highly religious statement from an organization that claims it is not religious - and it is not, but its principles are spiritual in nature and at this very early stage the person who has come to the conviction that he is helpless, that his life is unmanageable, is confronted with the suggestion that there is a Power greater than himself and that this Power holds the key to recovery, to the return to sanity, to wholeness. Is there someone who can help? AA says Yes, and suggests that all that is necessary to encounter that Power however defined - is an open mind, a mind open to faith, to faith that God exists. Once again, we are only at the beginning. Step Two points to the existence of a higher Power. Not until Step Three do we deal with trust or commitment. AA does not move too rapidly, expecting giant steps. What is necessary once one has said, “I need help,” is to come to believe that there is Someone Who can help and will help. Thus I entitle this message on Step Two, “The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God.” Before one commits one’s life to God, one must believe that He is and, before one who has come to the realization that he needs Someone beyond himself will be willing to commit himself, he must believe that that Someone is gracious, that the Power that is, is Grace. There is a story in the Gospels that illustrates very well what AA understands by Step Two. Mark tells us of a man whose son was possessed by a spirit that made him speechless. It would from time to time dash him to the ground and throw him into a convulsive-like state. Whether the child suffered epilepsy or what precisely his situation was, we are not certain, nor does it matter. Let us simply recognize a situation of great human suffering and great human need. The man brought the child to the disciples, but they were powerless to alleviate the child’s distress. When Jesus came, the man came to him seeking his help, explaining the impotence of the disciples. Jesus inquired further about the child’s condition and the father explained, concluding with the desperate plea, "If it is at all possible for you, take pity upon us and help us." There you have the situation - a life situation which reflects human suffering - a child whose life is bound in physical and mental and emotional anguish, a parent's anguish at the anguish of his child. In short, here we are back at Step One. We admitted our lives were unmanageable. We admitted we were powerless. It may be a physical ailment. It may be an emotional weakness. It may be the desperate plight of one dear to us. It may be the external circumstances of our © Grand Valley State University �The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   lives. Whatever breaks through the mask of our respectability, whatever wears thin the facade of our normalcy, whatever finally unhinges the floodgates by which we keep the raging sea at bay – sometime, somehow, somewhere, most of us come to recognize with profound conviction that we need help. As difficult as it is to get out the cry, finally we must say, If it is at all possible, help us! The response Jesus makes demonstrates that he was practicing the Twelve Step program long before AA inaugurated it. He said, If it is possible! Everything is possible to one who has faith. Certainly Jesus was triggering faith’s mechanism, bringing to the Father's consciousness that which alone can appropriate God's power. That will not be possible which we do not believe possible. I do not think Jesus was saying that one who has faith will arbitrarily regard anything as possible but rather that, in a given situation, it is faith that is the response by virtue of which God makes His limitless power available. What is faith here? I do not think it is much more than open-mindedness to whatever Power there is. And this is precisely AA's suggestion. It is precisely here that the Church must be willing to learn again faith's simplicity. Jesus is not carefully defining faith, the nature of God and the conditions of the application of His power. He is rather calling for an attitude of openness, which will allow the power of God to operate. Just as at Step One AA brings one to the consciousness of need but does not moralize or condemn, so here AA points to the source of help without feeling compelled to define that power and guard against misconception. Jesus says, "If it is possible! Certainly it is possible if you are open to the possibility." The response of the father is beautiful because it is so honest, so authentic, so free of pious cliché and mealy-mouthed evasion. I believe; help my unbelief! I love that. Perhaps I love that response so much because I have found that my response so often. And I suspect few statements in all of Scripture have given such comfort to struggling believers trying desperately to believe. The marvelous message of this passage is that such struggling faith, no more than an openness to the power of God, is enough to put us in touch with the Grace that heals and redeems. © Grand Valley State University �The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The child was healed. And I suspect the minimal faith of the father grew to a profound confidence in the limitless power and grace of God. This, of course, is precisely what happens in the experience of the alcoholic. At the point of having faith, alcoholics are no different than anyone else. Like the rest of us, they have multiple barriers to faith. Faith is not easy. It is always exercised as a risk. But for the alcoholic, there is a reality check, for in a desperate situation, to turn to a Power beyond themselves begins to effect a human transformation. And, as that transformation takes root, the minimal faith that is little more than openness to a gracious Power grows into a more mature faith which takes on the character of trust. But again that gets us beyond Step Two. In fact, that is precisely Step Three. Let us stop with this simple faith in a gracious God for a moment - the faith that cries, I believe; help thou my unbelief! Let me make some observations. First of all, let me suggest that the question of God's existence is not so much an intellectual question as an existential question. It is not an academic matter but a life matter. It cannot be limited to a question of the head but is rather a question of the heart. Or perhaps better, it is not a question that touches only the mind but rather involves the whole person. The question of God pursued intellectually in calm and cool reflection is interesting, but it is not serious. Now I must make a qualification lest I be misunderstood. I am not saying that we are not called upon to think clearly about the question of God nor that in our serious pursuit of the question of God we must not fully utilize our critical faculties. There is far too much mindless religion and the Church has been guilty far too often of ducking the hard questions, hiding behind a smokescreen of pious platitudes. There has too long been too much fearful response to the critique of faith, too much defensiveness against honest questions and too much condemnation of honest doubt. Faith is not irrational. What is irrational is immoral to believe. God gave us minds to think clearly and if there is anything about which we ought to think clearly, it is the question of God and the faith of the Church. In fact, if we fail to think clearly about the faith, it is not to our credit but rather betrays the fact that we do not really believe at all. As much as anyone in our time, Hans Küng is carrying on this critical dialogue with the Christian tradition. In his book Does God Exist? He investigates the question of God as it has been addressed in the last four centuries. Beginning with the father of modern philosophy, Descartes, he traces the development of the God question. Küng compares and contrasts two seventeenth-century theologians, Descartes and Pascal, showing how the modern era began with © Grand Valley State University �The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Descartes’ systematic doubt of everything he believed until he found certainty only in his own existence – the fact that it was he, himself, who was thinking. “I think; therefore I am.” This at least he could not doubt. From this small block of certainty he began to build the structure of knowledge. Pascal was critical of Descartes. He was a brilliant mathematician and scientist, but he recognized the fact that human reason could not be the gauge of reality or truth. Pascal's famous dictum expressed that well - "The heart has reasons the reason cannot know." Not cool, rational reflection, but a passionate pursuit of the truth and reason by the whole person was the way to the truth for Pascal. He declared the problem to be not intellectual certainty, but rather existential security. From these two thinkers - both incidentally Christian - can be traced a fascinating development of critical rationality as it has been applied to the question of God. That history of thought has led to the modern problem of God and the serious question of the existence of God, and Küng engages in the ongoing debate, indicating that he is convinced that all of our rational powers should be involved in this problem. But his research convinces him that the question of God's existence cannot finally be solved by human reason but rather calls for a decision of the will, a leap of faith if you will, not in the face of rational evidence but in the full light of rational evidence. Thus Küng would agree with the observation made above that the question of God cannot be solved by a detached academic pursuit but only by a passionate, existential quest. The roots of modern atheism, according to Küng, lie not in the amazing development and success of natural science and the emancipation of human reason from the shackles of superstition and traditionalism, but much rather in the alienation of the masses from the faith, due to the Church's inability to open itself and its dogma to the findings of science, as well as the Church's failure to address the sociopolitical problems that followed in the wake of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment and French Revolution. Rather than aiding and abetting the cause of human liberation and humanization, the Church aligned itself with princes and powers of established order. When revolution came, the Church was on the wrong side, identified with the power of oppression rather than on the side of liberation. When the Church as institution was rejected, so was the faith of the Church and the God Whom the Church claimed to worship. There you have the roots of modern atheism. In the cause of human liberation, the leading spirits of the last centuries have had to take a stand against the traditionalism of the Church. To be pro-human they were forced to be anti-God. You can trace a fascinating thread of thought through Ludwig Feuerbach, who claimed God was but a human projection, Karl Marx, who saw God as a consolation serving vested interests, Sigmund Freud, who claimed God was but © Grand Valley State University �The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God Richard A. Rhem Page 6   an infantile illusion – all leading to the nihilism of Friedrich Nietzsche who declared, "God is dead and we have killed him!" And we are not yet done with these thinkers and the problems they raised and the questions they put. But Küng has rendered a great service in helping us to understand where we are and how we got there. He has also demonstrated, I believe, what I said above the question of God must not only be answered; it must be answered out of the total human situation, out of our existential situation. For the question of God engages the whole person in his life situation, not just his head in splendid isolation. This brings me to a second observation: the question of God will most often arise in a situation of crisis. We have seen that in the program of AA. Step Two - openness to a Power beyond oneself follows Step One - life discovered to be unmanageable. This was the case in our Gospel lesson: a parent in anguish over the distress of his child. I think we would all testify to the fact that it is in the wrenching of the soul that we cry out, "Is there Someone Who can help?" This is the origin of the charge that religion is for the weak, for those who fail to find in themselves the resources to cope with life’s harsh reality. Do we have any defense against this charge? Not really. It is certainly true that it is most often in our extremity that God has His opportunity. But if we agree that human existence is fraught with peril and painful at best, then what are the alternatives to resting in the Lord? Gritting one's teeth and flying