505 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c1aec0f8d362e7b0a072fece2b5ff105.jpg 2dec2c3b9657011cd9a4148b8cc55efd 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 Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> 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 GV012-01_UAPhotos_000200 Title A name given to the resource Library. Study carrels in a Lake building library Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Korab, Balthazar Balthazar Korab Studios, Ltd. Description An account of the resource Study carrels in a Lake building library. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Facilities Libraries Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1963 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f4ea05aadbf8a46d066ea1bb30baa4dd.m4v 6895e2168480e333c8d5b8a70f28d09d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/aadc1c6882ae4a1a22025e39af91b726.pdf 38216568e541d238dbdf7111ce5f41e7 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Charles Lieb Vietnam War 1 hour 29 minutes 10 seconds (00:00:20) Early Life -Born on October 27, 1946, in Minneapolis -Grew up and attended high school in Minneapolis -Mother stayed at home and father worked for the electrical industry (00:00:50) Admission into West Point -Best friend wanted to go to West Point, so Charles decided to take the civics test with him -Friend got recruited to play football for Annapolis -Charles decided to pursue West Point -He went to Great Lakes Naval Station for the admission process -Closest major military installation -Took exams and had a physical -Told that he failed the physical, but asked his doctor challenge it -Got a football scholarship to play at Colorado College -On June 27, 1964, he received an acceptance telegram from West Point -Doctor had corrected the medical information -Had 48 hours to accept or decline the admission -Took the admission with orders to report on July 1, 1964 -America wasn’t heavily involved in the Vietnam War -Gulf of Tonkin Incident hadn’t happened, no ground troops in Vietnam (00:03:46) West Point -After the first day they started breaking down the cadets to rebuild them as officers -His was the first class with a five-year enlistment, but got leave for Christmas while in school -First two months at West Point (July and August) were called “Beast Barracks” -Intense training and harassment -Similar to basic training -During the school year he had six days of class and 22 credits -Expected to join a sport -Had one month off during the summer -Gulf of Tonkin Incident happened in August 1964, and ground troops followed in 1965 -Military classes touched on this once the war began -Near graduation there was more preparation for deployment to Vietnam -It wasn’t an easy adjustment -Torn down as an individual and rebuilt as a soldier -Didn’t have a lot of military aptitude -Had to have a friend help him shine his shoes -Between his freshman and sophomore years he went to Camp Buckner, New York -Two months of military training -Exposure to other parts of the Army -Fired artillery and did squad maneuvers -Between his sophomore and junior years, and junior and senior years had choice in duties -Sophomore/junior summer: Camp Buckner or “Beast Barracks” as instructor -Junior/senior summer: One month as acting-lieutenant at base of choice �-He chose instructor during “Beast Barracks” -Chose Fort Carson, Colorado, to serve with a mechanized infantry unit -The regular soldiers treated him like an officer -Some of the older sergeants played tricks on him -One told him to go look for a nonexistent vehicle part -Able to go into New York City on special occasions as an underclassmen -The basketball team was playing in the city, so the cadets got to see them play -Different leave protocols for different years -Freshmen not allowed leaves during the school year -Sophomores allowed two leaves per year -Juniors allowed three leaves per year -Seniors allowed unlimited leaves on the weekend -Played lacrosse and traveled all over the country for games -Dignitaries and high-ranking officers visited West Point -President of Nicaragua visited -General Westmoreland visited -Had Peter Dawkins and Norman Schwarzkopf as instructors -Followed the news of the Vietnam War when he got closer to graduation -Graduated on June 5, 1968 -Got married on June 29, 1968 (00:13:18) Training at Fort Benning -Chose to be in the infantry for his active duty -Given two months of leave after graduating -Sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, for further training -Airborne School, Infantry Officer Basic Course, then Ranger School -Airborne School consisted of learning how to jump out of planes and helicopters -Infantry Officer Basic he learned how to be a platoon leader and company commander -Airborne School lasted three weeks -Infantry Officer Basic Course lasted 16 weeks -Ranger School lasted nine weeks -Infantry Officer Basic took place on the grounds of Fort Benning -Instructors had served in Vietnam, and tried to prepare the men for that duty -The Airborne School and Ranger School were far more intense than the Infantry Officer Basic -Ranger School consisted of three phases -Phase 1 at Fort Benning -Phase 2 in the mountains of Georgia -Phase 3 in the swamps around Eglin Air Force Base, Florida -Completed his training at Fort Benning around Christmas 1968 (00:16:27) Stationed at Fort Bragg -Chose Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to be his first duty station -Reported there in January 1969 -Assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 504th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division -Acting as a 2nd lieutenant and the S1 of the battalion (managing personnel) -Chose Fort Bragg for a few reasons -Avoid Vietnam a little longer, get an extra $110, and the 82nd had a good reputation -Stationed there or six months -Knew eventually he’d have to go to Vietnam (00:18:04) Deployment to Vietnam -In May 1969 he received his deployment orders �-Left Fort Bragg in mid to late-June -Went to Europe for a month with his wife -Arrived in Spain, and traveled through Spain, France, Italy, Austria, and Germany -Trip ended in late July -Had orders to be in Vietnam by August 11, 1969 -Had some trouble getting back to the United States -Had to wait for a flight to England, then took civilian flight to the US -Landed at New York City then drove to Minneapolis -Stayed in Minneapolis for two days before flying to Travis Air Force Base, California -Took a chartered commercial flight to Vietnam -Stopped in the Philippines -Allowed two hours off the plane -Deployed to Vietnam as a 1st lieutenant (00:21:04) Arrival in Vietnam & Assignment to 101st Airborne Division -Landed at Bien Hoa Airbase -Had no unit assignment going over, but got an assignment on arrival -Friend got him in Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division -First impressions of Vietnam: -Edgy from adrenaline, took incoming fire on the first night -Found it to be strange and foreign, but beautiful -Stayed at Bien Hoa for two days (00:22:48) Joining Charlie Company -Flown up to Camp Evans -In the northern part of I Corps (northern most part of South Vietnam) -A Shau Valley (supply route for North Vietnamese) cut north-south through I Corps -Marines were the first line of defense, then the 101st Airborne Division -Charlie Company was in the field when he landed at Camp Evans -Arrived with another lieutenant -Spent a night at Camp Evans and flew out to the field the next day -Joined his platoon in the field -They were operating in the Lowlands east of Camp Evans -Conducting ambushes and searching for enemy troops -Met the acting platoon leader/platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Queen -Had been in Vietnam for three or four months -Met with the squad leaders, then introduced himself to the men in the platoon -A lot of young men from diverse backgrounds -Some draftees that didn’t want to be there -Altogether, good men (00:26:47) Patrols around Camp Evans -Started giving orders and taking charge once he joined the platoon -Learned the capabilities of the men under his command -Operated in the Lowlands for four or five days then returned to Camp Evans -Didn’t stay long at the base -Sent to a lot of different areas and saw a lot of different terrain -Never went into villages or other populated areas -Made it safe to assume people in the jungle were the enemy -Civilians had been evacuated from the area, anyway -Joined the platoon and started patrols in mid to late-August -Patrolled the Lowlands and the foothills around Camp Evans �(00:29:27) First Enemy Contact & Later Fights -Went out on a platoon-sized maneuver in early October -Set up ambushes one night -His platoon (2nd platoon) heard movement beyond their perimeter -The enemy passed, and his platoon called in artillery -The next night they moved to a new position by a stream and heard movement again -Set up an ambush and opened fire on them -Firefight lasted three hours -Called in artillery and helicopter gunships -Captured three North Vietnamese soldiers and killed 12 of them -Learned from the prisoners that his platoon had rerouted an enemy battalion -They thought 2nd platoon was a much larger force -Had a lot of smaller contacts with the enemy during fall and winter -C Company had 36 enemy encounters from November 1969 to March 1970 -2nd platoon was involved in 29 of them (00:33:44) Marines Withdrawing from “the Rockpile” -With C Company when they covered the Marines withdrawing from “the Rockpile” -Note: The Rockpile was an observation post near the Demilitarized Zone -Air assaulted onto the observation post -Took enemy artillery fire and got ambushed along the ridge line -Lost two men from his platoon and he was wounded -Only two men he ever lost during his command of 2nd platoon -Called in helicopter gunships (00:35:02) Recovery -Sent to the 85th Evacuation Hospital in Da Nang -Doctor wanted to send him to Camp Zama, Japan, for more recovery -Charles didn’t want to leave -Monsoon season began and it stopped Charles from going to Japan -Had shrapnel in his elbows and back from a grenade exploding near him at the Rockpile (00:36:25) Leadership in Vietnam -Felt he was well-prepared for being a lieutenant in Vietnam -West Point gave him more tactical training -Ranger School prepared him for living in grueling conditions -Capable of reacting unconsciously to situations -His troops did this too, and it allowed them to fight effectively -Captain Hale was an aggressive leader, but a skilled commander that cared for his troops (00:38:40) Operating in the Field -Avoided trails when possible to avoid booby traps -Sometimes the jungle was so thick that it forced you to take trails -At night they established a night defensive position -Set up a perimeter, dig in, set up guard shifts, and set up a listening post -His men had good light discipline at night -If they couldn’t wait to smoke until daylight, they smoked under a poncho (00:40:28) Captain Vazquez-Rodriguez -On January 1, 1970, Captain Vazquez-Rodriguez took command of C Company -He was an experienced soldier, difficult to understand, and forceful in giving orders -Knowledgeable on how to lead soldiers and be in combat -Fought in the Korean War -Operated further south of Camp Evans under Captain Vazquez-Rodriguez’s command �(00:42:05) Long Patrol -On one patrol in early 1970 they stayed in the field for 45 days -Every third day they got resupplied by helicopters -Brought in C-rations, water, and mail -Operated as platoons during that patrol -Didn’t see Captain Vazquez-Rodriguez much during the long patrol (00:44:07) Establishing Firebase Ripcord & Reassignment -In March 1970, the 101st Airborne Division began attempts to reestablish Firebase Ripcord -Firebase Ripcord had been a firebase in the A Shau Valley to disrupt North Vietnamese supplies -A Company and B Company tried before C Company succeeded -He became battalion liaison then S3 (operations officer) in mid-March 1970 -Didn’t directly participate in C Company’s occupation of Ripcord -Stayed at battalion headquarters for one week -Sent out to a firebase with the 1st Division (South Vietnam) -Helped call in artillery fire during the occupation of Ripcord -Stayed on the firebase for about a week -Took incoming fire -He was three days late for his R&R to Hawaii to see his wife -The South Vietnamese at that base were good soldiers -Organized, dedicated, and effective fighters -Had an interpreter on the firebase (00:47:56) Stationed on Firebase Ripcord -After his R&R in Hawaii he was assigned to the Tactical Operations Center for the 2nd Battalion -Arrived shortly after the establishment of Firebase Ripcord in April 1970 -Became the S3 – Air under Major Koenigsbauer -Sent to Firebase Ripcord -Called in airstrikes, monitored radio traffic, and called in beacons for airstrikes -Firebase Ripcord consisted of the following things: -2 artillery batteries, a tactical operations center bunker, barbed wire and defensive positions around the heart of the firebase, mortars, an ammunition dump, helipads, a mess hall, and Conex containers with soldiers from the Army Security Agency to monitor enemy radio traffic -From April to June there wasn’t much enemy activity -Units patrolled around the firebase -On June 1st they started taking incoming fire at least once a day -North Vietnamese began to realize that Ripcord was disrupting their supply route -Enemy activity increased throughout June until it erupted on July 1st -North Vietnamese had been amassing troops around Ripcord before the battle -Worked with two brigade commanders, Bradley and Harrison -Felt that Lieutenant Colonel Lucas was a brave man that got himself in over his head -In retrospect, he made some poor decisions due to a lack of field experience -Had contact with units in the field (00:59:03) Battle of Firebase Ripcord – Battle of Hill 902 -On July 2nd, the North Vietnamese attacked C Company at Hill 902 early in the morning -Charles listened to the radio traffic during the battle, and called in air and artillery support -Also responsible for getting incoming casualty reports -Went later in the day on July 2nd to survey the battlefield and assess the damage -Saw a lot of dead American soldiers -Found wounded soldiers, and also the dismembered remains of soldiers -Thought the North Vietnamese had either withdrawn, or were waiting in ambush �-Captain Vazquez-Rodriguez had been replaced by Captain Hewitt before Hill 902 -Hewitt made severe tactical errors -He allowed C Company to stay in the same position two nights in a row -Didn’t set out a listening post -He slept in a hammock, in the open, on the top of the hill -He was one of the first men killed when the battle began -Army Security Agency knew the North Vietnamese were going to attack Hill 902 -They neglected to tell anyone because they had orders to report to Saigon first -Charles went to the ASA soldiers at Ripcord and told them to never do that again -On top of being exposed, C Company also did other things to draw enemy attention -They attacked a North Vietnamese mortar position on July 1st -They stayed in the same position throughout July 1st into the night (01:06:30) Battle of Firebase Ripcord – Battles of Hill 805 and 1000 -Battle of Hill 805 (July 12-18, 1970) -Battle of Hill 1000 (July 6-14, 1970) -Doesn’t remember much about Hill 805 -Remembers Hill 1000 was taller than Ripcord’s hill, and close to the firebase -Called in airstrikes for six hours one day during the Battle of Hill 1000 -D Company tried to take Hill 1000, then C Company had some success in capturing the hill -Ordered off it after they discovered a huge tunnel and bunker complex under the hill -So deep that the inhabitants could easily survive airstrikes (01:10:45) Battle of Firebase Ripcord – The Fall, Getting Wounded & Coming Home -Throughout July, the bombardment intensified -North Vietnamese employed rockets, recoilless rifles, small-arms, and mortars -Had Ripcord zeroed in, and capable of regularly making direct hits th -On July 18 , the North Vietnamese shot down a Chinook helicopter, which crashed on Ripcord -The crash resulted in an explosion that destroyed all artillery pieces and the artillery ammo -Fire made it difficult for helicopters to operate around Ripcord -Infantry in the field lost all artillery support from Ripcord -On July 21st, a recoilless rifle round exploded near him and wounded him -Two days later, the survivors were pulled off Ripcord and it was destroyed by bombers -Charles went back to the 85th Evacuation Hospital in Da Nang -Learned that one friend was severely wounded on July 23rd -Heard that his former roommate from West Point was killed at Ripcord -It was his third time getting wounded, which meant he would be sent back to the United States -Able to visit the battalion for one day -Realized over half of the men in the battalion were replacements -Shopped around for a couple days then came home (01:15:50) Stationed at Fort Carson -He returned to the United States and served at Fort Carson, Colorado -Served as a company commander in a mechanized infantry unit -In command of millions of dollars of equipment and 250 soldiers -A lot of responsibility for a 22 or 23 year old, and a rare experience -Could’ve been redeployed to Vietnam, but the war was winding down -Stationed at Fort Carson for 2 ½ years (01:17:21) Later Army Career -Took the Infantry Officer Advanced Course -Army sent him to the University of Denver for graduate school -Got his masters degree in international studies �-Studied there from 1973 – 1975 -Went to San Jose State University to serve as Reserve Officers’ Training Corps instructor -Final duty -Stationed there from 1975 – 1979 -ROTC was viewed favorably the campus populace -More patriotic than other college campuses (01:19:00) End of Service -Army wanted to send him to Alaska, and he didn’t want to go -He had two children and a wife, and he didn’t want to uproot their lives -Had gotten used to being less of a soldier and more like a civilian -Going to Alaska would mean being more like a soldier, and he didn’t want that -Extended his enlistment for one year and stayed in San Jose -Offered a position at the Army Command and General Staff College -He declined and opted to get out of the Army (01:20:20) Life after Service -Worked for FMC Corporation in San Jose selling M113 armored personnel carriers to the Army -Spent six months as a salesman for the company -Worked as a liaison to the factory -Went to the factory to address a welding issue, and was made welding superintendent -Did that for six months -Oversaw the factory that made turrets -Worked in the international business office -Requested a transfer out of San Jose, and was granted it -Sent to Green Bay to work in the packaging system division of FMC Corporation -Worked for them from October 1983 – 1991 -Got a new job with car wash equipment manufacturer -Dover Corporation bought that manufacturer in 1998 -He retired in January 2009 (01:24:00) Reflections on Service -Army taught him responsibility at a young age, and it prepared him for a career in business -Army taught him people skills -Learn about your subordinates’ lives and interact with them -West Point prepared him for life in general -Had some psychological baggage after Vietnam -Had trouble sleeping and jumped at loud noises (01:25:38) Veterans’ Activities & FSB Ripcord Association -Didn’t talk about his experiences in Vietnam until he participated in the “LZ Lambeau” project -Documentary about Vietnam War veterans in Wisconsin -Stumbled onto the FSB Ripcord Association reunions in 1995 -He was in Denver for his son’s sporting event, and he heard about a Ripcord reunion -Attended for a couple hours -In 2000, he attended the reunion in Shreveport with another C Company lieutenant, Jim Campbell -In 2009 he attended the Myrtle Beach reunion -Found it depressing, because there were some people that hadn’t moved on from Vietnam -Attended the 2016 reunion in Springfield (Missouri), and found it be a more pleasant experience -More of the people have moved on with their lives and put Vietnam behind them � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- 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 Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American 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 Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 RHC-27_LiebC1956V Title A name given to the resource Lieb, Charles (Interview outline and video), 2016 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-10-09 Description An account of the resource Charles Lieb was born on October 27, 1946, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In July 1964 he began his time at West Point and graduated from the academy as a 2nd lieutenant in June 1968. He attended the Airborne School, Infantry Officer Basic Course, and Ranger School at Fort Benning, Georgia. From January to mid-June 1969 he was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina with the 2nd Battalion of the 504th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. In May 1969 he received his deployment orders for Vietnam and he arrived in Vietnam in August 1969. He joined Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division as the platoon leader of 2nd platoon. He patrolled with them until March 1970 when he became the battalion S3 (operations officer). He operated with South Vietnamese forces during the establishment of Firebase Ripcord, and was stationed on Ripcord from April until he was wounded at Ripcord on July 21st near the end of the battle for the firebase. After recovering he served at Fort Carson, Colorado, and for the rest of his career he took the Infantry Officer Advanced Course, attended the University of Denver, and served at San Jose State University as a Reserve Officers' Training Corps instructor. He retired from the Army in 1979. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lieb, Charles Robert Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American United States. Army Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Language A language of the resource eng Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9489ceaec3dd14384b44ff136deb295b.jpg b4a708e87304a0cf74986e1cef11b32a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b441ee7286ec8a1b87feebc3b848e92b.jpg 6e3209a53607809abcc4361bb063330d 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 Insel-Bücherei Series Description An account of the resource The German publishing company Insel Verlag was founded in 1899 by Anton Kippenberg in Leipzig. In its early years the firm only printed expensive, beautifully-produced volumes, until demand led to the publication of the more modest Insel-Bücherei series in 1912. Relatively inexpensive but with the same careful sense of design and typography, these smaller-format books reprinted shorter works from a variety of German, European, and world authors. The series numbers considerably more than a thousand titles and is still being issued. The Digital Collection contains the scanned covers of 140 titles held by Grand Valley State University Libraries. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1904-1987 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books Collection 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 Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-05 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Language A language of the resource ger Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-29 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 DC-05_IB0086 Title A name given to the resource Liebeslieder Subject The topic of the resource Book covers Covers (Illustration) Graphic arts Publishers and publishing Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1913 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-09-29 Description An account of the resource Cover of Liebeslieder, by Gottfried August Bürger, published by Insel-Verlag, 1913. Insel-Bücherei Nr. 86 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Seidman Rare Books. Insel-Bücherei. Z315.I5 B83 no.86 Language A language of the resource de 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/bb16313aac8d9fb198b214de27d61b36.mp4 a0196b88bd8b372310c5c89c479176df 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 Flying Tigers Interviews and Films Subject The topic of the resource Oral history United States--History, Military China--History, Military Veterans China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Chinese World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Description An account of the resource Collection contains original 1940s films and interviews conducted in the 1990s, documenting the history of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) "Flying Tigers." The Flying Tigers were organized by the United States to aid China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Original filmstrips were recorded by AVG crewmen Joe Gasdick and Chuck Misenheimer, as well as Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu, who was assigned to assist Col. Claire Chennault as he trained Chinese pilots and established the AVG. Interviews with members of the American Volunteer Group (AVG) “Flying Tigers” were conducted by Frank Boring for the documentary film Fei Hu: The Story of the Flying Tigers, which he co-produced with Frank Christopher under the production company Fei Hu Films. The AVG Flying Tigers were a group of American aviators, mechanics, medical and administrative military personnel, led by Col. Claire Chennault to assist the Chinese Air Force in their defense against Japanese air strikes from 1941-1942. The AVG Flying Tigers also flew in defense of the Burma Road, a major Chinese military supply route. The group disbanded and returned to regular U.S. military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Boring, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films Research and Production Files (RHC-88)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938/1991 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Fei Hu Films Christopher, Frank Gasdick, Joseph Misenheimer, Charles V. P.Y. Shu Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4; application/pdf Language A language of the resource English; Chinese Type The nature or genre of the resource video; text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-88 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1938-1945 World War II Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. 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 Shu-128 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource P.Y. Shu Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1938 Title A name given to the resource Liechow, Hengyang, Chikiang, & Kunming, 1938 Description An account of the resource Black and white film taken by Chinese Air Force Interpreter P.Y. Shu (no sound). The footage was recorded by Shu as he traveled with Col. Claire Chennault to aid the Chinese Air Force in training and establishing the American Volunteer Group (AVG). The footage documents Shu's travel and family as well as Chennault's and the AVG's activities during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Time-stamped scene list: 00:02 Sightseeing and family affairs. Countryside landscapes and rural village. 03:20 View of mountains and river in Kweilin (trip to Kunming). 04:16 Chennault and P. Y. Shu eat sandwiches in a rural area. Village children. 05:00 Car parked in a rural area. Chennault and Chinese children. 05:13 A sign of Chinese Air Force. A sign of a junior high school. Girls play Ping-pong. Chinese interpreters by a car. They ride bicycle. Sunset. 07:32 A plane in the sky. A group of Chinese in front of a barrack. Chinese pilots and officers walk to camera. 08:11 P. Y. Shu play cards with Chinese boys. They eat lunch, and swim in a river. 09:51 Chinese laborers pull raft from shore. Mountain view. A village by a river. 11:14 Chinese villagers. River and Gwei Yang Water Fall. Mountain view. Trucks on a mountain road. 15:48 P. Y. Shu with a rifle. Chennault with a hunting party. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Chennault, Claire Lee, 1893-1958 Subject The topic of the resource China. Kong jun. American Volunteer Group World War, 1939-1945 Chennault, Claire Lee, 1893-1958 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/540">Fei Hu Films research and production files (RHC-88)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp16 Language A language of the resource eng chi Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant World War II 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/b89410e3a46373f15cbc018f9e9d1971.jpg 60cf17acf7cc0555d80455f0ac6ab661 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fce42ce4cf4296206500b9524d729d18.jpg 7d127fb59de23615f2cdfa64567ed7db 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 Civil War and Slavery Collection Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Slavery--United States African Americans United States--Politics and government--19th century Description An account of the resource A selection of correspondence, diaries, official documents, photographs related to the American Civil War and to the institution of slavery, collected by Harvey E. Lemmen. The collection includes a selection of documents from ten states related to the ownership of slaves and abolition, correspondence and documents of soldiers who fought in the war and from family members and officials, diaries and letters of individuals, and a collection of mailing envelopes decorated with patriotic imagery. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lemmen, Harvey E. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/472">Civil War and Slavery Collection (RHC-45)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/470">John Bennitt Diaries and Correspondence (RHC-43)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/471">Nathan Sargent Papers (RHC-44)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/478">Theodore Peticolas Diary (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War Patriotic Envelopes Collection (RHC-51)<br /></a><a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/479">Whitely Read Diary (RHC-52)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1804-1897 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg; application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Image; Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1804-1897 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. 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 Lieutenant Frank Brownell Portrait Description An account of the resource Portrait of Lieutenant Frank Brownell, the Union soldier who shot Stonewall Jackson. Magee, 316 Chestnut St. Philadelphia. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-49_PE008 Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Subject The topic of the resource United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 Postal service--United States--History Covers (Philatety)--United States--History Patriotic envelopes Brownell, Frank Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/476">Civil War patriotic envelopes, (RHC-49)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg 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/c2ca9837b191da69babad739c9c7c800.mp3 393f9ce183515fa351fd87153a1b9979 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a02df693385ba1e0c0f5939d1fd7bc39.pdf eb56a4fd13e695990fb86c0cb70c4f30 PDF Text Text Life After Life? Text Psalm 16:11; I Thessalonians 4:17 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent II, December 6, 1992 Transcription of the spoken sermon In your presence there is fullness of joy... Psalm 16:11 ...and so we will be with the Lord forever... I Thessalonians 4:17 The Season of Advent is a season in which we celebrate in the Church the One who came, the One who comes and the One who will come. Advent, the word itself, means to approach or a visitation. And Israel was that people who all of their history looked for one who would come, that one who would come, who would be anointed with the Spirit of God. “The one who would be anointed” - the Hebrew word was Messiah - the anointed one. The Messiah was the one who Israel hoped, prayed for and longed for in order that God’s will might be done on earth as in heaven. The anointed one, the Messiah, the longed-for one was predicted every time a priest was anointed with oil or a king was enthroned, anointed again with oil. For the oil, the sign of the Spirit, was a sign of God’s empowering of the Spirit, and every priest and every king was a sign pointing to that one who one day would come supremely, full of the Spirit of God and would bring justice and peace and Shalom. The Christian church believes that that one indeed did come, and that one was Jesus of Nazareth. Sometimes we speak of Jesus Christ as though it was a first and last name. But that is not correct. Christ is a title. Jesus of Nazareth was believed in the Church to be the Christ, the anointed one, the Messiah, the one longed for by Israel, the one who would bring the will of God into effect on earth. In the Christian church the expectation that this Jesus of Nazareth was the one grew in various ways among his disciples and his followers, and then they were despairing for they said, “We thought that this might be the one. But a crucified Messiah? No way.” But then he was raised from the dead and he appeared to them, and then they rejoiced. Then they began to see that the fulfillment of God’s plan and purpose came in a way quite other than they had expected. In a new © Grand Valley State University   �Life After Life Richard A. Rhem Page 2   way. In a surprising way. But they believed that Jesus, crucified, resurrected, and in the presence of God, was their reigning Lord whom they expected imminently. In fact, I read from the book of Acts this morning because it reflects one of the very earliest conceptions of these events that would mark the end. Peter, in having presented Jesus as the one who was crucified and raised by God, says to those who were listening, “Repent.” That is, “Change your mind. Turn around. Repent and understand that this one whom you crucified is God’s servant, indeed the Messiah.” He says, “Repent. Turn to God that your sins might be wiped out. So that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you. That is, Jesus.” Now when you think about that for a moment it is rather interesting. “Repent that the seasons of refreshing may come, that he may send the Messiah.” Well, didn’t they believe that Jesus was the Messiah who had already come? Yes, but in those early days when everything was fuzzy, they were saying Jesus was the Messiah but he was in the presence of God now and it was as though heaven were keeping him until you repent and turn, and the seasons of refreshing come and there is a universal restoration; then God will send the Messiah appointed to you, that is, Jesus. Now that conception of things did not prevail in the New Testament church, but it was one of the earliest understandings. Jesus of Nazareth, Messiah, in heaven for a while, soon to return. The expectation of the return of this one was obviously very vivid and the return was to be imminent. At the conclusion of the revelation given to John, the revelation of the ascended Lord – at the conclusion of the Book of Revelation, in the 22nd chapter, we have these words of the ascended Lord who gives the vision to John. He says, “Behold I am coming soon.” Now, how soon is soon? What do you think? Soon. He says, “Here at the tail end of the first century, I am coming soon.” What do we give him? Six months? Or would you give him a year? Ah, somebody over here says, “I would give him two years.” How soon is soon? What do you think? How about two thousand years? That’s not soon. That’s not soon according to any kind of soon I’ve ever understood. But yet for two thousand years there have been preachers taking this text and saying, “Go outside and watch the sky because it may be today.” If we had more time this morning I would sing for you a chorus “Jesus is Coming Again.” I’m really tempted to do it, (Laughing) but I won’t do it. Jesus is coming again, and you can flip your dial anywhere you want to on the radio today and you’ll hear preachers all over the country saying, “Repent because Jesus is coming, and it may be today.” How long can you hold your breath? How far can you stretch this thing out and still talk about Jesus coming soon? Do you think he is coming? Do you think he is coming soon? I don’t think you do. In all honesty I don’t think you do. I think after two thousand years anybody that expects Jesus to appear soon on earth and establish a kingdom is simply going along with a traditional conception of things that has a strong hold on the Christian Church, but I don’t think we really believe it. And that raises a question © Grand Valley State University �Life After Life Richard A. Rhem Page 3   to me as to whether or not the New Testament Church understood about Jesus, and the summing up of all things might have been true but it was cast in a form that really cannot carry the freight for us today two thousand years later. The way that I have come to understand this and have found most helpful in trying to translate all of that imagery of the Second Coming and the end events – and the rapture, or is it the rupture? The Second Coming, the great white throne, the final judgment, heaven and hell and all of that, the end events - the way that I have come to translate that for myself is in the same way that I have come to translate the opening chapters of Genesis. Somehow or other in the beginning we have been able to deal with the symbolic presentation of profound truth, moving away from the literal understanding, but over at this end we have never been able to get off the literalization of those images and understand them symbolically. But if we are over here in the beginning, you don’t really think there was a garden called Eden do you? You don’t really think there was a Mr. Adam and a Mrs. Eve? A snake? A tree? An apple? Well, with Adam and Eve, of course, there was pear. (Laughter) They say of Eve that she was a peach. (Laughter) But not an apple with a worm. Not a snake, a talking snake. (Laughter) No. But what it says is so true. It was Israel’s understanding of what was going on in their own present existence. And what they said essentially was, “Everything that is is because God said let there be.” And God said, “Let there be,” and God said, “It’s very good.” And then they said, “If it’s very good, how come it’s so bad? How come everything is so rotten?” And they said, “Not God’s fault - our fault because we who were created to worship and adore and serve, usurped God’s place in proud rebellion, in self assertion wanting to be God. We made hell on earth.” That’s what those chapters tell us. And what they tell us is profoundly true and touches our own existential experience of the human situation where we are drawn to heaven and mired on earth and caught in the tension of worshiping and rebelling, wanting to be God and yet wanting to be God’s. And in those symbolic representations of garden and tree and snake and apple and all of that, the most profound truth of the cosmos, of God, and of the human situation comes to expression. Somehow or other a long time since, I’ve been able to negotiate that and come to a deeper understanding of biblical truth. © 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 II Scripture Text Psalm 16:11, I Thessalonians 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-0-19921206 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1992-12-06 Title A name given to the resource Life After Life? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 6, 1992 entitled "Life After Life?", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 16:11, I Thessalonians 4:17. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Anointed One Eschatology Jesus Messiah Nature of Scriptures https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/40c8026726be9dd113f88f84d866f396.mp3 8bdc63d9b40d436d040022bb0b7637ec 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 Scripture Text Ephesians 4: 14-15 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-0-19891105 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-11-05 Title A name given to the resource Life Artistry: We Don't Paint By Numbers 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 5, 1989 entitled "Life Artistry: We Don't Paint By Numbers", on the occasion of Pentecost XXV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ephesians 4: 14-15. 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/57693ed96a6a2854de47cc7aa318cae0.mp3 7d130dfa615728037c40134515ef6ff5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent I Series The Vulnerability of God Scripture Text I John 4:7-8, 12, 16, 19, Luke 1:46-55 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-0-20031130 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-11-30 Title A name given to the resource Life Broken and Poured Out 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 30, 2003 entitled "Life Broken and Poured Out", as part of the series "The Vulnerability of God", on the occasion of Advent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I John 4:7-8, 12, 16, 19, Luke 1:46-55. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bbdc2e52859c10bb1c82aead0f897df0.pdf 54a02004ada197cf0fd440bad88ce153 PDF Text Text Life Broken and Poured Out From the sermon series: Now – But Then Text: Luke 15:51-52; I Corinthians 13:12 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Advent I, December 3, 1995 Transcription of the spoken sermon I am finding that I am entering this season of Advent and this new Christian year with anticipation, and my experience is that that is a growing anticipation and a growing delight in the celebration of the Christian year. I am perhaps just getting older, but I am enjoying the structure of the Christian Year, the form that it gives to my spiritual life and pilgrimage, the life of worship. Obviously, for me whose chief responsibility is worship, I suppose that's understandable, but I would hope that it is true for you, too, that as a people you might even have thought this week, "Advent begins. A new Christian Year begins. The color will be purple. Soon the trees will be dressed, the stars lighted. We'll gather around the table; the Advent wreath will be in our midst." Those things are becoming increasingly meaningful to me over the years. I had to learn all of that after the fact, because I grew up, as many of you have, in a tradition where the Christian Year was not observed. Oh, well, Christmas, to be sure. Easter, Pentecost, and I think we celebrated Ascension Day, too, because I had to go to church on Thursday night. But, in this old Dutch Reformed Church in which I grew up, we didn't observe the Christian Year because that was Catholic, and even if it'd been 500 years, you can't protest too long! Actually, I was trained that the order for preaching should be the doctrines of the Heidelberg Catechism - Lord's Day by Lord's Day by Lord's Day. And so, if you followed those doctrinal themes, you might be considering the death of Christ in the Advent season, or you might be considering the Holy Spirit during Lent, because you didn't observe Advent or Lent or Eastertide or Christmas as a season of the Christian Year. But, I'm finding the observance of the Christian Year meaningful. Obviously in the wisdom of the ancient Church, they understood that to go through this cycle was a way of remembering, the way of remembering the way in which God has touched our history. "The Word became flesh, lived among us, died among us, rose among us. The spirit came to dwell within us." You see, the Christian Year puts it in story, in a narrative, and we can live in it and live through it and I'm © Grand Valley State University   �Life Broken and Poured Out Richard A. Rhem Page 2   simply finding that I am eager to go through the cycle again. We begin this morning, the First Lord's Day of the new Christian Year - the season of Advent. Advent means "coming." And, of course, four Sundays before Christmas the focus would be the One who came when the Word was made flesh. We are preparing for Christmas. But, the real focus of Advent is not simply the One who came, but that the One who came is the One who is coming. And so, the real theme of Advent is the fact that there is a future and an end. And it is a season in which we are invited to pause, to reflect, to ask in regard to our lives, "What time is it?" In regard to our congregation, "What time is it?" In regard to the society of which we are a part, "What time is it?" In regard to the world and world history, "What time is it?" Because, as a matter of fact, what the Advent season calls to our mind is the fact that we are people on the move; we are people underway; we are people going somewhere, and something's happening. That was the insight of the Hebrew prophets. Israel gave to the world the sense of history. Over against that was that cyclic sense of reality where things come and go and come and go in endless cycle. But the Hebrews had the insight, "Not so. Beginning, movement, end." And it's fascinating to me that the most recent cosmology, the work of physics, those who study the stars and the planets and all of that deep, deep, mysterious reality of our cosmos - they tell us now that time is irreversible. That means that the best scientific sense of things is now concurring with that biblical sense of things, that there is a point of beginning. There is a movement, an emergence if you will, and an end. Emergence has become a very important word to me. I suggested this summer that it might be a word, an idea that could help us to make more sense of our lives and of history and the cosmos - more sense than the idea of Creation and Fall. I like the idea of Creation and evolutionary development with constant new emergence. And the Advent season tells us that there is not only this process of movement, this irreversible time line, but there is something out there. We're moving toward something. And so, for the theme of this Advent season, I want the phrase to burn into your consciousness and into your minds, into your heart. NOW, BUT THEN. NOW, BUT THEN. I hope every party you attend, there will be a moment in which you'll think, "Now, but then." I hope with every present you purchase, you'll think, “Now, but then.” I hope in whatever quiet moments you can find in this month of December, you'll think, "Now, but then." I was at a seminar earlier, well last week, and it was a very stimulating couple of days, thinking about our nation. The seminar was entitled, "Shall the Christian Coalition Win?" And there was an evangelical leader, Jim Wallis, who founded the Sojourners community years ago, and Joan Campbell, the Executive Secretary of the National Council of Churches, who is the voice for the mainline churches that seem to be in such trouble, and Alan Boesak from South Africa, who is so intricately involved in the dismantling of Apartheid, and as we were discussing © Grand Valley State University �Life Broken and Poured Out Richard A. Rhem Page 3   together the state of the nation, the condition of society, the polarization, the politicization of issues of social welfare and well-being, there were three young men there who were pastors, graduates of Princeton. And as we were talking about our lives and the life of the church and of society, one of these young men said, "Dear God, I can't even get to know my people. My people (he's a pastor in New Jersey, a bedroom community for the city), he said, "My people get on the train at 5, 6 o'clock in the morning, they go into the city, they work all day, they get home 7, 8,9 o'clock at night, exhausted; they get up in the morning, get on the train, go into the city, come home exhausted." And he said, "They have no time!" And Alan Boesak spontaneously responded, "They are corporate migrants!" And then he went on to explain. Where he comes from in South Africa there are migrant workers who still, out from camps, get on buses five o'clock in the morning, go into the cities, work all day, come home 8, 9 o'clock at night, exhausted, in order to get up in the morning to get on the bus to go into the cities to work in order to come home, exhausted, 8 or 9 o'clock at night. They're migrant workers. But, Alan said, your up-and-outers, your affluent New Jersey corporate executives are also migrants. They're corporate migrants. And I thought to myself, "Isn't it true of us all?" We came home in the middle of the week and I opened up the calendar to December! It is a disaster! And I thought to myself, I'll be saying to my people on Sunday, Advent is a time of waiting, of anticipating, of preparation for the feast of Christmas, a celebration that the Word became flesh, but more than that, it is a time of waiting, anticipation, preparation for the fact that there is an end out there, that in this evolving, emerging process there is something out there, an endpoint. And I thought, how will we have time, how will we take time? And then I thought perhaps the words of Paul to the Corinthians might keep surfacing in our consciousness, Now, but then, reminding us to ask the question - "What time is it?" What time is it in my life? What time is it in my nation? What time is it in this world of ours? Where are we going? And where will we end? Because we are on the way. It's just that we don't often have a moment to step back and to reflect on the whole thing - What time is it in your life on this first Sunday in Advent? I can do little more than set the theme this morning. Now Paul says, "We see through a glass darkly." We grope, we see fuzzy images, we have a sense of something, but it's not clear. We can't penetrate through the mystery, the mystery that is life, that is history, that is cosmos. Now, dimly, but then - clearly! Now, he says, we know in part. Dear God, don't we know a lot? Really? When you think of the explosion of knowledge and then when you think of the computer capacity to make that knowledge exponentially more applicable - what a world we live in! What a fascinating time to be alive! Now! Knowledge. But, the more we know, the more we know we don't know. And it's not as though we edge up to the mystery in order to dissolve it. As we edge up to the mystery, the mystery grows, doesn't it? Now we know in part, but then we will know even as we are fully known. © Grand Valley State University �Life Broken and Poured Out Richard A. Rhem Page 4   This Advent season let me try to set this into your mind, this idea - Now, But Then. Now in part; then fully. Now dimly, then clearly. Because, you see, we're going somewhere. Something's happening. There's a process under foot, and we are being moved along in that stream, either unconsciously or, if by God's grace for just a moment we could step back and realize that we are in a process for which we ought to be taking responsibility and living with intention. What is emerging? That's the other thing I want to say this morning. What is emerging? Well, if we take what Mary thought was emerging, we can look at that Magnificat. She thought what was emerging was the gift of the child that she had conceived : a new world, a different kind of world. And it excited her. She praised God! But, as I reflected on the Magnificat, dear friends, and I thought how am I going to say this to my people -I realized that the Gospel is Good News, really, for the underdog. Mary was a peasant girl. Mary was one of the voiceless ones. Mary had no power. And what did she celebrate? She celebrated the fact that in her world, in her day, folks like us would be put down so that folks like her would be raised up. Mary's song was a subversive song. He puts down the proud; he lifts up the lowly. He turns away those whose tables are full and brings food to the hungry. That's good news? Really? You got to be one of the underclass to celebrate the Gospel. Unless, unless there's a way for us, the rich and the powerful, to find a way to a new world. Unless, in this Advent season, we who have voice, we who have power, we who call the shots for our world, unless we could come to some kind of negotiation with that emerging future and perhaps even become a part of the movement to bring it into being. I know what it would cost. It only comes about through life broken and poured out. You see, the child of Mary's womb, whom she celebrated in that anthem, was a child who grew up to be crucified. If you would go into the next chapter of Luke's Gospel, you could see that Luke was already foreshadowing that, because he said to Mary, "A sword will pierce your heart because this one will be a sign spoken again, this one will be for the fall and rising of many in Israel." It's obvious that, in the Christian Church down 2000 years, we still call this the Gospel, we don't understand what it's all about. I mean, it's really obvious, isn't it? The Gospel is about the great reversal. The Gospel is about the creation of a world, a community where everyone has enough and has a voice and has dignity and can live in a community of compassion. And you know what that would cost? It cost Jesus his life. It cost Gandhi his life. It cost Martin Luther King his life. It cost Bonhoeffer his life. It cost Itzak Rabin his life. Because, you see, our world is organized to hold off the future. Our world, our politics, our social structures - they are put together in order to maintain what is. I like it the way it is. Because the way it is puts me in a place of real privilege, unbelievable privilege. If I would be true to the Gospel, I would become one of those subversives that would undercut the way it is in order that there might emerge a different kind of world. I don't have the blueprint for it. I don't really have the courage for it. But, in this Advent season, I'm going to be just a bit © Grand Valley State University �Life Broken and Poured Out Richard A. Rhem Page 5   uneasy about the fact that the cost of that emerging future may involve my life. We've been to the Table; we've taken bread and cup, the sign of life broken and poured out, the sign of our identification with that One. The Good News in all of this is that, if I ever had the courage, the wisdom, the heart to follow Jesus, I would find abundant life. Because in many ways I'm a migrant, too. Life can become that, where I no longer live it out of my insides, but am lived by the outside. Advent - wonderful time of the year to take time, to count the cost and to be drawn by the vision of that life, which is life indeed. I dare you. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4ca906742f8a11e44b62a8b74c40b1f0.mp3 36bed7f97deac76cb3c45d52959801cc Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent I Series Now _ But Then Scripture Text Luke 15:51-52, I Corinthians 13:12 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-0-19951203 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-12-03 Title A name given to the resource Life Broken and Poured Out Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 3, 1995 entitled "Life Broken and Poured Out", as part of the series "Now - But Then", on the occasion of Advent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 15:51-52, I Corinthians 13:12. Advent Community of Compassion Emergence Incarnation Liturgical Calendar https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/554aac265c95df3c004e42ada05a1113.pdf 9cd0d7dc214962a5b515526fa2e35c71 PDF Text Text Life During a Pandemic Since campus closed and classes went to remote learning, I have decided to stay at my apartment which is off campus. I enjoy staying at my apartment because I would most likely go insane trapped in a house with my family. My three roommates and I have all been quarantined at our apartment together. Online classes have been going well so far. I like being able to complete assignments at my own pace from home. Professors are very understanding of the situation as a whole and are more than willing to video chat or communicate by email. Other students seem to be enjoying online classes as well due to the fact that they get to study at their own pace. The only disadvantage for me is my laboratory classes where most everything is hands on. To complete these classes, my professors have uploaded videos of them performing the experiments and we are tested on those accordingly. I am not involved in any student organizations, sports, or clubs on campus and I did not have a job prior to all of this, so I have not been affected in that way. Everyday has basically been repeating itself so far. I wake up in the afternoon and do some homework/study and then I watch Netflix for most of the night. From what I have heard, my parents and siblings at home are going crazy because they are getting tired of each other. I have a five year old brother who talks constantly and always wants to play and he is getting on my sister’s nerves. No one that I know has had any symptoms of the virus yet, and hopefully it continues to stay that way. I don’t know anyone that has been to the hospital because of this, or anyone who has been tested for COVID 19. When going to the grocery store, we wear masks and we also see many other people who wear masks as well. Everytime we have gone, there have been shortages on toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes. I am hoping that things will get back to normal very quickly. I realized that I had taken for granted simple things like going out to eat, going to the movies or even the grocery store, and even going to class. Although this situation has opened a lot of peoples’ eyes on what we take for granted, I am ready for things to get back to normal. � 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 COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives 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. 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 Life During a Pandemic Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-20 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context COVID-19_2020-04-20_Anon_001 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/edcb8769cd53cd730ff37b8d239fc2cf.pdf 52341865c97df6add832f1517b411727 PDF Text Text I am writing this on Thursday April 23, 2020, I finished my last online final today. Kind of unbelievable we started this online classes on March 16th. Two weeks before campus closed was spring break, and I was down in Ashville, NC with Grand Valley’s Alternative Breaks club working on helping nutrition and wellness with the YMCA. While we were there the first cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in New York. In that time no one was too concerned of the virus. We had heard of the explosion of COVID in China, Italy, and other countries, but kind of blocked the thought of it making its way to the U.S. I think in the back of our minds we all saw it coming though, I mean with the amount of travel that was happening in the U.S. for spring breakers, plus the amount of travel that goes to and from the U.S. on a daily bases makes it hard for the virus to not make its way here. I lived in an off-campus apartment until Michigan announced its two-week quarantine on March 24th. It was then that I went home to stay with my family during this time and have been home ever since. It was nice to have meals cooked by my parents and a larger place then my apartment to be trapped in. However, I left most of my stuff at my apartment and also still had to pay rent on it. The switch to online classes was hard. I had taken online classes before but going from on-campus to online felt like starting the semester all over again. For most classes I felt like I had to teach myself the content. Plus, I had very little motivation as being home felt like summer break. I’ve heard from my friends and they are all struggling with online classes as well. It seemed like our professors were assigning us more work then we would’ve gotten on-campus. Labs were probably the hardest, as we couldn’t see the experiment in action yet had to answer questions about the experiments from videos. Honestly it all just felt like busy work. The home life wasn’t too bad as I am lucky enough to have a good relationship with my family. There are times where everyone is tense or gets fed up with each other, but luckily my siblings and I still had school to keep us busy while our parents did some work from home. We all picked up a few new hobbies and watched a lot of movies. It was nice to be home as my parents would do the grocery shopping. They would always come home and tell me stories of people wearing masks at the store yet taking the mask off to smell fruit or wearing the mask just around their mouth, kind of defeating the purpose. There was also always a shortage of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, tissues, and at first, meat. My mom once went to three different stores just to find toilet paper. I worked at a physical therapy office as a tech before the shutdown. It closed once Michigan started putting restrictions in businesses. The last day I worked before quarantine was March 17th, I remember that day I kept answering the phones to patients cancelling their appointments. We also tripled cleaned everything in the office. My manager has been in touch through the entire lockdown with updates which has been nice. I used to work at a nursing home as a caretaker and remember a time where a bad strand of the flu was going on and we had to quarantine residents to their rooms. Everyone was wearing masks and cleaning anything they touched. That was a bit stressful but lasted a week, so I cannot even imagine what the healthcare workers are feeling like now. My roommate is a phlebotomist at Spectrum hospital �in Grand Rapids and she told me a little about their working conditions. She said that the COVID floor was very well quarantined as they tried to contain patients to just one floor. Although sometimes she would come into contact with a patient who had COVID but didn’t know. Once the patient was tested positive for COVID, she would receive an email that she was in contact with them but couldn’t get tested for the virus until she started showing symptoms in an order to save the number of tests they had. She also informed me that they were low on PPE. Everything right now seems very surreal but also kind of normal. As I wrote this, nothing I was writing seemed out of the ordinary or surprised me, but I could see how in a couple of years this all would seem like something out of a movie. For right now, however, it’s just life. � 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 COVID-19 Journals Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled. The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Subject The topic of the resource Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives 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. 