1 24 1045 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/716a5bfa173c9ae8e23f4b29481715ac.pdf 5993d7b3796bad526bdc14ba8cc702c7 PDF Text Text Kruizenga Art Museum Dedication Prayer Richard A. Rhem Hope College Holland, Michigan September 9, 2015 O God, in Whom we live and move and have our being, great cosmic Artist, painting the universe in hues that take our breath away, inspiring human art that enhances and transforms our lives, we gather to dedicate today The Kruizenga Art Museum, a gem on this beautiful campus for the enrichment of the whole college community and the larger community beyond, whose space will be filled with masterpieces from around the world, bringing here a window on artistic expression from the global community. As we dedicate this museum, we give thanks for the vision of Richard and Margaret Kruizenga and the generosity that has made it possible, and we celebrate the intention that beautiful artistic expression enrich all the disciplines of the college. We pray your Spirit and grace will rest richly on the college that values life’s aesthetic dimension – on administration, on faculty, on the student body – that there may be a continuing stream of lives enriched by encounter with some of the world’s great art, who will make their world more beautiful, more humane, knowing that all that is true and good and beautiful flows from Your creative grace. O God, Source of all that enriches us on our human journey, to such high and holy purposes we gather to dedicate this, The Kruizenga Art Museum. Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Event Dedication of the Kruizenga Art Museum Location The location of the interview Hope College, Holland, Michigan Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-1-20150909 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-09-09 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Kruizenga Art Museum Dedication Prayer Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 9, 2015 entitled " Kruizenga Art Museum Dedication Prayer", on the occasion of Dedication of the Kruizenga Art Museum, at Hope College, Holland, Michigan. Tags: Prayer, Community, Art. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Art Community Prayer https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ab0e832950cbf1a7394580bc382ce63b.mp3 8bc41061a35f5e37e14c9525b8640f93 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8fba6ff5fe1e74c43a977489ae9fdc41.pdf fc82fcac7280e82a1946a763619b17c2 PDF Text Text 1+1+1=1 to the Higher Power Trinity Sunday Text: John 1:1,14,18; John 14:9; II Cor. 3:18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Father’s Day, June 18, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon As the early Jesus movement moved into the early Catholic Church stage, the experience of Jesus moved out of the context of Israel geographically, but also spiritually, into an alien culture as far as Israel was concerned. It moved into a world dominated by Imperial Rome and marked by Greek culture, Greek thinking, Greek language, Greek philosophical ideas. And so, it was the task of those who were sent out by Jesus Christ to tell their experience, what they had experienced in him, in quite another context, quite another religious, cultural context, and that is always a difficult thing. To translate an experience is difficult, even when you are talking to those in your own language and your own environment. But, now to try to tell someone of a transforming experience in a totally different context to those who have had no share in your background, your spiritually traditioning - that, indeed, was a major task, and that was the task of that early Jesus movement. It was a movement Jewish to the core. The disciples were those who had been nurtured on the central tenet of the creed of Israel, "Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God is one." And now they had experienced in a transforming way that God, in their encounter with Jesus, a human, historical figure with whom they had walked and talked and shared the table of fellowship. In that human, historical figure they had encountered the God of Israel, the God of Moses, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. When they met God in Jesus, they didn't meet some other God. They didn't stop to say, "I wonder about my Judaism. I wonder now if I have to become something other." No, they were fully cognizant of that experience of Jesus being the experience of God, the only God they ever knew, they ever worshiped. The task was how to give expression to that, how to translate that into another context so that it could be understood. In order to do that, we always have to find some common meeting ground; we have to find something in common so that those to whom we are bringing a message or translating an experience can relate to it through some shared knowledge or experience. The Greek civilization, the © Grand Valley State University   �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 2   ancient world, those to whom they went were not irreligious. They were religious. There were Oriental, mystical religions, there was all the Greek mythology, there was certainly a religious context from which to try to find that which might help communicate their experience. Secondly, there was the whole Greek philosophical tradition. Philosophy was born of the Greeks centuries before. Someone has said all of Western civilization is a series of footnotes to Greek philosophy. So that Greek philosophy conceptually provided the intellectual, rational tools by which they attempted to translate that God experience. But, in the beginning, of course, it was the experience and they stammered and stuttered and tried to give expression to that which had transformed their lives, and we have the raw material of the eventual church dogma in the New Testament. The church dogma says, according to the title of this message, “1 + 1 + 1=1.” (One of my dear friends said to me yesterday, “You restructured religion; now are you starting on math?”) “1 + 1 + 1=1” because these were Jewish people and they could not begin to conceive of God other than one, but they had experienced God in Jesus, a human, historical figure, and once they had experienced God in Jesus, Jesus crucified was alive with them still, a powerful presence still with them in the Spirit. We find this in the documents of the New Testament. Paul was the earliest one to write. I love Second Corinthians 4:6. It has been a text for us. "We've seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." That's how Paul said it. In the third chapter of that letter, he was defending his apostleship and he was saying, "Do you think I need letters of recommendation? I don't need letters of recommendation; you are my letters of recommendation; your transformed lives validate my gospel." And then he goes into a paragraph with Moses and the veil of Moses' face. I'm not going to get into all that, but he comes down to the end of the chapter and says, "But we, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the Lord, are transformed by degrees into his likeness by the Spirit." The last paragraph of the third chapter says, "The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is..." One might ask, "Does Lord refer to God? Or does Lord refer here to Jesus?" and one might find different commentators coming up with different answers. Those are a very confusing few statements because Paul is confused, because this great monotheist of the God of Israel is talking about God in a human face, and how does one do that? He says somehow or other by the Spirit in that face the glory of the Lord was shining, and then he talks about that face as the Lord, and he says, "As we gaze on that face, we become like that face, shaped like that one who was the shape of the heart of God," and he says all of this is through the Spirit of God. And so, Paul is trying to give expression to that experience that he had. He never encountered the historical Jesus, we don't believe, but he did have that visionary, mystical experience and this great champion of the God of Israel became the apostle of Jesus Christ as the incarnation of the God of Israel. © Grand Valley State University �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 3   This is what John says, as well. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, the Word was God." I like to translate that, "In the beginning was the intention, God's intention. In the beginning was the intention of God and in the fullness of time, the intention became flesh and dwelled among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of God." No one has ever seen God, but the Son has revealed God and, as John was telling the story of Jesus decades later, Jesus has that discussion with the disciples. Jesus is going to leave them. They know the way and all that, and finally Phillip says to him, "Just show us the Father and we'll stop bugging you," and he says, "Oh, really, Phillip? Have I been with you so long and you still don't get it? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Did Jesus say that? I doubt it. I don't think so. Wouldn't that be a bit off-putting, Jesus going around ringing a bell saying, "Here comes God. Just look at me, here comes God." That doesn't feel right to me. I think what we have in the Gospel of John is precisely the experience of finding God in Jesus. This is faith's affirmation. Jesus simply was that authentic human incarnation of the living God, and those who encountered God in Jesus tried every which way to bring to expression that which they had experienced, that which was the deep conviction of their lives, that Jesus was the intention of God in human flesh so that in order to communicate that, John has this beautiful discussion with the disciples in which Jesus says, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father," which is the same thing that Paul was saying, "We've seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The New Testament is not a systematic document. Paul was not a systematic theologian, but all of that raw "stuff" eventually got gathered up because the Jesus movement, which was a Jewish movement, had to somehow or other come to understand its own experience. The God of Israel now, these monotheists had to reckon with, had been enfleshed in a human, historical figure who was crucified and yet present and powerful with them still so that they broke bread and remembered him and experienced him and went out to do his work in the same powerful fashion as when he was in the flesh. How do you figure? Well, eventually, of course, they had to give some account of that. Now, if they had been in India and Jesus had been an Indian and they had been Hindus, they wouldn't have had a problem. Cast the mold for another little image and put it on the shelf, because Hinduism is polytheistic and it believes in numerous historical manifestations of the Divine Mystery. That doesn't work for a Jew, because you can have not only no representation of God, but there is only one true God, Creator of all. But, to touch Jesus was to touch God! To look into Jesus' face was to see into the heart of God! How could it be? So, Jesus is God? But, Jesus is human. That was the problem of the nature of Christ; it consumed a couple of centuries. And if Jesus is God, and God is God, and the Spirit of God makes Jesus present now, now you have 1 + 1 + 1=1. How do you figure? © Grand Valley State University �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 4   We could ridicule the doctrine of the Trinity because that is what this eventually became, the dogma or the doctrine of the Trinity. We can ridicule it; we can be confused by it; we can be frustrated by it, but we have to know that some of the most brilliant minds, some of the most serious persons in that ancient world wrestled with this experience which they tried to translate into Greek conceptuality, and they knew they were up against a real problem. Augustine wrote a treatise on the Trinity and after it was over, he said, "We say these things not because we would say these things, but because we wouldn't be silent," trying to give some kind of word to experience. Eventually the Church formulated this doctrine of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one God blest forever. 1 + 1+1=1. You see, it's not a problem as long as you are in the heat of the experience, the white heat of the experience of God, because the experience is enough to say I can't make logical sense of it, but I know. Then, once the experience gets translated into a formula and it becomes a dogma and then the dogma is used to catechize the next generation and the next generation, now we have a problem because there is no longer that white heat experience. Now it becomes an intellectual conundrum; it becomes a puzzle, and now you have creedal authority and a Church institution enforcing a creedal statement with those who may or may not have had the experience of God. Then you have orthodoxy which can be very, very killing if it lacks the experience. This sermon was born one day when an old veteran of the A.A. movement said to me, grousing about ministers and churches, which is his custom, and I suppose finding a sympathetic ear in me, he said, "I wish I could take all the community pastors down to an A.A. meeting and make them sit there and listen to people who really talk about God!" And I have had enough experience with the A.A. community in the past to feel that would be a very good move. So, I went back and went through some of the A.A. material again. I found reference to Ernest Kurtz who was here a few years ago. Ernest Kurtz wrote the definitive history of the A.A. movement, entitled Not God. This is what the human being has to learn Not God. I am not God. But, God is. That is, there is a Higher Power, and the AA. movement, in its steps, gives one the freedom to understand God in one's own way, not worried about dotting the I's or crossing the T's, but recognizing that God is, coming to an awareness that I am not my own, I have not created this whole phenomenon we call the world, I have not created my own life. All is gift, all is given, I am given and I am a part of that which is given, and there is a mystery that is beyond and beneath and above all that is. And in the A.A. movement, just call it the Higher Power. Call it anything you want to call it. Visualize it any way you want to visualize it. Use any kind of an image that will work. But it is the movement from I am not God to God is, and as the veterans of the A.A. movement say, if one can take that step, in other words, if one can come to an awareness that God is, that Ultimate Mystery of all things, and if one can trust that power to be gracious in the transformation of the human person, then one is on the way to health and healing. Then the doctrine of God may become refined. Then someday someone along that path may discover the © Grand Valley State University �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 5   face of Jesus, and in the face of Jesus, may see into the heart of God and all of its wonder and all of its beauty, because Jesus is the face that gives form to the Mystery. And then one may feel some tingle in one's pinkie, and that would be because there is a connection, because it is not the ancient One, period, but the ancient One who is present in the Spirit. After all, that's all that Trinity Sunday is trying to say - that God is, and that God is for us, that God is focused in the face of that gracious one full of mercy and available to us through the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit, or whatever you want to call it, because, you see, finally God is not about giving us a theological exam, and coming to worship is not about a rational discussion of the conceptual framework of the ontological Trinity, thank you very much. We come here in our deep grief and brokenness and our great joy and celebration, when the diagnosis is cancer, when the last week has left us bereft of our most beloved, when we launch our youth, bundle our babies, and experience the deepest dimensions of human experience. It is then that God is that which gives us hope, that is what sustains us and keeps us, that infinite and inexhaustible ground of our being, that overshadowing presence, because you see, it's 1 +1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power. Image it as you will, but I suggest you'll go a long time before you'll find a more beautiful image than that etched in the face of Jesus, and we, beholding as in a mirror that image, we with unveiled face beholding that image, miracle of miracles, are shaped into that image. We begin to take on the likeness. And so, you know, the historical Jesus is no more, but the Spirit who is affecting that transformation is yet still, and though I cannot see his face, I can see your face, and in your face, I see his face which is the picture of the heart of God, God, who is good. That's all Trinity is all about -1 + 1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power. © 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 Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II Scripture Text John 1:1, 14, 18, John 14:9, II Corinthians 3:18 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20000618 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-06-18 Title A name given to the resource 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 18, 2000 entitled "1 + 1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power", on the occasion of Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:1, 14, 18, John 14:9, II Corinthians 3:18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Intention Father's Day Jesus Movement Spirit https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/65fbe9b4d90cd80dcaca661972c8b57f.mp3 b10e920adc4823d9687fef4f10be05f0 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2d1741a563936b9bf490c8ee41865e43.pdf 7fc065076b1ff96a907556fb39eeece2 PDF Text Text 911: To An Unknown God – This is an Emergency! Acts 17:16-34 Richard A. Rhem Fountain Street Church Grand Rapids, Michigan November 25, 2001 Prepared text of the spoken sermon We hear repeatedly that September 11 has become one of those defining moments in the history of the nation. Although there was the immediate shock and the strong emotional reaction, that level of response cannot long be sustained. Nonetheless, the trauma of that tragedy, the demonic dimension of its conception and the brilliance of its execution remain with us. Reality has not changed but our awareness has, awareness of our vulnerability and, one hopes, recognition that there are some fundamental changes that must take place in this world of ours. In crisis times we flee to old securities – to patriotism, for example, the flag. That’s certainly understandable. It is a symbol of what we cherish, of those freedoms that have marked our national life, those values we hold dear. Yet, there is also a show of nationalism which is simply tribalism on a large scale, a very natural response as well – all too natural, for it reflects our animal nature – an instinctual reaction which is exceedingly dangerous in a world like ours where there lie in many quarters the capacity to destroy this spaceship we share. But there is another old verity to which we flee with which I would deal this morning – namely, piety: the flight to God for refuge and protection. The churches were full for a week or two after the attack of September 11 but, of course, people got over that in a hurry. Still, “In God we Trust” and “God bless America” are blazoned across the landscape as we appeal to almighty God, the Lord and sovereign of history, the one who guides and controls the course of human history. Once again, such a response is quite natural, understandable – it too is almost instinctual, at least to the extent that the human creature, having evolved to the point of consciousness, self-awareness, awareness of the other, has lived in the face of Mystery. © Grand Valley State University   �911: To an Unknown God: This is an Emergency! Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Living in the face of Mystery is the context for the origins of religion. So far back as we can trace the human story, there is the presence of the religious response to the mystery of being human, being before the mystery of existence. The great religious traditions of the world are those that began with a vision, an experience, some founding story which found resonance in a community, developed a cult, a form of worship and a way of life, a moral code. That is what constitutes a religion: A teaching, doctrine, dogma; A mode of worship, of observance, a ritual; A way of life, a moral code – all of this creating a mode of adjustment to the mystery of existence. And so we should not be surprised that post-911 there has been a flight to piety. The realization of vulnerability often moves us to seek some shelter, some security. This is as old as the human story. It was true in the ancient world. When Paul came to Athens, he surveyed the city and was distressed at the variety of temples and statues to a pantheon of gods and goddesses. His Jewish tenet, his monotheistic faith, is summed up in the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one!” This passionate man was not only a Jew who was convinced that God was one –Creator of all – but also that this God was the God of Israel and, further, that this God had visited the human scene embodied in Jesus of Nazareth. Soon we will celebrate Christmas, the Word made flesh – the heart of Paul’s faith. And Paul was nothing if not bold. He believed he was living on the edge of history – the End was approaching. He was a preacher of the last times and he was imploring all to recognize the true God and the revelation of that God in Jesus Christ. Athens, of course, was the greatest university city in the world, the city whose Golden Age boasted the greatest philosophical traditions the world has ever known. Even 500 years after its Golden Age, Athens was still a place of philosophical conversation and debate. And so Paul was invited to tell his story before the elite court of Athens. He began by complimenting the Athenians on their quest. And then – here’s audacity – he claimed to be proclaiming the Unknown God. Six hundred years earlier, a plague had been experienced. A Cretan poet Epimenides devised a plan. A flock of black and white sheep were let loose from the Areopagus. Wherever they lay down, they were sacrificed to the nearest god. If a sheep lay down where there was no shrine, it was sacrificed to the Unknown God. © Grand Valley State University �911: To an Unknown God: This is an Emergency! Richard A. Rhem Page 3   “To the Unknown God”– there too you see, the plague drew them to piety. Paul takes this occasion to claim he knows this Unknown God who is God alone: God, Creator, history’s Governor, and the one who is bringing it all to its consummation. Some 600 years after Paul, another visionary received “the Truth” dictated from Heaven – the Prophet Mohammed, with every bit the conviction of Paul that he had the latest Word from the same God Paul worshiped, only under a different name. In the wake of 911, Andrew Sullivan in The New York Times Magazine had the courage to raise a question about the religious dimension of the present crisis. He writes: …this surely is a religious war – but not of Islam versus Christianity and Judaism. Rather, it is a war of fundamentalism against faiths of all kinds that are at peace with freedom and modernity… It seems almost as if there is something inherent in religious monotheism that lends itself to this kind of terrorist temptation. And our bland attempts to ignore this – to speak of this violence as if it did not have religious roots – is some kind of denial. We don’t want to denigrate religion as such, and so we deny that religion is at the heart of this. But we would understand this conflict better, perhaps, if we first acknowledged that religion is responsible in some way, and then figured out how and why. Andrew Sullivan, “This is a Religious War,” The New York Times Magazine, October 7, 2001. In The Economist some years ago I was struck by these words: History is bound to be bloody when people, hardly understanding themselves, claim to understand God perfectly and then meet people who think the same only different. But it is not just monotheism that is at fault for certainly that move from polytheism was an advance in human understanding. If there is an ultimate, a final principle, a Life force or Holy Spirit, then oneness is implied. But is it not time to recognize that the Unknown God proclaimed by Paul is no longer capable of holding us in thoughtful conviction? From all we know about nature and historical development, certainly that a supernatural being “up there” or “out there” is controlling the universe is no longer credible. Let me cite three voices that represent three disciplines of human learning that, I think, sum up concisely where we are: © Grand Valley State University �911: To an Unknown God: This is an Emergency! Richard A. Rhem Page 4   In a statement about what is going on in history, Jacques Monad, the Nobelwinning biologist, in his classic Chance and Necessity says, if he accepts this negative message in its full significance, “Man must at last wake out of his milleniary dreams and discover his total solitude, his fundamental isolation. He must realize that, like a gypsy, he lives in the boundary of an alien world, a world that is deaf to his music and as indifferent to his hopes as it is to his suffering and to his crimes.” And Erich Fromm writes in Man For Himself, There is only one solution to his problem – to face the truth, to acknowledge his fundamental aloneness in the universe, indifferent to his fate, to recognize that there is no power transcending him which can solve his problem for him.” At his inaugural at Cambridge University, G. N. Clark wrote, There is no secret and no plan in history to be discovered. I do not believe that any future consummation could make sense of all the irrationalities of preceding ages; if it could not explain them, still less could it justify them.” In a world where religion provides the fuel for fanaticism and atrocities are committed in the name of God, is it not time to recognize the old supernaturalism is dead? There is no God out there shifting the gears, pulling the strings. No supernatural revelation containing absolute truth formulated in dogma and creed or sacred text. That is probably the most difficult article of faith for the religious person – Christian, Jewish or Muslim – to let go of God in control, omnipotent, almighty. We so long for security; we so desire a Divine Parent and Protector. But can we honestly observe our world without being aware of randomness and chance? And what is the great temptation of the preacher? To offer a security he cannot deliver. There are fundamentalist churches, conservative churches and liberal churches – the whole spectrum – but all of them are still holding on to a Supreme Being in control. They may make room for free will, etc., but finally one comes to the Rubicon. One must decide: God outside of nature in control, or some sense of the God present within the unfolding process, enlivening, creative, biased toward life but not in control, only persuading by love. That is quite another understanding. It calls for us to be mature, to grow up, to recognize that the process has brought us to the place of responsibility. Are we left bereft? Hardly so. Let me offer my own experience because it is still relatively fresh although the result of a long process of years of thought and reflection. © Grand Valley State University �911: To an Unknown God: This is an Emergency! Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Think of the wonder of the cosmic reality of which we are a part. Think of life in all its variety, nature in all its fascinating dimensions: sunrise, sunset, the seasons following in orderly fashion. And being human, being here together, thinking together, recognizing our responsibility and experience of community – love, joy, gentleness – the fruit of the Spirit! 911 – after the rush to the God in control, perhaps we will recognize that that conception of God has brought us to an emergency. Perhaps it is time to realize Paul’s God needs an update. Not the God out there but God within, coming to expression through the human in the ongoing cosmic dance, full of wonder. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XXV Series Response to 9-11Attacks Scripture Text Acts 17:16-34 Location The location of the interview Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids 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-0-20011125 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-11-25 Title A name given to the resource 911: To An Unknown God - This is an Emergency! Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 25, 2001 entitled "911: To An Unknown God - This is an Emergency!", as part of the series "Response to 9-11Attacks", on the occasion of Pentecost XXV, at Fountain Street Church, Grand Rapids. Scripture references: Acts 17:16-34. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Nature of God Nature of Religion Supernaturalism https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ee85965076e1faed276f77f991cbb375.mp3 0c82cbc2f7c8775732da498efd4cc655 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 Ascension Sunday Scripture Text II Corinthians 9:7-8 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19850519 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-05-19 Title A name given to the resource A Blank Check from a Generous Father 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 May 19, 1985 entitled "A Blank Check from a Generous Father", on the occasion of Ascension Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 9:7-8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c5c6dbcfdd546f936b493a20435e77e1.mp3 328cbbc7b25a2eb7333273ac0266bc88 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide II Series On Being an Easter People Scripture Text I Corinthians 15:48, I Corinthians 3:23 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-0-19900422 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1990-04-22 Title A name given to the resource A Call to Significant Living, Resurrection: Tradition and Freedom Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound 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 22, 1990 entitled "A Call to Significant Living, Resurrection: Tradition and Freedom", as part of the series "On Being an Easter People", on the occasion of Eastertide II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Corinthians 15:48, I Corinthians 3:23. 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/55be25f5ecb9dc74be92bd300a58ca6d.mp3 812055e63903072f5ee639ac2f5127f4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XVII Series The Heart of the Matter Scripture Text Joshua 4:6, 24:15, I Corinthians 3: 21-23 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-0-20001001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-10-01 Title A name given to the resource A Charter of Freedom: A Matter of Choice Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 1, 2000 entitled "A Charter of Freedom: A Matter of Choice", as part of the series "The Heart of the Matter", on the occasion of Pentecost XVII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Joshua 4:6, 24:15, I Corinthians 3: 21-23. 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/b9ee2be296e00a60c94406d20db6f026.mp3 6950e5504f8b048a9f86e92ac6104a61 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/068f2a4e68a0c4b7e99542cd87a8d588.pdf 58318d32e9a0c4e7acfd047dbfbe557e PDF Text Text God in the Mirror of Christmas: A Child Advent IV Scripture: Hebrews 11-4; Luke 2:1-7 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 23, 2001 Transcription of the spoken sermon The thing that I want to say to you this morning is really quite simple. I broached the subject last week; it is the realization on my part of that tension within the New Testament between the Christmas story and what it mirrors about God, and the post-Easter biblical material that speaks of the triumph and the reign and the coming again of Jesus with power to reign and to judge. As I indicated last week, I have lived with that tension for years and years and I never recognized the tension. It never struck me that to speak about the one who came in poverty and humility and then to speak about that one who came as coming again with the splendor of royal power was giving me two pictures of God, two mirrors. It was reflecting God in two contrasting ways: the mirror of Christmas, that is the mirror of the God with the human face– the God who is in the manger as a child in all of the vulnerability and all of the beauty of that moment which we will celebrate again tomorrow evening – and the God of the rest of the New Testament is the same old God, the same almighty, omnipotent God who is in control, the God who at the right moment will send the Son and the Son will come in glory and splendor with power to reign and to judge, and there will be the vindication of the righteous and there will be vengeance on the wicked. That whole judgment scene of the God in control, the sovereign Lord of history, that picture of the New Testament is strung throughout the whole New Testament, and if you want to read it in all of its bare horror, read the book of Revelation. That picture is in contrast to what the Christmas story mirrors about the nature of God. Last week we read in John's Gospel, "In the beginning was the divine intention, and the divine intention became flesh and dwelt among us. No one has ever seen God but the son has revealed God." Or Paul's statement "We have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Or the statement from the Epistle to the Hebrews that I read a moment ago, where how could it be more explicit? Jesus is spoken of as the Son who is the exact image of God, the reflection of the exact nature of God. That's the Christmas story, and what God is mirrored as being in the Christmas story is a God of vulnerability and ultimately, © Grand Valley State University �God in the Mirror of Christmas: A Child Richard A. Rhem Page 2 finally, a God of love. Christmas is about heaven touching earth with love. Christmas mirrors a God who moves by love to persuade, but never coerce, for the child that is the central focus of this Christmas season is a child with all of the wonder of a child, dependent, vulnerable, beautiful, innocent, harmless - there is a picture of God. But that stands in such sharp contrast to the revelation of God in the rest of the story, almost as if Christmas happened and the life of Jesus happened, Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount, counseling compassion over against the good and the evil, the righteous and the unrighteous as reflective of God's attitude and spirit. Jesus of the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus of the parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus - all those stories of the God who draws near, the God who is full of grace, the God who is accessible, the God who is approachable. Jesus of Passion Week who goes right into Jerusalem and speaks his truth to power and is crucified for it, not resisting. Resisting only violent response, praying finally for his enemies, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”– that Jesus gets jettisoned on Easter, and from there on the Christian story and the Christian Church has become one triumphalistic procession down through the centuries, waiting for that one who came in humility and vulnerability, to come in smashing glory. How could I preach for years and years and years and not feel that contradiction? And which God do we choose? Well, of course, we choose the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Of course we choose the God who will bring history to its culmination point. Of course we will choose the God who has time in his hand, who will call the shots, who will send the Son in clouds of glory to judge the quick and the dead, finally to reign. Of course, that's the God we will choose, the God we can worship. That’s the God we can be secure with, that's the God who can set things right. And what happens to the God of the child? What happens to the God mirrored at Christmas? What happens to the God with a human face? We talked about that last week, but I want to say this week one further insight on this whole week, and that is that, in spite of the fact that we have moved too quickly from Christmas, in spite of the fact that we pray, "Come, Lord Jesus," nonetheless, every year we come back to Christmas. We can't forget it. We can't get it out of our system. We can't get it out of our bones. Every year we come back to this moment. Every year we begin to experience the magic and the wonder of Christmas. Every year we come again to bow before the manger that holds the child, and every year it happens again. We all know it. There is no question about it. The world is a softer place this weekend. The world is a softer place at Christmastime. The tear flows, the lump in the throat, the old carols stir something deep within us. The simple and beautiful story told again moves us. I've already celebrated Christmas because I have gone through a couple of rehearsals for the early service for tomorrow night. So, I know the baby gets born © Grand Valley State University �God in the Mirror of Christmas: A Child Richard A. Rhem Page 3 again, a real-live baby cries, and as I stood as one of the narrators for the story, being beautifully portrayed by our lovely young dancers and our shepherds, and Mary and Joseph, as I saw it again yesterday, I was cognizant myself of the fact that it does move you again. It happens again. It's a lovely story. It's a story that reaches the deepest part of the human being, and we come back to it every year, and it's the same old story but it's new every year and it moves us every year, and we celebrate every year, and we rejoice in it every year, and I want to submit to you that we do that because it has gotten into the marrow of our bones and we know intuitively that that story is the ultimate truth. We know that the love that came down at Christmas reflects the grain of the universe, the truth deep down in things. You see, most of the rest of the year, we don't live that way. Most of the rest of the year, we simply get caught up in all of the power games and all of the power structures, political life, economic life, social life. We move away from Christmas and we forget the radicality of the vision that we have seen. But, for just a little while, we remember and it touches us because it is true. It is the final truth. And there is that within us that knows it is the final truth. Jesus is our window to God. Jesus isn't the only window to God. Jesus isn't everybody's window to God, but Jesus is our window to God. I appreciate the fact that a dozen or so of you sent me the last page of Time magazine, the essay by Rosenblatt entitled, "God Is Not On Your Side Nor On My Side." I like the fact that so many of you thought of me when you read it, because it tells me that you are listening and that you identify with me with that kind of idea. I appreciate that fact. But, Jesus is our window, and I want to tell you, Jesus is a radical window. Jesus is a magnificent window. Jesus is a window on God that is so profound and so magnificent, that we ought not to miss it. It is so easy to take it for granted because it is the old, old story and we know the story so well, and how could we ever find anything new in it, and then one sits back for a moment, and says, "My God! Do you realize what that story is telling me about God?" It is radical! It is revolutionary! It is so radical and revolutionary that the world hasn't been able to deal with it yet. Our old world is rocking with war again and I am sure the reason that this Advent season I was not able to live with the contradiction without at least lifting it up was the fact of current events, what is going on in our world. That often happens. One has an old story, an old tradition, and suddenly something happens to you or something happens in the world, and one sees something that was always there and one didn't see it at all! Suddenly I see it everywhere now. I see what the future, if there is to be a future, I see what it has to be. It has to be a world that is posited on the nature of God reflected in Bethlehem, in Jesus. That is hardly the way we have lived, even though in the West Jesus has been our window. That’s hardly the way we have lived. It's dangerous to live that way. It can put your national security in jeopardy, of course. But, you see, in this old © Grand Valley State University �God in the Mirror of Christmas: A Child Richard A. Rhem Page 4 world of ours, after 9-11, it has become apparent to us what has long been true, and that is that there is no ultimate security through power or might or force of arms. It would be political suicide for our national leaders without talking about securing this nation, but this nation is not secure, and given the technology of our world today, given where we are in our world today, it will never be secure again. It will never be secure in a world where there are those who are dispirited and despairing and hopeless and helpless and alienated and angry and full of rage – never be secure again. And so, what we really have to do is find out another way to be in this world, because power isn't going to do it. It just might be that, while we're number one, it might be the smartest, most savvy thing in the world for us to begin to create a new one world reality. You see, right now, the way it has been, might, force, power has ruled, and the international game is a vast chess game, and those analysts of international affairs plot out those chess moves. We should do this, they'll do that, and if we do this, we can checkmate at this point, because it's a power game, it's a game about winning, or at least not losing. And it isn't going to work anymore. Our world is rocking with war and there is no security and down deep in our hearts, we know, and we keep coming back to Christmas every year and we're moved by it Our eyes moisten again, we get a lump in our throat again, our hearts are softened again. You can feel it on the street, because down deep we know that's true, and we try to get on with life according to the only way life can be survivable, right? Well, one wonders. We come back and we're touched, because that is the deepest truth and, if that is the deepest truth, I wonder when we're going to try it Let me tell you about a savvy move we made in that chess game. You know it, too; it's been in the news. You know that we funded Osama bin Laden. You know that we funded and gave arms to the Taliban, right? As long as they were fighting the Soviet Union. And why did we do that? Simply because we didn't like the Soviet Union? We are smart. We knew if we could get the Soviet Union to have our own Vietnam, it would suck the life blood and resources right out of them. We'd bring them to their knees. And, by God, we did it. There are those among our leaders right now who were responsible for that policy, who are defending it, and I'm sure there are some of you out there who would say that was a good move, because the Soviet Union was brought to its knees. Didn't President Reagan call it "the evil empire"? Ah, dear friends, as long as we're in that kind of a game, we will be trying to save our necks, we will be trying to defend our borders, we will be trying to perpetuate the preeminence of our position, and it's a no-win game, ultimately. You know the problem with the American people? We're a good people at the pinnacle of power, and Christmas has seeped into the marrow of our bones. If we could just use our power in any brutal and violent fashion, we could shape this © Grand Valley State University �God in the Mirror of Christmas: A Child Richard A. Rhem Page 5 world up. You wouldn't have to pray. You wouldn't have to ask for God's blessing. You wouldn't have to pray "God bless America." Just turn our resources loose with no moral qualms, with no ethical consideration, just bomb 'em, baby. Bomb them into submission. We have the stuff, folks. We could do it. But, we can't do it, because we have Christmas in the marrow of our bones. We have been touched by Jesus. We've seen God in the face of a child, and once you've seen God in the face of a child, you just can't go on being a mean S.O.B. anymore. That's our dilemma. A good people at the pinnacle of power who know the ultimate truth, but haven't quite dared to live by it yet. Maybe this year. © 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 IV Series God in the Mirror of Christmas Scripture Text Hebrews 1:1-4, Luke 2:1-7 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20011223 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-12-23 Title A name given to the resource A Child Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 23, 2001 entitled "A Child", as part of the series "God in the Mirror of Christmas", on the occasion of Advent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Hebrews 1:1-4, Luke 2:1-7. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Divine Intention Incarnation Pluralism https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e39c0a897e29f51234a66fb5b7ccd2f7.pdf c9a002685bc814bf5a1ca4438c8a8424 PDF Text Text A Christmas Prayer Richard A. Rhem Spring Lake Country Club Spring Lake, Michigan December 20, 2009 O God, Mystery beyond us, Mystery within us, Sacred presence enveloping our lives in all that is good and true and beautiful, we are gathered here in this lovely setting with such depth and warmth of feeling, gathered with those with whom on so many Christmases past we have celebrated this High Holy Season, celebrated God in human flesh, celebrated the vulnerability of a child as the only true security. Ah, dear God, as we move toward that Holy Night we sense it once again. Our deepest intuitions our highest aspirations, persuade us again against all doubt, disappointment, cynicism and fear that the Story is true. The fairy tale goes to the heart of what is truly human, truly divine – love and joy and peace, the light that scatters the darkness, a vision of an alternative world that can find expression in nothing less than a choir of angels singing, “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace.” Once a year this annual festival calls us to stop, to reflect, to penetrate the mists of our muddled thinking, so caught up with matters of penultimate concern, to see what is truly ultimate, what matters ultimately, what is finally true – that vulnerability invites trust, humility invites embrace, © Grand Valley State University   �A Christmas Prayer Richard A. Rhem love begets love. Not Rome in all its glory but from the least of the tribes of Judah, from Bethlehem, the birth of a child signaled another way. A child was born whose ways and words would lift the veil of mystery from your face and provide us a window into your very heart – the heart of the Eternal, pure love, the heart of the Eternal, full of grace, a heart that spawned creation’s wonder, a heart that would not abandon nor ever let go of a world gone awry. A child was born and in his warm flesh, you touched us. In his words, you spoke to us, In his life, you showed us the way. The poet glimpsed your way – They all were looking for a King to slay their foes and lift them high; Thou cam’st, a little baby thing, that made a woman cry. You are with us in weakness rather than power. How strange that is, unsettling, unsatisfying, until we come to realize that only thus are you with us with our freedom intact; only thus can our humanity in your image be real. We come now, to this table. Spirit of God, Make for us this bread, the body, the reality of Christ; Make for us this cup, the blood, the life of Christ. In our eating and drinking Let us know that, in the end, we have nothing to fear. In His dying words – Into Your hands we commend our spirits. Amen. © Grand Valley State University Page 2   � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Event Advent Series Following the meditation _Love Talk" Location The location of the interview Spring Lake Country Club Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-1-20091220 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource A Christmas Prayer Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 20, 2009 entitled "A Christmas Prayer", as part of the series "Following the meditation 'Love Talk'", on the occasion of Advent, at Spring Lake Country Club. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-12-20 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/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/7453d0dfd162ffe8d2147568986e3055.mp3 dd4210345bcc7042436abc6dfee538bf Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany III Scripture Text Psalm 84:2, John 15:11 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19880124 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-01-24 Title A name given to the resource A Community of Ecstasy Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 24, 1988 entitled "A Community of Ecstasy", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 84:2, John 15:11. 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/84e3615b39ae093179ee17d24fb1d376.mp3 2e20b5d360537e1e732aa68a2d7468a4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XIX Scripture Text Hosea 11:8, Revelation 1:10-11, Luke 4:17 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19931010 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-10-10 Title A name given to the resource A Community of Inclusivity Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 10, 1993 entitled "A Community of Inclusivity", on the occasion of Pentecost XIX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Hosea 11:8, Revelation 1:10-11, Luke 4:17. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c9813f854c92c6b8a3b181c8d70128cd.pdf 4d0e761bffcdac1f9b3f33446b4e6e14 PDF Text Text A Compelling Question: Does Sin Reap Suffering and Virtue Reap Reward? From the sermon series on Job Text; Job 6:26-30; Job 8:20 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 17, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon Job: "Do you want to disprove my passion or argue away my despair? Look me straight in the eye. Is this how a liar would face you? Can't I tell right from wrong? If I sinned, wouldn't I know it?" Job 6:26-30 Bildad: "Good never betrays the innocent or takes the land of the wicked." Job 8:20 (Translated by Stephen Mitchell) We are in the midst of a series on the Book of Job. Job is a dramatic poem found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Let me catch you up for just a moment, because we began last week, and it will be important to have the proper context. I noted last week that Job was a heretic. That word comes from the Greek language and it means " to choose." A heretic is a person who stands up apart from the rest and dares to speak one’s mind, to give expression to one’s conviction and passion. To defy conventional wisdom, to remove oneself from majority opinion, to stand alone if need be. Job was a heretic in that sense because he spoke against the conventional wisdom of his day. He spoke against those things that everyone knew, namely that human suffering was the consequence of human sin; that God punishes human sin with suffering. Everyone knew that. Everyone took it for granted. And then Job spoke out of an experience in which he said, "No, I don't believe that." And in standing up, and in challenging, and in protesting to God, he became a heretic, as it were, over against the orthodox opinion. Orthodox is also from the Greek. It means "straight opinion," or "correct view of things." That is, correct in terms of the majority vote of the establishment at any given time. Job made his protest and it comes to expression in chapters 3-42, the majority, the corpus of the poem. But it is encased in a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue and the epilogue say a contrary thing to what the whole middle of © Grand Valley State University   �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the book says. The prologue and the epilogue, those who study it believe, reflects an ancient legend that the author of the dramatic poem used in order to set forth his protest. The ancient legend said that Job was the most patient man who ever lived, that he was prosperous, came into calamity, endured patiently, and was prospered once again. That message is diametrically opposed to the message of, the protest of the poet who lived perhaps four, five, six hundred years before Jesus. The poet borrowed an ancient legend in order to set off his radical and heretical view: that there is no link between human suffering and human sin. That's what the poem of Job is about. Today, let's focus on the heart of the issue. I frame it as a compelling question. "Does Sin Reap Suffering And Virtue Reap Reward?" Maybe a more existential question, maybe with a deeper pastoral concern, I might simply say, "Does God punish us for our sin with suffering?” Is human suffering a consequence of wrong-headedness or wrong-heartedness or wrong action? Does God as the moral cop of the universe send thunderbolts to us, bringing about our suffering in order to punish us for our sin? Well, you say, "Everybody knows . . . it is conventional wisdom . . . it is the knowledge of the person on the street that that's not true. There is no link between suffering and sin, and its corollary is also not true. There is no necessary link between virtue and reward." Everybody knows that, don't we? But before we make short shrift of the question, let us recognize that if we know that . . . if everybody knows that at least in their head, it may be in part due to the fact that the Book of Job is in the canon. Because it is precisely to break the link between human suffering and God's punishment that that book came forth as an eloquent statement of a contrary view. So thank God for Job—if everybody knows that. We may know that now, but Job got into severe argument with his friends who, though they came to comfort him, had become miserable comforters when he began to raise his challenge to God. For in raising a challenge to God, Job threatens their belief system. So, forgetting that they are there for comfort, Job's "friends" go on the attack. They seem to have a lot of data going for them too. They were operating on the accepted opinion, the orthodox view, that God gives suffering. Job is suffering, God does not give suffering to the just. Therefore Job has sinned. Job accepted their major premise. We'll have to deal with that subsequently in another message, but he accepted their major premise: God gives suffering. But Job said, "I am innocent. Therefore, God is unjust." Now that is the radicality of Job's protest. He doesn't question whether or not God gives suffering, but he does say, "I am innocent, and therefore I will take my cause to heaven. God is unjust." That is how strongly his own concrete experience moved him. But, as I said, the friends of Job seemed to have some pretty good basis for their view that punishment from God comes in the wake of human sin. For example, maybe they were reading from Leviticus 26. At the head of the paragraph in my © Grand Valley State University �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Bible it says, “Rewards for Obedience. If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you your rains in their season…." It continues on and on about all the blessings that will come in the wake of obedience. If you move to the 14th verse, my Bible has a heading that says, “Penalties for Disobedience,” and there I read, "In turn, if you do not obey me, I will bring terror on you….” I selected Leviticus 26, but you can go to Deuteronomy 28 or you can read that marvelous statement in Isaiah 1:18, "Come let us reason together says the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool." That's where I'd like to stop. But it goes on, "If you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel you shall be devoured by the sword. The mouth of the Lord has spoken." So you see, the friends of Job weren't just blowing a lot of smoke. They could quote a lot of Bible verses. We have to recognize that the earliest Jewish tradition was being expressed by these three friends. They could cite chapter and verse. Actually, when you stop to think about it, it does make sense. You don't really have to be a Bible student to know that there are certain manners of behavior and certain attitudes and certain spirits that lead to disaster. And there are other actions and attitudes and behaviors that lead to blessing. Perhaps that's why Job's protest has never really gotten through to us. We may say in our head there is no necessary link, but in our gut how quickly we say, "What have I done that is wrong?” What about the way we often look askance at the victim? Why did one in five Americans a year ago say the floods in Mississippi or the earthquakes in Los Angeles are God's judgment on human sin. Why is there this popular theology in the church and out of the church that somehow or other this is just the way things are, and that God does intentionally harm people and punish people. There is a deep thread in the human person of connecting behavior and painful consequences. It may be because preaching has a bad name. Do your kids ever say to you, "Don't preach to me?" Parents have a tendency to preach. "Don't you dare." "You had better." "Because of - - - this consequence will follow." Preaching. People don't like preaching. Why should they like preaching? The whole tradition of preaching in the Church is to turn the whole religious experience into a promise and reward system. We try to keep people on the straight and narrow and have them avoid the disaster. So preaching has a kind of heavy-handedness about it, which makes out that God is some kind of moral cop up in heaven and that you had better watch out. We transform the gracious God into Santa Claus. Santa Claus is coming to town. You had better be good, you had better watch out, because God knows if you have been naughty or nice. That's what religion can degenerate into. That's what comes through too often, overpoweringly. That's why people have left the church in hordes. Turn on your television today, and don't watch golf. Find some great evangelist. He will give you texts right out © Grand Valley State University �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 4   of context. They will promise you reward for thus and so. He'll give you all kinds of verses ripped right out of the context that will give you dire warnings of dire consequences. You can always be sure that when a text is ripped out of its context, it’s a pretext for something else. A text without a context is a pretext. There are all kinds of hucksters in religion and out of religion. There are all kinds of hucksters who are using religion as a means to sell their product, who are quoting the Bible all the time. I listened to some motivational tapes this week. I won't tell you why I got into it or how I got into it. I am just a sucker that's all. (Laughter) I've got to tell you, they used Deuteronomy 28:10, Exodus 5:14, and Joshua 3:16 to prove their point and sell their product. God says . . . God says, as though you can just take a verse of scripture and say, "God says," as though it’s right out of heaven, as though you could hear the voice of the Almighty. "If you will do thus and so … If you won't do that….” You would think that the whole of religion and the whole relationship to God is this matter of sin and get punished, be virtuous and be rewarded. It is ignorant, it is arrogant, it is an abuse of the Bible, and it is an abuse of people. It makes me angry! (And if you want to know something I am really passionate about, come next week!) (Laughter) I'm telling you, it's everywhere. That's popular religion, and it is used by hucksters out of ignorance at its best, arrogance at its worst, and it has ruined so many people. It distorts God. It distorts the grace of God. That's why you can say off the top of your head, "Of course there's no link between suffering and punishment," until you move into the darkness and begin to doubt yourself, and you begin to look up and say, "God, why?" Obviously there are some behaviors whose end is disaster; there are some behaviors whose end is blessing. But as William Safire says about Job, "There is a fire wall." The Book of Job is like a fire wall between the necessary link between human suffering and human punishment. We may not blame the victim, for it is not ours to judge. When we see someone in darkness, or when we enter the darkness ourselves, what we need to know is that God is there with us. God is not waiting in the dark with a club ready to beat us down. There is a mystery of human suffering. In the first service I read the Foreword from Night by Elie Wiesel, the renowned author and the survivor of the Holocaust, which occurred in our own century and in our own remembrance. The author of the Foreword, Noriak, quoted this paragraph from the book. These are the thoughts, the anguishing remembrances of Elie Wiesel. On the last day of the Jewish year the child was present at the solemn [ceremony] of Rosh Hashanah. He heard thousands of these slaves cry with one voice, 'Blessed be the name of the Eternal.' Not long before he too would have prostrated himself and with such adoration, such awe, such love. But on this day he did not kneel, the creature outraged and humiliated beyond all that heart and spirit can conceive of, defied a Divinity who was blind and deaf. That day I had ceased to plead. I was no © Grand Valley State University �A Compelling Question Richard A. Rhem Page 5   longer capable of lamentation. On the contrary I felt very strong. I was the accuser and God the accused. My eyes were open and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God and without man, without love or mercy. I had ceased to be anything but ashes, yet I felt myself to be stronger than the Almighty to whom my life had been tied for so long. I stood amid that praying congregation observing it like a stranger." Our world is torn. It is bleeding. People are suffering, especially the children. Job said, "God is not doing it. God is not responsible. It is a mystery." His friends, representatives of the tradition, said, "God gives suffering: Job is suffering: Job is guilty." Job said, "God gives the suffering: I am innocent: God is unjust." No one thought to say, " Job is suffering: Job is innocent; therefore, suffering is a mystery that we cannot explain." Virtue is not necessarily met with reward. There are those who will tell you that. Those on the religious network, on the tapes I heard will promise you assured blessing, if only you'll subscribe, if only you will send in your contribution, if only you'll do this or that. It's not true. It's not necessarily so. Sometimes there is the person who is suffering deeply, and there are those who say, "If only you had faith and would pray." That's cruel. Don't we all know some who have had faith and have prayed and have died? God will not be manipulated into our schemes of things. Logical syllogisms do not work in concrete human experience. If you don't believe Job, would you at least believe Jesus? That life, wholly open to the will of God, lived before the face of God on behalf of the world, crucified, with a cry of dereliction on his lips, "My God, my God, why?" Not "Why are you punishing me?" That wasn't the question. The question had to do with the mystery of evil. "My God, where are you?" No, being virtuous carries its own reward. I can't promise you prosperity. Be careless and you may end up a wreck, but not because God punishes you. When you come into the darkness, look to the one who went before you, as the writer to the Hebrews invites you to do. We have this faithful High Priest, Jesus Christ, who was in all ways tested like we are; therefore, come boldly to the throne of grace to find mercy and obtain help in every time of need. There is a throne, there is a throne of grace. There is one to whom to go. This one is the God of all mercy. That you can count on. Reference: Elie Wiesel. Night. Hill and Wang, 1960. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3e9f73e628057f23ec7aa8fd87e11750.mp3 3b262edf461d5967b0f4b1bf5f2e365e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost VIII Series The Job Series Scripture Text Job 6: 26-30, Job 8:20 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19940717 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-07-17 Title A name given to the resource A Compelling Question: Does Sin Reap Suffering and Virtue Reap Reward? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 17, 1994 entitled "A Compelling Question: Does Sin Reap Suffering and Virtue Reap Reward?", as part of the series "The Job Series", on the occasion of Pentecost VIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 6: 26-30, Job 8:20. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Morality Open Mind Suffering Wisdom https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/177e19e1846fc846db94e3ffc0d055b5.pdf eb6c0cf7f58d3a459ba769b2079091cf PDF Text Text A Declaration of Inter-dependence Text: Psalm 33:16-17; Romans 12:21; Matthew 5:44 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Independence Day Weekend, July 5, 1998 Transcription of the spoken sermon We celebrate 222 years of existence as a nation, born as an experiment in human freedom, a nation in which the government was of, for and by the people. The ideal of our founders was a magnificent vision worthy to be celebrated in public festivals and to be reflected on in Divine worship because, while the early framers of our founding documents were not evangelical Christians as is loudly claimed in some quarters today, their vision was grounded in the biblical vision of humankind created by God, not only the ground of all reality but the source and enlivening presence of all life, including human life - a Creator Who is the guarantor of human dignity and freedom. Our founding vision was a radical experiment, to be understood in the background of the European origin of the nation, a background of Divine Right of kings and nobility and human domination. The American experiment was an attempt to limit government and vastly restrict its arena of operation. The early documents resonate with lofty idealism and there is too little appreciation of the greatness of that founding vision. It was flawed from the beginning; it had its limitation of the radical nature of the freedom it was espousing and has been in a process of development over the 222 years of our national existence. But we have been blessed to have entered into the fruit of that vision, for which we give God thanks. The Declaration of Independence, the claim of national sovereignty, was a bold and daring act in the 18th century. As the 21st century dawns, an equally bold and daring act is imperative; it is the declaration of inter-dependence with all nations and peoples of the earth. Such a claim is not wild-eyed fantasy of a hopelessly idealistic and impractical dreamer. Rather, it is a practical and necessary response to the real situation of our world on the threshold of the Third Millennium. The most telling image of our situation as humankind on planet earth is the astronaut’s picture of the earth taken from outer space - the earth, a beautiful globe of blue and green hanging in the frozen darkness of space - obviously an © Grand Valley State University   �Declaration of Inter-dependence Richard A. Rhem Page 2   inter-related, inter-connected whole. The picture gives vivid witness to the commentary of the astronaut who says there are no real barriers or divisions; the earth is one; a planetary unity. What the picture of the earth as a whole points to is being realized in actual human experience. The amazing accomplishments of technology have put the world’s people into instant communication. Travel exposes us to the whole rich diversity of the human community. What happens in one part of the world impacts every part. We cannot wash our hands of the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, not turn our backs on the anguish of the Balkan states. The ecological concern for the well-being of the environment can only be addressed from a global perspective and nuclear non-proliferation is essential for the whole global family. Speaking of the drive toward one world totally intertwined is not fantasizing about what might be, but simply being responsible before what is; and the best place to see it is in the actuality of a global economy. Multinational corporations and international banking are a reality. The move to one currency in the European community is only a symbol of the interlocked economics of the world. We bail out Mexico, cajole and press Indonesia and support the Japanese yen not because we are an altruistic nation wanting to help those in distress, but because we are invested literally around the globe and need a healthy global economy to keep our own GNP in good shape. As the Third Millennium approaches and the 21st century breaks upon us, it is time for a declaration of inter-dependence. It would be foolhardy to think that we, the USA, the world’s only present superpower could insulate and isolate ourselves from the rest of the earth in the ongoing development of the cosmic drama and the human story. These are not far out ideas. The Fourth of July in Flint was marked by picketers with American flags. We are witnessing a serious social situation in our own state that is impacting not only Michigan, but the nation. What is the underlying reality? It is not a simple matter. One can fume at General Motors - giving the store away in the past. One can fume at the UAW - bringing on what they claim they are trying to avoid. But, General Motors cannot go on as is. And autoworkers in Flint are human beings being disrupted and dislocated. I mention this not to take sides or examine all the issues involved - and it is very complex; rather, to show that this kind of crisis close to home has to do with globalization. © Grand Valley State University �Declaration of Inter-dependence Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Some philosophers and theologians suggest that we must dismantle the global networks of industry and economics, return to small regional communities of production and consumption, nurturing local customs and ethnic diversity. They rail against globalization as the loss of particular cultural identities and want to stop the whole process toward one world. I understand, but I don’t think that will happen. There is a tide, broad and powerful, that is sweeping us toward one world, totally inter-related. It seems to me what we must do is not throw up barriers against ongoing development, but rather, seek ways to make the future humane, just and peaceful. We need a vision of inter-dependence and then the will to make it happen. What is needed is a transformation of consciousness. We simply must begin to think differently. We need a prophet to annunciate the new and emerging reality - the global reality of which we are a part. Rather than the reactionary rhetoric of the religious Right that is attempting to re-invent yesterday, we need someone to help us find a new orientation in a new cultural situation. Rather than a fearful, defensive posture that is marked by a militant mind and hostile spirit, we need to cultivate a global consciousness that thinks of how to make the future more humane, more just, marked by planetary peace. We are not without resources for such a vision. In 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the Communist Manifesto. It was focused on economics, but it was really a revolutionary social document. On the 150th anniversary of its publication, a number of works are being published. In an article in The New York Times, the present debate was set forth, but what seemed to be commonly agreed on was that Marx did see the relentless power of capital to produce wealth and he did see what we are currently experiencing globally. He failed to see how Capitalism could pull the proletariat into the game and thus avoid what he thought would be inevitable revolution. Again, here my point is not to argue Marx pro or con, but to suggest that we need such a powerful prophetic visionary in our day. Where did Marx get his vision? Communism has been called a biblical heresy. The founding story of Israel is the freedom of a people from domination and ruthless exploitation, and the story is shaped by the Hebrew prophets who envisioned a peaceable kingdom where the lion and the lamb would lie down together. The vision, the passion for justice and human well-being that found expression in a Karl Marx was in that biblical tradition. We have the biblical story as resource. Psalm 33 celebrates the sovereignty of God who fills the earth with steadfast love. The image of God as Ruler out there in heaven - controlling the affairs of the nations is not in line with the experience of cosmic movement and historical development, but I believe the Psalmist had © Grand Valley State University �Declaration of Inter-dependence Richard A. Rhem Page 4   true insight into the human situation - we did not create this world; we are not sovereign, nor can we secure ourselves by human means. The King - the symbol of human sovereignty - is not secured by horses and armies. Military might won’t do it. Economic power won’t do it. No human reality is impregnable. God is at the heart of things. Love is at the heart of things. Grace - modeled out in God, as we see it revealed in Jesus Christ, is the only way to peace on earth. Paul, responding to the encounter with the grace of God in Jesus Christ, appealed to followers of Jesus in Rome - on the basis of the mercies of God, to present themselves a sacrifice to God - living, holy, acceptable. This, Paul said, is only logical - it makes sense. Grace at the core of things, as he had so eloquently written as chapter 11 ends, calls for a transformation of life, a new way of being, not conformed to the structures and forms of this world, but transformed by the renewing of the mind. A shift in consciousness - that is radical, thinking differently! Paul, of course, was reflecting Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount is filled with concrete, practical counsel on how to live. Paul said do not meet evil with evil, but overcome evil with good and, obviously, he was trying to counsel a way of being that emulated the way of Jesus who said "No!" to the old code of justice - an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Rather, "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give her your cloak, as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile." Again, radically, Jesus declares, Love your enemies. In short, be God-like, the God who causes rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous alike and causes the sun to rise on the good and the evil. That section ends with "Be perfect as God is perfect," and the connotation of the word translated perfect is "mature." In effect, we need to grow up. Hans Küng brings this radical counsel of Jesus into the concrete circumstances of our day. In his work, Judaism, he addresses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Recognizing the delicacy of any non-Jew dealing with the issue, he nonetheless points to the frequency with which the Likud party, particularly, uses the word retaliation. One must be sensitive to the Israeli position, given the suffering and loss that people has suffered over the centuries. Yet, he wonders if the word of the Jew Jesus is not a better way to the future and peace - not retaliation, but the voluntary renunciation of power and rights. © Grand Valley State University �Declaration of Inter-dependence Richard A. Rhem Page 5   For many years I did not preach on the Sermon on the Mount. I was not content to interpret it as a code of personal ethics irrelevant to the world of real politics. Yet, it seemed so incredible, so impossible in the real world of international relations. But, the longer I think about these things, the more I am convinced that Jesus’ way is the only way there can ever be peace on earth, the realization of the Creator’s intention for Shalom - the peaceable kingdom. If Jesus’ way won’t work, there is no other way. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3b3317e031eb6f4d29193b5f043218bf.mp3 9df576e251d76b5603a5470fc2302ff1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost V Series Independence Day Weekend Scripture Text Psalm 33:16-17, Romans 12:21, Matthew 5:44 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-0-19980705 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-07-05 Title A name given to the resource A Declaration of Inter-dependence Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 5, 1998 entitled "A Declaration of Inter-dependence", as part of the series "Independence Day Weekend", on the occasion of Pentecost V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 33:16-17, Romans 12:21, Matthew 5:44. Consciousness Global Community Inclusive Justice Peace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/05ec0024aff8ae713a5e111ce2a5460c.mp3 52bd8bed45aa21cb1dbacd693a878e8c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Independence Day Sunday Pentecost VII Scripture Text Psalm 33:8, 12, 17, Isaiah 65: 25b, Revelation 22:2 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-0-19890702 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-07-02 Title A name given to the resource A Declaration of Interdependence: The Dawn of a New Age Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 2, 1989 entitled "A Declaration of Interdependence: The Dawn of a New Age", on the occasion of Independence Day Sunday, Pentecost VII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 33:8, 12, 17, Isaiah 65: 25b, Revelation 22:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/184314e9c3f068b5aaf9d5e32a71117d.pdf dce74f92362da7668d1328d1a4087a11 PDF Text Text A Dream Declared From the Lenten sermon series: The Dream Text: Luke 4:18-19 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent, March 12, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon Are you a dreamer? Do you have a dream? Is there something in the depths of your being, some deep yearning, longing? Do you have a dream? Do you ever think about it? Or wake up in the middle of the night and suddenly come to consciousness that there is something really in the depths of your being that cries out for realization? Do you have a dream? Maybe it's a dream that doesn't extend too far beyond the circle of your immediate life; maybe you have a dream about your relationship or about your children. Maybe a young person would dream about a career, and as I look into the eyes of a few of you here, I can see a dream dawning in your eyes about the ideal retirement. Well, I think probably we all have certain dreams that live in us, but do you ever dream on a broader scale? Do you ever paint on a wider canvas? This nation was built on a dream. There were people who had a dream of a different kind of government, casting off that European culture with the divine right of kings and the privilege of nobility. Probably the biggest dreamer that I know personally is Bob Schuller. Bob went out to California at age 30 with a 40-year dream. His only problem was he realized the whole dream in 25 years. By that time he had the Crystal Cathedral and the Hour of Power. The last time I talked with him a year or so ago, he told me since that he has become depressed. And when he stopped to think about it, it was because he was in year 39 and he realized that he hadn't dreamed any further. And so, dreamer that he is, he simply set up a new ten-year dream, and the energy came back to his life. He's probably the biggest dreamer that I know personally. Do you ever dream about something on a broader scale? People have dreamed about institutions and founded a great hospital, or a college, or maybe even a congregation. Do you ever dream about a different world? Does your dream ever extend that far? How about when the television screen flashes pictures like in the © Grand Valley State University   �A Dream Declared Richard A. Rhem Page 2   year or two past, the tragedy of the former Yugoslavia, when you see the old women in babushkas and leather faces, with the tears over the death of a husband or a son? Or the atrocities of Rwanda? So far in the past. Or Haiti? Poverty. The Middle East, when a terrorist has just exploded human bodies? Do you ever dream of a different world then? Are you ever overcome with the fact that it doesn't have to be that way, that it could be different? That the world could be other than it is? Last week there was a conference in Denmark or Sweden on children who have been traumatized, and their little faces, their little beings were on the television set, little children who have stood and watched their parents being gunned down, who have watched such horror that you and I could hardly conceive of, horror at their little lives, scared, wounded souls. Do you ever feel something stir within you and say we could dream of a different kind of world? Israel's prophets were dreamers. In the Advent season we heard the voice of what the scholars call Second Isaiah, the one who begins "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your Lord. Make a highway for the King. Get into the mountain and the cities of Judah and behold your God, a dream of salvation." These people in exile had a dream of their return to Jerusalem. And they did return, but they returned not to the glory of the dream - they returned to grinding poverty. They returned to political intrigue. They returned to walls torn down which remained torn down. They began laying a few blocks for a second temple, but finally it got to them. You know, it does after a while. It can wear you down. And then there was another voice. The scholars call this voice Third Isaiah, Isaiah 56-66. Another voice and another singer, and he enunciated another dream. He said "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and God has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captive, to bring a garland instead of ashes, to bring joy and rejoicing to God's people, to bind up the wounded." And he enunciated his dream because the earlier dream hadn't been realized and people had lost the dream. And then the dream sounded again and it wasn't realized, either, wonderful dream that it was, but a different kind of world. Five hundred years later Jesus came to his home synagogue and stood up in the midst of his own people and said, "I have a dream." Jesus declared his dream, and it was the dream of Third Isaiah who had brought to life the dream of Second Isaiah, the dream where the wolf and the lamb lie down together, the cow and the ox and the bear are all at peace with each other, and where no one hurts or destroys on all God's holy mountain. Jesus stood up in his own hometown and he said, "I have a dream. Let me declare my dream to you." And they said, "Wow, what amazing wisdom! Where did this man come from? Isn't this Joseph's son?" Then he must have begun to draw out the implications of the dream and that amazement of the people turned to anger. Isn't it strange that a dream like that should elicit anger from people? It was a wonderful dream. Isn't it a wonderful dream? A new world where wounds would be bound up or broken hearts would © Grand Valley State University �A Dream Declared Richard A. Rhem Page 3   be healed, where people in despair would find hope, where people, the prisoners of their guilt, would be told of the forgiveness and the grace of God. Isn't that a wonderful dream? Why would they grow angry? Well, from the biblical references that he made in his defense, he went to their own scripture. He said, "Look, let me quote your own Bible to you." He said, "What about the days of Nahum and the Syrian? It was he who was healed of leprosy. What about the widow of Sidon? It was she to whom Elijah brought food. Don't you see, the God of Israel, our God is a God for whom there has never been any outsiders? Don't you see that the God of Israel is a God of mercy and compassion?" Their amazement at his wisdom and power turned to anger. They wanted to kill him! Isn't it strange? We probably know more about his dream today than we've ever known before because there's so much data available - cross-cultural studies, the context of Jesus' life, the political and religious and social conditions. We know that Jesus' own family was at the lower end of the peasant scale. Jesus' family had been dispossessed of their land, which was the case of so many in that day. The occupying Roman power demanded a tax. And then the collaborating temple cult demanded a tax. And the whole temple system was organized around social categories of purity and impurity. You know, folks, poor people can't keep all that ritual up. They can't pay the temple tax, let alone the Roman tax. These folks didn't have a prayer. They were simply out. They were excluded from the temple and the sacrifice, and they were just outsiders. And Jesus had a dream. He had a dream of a world where there were no outsiders. He had a dream of a world where the wounded were healed and the hopeless given hope and the saddened given joy. And when he declared the dream, they wanted to kill him. Doesn't that strike you? How do you explain that? Jesus wasn't violent. Powerful, I think, but peaceful. And what he dreamed - isn't it wonderful? Wouldn't that be a great world? Can you dream of a different kind of world where nobody is excluded and where everybody knows that with God there is mercy and forgiveness? It's a miracle that people still can dream. Because it's dangerous to dream. If the dream goes beyond your particular retirement, if it extends too far beyond the circle of your family, if you start dreaming bigger dreams, if you should dare to dream about a world transformation - it's dangerous to dream. And it's a tricky thing to dream, too. Is the dream maybe just one's fancy? When someone says, "I have a dream," someone else might say, "You're on an ego trip." And how do you separate those threads in the tapestry? I don't think you can. How does one defend oneself who feels compelled to declare a dream about a different possibility? One needs a lot of courage because to declare a dream is to create the possibility of being shown to be a fool. To declare a dream is to create the possibility of suffering rejection. To declare a dream can put one in jeopardy of one’s life. And how does one know, how do I know the things about which I dream - whether they are of God or simply a matter of self-interest and selfpromotion? © Grand Valley State University �A Dream Declared Richard A. Rhem Page 4   It's a miracle that people still dream. After all these years and all these generations, through all these centuries, people still dream. Isn't it a miracle? Do you suppose that it's because God won't let the dream die? Do you suppose that there's something that God continues to cultivate in the human heart and imagination and that God won't quit? That God won't let it rest? That God won't let it die? The prophet who declared that Judah would go back - the dream wasn't realized. The prophet who announced 500 years before Jesus that this wonderful new world would be created - this dream wasn't realized. And yet, that dream doesn't it get you, doesn't it move you? It moved Jesus, you see, so that he picked up the words of one 500 years earlier and he said, "I have a dream." I wonder if it's because when dreams die, God finds another dreamer. I wonder if God is in those moments when we know it could be other than it is. Well, this is true - to dream is really to live. It may be a tricky business and a dangerous business, but I'll tell you, to dream is a wonderful thing. Have you ever lived with a dream? Have you ever felt the enthusiasm rise within you? Have you ever been captivated by something that just made all the juices flow? Have you ever been just ripped out of yourself, done with self-absorption and self-interest and self-preoccupation, and self-introspection, and just gotten lost in something wonderful? To dream is really to live. I think that's what Jesus meant when he talked about the seed falling in the ground and dying in order that it might bear fruit. You know, if you clutch your life and preserve your life, you lose your life. But, if you invest your life, if you'll lose your life, you will find your life. It's the paradox of the Gospel. And to dream is really to live; it's to live with enthusiasm. It's to be able to be free from all boredom and numbness and all of that that makes life so vacuous for so many! To dream is really to live, it's to live with passion, it's to live with hope, with expectation, to be alive, really alive! But, this is true, also. Dreamers die. Dreamers die, and that's so sad. Last week I mentioned the biography of Gandhi that impressed me as a young person. Gandhi, who brought passive resistance into our world, who led the Indian nation in that resistance that led to the removal of British rule so that India could be for Indians, only to find out that that nation, once on its own, was being torn apart by religious strife, war between great religions, hunger fasts. Willing to die in his appeal to people to say, "Don't do this. Come together." The movie of a few years ago showed it vividly. The dreamer Gandhi cut down by an assassin's bullet. And I suppose "I have a dream" will always be synonymous with Martin Luther King. The dream of a different world where little black children and little white children could play together, color blind. Where the color of a person's skin wouldn't be a deciding factor about anything but rather the virtue and integrity of a person's life would count. Dear God, isn't it a good dream? Isn't it a wonderful dream? Can't we dream of a world where that really could be true? But the dreamer, Martin Luther King, cut down by an assassin, and Jesus looked at those around him and saw the masses like sheep without a shepherd - he was moved with compassion and declared a dream of another kind of world, and they crucified him. © Grand Valley State University �A Dream Declared Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Dreamers die. Dear God, isn't it sad? It seems that the more wonderful the dream, the greater the reaction. Why, I wonder, the anger? Why do we kill dreamers? But, thank God that's not the last word. Because dreamers die, but dreams don't die. For somewhere in the human heart a dream will be reborn and someone will feel moved by the Spirit to say, "I have a dream." Jesus, the night before he was crucified, gathered with his friends and broke bread and said, "Remember me, and don't let the dream die." And down through all these centuries when so little of the dream has been realized, so little of the dream has been realized, but I still dream it, don't you? I have a dream. I have a dream. I had only a very little part to play in the first 100 years of this congregation. It's always a fine congregation. But I came back in the wake of the celebration of the centennial, and now this year we are in the celebration of our 125th year, and on that March Sunday of 1971 when I returned, I declared a dream. For I had learned at that point in my life that I could not win the world or change the world. Couldn't change the Church, but determined that we could create here an oasis of grace. That we would center on the grace of God for the healing of persons. That was the dream. On the local radio station at one point we even had a little jingle - Christ Community Church, the church that cares about people. That was the dream. That was all it was about. The grace place. God's emergency ward. The place for people like me, broken. And the dream has been consistent all these years. There are times when you complain that I take you into ethereal flights of theological speculation, but I want you to know that to think theologically is not in order to satisfy some speculative curiosity, but it is to uncover the foundations to make sure that a community of compassion is rooted in Jesus who is rooted in the heart of God! That's what it's all about. Theology is not an end in itself. It's a means to an end, which is to create here a place where the dream is embodied. Dream of Jesus. Dream of God. Dear God, it’s a good dream. Will you dream with me? © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ab5dfd1f013aca015d3282d0926a2de4.mp3 93920680c41694c474fa5b7914798d4d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series The Dream Scripture Text Luke 4: 18-19 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19950312 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-03-12 Title A name given to the resource A Dream Declared Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 12, 1995 entitled "A Dream Declared", as part of the series "The Dream", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 4: 18-19. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Lent Shalom Transforming the World Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3b36f3f8eb2abc5bf9ce58123933c1ca.pdf ee4d501aefa3bc12bd1649791fbec4a9 PDF Text Text A Dream Embodied From the Lenten sermon series: The Dream Text: Luke 23:34; I Peter 2:23 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent IV, March 26, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon Lent 1995, remembering Jesus. The way he was. The way he lived. The life that he lived leading to the death that he died. During these Lenten weeks we are seeking to retrieve the dangerous dream, the dream that he declared in his home synagogue, when he said, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, giving sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free." A dream that he declared because he had struggled and wrestled with his own ministry, his own calling, and came out of the wilderness filled with the Spirit of God, with an image of God imprinted indelibly upon his heart, an image, a dream - a dream of the heart of God which he would begin then to embody in his ministry. Jesus had a dream. It was the dream of a different kind of world. It was a dream that was characterized by compassion and mercy, in which every person was attributed human dignity and valued as a child of God, created in the image of God. It was a dream in which there were no outsiders and insiders, but only all God's children embraced in the grace and compassion and mercy of God. That was the dream that he dreamed. And dreams shape the world. Dreams too bold create fear and elicit anger and can issue in violence. But the dream that Jesus dreamed he continued to embody in the way that he lived, the style of his life, and the teaching that he offered. Jesus had a dream. And dreamers die, but dreams don't die. Because God keeps raising up dreamers to keep the dream alive. Because the dream is a mirror of the heart and the purpose of God. Wouldn't it be fascinating this morning if we could have the charter members here with us? If we could ask them what was in their hearts 125 years ago? What were their hopes? What were their dreams? Certainly they must have been people of faith and people of vision and people of devotion and people of courage. And they founded in this village a community of people for the worship of God and the ministry of Christ. I wish we could have them with us this morning and let them tell us of their dream. I cannot this morning relate the history of 125 years, but I can relate the history that I have lived in the last 25 years. I can tell you of the © Grand Valley State University   �A Dream Embodied Richard A. Rhem Page 2   dream that was born, the new vision that captivated us 25 years ago, 1971, when I returned to this place. It was a dream of a different kind of congregation, rooted in a fine traditional Reformed congregation. We dreamed of becoming an ecumenical community where the blending of traditions would enhance and enrich, and where diversity would be celebrated. We dreamed of creating here an oasis of grace, where the bruised and the broken could come and be healed by the grace of God. We dreamed here a wonderful dream and, of course, there were some who said it was an impossible dream. But at the Institute for Successful Leadership in April of 1971, at the final communion service, I was deeply moved as Robert Schuller told the story of the Man from LaMancha, and concluded with those moving words of the song, "The Impossible Dream." It became for us somewhat of a theme song. An appropriate song it is for the story of Jesus - one who would fight for the right and who, though covered with scorn and scars, would march into hell for a heavenly cause. It's a stirring song, and the impossible dream became the dream that together we committed ourselves to realize here and, in many respects, we've realized the dream. It was a dream that captured our imagination and energized us and caused us to move out into a bold venture, for then 25 years ago, it was a radical dream. Jesus had a dream. And he lived out that dream. He lived it out in the manner of his life, and he articulated it in the teaching that he offered to the people. But a dream too bold elicits fear, which moves into anger which can issue in violence and tragedy. And so, when he stood by his dream, they conspired against him and they arrested him. They tried him and condemned him, and they crucified him. And as he was being crucified, suspended upon the cross between heaven and earth, receiving the torments and the taunts of those who mocked him, he prayed, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." In the midst of the excruciating extremity of power, Jesus prayed thus, a prayer almost too much to take in. But in praying thus for those who were murdering him, he was embodying the dream, the dream that he had portrayed in the word picture of the parable of the father who waits to receive his prodigal son and beckons his elder son, as well, to join the party. If he painted in unsurpassable strokes the portrait of the love of God in that story, then in this prayer that he offered, he exemplified that love supremely. In his prayer for those who were murdering him, for their forgiveness, we see the supreme embodiment of the dream. He had taught his disciples and the people gathered around him to love their enemies, for he said in loving your enemies you will be imitators of God, children of God. And he taught the disciples in response to Peter's question that they ought to forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven, saying thereby that forgiveness is not an occasional act, but a permanent state of spirit and mind and heart. And when he was crucified and put to the test, the life that he had lived and the teaching that he had articulated gave supreme embodiment to the dream. And he could do no other, really. Such was the nature of the dream. You see, it was the dream that had permeated his whole being. A dream that mirrored his understanding of the nature of God. And believing as he did, that God was like © Grand Valley State University �A Dream Embodied Richard A. Rhem Page 3   that, well, we could have understood if he had done any less but, in order to be true to all that he had claimed, he had to respond out of his depths believing that it was the response out of the depths of the heart of the love of God. "Father, forgive them." Incredible. Amazing. Defying every human instinct resident within the human heart. Possible only by one transformed by love, by the love, which alone can so transform that one can so pray. Can you believe it? "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." They know not what they do. It was not a statement of arrogant superiority. It was a sad recognition of human reality. Jesus was saying "Father, forgive them," because they're not really evil people. They're not really bad people. They are, for the most part, sincere people, but they are ignorant, they're blind to the deepest truths that emanate from the depths of your being. Forgive them for they don't understand, they don't know. It wasn't some statement of arrogant superiority. It was a sad recognition of human reality that has been repeated over and over again throughout the course of history. Appalling blindness. A feeling of threat. The rising of fear. The engulfing of anger, and the consequence of tragic violence. Dreamers die. But dreams don't die, because God keeps raising up dreamers in whom the dream comes alive again because the dream can never die, for the dream is a mirror of the heart of God. It was a dream in 1870 when some Dutch immigrant folk founded here a Christian congregation. The dream took a dramatic turn in 1971. We changed our name to Christ Community, and opened our minds and hearts to fresh winds of the Spirit, celebrating diversity, being marked by grace, beckoning all of those who were broken and bruised and weary and despairing. But now, it's 1995. One hundred and twenty-five years have passed. And it's time for the dream to take on a new dimension. It is time for the dream that has been realized in this community of grace where so many have found healing to become a dream that now moves outward in ways we've not yet dared to do. To those of us who have been beckoned in by grace, it is time for us to be turned inside out. To this community and to the world. It is time for us to pray. Jesus, in the hour of his extremity, with his body screaming with pain, said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It is time for us to pray, "Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is sorrow, let us sow joy; where there is hatred, love; where there is brokenness, wholeness; for it is in giving that we receive. It is forgiving that we are forgiven. It is in dying that we are born again to eternal life." God calls us on this anniversary year to dream the dream and to embody the dream in order that finally, ultimately, the impossible dream may become the reality of the whole earth. Dream with me. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/09a1b260da5e7149d51900dab23e3aed.mp3 4d6e007ab46c93d8d01dd8e16ff8502f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent IV Series The Dream Scripture Text Luke 23:34, I Peter 2:23 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-0-19950326 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-03-26 Title A name given to the resource A Dream Embodied Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 26, 1995 entitled "A Dream Embodied", as part of the series "The Dream", on the occasion of Lent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 23:34, I Peter 2:23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Grace Forgiveness Inclusive Grace Nature of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6896032617f5d3f12bb1874168e36bf5.pdf 4e8d687ea2557f4b2525e6b6e7145097 PDF Text Text A Dreamer’s Final Appeal From the Lenten sermon series: The Dream Text: Luke 19:41-42 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent V, April 2, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon Jesus was a dreamer, and it is dreams that shape the world. Dreamers die, but dreams don't die. Jesus, in his experience of God, was convinced that God was full of mercy and compassion, that God's love would reach out and embrace all sorts and conditions of humankind. After his wrestling with his calling in the wilderness, filled with the Holy Spirit, he declared his dream in his home synagogue, and in his teaching told stories which revealed his understanding of God, a God Who received the prodigal home without recrimination, simply embracing, weeping, loving, and restoring. The dream was embodied in his life, in what he taught, and in how he lived, and it was brought to supreme expression as he was being crucified and he looked at those who tormented him and he prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Such amazing love and grace, the epitome of the incarnation of the dream. He made one final appeal. After ministering throughout Galilee, after those months of his itinerary, he knew finally he must set his face toward Jerusalem, and he did. And in our lesson this morning which anticipates Palm Sunday next week, the Gospel reading tells of his final appeal to Jerusalem, his entrance into that city, and his endeavor one last time to effect a radical change, a revolution that would change the nature of that society and all human relationships. His final appeal for the embodiment of his dream in the life of the people of Israel. He went to Jerusalem because that was the center of it all. He went to Jerusalem because there was the temple and the cult and the priesthood and the temple establishment; there was the center of established power, and it was there that he must address his final appeal. My understanding of the nature of the Gospel and the ministry of Jesus has changed in recent years, and I am so keenly aware of that in the season of Lent when we are focused on his life and ministry. I have confessed to you before that I have never known what to do with the Sermon on the Mount, and if you would have a computer readout of all those texts that I've treated over all these years, you would find a great dearth of treatment of that central body of teaching of Jesus. That might seem a paradox, but it is true. And the dearth of treatment is © Grand Valley State University   �A Dreamer’s Final Appeal Richard A. Rhem Page 2   because I didn't know what to do with it. The Beatitudes - the counsel about going the extra mile, turning the other cheek, offering the second garment when one was requested, and of course, culminating in that call to love one's enemies and to pray for those who despitefully treat one. I never really knew what to do with that, to be very honest with you, because on the one hand, it is so impractical. I've been hesitant to simply say what it so obviously says, because it is so obviously contrary to our whole manner of life. It cuts against the grain of every survival instinct that we have; it's contrary to human nature as we know it in ourselves and in society. The Sermon on the Mount which was the central body in the teaching of Jesus, which was embodying that dream which motivated his life, was simply too foreign to everything I knew about myself and about all of us. I understand now why a certain biblical interpreter, Charles Scofield, interpreted the whole biblical story as he did. Maybe some of you possess a Scofield Bible, which I associate with the Bible School movement and more Bible type churches. The Scofield Bible is still being printed, as a matter of fact. Charles Scofield divided the biblical story into seven dispensations. It was his contention that we really don't even have to deal with the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, in the more radical expression of that whole school of thought, you don't even use the Lord's Prayer because the contention was that Jesus came to offer the Kingdom to Israel and, when he was rejected, then the Kingdom was postponed until a future date, and this interim period, the period of the Church Age, is a period in which that ethic of the Kingdom is not applicable. Well, I certainly don't think that Scofield has correctly interpreted the biblical story, but I do understand now what he was dealing with. He was facing the same problem that I have faced, and that is, what do you do with that ethic? Isn't it contrary to the way you live, to be honest? Don't we really know that if we follow Jesus literally as it would seem the text would call us to follow, don't we know we would come in last? Wouldn't we be gobbled up? Can you really live that way? Can you order a society that way? That was the problem he was trying to handle, I suppose. The way it’s been handled in my background and training is not that radical claim that it simply doesn't apply now, but we have been as effective in blunting Jesus' teaching by making it refer to a kind of spiritual attitude and posture of the heart, so that you don't literally turn the other cheek. You don't literally go the extra mile, but that sort of spirit washes over us a bit and does temper our human behavior. We spiritualize it. We take the sharp edge off it by saying that it is a spiritual matter and Jesus' Kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. The Kingdom of God refers to a spiritual kingdom, and haven't we honestly now been schizophrenic? Haven't we really spoken of a spiritual kingdom, those ideals, and then gone on to live our practical life, (could I even say our secular existence), in quite another fashion, if we would be honest? Well, one of the things that has changed my ministry in recent years has been the large amount of research that has surfaced about the times of Jesus, the social © Grand Valley State University �A Dreamer’s Final Appeal Richard A. Rhem Page 3   situation, the politics and the economics of the life of his time, and what is becoming evident is that Jesus was not talking about some spiritual kingdom in heaven by and by. Jesus was addressing very concretely the life and society of his day. When he said these things, he meant them. He was serious. He was talking about quite another way to live out one's human existence, and quite another way for a society to be in community together. The cultural studies of that time will reveal that Jesus was taking the side of the poor and the disaffected and the alienated and the outcast over against an established official temple religion with a holiness code that managed the social arrangement of society, and which excluded large numbers of people. And what Jesus was interested in and concerned about was the concrete life of the people of his day, particularly the disenfranchised. Particularly the poor, the landless, the voiceless, and the powerless. Jesus was serious. Jesus was speaking about real people and real social relationships in the concrete history which he was living. Jesus was reaching back to an old tradition of his people. There really are two traditions in the Hebrew scriptures. You may perhaps remember last October when we were going through that survey of the history of Israel. When we came to that section in I Samuel, Israel had entered into Canaan. They were now in and settling the Promised Land. They were under the leadership of judges. That Hebrew biblical book by that name tells the story of various of those judges. These judges were the spiritual leaders, but they had no continuing authority. They had authority when the spirit of God came upon them; they were raised up by God to meet a crisis and, once the crisis was met, they went back home to the farm. You remember Samuel, the greatest of those spiritual leaders, how some came to him and said, "Samuel, this just isn't going to do. You have stature and authority, but your sons are not following in your steps. We need a king; we need to be like other nations." And you remember Samuel said, "You are rejecting God." However, in those chapters in Samuel 8 and 9, you have two traditions side by side, and one says let them have a king, and the other says to have a king is to reject God. There were two positions, two traditions; they were in tension with one another, one wanting to maintain that relationship with God directly, and the other wanting a human figurehead on the throne. And the one tradition, the Sinai tradition, coming from Moses, is the tradition that says let God be our king. Moses had led them out of Egypt. What was Egypt? Egypt was slavery. Egypt was empire. Egypt was a place of the royal throne, and that royal consciousness permeated Egypt and it oppressed people, and the Israelites were a part of that oppressed people. And God set them free. Moses led them out of bondage, into their own land. Here they were, free. Their own people. And then some came and said to Samuel, "We'd like a king." Samuel said, "You got such short memories? Don't you remember what kings do? Kings tax. Kings raise armies with your sons and daughters. Kings oppress. Are you crazy? Having been delivered from that, do you want now to go back to that?" And they said, "Yes," and they did. © Grand Valley State University �A Dreamer’s Final Appeal Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The second tradition is called the Zion tradition. The great king of Israel was David. We really love David because we think about David as a shepherd boy. David was one clever individual - very charismatic, very strategically smart, acute, and the first thing David did was conquer Jerusalem, which up to that point had not been conquered because it was a natural fortress. He established Jerusalem as Mount Zion, and he built his house there and made it the center of this new monarchy. He wanted to build a temple, too, because every throne needs the legitimacy of the temple. But God said, "No. You've been a man of war." So what did he do? He gathered the building fund, so that when Solomon and his son came, they could build the temple. Now you have the royal house and the temple on Mount Zion, and you have all kinds of references in the Hebrew story and Israel's history in the Old Testament of the exultation of Mount Zion. Don't hear me as saying one of these traditions is biblical and the other isn't - they are both there. The Sinai tradition, the wilderness tradition, the Mosaic tradition where God is king- and the Zion tradition where the House of David is supreme, and where the house of David which is the reigning family occupying the royal house is in collaboration with the temple of Zion, temple of our God. Now, you see, when Jesus came teaching, he talked about the Kingdom of God. So often in the church we have blunted what he was really saying because we have spoken of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven as a spiritual reign above us, not connected with our concrete reality. But as a matter of fact, when Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God, Jesus was speaking about the rule of God, the rule of God in my life and in your life and in our life together. The kingdom of God was not some far off future ideal. It was that which Jesus was calling his people to, here and now. And when he came to Jerusalem, he was serious. He was making one final appeal. Jesus did not go there without hope. He didn't come there without expectation. He came there because he knew that, until he had entered Jerusalem, to the very temple court itself, and offered this alternative, he would not have fulfilled his mission. And so, he came, and in this final appeal, there were two dramatic acts. The one was simply the entrance itself on a donkey. He came on a donkey, not a war horse. It was a symbolic action. In Zechariah 9, you'll find that the man of peace comes riding on a donkey, and Jerusalem is rid of its war horses. Jesus came as a peace candidate. Don't we hate peace candidates? Aren't they pains in the neck? Peace candidates. Chairman of the Peace Party. Coming into the city, Jesus went right to the temple and, as we speak of it, he "cleansed" the temple. I'm believing that I've preached that one wrong all my life, too. I always thought that he came in to cleanse the temple because they were turning the Temple Court into a bazaar and overcharging the poor pilgrims. But, it wasn't that they were doing business in the temple court. Doing business in the temple court was a part of the whole temple structure. Those who were doing business in the temple court were simply serving the temple system, which was a holiness system. A holiness system determined who was in and who was out. Who was right and who was wrong. When you came to the temple, you had to pay your temple tax, but you © Grand Valley State University �A Dreamer’s Final Appeal Richard A. Rhem Page 5   didn't pay your temple tax with a coin that had an image of Caesar on it. So you had to turn your temple tax, your coin with Caesar on it, into the treasurer there and get a holy coin so that, in turn, you could take the holy coin to pay your temple tax. And in the meantime, the temple skimmed a little off. You know, maybe only 5%. (I'm thinking about instituting that.) And if you were a pilgrim from far away you cannot bring a ritually pure animal in for sacrifice, and so, wonder of wonders, they're available. It was part of the system. It was perfectly legitimate. And those who were doing it were doing it in the service of the whole temple structure. It was not that they were doing business or having commerce. What they were doing was they were reinforcing a system that said to the poor that had no coin at all, "You can't come in." What they were doing was reinforcing a system that said to the poor who had no bird, "You can't come in." What they were doing was keeping intact a system that said, "You're in; you're out." Jesus went to the very heart of the temple cult and he said, "Your separateness, your separating, your dividing, your choosing, your setting those outside, alienating, your determining who can and who cannot -this is wrong! It's contrary to what God would have. This temple is for all people." And he quoted from Isaiah 56:7. You read that chapter and in that chapter the prophet says as a mouthpiece for the Lord, "Do not say, you foreigner, that you are separated from my people. And you who are eunuchs who are supposed to be outside because of dysfunction, don't say you were outside. You come in, because my house will be for all people with joy." That’s what Jesus was after. That's why he went to the temple. He went to the temple because it was the very center of a society that excluded the broken and the bruised and the bloodied, that excluded the poor and the hopeless and the powerless and the voiceless. He went to the very temple and he said to those who were in authority there, "You are collaborating with the occupying power in order to maintain the status quo of a society that is on its way to death. And if you maintain this posture, you will lead this people to disaster." That’s why when he came to the city he wept over it as he saw it in all of its splendor and beauty. He wept for it because he loved it. He wept for it because, in solidarity with all who had no access to it, he felt their pain. He wept for it because those who were the very guardians and the custodians of the city were so blind as to what was the consequence of their course of action. He was full of anguish, not anger. Anger only elicits anger in return. But genuine anguish has the possibility of permeating through the shell of a heart. Jesus wept. And what he appealed for was so radical that they had to kill him, because in the Gospel reading this morning, it says that the people were hanging on his words because, with the people, what he was after rang true. And every regime, whether of church or of state, fears when the people hear another drumbeat and find resonance in their soul. But Jesus wasn't a victim. There was no self-pity, and there was no recrimination. Jesus was a dreamer, and he couldn't rest until he had brought his dream right to the heart and center of all of that that kept the dream from being realized. But © Grand Valley State University �A Dreamer’s Final Appeal Richard A. Rhem Page 6   making his appeal and being crucified, he was born again onto eternal life. He was a free man. He lived by a grand dream. He lived with power, with dignity, with integrity. He lived with joy because, when one is captivated by a dream and lives the dream faithfully with passion, then come what may, one is free. Then one knows joy. Next Sunday marks 50 years since the death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I like what he says about his own learning what it means to be a Christian. Later I discovered and am still discovering to this very moment that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint or a converted sinner, a churchman, the priestly type so called, a righteous or an unrighteous person, a sick man or a healthy one. This is what I mean by worldliness. Taking life in one's stride with all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness. It is in such a life that we throw ourselves utterly into the arms of God and participate in his sufferings in the world and watch with Christ in Gethsemane. That is faith. That is metanoia, or repentance. And that is what makes one a Christian. A human being. And then these words, Can success make us arrogant? Or failure lead us astray when we participate in the sufferings of God by living in this world? No. No room for arrogance. No room for despair, but following the dream and being true carries its own reward, and that reward is freedom and it is joy. I still don't know what to do with the Sermon on the Mount. Don't test me by cuffing me on the cheek. But what you are doing, here and there, in small ways, and what we're trying to do together, to be a community of compassion, that's at least a small step on the way, trying to live out the dream of the one whom we say we follow. Jesus. Really something. Really somebody. What a way to go! © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f938a7b64bb9e6420deb58093213e62f.mp3 d1bd095de738a46ba684b8354436da57 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent V Series The Dream Scripture Text Luke 19:41-42 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19950402 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-04-02 Title A name given to the resource A Dreamer's Final Appeal Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 2, 1995 entitled "A Dreamer's Final Appeal", as part of the series "The Dream", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 19:41-42. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Forgiveness Historical Jesus Sermon on the Mount Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/588b99d438b1bf4edeb1a4a63a6f2e76.pdf a70652caf985f5da4c566316cf1e7faa PDF Text Text A Dreamer’s Portrait of God From the Lenten sermon series: The Dream Text: Luke 15:20 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 19, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon I love books and I have many books. One of them is a book by Henri Nouwen, the Dutch Catholic contemplative writer. Henri Nouwen has written many books, but this book is special. It is entitled The Return of the Prodigal Son. It's beautifully bound and it has reproductions of Rembrandt's painting of the return of the Prodigal. And the picture returns throughout the course of the book as Nouwen writes about the wonder of the love of God that embraces this son, and speaks also about the elder brother who stands on the sidelines. It is a beautiful book. The portrait struck Nouwen back in the early 80's. He purchased a poster reproduction of it, put it wherever he was living at the time, and then had opportunity to go to Leningrad to the Hermitage Museum, where he saw the original. The picture is one of an old father, nearly blind, with his hands on the son as he kneels, and Nouwen contemplated that picture for over four hours on two different occasions; he sat before that picture and just absorbed it. It became for him a portrait of God as it was a rendering of the portrait of God that Jesus painted in words in the Gospel lesson of the morning. As Nouwen contemplated this picture, he noticed that the left hand was masculine and it was firm on the shoulder of the son, but the right hand was obviously not a match. It was a more feminine hand, and Nouwen contemplated what Rembrandt was expressing near the end of his life after he himself had suffered such deep loss of his wife and of children and of dear friends. The aged Rembrandt painting an aged father receiving a child, one hand obviously masculine, the other as though it would caress, a feminine hand. I suppose that Rembrandt was familiar with that word from Isaiah, where Judah says God has forsaken us; God has forgotten us, and the Lord responds, "I have not forsaken you. I have not forgotten you. Could a mother forget a child at her breast? Could a mother lack compassion for the child of her womb? But even if these should forget, I will never forget you. I have engraved you in the palm of my hands. Like as a mother comforteth, as a father pities his children ..." I suppose all of those images were in Rembrandt's mind as he painted this magnificent portrait of the father receiving the son to his home. And I suspect that all of that imagery was also in the mind of Jesus. © Grand Valley State University   �A Dreamer’s Portrait of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   We noted last week that he came to his hometown and declared his dream, and the contours of that dream he took from the Prophet Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, the release of the captives, to bring healing, to cause the lame to walk and the blind to see and the deaf to hear, to proclaim the year of God's favor." This was the declaration of the dream of Jesus. Where do dreams come from? What is it that settles in on one, that takes possession of one, that causes one's whole life to be shaped, and energizes and empowers one's life to live out that vision? A transforming moment? Certainly in Jesus' case, the deep mining of that tradition of Israel that had shaped him. Some encounter perhaps, some human encounter that made it all come together for him. A Rosa Parks climbs on a bus and sits where she is not supposed to sit because she is a black woman. And they tell her to move and suddenly she says, "No." Because suddenly in a moment, her own human dignity takes possession of her and she resists that code that was written in concrete. Martin Luther King picks up the story and stands eventually before the Lincoln Memorial and sings, "I have a dream." What was it that triggered a Gandhi to become the leader of passive resistance that had such earthshaking effect? What was it that caused a Nelson Mandela to be willing to endure years and years of incarceration for what he believed to be right and true? What was it that enabled Jesus to live out so faithfully that vision he had of who God was and what God was calling him to be? He was a dreamer, and it's dangerous to dream. Because it's so possible that the dream will fail, or that we'll be rejected. Remember the story in Genesis of Joseph - he was a dreamer. And he came one day approaching his brothers with supplies, and they said, "Here comes the dreamer." It's so easy to write off the one whose life is consumed by a vision. They make us nervous, I suppose. It's unsettling. The dream is too bold, too daring. If it demands change and transformation, dreamers die. Jesus was a dreamer. And his whole life was the living out of a dream, and he said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He certainly claimed the authorization of God. He must have been totally convinced that his vision of God was rooted in reality and in truth. It was a vision of God, a portrait of God that ran contrary to the accepted wisdom of the time. He ran into conflict because he lived out his vision of God full of mercy and compassion, a God who would not exclude, but include, a God who caused him to sit at table with anyone, a God who would break through all of those dividers between people that we call alienation, that would make some people inside and some people outside. There were so many people outside in Jesus' day. He saw them all. They were like sheep without a shepherd, harassed, and Jesus was moved with compassion for them because he must have been convinced that there was compassion in the heart of God for these people because they didn't really have a chance. They were ruled out from the beginning. People wear down after a while, if they get continually reflected back to them that they don't amount to anything, they are ritually impure, they are in a class that is not acceptable, finally people just wear down. © Grand Valley State University �A Dreamer’s Portrait of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   The worst thing in the world we can do to people is to reflect to them that they don't count, that they have no value, that they belong on the outside. Finally, one begins to imbibe that in the very marrow of one's bones and one begins to take for granted that that is what one is - just one no-account. And Jesus broke through all of that and he had relationship with all kinds of people, he sat at table with and he invited them to his table and he scandalized those who were responsible for keeping society orderly. That's the setting of the story he told. I didn't read the first three verses of Luke 15, but you'll find there that it was the religious leadership of his day that was grumbling because he communicated with tax collectors and sinners. Now, sinners – they weren't bad people. That was a class of people, people that were simply outclassed. And they grumbled and they said, "Look, he sits at table with people like this!" And so, he told his story. It had three parts - about a lost sheep, and a lost coin, and about two lost sons. We call it the parable of the prodigal son, but even in that we misname it and we resist what is really there. It is not the parable of the prodigal son. Neither is it the parable of the elder son, although there is a prodigal son and an elder son, two brothers, but it's not about the boys. It's about God. It is about the father. This is a story about God. This is Jesus' understanding of God. This is the dreamer's portrait about God. He tells the story about the father who gives to the younger son his inheritance, knowing that it will be spent in the far country away from the father's home. And Jesus tells about the young man coming to himself and coming home. To show how we resist the real truth of this parable, you probably have heard it preached on as the parable of the prodigal son illustrating conversion, the son out in the far country having sinned grievously, comes to himself. Oh, my dear friends, he was not converted in the far country. Coming to himself in this story only means that he wised up. He sat down and took account of his circumstances and he said, "Look, I'm hungry and destitute. No one is giving me anything. And the hired servants of my father are better off than me." So, he memorized a speech. He was still scheming. He was still strategizing. He still wanted to be in control. He was not going home to love the father; he was going home to get a bunk bed and three square meals. That boy wasn't changed until he felt the salty tears of his father. Because Jesus knew. And Jesus believed that God knew that it is only unconditional love that can transform a human personality. And the transformation took place in the light of this old father who gathered his skirts and ran down the street contrary to every good social conduct and code, and embraced the son without recrimination; rather, he threw a party. That is Jesus' understanding of God. That is the dreamer's portrait of God so beautifully captured by Rembrandt, continuing down through the centuries to be the most profound image of God that we have as a body of Christ, as the people of God. © Grand Valley State University �A Dreamer’s Portrait of God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Can you hear it without being moved by it? As many times as you have heard it, is not that God, is that not amazing? Is it not true that that transforming love alone can change a person? Or change the world? But, Jesus, of course, painted the portrait because he was encountering the anger of those who purportedly were the advocates of God. And so he told of the elder son, as well, the elder son who came in from the field and saw the party and, finding out that the father was throwing the party for the son who had returned, was offended and grew angry. I'll give you a mystery to think about. This is a mystery. Why is it that unconditional love and grace proffered elicits such anger? Jesus painted the picture of the elder son as well to whom the father went out and pleaded, without recrimination to him, saying, "Son, everything I have is yours. Come in! It is simply good that we celebrate. Your brother is home and he's safe." Why is it that grace and love promiscuously offered in the name of a prodigal God elicits anger? Jesus must have understood this, as well. Maybe the elder son has his counterpart in the Prophet Jonah in the Old Testament. Remember that story? God says to Jonah, "Go to Nineveh, a foreign city and a pagan people, and preach there." And Jonah took a boat and went the other way. Not because he was afraid to preach, but because he knew that if he preached and Nineveh heeded, God would forgive Nineveh. And Jonah didn't really want God to forgive Nineveh. Jonah really wanted God to damn Nineveh. But finally, you know, when you're in the whale of a belly, ... you reconsider, and so he went and he preached. And it's just like he suspected. Nineveh heeded the word of God and repented. And just as he suspected, God being an old softy, spared the city. And if you take that little book of Nineveh, if you can find it in the Minor Prophets, only four chapters, look at the 4th verse of the 4th chapter - Jonah is pouty, and God comes and says, "Jonah, do you do well to be angry?" "Yes!" So, Jonah takes his place over in the hill overlooking the city and the sun is hot. God causes a gourd to grow up to give him shade. Jonah's happy. Next morning, God creates a little worm that gnaws at the gourd and the gourd wilts and falls down and the sun blasts Jonah in the face again, who is angry. God says, "Jonah, do you do well to be angry at the gourd?" "Yes!" "Well, Jonah, if you're angry about a gourd that was here yesterday and is gone today, how do you think I feel about all the people of Nineveh? Don't you know that I care for them, too? Don't you know that they, too, are my children? Don't you know that my heart of compassion would embrace them as well?" Jesus was consumed by his understanding of God, which was a God that would exclude no one, that would embrace everyone, Whose compassion knows no limit, Whose mercy is as broad as the whole human family. And so, in the face of the anger, he told this story, and the story is just this, dear friends. God has one deep passionate desire - God wants you home. God wants you home. That's all. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/205861631cd00d22bcd7326ef6ecd82b.mp3 41176c4ee9e66e91d2f9c5ee0852cba0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent III Series The Dream Scripture Text Luke 15:20 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19950319 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-03-19 Title A name given to the resource A Dreamer's Portrait of God Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 19, 1995 entitled "A Dreamer's Portrait of God", as part of the series "The Dream", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 15:20. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Inclusive Nature of God Transforming Love Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2bbdd4d3e5b0b2d9853ed8345272757c.mp3 90241e847dbc4e9aa3cbcaa49977f288 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost V Scripture Text Psalm 30:11-12 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-0-19870712 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1987-07-12 Title A name given to the resource A Faith for All Seasons Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 12, 1987 entitled "A Faith for All Seasons", on the occasion of Pentecost V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 30:11-12. 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/568e3dd8a0c0084268b9babc93bad224.pdf d6427e543f6d736ebd2d700976dc7099 PDF Text Text A Family Christmas Prayer Richard A. Rhem Christmas, 2013 O God, Mystery beyond us, Mystery within us, Sacred Presence enveloping our lives in all that is good and true and beautiful, we are gathered here in this home we have loved for over 30 years as a family first formed forty-one years ago on Christmas. We remember the little church, the tree, the poinsettias, the reception at the Brysons in their warm and lovely home and can hardly believe we have shared forty-one Christmases as a family, grown from eight to twenty-six – a family we treasure, so warm, so caring – simply Love embodied. Today we welcome Robbie into the embrace of this family as he and Sarah dream a future together. And today Richard is in the circle, having been given a place in Dan and Susan’s family, welcomed by Dani, Sarah and Sam. Gathered here, we hold in our hearts those absent from us: Katie, Jonathan and Brenda, Joseph and family. How blessed we are. In these moments, O God, we know that the Christmas story is true. It goes to the heart of what is truly human, truly divine – Love and Joy and Peace, the Light that scatters the darkness, a vision of an alternative world that can find expression in nothing less than a choir of angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.” �Once a year this annual festival calls us to stop, to reflect, to penetrate the mists of our muddled thinking, so caught up with matters of only passing concern, to see what is truly ultimate, what truly matters, what is finally true – that vulnerability invites trust, that humility invites embrace, that love begets love. O God, we worship and adore in the Presence of the Christmas Babe. Amen. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Event A Prayer at a Rhem Family Gathering Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-1-20131225 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2013-12-25 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource A Family Christmas Prayer Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource eng Description An account of the resource Prayer created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 25, 2013 entitled "A Family Christmas Prayer", on the occasion of A Prayer at a Rhem Family Gathering. Tags: Prayer, Christmas, Family, Presence of God, Love. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Christmas Family Love Prayer Presence of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/23d005275872c83d6ecf62142a0718e2.pdf ff273c3f1ed2bbfca789b42fcb38e45e PDF Text Text A Final Act of Grace Sunday Potluck Richard A. Rhem Grand Haven Community Center Grand Haven, Michigan May 4, 2008 Prepared Text of the sermon   Returning  home  from  Florida  on  February  5,  we  entered  the  home  of  our  kids,  Lynn   and  Keith  Mast,  as  the  telephone  rang.  It  was  a  call  from  Gerry  Rodarmer,  saying   that  Sam  Bacon  had  died  that  day  and  Janet  was  trying  to  get  hold  of  me  to  conduct   Sam’s  funeral.  A  few  days  later,  Feb.  10,  Don  Nagtzaam  died  .  On  March  19  Roger   Vander  Meulen  died.  On  April  15  Allen  Ruiter  died.  In  the  meantime  I  spoke  at  a   memorial  gathering  for  John  Nemenye,  who  was  loosely  related  to  CCC.  From   February  to  April,  I  have  conducted  five  funerals  for  CCC  members.  And,  in   preparing  those  services,  I  gained  some  insight  into  the  reason  we  are  here  today.  I   hope  as  I  relate  the  experience  of  preparing  for  and  conducting  those  services,  I   might  enable  us  all  to  understand  why  we  are  here  today  and  hopefully  enable  us  to   move  on  to  a  positive  and  joyful  future.       I  suspect  we  have  present  today  persons  in  various  relationships  to  CCC.  Most  of   you,  I  suspect,  no  longer  are  part  of  that  community;  some  of  you  are;  some  of  you   are  still  trying  to  figure  out  where  you  are.  So  hear  me  as  I  tell  a  tale  of  four  funerals.      As  those  of  you  know  who  have  been  at  a  number  of  the  funerals  I’ve  conducted,  I   weave  into  one  a  eulogy  and  a  biblical  message.  I  always  try  to  set  the  person  forth   as  they  were  in  the  context  of  a  collage  of  Scripture,  finding  in  Scripture  something   that  marked  the  person  and  is  also  a  ground  of  hope  and  source  of  comfort.      In  the  case  of  Sam  Bacon  and  Roger  Vander  Meulen,  it  was  the  time  of  their  deaths   that  gave  me  a  clue  as  to  how  to  proceed.      Sam  died  on  “Fat  Tuesday,”  the  climax  of  Mardi  Gras,  the  day  before  Ash   Wednesday.  The  funeral  three  days  later  was  at  the  beginning  of  Lent.  I  thought  of   the  passage  in  Genesis  2  where  God  takes  a  scoop  of  earth  and  forms  the  man,   breathing  into  him  the  breath  of  life  and  then  the  disobedience  in  Genesis  3  and  the   sentence  on  the  guilty  couple  –  “Dust  thou  art  and  to  dust  thou  shalt  return”  –  the   words  we  speak  over  each  worshiper  on  Ash  Wednesday  as  we  apply  the  ashes  on   the  forehead.  Sam  and  Janet  came  to  us  from  Fountain  Street  and  I  had  one  of   Duncan’s  favorite  poems,  “This  Quiet  Dust”,  which  seemed  to  put  it  all  in  context.   © Grand Valley State University   �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 2    Roger  Vander  Meulen  died  during  Holy  Week  –  the  pain  of  loss  and  grieving   appropriate  for  the  solemnity  and  darkness  of  that  annual  observance.  But  his   funeral  was  on  Easter  Monday.  Again  it  was  the  observance  of  the  Christian  year   that  created  the  context  –  again  I  used  Genesis  2:4  –  Dust  –  God’s  act  of  creation  and   the  promise  to  dust  thou  shalt  return.  But  now  it  was  Easter  Monday.  I  turned  to  St.   Paul  in  the  great  Resurrection  Chapter  15  of  First  Corinthians.  Paul  struggled  to   bring  to  expression  his  assurance  of  resurrection  –  Flesh  and  blood  (or  dust)  is   mortal  and  the  mortal  cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom.  The  mortal  must  put  on   immortality.  I  told  the  story  of  the  butterfly  emerging  from  the  caterpillar  whose   immune  cells  fight  the  new  imaginal  cells  –  fighting,  as  it  were,  the  transformation   into  the  new  form,  and  are  finally  overcome  as  the  butterfly  emerges  –  a  creature  no   longer  fated  to  crawl  on  earth  but  gaining  wings  to  fly!       I  need  not  go  on  with  Paul’s  claim.  I  cite  the  services  of  Sam  and  Roger  to  illustrate   how  much  the  annual  observance  of  the  Christian  Year  provides  the  context  for  our   life  and  our  death  –  How  meaningful  to  work  with  the  ancient  observance  to  bring   meaning  to  life  and  death.  There  is  a  framework  within  which  we  have  lived  our   lives  and  which  gives  insight  into  death.       I  turn  now  to  the  funerals  of  Don  and  Allen.  Different  as  they  were,  there  was  that   which  was  the  same  though  manifested  in  different  ways.  Don  did  beautiful   cabinetry  work  throughout  the  church  –  every  room  contains  some  sign  of  his  skill   and  devotion.  And  every  Sunday  in  the  choir  –  loving  the  creation  of  beautiful  music   and  liturgy.      Allen  loved  the  church  as  well  –  was  faithful  in  worship  and  for  years  set  the  Lord’s   Table.  For  these  two  I  am  reminded  of  the  Psalmist’s  love  for  Jerusalem,  for  the   Temple,  for  the  altar  –  the  place  of  special  manifestation  of  the  Presence  of  God.       Psalm  42:3  and  Psalm  84  come  to  mind.  In  Psalm  42,  the  poet  is  in  a  situation  of   exile,  longing  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord.  He  carries  on  a  dialogue  in  his  soul:       Why  are  you  cast  down,  my  soul....     Hope  in  God;  I  will  yet  praise  him,    my  help  and  my  God.     O  send  out  your  light  and  your  truth;    Let  them  lead  me,     let  them  bring  me  to  your  Holy  Hill.   ..then  I  will  go  to  the  altar  of  God,     my  exceeding  joy.       Psalm  84  is  a  song  of  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem:       How  lovely  is  your  dwelling  place,     O  Lord  of  Hosts     © Grand Valley State University �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 3   My  soul  longs,  indeed  it  faints  for  the  courts  of  the  Lord;     my  heart  and  my  flesh  sing  for  joy    to  the  living  God.       “I  would  rather  be  a  doorkeeper,”  or,  as  someone  has  translated  the  phrase  –  “linger   at  the  threshold.”      The  people  of  Israel  knew  God  was  present  everywhere,  but  Jerusalem  was  special   –  a  place  set  apart,  a  place  where  the  symbolism,  the  ministries  of  the  Temple,  the   Holy  of  Holies  were  –  and  their  whole  faith  and  devotion  longed  to  be  there.     That  is  the  tale  of  four  funerals.  Why  do  I  recap  those  services?  Because  of  a   profound  insight  that  overwhelmed  me.  It  wasn’t  really  something  I  hadn’t  known   before;  but  it  was  as  if  what  I  really  knew  struck  me  with  clarity.       In  the  case  of  Sam  and  Roger,  it  was  the  annual  observance  of  the  Christian  Year.  In   the  case  of  Don  and  Allen,  it  was  the  sacred  space  itself  –  the  literal  place  where  we   gathered  replete  with  the  symbolism  of  our  Christian  observance,  that  was  the  focus   –  the  place  of  praise,  celebration,  worship,  liturgy  and  prayer.     And  it  struck  me:  This  is  what  we  have  lost.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  we  grieve.  We   grieve  because  we  have  lost  the  observances  and  the  sacred  place  that  framed  our   daily  lives.  And  it  is  painful;  we  have  experienced  a  death  of  sorts.       Now,  lest  I  be  misunderstood,  let  me  be  very  clear  that  I  am  well  aware  that  what  we   shared  together  in  community  was  a  human  creation.       It  was  in  July  of  2000  that  I  preached  a  sermon  entitled  “Religion  Made  on  Earth”.   That  sermon  was  not  the  beginning  of  an  understanding  but  the  conclusion  of  a  path   we  had  been  journeying  on  for  a  long  time:  “Religion  is  a  human  phenomenon,  and   what  I  want  to  say  this  morning  in  this  first  message  is  very  simple,  but  if  you  really   hear  me,  it’s  very  radical.  You  won’t  hear  it  often  in  church,  but  I  believe  that  it  is   simple  and  it  is  true:  religion  is  made  on  earth;  it  is  a  human  construct.  Religion   didn’t  fall  ready-­‐made  from  heaven.  There  is  no  absolute  religion  with  God’s  stamp   on  it  as  over  against  all  of  the  other  religions  practiced  by  the  diversity  of   humankind.  All  religion  is  made  on  earth  and  is  a  human  construct.     One  might  ask,  ‘Well,  isn’t  it  true?’      Is  a  sunset  true:  Is  a  poem  true?  Of  course,  it’s  true.  It  is  true  in  the  sense  that  it  puts   us  in  communion  with  God.  It  satisfies  the  hunger  of  our  heart.  It  elicits  from  us   what  is  noble  and  best.  It  gives  us  a  reason  for  being.  It  gives  us  a  hope.  It  enables  us   to  go  on  to  tomorrow.  Of  course,  it’s  true.  But  religion  is  not  true  in  the  sense  that  a   chemical  formula  is  true,  not  in  the  sense  that  the  hard  stuff  of  the  natural  sciences   is  true.  It  is  not  empirical  and  verifiable.  Religion  is  a  judgment  call.  Religion  is  a   © Grand Valley State University �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 4   choice.  Religion  is  a  response  to  a  story.  It  is  engagement  in  worship  and   community;  it  is  the  following  of  a  way  of  life.  Religion  can  be  good  or  less  good,  but   not  true  or  false  in  a  sense  in  which  we  deal  with  true  and  false  in  a  world  marked   by  the  scientific  method,  empirical  investigation.  No,  religion  is  a  human  construct   and  all  of  them  alike  are  made  on  earth.       With  that  recognition  on  our  part  that  it  was  not  the  case  that  we  had  found  God’s   stamp  and  our  worship  was  a  direct  translation  of  heaven’s  worship,  what  we   claimed  was  only  that  this  was  our  story  and  our  way:  mining  the  rich  treasures  of  the   Christian  Church,  we  found  a  meaningful  way  through  liturgy,  sacrament,  symbol   and  aesthetic  expression  to  come  into  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Mystery,  the  Mystery   of  God.      And  we  did  it  well!  Meaningful  liturgy  gathered  around  the  church  year,  intelligent   interpretation  of  the  biblical  story  while  re-­‐imagining  the  faith  for  our  time,   exultant,  aesthetically  uplifting  experience  in  music  and  other  artistic  expression.  It   was  quite  wonderful  really  –  the  moving  experience  of  transcendence  that  lifted  us   out  of  ourselves  to  experience  the  sacred  mystery.  No  one  was  more  responsible  for   the  beautiful  offerings  week  after  week  than  our  Mr.  Bryson  whose  gifts  would  have   made  Riverside  Church  in  New  York  City  proud,  and  the  whole  pastoral  team  made   their  contribution.      But  it  was  not  either  true  or  false,  right  or  wrong.  It  was  our  chosen  way;  it  lifted  us   into  the  presence  of  the  Mystery  that  is  God.       And  again:  it  is  no  more.  There  has  been  a  death  and  we  grieve.  A  death  because  that   experience  week  by  week,  season  by  season,  year  in  and  year  out  shaped  us  –   spiritual  formation  we  name  it  –  at  the  core  of  our  being  we  are  deeply  imprinted  by   scripture,  song,  liturgy,  symbol,  the  sacrament.  