in the face of the pain? Cynicism and bitterness that corrode and poison the human spirit? Despair? Cursing the darkness? Feuerbach denied the existence of God, seeing Him as a projection of our need. God is not, but we have created Him out of our need for Someone to help in our helplessness. That is a possible explanation. In fact, I am afraid in far too many cases that is all God is to us - a combination of a super Santa Claus and Grandaddy created out of our craven fear and wanton desires. But that is not the only possible explanation. It could be that Augustine was right when he said... Thou hast created us for Thyself and our hearts are restless til they find their rest in Thee. It could be that God created us to find our security and our foundation in Him. It could be that life is unmanageable, that we are played upon by forces and pressures and tides not of our own making nor under our control. It could be that © Grand Valley State University �The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God Richard A. Rhem Page 7   only One beyond us can provide for us a solid ground for our lives and that it is His intention that in the perilous vicissitudes of life we find our rest and peace in Him. Perhaps there is Someone to help, a Power available if only we would open our lives to it. That brings me to a third observation. It is the testimony of the centuries; it is the witness of every recovering alcoholic; it is the experience of every truly religious person: all that is required is the simplicity of faith in the Gracious God. Again, there are depths of faith to be plumbed; there is a profundity of true Christian experience to be probed, but the transforming, liberating, redeeming grace and power of God are available to the one who can in honesty say no more than, "Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief!" I submit to you that that is amazing and marvelous. All God asks is that we throw down our weapons of defensiveness, our arguments and the barrier to belief we have erected. All God asks is openness to a dimension of reality beyond us, openness to a Power that transcends us, openness to a Grace that can heal us. Oh, I confess the sins of the Church. Too often we have encrusted the simple invitation of the Gospel with the baggage of our traditions and the burden of our dogma. We have thought it our duty to guard God and Truth through our careful definition and we have demanded not the simplicity of faith but whole systems of doctrine, most of which have never been through the refining fires of modern critical reflection. And I confess another sin. In the Church we have demanded conformity to our narrow conception of the moral life, most of which has precious little to do with morality, a conception of morality which majors on the peripheral matters and neglects the heart of the matter: love and justice and truth. But God must not be rejected even though the Church has offered only a distorted glimpse of Him, for to reject Him is to reject the only Power that can save us, heal us and make us whole. Only God can help us, transforming our nightmare experiences into experiences of wonder as He heeds our cry of simple faith and leads us into the expansiveness of Grace. Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief! © 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. Series What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers Scripture Text Mark 9:23-24 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19820718 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1982-07-18 Title A name given to the resource The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious 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 July 18, 1982 entitled "The Simplicity of Faith in the Gracious God", as part of the series "What the Church Has Forgotten, AA Remembers", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 9:23-24. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Alcoholics Anonymous Faith Grace Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f752bfb83983da3d38384392dd0df16d.pdf 56868c9b33bdeb0659e090d69a94a537 PDF Text Text Memory and Hope in Our Cosmic Journey From the sermon series on the Cosmos Text: Isaiah 11: 1, 2-5 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent I, November 29, 1981 Transcription of the spoken sermon Advent means coming. The Advent of our Lord has for us a double focus: We remember that He came, We live in the hope of His coming again. Today we enter a new year - not a new calendar year, but a new Church Year or Christian Year. The Season of Advent comprises the period of the four Sundays before Christmas. It is a Season of preparation, a Season of penitence, a Season in which we ponder the mystery of grace in the first coming of Jesus and contemplate the Christian Hope, His coming in power to reign. It is appropriate that we enter this Holy Season around the table of our Lord for this Supper is a Feast of Remembrance and a Feast of Hope. He instructed his disciples, when they broke bread and poured out the cup of wine to remember him whose body was broken, whose blood was shed for them, for us, for the whole world. And in his instructions to them, he called them to do so "until he comes." Thus we are people who live in the time between the times. In the fullness of time, Jesus came. In the time of the End, he will come again. In the meantime, we celebrate his presence with us in the Spirit and in the signs he has given, the Bread and the Wine. The People of God are a people who always live by memory and hope. In recent weeks we have caught a glimpse not only of the immensity of space, but also of the eons of time in which our world has been evolving. We have a past. We have a future. © Grand Valley State University   �Memory and Hope in Our Cosmic Journey Richard A. Rhem Page 2   God has acted in our past. God will act in our future. In this confidence we live. We remember. We hope. So it was with Israel. The symbol on our Advent Banner is a branch, reminding us of the promise which inspired the Old Testament prophet. Through long centuries Israel sustained its hope for the future Kingdom by remembering God's action in its past. Israel was born in the Exodus, a great liberation movement which was annually commemorated in the Passover Feast. Each spring, Israel reenacted their freedom flight as the Passover Lamb was slain, roasted and eaten. In the ritual of remembrance, there was the note of expectation and hope for the day when the Messiah, God's anointed one, would come and bring to fruition Israel's dream of a Kingdom of grace and righteousness. Through the long, weary centuries faith often grew faint and almost succumbed to numbing doubt and debilitating despair. Then she cried, "How long, O Lord, how long?" She lived by the promise. She clung to the hope of the coming One. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Isaiah 11:1 Listen to the description of this One Who was to come. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor; and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins. Isaiah 11:2-5 How Israel longed for such a leader; one who would take the twisted, the warped, the crooked and the deformed facets of her history and her world and usher in the Age of Peace and Righteousness and Justice and Truth. And one day, when hope was about gone and the flame of faith was flickering but faintly, Mary had a child. One of the few still hoping, praying, waiting was old Simeon who took the child in his arms and blessed God, realizing that this was indeed the long-awaited One. Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in © Grand Valley State University �Memory and Hope in Our Cosmic Journey Richard A. Rhem Page 3   the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel. Luke 2:29-32 For Simeon, for Israel, their hope rooted in a memory was realized. Jesus was born; Messiah had come. In the wake of that birth, life and death, a new community was born, gathered around the resurrected and reigning Christ who was present in the Spirit. And the story was repeated. Just as Israel looked back to its redemption from Egypt, so the Church looked back to the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus as God's mighty act of salvation for the world. And looking back to the One Who came and reconciled the world to God, she waited in expectant longing for His coming again to wind up the drama of history and finally establish the Kingdom of God. Just as Israel annually remembered the event of its Redemption, so the Church regularly commemorates the event in which she finds salvation. Just as Israel remembered her past and hoped for the future action of God in the coming of the Messiah, so the Church commemorates Jesus' death in the hope of His coming again. That is where we are today — remembering, hoping. In this Advent Season we take courage from our remembrance of the past. Jesus has come. God's anointed has assumed our flesh and blood. Eternity has invaded our time. Grace has touched planet Earth. And we sense the excitement of John who had a vision of the glorified Christ who promised He was coming. Hear John's words... Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, everyone who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, Amen. And the coming Christ says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega”, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. What are we to make of this promise of his coming nearly 2,000 years after this revelation to John? One need only to tune one's radio to most any frequency © Grand Valley State University �Memory and Hope in Our Cosmic Journey Richard A. Rhem Page 4   today to hear announced the near appearing of our Lord, coming to judge the world. The schemes and descriptions of the Last Things, the End Events, are without number. This waiting from which we take our text for this message has been the victim of the most fantastic and bizarre interpretations. Dates are set, predictions are made, but still He does not come. If already at the end of the First Century they were questioning, as II Peter tells us they were, the appearing of Jesus, then how much more must we, 2,000 years later? Surely in the light of 10 to 20 billion years of cosmological evolution since the "Big Bang," 2,000 years is a blink of the eye. Yet our time is measured in generations and 2,000 years for us earthlings is a long time. Is it possible that, just as our expanding knowledge of the physical universe called for a new understanding of the Bible's references to the heavens and the earth, so our present understanding of time is calling us to a new interpretation of time and eternity? Time and space are interwoven. You cannot peer out into space without going back in time. And at high velocity, time slows down. For example, light travels at 181,000 miles per second. If we could design a spaceship to travel at near the speed of sound, we could reach the center of the Milky Way Galaxy of which we are a part in 21 years. However, what for us would be 21 years would be for those we left on Earth 30,000 years. Not many of our friends would be there to greet us upon our return. Time is relative to motion. At the speed of light there is no elapse of time. Thus, time and space are interrelated, both integral aspects of our cosmic journey. But they are not absolute. They are relative. Perhaps Einstein's Theory of Relativity is calling us to a new conceptuality, a new model of Eschatology - that is, the doctrine of the Last Things, the End. Behold He is coming! That is the message to every generation. That is the word for us. He is coming. Could it be that every generation lives on the edge of Eternity; that every generation is equidistant to the End? The End, that is, of this phase of our cosmic journey? If that is so, then death becomes the gateway to Life in a new dimension. If that is so, then death becomes but the moment of transition, the momentary passage into the Light of Eternity and the presence of the Lord. And if that is so, then, my friends, we do stand always but a breath away from His appearing. And at this new Season of Advent the question is, are we ready? Are we so living that at any moment we are ready to meet the Lord? © Grand Valley State University �Memory and Hope in Our Cosmic Journey Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Memory and Hope in the Cosmic Journey. Take the Bread and remember. Remember Jesus, remember the Cross, remember the event of Easter morning. Then reflect on your journey. Where did He first encounter you? Can you recall the early spiritual impression of your journey? Can you let your mind have free wheeling for a moment to recapture the emotions of those times when He revealed to you His grace? Let your cosmic journey be projected like a film on the screen of your conscious memory. In light of those encounters of Grace in your past, where are you now? Are you moving or plunging deeper into the wonder and mystery of Grace? Or have the wells of your soul dried up? Has the flesh of your heart, once tender, hardened and become encrusted with bitterness, made brittle with the acids of cynicism, despair and hopelessness? And for what do you long? Where does yearning take place in your life? Do you believe He is coming? Do you believe one day all wrongs will be righted, all hurts healed, all dreams realized, all hopes come to fruition? Come to the Table of our Lord. Remember that which bread broken, wine poured out symbolizes. He died that you may never die, but live, live abundantly. Come to the Table of our Lord. Hear the Word today — Behold, He is coming! Learn to hope again. From this Table, with memory refreshed, with hope renewed, go to live fully alive, fully conscious, praying for and expecting with confidence and joy, the Lord Who is surely coming. © 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 I Scripture Text Isaiah 11:1, 2-5 , 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-0-19811129 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-11-29 Title A name given to the resource Memory and Hope in Our Cosmic Journey 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 29, 1981 entitled "Memory and Hope in Our Cosmic Journey", on the occasion of Advent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 11:1, 2-5 , Luke 2:29-32. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Cosmos Eschatology Eternity Faith Grace Hope Spiritual Journey https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2604f904c012abfbf1317cc7b030b11e.pdf 6092de23c5cebd0ab8fb6fa0979b71c3 PDF Text Text God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving From the sermon series on the Cosmos Text: I Chronicles 29: 11-13; Ephesians 1: 4-6, 9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1981 Transcription of the spoken sermon And now we thank thee, our God, and praise thy glorious name. I Chronicles 29: 11-13 In Christ he chose us before the world was founded…. Determined beforehand in Christ – to be put into effect when the time was ripe; namely, that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ. Ephesians 1: 4-6, 9 Worship is the ascription of worth to God; it arises from a sense of awe before the majesty and marvel of who He is. It arises, that is, it is a spontaneous, irrepressible expression of praise and adoration. Gratitude is likewise a spontaneous feeling that wells up in the human heart in the wake of the recognition of some grace or mercy or kindness done, some blessing received. We teach our children to say "Thank you" but we cannot teach nor can we coerce gratitude. How often do we not say of some person helped who fails to express gratitude, "What an ingrate!" But if it is not felt, then it cannot be forced. In this marvelous and moving outpouring of thanksgiving and praise of David in I Chronicles, we sense the essence of worship and gratitude - a heart totally transfixed in the presence of the grace of God. Let me tell you briefly about the situation that called forth this eloquent expression of praise and thanksgiving. Having consolidated his throne and expanded and secured Israel's borders, David wanted to build a great temple for the worship of God in Jerusalem. However, according to the prophet's word, that task would be denied David; it was rather to be his son, Solomon, who would build the temple. David yielded to that prophetic word, but he nonetheless made preparations for the building and used his power and persuasion with the people to gather gifts and resources with which to build. © Grand Valley State University   �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The occasion of our text is the great service of thanksgiving at the ingathering of the gifts of the respective tribes. A great outpouring of generosity to make the temple project possible was celebrated in a service of thanksgiving which was led by David, the King. The majestic doxological prayer, which is our text, is David's expression of the gratitude and praise he felt to God Who had moved the hearts of the people to support so generously the temple offering. David can hardly find words adequate to ascribe to God the worthiness of His grace. …Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from thee, and thou rulest over all. In thy hand are power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank thee, our God, and praise thy glorious name. I Chronicles 29: 11-13 The deep emotion surges through that ascription of praise. We still "feel" it. It poured out. And true worship, praise and thanksgiving are the irrepressible expressions of a heart touched by mercy, overwhelmed by grace, subdued by love. True worship has the note of doxology and doxology cannot be coerced or conjured up. It arises. Doxology was a hallmark of Paul's worship. The burning passion of that great apostle was the consequence of a grand vision of the Truth. Paul's vision of God was no narrow understanding of some local, tribal deity, but rather of the Eternal God Who from eternity had a plan of cosmic scope to bind together all things into a glorious harmony and the very heart of that eternal purpose was grace. Like David, Paul can hardly find words adequately to express the grandeur and scope of the grace of God at work in the world, culminating in the grace that appeared in Jesus who is the very center of this vast cosmic drama. Listen to his outpouring of this cosmic vision: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. …For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. Ephesians 1: 3-6, 9 In this series of messages, I have been attempting to sketch the amazing dimensions of the universe of which we are a part. To catch even a fleeting © Grand Valley State University �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 3   glimpse, to gain even a faint impression of the wonders of the natural world is to stand in awe. And this I have tried to say to you – that the power and might and majesty of the Creation can be seen in another realm, the realm of His gracious reaching of us, creatures of His making, created to reflect His image, to live in communion with Him and one another. The God of Cosmos is the God of Grace. Our Creator is Our Saviour. As we reflect on the first chapter of Ephesians, we can sense the excitement of this insight into God's cosmic plan of salvation. Paul had received the revelation of God's gracious plan as we saw in the previous message. God had acted in Jesus to bring to the world the knowledge of Himself and in Jesus, to accomplish the salvation of the whole world. If we read the various letters of Paul, we know that salvation for him involved nature and people - the whole cosmos. It was this amazing revelation that Paul could hardly fathom, before which he bowed in adoring praise. Worship, praise and thanksgiving arose from the depths of his being. God had a plan. Before the foundation of the world He loved us and included us in His gracious purpose of love. When the time was ripe, He unveiled His hidden purpose that the universe, all in heaven and on earth, might be brought into a unity in Christ. Mindboggling, is it not! It was to Paul. He broke out in doxology. David and Paul both understood the grandeur and the wonder of God's gracious purpose. They knew God's grace was as expansive as the Cosmos and as personal as the individual person touched by grace. Grace is the secret of the universe - the world of nature. Grace is the secret of our human existence. Grace is the ultimate ground and cause of praise and thanksgiving. The Hamburg Times, dated October 9, 1981, has an extended article telling of a conference sponsored by the Thyssen Foundation. The purpose of this conference of scientists was to explore the "Anthropic Principle" - looking at the universe from the perspective of humankind. The amazing result was the realization that this whole cosmological process of billions of years is delicately balanced to provide at this point in the cosmic drama the presence of persons able to know who they are, know the history of the cosmos and assume responsibility for its future. Taking all the data available to us today through the research of the natural sciences, this convention of scientists discovered the universe to be delicately balanced, finely tuned in order to provide an environment in which life such as ours is possible. © Grand Valley State University �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Were the speed of expansion greater than it is, our universe would not have formed as it has. Were the force of gravity less or greater, our universe would not have formed as it has. The author of the article, “The World Is As It Is,” Reinhard Breuer, at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics at Garching, Bavaria, concludes by declaring, The interplay of exactly four forces seems, thus shows the anthropic principle, to have been already a quite frugal method for making possible an evolution through diversity and selection. The structure of the cosmos through natural laws as well as also a special process of evolution evidently cooperated effectively in an almost unique manner within the network of relative relations of forces in order to bring forth an intelligent civilization - us. The American physicist Freeman Dyson once said: "If we look out into the universe and recognize how many chance occurrences worked together for our benefit, then it almost seems as if the universe had known in a certain sense that we were coming." The anthropic principle thus permits a new and uniform valuation of the seemingly (at least in part) accidental development of the world and of the role of man in it. This indeed does not yet make possible an "explanation" in the sense of a scientific theory. Until today it has been shown that terrestrial life is most closely anchored in this structure, that our roots reach back all the way into the properties of the big bang. This transparence doubtlessly orients itself by the example of terrestrial life; it remains open whether an alternate cosmos could be populated by an entirely different form of intelligence. The new mode of thought underpins at any rate the thesis that the world is as it is because with any other constellation of natural laws we would not be here at all. To talk of an "accident" or of "chance" as the cause of our existence is therefore meaningless. Carl Sagan is fully aware of all the data of which these scientists were aware. He looks at it and is enthralled by it, but ascribes it all to chance, accident, coincidence. You and I look at it and fall to our knees as we begin to sense the Grace-Structure of the Cosmos. And with Paul we do more. We see in the vast Grace-Structured Cosmos a point in time - when the time was ripe -when one appeared whose name was Jesus, in whose face we see reflected the image of God Who is first and last the God of Grace. Could it be that this vast cosmic drama involving such immensity of space, billions and billions of years, could have been effected and set in motion for the purpose of love being shared, community being formed, community of God and humankind? That would seem to be the case. © Grand Valley State University �God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving Richard A. Rhem Page 5   What does that do for us? It certainly is no cause for boasting and pride. Are we not rather overwhelmed? Do we not identify with David, who in the ecstasy of experiencing the grace of God, cried out.... But what am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to give willingly like this? For everything comes from thee, and it is only of thy gifts that we give to thee. I Chronicles 29: 14 What am I? I am known and loved of God! O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Grace is the ultimate truth, the final reality. Whether we search the distant stars or probe the mysteries of the minute atom, it is grace that meets us. Thanksgiving and praise arise from a heart transfixed by the grace of God. It is good in the Season of Thanksgiving to count our blessings, to take stock of our situation. Yet the immediate circumstances of our lives may not cause praise and thanksgiving to arise spontaneously. Perhaps our situation presently is one of adversity. Can we still give thanks? Certainly we can if we take the broad view, if we catch the vision of the cosmic grandeur of the Divine Purpose. In the long view, our immediate circumstances lose their urgency. In the light of the "big picture", we cannot but stand in awe before Grace. Grace is the ground of thanksgiving. Grace, as broad as the Cosmos, as personal as our names, engraven on the palms of His hands, is the first and last word. …Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from thee, and thou rulest over all. In thy hand are power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank thee, our God, and praise thy glorious name. I Chronicles 29:10-13 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 Thanksgiving Day Scripture Text I Chronicles 29:9-18, Ephesians 1:1-10 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-0-19811126 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-11-26 Title A name given to the resource God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 26, 1981 entitled "God, Cosmos, Grace and Thanksgiving", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Chronicles 29:9-18, Ephesians 1:1-10. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives David Divine Intention Grace of God Gratitude Thanksgiving Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d97c24fd462fe79bf66c65813cf8428d.pdf 9e467acb12c4513d6e3c141e6a3a20d3 PDF Text Text God, Humanity and Cosmos From the sermon series on the Cosmos Text: Psalm 8: 4-5 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 15, 1981 Transcription of the spoken sermon What is man that thou art mindful of him, …dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him a little less than God. Psalm 8: 4-5 Through a happy coincidence, this was an exciting week in the old U.S. of A. as we once again accomplished a great triumph of science and technology, sending into space again our Spaceship Columbia, watching it blast off with all of the drama of those moments, and then, in order that we might report its safe return this morning, the mission was shortened, and they came back yesterday. Exciting, really, isn't it? And doesn't it boggle the mind to think about the human potential, to think about what human intelligence is able to effect? Isn't it amazing, really, when you contemplate the nature of such events? Truly it is thrilling. Yet we become so easily accustomed to the dramatic and the sensational. If we were to tell our forefathers that these things were happening, they wouldn't believe it. They would say it was impossible. At best they might say, "Well, it's a miracle." Well, it is a miracle, in a sense. But in another sense, it is simply that the human mind has been able to probe the secrets of reality in order to accomplish a mission like that and continue the exploration of the cosmos. I kidded about them bringing the spacecraft home early so that we would know this morning that they were successful, but, as a matter of fact, that decision was made, though not for that reason. As I was thinking about Psalm 2 and the psalmist's reflection upon the cosmos and then upon himself, who he was in relationship to God, I thought that decision was a rather nice illustration of the second Psalm, for a choice was made in favor of human life over the probing of the cosmos. If the psalmist was impressed with the cosmos, then how much more you and me? If he was impressed with what he could see, which was but an infinitesimal fragment of what there is, if he was impressed with his smallness over against the vastness of space and the eons of time, which are becoming more and more clear to us, then how much more must we be impressed with our smallness and our insignificance? And yet, when one of the three fuel cells of that spacecraft failed, a decision had to be made as to whether to let the mission run its course, or to bring it home early. Two fuel cells were enough to allow the © Grand Valley State University   �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 2   mission to take its full run. But then, down to two, if one should fail, the mission and human life would be in jeopardy. And so, at headquarters, discussion was held and the decision was made. They came home early, even though involved were scores and scores of people, and millions and millions of dollars and all of that which is at stake. They brought that mission home early because in this nation, standing in the biblical tradition, we know the value and the sanctity of human life. And when it comes to taking a risk and succeeding with a few more scientific experiments, but placing at the same time, human life in jeopardy, there is really no question, because we know in the face of space's immensity and time's ever-rolling stream, that there is still one thing that counts supremely, and that is a human being. Now that is really the same kind of conclusion that the psalmist came to. On the one hand, he said, Lord, when I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him? And the son of man, that you care for him? He felt his smallness and his insignificance. He was overwhelmed by the immensity of the heavens overhead, and he recognized that his days were but a brief span of time. His littleness in the vastness of it all gave him such a sense of insignificance and smallness. As I said, if he felt small, how about us? We have to say that in our own day there have been a lot of people who have been unable to move with the modern conception of the universe and maintain a faith in God the Creator. The psalmist had a correct intuition. I mean, who are we, really, when you think of it? Fifteen to twenty billion years in the process, and now we are here, threescore years and ten, perhaps. Why, our lifespan is a blink of the eye. And when you realize, as Carl Sagan says in his book, Cosmos, that the earth is a speck of dust, circling a humdrum star, our sun - just an average old humdrum star - you begin to realize the vastness of the cosmos. We are on a speck of dust circling a humdrum star in a corner of an insignificant galaxy; and if we are on but a speck of dust in the vastness of space, so are our days but an instant in the eons of time. When you really stop to think about it, I mean when you really stop to contemplate it, can you still believe that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth? You see, there have been many of our contemporaries who have not been able to make that move and that adjustment. We have opened up the mysteries of the cosmos, and it is a most exciting day in which to be alive. But what has to happen is not only that the cosmos expands before our eyes, but our conception of God must grow commensurately. As J.B. Phillips wrote so many years ago, Your God Is Too Small. We have to admit, too, that in the Church we have not been very good at helping people to make this adjustment. © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 3   In the most recent issue of Science '81, an excellent magazine which was placed in my hands, there is a centerfold on Creationism – Creationism as opposed to Evolutionism, and all of the controversy that is being stirred up by the fundamentalist wing of the Christian Church today. It recounts how several states have gone to court to get equal time for the doctrine of Creation in their schools. It is a very interesting development. This is a science magazine. And in this report it was stated what we have been saying here over and over again, that all of the scientific investigation of the cosmos, whether in biology or physics or geology or in whatever field - all of these investigations really do not impinge upon whether or not God created the heavens and the earth, and whether or not I can still believe that this is my Father's world. That really isn't at issue. But the problem with the fundamentalist wing of the Church that is stirring up all this controversy is that it is creating, once again, that overagainstness with science, and that mindset in much of the Christian Church that there is something destructive to faith in all of this explosion of knowledge in the natural sciences. That is tragic. We do ourselves a great disservice. If you feel good when you see some television evangelist pounding the pulpit and talking in terms of creation over against a godless, atheistic evolutionism, don't clap, because he is not on your side, if you are on the side of God and Truth. That is a false distinction, that is a false antithesis, and it is deadly. It is deadly because it offends the best minds and the best spirits, and it creates the illusion that to be a Christian you have to take off your head, shut down your mind and refuse to survey the vast amount of data that is there for anyone with any common sense. We can't play that game any longer. We have to admit that what the psalmist saw, the immensity of the universe and the eons of time and all of this which has become even more clear to us will necessitate an adjustment of our understanding of God. We simply cannot have this neat, secure little world, little planet Earth and our few thousands of years and our literal, biblical account of things, because, you see, the biblical writers were not writing physics, were not writing biology, were not talking about geology. The writers of the Bible thought that this was a threestory universe, with heaven above and the waters under the earth. God didn't whisper in their ears and give them some revelation of the mysteries of physics. This is not a science textbook, and you cannot find out about the process of the created order, you cannot find out about the stages which have brought us to this present point by going to the scriptures. The only thing the scriptures will tell you, and of course the only thing that really matters, is that in the beginning was God, and that He will be in the end, and that He is with us in the meantime. When the psalmist looked up and thought, "Oh my goodness, I'm not much," then how much more we, and we simply have to recognize that we need to do some readjusting because, as a matter of fact, this old, cosmological, evolutionary process has been going on for a long, long time. There is no doubt about that. And it has been following a course of natural development which now is more and © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 4   more understood, with many mysteries still to be unraveled, but which will be unraveled. We live in a day which is right at the crest of a breakthrough that will continue to explode and explode and explode all around us. The more we learn, the more access we have to deeper mysteries, and when you saw Columbia come in and land right on the second and right on the line, that is simply a sign and a finger pointing beyond itself to the most fantastic dreams that are even now welling up in human hearts and minds. Never say never! Because before you die, it will have happened. But the psalmist had another insight, and that is the critical insight, for he not only experienced his smallness and his insignificance, but he went on to say, "Thou hast created him a little less than God. Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the whole created order." That is the biblical insight. That is the significant fact. That is the uniqueness of being human. That is the religious issue, for it doesn't really matter how long it's been going on, and it doesn't really matter how vast the immensity of space. The fact is that we are here now at this point in the process, and we are human. The psalmist recognized that there is something about being human which is nearly divine. And if I were to put it in a sentence, I would say to you this morning that the message is simply this - You are really something. That's the biblical message. We may be impressed with distance, and we may be impressed with age, but what we really ought to stand in awe before is the mystery of being human, the wonder of what it is to be man and woman, created in the image of God, for what the psalmist was saying here when he said, "Thou hast made him a little less than God," was what the writer of the Genesis account was saying when he said, "God created man and woman in His own image." God created a creature over against himself and made him almost divine. He created a creature with selfconsciousness and with a measure of freedom and self-determination, and with responsibility and the opportunity to fall in worship and adoring praise before the Creator of it all. You are really something! To be human is the greatest mystery reflecting the deepest majesty of the whole cosmological process. When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established: what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands… Psalm 8: 3-6 We are created to be the co-laborers with God, partners with God in this creative process. We are endowed with gifts, with human potential, and we have the powers and the ability to reflect the divine image. We can think His thoughts after Him, and we can enter into His creative activity, and with the things that have already been accomplished through the exercise of human intelligence, who © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 5   would dare say what the frontier finally would be? You are really something, and good religion will affirm human personality. Now, we need to hear that in the Church, too, don't we, because for too long we have spoken disparagingly of human personality. Nothing I say this morning would in any way detract from the fact which we have faced honestly that there is something desperately wrong with us all and we fall short of the glory of God. There is a meanness about us and a contrariness; someone, somewhere has thrown a wrench in the works, and man's inhumanity to man is given eloquent testimony from beginning to end. But in the Church, so often that is where we have left it. We talk about our misery and fail to talk about our grandeur. We talk about our fallenness and fail to take in the destiny to which we have been called. God has dealt with our sin, and by His grace, calls us to realize our destiny and to develop the full potential with which he has endowed us, and to reflect the divine image. You are really somebody. You reflect God. You were created in His image, a little less than Him, and He has created us in order to be in relationship with Him, to live in communion, and to live not only in communion with Him, but in communion one with another, and in interpersonal relationships where there is love and care and forgiveness and grace. There is a little bit of heaven. God and His creature, living in fellowship and communion, one with another and with Him, define the ultimate miracle and the meaning of the whole process. Now, that is terribly important to affirm and it ought to make you feel really good about yourself, because you really are somebody. You have potential untapped, you have gifts yet undreamed of, you have possibilities without limit. You are almost divine, and God calls us to that upward way more and more to respond to that destiny for which he has shaped us, to be prepared for the future that He has for us. Now, when you watch Carl Sagan on Cosmos, be enrapt with him in the excitement of exploring the mysteries of the physical world. And I affirm that, and I love it, and when you study it, as I have more and more, you are so impressed with the simplicity on the other side of complexity. The complexity of the cosmos and humankind seems so apparent. But once the smoke has cleared there appears a simplicity in the created order. All of us and all matter is made up of the same building blocks, the same atoms, the same fundamental elements, whether here on planet Earth or the moon or Jupiter or the sun or your beating, human heart. Everything, being composed of very simple and fundamental elements, seems to reflect a divine intelligence which can hardly be conceived of. But when you watch Carl Sagan and he begins to suggest that that process that has moved through all of the eons of time and all of that evolutionary process to the present moment is purposeless, the product of chance, when he begins to suggest that you are the latest and highest expression, and that there is no one beyond, then don't you believe him, for then he is no longer a scientist; then he is in the sphere of religion. He suggests that maybe the universes are not the © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 6   dreams of God, but rather, that God may be the dream of man. He is saying that we have come to this point and then we have simply projected out, beyond ourselves the God that we wish were there. When he begins to talk that way, he has lost me. Then he has said that I am simply the consequence of all of that process of development having really no freedom and no unique spiritual character, related to all that went before but missing completely that relationship to Him Who is beyond and above. Then I know that he has missed the ultimate truth. Nothing that he says about our relationship to the cosmos is in any way in conflict to that relationship we have with a God Who spoke and called it into being. But to deny that God and to end up here is to leave me alone without a home and without meaning. Human existence, then, is the chance result of spontaneous reactions along billions of years. His explanation for the first development of life is that in a primeval soup one cell got the ability to reproduce itself and then through billions of years, organizing by perhaps a light ray striking a cell and causing a change, a mutation, and finally organizing and gathering and getting more and more complex, until finally one glob of cells woke up and said, "Well, here I am." Now, that takes faith to believe. When we contemplate what it is to be human, then we need not deny that whole process. But to me, it makes far more sense to believe that in the beginning there was an Intelligence that said, "Let there be..." with a purpose, and a purpose of love that moved the process to a point at which one day there was someone who looked into the face of God and experienced relationship, communion. For finally, what is ultimate and what is important? At NASA this week they made a decision, and a correct decision, for there is really nothing in the whole cosmos, there is no experiment, there is no technological breakthrough so important and so pressing that it would be worth placing in jeopardy one human life, one human life that knows itself as free and in relationship, able to love and to care. A couple of weeks ago when Nancy and I were at Mayo's, we did a lot of sitting and waiting for our names to be called. You watch a lot of people and a lot of people in various states of difficulty and need. It's always obvious when, for example, a son or a daughter has brought an aged parent, maybe in a wheelchair or helping them along to the desk. You think a lot about people and you watch them. Nancy was telling me about two old gentlemen, the one helping the other, hobbling along, finally getting to the desk because his name had been called, and the other who was helping said to the nurse, "Is it all right if I go in with him? You know, he's my brother." Well, you know, to me that's more impressive than a thousand billion galaxies. Isn't it, really? What finally counts? We stand not in any conflict with any scientific probe of the depths of reality. Half of the physicists are mystics, trying © Grand Valley State University �God, Humanity and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 7   to determine the nature of what is. That is an exciting venture; it is a human venture. But we do stand in the midst of the darkness of space and the eons of time to say that, whatever else may be, this is ultimately important — we are, and we know one another, and we have learned to love and to care because into our lives, in our own flesh, has appeared Jesus. Jesus, in whose face we have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, and found Him to be gracious. Ah, you are really something! You are really somebody. There are no limits to the possibilities that await you and, as the writer to the Hebrews recognized, what we see now is only a part. We see Jesus, not yet all things put into subjection to him, but the whole tenor of that New Testament, in the wake of Jesus, tells us that there is a future, the contours of which we have not yet begun to dream about. For eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive of the things that God has prepared for them that love Him. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. I John 3: 1f (RSV) And what we shall be has not yet appeared, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And throughout all Eternity we will be brothers and sisters with our Lord, lost in wonder, love and praise of the God Who spoke and called all things into being. Blessed be His holy name. 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. Scripture Text Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:5-9 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-0-19811115 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-11-15 Title A name given to the resource God, Humanity and Cosmos 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 15, 1981 entitled "God, Humanity and Cosmos", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 8, Hebrews 2:5-9. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community Cosmic Evolution Creation Creator Creature Grace Image of God Love Nature of God Nature of the Human https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cc5abf3092be9470597ebd4f018e50e4.pdf 7c753a27862dc35356ca06e21ddb6aba PDF Text Text God and Cosmos From the sermon series on the Cosmos Text: Hebrews 11:3 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 8, 1981 Transcription of the spoken sermon By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God… Hebrews 11: 3 If you had come past my home last evening about 10 o'clock, you might have thought that I was really desperate, for you would have seen me with my cap and coat, out on the deck with my telescope, gazing at the moon and surveying the stars. And you might have figured that, after a week's vacation, having played all week, at the eleventh hour I was desperately looking for a message in the stars to bring you. Such would not have been the case, of course, for the message was well under way by then. But having reflected all week long on the fantastic cosmos of which we are a part, having already savored the wonder of yesterday - the clear air, the blue sky, the radiant sun; walking along the beach with its lapping water, cold and clear as crystal; having seen the magnificent sun slip into the sea in the West, and then the stars glimmering in the night heavens providing a fit setting for the silvery brilliance of the moon, I thought to myself, why not get out of the study and savor it even more? And so, I did. With my telescope, I gazed at the moon and I located a star or two and thought to myself that it is true O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth!... When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him? Psalm 8: 1, 3, 4 (RSV) The depth of eternity symbolized in the immensity of space in this vast cosmos of which we are a part, is but a finger pointing beyond itself to Him Who, in the beginning, created the heavens and the earth. I am sure we all identify with the awe, the sense of majesty which is reflected in this psalm of wonder and praise. I am sure we have all had the experience on a starry night when the atmosphere was clear as it was last night and the sky cloudless. We have looked up and we have wondered at it, and then we have © Grand Valley State University   �God and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 2   found peace and comfort in the conviction that this is our Father's world. The glories of the cosmos are a reflection of the glory of God. For, as the writer to the Hebrews says in the words of our text taken from the 11th chapter, By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God. By faith. It is certainly by faith. It is our conviction that He Who revealed Himself supremely in the face of Jesus and Whom, through Jesus, we have found to be gracious, is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. And, believing that, we have found a home. We know this is our Father's world. This is the first of a series of messages about God and Cosmos. God and Cosmos, in that order, because I do believe that God is prior to Cosmos, and Cosmos is the consequence of the deliberate intention of God to call into being that which was not. All that is, is because God said, "Let there be." I deal with this right now because I am currently viewing the television series, the 13-part Cosmos series, which is written and narrated by Carl Sagan, who must be one of the world's finest astronomers, and who is, besides being an excellent scientist, an outstanding communicator. I hope that you have seen some of that series and, if not, I hope that you will, for it is an amazing production. The photography is thrilling, the technical aspects of it are superbly handled, and the communication skills of Carl Sagan are something to behold. As I view that series, it causes me to look beyond the cosmos to the creator of it all, to experience again what the psalmist experienced, and to say within my heart, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth." Carl Sagan would not agree with the psalmist or with you and me that the cosmos is the consequence of the deliberate, creative act of God. Carl Sagan is an excellent scientist and an excellent communicator and I acclaim the job that he has done. I want to go on record as saying that I