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 COVID-19_2020-04-23_ANON_013 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Anonymous Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-04-23 Title A name given to the resource Life During a Pandemic Description An account of the resource Journal of an anonymous GVSU student's exprerience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Subject The topic of the resource COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020 Epidemics Grand Valley State University College students Personal narratives Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e2db8cf3329c4a18144f2db420d93db1.pdf bc16f9022991daa9d5cf9b92fc7e9659 PDF Text Text ~~5~o--------oic~~ Gt~· vtr ~13,-r, .<3 Life Enricher Certificate Of Appreciation Awarded To PETER TERMAAT Thank you for being a Life Enricher. Because you care, your words and works enrich the lives of others. ,~ � 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 Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman) Termaat, Peter N. Description An account of the resource Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar. Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1869 - 2012 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a> Subject The topic of the resource Netherlands Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945 World War, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands Dutch Dutch Americans Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Text Image Type The nature or genre of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng nl 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. 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 RHC-144_Termaat_AWD_Life-Enricher-PNT Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Amway Corporation Title A name given to the resource Life Enricher Certificate of Appreciation Description An account of the resource Life Enricher Certificate of Appreciation awarded to Peter Termaat by Rich DeVos, President of Amway Corporation Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng 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/745add14e3942eedf3dd4ab0e5258c07.mp3 cdfe13e6fec7d7da6e935d0c73d283b1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XX Series Good News, with Ken Medema Scripture Text Gen. 1:1, Isaiah 65:17, I Cor. 15:58, Rev. 21:4 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19951022 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1995-10-22 Title A name given to the resource Life is Not a Trivial Pursuit 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 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 22, 1995 entitled "Life is Not a Trivial Pursuit", as part of the series "Good News, with Ken Medema", on the occasion of Pentecost XX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Gen. 1:1, Isaiah 65:17, I Cor. 15:58, Rev. 21:4. https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/483a6e79fcffba1a37388f96700ad987.mp3 46b8491d3862aae37fe33babb2574f76 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 Human Transformation: The Gospel & AA Scripture Text Psalm 40:17, Romans 7:24-25 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19890709 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-07-09 Title A name given to the resource Life Out of Control 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 9, 1989 entitled "Life Out of Control", as part of the series "Human Transformation: The Gospel & AA", on the occasion of Pentecost VIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 40:17, Romans 7:24-25. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c4c20c42bf96629eb62ee2b7b5a17b05.pdf fe18060ae9231b42e53bab0b4ec7062c PDF Text Text Life Through Dying An Article By Richard A. Rhem Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Published in Perspectives A Journal of Reformed Thought November 1994, pp. 3-4 “Life, what a beautiful choice!” So goes a commercial for pro-life in the culture war over abortion. The ads are tastefully done featuring beautiful children frolicking in idyllic scenes of delight. Fair enough as long as it is recognized at the same time that there are also children born into horror whose existence is to be marked by dehumanizing tragedy. Recently I have been, as pastors often are, thrust into the drama of real life-anddeath choices. Not choices about whether to bring a fetus to term but, rather, whether to keep a body alive by means of medical technology. Three times within a four-month period I walked with families through the anguish of making the decision to let go, to allow a loved one to die. The three had been my people over many years; they were dear to me, as were their families as well—spouses, children, grandchildren. In periods of five days to ten days I watched and waited with the families. The experience was as filled with beauty as it was filled with anguish. The bonding of children and grandchildren in solidarity with a parent or grandparent was moving. Thankfully, in all three cases there were living wills in order, and the desires of the person in question were clear. Those desires were honored. The deceased had, while in good health, chosen not to be sustained in a less-than-human condition. Two of the three died in the hospital; the third had been sent home to die. During the five-day vigil at the home, we watched life ebb. The two grandchildren stood on either side of the bed, rubbing their grandfather’s arms, intensely monitoring each labored breath. The love was palpable. After a time, I went to this dear man and took his hand. In his ear I spoke the benediction. I spoke his name, asking him, if he were able, to squeeze my hand if all were well. There was a feeble but certain response. I kissed him and left. Within a couple hours he entered that eternal light. It struck me then, as it had in the hospital earlier, that in honoring his choice to die without radical intervention, he (as they) had in actuality chosen life. © Grand Valley State University   �Life Through Dying Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Of late I have been preparing a series of sermons on the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Scriptures. Israel’s wisdom teachers were careful observers of human experience. With clear-eyed candor, they recorded their observations of how life really is, not how we long for it to be. Their legacy is the wise counsel of sages who have discerned a way that leads to well-being. Their teaching contrasted the way of wisdom that leads to life and the way of foolishness whose end is destruction. The challenge is to choose the path of wisdom, thereby finding life. Choose life! In an early writing, In Man We Trust, Walter Brueggemann says, The man of Proverbs is not the servile, self-abasing figure often urged by our one-sided reading of Scripture in later Augustinian-Lutheran theological tradition. Rather he is an able, self-reliant, caring, involved, strong person who has a significant influence over the course of his own life and over the lives of his fellows. (118) Thus the challenge of the Deuteronomist: ... I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.... (Deut. 30:19) The human person as understood in the wisdom tradition was both capable and responsible to choose wisely and thus to find the way of life. I had never spent much time with the wisdom literature. But in preaching from Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes I have become aware of a rich vein of biblical teaching that calls the human person to maturity, to take responsibility for one’s life by making responsible choices, choices that at either end of life’s spectrum are choices of life and death. Paradoxically, I am realizing that a choice for death sometimes means a choice for life. In the current cultural war raging on questions of abortion and euthanasia, one hears that life is sacred, God’s gift, and thus that it is wrong to abort a fetus or to end a life of irremediable and terrible suffering. These are exceedingly complex matters and simplistic slogans will not do. But, that we are called to make very difficult choices cannot be denied. The question is not whether life is sacred; it is. Life is God’s gift. But the more we understand about the mystery of human existence, the more medical technology makes possible intrauterine procedures and life-sustaining measures at the end, the more incumbent it is upon us to make choices that lead to life, wise choices made upon careful, serious reflection and discussion before the face of God. One sometimes hears the argument that life is a continuum from conception to death. Biologically, that is irrefutably true. But is biology the measure of life? Is that the life spoken of by the wisdom teachers? If so, then there will be no real © Grand Valley State University �Life Through Dying Richard A. Rhem Page 3   choices to make. But if life involves more than biological reality, if life involves also some quality of humanness—humane existence—then, given what is possible through the advancement of medical science, the choice for life will demand serious thought and prayerful contemplation. And the choices will be made, not simply regarding the immediate subject whose situation calls for decision, but the larger implications touching the others immediately involved, indeed, the community. Resistance to making decisions and taking initiative is a refusal to be responsible and accountable as a human person, a human society before the face of God. I found the wisdom literature a strange new world in the Scriptures. As Brueggemann points out, at first blush it may seem that wisdom threatens the traditional idea of God’s sovereignty. Not so. What is at issue is not whether God is sovereign but, rather, the tenor of that sovereignty. It is not the more traditional sovereign who appears angry or at least grudging. The sovereignty of God affirmed in wisdom is that of a God who accepts the legitimacy of his rule and therefore the legitimacy of the freedom of his human subjects. (119) The church has too long kept people in spiritual adolescence rather than calling them to maturity, to decision making grounded in honest observance of human experience, cultural development, and growing insight into cosmic reality. In Brueggemann’s words, the church has fostered a kind of piety that “places it all in God’s hands” and an understanding of prayer which looks blindly to God for guidance and answers. Too often this is a not very subtle form of copping out so that we don’t have to make our own choices and exercise responsibility. (20) Life is a beautiful choice—life as humane existence. To choose for life is sometimes to let go, to let die, in the confidence that in life, in death, the Lord and Giver of life will never let us go. Reference: Walter Brueggemann. In Man We Trust: The Neglected Side of Biblical Faith. John Knox Press, 1973; Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006. © 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. References Walter Brueggemann, In Man We Trust: The Neglected Side of Biblical Faith, 1973, 2006 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RA-4-19941101 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1994-11-01 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Title A name given to the resource Life Through Dying Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Perspectives: A Journal of Reformed Thought 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 Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 1, 1994 entitled "Life Through Dying", it appeared in Perspectives, pp. 3-4. Tags: Hebrew Scriptures, Wisdom Literature, Death, Life, Nature of God. Scripture references: Walter Brueggemann, In Man We Trust: The Neglected Side of Biblical Faith, 1973, 2006. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Death Hebrew Scriptures Life Nature of God Wisdom Literature https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c60d76570f483ad109b8c0eaa2f0ed83.mp3 186ce5fbef6cd95bf0dc0746e89c1525 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/250b88562b0abfbfcf85c71c2766aa29.pdf e0bb52769d7bb906428e19d7fa348a95 PDF Text Text Life Turned Upside Right From the Lenten sermon series: The Way to Life Text: Philippians 3: 10-11 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent III, March 2, 1986 Transcription of the spoken sermon All I care for is to know Christ. To experience the power of his resurrection, and to share his sufferings, in growing conformity with his death… Philippians 3:10-11 Revolution or Transformation in human life or historical institutions is often described as things being turned upside down. But something that is turned upside down would seem to be other than in its native, true position or situation. Therefore, this message is entitled "Life Turned Upside Right" because, while we point to a radical transformation of human personality - specifically the Transformation of the Apostle Paul, we are pointing to a new human condition which is not contrary to nature, but rather the restoration of human nature according to the intention of Creation. Therefore, I point you this morning to the call to human transformation, which is really a call to realize God's intention for us, that we live not out of our own resources, but wholly out of His grace. Paul expresses the goal of his life following his encounter with Jesus Christ and finding his life turned upside right as caring only …to know Christ. To experience the power of his resurrection, and to share his sufferings, in growing conformity with his death, if only I may finally arrive at the resurrection from the dead. The Apostle stands as the great example of radical conversion in the New Testament. Sometimes that very fact creates a distance from many of us who have grown up, nurtured in the faith from our earliest years. We have never known that wrenching from death to life, from darkness to light. We have grown up within the covenant of Grace of which our baptism is a sign; we have never known a time when we did not know about God, a time of not knowing Him, and © Grand Valley State University   �Life Turned Upside Right Richard A. Rhem Page 2   we have never known a time when we did not in some fashion trust in God. How, then, can the experience of a Paul be relevant for us within the nurture of the Church? Let us reflect on that for a moment. Was Paul's situation so different from ours? Is he really an example of radical conversion from darkness to light, from death to life, and thus without instruction for the Church situation? Certainly there was radical change; certainly there was deep existential encounter; certainly there was the sense of moving from darkness to light, from death to life. But in what context did that radical transformation occur? Was it not precisely within the context of the Covenant of Grace? Was it not precisely within the context of the community of faith? Did Paul find in the face of Jesus some new God? Not at all. Did Paul move from atheism or agnosticism or blasé indifference to faith and zeal? Not at all. What, then, was the radical change? How, then, was life turned upside right? If it was not from world to Church, from non-belief to faith, from indifference to commitment, wherein lay the transformation? The Scripture passage gives a clear answer: The radical change was the movement from securing one's life by one's own efforts, to finding one's life secured by the grace of God. The radical change was from doing, to trusting. The radical change was from living by the "performance principle," to living by the Grace principle. In my wrestling with this familiar testimony of the Apostle, I was suddenly struck with the total relevance of Paul's experience for us, for the People of God in the Church. This is a message precisely for us who are religious, who know the truth and live within the community of faith. Is it not precisely we in the Church who need to be converted? Is it not we who must be called again from all self-securing performance and all reliance on our fine accomplishments or religious activity, even zeal for the Kingdom and reminded that life is gift and all is of sheer grace? Is it not ourselves, serious, diligent, faithful, who need more than others to be pointed to grace as our only hope and salvation? Paul's God was the God of Israel; the God of Israel was the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's Bible was the Torah, the Old Testament which pointed to the way of life. Paul's community was the Covenant Community, Israel, of which the Church is the continuation. All that was true of Paul was positive. Listen to his own recitation of who he was and the seriousness with which he lived. …If any other man thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of © Grand Valley State University �Life Turned Upside Right Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, blameless. Philippians 3: 4b-6 Was that all bad? No. On the contrary, that was all good; it spoke of both high privilege and conscientious responsibility. What, then, was the fatal flaw of the old Paul? Simply that all of that which he cited was the ground of his confidence; his righteousness was a self-righteousness; the principle of his life was the performance principle. He sought to secure his existence, to secure his life, his acceptance with God and his reputation with his neighbors by his racial lineage, his religious affiliation, his record of service and diligence of dedication. Paul simply trusted in Paul. But not really. We are never finished when we are doing it ourselves; there is always one more thing to do, one more base to cover, a little more exertion to expend. And then there is also always the fear that somewhere, sometime we might slip, we might fall, we might lose our grip, grow weary, cynical or indifferent and, if it all depends on our performance, where will that leave us? Legal rectitude and zeal - that was it for Paul. The Greeks, he writes in another place, seek after wisdom - a rational explanation of reality into which they can fit their existence and in which they can find themselves within the structure of reality. And there are other possibilities Hedonism, perhaps - just living for pleasure, keeping the engines of our being fired up with one titillating experience after another - and so on. But Paul's life was turned upside right - radically, that is, the very core of his being was transformed. He moved, not to a new God, a new People; he moved to a new basis upon which to place his life - God's grace - apart from his background, affiliations or performance. Listen to his own statement: But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ… Philippians 3: 7-9 That is a radical conversion. But not as we often think of radical conversion as turning from atheism or agnosticism to God; from the world to the Church; from non-religious practice to serious religious practice; from disobedience to obedience. No. This radical conversion happened within the being of a person serious about God, religious in practice, and totally dedicated to religious service. © Grand Valley State University �Life Turned Upside Right Richard A. Rhem Page 4   It was a movement from trusting self-securing endeavor to trusting only the gracious God. It was a movement from seeking to justify one's existence to resting in the justification which is gift. It was a movement from compulsive drivenness that can never find peace, to rest and peace that frees one to live with vitality. It was a movement from humorless heaviness to joy and lightness of spirit. But is not such a view of radical grace rather dangerous? Might it not lead to presumption, slackness, carelessness, frivolity? Let us simply note its effect on the Apostle. …that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death… Philippians 3:10 Power, courage to suffer for Jesus' sake, conformity finally to the death Jesus died in obedience to God's will for the sake of the world, all in the hope of final resurrection, life in his light forever. Let me bring Paul's witness to our present situation - have you met Jesus and heard him say cease from all self-securing activity, which stems from insecurity and creates hostility? "Rest in me." Lent is a time to learn again obedience. Obedience is faith - resting in the gracious God. In the posture, life is turned upside right. Amen. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent III Series The Way to Life Scripture Text Philippians 3:10-11 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-0-19860302 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-03-02 Title A name given to the resource Life Turned Upside Right 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 2, 1986 entitled "Life Turned Upside Right", as part of the series "The Way to Life", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Philippians 3:10-11. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Covenant of Grace Divine Intention Lent Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f6074e32c9417238e4d4fd2739a6cce9.pdf 81c7d4f330aefe1a7166442f4444b1ec PDF Text Text Life’s Deepest Questions Before the Mystery of God Job 23:1-10; Ecclesiastes 3:1-22; John 1:1, 14 and 18; I John 4:7-8, 12 and 16 Richard A. Rhem Lakeshore Interfaith Center at Mother’s Trust Ganges, Michigan August 21, 2011 My proposal for today’s reflection refers to four biblical passages but they are chosen not to be carefully interpreted but rather in the way they speak to my central concern in this presentation – life’s deepest questions as we live before the face of mystery, the mystery to which we point with the word-symbol God. Already you may say the task will be to bring to awareness our deepest questions but, more than that, to seek some understanding of the reality to which our word God points. And you would be right. Before I move into my subject, let me give you an assignment. If you could have an answer to one, deep, ultimate question about reality, about God, about your human future or any other large question that looms before your mind when consciously thinking about it, or when in a semi-conscious, somewhat dreamy state, what would that question be? Maybe you know immediately because you are one of those persons who can’t help yourself but wonder what it means to be human, is there a God, where is your life, the life of humanity, heading, will there be an End, a consummation of some sort, will there be one end for all or will there be a great divide of “sheep and goats”? Perhaps you are simply busy with getting through your days and seldom wonder about such ultimate questions – enough to worry and wonder about the stock market, our broken political system, your health and that of those you love, your children, your grandchildren. You see what I’m saying. Some simply can’t help themselves – the wonderers and worriers, and some stick to life’s practical concerns. I suspect those who wonder may have had rather intensive and extensive exposure to life’s ultimate issues and perhaps those of a more practical bent have not been immersed in a family or community where ultimate issues are daily fare. But even such sometimes lie awake wondering. Sometimes it is triggered by a crisis. Remember the suffering of Job. One of the most pathetic and moving cries ever recorded is found in that profound drama of Job. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University   �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Job Replies: My Complaint is Bitter Then Job answered: “Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me. There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted forever by my judge. If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him.; I turn to the right, but I cannot see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.” (Job 23:1-10) But there are others – I am one of them – that just can’t help themselves, crisis or smooth sailing, the wondering seldom ceases. The Hebrew poet who authored the Book of Ecclesiastes was such a person. Critical studies of the text assure us that this was not the wise King Solomon though tradition has made him the author. Ecclesiastes is part of the Wisdom section of the Hebrew scriptures and was probably written in the middle of the third century BCE – around 250. The Wisdom literature of the Old Testament is an attempt to gain knowledge of human existence in order that one may know how to live – how to live wisely, how to live well. It’s a special genre of literature. It has a different nuance, a different tone, than so much of the rest of Scripture. It raises those questions about the nature of our experience of being human, seeking to find the meaning and purpose of it all. And it reads that meaning and purpose off from experience itself; it doesn’t go to a priest, it doesn’t go to a sacred text, it doesn’t go to an institution, but rather the sages of the tradition of Israel were careful observers of life, trying to discern meaning and purpose from what was observable and what could be comprehended within the parameters of human knowledge and human understanding. With Ecclesiastes, we come to the farthest extreme of wisdom in the Hebrew scriptures. The author purports to have lived widely, broadly, deeply. He tried everything – pleasure, riches, work, everything that his heart desired he granted to himself. And, in the end of it all, his conclusion was that human life is empty. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity says the Lord.” Chasing wind. He is a person who, having entered broadly into human experience, concludes that its meaning and its purpose are not discernable by the human mind. Just reading from human experience, he can find no ultimate purpose. He doesn’t deny that God is, he doesn’t deny that God will hold us accountable, but God is largely absent and God © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 3   is inscrutable. The meaning of our human existence is inscrutable. So this is a very pessimistic account of what it means to be human. He simply says over and over and over again…there is nothing new under the sun…whatever has been will be again…it’s an endless cycle…a dead end street. Or, as in the title of the French existentialist Camus’ novel, No Exit. That is his analysis of the human situation from what he sees in human experience. He recognizes that the human person isn’t satisfied with that. He himself isn’t satisfied with it. The familiar third chapter speaks of the full spectrum of human experience – for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die. After a considerable list of “times” and “seasons” and the full spectrum of human experience, he makes about as positive statement as it is to be found in the whole poem. What gain have the workers from their toil? I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil. (Ecclesiastes 3:9-13, NRSV) I came upon a translation of those verses which I like. I’m not enough of a Hebrew linguist to know if the Hebrew text justifies this rendering but I must say it seems to capture cogently what I sense the poet is trying to say in verses 11-13: God has made everything beautiful in its own time and has put an eternal yearning in our hearts even as we live before the Face of Mystery. I know there is nothing better for humankind than to be happy and to enjoy themselves as long as they live – to eat and drink and take pleasure in all their endeavors. I confess “Face of Mystery” is my phrase but it fits and I think is faithful to the writer’s intention – a sense of past and future but no way to figure out what God is up to. Consequently, “eat and drink and take pleasure in all their endeavors.” Let me pause here. Have you identified your ultimate question for which you long for an answer? My babbling on has made that rather impossible unless you live consciously with that question so that immediately you respond, “I wish I knew the answer to…..” © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Well, we can’t go around the room and hear your questions. I hope simply raising the question has perhaps brought to your awareness that, indeed, you do wonder about deep questions of our human existence, the movement of history, the meaning of it all. When I was still preaching regularly, pre-retirement, on Saturday morning I would check out the Religion section of the Grand Rapids Press, hoping to find some essay or article of religious news that would connect with the sermon on which I was working – maybe underscoring the theme or maybe some claim, in my opinion, so incredible it reinforced my claim to the contrary. Well, having announced my theme, “Life’s Deepest Questions Before the Mystery of God,” you can imagine how excited I was to open the latest issue of The New Yorker (August 15 & 22, 2011, p. 87ff) and find an essay entitled “Is That All There Is?”, subtitle “Secularism and its Discontents,” by James Wood, a critic at large. On the opening page against a black background are billowing clouds on which sets a throne; the throne is empty! Obviously the essay will deal with the disappearance of God which, for my purposes would have been interesting but not really my point. The article however aims precisely at my announced theme. The essay begins: I have a friend, an analytic philosopher and convinced atheist, who told me that she sometimes wakes in the middle of the night, anxiously turning over a series of ultimate questions: “How can it be that this world is the result of an accidental big bang? How could there be no design, no metaphysical purpose? Can it be that every life – beginning with my own, my husband’s, my child’s, and spreading outward – is cosmically irrelevant?” In the current intellectual climate, atheists are not supposed to have such thoughts. We are locked into our rival certainties – religiosity on one side, secularism on the other – and to confess to weakness on this order is like a registered Democrat wondering if she is really a Republican, or vice versa. These are theological questions without theological answers, and, if the atheist is not supposed to entertain them, then, for slightly different reasons, neither is the religious believer. Religion assumes that they are not valid questions because it has already answered them; atheism assumes that they are not valid questions because it cannot answer them. But as one gets older, and parents and peers begin to die, and the obituaries in the newspaper are no longer missives from a faraway place but local letters, and one’s own projects seem ever more pointless and ephemeral, such moments of terror and incomprehension seem more frequent and more piercing, and, I find, as likely to arise in the middle of the day as the night. I think of these anxieties as the Virginia Woolf Question, after a passage in that most metaphorical of novels “To the Lighthouse,” when the painter Lily Briscoe is at her easel, mourning her late friend Mrs. Ramsay. Next to her sits the poet, Augustus Carmichael, © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 5   and suddenly Lily imagines that she and Mr. Carmichael might stand up and demand “an explanation” of life: For one moment she felt that if they both got up, here, now on the lawn, and demanded an explanation, why was it so short, why was it so inexplicable, said it with violence, as two fully equipped human beings from whom nothing should be hid might speak, then, beauty would roll itself up; the space would fill; those empty flourishes would form into shape; if they shouted loud enough Mrs. Ramsay would return. “Mrs. Ramsay!: she said aloud, “Mrs. Ramsay!” The tears ran down her face. Why is life so short, why so inexplicable? These are the questions Lily wants answered. More precisely, these are the questions she needs to ask, ironically aware that an answer cannot be had if there is no one to demand it from. The essay is excellent – worth the price of the magazine! I cite it here because it underscores that deep questions of life come to all of us one time or another, whether we are seriously religious or claim to be totally secular, atheist, agnostic, militant or mild. Our cultural history moves in waves. It is senseless to think religious faith and practice will fade completely from the human story with secularism and/or atheism becoming dominant and vice versa. The fact is humans are self-conscious beings who wonder, ask questions, and recognize they live in the face of mystery. As I acknowledged above, my title points to deep questions, but such questions before the face of Mystery, the mystery to which we point when we use the wordsymbol God. As I wondered, read, reflected in the latter years of my ministry I referred more and more to the source and ground of reality as mystery rather than God per se. God is such a loaded term so filled with our preconceptions – loaded with pre-critical traditional content. My dear deceased friend and last mentor, Dr. Duncan Littlefair, in his early years at Fountain Street Church, did not use the word “God” at all because it carried such baggage for most religious folk. In order to say something new in heavily churched, widely traditionally religious Grand Rapids around mid-century, that word-symbol was quite useless. And I suspect that continues to be the case. I’m sure the use of Mystery as a symbol for God in my case, particularly in the early 90’s was the consequence of realizing the Christian tradition’s idea of God was a personal Being outside of our cosmic reality – not really an old man with flowing beard as often caricatured – nonetheless a “superhuman.” The human created in the image of God according to the Genesis stories, God’s Being would be reflected in human being, except God was omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, etc. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 6   It is not my purpose to pursue that further. I mention it because when I was becoming more and more sensitive to what I was coming to see as the wrong signals given off by the word-symbol God, I fled to the designation “Mystery,” and I kept the Mystery – the Mystery had no “contours,” really no content. About this time it was my good fortune to come on a work by Gordon D. Kaufman, a theologian at Harvard Divinity School, who died in July of this year. In a major constructive theological work, In Face of Mystery, Kaufman wrote of God as Mystery in light of our present knowledge of the cosmos, of the human story and the human person. In a following volume, God, Mystery, Diversity, he dealt with “Christian Theology in a Pluralistic World.” It was Kaufman who helped me understand Mystery as applied to ultimate reality rather than a term to enable me to avoid using the word God. Kaufman opens chapter 6 of the latter volume entitled “Mystery, God, and Human Diversity” with a quote from the great Catholic theologian Karl Radner. What is made intelligible is grounded ultimately in the one thing that is self-evident, in mystery. Mystery is something with which we are always familiar, something that we love, even when we are terrified by it or perhaps even annoyed and angered, and want to be done with it….what is more self-evident than the silent question that goes beyond everything which has already been mastered and controlled…? In the ultimate depths of [our] being [we know] nothing more surely than that [our] knowledge, that is, what is called knowledge in everyday parlance, is only a small island in a vast sea that has not been traveled. It is a floating island, and it might be more familiar to us than the sea, but ultimately it is borne by the sea…. Hence the [deepest] question for [us humans] is this. Which [will we] love more, the small island of [our] so-called knowledge or the sea of infinite mystery? Kaufman adds, “This profound mystery – or better the many mysteries – of life provides the ultimate context of our existence as self-conscious beings. Paradoxically, then, it is in terms of that which is beyond our ken that we must, on the last analysis, understand ourselves.” ( p. 96) And he then defines “Mystery” as he employs the term. “Mystery” (as I am using the word here) does not refer to a direct perceptual experience of something, as do words like “darkness” or “dense fog” (when we cannot see anything), or words like “unclear” or “obscure” (when used of some distant object that we cannot discern well enough to identify with confidence). It refers to bafflement of mind more than obscurity of perception. A mystery is something which we cannot think clearly, cannot get our minds around, cannot manage to grasp. If we say that “life confronts us as mystery,” or “whether life has any meaning is a © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 7   mystery, or “why anything at all exists, instead of nothing, is a mystery,” we are speaking about intellectual bafflements. We are indicating that what we are dealing with here seems to be beyond what our minds can handle. Thus when, in theological discourse, we call attention to the mystery of human existence, the mysteries in which we live, we are reminding ourselves that in theology we are dealing with matters at the very limits of our intellectual capacities; we are involved with profound puzzles, conundrums that we cannot solve and that we should not expect to solve. We must be cautious at every point, therefore, about what we take ourselves to be achieving in our reflection. In theology a question mark must be placed behind everything that is said. Sometimes (as in the ancient Greek mystery religions, from whence our modern word comes) “mystery” is thought of as descriptive of some object of arcane theological awareness or knowledge – perhaps God – rather than as prescriptively applying to us, to the limitedness of our knowledge and the questionableness of our attitudes. This way of thinking opens the door to obscure – but often exciting – claims, claims for which no grounds can be offered but which may seem theologically important. Speakers or writers may announce, for example, that they are in a position to “unveil” some particular mystery for us, allowing us to see what we could not otherwise see – like a landscape after the fog has lifted, or a dark room after a light has been turned on. The use of perceptual metaphors in talk of this kind only helps to encourage confusions; for this way of speaking leads us to suppose that we are being given information about realities hidden from others, possibly “secrets known only to God.” However, I want to point out that when we say of something that “it is a mystery,” this does not in fact tell us anything specific about that of which we are speaking, or which we are seeking to understand. Rather, it calls attention to something about ourselves: that we seem to have reached a limit to our powers at this point, and we may, if we are not careful, easily become confused or misled. The word “mystery” in its theological employment, thus, should be taken as a kind of warning that our ordinary ways of speaking and thinking are beginning to fail us and that special rules in our use of language should now be followed: take unusual care; beware of what is being said; the speaker may be misleading you; you may be misleading yourself; attend to what is being said with critical sensitivity to its problematic character. (p. 96f) I found Kaufman’s discussion of mystery so very illuminating. The context of our lives is mystery – not a mystery that will become clear with more penetrating analysis, greater intellectual prowess, deeper piety – no; rather, “it is in terms of that which is beyond our ken that we must, in the last analysis, understand ourselves.” In my field of interest – the theological – I must go in with eyes wide open; what I am dealing with is beyond what our minds can handle. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 8   Strange calling to which I responded! One’s whole orientation turned to that which is unavailable! And the deep ultimate questions one must face in oneself and in one’s community are questions for which there is no intellectual answer that doesn’t end with a question mark! As Kaufman contends, it is precisely because mystery pervades our search and research that “we must engage in relentless theological criticism of our human faiths, their symbols, and the practices they inspire.” Religions (and theologies) have a critical role to play even if they do not convey absolute dogmatic information about the mystery that is behind our reality. Kaufman claims, …a major function of religions (and of theologies) is to present human beings with visions of the whole of reality. That is, religions (and theologies) provide construals of the ultimate mystery within which human life transpires – construals that are sufficiently meaningful and intelligible to enable us humans to come to some understanding of ourselves in relation to the enigmatic context within which our lives proceed, and which are sufficiently attractive to motivate women and men to live fruitfully and meaningfully within this context. (p. 98) Reflecting on my own wrestle with the mystery and life’s deepest questions, one of the most illuminating and liberating insights Kaufman’s work gave me was the idea of theology as a human imaginative endeavor. I felt a load lifted. I still remember saying to my people, “If you grant me that theology is a human imaginative construct you are on a slippery slope and I will have great freedom to construe the faith.” Kaufman’s statement explains, One of the most important features of the understanding of theology as our own imaginative construction is that it requires us not to confuse our ideas and reflection – especially when we speak of God – with that ultimate mystery with which we are attempting to come to terms. This helps keep us honest in our theological work, on the one hand, and it acknowledges, on the other, the full independence of God from what we may think or say. In reminding ourselves that God is mystery to us, we allow God in God’s concrete actuality to be whatever God is, quite apart from our conceptualizations. In this respect, the concept of mystery, just because of its emptiness and openness, can help us face in a very direct way what it means to take God’s reality seriously, to confess the God that is truly God, the ultimate reality not to be confused with any of our human imaginative constructions. ( p. 99) One can only imagine how many religious wars would have been averted, how many church divisions could have been avoided, how many personal/family wounds would need not have to have been inflicted if the human family had early © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page 9   on learned that, in its quest for ultimate truth, it had to do with human imaginative constructs rather than claims of absolute divine revelation. Let me be clear; this is not a cop-out; it is simply the necessary consequence of our human historical situation. We have come to see the long history of the cosmos, the billions of years of cosmic evolution, the emergence of consciousness, of self-consciousness – the human being. All of this has only relatively recently been available in terms of cosmic time. But prior to this exploding “revelation” of the cosmic process, the advent of the Enlightenment, the modern with the emergence of the empirical approach to nature and human critical rationality surveying the long evolutionary process of which we are part, the deep questions of human existence had long engaged the human family. The mythology of ancient peoples, the great religions as they emerged addressed those questions. From our historical perspective it is easy to expose their naivete´ in terms of our knowledge of the evolution of nature, the emergence of the human. God, caricatured as an old superman with flowing beard pulling the strings of the universe, can easily be mocked and a three-story universe with heaven above and hell beneath, assumed by ancient religious conceptuality, becomes laughable. Add to that outmoded cosmology and God-concept all the anguish of religious conflict, violence, war and one doesn’t have to be terribly profound to make a case for the abolition of religion in the cause of human wellbeing. The contemporary militant atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens have fodder enough for their anti-religion campaign. And then there are the softer attacks by New Age types who suggest spirituality as opposed to religion, failing to recognize religion is simply the form one’s spirituality takes and spirituality without practice – prayer, ritual, liturgy – and community is weak pablum. David S. Toolan, S.J., has written insightfully on the subject of New Age spirituality. In CrossCurrents, a journal of The Association for Religious and Intellectual Life, Fall, 1996, he wrote an excellent piece, “Harmonies, Convergences and All That: New Age Spirituality.” Under the heading “Testing Syncretism” Toolan writes, Almost by definition popular movements are out of balance – and this one is. In part, the imbalance is a reaction to an aberration at the heart of organized Christianity, to the fact that for centuries both Catholic and Protestant churches inverted a great Pauline maxim, conveying the impression that where grace abounds, sin doth more abound. For that very reason, both the churched and the unchurched draw a distinction these days between “organized religion” (bad) and “spirituality” (good). The latter has to do with experiential practice – the kind of thing parishes too rarely offer but the local spiritual growth center does in profusion. (p. 376) © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page10   There you have it – “a reaction to an aberration” – as the militant atheists rail against an old Theism built on a worldview undone by the progress of scientific knowledge. Toolan concludes his critique of New Age Spirituality thus: Your average New Ager has discovered the interior life and is captivated by the vision of being a responsible global citizen, a one-worlder. But all too often the energy of this vision, unsupported by any institutional means of realization, is drained away by the individualistic habit of turning everything into a consumer item for the exclusive benefit of the omnivorous self. New Age spirituality is not Buddhist enough, not selfnoughting enough. And let me say it outright: it is not Catholic enough, in the sense of a commitment to a church that denies us the luxury of retreating to a private enclave of the like-minded when hell rages on our streets and paradise is indefinitely postponed. One who would face seriously the deep questions of our human existence need not be distressed by the explosion of knowledge of the cosmos, of growing understanding of the history of the human family, the psychological and biological probing of the human person. New knowledge, fresh understanding is to be welcomed. No need to deny scientific development that puts old issues in a new framework. No need to defend old ideas in whatever field – biblical interpretation or credal expression – that obviously reflect understanding now shown to be simply wrong. The reason the advance of human knowledge can be welcomed and theological conceptions and biblical claims need not be defended against that advance is that those credal and biblical claims were simply human beings seeking ways to live and be with life’s deep questions in the framework of their worldview. The ancient religions were affording people of their times ways of being in the presence of mystery – their own best efforts falling short of unveiling the mystery because the mystery cannot be unveiled through intellectual analysis. That is the crucial insight that must be recognized. Once recognized, new knowledge is welcomed, old answers can be discarded, and we can continue to live in the presence of mystery with ancient ritual, communities of faith, realizing that beyond our keenest intellectual pursuit that lays bare the secrets of the universe, there lies a realm/being on which all rests that cannot be penetrated. So what is your one ultimate question to which you would desire an answer? Do you remember the Peggy Lee hit song, “Is That All There Is?” Is That All There Is? I remember when I was a girl Our house caught on fire And I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face As he gathered me in his arms And raced to the burning building out on the pavement © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem And I stood there shivering And watched the whole world go up in flames And when it was all over I said to myself “Is that all there is to a fire?” Is that all there is? And when I was twelve years old My daddy took me to the circus The greatest show on earth And there were clowns And elephants Dancing bears, And a beautiful lady in pink tights flew high above our heads And as I sat there watching I had the feeling that something was missing I don’t know what But when it was all over I said to myself “Is that all there is to the circus?” And then I fell in love With the most wonderful boy in the world We’d take long walks down by the river Or just sit for hours gazing into each other’s eyes We were so very much in love And then one day He went away And I thought I’d die But I didn’t And when I didn’t I said to myself “Is that all there is to love?” I know what you must be saying to yourselves If that’s the way she feels about it Then why doesn’t she just end it all Oh no. not me. I’m not ready for the final disappointment ‘Cause I know just as well as I’m standing here talking to you that when that final moment comes and I’m breathing my last breath I know what I’ll be saying to myself “Is that all there is? © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University Page11   �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page12   Is that all there is? If that’s all there is, my friends, then let’s keep dancing Let’s break out the booze and have a ball If that’s all there is Good question; not, in my opinion, a very good response. If we can’t find an intellectual answer to our deep life questions, where do we turn? How about the way of the heart? Pascal famously said, “The heart has reasons the reason knows not of.” The knowing of the brain is not our only way to know, maybe not even our most important when it comes to life’s ultimate issues. What is ultimate reality? Mystery. But is that all we can say? I value the suggestion, the claim of John’s Gospel and the First Letter of John. In the Gospel, chapter one, we read, “No one has seen God.” That is repeated in I John 4:12. So mystery is acknowledged. But in John 1:14 the “Word” (Logos in Greek –the rationality of the universe) becomes “flesh” – human and, according to the Gospel writer, the human is the clue to the mystery of God. And the writer of I. John goes further – God is love and the one who dwells in love dwells in God. I take it what we have acknowledged cannot be known intellectually can be experienced _ the experience of the heart where love dwells. This has been a growing edge for me – Rifkin’s Empathic Civilization argues persuasively that empathy is at the core of the human. Sorokin in The Way and Power of Love argues powerfully that love is at the core of the cosmos, the grain of the universe. Jesus said, be Godlike – love your enemies. Love, compassion, grace – those are the ingredients of a fully human existence. Finally one must choose – the way of intellect which hits a wall or the way of the heart that experiences the heart of the mystery. The two ways are set forth starkly by two great thinkers – the biologist Jacque Monod and the theologian Hans Küng. The alternatives are matters of the posture of the heart. It is a matter of looking at the data, and then trusting or not trusting. Jacque Monod is a world-class biologist, a Nobel prize winner who wrote the book Chance and Necessity. What he describes in these little lines that I will read could very well be the modern description of the human situation to which the writer of Ecclesiastes referred. Monod writes this, “If he [that is, the human person] accepts this negative message, [that is, what he can read from the human situation, the cosmological situation], in its full significance, then one must at least awake out of his millinery dream and discover his total solitude, his fundamental isolation. He must realize that, like a gypsy, he lives on the boundary of an alien world, a world that is deaf to his music, and as indifferent to his hopes as it is to his sufferings or his crimes.” That is honest and hard hitting, and clear eyed. If there is no one home in the universe, then we are alone and the world is deaf to our music. The world is indifferent to our hopes, to our © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Life’s Deepest Questions Richard A. Rhem Page13   sufferings, to our crimes. So says Monod, so says the writer of Ecclesiastes. That’s as much as you can decipher. That’s as much as you can discern just from the observation of human experience. An equally intelligent twentieth-century person, Hans Küng, in his book Does God Exist? Wrote this: (This is the other side of the other side of the coin. This is written by one who trusts.) “To trust in an eternal life means, in reasonable trust, in enlightened faith, in tried and tested hope. To rely on the fact that I shall be one day fully understood, freed from guilt, and definitively accepted and can be myself without fear, that my impenetrable and ambivalent existence…” He agrees with Monod, he agrees with the writer to the Ecclesiastes – “my impenetrable and ambivalent existence.” Like the profoundly discordant history of humanity as a whole will finally one day become profoundly transparent, and the question of the meaning of history one day finally be answered. Finally one must choose. In my experience it is the way of the heart that brings peace and wellbeing. Recently I conducted a funeral. There were wonderful tributes offered about the deceased – a fine human being who had done so much good for so many. The family brought his favorite CD, Ronan. It is by an Irish tenor, Ronan Tynan. The number selected was “Going Home” whose two verses were separated by “Amazing Grace.” The music was beautifully rendered. When it was over that whole large gathering sat in quiet peace - it was a beautiful moment. The impact was palpable. Reasoned discourse has its place; no denigration of that. But music is another medium; it moves the heart and suddenly one “knows” what cannot be known – and all is well. Whatever is your deepest question, listen with your heart to the music of the universe – and you will know beyond knowing and all will be well all will be well all manner of things will be well. References: Gordon D. Kaufman. In Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology. Harvard University Press, 1995. David S. Toolan, S.J., “Harmonies, Convergences and All That: New Age Spirituality,” CrossCurrents, Fall, 1996. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5c0538bfe5d6875752229b6db4cc30b4.m4v 1aa0cf824ab629b26d6bcba366b47a1b 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 Lakeshore Interfaith Center Gathering Scripture Text Job 23:1-10, Ecclesiastes 3:1-22, John 1:1, 14, 18, I John 4:7-8, 12, 16 Location The location of the interview Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges References Gordon D. Kaufman. In Face of Mystery: A Constructive Theology. Harvard University Press, 1995, David S. Toolan, "Harmonies, Convergences an All That: New Age Spirituality," CrossCurrents, Fall, 1996. 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-0-20110821 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-08-21 Title A name given to the resource Life's Deepest Questions Before the Mystery 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 Moving Image Text Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 21, 2011 entitled "Life's Deepest Questions Before the Mystery of God", on the occasion of Lakeshore Interfaith Center Gathering, at Lakeshore Interfaith Center, Ganges. Scripture references: Job 23:1-10, Ecclesiastes 3:1-22, John 1:1, 14, 18, I John 4:7-8, 12, 16. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives God as Mystery Hebrew Scriptures Wisdom Literature https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9b2ccb3c4013cf5a5e998c779871f6aa.jpg 63ae2aa62bc2224b0f2217575a90f77d 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_LS00336 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1930-1941 Title A name given to the resource Light dot pattern Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of dot patterned petroglyphs. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides Hidalgo del Parral (Mexico) Petroglyphs Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/9b076bb4794a84331a26aeeb03ee0976.jpg b05f2e0d62e207a287f84b04a9295a22 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 Naval Recognition Training Slides Subject The topic of the resource Slides Military education Airplanes, Military--Recognition Warships--Recognition World War, 1939-1945 Description An account of the resource Slides developed during World War II as a training tool, for top-side battle-station personnel on board ship and for all aircraft personnel, by the US Navy. In 1942 a Recognition School was established by the Navy at Ohio State University where the method of identification was developed. In 1943 the school was taken over by the US Navy. The importance of training in visual recognition of ships and aircraft became even more evident during World War II. Mistakes resulting in costly errors and loss of life led to an increased emphasis on recognition as a vital skill. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides (RHC-50)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-04-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-50 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1943-1953 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Source <a href="http://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/477">Naval recognition slides, RHC-50</a> 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 RHC-50_MX632 Title A name given to the resource Light minelayer Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource United States. Navy Description An account of the resource Light Minelayer, US DM, May 1, 1945. Subject The topic of the resource United States. Navy World War, 1939-1945 Military education Warships--Recognition Slides Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?language=en">No Copyright - United States</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Naval recognition slides (RHC-50) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1945-05-01 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/11e4dc63046b41538e21bda097817e40.mp3 4a7a8497062c1d8ccc57a4871a2e9b07 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4e8a5cd241bd90d334a598b7545b7375.pdf 6a9f387bd68757a2d5af6de13786bcd0 PDF Text Text Light of the World Text: II Corinthians 4:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany I, January 10, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon For it is God…who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 4:6 We have come to celebrate the fact that light has come into the world, and to wonder at the mystery of that light, which for some becomes the light of the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and for others seems to be not light at all. This is the season in which we point to our reality that light has come into the world, that God has been revealed, that God has been unveiled, that God has made God’s self accessible and available, and comprehendible and apprehendible to the likes of us. And yet it is also the season in which we wonder about the mystery of why it is that some believe and others believe not at all – or, to wonder even further, why it is that we, who are exposed all our life to this mystery, if we are honest must say that we have never fully sensed the dawning of the light. For you see, in this celebration in this season of the year we recognize a double act. On the one hand light has come into the world, but on the other hand the critical personal question is, “Has the light dawned upon me? Have I seen the light?” There is always that double edge. It is one thing to celebrate that the light is here, and it is another thing to wonder at the mystery of the dawning of that light on our deepest selves. It is not enough simply to affirm that the light has come; it is essential finally that I can say, “I have seen the light.” The Apostle Paul tells the story of Epiphany in his own way, out of his own experience. Had I read a Gospel lesson this morning, I think I would have read the first chapter of John, the prologue to John’s Gospel. The prologue to John’s Gospel might well be called the Christmas Epiphany passage, because in that passage John calls our attention or makes a connection between creation and the coming of the light in Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by him and apart from him was not anything made that was made.” That light was coming into the world, and John affirms in the fifth verse of that first chapter, that that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it. So John connects the coming of light with the creation story. © Grand Valley