These  observances  have  formed  us   and  put  us  in  touch  with  life’s  ultimate  mystery  and  meaning.       But,  if  we  claim  only  that  what  we  had  was  our  chosen  way,  the  obverse  of  that  is   that  now  there  is  another  chosen  way  being  practiced,  and  it  is  not  right  or  wrong;  it   is  different.  Rather  than  mining  the  rich  veins  of  Christian  tradition,  there  is  the   incorporation  of  other  traditions  and  an  intentional  emphasis  on  current  social   issues  –  There  is  an  intelligent  address  of  issues  that  for  us  were  the  subject  of   Perspectives  and  Wednesday  Adult  Education  –  but  not  centered  in  the  corporate   worship  experience.  And  attempting  to  be  simply  descriptive,  I  would  point  out   there  is  little  experience  of  worship,  nor  is  that  desired.  Being  lost  in  wonder,  love   and  praise  is  not  the  intended  end.       This  is  not  wrong;  it  is  different.  And  that  is  where  the  community  has  moved  and   having  moved  there,  it  is  not  of  interest  to  me  because  it  lacks  the  reason  I  worship  –   to  have  my  being  inspired  and  lifted  into  the  presence  of  the  Holy.  And  that  is   approached  differently;  it  doesn’t  work  for  me.  There  is  a  loss;  I  must  simply   © Grand Valley State University �A Final Act of Grace Richard A. Rhem Page 5   acknowledge  that.  That  is  why  we  are  here  this  morning,  gathering  with  others  who   have  likewise  experienced  that  loss  –  a  kind  of  death.       As  a  group  you  have  gone  through  stages:  At  first  there  was  anger.  That  is   understandable  even  if  it  is  not  helpful  and  is  finally  self-­‐destructive.  Some  of  you   were  part  of  a  committee  that  approached  the  Board  of  Trustees  with  your  concerns   but  received  no  real  empathy.  There  was  no  constructive  dialogue.       And  there  have  been  various  attempts  to  see  if  something  new  might  arise.  But  that   has  had  its  problems.  This  group  isn’t  easily  satisfied.  We  really  had  it  all  and  that   will  not  be  easily  re-­‐created.       And  we  have  given  our  lives,  our  energy,  our  treasure  over  many  years.  For  most  of   us  the  idea  of  beginning  again  is  forbidding.       Finally,  here  we  are  because  we  long  for  community  –  and,  since  all  we  can  salvage   are  ongoing  networks  of  friends  who  share  a  story,  a  history,  an  experience  of  God,   that  still  is  the  center  of  our  lives.      I  told  you  the  tale  of  four  funerals  because  it  became  so  powerfully  clear  to  me  why   we  grieved.  We  have  sustained  a  great  loss  and  it  is  not  going  to  be  re-­‐created.  We   have  experienced  a  loss  of  what  was,  what  we  loved  and  is  no  more  –  what  will  not   come  back.       And  what  do  we  do  with  our  grief?  We  celebrate  life,  we  remember,  we  give  thanks   and  we  go  on.  But,  perhaps  for  our  own  spiritual  well  being,  there  is  one  more  thing   we  need  to  do  –  one  final  act  of  Grace.       Celebrating  what  was,  what  was  shared  in  community,  remembering  with  joy,  we   will  heal.  But  finally  the  confirmation  of  all  that  we  experienced  will  be  evidenced  to   the  extent  we  can  bless  and  affirm  that  ongoing  community  that  takes  new  shape   and  form.       A  new  community  is  forming.  New  directions  are  being  forged.  Positive  engagement   with  the  ongoing  societal  structures  and  cultural  movements  is  happening.  New   people  are  finding  a  spiritual  home  and  many  who  shared  years  of  experience  with   us  are  being  blessed  and  challenged  in  new  ways.       All  of  that  we  affirm  without  denial  of  our  loss.  But  as  we  affirm  we  will  heal  and   find  our  way  however  that  may  emerge.       It  is  to  a  final  act  of  grace  that  I  call  you  in  the  confidence  that    all  will  be  well,  all  will  be  well,    all  manner  of  things  will  be  well.   © 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 Sunday Social Gathering Location The location of the interview Grand Haven Community Center Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20080504 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-05-04 Title A name given to the resource A Final Act of Grace 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 May 4, 2008 entitled "A Final Act of Grace", on the occasion of Sunday Social Gathering, at Grand Haven Community Center. 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 of Faith Practice of Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e64dafb16f203d4ac6a4d98010c6b555.mp3 ba5822cfc36dabdb751e9b75f8947c47 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 II Corinthians 9:11-12 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-0-19931125 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-11-25 Title A name given to the resource A Flood of 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 Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 25, 1993 entitled "A Flood of Thanksgiving", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 9:11-12. 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/4f229b7a8476be45871527d6fe3f78f4.pdf a4caff4787d102b37784b8811cbd9a88 PDF Text Text A Fool for Christ Palm Sunday Luke 19:35-44; John 12:9-19; Zechariah 9:9-10 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Community, Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan April 1, 2007 When, some months ago, Tapas invited me to speak today, he reminded me that it would be April Fool’s Day and wondered if I might like to use the phrase from St. Paul – “A Fool for Christ.” I consulted the calendar and realized April 1 was also Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week on the Christian Calendar. I immediately agreed on the theme because I have always felt that in the events of this week one sees the very heart of Jesus’ ministry and one who seeks to follow the way of Jesus as it comes to expression in the events of this week must, by human or worldly standards, be a fool. We all know what a fool is but I got the dictionary out nonetheless – ...one who is lacking in reason or common powers of understanding; a person with little or no judgment, common sense or wisdom; to act in a ridiculous manner; to do silly things… Such is the definition of a fool. What has that to do with being a fool for Christ? Well, as I am using that designation on the threshold of Holy Week in the Christian Calendar, I am suggesting that from the perspective of worldly wisdom, from the perspective of common sense, to follow the way of Jesus is foolhardy because it is to live out an ethic of love, specifically of non-violent resistance to the systems and structures by which human society is ordered. It is to pursue the way of peace in a violent world – to live with compassion in a brutal world – to seek justice in a world marked by injustice – to live in love in a hostile world. And why is such a way of life the way of a fool? Simply because to live in the way of vulnerable love is to court death by the powers that be, powers of church and state, the established institutional structures by which our world is ordered and controlled. Let me be clear at the outset – 1) The Way of Jesus that beckons me has not been realized in my own life; it is an amazing ideal which draws me but which I have betrayed. © Grand Valley State University   �A Fool for Christ 2) Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In this setting I want to be very clear that the Way of Jesus is my way, my story, but not the only way, the only story – not the only dream and vision for a transformed world – but I speak out of my own tradition, grateful for a place like this where our respective stories are shared and respected – where our shared stories enrich us all in our respective journeys. With those comments made let me take you to the Palm Sunday event that is today celebrated in the Christian Church. The four canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, each record the occasion of Jesus entering Jerusalem, but each has its own interpretation of the event. The Gospels, written four to six decades after the event, arose in different communities at different times and reflect the historical contexts of their communities, each community with special situations, challenges and interests as well as the perspective of the authors. When I took English Bible at Hope College, we used a harmony of the Gospels – parallel readings of the four Gospels in columns down the page. That was the result of a scholarly process that forced each Gospel with its unique angle into one consistent story. We’ve learned after serious scholarly research of the Gospels that in so doing we missed the respective nuances of the story as it was composed by various writers in various situations and historical contexts. This morning I want to focus on the accounts of John and Luke because it is my judgment that in those two portraits we see the entry into Jerusalem in the best perspective from which to understand the whole week culminating in Jesus’ crucifixion. First, John – the only account mentioning palm branches – a significant detail because the palm branch was a sign of nationalistic fervor. What is going on with the crowd and its palm branches? According to John’s picture, this is a crowd filled not so much with religious fervor as with rising nationalistic zeal. As I mentioned, only John speaks of palm branches and that is significant. Palm branches had a nationalistic association. Palms were evocative of Maccabean nationalism. As a symbol of nationalism, the palm occurred on the coins of the Second Revolt (132-135 C.E.). When Judas Maccabeus rededicated the temple altar after the Syrians had profaned it (164 B.C.E.), the Jews brought palms to the temple. When Simon Maccabeus conquered the Jerusalem citadel (142 B.C.E.), the Jews took possession of it carrying palm fronds. In the Testament of Naphtahali V4, the fronds are given to Levi as a symbol of power over all Israel. In sum, John’s use of palms would seem to give to the whole scene a political overtone: Jesus being welcomed as a national liberator. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Further, the words “God bless the King of Israel,” which John has the crowd chant are not found in Psalm 118:26 from which the words, “Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!” are taken. Once before in John’s gospel (6:14-15), after Jesus fed the multitude, he realized the crowd wanted to make him king and he withdrew from them. There is little doubt that the scene John paints is intended to indicate what was going on with the crowd. They were hoping that in Jesus they had found a national liberator and they hoped that this one now entering Jerusalem was about to declare himself the King of Israel. But this was precisely not what Jesus was intending. Now he must do something to set them straight. What does he do? He seeks to dispel the crowd’s misunderstanding through a prophetic action – an action even the disciples did not understand until after his death and resurrection. The action: Jesus sat on a colt, thereby seeking to call to mind the words of Zephaniah and Zechariah. In Zechariah and Zephaniah it is the king who comes, but it is a different kind of king. Listen to the Zechariah citation: See, your king is coming mounted on an ass’s colt. If we go to that context in Zechariah, we find it is a call to Jerusalem to rejoice because its king is coming, coming mounted on an ass’s foal, to banish chariots from Ephraim and war horses from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished. The prophet’s word continues: He shall speak peaceably to every nation, and his rule shall extend from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. “Yes, Jerusalem,” Jesus seems to be saying by mounting the ass’s colt, “I am your king coming to you, but a different kind of king than you expect or desire.” Similarly, in Zephaniah we have, Fear not, O Zion,…the Lord your God is in your midst, like a warrior to keep you safe; he will rejoice over you and be glad; he will show you his love once more… In that same context the prophet cries, …be glad, rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem…the Lord is among you as King, O Israel… © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Jesus’ mounting the colt was a prophetic action, according to John. After the death and resurrection, John writes, we understood what that action was trying to say. Jesus realized that the crowd had misinterpreted the Lazarus miracle just as the crowd had misunderstood the multiplication of loaves and fishes in John 6. The raising of Lazarus was a sign that God the giver of life was visiting His people in Jesus. They should not be proclaiming him as an earthly king, but as the manifestation of the Lord their God who has come into their midst, the God of Zechariah who would bring peace to the whole world. We find this focus on peace for the world even more pronounced in Luke’s Gospel. Remember the angel’s song with which Luke portrays the birth of Jesus – “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace…” Now as Jesus approaches Jerusalem we have him arrive at the destination intended in chapter 9:5l, where Luke writes, “…he set his face to go to Jerusalem,” and the so-called “journey section” of the Gospel culminates with Jesus overlooking the city from the Mount of Olives and weeping over it – weeping because in its imminent rejection of him it could only look forward to total devastation. I find this a most moving scene and it could be spoken time and again over the course of the human story – missing the moment, missing the possibility to avoid disaster, missing the visitation of God and the things that make for peace – human blindness, human stubbornness, human pride, anger, arrogance and cussedness in the service of nationalism, obsession with power and domination, refusing the way of peace which demands humility and willingness to change, to repent, to acknowledge one has been wrong… Two portraits of Jesus on the occasion of his entry into Jerusalem, each being very clear about the intention of this one and the challenge he brought to his own people and his world. Reflect with me for a few moments about those two portraits of Jesus as he moves toward the climax of his life’s mission. The Gospels – not biography, but there is biographical data; not history, although the Gospels do deal with real historical time and place. Literally “Gospel” means good news – it is a report, a perspectus, an interpretation of historical events. In the case of our Gospels they are portraits of the founder and founding events of the Christian religion, the Christian faith tradition. And what we reflect on today – the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem – no doubt has an historical core. Jesus did indeed come to Jerusalem, the center of his peoples’ religious life and their total self-understanding as a people, a people of God, of Yahweh. But did it happen as either John or Luke told the story? Probably not. Out of whatever happened a story was told as part of a larger story and a portrait was painted as part of a larger painting to reflect the impact of his life. This is what was experienced in the life of Jesus. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 5   A scholar who has worked intensively on the birth of Christianity and the Historical Jesus, John Dominic Crossan, makes what was for me a most helpful distinction between “History Remembered” and “Prophecy Historicized.” History remembered is a recounting of events as they were experienced, as they occurred. There is no such thing as an absolutely accurate recounting of historical events – point of view, angle of vision, memory all force us to speak of a relatively accurate recounting. Until the relatively recent past (during two or three decades of biblical studies), I had taken the Gospels as history remembered – but then I came to see them as prophecy historicized – meaning the Passion Narrative of the Gospels, the story that begins on Palm Sunday and moves through Easter Sunday, is created out of the sacred text of the Jews – what we traditionally call the Old Testament, the sacred text of Jesus and his contemporaries, as well as ongoing Jewish faith. I cannot begin to document that here – it is a study in its own right. I simply say that it is most remarkable that the events beginning with Jesus’ arrival at Jerusalem and unfolding through crucifixion and resurrection, are woven together out of Old Testament citations. And how were these citations selected? There was selection and I suggest the selection was make in order to create a portrait of the one whose life, ministry and message were being set forth as the way, the truth and the life. The concrete life, ministry and teaching of Jesus as experienced by those who became the Jesus Movement or the early Christian Church was told in terms of the story the gospel writer told but the citations were chosen because they reflected the way Jesus was experienced. I go into this not to call in question the respective accounts of palm Sunday; I do it to transcend questions about whether it all happened, which account is the most accurate, etc. I do it to get to the portrait itself because the portrait reflects the impression Jesus made, how he was heard and understood – the Gospel as presentation of the Good News that came to expression in the life and ministry of Jesus, the details of whose lie are lost in the cloudy fog of the past never to be totally recovered. Think with me about the portrait of Jesus as Luke and John narrate the story of Palm Sunday. And what are the contours of the message embodied in the historical life of this one coming of full expression at this critical juncture of his life? Let me suggest the following – certainly not a complete description but a dimension I find both inspiring and challenging for our world today – Jesus as an embodiment of humility and love expressed in non-violent resistance. We see it in the refusal to play to the nationalistic fervor of his contemporaries. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 6   This we see particularly in John as he tells the story: the crowd with its palm branches, symbolic of the Maccabean revolts of the second century before the Common Era – nationalism – my nation right or wrong, the lust for power and domination, the desire to be # 1, lie just beneath the surface for most of us most of the time. There were the zealots of the time of Jesus, those who were committed to throwing off the Roman yoke; those who eventually brought about the fatal collision with Roman power that left Jerusalem streets run red with the blood of the slain and the city a heap of ruins. Zealotry among an oppressed people is understandable and ultimately fatal. But zealotry is not restricted to dominated peoples; it is present as well in the nationalistic rhetoric of our own administration and shamefully of many among the religious right who even now advocate military action against Iran just as, tragically, we have engaged in the pre-emptive war with Iraq. No dove for sure, Colin Powell warned before that fateful attack, the Pottery Barn analogy “if you break it you own it.” Having created the tragic chaos in Iraq we live with the consequences and still there are political and religious voices that would have us begin anew in Iran. The imperial mindset entails endless war. That is simply the way it is. Luke wrote after the destruction of Jerusalem: Jesus’ prophecy was most likely never uttered on the Mount of Olives before he entered Jerusalem but Luke was quite right in attributing those words to him because his whole life and ministry was an effort to short-circuit the nationalistic passion that assumed it was possible means of force and military/guerilla action to find freedom and peace. This is what the portrait of John tells us. He sought to put out the nationalistic passion of the crowd whose palm branches signaled their desire for the use of force to overthrow the oppressor, for a leader who would spark a revolt to overthrow the imperial domination. In the words of Luke’s Jesus, “If you…had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes….” Was Jesus simply a weakling, fearful, cowering before the powers that be – religious, social, cultural and political, suggesting one should simply submit to unjust structures and violent oppression? Not al all; Jesus was no advocate of the status quo. It was not the human desire for freedom, justice and humane existence that he called in question. It was rather that there is only one way to peace, justice and community – it is through non-violent resistance from a posture of humility and strength. We have seen instances of such non-violent resistance that have overcome overwhelming odds: Ghandi – Martin Luther King Jr. –And that may be too © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 7   little, too rare, to convince one. Yet there is that in the human consciousness that is moved at such action and spirit. When I think, “But it can’t work on the global scale” then I realize that our present course is what does not work. A military solution is not a solution – it is a shorter or longer term stop-gap measure that will finally degenerate again into violence and war. Whether with individuals or nations, only love transforms and compassion heals and creates the possibility for peace. It is time such a claim ceases to be mere religious cliché and pulpit talk. If we live by empirical evidence that evidence lies in all the tragedy, violence, death and devastation of the entire human story. We should be able to see in the overwhelming evidence of the historical record that the human species has developed to such a point and the present human potential to destroy the human emergent world is so evident that we can no longer live by the clan and tribal ways of fear, isolation, national sovereignty and imperial dominion. War is insane. War is no longer an option. Our thinking must change! That has been true of me; my thinking that is my understanding of God and the nature of God’s action in the world has changed dramatically when first humankind lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation, I was not afraid because my understanding of God was that of the Sovereign Lord of History, the Lord God Almighty. The End was in God’s hands. But this was a sovereign God external to the creation, ruling and, on occasion, intervening. But God has become for me much more the Sacred Mystery, the Creative Center of Being who rules through the lure of love or not at all. Love persuades; love does not coerce. The human creature in the image of God can resist the lure of love and the consequences may well be the end of the human emergent world. War is no longer an option. Our thinking must change - change or we will destroy our world as surely as Jerusalem was destroyed in awful violence. And, if we stave off total devastation, we will nevertheless live in fear of destruction in the meantime. Jesus called his world to repent. In Greek metanoia is composed of two parts: meta, “to change,” nois from nous, “mind.” Jesus’ message was: “Change your mind!” © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 8   Our thinking needs to change. And we need to experience a change of heart. I’m not sure which one must occur first. Maybe our thinking won’t change without a significant emotional experience. And such an emotional catharsis is the potential of Holy Week for those for whom the Way of Jesus is compelling. As I reflect on my own spiritual journey, my thinking has changed dramatically while at the same time I have experienced a significant emotional transformation in my experience of following Jesus and if, as I believe, Jesus was a human embodiment of God, of the Creative Mystery of Being, then I can say it is only in my latter years that I have experienced love for God. For me there has been a transformation of my thinking and my experience of God and that has come about through a fresh vision of Jesus in his full humanity in the portrait I see painted in the Gospels. Studies in research of the Historical Jesus have been important in putting Jesus in his historical context and, in the portraits painted of him in the Gospels, I have seen the amazing life of this one whose life was marked by grace, who reflected God’s unconditional love and who spoke truth to power, confronting the oppressive structures of established political and religious authority – for which he was crucified. While this fresh portrait of Jesus was making its impact on me, changing my thinking, I encountered two stories of persons whose heroic lives were the consequence of the Way of Jesus as I was coming to understand it. While studying in the Netherlands, trying to find a new theological understanding since my little system had groaned and cracked in the midst of my seven years of pastoral experience, I was struggling with trying to translate and understand contemporary Dutch and German theology. One day I picked up a little paperback, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison. It was my spiritual sustenance during those four years in Europe. In Bonhoeffer I found a contemporary disciple of Jesus who risked his life and finally gave his life in his resistance to the Nazi horror that was raging in Europe. His life, his faith, his courage so impressed me. At some point I realized what I felt for Bonhoeffer was more gripping than what I felt for Jesus. But my understanding of Jesus was changing the more I saw him fully human in his own historical context. I grew up with Jesus, Son of God, second person of the Trinity, whose atoning death was my only hope of salvation but that divine Saviour figure never really got to me in the same sense I was experiencing the life of Bonhoeffer. Finally I brought all this to expression. It was actually a Palm Sunday sermon, April 15, 1984. In that sermon I said, Jesus has no doubt been the greatest inspirer of human faith and life in the whole of human history. I have been reflecting on why his life has not been more © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page 9   powerful for me. I think I understand why Bonhoeffer moved me more – or so it seems. I think it is because Bonhoeffer was of our time. He seems more human – more one of us. He took on Hitler – not the Jewish High Priest or the Roman Emperor. He was a man – just a man. But Jesus was something else. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the Church in her theological discussion has removed Jesus – the real, historical, human figure – from me. Yet the more I penetrate through the theological haze surrounding him, the more I see him for what he was. The more overwhelmed I am at the grandeur of his life, the more I am moved by his faith and commitment, the more I love him and want to be like him. It is a paradox; the more I see him in his full humanity, the more I am inclined to bow in worship before him. I concluded the sermon inviting the congregation to think about Jesus in his full humanity, confronting non-violently the domination system of his day. Maybe in our contemplating of his behavior in these days we will see the wonder of his life. Maybe we will finally break out with the exclamation, “Jesus, you are really something!” If that happens, we will be changed; we will die and be born again. If the events of this week – the magnificence of Jesus’ authentic human life, the humility that is strength, the obedience that is freedom, the self-renunciation that is the highest expression of selfhood – ever penetrate to the core of our being, then we will bow in adoring worship before him whom God has highly exalted. “Adoring worship” was probably not the strongest way to conclude but in the sermon I had cited that powerful solo sung by Mary Magdalene in the rock opera Jesus Christ, Super Star, who sings so movingly, “I don’t know how to love him.” My second story came not long after Bonhoeffer triggered fresh emotional apprehension of Jesus. I was given a book by Philip Hallie, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, the story of a village in the French Alps. It is a story of how this mountain village, Le Chambon, defied the orders of the German Gestapo and the collaborating French Vichy government under Nazi domination during the Second World War, by sheltering refugees of all sorts, but the majority of whom were Jews. It is a gripping, moving, inspiring narrative whose center is a French Reformed pastor, Andre Trocmé. In his youth Trocmé had experienced the gruesome horror of World War I. He encountered an occupying German soldier and learned this soldier went about his duties as a telegrapher unarmed because he refused to kill – He had had a conversion experience and he believed as a follower of Jesus, he could not do © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page10   harm to another – he could not kill another human being. The German soldier said to him, “Christ taught us to love our enemies.” This encounter so deeply impacted Trocmé that for the rest of his life he lived by the imperative to do no harm to another. Trocme eventually studied theology at the University of Paris and became a French Reformed pastor. One evening in a men’s group, Trocme was discussing a book that claimed Jesus was a myth created by St. Paul. Trocmé refuted the book’s claim but found himself asking the question: If Jesus really walked upon this earth, why do we keep treating him as if he were a disembodied, impossibly idealistic ethical theory? If he was a real man, then the Sermon on the Mount was made for people on this earth; and if he existed, God has shown us in flesh and blood what goodness is for flesh-and-blood people. (p. 68) The rest of his life was a living out of the Sermon on the Mount. The events of the village of Le Chambon during the German occupation of France during World War II, the story as told by Hallie, is wonderfully moving and inspiring. I suspect what was so powerful for me was the connection between Trocmé’s total living out of the Sermon on the Mount as the catalyst for the magnificent compassion and love that was embodied in the village as it became a city of refuge. And I had not known what to do with the Sermon on the Mount in my preaching. I could not go along with certain fundamentalist claims that it represented the ethic for the kingdom age when Jesus returned and ruled on earth. But of what practical good was it in a winner-take-all world such as ours – competitive, aggressive, where nice guys come in last? And so I seldom selected my sermon texts from those passages that scholars who study the New Testament text actually are inclined to attribute to Jesus when they withhold such accreditation to much else recorded in the gospels. But I was being changed: Bonhoeffer’s heroic engagement with the Nazi darkness; Le Chambon saving hundreds of lives at their own peril; my own wrestling with the Gospel. And I am still being changed, still wondering, questioning, trying to understand the Way of Jesus in the present historical moment. © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page11   That is a bit of my journey – my thinking has changed: Jesus, second person of the Trinity to Jesus, the embodiment of God in a fully human being, the embodiment of humility, compassion, grace and love who through non-violent resistance speaks truth to power in order to re-order human society in the ways of peace and justice. And I have been emotionally gripped – I love Jesus. I believe he is the way, the truth and the life and I do believe his way is the only hope for the world. And my nation is a world empire and empires can only perpetuate their imperial dominance through military might, intimidation and the arrogance of power. War is insane, but we are still on a war strategy. We have unlimited power but we have become too civilized to use it and what we cannot defeat by our power is the violence of the powerless – the terrorist who will blow him or herself up because of ideology or religious faith or because there is nothing to lose. There was a moment when the Berlin Wall fell and we were without question the one world super power, that we might have had an opportunity for a new creation. In the world of power politics you dare not let down your guard unless the biggest power on earth takes the lead. And I wonder if following 911 we had responded differently – if we had pursued the murderers as they should have been pursued by police action, but if we had called an International Conference of Nations rather than naming an Axis of Evil– hearing the plaints of the oppressed, the background of the anger of the terrorists, the hopes and fears of the powerless and the voiceless – What if we, the world’s one super power, had voluntarily put away our nuclear arms leading the nations to disarmament. Hopeless idealism? Perhaps. What’s the alternative? Don’t we have it? Don’t we see the carnage daily on our TV? And are we not really in a more dangerous world today than on 9/12? I wonder if we could transcend partisan politics, if we could gather as concerned human beings we couldn’t agree that the present policy is not working. A radical new approach is called for. What if we got a conversation going with Islam, with the Palestinians, with Israel, with China, with Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, Somalia, with whoever would come to the table and we did it without the threat of our power, militarily, economically – What if as a so-called Christian nation we really took seriously the way of Jesus as the way we would be what if...? On this Palm Sunday I propose the above which, I suspect, makes me a fool for Christ, but I also suspect if someone would arise on the national scene who would © Grand Valley State University �A Fool for Christ Richard A. Rhem Page12   dare to propose such, he or she might be elected President in a landslide because, deep down, we know… Jesus was right. Would that he would not have died in vain. References: Philip Hallie. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of LeChambon and How Goodness Happened There. Harper Perennial; Reprint edition, 1994. © 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 Palm Sunday Scripture Text Luke 19:35-44, John 12:9-19, Zechariah 9:9-10 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Philip Hallie. Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed: The Story of the Village of LeChambon and How Goodness Happened There, 1994. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20070401 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-04-01 Title A name given to the resource A Fool For Christ 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 April 1, 2007 entitled "A Fool For Christ", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Luke 19:35-44, John 12:9-19, Zechariah 9:9-10. 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 Palm Sunday Transforming Love Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5bddc8d9f6c933b22bf44dde4a1c43c8.pdf c98b5555fd3196daf11d7aa500f8d1cb PDF Text Text A Founding Story: A Visionary Leader and a People Set Free History of Israel: Its Liberation and Birth as a People Text: Exodus 1:8; Exodus 3: 2, 6-7, 14 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XXI, October 16, 1994 Transcription of the spoken sermon "Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." Exodus 1:8 "There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed." Exodus 3:2 "l am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob... I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry."  Exodus 3:6-­‐7   "God said to Moses, ‘I will be there’.. ( ‘I Am who I am.' or 'I will be what I will be.')  "  Exodus 3:14 Now imagine, if you will—six hundred years later or so—this same people, this community of faith now down some generations, are once again in a situation of captivity. The people of Judah are in exile in Babylon, and their faith is wavering. They are ready to give up. All of these great promises: the covenant of grace, God's special choice of this people, God who was supposedly God alone, Creator of the heavens and the earth. Where was God? Babylon seemed to hold sway. As their hope was fading and their faith was flickering someone said, "Let me tell you a story." He told them a story that we've just read, a story of where this people, even six hundred years before, had been in a situation more oppressive and more hopeless than anything that the present exiles in Babylon had known. Someone said, "That's a great story." And someone else said, "You ought to write that story down." And a third person said, "Xerox it off and spread it around. That's a good story." They started to believe again. Maybe what they were experiencing in their present circumstance was not a dead end. Maybe that was not all there was. Maybe this God really was God after all, a God who could create newness, who could do the unexpected. Maybe this was God who would surprise by grace, as God had to their fathers and their mothers centuries ago. The prophet picked it up and he began to speak in the name of God. Second Isaiah, Isaiah 43:14—listen to the images. © Grand Valley State University   �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 2   "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: 'For I will send to Babylon and break down all the bars, and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentations. I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.' Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: 'Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert...'" Six hundred years later and the old founding story of liberation and the birth of the Israeli people becomes a catalyst for this same people to begin to believe again, to begin to hope again, to begin to wait on the Lord again, and to expect the salvation that comes from God. The story is familiar. Israel is terribly oppressed. Moses, who had been raised in all of the pomp and circumstance of Egypt, with all of that culture and civilization, blew it badly through a temper that flared up when he killed an Egyptian. Now he's out there tending flocks. In Wanderings, the Jewish novelist Chaim Potok tries to get inside the skin of Moses to figure out what must have been going on in this man as he tended sheep and sensed something within, how he was confronted with a bush that burned and was not consumed, and who heard a voice, within perhaps, but as thunderous as any thunder, saying to him, "Things are not right in Egypt. Go. Set my people free.” He goes, and it is a contest of wills. But the judgments of God, we call them the plagues, counter all of the "no's" of Pharaoh, until finally he says, "Take them out." And Moses leads them to freedom, through the Red Sea, into the desert, gathering at Sinai to be formed as a people specially created by the Eternal God, the Creator of the heavens and earth, the God of their fathers and mothers: Abraham & Sarah, Jacob & Rachel, Isaac & Rebekka and Joseph. Now they are on their way to a new beginning and a promised land. They celebrate this story as their founding story, the story of a God who sets people free, who uses the likes of a Moses to lead a people into God's intention for their humanization, for the full realization of all for which God had created them. Wonderful, wonderful story, and in that story we can see Israel's faith. Israel's tradition is the tradition out of which the Christian Church has come, so the founding story is our story too. This God of deliverance, this God of liberation— this is our God. The things that Israel believed are the things that have shaped the whole western tradition as well, the Jewish Christian tradition. There are so many things one could say, but let me mention just a few. The first thing I would say is that God in this story comes through as a God who is on the side of human liberation. God is a God who wants human freedom. God is a God, on the other side of the coin, who is against all slavery or oppression, or © Grand Valley State University �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 3   totalitarianism. God is against the tyrants and the dictators and those who will use people and abuse people for their own ends. God is against every movement that used people as a means to an end, and not an end in themselves. God is for people. God is for the humanness of people. God is for the freedom and the liberty and the full blossoming of the human person and human community. That's in the story, I believe. Israel believed that. Its long tradition, even to the present, holds that to be true. And, therefore, the God of Israel, the biblical God, the God whom we worship, is a God who is engaged in the human story, a God who is involved in human history. Do you believed that? Do you believe that? You say, "Oh, sure, doesn't everybody?" Yes, everybody does until they think about it. When you think about it, where is the puzzle put together, that is, the fiats that come out of the power centers of the world, the governments of the world, the Bill Clintons, the Helmut Kohls, the Saddam Husseins, the machinations of people? Is that all there is? Is it just maybe economic ties? Is it just political scheming and structuring? Is God involved in it? Well, sometimes it would hardly seem so. Who could see this invisible hand? Yet, what is the alternative? Is no one transcending all these human machinations? Then are we just pawns on the sea of fate, of political decision and economic trends? Biblical faith says God is engaged. God hears the cry of the suffering people. God says, "I remember my covenant." God moves, through human agency to be sure, but God is engaged. God is involved. There is a spiritual power or force that is at work in the political decisions and the human scheming on the historical plane. So says biblical faith. A huge affirmation of faith is needed, because you can't get your finger on it, and just the moment you say, "There," something will reverse it. But it is true that the Jews went home from exile in Babylon believing as they believed, triggered by this Exodus story, that all was not over, that the present circumstance was not a dead end, that God could create some newness, some window for them. Some years ago, this story was a powerful story being preached in South Africa. The white South African government did not fall, apartheid was not dismantled because they did not have enough police power and enough guns. Apartheid was immoral. It was contrary to the God, the Creator, who was for human liberty and dignity, and when something is essentially immoral it will ultimately be politically disastrous. The Berlin Wall fell without a shot. The most powerful forces to move it were the candles and the prayers in Leipzig. We are people who don't claim to know how or where or when, and yet we believe that God is for justice and for righteousness, and for good, and for compassion and for mercy— that there is something operative beyond what is apparent to the human eye and the human perception, something more. There is a surplus of meaning that is on the side of human liberation. That's in this story that is effected through guys like Moses, who has a short fuse and kills a man and flees justice, a flawed man, and © Grand Valley State University �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 4   yet a great leader. Really it's because that's all God has to work with—folks like you and me with our clay feet hanging out. A man from the Nobel committee in Norway resigned on Friday when Arafat was given the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Peres and Rabin. He said that to give the peace prize to Arafat, so tainted with blood, terrorism and violence, is to prostitute that prize. At first I thought, "Good for you. You're right." Members of the right-wing conservative party in Israel said Peres and Rabin should not accept the prize because it would desecrate all the lives of those who had died in the violence. Where were they in 1978 when Menachem Begin got the prize – one of the greatest terrorists of them all? Then I got to thinking, "No, Mr. Christiansen, I don't think you should resign because they are not evaluating the moral character of those people; they are saying those people somehow in the ebb and flow of history have been at a vortex of action that has gotten some breakthrough and moved onward toward peace and justice." Arafat is no lily. Neither was Moses. It's all God has got to work with. So God uses what's there. The biblical God gets hands dirty and messed up with the ambiguity of the human situation. And that's the fourth thing I would say: the movement towards liberation is ambiguous and it is messy. There are not white hats and black hats. There are not good guys and bad guys. There are not lily-whites and black evil. When David Hartman was in Muskegon he told this founding story, and he said, "You can tell it two ways. You can say 'Wow, what a story! Israel set free, isn't it wonderful?'" Then he told about some of the Rabbis way back in history who said, "God in heaven said, 'Why are you singing and rejoicing when the work of my hands, the Egyptians, are drowning in the sea?'" The Hebrew tradition does it better than we have done it. They have a sense of the ambiguity of the historical, human situation. Recently I was at Normandy. It was very moving to be there and to review the countless crosses at Omaha Beach. I thought about the sacrifice of human life and of the hearts of parents that were crushed. But there were German cemeteries there too. Nothing is black and white in history. The movement forward is a messy movement. It is full of ambiguity. And every victory has the downside of tragedy. That's really the way it is, and maybe it is at that point that I read the story different than some of my colleagues and other advocates of the “U.S.A. No. 1” position. I name some people just so you know what I am talking about in the political arena: the Oliver North types, the flag waving, the identification of patriotism with righteousness and a strong America-and all that, or the television ministries of Pat Robertson, even James Kennedy, with their strong American defense. It is a reading of the story as though the United States of America can be identified with the children of Israel, with the cause of righteousness and justice in the world, and the movement of God toward peace and justice. You see, if you © Grand Valley State University �A Founding Story…A People Set Free Richard A. Rhem Page 5   read this honestly, we at this point are the greatest power in the world and uncontested. We are not Israel looking for freedom. We are the House of Pharaoh. If we would read this Word of God and let it address us, it must address us as those who are in power, not those who are seeking freedom. There's nothing wrong with being in power. The only question is what will we do with our power? And if we would hear the word of God, if we would hear this founding story, then the Church of Jesus Christ must say to those in power who lead us that what God is concerned about in the world is not U.S. national security or U.S. GNP, or U.S. self-interest, or the oil or whatever. What God is concerned about is humanity, humanness, liberty, the dignity of the individual, the building of community, a compassionate world. We cannot so easily identify with the white hats of scripture. Our Puritan forbearers came over here and saw this as the new Canaan. They came over here and saw this as a theocracy, the kingdom of God. And I think with all honesty they believed that. There was a time when we had to take our guns and our rifles and stand up for liberty in these states. There was a time when this nation was in that position. We could identify perhaps then with the story on that side. But if I would be true to the Word of God, I would have to say to you that the founding story of Israel confronts us with a question: Now that you have the power, what will you do in the world? And that ought to make us very nervous. Three weeks away from an election, that would be a great question to raise to those running for office. How do you get elected by serving the self-interest of the people? What is popular? Patriotic rallies and flag waving, that's O.K. I love the nation. I am proud of the nation. As I said, I stood on Normandy Beach and I experienced vicariously, I think, the best of this nation. But never let the Church of Jesus Christ be co-opted by a political agenda as was the German Church under Hitler, as is Islam under Saddam Hussein. Whenever the Church baptizes the government's policy, the government will in time be in trouble, because what is morally indefensible is ultimately politically disastrous, because God is God, by God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e17b098df018886dab618152c782ad39.mp3 85f9262641f1b22ad8ecbc45876cb7fe Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XXI Series The First Testament Scripture Text Exodus 1:8, 3:2, 6-7, 14 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-0-19941016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-10-16 Title A name given to the resource A Founding Story - A Visionary Leader and a People Set Free Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 16, 1994 entitled "A Founding Story - A Visionary Leader and a People Set Free", as part of the series "The First Testament", on the occasion of Pentecost XXI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Exodus 1:8, 3:2, 6-7, 14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Freedom Hebrew Scriptures Spiritual Journey History of Israel Sabbath Trust