think it is tremendous that the depths and the deep secrets of the physical universe are being more and more unraveled in this wonderful way through this marvelous medium, by this great communicator. For he is skilled, not only in his understanding of the universe, but in his ability to make the profound simple. And when he is an astronomer, a scientist, and when he is setting forth all of that data which is available through the explosion of knowledge and through the use of instrumentation which is so sophisticated that it boggles the mind, then I listen intently and I learn. This past week I spent the week trying to master the book which is the narration of the video series. It is entitled, Cosmos. It's a very big and beautiful book, and a very expensive book. I recommend it. When Carl Sagan is a scientist and an astronomer, I learn a great deal. When he ceases to be an astronomer and a scientist and becomes a philosopher and a theologian, then he has moved into my territory and I carry on a dialogue with him. As long as he is talking about protons and neutrons and quasars and pulsars and galaxies and all of that, then I am an innocent bystander listening in and learning and eagerly so. When he becomes a philosopher and a theologian, then I say, "Carl, let's talk about that." © Grand Valley State University �God and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Now, a scientist has every right to be a theologian and a philosopher, and I suppose most all of them really are, because all of us finally are. The difficulty comes when the two are so closely intertwined that one hardly knows whether this is the result of the data gathered through some radioscope, testing the outer limits of space, or whether it is the configuration conjured in the mind and heart of the scientist. When he becomes a philosopher and theologian, then I take exception to him, because then he would not agree with our Judeo-Christian tradition, our conviction that all that is, is as a consequence of the Word of God. He would commit Genesis and the Letter to the Hebrews and the great Psalms to that great body of myth and fable which is a part of the common human experience. Every people who have ever lived have had some kind of an explanation, some kind of a myth which explains why there is anything. And Carl Sagan would lump our Biblical tradition with all of those religious and semireligious explanations for the fact that there is something rather than nothing. It is at that point that I would differ with him and call him to account. He is a materialist. Now, a materialist is one who believes that, finally, everything can be reduced to matter or energy. Now, you all understand Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which says that those two are interchangeable, that mass and energy are interchangeable, that finally, ultimately, the building blocks of reality are very simply molecules that can be reduced to energy. So a materialist believes that, finally, you can reduce the whole of reality to energy, electricity if you will, to chemical reactions, so that the emotions that we feel are the result of chemical reactions and nerve connections, and so forth. A materialist believes that the whole of reality and the totality of human experience can be reduced to that which is material, physical. Now, in saying that, he has to deal with the fact that you and I are intelligent and we are conscious. We are self-conscious people. We can reflect back upon ourselves, we know that we exist, we think about ourselves, for better or worse. And we have an intelligence. We can communicate. He would say that there may be intelligent beings in other universes. If there are, we don't know about it. They haven't signaled us yet, nor have they returned our signal. But, be that as it may, as far as we are concerned, and after all we can only deal here with planet Earth, the highest form of the cosmic evolutionary process has resulted in human intelligence and human consciousness . We are the only beings that know that we are. We are the only beings with the intelligence and the self-consciousness to reflect on the cosmic process of which we are a part. And, consequently, if everything can be reduced down to that point of energy or matter, then human intelligence and human consciousness and human emotion, likewise, can be reduced down and be explained in terms of electricity, chemical reaction, etc. And that would mean, of course, that we are at the top of the ladder. This is as far as the process has gotten. And that would mean, of course, that there is no higher rung as yet realized. Who knows what may be up there? One might say that humans have become godlike. Human existence with its intelligence and © Grand Valley State University �God and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 4   consciousness is the highest rung of the ladder at this point and, consequently, with nothing beyond, there can be no one beyond. A materialist explains the totality of the cosmos in terms of the building blocks of reality that are reducible in the laboratory. Human intelligence and consciousness may be praised and affirmed and acclaimed. It is the highest development of the cosmic process. There is no one beyond. Such is the view of the materialist. Such a one is a naturalist. He would be a humanist, too, I suppose. But you and I believe more than that. As long as Carl Sagan is an astronomer and a scientist, we learn; we learn with fascination and with eagerness. We marvel at the ingenuity of the human mind, at the intellectual powers of an Einstein, the exploratory endeavors of Galileo and Copernicus, Kepler and the whole host of those who have probed the depths of reality and given us today such an amazing insight into the cosmic order. It is exciting and fascinating and we ought to affirm that in the Church. When Carl Sagan has said everything he has to say, he has not yet dealt with the religious question. Being a materialist, he has planted his feet squarely within this cosmos, whereas you and I see the totality of the cosmos as the consequence of the creative act of One Who transcends the cosmos, Who is not encased within the system of which we are a part, with our galaxies and our planets and our stars. We look to One Who is beyond, One Who stands apart from and Who spoke and called into being that which did not previously exist. By faith, we believe the worlds were fashioned by the Word of God. That God was, and nothing else was, and God spoke, and it came to be. That is the affirmation of the Letter to the Hebrews, the reflection of that first chapter where he sees the cosmos to the extent that he was able to understand it and he says, …they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years will never end. Hebrews 1: 11-12 Or the psalmist who said, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth." When I consider the heavens, the moon, the stars which you have made, my worship is not offered, as it has been through so many ages of humankind, to the stars and the moon or the sun or the cosmic order itself, but to the God Who is apart from it and brought it into being. That is the Biblical tradition. That is the Judeo-Christian faith. It is our faith. And so we study the cosmos. As we view such a marvelous presentation as the television Cosmos series, we are fascinated and we marvel at the wonders, the complexity and the simplicity of the created order. But we always look beyond, and then we know this amazing place is our Father's world. © Grand Valley State University �God and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 5   We have learned a lot through the research of astrophysics. They tell us that 15 to 20 billion years ago this universe was formed. Science, itself, has formulated what is today the most accepted model of origin - the ''Big Bang." There was a high concentration of energy and mass, almost a pinpoint. And from that intense concentration of energy evolved a nuclear explosion that scattered the elements in every direction, from which explosion we can still, through very delicate radioscopes, hear the pulsing of radiation. From that Big Bang 15 to 20 billion years ago, this whole cosmic order of which we are a part emanated. They tell us that it is still expanding like a balloon. If you blow up a balloon that has polka dots on it, the polka dots keep getting farther apart, but they remain relatively in the same position on that sphere. And so, this universe is going outward. They tell us if there is enough mass within this expanding universe, the force of gravity will eventually stop the expansion, that it will, in turn, contract so that after the Big Bang will come the Big Crunch. And then, they tell us, possibly with that Big Crunch and that high concentration again, there will be another nuclear explosion that will start the whole process over again. Does it make any difference to Genesis? Does it make any difference to Hebrews or to Psalm 8? Not a smidgin, really. For, who knows what God is up to? Who knows what fantastic things He has in store for this, our planet Earth, which is just a little speck of dust occupying an instant of time in this dramatic, cosmic, evolutionary process. But on this little speck of dust, in this instant of time, we exist, conscious and intelligent, able to reflect on the process and to adore the God Who is behind it all. What we have learned about space is so amazing. For example, they talk about black holes. I wish I understood black holes. In the next life I'm going to conduct great music. The third life I want to be an astrophysicist. I have never had a physics course in my life, and I am really out of my element. But, anyway, try to understand the black holes. Have you ever pulled the plug in a basin of water? You pull the plug in the sink and the water goes down the drain. If you had good drainage, the water was pulled down forming a whirlpool over the drain. Well, they say that where there is a high concentration of energy from the collapse of a great big star, maybe four or five times bigger than our sun, there is such a concentration of gravity that it rushes right out of the universe. Like if you had your hand inside the balloon and pushed it out. That gravity is so great, so intense, that it doesn't even let the light out, so that you look in the sky and there is a black hole. (You can't see the black hole where the star was, but you know that the star was there because there is such a strong emanation of x-rays from that point that they can tell by the radioscopes that it is there.) It is a tremendous source of power. Well, even Carl Sagan says that those black holes might be the shoots that would send us from one universe to another. I was thinking about the book Life After Life, and all the stories of those who have edged right up to death and then come back. They talk about that tunnel of light. Who knows but maybe it's a black hole? It's a black hole from the outside, but © Grand Valley State University �God and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 6   inside, the light is there, you see. Does it make any difference to Genesis, or Psalm 8, or the Letter to the Hebrews? Not a bit. The more we learn, the more we probe, the more we understand, the more wonder, the more sense of awe, because of the majesty, the mind-boggling nature of the cosmic order. Our earth, 4.6 billion years old, part of a cosmic evolutionary process 15 to 20 billion years old. They say if you took a few baseballs and scattered them on the North American continent they would be crowded compared to the stars in space. And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has four billion stars, and our galaxy is in what they call the Local Cluster, a relatively small cluster. There are numberless galaxies. Sagan writes, We live on a mote of dust circling a humdrum star in the remotest corner of an obscure galaxy. And if we are a speck in the immensity of space, we also occupy an instant in the expanse of ages. Cosmos, p. 20f. Can you begin to take it in? I cannot. But whoever said God wasn't big? And whoever said God lacked power? By faith, we understand that the worlds were fashioned by the Word of God, and the more we learn, the more we stand in awe of One Who stands apart from and creates the heavens and the earth and this place for you and for me. When the Bible affirms that God created, it doesn't mean to tell us all of the scientific details about where everything came from, or the process by which it arose. The Church too long has used the Bible that way, as a scientific text. And because of that kind of use of the Bible there has been the unnecessary and tragic conflict between science and religion. The Bible simply is trying to say that God is at the beginning and God is at the end, and whatever exists, this cosmic evolutionary process contains nothing that can be threatening to you and to me, because God is at the beginning and God is at the end. And when the Bible says Creation is good, it simply is saying that it is a good place for us to develop and to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And when it says that God called into being that which exists from nothing, it is simply affirming that there is nothing in the cosmic order that can be threatening, because God is sovereign and Lord over all. That is really all we are saying, but that is to say tremendous things about our human existence, and the cosmic order of which we are a part. I am excited about this, because I believe too long in the Church there has been an atmosphere of fear and an attitude of defensiveness. I grew up being threatened by science. I grew up fearing every new discovery. I grew up wishing there would be no more explosion of knowledge, fearing that somehow or other, the faith and the things that were most dear to me would be exploded by some new view under a microscope or some distant vista from a telescope. The Church's history is tragic: Catholic and Protestant. Johann Kepler was excommunicated by the Lutheran Church in the 17th Century, and Galileo was put under house arrest the last years of his life by the Roman Church for simply © Grand Valley State University �God and Cosmos Richard A. Rhem Page 7   affirming what he knew was true, that the earth went around the sun rather than vice versa. The Church's record is tragic, to be repented of, and the Church too often continues to react negatively to the increase of knowledge. It stifles creative thought and experimentation and offends its best spirits and drives out its finest minds. I am excited about this, because I believe that we can allow the fresh air, knowledge and research and investigation to flow through the Church, and then, if we have faith enough, we can stand with the psalmist and say, "Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth. When I consider the heavens, the moon and the stars which You have made, then from my heart arises wonder, love and praise." By faith we believe that the worlds were fashioned by the word of God, and whatever is out there of which we are a part, whatever its future, and whatever its past, it is encompassed in the eternal love of God, Who has manifested Himself as Grace and touched us in the flesh of Jesus. Blessed be His holy name. Amen. Father, we revel in the wonder of the Created Order, the mind-boggling experience of the natural world, and we rejoice in the confidence that we have that we have a home here, that this is our Father's world, and that you uphold all things by the power of your word. Receive our adoring worship, 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. Scripture Text Hebrews 1:1-4, 10-12 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19811108 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-11-08 Title A name given to the resource God and Cosmos 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 8, 1981 entitled "God and Cosmos", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Hebrews 1:1-4, 10-12. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awe Consciousness Cosmos Creation Creator Eternal Love of God Faith https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2b64e91eafef94e8463a4f10944444ce.pdf bf110f6281861fdeea3180724759a9ef PDF Text Text World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Independence Day Weekend Text: Psalm 33: 10-11; Revelation 15:3 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 5, 1981 Transcription of the spoken sermon I have not lived on Lake Michigan long enough to grew accustomed to sunsets and I hope I never do. No matter how urgent the task at hand, Nancy and I stop and watch the setting of the sun every evening that we are home. It is a very special time - a time to savor the beauty and wonder of the created order; a time to stand in awe of the beauty of our Father's world. But in the year we have been there, I have learned that there are evenings when one can predict a beautiful sunset - when the day has been clear and there is no sign of a cloud in the western sky and the sun sinks toward the horizon with all of its golden radiance streaming forth without a filtering cloud. Such a sight is beautiful - the end of a perfect day. However, there is another kind of evening completely unpredictable as it moves toward the moment of sunset. Perhaps a storm has just passed through or a front is gathering in the West. Huge cloud formations in constantly changing configurations play across the sky with the sun breaking through a crevice here, gilding a foreboding looking cloud there. The interplay of sun and clouds is dramatic, fascinating. Sometimes in those few moments as the sun slips silently into the sea, a cloud covers it all and there is no sunset to be seen. But at other times the clouds break, and across the water pours a path of melted gold and all the lowering clouds are touched by the varying hues such that no artist could do them justice. That is a sunset! This is a parable of world history and, in microcosm, a parable of our personal lives, as well. My theme on this Independence Day weekend is that the Eternal God, the Sovereign of the Nations, works His purposes out in the midst of world convulsion, and His movement in History can be detected by the eye of faith. If we live by the vision of faith we can see the effecting of God's purposes in world convulsion. The dictionary defines the word "convulsion" as, "the action of wrenching or condition of being wrenched... violent social, political or physical disturbance...to shake violently, to agitate or disturb," and convulsion is a fit word to describe our © Grand Valley State University   �World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 2   world. It is a world in ferment -so much more than 205 years ago when those shots were fired that were heard 'round the world. As a matter of fact, those shots were not heard 'round the world. Much rather, what was happening was a rebellion in a British colony, the implication of which could hardly be foreseen at that time. The world went on its plodding way then, but at that time one could hardly speak of world convulsion. What happened then has had far reaching consequences. We have had now 205 years of national existence - an experiment in freedom - a nation shaped and formed deliberately to create the greatest possible freedom for its people. That freedom has brought unprecedented blessing and prosperity and we cannot treasure it too highly nor guard it too carefully. That freedom is a precious gift which is constantly in peril from within and from without. After 205 years we who enjoy it are still a small minority of people, for the vast multitude of humankind live under totalitarian regimes, live regimented lives, live in grinding poverty, despair and hopelessness. What is the proper celebration of our national independence? Where have we come in these two centuries? Where do we stand today and what ought to be the posture of the Church over against our world in ferment? Are we threatened by world convulsion? Should we use our mighty power in the world to repress the cry for human freedom or ought we to be working to break the stalemate of terror that characterizes our world today? God works His purposes out in history. He, the Sovereign of History, effects His purposes in the midst of world convulsion and world convulsion is pregnant with new possibilities for the realization of God's intention that all people and nations should live a fully human existence in peace and well-being. It is not always a simple matter to detect the invisible hand of God in the midst of the uproar and dust of history's unrest, but biblical faith has always been characterized by a confidence that God makes the wrath of men to praise him and that out of the chaos created by the pride of nations and the lust for power and glory, God affects His purposes of love. And so, this morning, on this Independence Day weekend, I want us to think about world convulsion as the opportunity for the working out of the Divine Purpose and understand that world convulsion in terms of the exciting perspective of our faith in the God of History. The commitment that was made and the risk that was involved two hundred years ago, which has proved to be so meaningful in the lives of us all, that commitment which has issued in this great nation with our experience of liberty and freedom, a nation deliberately designed to enhance human freedom – that commitment must be made again. And it needs to be made again not only for ourselves, but for all peoples. For it seems to me appropriate on this, our Independence Day weekend, that we make another declaration and a new declaration, this time not a declaration of independence, but of interdependence with all the people of the earth. For if there were no higher motivation driving us © Grand Valley State University �World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 3   on than self-interest, then we could say, in all honesty, in the self-interest of this nation and its people it is incumbent upon us to recognize that in this world which has grown so small - grapefruit size - it is impossible for us to pursue narrow, nationalistic purposes. Rather, we must become citizens of the world and embrace within our purview all people and nations. And to the extent that we are true to our own principles and honest with our own past, we must lend our power and our resources to every movement of human freedom, being sensitive to every cry for human liberation and the deliverance from bondage, wherever we find it. If we would be true to our past, we must be as committed to the freedom and liberty of all peoples as we have been to our own. I do not have a program, a one, two, three-step approach that you can go out of here with. Rather it is my intention to seek to raise your consciousness of the issue that is before us - the necessity of our nation to be committed to the freedom and the liberty of nations all over. Because, you see, we have moved to the other side of the issue. We are now in the position of the crown of England 200 years ago. We now are in the preeminent position. It is now in our selfinterest, if we are shortsighted, to maintain the status quo. We live in a world that is teetering on the brink of disaster with a balance of terror between the East and the West. We live in a world that is on the threshold of blowing itself up and destroying itself, and we are the persons of power. We are the persons of resource. We now pull the strings. We, now, have the ability to impact the world, either for peace or for destruction, and if we hear the word of God, then we will not be fearful of world convulsion, but we will see it as the opportunity to nudge and move the world toward a more humane society worldwide. The shot that was heard ‘round the world 200 years ago wasn't really heard around the world. This was a backwoods part of the world - who ever heard of America, and who knew what was here and what possibilities there might be? I am sure that Europe looked down its nose at this backwoods operation. The American Revolution was really just a pimple on the surface at the time - who would know what would issue from those apparently parochial events? But such is not the case today because events of far less significance impact us. Through the instant news coverage of the mass media incidents half a world away send their reverberating shocks around the globe. We are bound together in a bundle of life today like never before, and it is high time that we in the United States of America and in the Christian Church in America recognize our worldwide responsibility and recognize that it is not enough to pursue our own national interests and our national purposes. Even intelligent self-interest demands that we take the world into our view. The American Revolution eventuated in this great nation, and we can say that the commitment to liberty and freedom at that time has been vindicated. The experiment of that time and these past two centuries has not been an accident of history, for our founding fathers recognized that liberty and human dignity must be grounded in the Eternal God and our founding documents witness to that fact. © Grand Valley State University �World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 4   But if we would be true to that heritage, then we must recognize that that which we will for ourselves we must will for all peoples. And it is incumbent upon us to recognize our world responsibility, and to declare our interdependence. That isn't popular. As a matter of fact, it goes against the grain. It is much easier to exploit the fears of people and it is much easier to beat the drums and whip up a nationalistic feeling and a fervent patriotism. Throughout the history of mankind there have been those who have set up straw men and scapegoats and we see it happening on our evening news in Iran today where the Islamic revolutionary fires need to be fed constantly by hatred of America, justified or unjustified. History has always been filled with demagogues who would manipulate people for their own purpose and we see a narrow nationalism espoused by the very vocal religious Right in our day. But it is up to you and to me who are Christians as well as Americans to recognize that history is His Story, and that He embraces all people and has good will and purposes of love for all of humankind. Therefore, it is not enough for us to make a kneejerk, nationalistic and patriotic reaction to events in the world, but rather to take a step back and recognize our responsibility to be the instruments of God for the furthering of peace and the enhancement of the human condition everywhere, on both sides of the curtain, in the East and the West, in the North and the South, in the First World and the Second World, the Third and the Fourth, in developed nations and in developing nations - to recognize in our small world, that has shrunk to such miniscule size, that whatever happens anywhere in this world will impact our life and our existence as well. Whenever one gets into this area, one is in the area not of black and white, but of many shades of gray. The international situation is so highly complex that there is really only one thing we know for sure, and that is that those who have easy, simple solutions do not understand. Beware of the simplistic solution to problems whose complexity we can hardly probe. However, we cannot be silent until we have all the facts in. And so, in the midst of our struggle to determine the posture of America in this world of ours, in the 20th century, we recognize the inadequacy of our understanding and the complexity of the problem. Yet, act we must. For example, let us take the instance of El Salvador, which I have mentioned before here. How ought we to react as a nation? Bishop Romero was murdered there a little over a year ago. He was the Archbishop of San Salvador and in his high, ecclesiastical office he had identified with the situation of the poor. In identifying with the case of the poor, there are those who would write him off by simply saying he fomented the unrest among the peasants. Well, I imagine that he did that. As a Christian who knows that God will not have people live in grinding poverty and futility, standing with the poor in a country that has been characterized by repression and oppression, what is a Christian leader to do? He wrote to President Carter back in 1980 and in that letter he said, © Grand Valley State University �World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 5   It disturbs me deeply that the U.S. government is leaning toward an arms race in sending military equipment and advisors to "train three Salvadorian battalions in logistics, communications, and intelligence." In the event that this news is accurate, your government, instead of favoring greater peace and justice in El Salvador, will undoubtedly aggravate the repression and injustice against the organized people who have been struggling because of their fundamental respect for human rights. (…from an address by Prof. Jose Jorge Siman, Former President, Commission of Justice and Peace of the Archdiocese, Catholic Church of El Salvador, given from the pulpit of Riverside Church, New York City, on Peace Sabbath, April 26, 1981.) Nonetheless, our government did not heed the Archbishop. We did send aid and military advisors. And this present administration has done the same. Choosing El Salvador in their early days in office as the point at which they would draw the line, they blew it all out of proportion, and then tried to dampen it down again. Obviously, that little nation was to be a testing ground - those poor people, those suffering peasants, the playground of the major ideologies of the day. In April, on Peace Sabbath, Bill Coffin had in his Riverside pulpit a professor from El Salvador who spoke about the situation and pleaded with American Christians to send human aid, not weapons. And following his comments, Coffin said, ... If it is true that Communism has never come to a nation that took care of its poor, its aged, its youth, its sick, and its handicapped, then why can't we say to the Junta in San Salvador, "We'll help you take care of your poor, your aged, your youth, your sick, and your handicapped, but we will not help you find a military solution to what is not a military problem?" In Nicaragua, where Catholic priests are in the ruling cabinet, where Jesuits manage the nationwide literacy campaign and are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by more than one hundred members of the British Parliament, why shouldn't we help the Sandinistas in the same way we helped Somoza for forty years without blinking an eyelash?... In Cuba, why shouldn't we lift the blockade of twenty years, and instead of sending Marines to Guantanamo Bay, let businessmen wade ashore in Havana? That's what Castro wants, that's the way to counteract Soviet influence, and that's the way to practice peace. The cure is caring, not killing; serving people, not power. Caring for others is the practice of peace.... Peace does not come through strength; strength comes through peace. The Psalmist in the lesson we read this morning said the Lord brings the plans of nations to nothing. He frustrates the counsels of the peoples. But the Lord's own © Grand Valley State University �World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 6   plans stand forever. And then the Psalmist went on to say what this world has never learned - and our nation does not understand, as well. A king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a vain hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save. Psalm 33: 16, 17 (RSV) The world teeters on the brink of disaster, and what have we to say? I don't like radicals. I get sick and tired of radicals. I wish they would go away. I get tired of the media putting them before us all the time. One such radical is Daniel Berrigan, the Catholic priest who has been in and out of jail the last decade and a half. Most recently he and a few others went into the G.E. plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, which produces equipment for nuclear missiles. They destroyed what they could before they were arrested. They were just tried and convicted. In an interview, Daniel Berrigan had some things to say which, in spite of the fact that I don't like radicals, spoke to me. He said... The Jesuit order accepted me as a member. The Catholic Church ordained me as a priest. I took all that with great seriousness. I still do, with all my heart. And then Vietnam came along, and then the nukes came along. And I had to continue to ask myself at prayer, with my friends, with my family, with all kinds of people, with my own soul, "Do you have anything to say today?" I mean, beyond a lot of prattling religious talk. Do you have anything to say about life today, about the lives of people today? Do you have a word, a word of hope to offer, a Christian word? That's a very important question for anyone who takes being a priest, being a Christian, being a human being seriously, "Do you have anything to offer human life today?" Sojourners, June 1981, p. 23. Well, do you have anything to say today? Do I have anything to say today? The last issue of TIME magazine has a two-page essay on “The Bomb.” It says, in effect, since Hiroshima in 1945 the world has refused to look at the bomb. We have refused to look at the seriousness of the bomb. And we continue with nuclear proliferation and arming ourselves to the teeth with more warheads than would be necessary to blow up the entire globe, and still the song goes on. Israel makes a preemptive strike on the reactor in Iraq and justifies its action as necessary for its own safety and the safety of the world. In the wake of that, an Arab spokesman said, "We need the bomb!" In a world where six countries have the bomb, probably two more, and by the end of the 80's the possibility of 40 nations having the bomb, what has the Church to say? TIME magazine deals with it; I suppose we ought to, too. The war horse is a vain hope for victory… If the Psalmist were writing today he might say an antiballistic missile, or a nuclear submarine is a vain hope. © Grand Valley State University �World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem Page 7   A king is not saved by his great army. … The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to naught; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage! What do we do? Well, we don't make knee jerk reactions to every announcement from the White House or the State Department that would rile up our patriotic blood and make us feel like good guys over against the bad guys. We realize that we are in this bundle of life, bound up with all nations and people, and it is not a case of black and white or good and evil, of one side or the other. It is high time that we are true to the principles on which we were founded and that we seek to aid and abet every movement for human freedom and liberation anywhere in the world; that we pray for peace and begin to take steps and action, concrete action, that will further peace; that we come face to face with the horrible reality, the insanity of a world that lives under the shadow of nuclear armaments and that we recognize that our welfare rests with the welfare of the whole human family. A Declaration of Independence 200 years ago – in the providence of God, a magnificent move toward the enhancement of the human condition. 1981, high time for a Declaration of Interdependence for a world that would be made safe for children and for the generations yet unborn. Trust in arms? “The war horse is a vain hope for victory.” When will we learn it? As I was thinking about all these things this morning, I did what I always do on Sunday mornings, in the stillness, when the family is trying to sleep. I put on Bach's Mass in B Minor - a powerful piece. It begins with the Kyrie, "Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us." And then it moves into that great, strong, "Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace among men," then it moves on through the affirmation of faith, the Nicene Creed, and eventuates in the great chorus of Alleluia and praise with the closing cry, "Grant us Thy peace." And as I heard that stirring music, the music itself communicating as much as the words, and I thought about the world in convulsion, I thought to myself - the world in convulsion seems to be so real, so close, so tangible, and the Glory to God in the Highest and Peace on Earth among men of good will seems to be so remote, and yet the music, the music convinced me that that is the Ultimate Truth, and in a world in convulsion we will not despair or give up in hopelessness, paralyzed by fear because we believe that, in the midst of world convulsion, God is working His purposes out. The exciting vision of faith keeps us going and we know that history is not an accident going to happen, but rather throughout all of its chaos is woven that meaningful thread of the purposes of God that will culminate with that great cry, "The Lord God Omnipotent reigns!" But He does not work in a vacuum, rather through His people who, like those 200 years ago, are willing to die for a heavenly cause and sacrifice life itself if need be that there might be peace on earth. Amen. © Grand Valley State University �World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith Richard A. Rhem © Grand Valley State University Page 8   � 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. Scripture Text Psalm 33:1-5, 10-22, Revelation 15:1-4 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19810705 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1981-07-05 Title A name given to the resource World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith 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 Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 5, 1981 entitled "World Convulsion and the Exciting Vision of Faith", at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 33:1-5, 10-22, Revelation 15:1-4. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Intention Faith Freedom Global Community Interdependence Liberation Peace