State University   �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In Time Magazine last week, on the 28th of December, the cover asked the question, “What Can Science Tell Us About God?” The cover story dealt with that question from the aspect of the physicist who probes deep cosmological secrets. It’s an interesting article. It’s the kind of thing that Time usually does at the end of the year, maybe at Christmas and Easter, tipping their hat to the spiritual realities of the world. But, in that article, it recounts the fact that centuries ago there was an Islamic scholar who spoke about the fact that the darkness would have been just preceding the brilliance of light, and that all of reality would have been contained in a mere speck prior to the creation. In the New York Times this past week there was an article about some further confirmation of the “big bang” theory, that all of reality - the whole cosmos, the whole vast expanse of the cosmos – was at one time just a knot of energy tightly compacted, and that the “big bang” was the explosion, that nuclear-type explosion that created the cosmic reality that continues to this day to be expanding. There was some further verification for that theory, which I have to admit, goes over my head. But at the end of it all, the authors of the article say that agnosticism is still a pretty good scientific position to take, but atheism may not be as valid as once it might have been. One hundred years ago with the onrush of the natural sciences, it seemed as though God was just going to be moved off the map, or off the globe. But after a hundred years of intense scientific inquiry, there are some very profound scientists today who would say, “You know, there is a curtain there and if you haven’t been able to look behind the curtain, then it’s rather presumptuous to say that no one is home.” Well, the creation in this description is so complex; it is such a mystery that it challenges the best minds and causes them to stand in awe of the complexity of life from its molecular structure to its very complex arrangements. The creator hasn’t really been ruled “out of court” yet in terms of the best of science that’s out there. The creation of light. There is even an article in the New York Times this week about the discovery of a huge invisible mass that they have been looking for, a mass that would indicate - which would give some confirmation to – the theory of the “big bang” as the way it all began. One scientist read the read-out from a computer and said, “Well, if you are a religious type you might say you are looking at God.” How did it happen? Who knows? But, if there is something to that “big bang” theory, then, with the coming into being of all of this cosmic matter, there would have also been the explosion of light. We know now from our probe into outer space that it is cold and dark there but, in that moment of creation, poetically the Genesis writer says, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” There must have been light, blinding light, if that “big bang” has any credibility about it. And that light, the light at the beginning of the natural world, is for John and for Paul, an analogy of that Light that explodes within the mind and heart of the human person who comes to see the brightness of God in the face of Jesus © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Christ. That is what Epiphany is all about. It is the celebration, the dancing before the Light that has come into the world. The good news is that the Light has come into the world. Just as surely as the natural light was indicated when God said, “Let there be light,” just so surely in the face of Jesus Christ – so says John, so says Paul, so did they witness and testify – there is now light to enlighten our human experience, our human lives. Light in the natural realm, but also light in the personal realm through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul says, “To look into the face of Jesus is to look into the heart of God.” I like that passage. I think it says it beautifully, brilliantly: that in the contours of the life and ministry of Jesus we see into the depths of the nature of God. And when Paul speaks about this light, he is, of course, telling his own story. We read that story in the book of Acts. Paul, a Jew, serious and devout, committed to the way of Israel, cognizant of the threat that was placed before temple and law in the ministry of Jesus, set about to exterminate the Followers of the Way. He tells us that it was about noonday, somewhere on the way to Damascus, that he had a vision - saw a bright light - was thrown to the ground, blinded. For Paul it was that dramatic and that vivid. For Paul indeed it was like that initial atomic explosion at the creation. It was a blinding flash, and he was blinded and, led on into the city, he prayed, and finally one was sent to him and we read it was as though the scales fell off his eyes. That’s the way it is. The blinding flash of physical light that blinds one is analogous to the blinding flash of insight into the truth. Paul’s experience was that out of which he spoke and out of which he ministered for the rest of his life. The light had dawned upon him, for you see there is a double aspect that we must reckon with in Epiphany. On the one hand, the light shines and Jesus is the light of the world, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness will never overcome it. But the other side of the coin, the completion of the circle, only comes when one says, “I have seen the light.” Paul could say the Light has come, and I was blinded by the light, the light shining in the world, and suddenly I saw the Light. It is interesting when you think about that, because it wasn’t as though he was some pagan, a reckless, careless, unspiritual individual, of which the world is full, of course. That wasn’t the case with Paul. It wasn’t the case with Paul that he was following some false God. He was following the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of covenant grace, the God of David and Moses. He was the son of Israel. But suddenly the Light struck him and everything changed. His world got turned upside down and redirected. Strange how that happens isn’t it? In the context of the passage in Corinthians, he is defending his ministry. He often falls under attack, and has to give an account of himself. He is doing that in this letter, and, in the course of saying, “I have carried on an authentic ministry, an honest ministry. I set forth the truth before the common conscience of my fellow men and before the face of God,” he hears the objectors say, “But not all believe.” And that is a mystery isn’t it? It is a mystery that you could be sitting here this © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 4   morning and the one next to you believing fervently and you in all honesty having more questions than certainties. Paul tries to explain that. I am not very satisfied with his explanation. He says, “Well, to be sure not everybody believes, but if one doesn’t believe it is because they are blinded by the god of this world.” Well, I don’t know, Paul. From a preacher’s point of view, that gets me off the hook a bit. In other words, if I make sense to you and the Light dawns, it’s because there is a connection here, but if nothing happens then the failure must be that Satan has blinded your heart, your mind. That whole conception of the universe peopled with spirits of darkness is a little strange, frankly. I don’t think of my world that way, do you? Maybe I’m naive, but I am not as ready as Paul was simply to explain the one that believes as opposed to the one who doesn’t believe in terms of devils going about blinding people. Our Reformation forbearers tried to explain the phenomena of belief and unbelief in terms of God’s predestinating, electing grace. That ought to send chills up and down your spine. I don’t believe that either. Thank God. Double predestination: the fact that somehow, in the mystery of God’s counsel, you are chosen, you are damned. Poof! You know our forefathers and foremothers believed that? That you didn’t really have a chance. If you were elected you had had it. And if you weren’t, you had really had it. That was, frankly, a theological scheme by which to explain why one believes and one doesn’t. How would you explain it? Here two people sit. One believes. One doesn’t. They hear the same stuff. They eat the same meals. They watch the same television. They go out into the same world. One has faith. One doesn’t. How would you explain it? Because you see, it is one thing to say that the Light has come into the world. That is our Christmas gospel; that is what we celebrate. The Light shines in the darkness, but have I seen the Light? Well, I like to think that maybe it’s not so much explained by little spirits of darkness pulling curtains over hearts, and I certainly don’t think that somewhere in eternity God decided to choose you and leave me out. I think it has a lot to do with our human experience, don’t you? Some people in the midst of their human experience are so broken and scarred that it seems almost impossible for them ever to trust. Some people never having been loved find it impossible to love. Some people never having experienced the embrace of forgiveness find it impossible to forgive. Some faith has been shattered on the shoals of human suffering. Some faith has been ignited in the midst of suffering. Suffering doesn’t necessarily turn you one way or the other, but it can still turn you. I could give you instances of those who suffered deeply and came out with strong faith. The Psalmist said in retrospect, “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” But I could show you other people who suffered deeply, who are cynical and full of despair, and for whom the ongoing religious life is hollow and empty. Human experience has a lot to do with it. © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 5   I like the way we are nurturing our children at Christ Community. In this season of the year they are being taught to cultivate “Epiphany Eyes.” Because it is not only Epiphany, the manifestation, the revelation, the turning on of the light, but it is the eyes to see and behold. It is to create within us that expectation that we will be apprehended by the Light and we will have the Light dawn upon us, that we will see the Light. The cultivation of an expectation creates within us a readiness and an openness for it. I think it is good also to remember as we wonder about these things - why one believes and why one doesn’t, or why there was one time when your experience was warm and enriching and now it seems rather distant and cold - that the Light shines and Epiphany happens not simply once. There may for some be the dramatic turn-around of an Apostle Paul, but for most of us, here and there, a ray breaks through in a deeply moving experience, times when suddenly we feel, as Wesley expressed it, “How our hearts strangely warmed.” Oh, it’s a mystery. I wish I knew how to throw the switch. I wish I knew how to trigger it for you. I can do no more than Paul advised. Giving up all kinds of manipulation and any distortion of the word of God, simply commending the truth before the common conscience. Before the common conscience of humankind and before the face of God, to set forth this story that the Light has come into the world - that in the face of Jesus we see into the nature of God and that can be trusted. And some Sundays you walk out of here and say, “That really got through to me.” And some Sundays you walk out and say, “Could have better gone to brunch.” And sometimes it’s me. But, as often, it’s you. What you bring. What you anticipate. What you are looking for, and what you need. Oh, I wish I could take all of you on occasion and shake you, take you by the nape of the neck and say, “Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Are you questing? Where are you? What are you doing? Where are you going? Are you doing more than just going through motions? Is your faith, your devotion, more than just hollow ceremony and empty form? Is there some passion? Have you been touched? Has the fire burned brightly lately? The Light has come. The Light has come. The Light shines in the world. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” And in the face we see to the heart of God. But the face of Jesus isn’t available for you. Where finally then in your human experience will you find the Light shining? Well, I suppose, to drag out an old saw: If I can’t see it in Jesus’ face any more, then you are the only face I have in which can be mirrored the face of Jesus, that is a mirror of the heart of God. It’s a Mystery all right! And we do make a mystery of it I suppose. We carry on our theological discussions and we split our doctrinal hairs. I suppose, finally when I look into your face and know I am accepted, finally when I feel your arms around me and know I am loved, finally when I look into your eyes and know I am forgiven, finally when you touch me, the Word becomes flesh, and then it is not the objective reality alone that Jesus is the Light of the world. Then it is that Light that floods my soul. It is in the encounter one with the other that Epiphany © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 6   happens today in the ongoing community of those who stem back to the Word made flesh, the Word who was the explosion of Light revealing the One who in the beginning called forth an explosion full of light. The Light has dawned upon us. Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany I Scripture Text II Corinthians 4:6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930110 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-01-10 Title A name given to the resource Light of the World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 10, 1993 entitled "Light of the World", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 4:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Creation Divine Mystery Face of Jesus Insight Light Nature of God Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/dd8fdbe40a2288d2cc4cb412288f6a53.mp3 3c8f520f47563794f13ab5b753b6a045 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/715b241e4cee12390d72a3b7f9be25c1.pdf 55819d86b65ab3b4bc066a9c34bb5d58 PDF Text Text Light of the World From the series: A Millennial Vision Text: Isaiah 49:6; Matthew 2:9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan January 9, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Some weeks ago, as I was thinking about this morning, contemplating the beginning of a new year, the beginning of a new century, the beginning of a new millennium, I thought, "Dear God, I ought to have something profound to say," and nothing came. But, I did think long and hard about it, realizing that this is a rather significant time. The human calendar is a human calendar; it's a human construct. It doesn't have anything to do with the divine plan of anything, the cosmic reality. It's simply something that we've put together, but it's a handy item. It is a good instrument. It enables us to get the sense that life moves and that history unfolds and that there is development. And the calendar gives us a way to mark time, to mark the seasons of our lives. It gives us a chance to evaluate where we have been, the extent to which we've accomplished our dreams and our goals, and it gives us a fresh start, an opportunity to set again those goals that we might go after and to have a sense of that which is beckoning us. And so, while the calendar is a human construct, nonetheless, this is a significant time. There aren't many of our brothers and sisters in the human family who ever get to experience the turn of a millennium, and so I thought to myself, “What are the critical insights that we have gained, that we need to actualize, to implement? What are the important matters before the human family, before the Christian church, before the religions of the world, and how might we set for ourselves a vision for the third millennium?” And because this Sunday is also the celebration of Epiphany, I thought, “Why not think together about the light of the world?” It is the symbolism of the star that points to the light that led the Magi to the adoration of the Christ child in Matthew's story. The word Epiphany comes from the Greek language meaning manifestation, and in this congregation your children speak about Epiphany Eyes, that is, eyes that are able to see through, to see deeply. Epiphany has to do with seeing with insight. Epiphany Eyes are eyes that see, not was not there, but what was always there and not seen or understood, and the Festival of Epiphany is the celebration © Grand Valley State University   �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 2   of the fact that it is the Christian Church's witness that in the birth of Jesus light came into the world. Matthew tells a delightful story of those Magi who saw a star rise in the east and followed it until it led them to Jerusalem where they consulted with Herod the King, and he with the religious leaders, as to what this bright star might be because such a heavenly body would often, in the eyes of the astrologers of that time, signify the birth of some royalty, some ruler of the world. And so, Matthew prefaces his story of the life and ministry of Jesus with this delightful story of the Magi who follow a star that leads them, finally, to the stable where they worship and where they praise God. Where did Matthew get the story? Well, interestingly, if you would read the 60th chapter of Isaiah, which would be a good Hebrew lesson for a day like this, you would find, “Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. A multitude of camels shall cover you and your camels of Midian and Ephah, and all those from Sheba shall come and they shall bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.” Of course, Matthew simply dipped into his Bible and he found there a promised one who would be thus worshiped and adored by kings who would bring gifts. And in order for Matthew to give expression to what he believes Jesus to be, what he believes to have happened in Jesus, out of his own biblical tradition he tells us a story. There probably was such a bright light around that time and there probably were conversations about what the brightness of that heavenly body should signify, but all of it is put together beautifully by Matthew who wants to say in Jesus, the child that was born, the light of God came into the world. John also, in the prologue to his Gospel, mentions light coming into his world. This was the light that enlightens everyone coming into the world. And in John's Gospel, he even has Jesus say, “I am the light of the world.” But, even in John's Gospel, it's obvious that John recognized that the light that is in Jesus was a light that pointed to a greater light beyond Jesus. Right? Follow me? Even in John's Gospel where we have such a bold declaration, “I am the light of the world,” even there it is obvious as you read that Gospel that John is aware that that human, historical manifestation of light was a beacon and a pointer to the true light that transcends all. In other words, even John did not absolutize the light that was in Jesus as a light synonymous with the Light of the world. Wilfred Cantrell Smith, who was one of our great scholars of this century, studied comparative religions, going back a thousand years. I find it rather interesting on this first century of the third millennium that he went back to the first century of the second millennium and he identified five leading exponents of five religious traditions. In his study of their work he says it was obvious, in the case of all five, that all five of them had experienced God. They had an intuition, they had an insight, they knew there was this Ultimate, this deep Mystery, and then each of © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 3   the five in their own way sought to express what they had experienced. The insight or the intuition was one thing. The expression was another. And so, this common experience of coming into the presence of that Absolute Mystery that is the ground of all being and the source of all life, this experience came to expression in five different traditions. Smith, in his book, Faith and Belief, said the first experience is faith. That is the experience of God. But, belief is the religious system that we create in order to stammeringly and stumblingly point to that ineffable experience of the One who was Light Inaccessible. And then Smith points out, interestingly, that each one of the five who gave particular expression to that common experience, each one of them was aware that when they had said what they could say, they had not said enough. Each one of them indicated in the very nature of that which they shared that they knew that there was more which was beyond their capacity to share. They could intuit it, they could experience it in the sense of being overwhelmed by a Presence, but when it came to giving expression, articulation, to put it into words and sentences and concepts and ideas, each one of them recognized that they were falling far short. They were not doing justice to the depth of the experience. To translate that into Christian terms, what that means is that Jesus for us is the light that reflects the Light, but the light that is in Jesus is not the absolute Light that is over all and beyond all. Epiphany is the time when we think about that Christian idea of revelation and for revelation to be revelation, something has to be revealed, something has to be communicated. And for something to be communicated, that communication has to be context-specific. For example, right now I am talking to you in English. Many of you would say, yawning, “It sounds like Greek to me,” but nonetheless, I speak English, I speak in ideas and concepts that we have in the interchange, in the intercourse of our lives. It's the only thing I can do. It wouldn't do me any good to speak Latin to you. We talk about these things that are common to our experience in a particular context because, being human, we are historical. That means we are limited to a time and to a place and we can only communicate with one another in the specificity, the particularity of our particular situation. Jesus was that particular word of the infinite and eternal God who came to expression in Jewish flesh in a child, in a Hebrew prophet, revealing that God beyond all religious concepts. Jesus is the light of the world for us because Jesus is our way to the experience that we have had of the Light of Lights. I like Paul's way of saying this better than Matthew and John, frankly. Paul said in the second letter to the Corinthians, the fourth chapter, 6th verse, “We have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.” That's the big One. “We have seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” In that historical, time-limited, race-limited, language-limited human flesh of Jesus, in the particularity of Jesus we have seen a glimpse. Now, of course, historically, what the Christian Church has done is to absolutize that historical manifestation as though that was all, the end all and the be all, as though that historical © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 4   manifestation was synonymous with the big One, and all you need is two different religious traditions to absolutize their own particular story and you have the seeds for conflict, and the possibility for violence. Nothing can fuel human conflict better than religion because it's right at the heart of our being, it's the thing we cherish most. The religious commitment of our lives gives us our sense of identity and, when you rattle that somehow, you create great conflict, great struggle. But, that's what we did. We took the particular manifestation that is ours, full of light and grace, and we said, “That is synonymous with the whole,” and, of course, to say that was to exclude all the rest. Wilfred Cantrell Smith said that a thousand years ago there were Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist thinkers who were perfectly content with the experience of God they had which came to expression in their particular traditions, but they didn't realize that they were parallel traditions because they weren't aware of one another in a human situation where there was not this global mobility and CNN everywhere, satellites in the sky, and all of that. But, we know different. We know. We can see the origin and the source of all of these religious traditions. We can watch the development. We can see their claims and understand the articulation of that experience of the Ultimate. As a millennial vision, I would hope and pray that increasingly the Christian Church would also recognize that its grasp, its glimpse of the Ultimate filtered through the face of Jesus is true! But, there's more. I did a little research last night because I remembered an experience I had that was one of those life-changing experiences. I had been fussing around with the breadth of the grace of God and I had been including more and more people from the narrow little beginning where I began. And then some of us, ten years ago, 1990, traveled to Europe and we made a stop in Paris and took a trip outside of Paris to that magnificent cathedral at Chartres. There's a guide there, an Englishman named Malcolm, who gives fantastic lectures on that cathedral. He's lived in the shadow of it for years. He took us around and for the first time I realized that the great cathedrals, the stained glass of the great cathedrals, were really the libraries of these communities. This was before the time of the printing press; it was before the time of near universal literacy. And those stained glass windows told the significant stories of the human story. Particularly in the cathedral, they told the biblical story so if you came into the nave and looked to the west you would see the story of Creation in stained glass. If you went on to the transept, you would see the development of Israel, and perhaps in the depths of the choir you might see the birth of Jesus, the Christmas story, and perhaps in another transept the Crucifixion and then the Resurrection. This was a marvelous way to inform the people of the story. They had no Bible in their hand. They could see the story. I thought to myself as I was in the cathedral, and I told you this ten years ago, October 14 1990, in “A Place to Stand in a World of Religions.” I told you this story how being in that cathedral I thought to myself, “What if, what if there were a people who only looked through the windows in the west wall of the nave? What if there was another group huddled in the transept, in the choir, or in © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 5   another transept, in another part of the nave, people who didn't move out of their locale, who only knew there was light streaming through a particular part of the story? The only part of the story they knew was Creation or Christmas or Easter, or whatever it may be. Would they not think, That's it! That's the story.' But it wouldn't be the story at all. It was a chapter of the story. It was a facet of the story.” And then I thought to myself, “What if they were not all Christian groups, but what if there was a Jewish window with the community of people seeing the light stream through and a Christian and a Muslim and a Buddhist and a Hindu? What if all of these respective groups were gathered before their windows where the story was told, their story? And what would be the common thing that would bind them together? Being unconscious of one another and without knowledge of anyone else's story, what would be the common thing? Well, it would be the light that streams through all the windows, that illuminates all the stories.” And it was then that I saw a paradigm of that Light of the world which is greater than the light of the world that dawned in Jesus. The light that dawned in Jesus is an authentic and true light of Light Inaccessible. But God is Light Inaccessible and in the mercy of God, Light Inaccessible became light focused in a human face. And that's my story. And it's a true story, and through that story I have experience of that Light Inaccessible. But, so do my brothers and sisters in other respective traditions. I thought that was a rather good paradigm, a good model, a good symbol, a good story I told you. In fact, it was so clear that everything went downhill from that point, because it made so much sense, it seemed so obvious, and one way or another I've been hammering away at that and once in a while I get weary. I get weary about being so concerned about the things that don't concern many people. It's tough to be "strange," to see ultimate importance in things most people yawn about. I must have grumbled about that a couple of months ago, mentioning that maybe I was growing tired of it and one of my astute listeners wrote to me and said that she had been thinking about that often of late, and then one night she saw on public television, perhaps some of you did, as well, a documentary on Elizabeth Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, these two war horses that led the women's suffrage movement, and she said, “I was overcome by a deep sadness when reminded that from the time of the convention in Seneca Falls when the whole idea was affirmed, accepted, when it seemed as though everyone would say "Yes" to women's suffrage, it was 72 years before the Constitution was finally amended and the suffrage actually happened,” and my correspondent says, “Susan B. Anthony gave virtually all of her adult life to that struggle, and Elizabeth gave much of hers, as well. What can one say but, ‘Why? Why does the right thing take so long?’” © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 6   So I am counseled by my correspondent when I grow weary, because Susan B. Anthony never even saw the passage of the amendment for which she had given her life. So I am counseled when I grow weary to remember the ladies. They stirred and stirred until they created a wave of women who filled the streets with banners and songs and, at the end of her life, Susan said, “With such women consecrating their lives, failure is impossible.” And then my correspondent writes, “People are listening. The waters are churning. Minds are opening. Thank you for making CCC an exciting place to be, something of an Imagination Station for all ages, and when you are tired, remember the ladies.” An Imagination Station for all ages -I love that. And it's happening, and it will happen, friends, because people are hungry all over. They're not hungry for all of the ecclesiastical structures and the baggage of institutional religion. But they're hungry just like the Magi were hungry and took off on a journey following a star. People are still and again looking to the stars, looking here and there and everywhere for some authentic word, something that resonates to the depths of our humanity. It will happen, this millennial vision of a world at peace. As the Catholic theologian, Hans Küng has said, “There'll be no peace among the nations until there is peace among the religions,” and I have a millennial vision of a time when all of the religions will respect each other and enrich each other and teach each other and live together, hand in hand, in the harmony that alone can reflect the Creator's purpose. It will happen. What happened on New Year's Eve? From the far South Sea Islands, around the globe, in our own living rooms and kitchens, as a human family we celebrated the turn of the millennium. Has there ever before been such an event celebrated by the whole human family around the whole globe, celebrating all together the movement from the second to the third millennium in such a world? Let us rejoice in that light that has come to us in Jesus Christ that points us to Light Inaccessible and join arms and hearts with all of those of good heart who, likewise, have experienced the eternal and in their own way and own manner bring praise and worship to the eternal God. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany Sunday Series A Millennial Vision Scripture Text Isaiah 49:6, Matthew 2:9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20000109 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-01-09 Title A name given to the resource Light of the World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 9, 2000 entitled "Light of the World", as part of the series "A Millennial Vision", on the occasion of Epiphany Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 49:6, Matthew 2:9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Epiphany Global Peace Pluralism https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6614e106eb4a68b3d3c091bb2d5cd015.jpg 834c3dde3e48374ef2e52cf40277520b 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 Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 Merrill_EastmanAlbum_3_1911-1915_53 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1913-08-07 Title A name given to the resource Lighthouse east of Cap Tourmente Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a lighthouse east of Cap Tourmente, Québec. A sailboat can be seen on the water on the left side of the image. Water damage is visible on the image, which was scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Boats Québec Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 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/84a2fe7f198ac2f9a2c28c1f4357cb7d.jpg 5adc1bb0c4f62c89f6705b13ba598bb0 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7b5dbeb3c344fb7457e5d2339b3fa356.jpg f86a5c690bc8f6a7685ec722ed28657e 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 Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman) Termaat, Peter N. Description An account of the resource Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar. Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1869 - 2012 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a> Subject The topic of the resource Netherlands Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945 World War, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands Dutch Dutch Americans Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Text Image Type The nature or genre of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng nl Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. 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 RHC-144_Termaat_PHOT_1959-Lijsje-Hennipman-Atlantic-crossing-recto-img496 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Unknown Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1959 Title A name given to the resource Lijsje Schuurman-Hennipman, 1959 Description An account of the resource Photograph of a group of women and one man seated on the deck of a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Lijsje Schuurman-Hennipman is second from left. Subject The topic of the resource Dutch Transatlantic voyages Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg 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/a632a78564ac8e6aabcdbd10e36b3f3f.mp4 0d9e6174e5f2bd8eb76ffc7176965207 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/71eba57feb42f8e4284510d0172f56c5.pdf 8cad0eac5c4e4067f8521d4863fcc8c2 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project Interview World War II James Lilley Length: 51:47 (00:20) Background Information • • • • • • James was born in Ferndale, Michigan in 1922 His mother was a housewife and his father was chief engineer for Pontiac Motors He has 2 brothers and 2 sisters James graduated from high school in 1940 He then began working with his father in an apprenticeship that lasted for 2 years When he was 17 he found himself very interested in planes and wanted to join the Air Force (4:40) Air Force Cadet Program • James was sent to St. Petersburg, Florida in the summer of 1942 for ground school • They stayed in a hotel that the government had converted and fitted with barracks • He was the youngest cadet in the program and was interested in becoming a fighter pilot • There was a lot of book work; they had engineering classes and learned about military procedure • After the cadet program he went through flight simulation training in Illinois (9:26) Flight Training • James was sent to Santa Ana, California for flight school • They worked with an instructor and flew in small, twin-engine training planes • James was classified into a fighter pilot after training and was then sent to flight school in Las Vegas • They flew P-63 fighter planes that were equipped with gun cameras • He left the base on the weekends to go into town and would occasionally gamble in Las Vegas (14:20) Saipan • James left from California and flew to Saipan • They landed in a very dense jungle area and were automatically put on high alert • The men were supposed to let others know that they were pilots because there were many Japanese snipers trying to take out all the pilots • They were not allowed to be a group with more than 4 pilots at once because others had been attacked with enemy grenades �• • • They had gunners that guarded their tents and were even guarded while going to the bathroom There were about 7,000 natives on the island and most of them did not like the Americans James flew P-51 mustangs, working to escort B-24 Bombers and B-29s throughout the Pacific (19:25) Pacific Missions • James was very scared before he took off on his first mission • They had been preparing to take Iwo Jima so that they could put their fire squadron 1800 miles off the coast of Japan • When taking off from Saipan, they could not escort the B-29s completely through their mission because the Mustangs could not carry enough fuel • If their base was on Iwo Jima, they could escort the B-29s through the entire mission to Japan • James had been ordered to drop napalm over caves that held Japanese soldiers in Iwo Jima • The island was covered in volcanic ash and very hard to walk on; much worse than sand • About 22,000 Japanese soldiers were killed on Iwo Jima and only about 100 were taken prisoners; nearly 8,000 US troops had died on the island • They were able to secure the island and build runways for their base (24:42) New Base • James and other pilots continued living in Quonset huts and there was decent food on the island • The pilots were still to remain silent and were all guarded; they could not even write home to their families • James flew 25 missions altogether and had 3.5 confirmed kills • He worked a tight schedule with no surprise missions in the middle of the night • He had not been expecting anything when he learned that the bombs had been dropped over Japan • James had never seen such a large explosion and was not sure what would happen with the war afterwards �(28:55) Last Mission • James had been attempting to help a downed B-29 when he was hit by a Japanese 20 mm • His left leg was shattered and he lost control of his plane • He had to crash land on Iwo Jima with his wheels down • James was rushed into a first aid hut and then later transferred to a hospital in Saipan • He was later sent to Hawaii and then another hospital in Washington • James was able to sign paperwork and get discharged in 1946 (33:35) After the Service • James had gotten married while living in Las Vegas and his wife remained there waiting for him • They moved together to Birmingham, MI and shortly later to Grand Rapids, Michigan • James was able to get a job working for Rapid Design Engineering • He then became the chief engineer for Butterball Farms and remained there for 20 years (41:10) Retirement • James retired from his job after twenty years and found that he was bored • He worked part time at Menards until 2007 • James now belongs to the Fighter Group from the Air Force Reserve and they meet twice a year in Grand Rapids for dinner parties � 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 Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- 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 Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American 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 Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. 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 LilleyJ Title A name given to the resource Lilley, James (Interview outline and video), 2009 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lilley, James Description An account of the resource James Lilley was born in Ferndale, Michigan in 1922. He graduated from high school in 1940 and then spent two years in an apprenticeship with his father at Pontiac Motors. James enlisted in the Army Air Forces and went through basic training in St. Petersburg in the summer of 1942. James later went through flight school in California and trained to be a fighter pilot. After training James was stationed in Saipan where he escorted B-29s on their missions over the Pacific. James helped secure Iwo Jima and shortly after was injured on his last mission. He was discharged in 1946 and began his career in engineering. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McCauslin, Kelly (Interviewer) Spring Lake District Library (Spring Lake, Mich Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Air Forces World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2009-01-31 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives