510 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3e59ad1d942642bd7f99c2742807430f.mp4 d96191bf1f591ec00c736ac6f76b14e2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0c2150b7c8c9e47c200be6fbae055471.pdf a249e100ad4250c46cd7320e2cd8a361 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Fred Litty WWII (German Civilian)/Korean War 1 hour 18 minutes 20 seconds (00:00:12) Early Life and Moving to Germany -Born in Yonkers, New York in 1930 -Had an uncle on his mother’s side living in New York City area that had helped his parents -Family lived in New York for about four and a half to five years -Mother, who was from Germany, wanted to return to her homeland -He, one sister, and his mother moved to Germany in spring 1935 -Lived with relatives in Berlin -Father and his other sister came over later -Family lived together in a suburb of Berlin called Lankwitz -Attended school there -Father worked in the German equivalent of General Electric (00:03:49) Awareness of Nazism While Growing Up -Teachers had to be approved by the Nazi Party -Doesn’t recall being brainwashed by them, at least in an aggressive way -Recalls that Hitler did a good job of protecting his image -When the war ended Hitler’s true identity was revealed to the German people -Schools pushed enrollment in, and the government mandated joining, the Hitler Youth -To many Germans, it didn’t seem like an odd thing to have -Indoctrination was definitely occurring in Hitler Youth camps -Some normal values were being instilled though, besides the politics -As he got older he started to realize that the news was biased -Noticed that Hitler made a point of being, or appearing to be, friendly with Christians (00:08:17) Awareness of Pre-War Tension -Noticed an increase in the amount of subjective news being broadcast -Father was too old to be drafted before the war, but eventually was in 1942 -And he himself was too young -Hitler Youth began to engage in war games -Later on realized that it was preparation -Either for when they served in the German Army -Or for if the Nazi regime needed to use Hitler Youth as a reserve force (00:09:12) World War II Pt. 1 -He was only eight years old when Germany invaded Poland and the war began -He remembers how the state made it apparent that Germany was being victorious -Defeat of any country that it went up against -Made it seem that Germany controlled most, if not all of Europe, without issue -Also convinced the German public that they had been attacked and provoked -His parents started to become suspicious of the Nazi regime -Why would Germany have so many enemies? -How is any of this logical? �-Aryan ideology started to become more fervently espoused -Anti-Semitic policies and feelings increased dramatically -Regular people were being socially conditioned -Controlled by authority figures and vindicated by pseudo-science/philosophy (00:15:01) World War II Pt. 2 -In 1943 the tide of the war began to turn against Germany -By this time his father was now in the German Army -He had been deployed to the Eastern Front -Worked as a truck driver -Forever emotionally scarred by being included in war crimes -German children were being moved to safe areas by order of the government -One such area was a ski lodge in the mountainous area of southern Poland -Another area was a resort on the Baltic Sea -Went there in the spring of 1943 -Recalls that it was a vacation -Lessons on Nazism then playtime -While there heard the bombs being dropped on Peenemunde (famous air raid) -After Peenemunde Air Raid he and his sister were sent home to Lankwitz (00:20:18) World War II Pt. 3 -The night he came home from the Baltic Sea their suburb was bombed -Went into the basement of their apartment complex when the sirens went off -Went into a particular corner with his mother and sisters which saved him -Could feel the pressure of the bombs going off outside -Apartment inevitably collapsed on top of them -Destroyed part of their apartment -Rescued by German civil guards -Upon leaving the rubble noticed that everything was engulfed in flames -He and his family went to a nearby park and collected themselves -The next day the area was still on fire -Any kind of loud rumble still triggers strong emotions (00:27:09) End of the War Pt. 1 -He and his family were moved to a local German Army training camp first -Had to find a place where they could live besides a military installation -Went and lived with an uncle in Saxony -Stayed there from August 1943 to August 1944 -He was still able to attend school even during the war -Eventually regrouped with his mother and sisters in a small, rural German village -North of Berlin and very close to the end of the war -Father was still fighting in the German Army -Worked and lived on a farm in that area (00:29:24) End of the War Pt. 2 -When Germany surrendered the Russians entered the area he was living in -Germans had a good relationship with the Allied Forces -Germans did not have a good relationship with the Soviet Forces -Russians committed atrocities against German civilians -Theft and rape were extremely common �-Lack of discipline or professionalism in the Red Army -Once had a drunk Russian soldier threaten to execute him and a friend -Another time two Russians dragged him and a group of friends into the woods -Going to be executed -One of the boy’s mothers and a family member showed up -The two women were raped -Boys were allowed to go free -Atrocities continued throughout the summer of 1945 until order returned to the region (00:36:50) Post War Germany -Father returned home from the war and the family moved back to Berlin -Got a small rental property in September 1945 -After a few months a sense of order began to return to Germany -Whole blocks of Berlin were still piles of rubble though -Went back to school and a sense of normalcy began to return to life -Living in Berlin was still precarious -Surrounded by territory occupied by the Red Army -Family lived in the American Sector of Berlin -Made it easy to establish that he and his sister were U.S. citizens -Got treated very well by the American authorities -Eventually he and sister were approved to return to the United States as citizens -While in Berlin the Allied troops were very respectful of the German civilians -As long as you followed the rules and behaved you were treated well -Given aid when it was needed -Even after the war the Allies still provided them with food and basic luxuries (00:42:23) Moving to the United States -He and his sister returned to the U.S. with other German-American expatriates -Boarded a troop ship bound for America in Bremerhaven, Germany -Landed in New York City in 1946 -Lived with uncle that lived in New York City -Stayed with him until their parents and sister came over three years later -Adjusted quickly to American life -Instantly felt welcomed and immersed into American society -Never felt animosity from Americans -Most Americans were, if anything, curious about what it had been like -When parents came over his father found work relatively quickly in America -Family moved into an apartment together -Enjoyed being in a safe environment after enduring World War II in Germany -Was able to attend high school -Wound up graduating and only being a year older than his classmates -Attended day and night classes at a local college to become an engineer (00:48:37) Getting Drafted into the U.S. Army and Training -He was living with his parents when the Korean War began -At the time he was twenty years old -Got drafted in October 1951 -Had just begun his second year of college -Also had a job in a drafting and design department in downtown New York City �-Sent to Oahu, Hawaii for basic training -Spent sixteen weeks in Hawaii for basic and infantry training (00:51:11) Details on Basic Training -The Hawaiian environment was hard to adjust to -Trained day and night -Went to Waikiki Beach -Adjacent to Pearl Harbor -Average, expected emphasis on discipline by the drill instructors -Lived in Schofield Barracks -Open and spacious living quarters -Relatively small Army installation -Didn’t have any training that was unusually difficult, or easy -Adjusted fairly quickly to military living -The only thing that bothered him was the complaining from other recruits -Felt that it was a good training experience (00:55:20) Deployment to Korea -After training he was given a short leave -Returned to New York from California and had to pay his own way -Expensive trip -At the end of his leave he had to report to Camp Stoneman, California -Left San Francisco, California on a troop transport bound for Korea -Remembers eating well on the voyage over -Landed in Pusan, South Korea -Assigned to the 27th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division -He was made a part of mortar platoon -Arrived in May/June 1952 -Most heavy fighting was already over with and a stable front had been established (00:59:05) Korean War-Frontline Duty -Only went to the front to secure the line in the event of a breach -Stationed in a large valley surrounded by hills and mountains -Duty consisted of night patrols and probing enemy positions -Basically letting North Korean and Chinese forces know there was an American presence -He noticed there was a heavy use of turncoat spies by U.S. forces -Used North Korean POWs to go collect information -He and his unit once had to recover a unit that had gotten stuck in a minefield -Sent in as a rescue and recovery team since the other soldiers were wounded -The enemy was aware they were there, but decided not to engage them -Knew that engagement would mean heavy retaliation -Stayed on the frontline for six weeks (01:02:50) Korean War-Office Duty -A position opened up in a rear office -Meant a longer stay in Korea, but it would get him out of a combat position -Late in the summer of 1952 he took the rear position -He didn’t want to be in a position where he might have to kill or hurt someone -Assigned to a record keeping position �-He and the other record keepers slept in tents -Very cold during the winter -Had to make efficient use of stoves and sleeping bags -They operated in an impoverished, agricultural area -Job consisted of record keeping for a company in his regiment -Kept track of what each soldier and unit was doing on a daily basis -Didn’t take any casualties in his area (01:07:20) Korean War-Downtime and Relationship with Civilians -Allowed to go off base when off duty -Had to use caution when doing so -Landmines were still a prevalent threat in the area -Americans were viewed as heroes by the South Korean farmers -Had been saved from the onslaught of North Korean soldiers by the U.S. -Had a three day R&R in Seoul and Japan -Flew over to Japan on the world’s largest aircraft at the time -Slept in clean beds, ate very well, and given haircuts -Not long after his R&R the Armistice was signed and the war was over (01:12:00) Korean War-End of War and Coming Home -In early September 1953 soldiers started to return home -He stayed in Korea for a total of fourteen months -Returned home to New York City and was discharged from the Army there -Discharge process took about two days -Welcomed home by the parents (01:13:25) Life after the War -Went back to school and completed the engineering course -Had to register for classes the same day he got discharged from the Army -Got a bachelor’s degree in engineering -Became a mechanical engineer -Worked for a variety of companies before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan -As time went on became involved with companies that were moving into aerospace equipment -Got a job with an aerospace company in Grand Rapids, Michigan (01:15:10) Reflection on Experiences and Service -Listening to other’s experiences from WWII has filled in the gaps for him -The stories he has heard has brought to life the true horror of the war -Felt blessed by God in light of what he has survived/escaped and what others have endured -Has deep admiration for the resolve that those who suffered have -Writing memoir has forced, and allowed him to reexamine his memories -Pressure free reexamination -Allowed him to better understand his experiences during WWII and Korea � 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 LittyF1587V Title A name given to the resource Litty, Fred (Interview outline and video), 2014 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Litty, Fred Description An account of the resource Fred Litty is a Korean War veteran that also was a civilian living in Germany during World War II. He was born a U.S. citizen in Yonkers, New York in 1930, but at the age of five his family moved back to Germany and lived in a Berlin suburb. He describes his experiences before and during the war, discussing the Hitler Youth program, his father's military service on the Eastern Front, surviving bombing raids, multiple moves, and finally the atrocities committed by the Red Army in 1945. As a US citizen, he was allowed to move to the American sector of West Berlin, and he and his family returned to New York. In October 1951 he was drafted into the U.S. Army and was deployed to fight in the Korean War. He was assigned to a mortar platoon of the 27th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division. He served on the front line for six weeks until he was reassigned to a position in the rear in record keeping, and returned home and was discharged in 1953. 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 Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American United States. Army 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 2014-03-20 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1e0791e50679767de2b5a00b646fc76f.jpg 7390efcb166bce4be5701d0b6aac1d21 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 Ronald Oakes collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oakes, Ronald Description An account of the resource Collection of photographs by Ronald Oakes, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, and in the U.S. National Guard in the Iraq War. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1968/2005 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/628">Ronald Oakes Vietnam and Iraq war photographs (RHC-80)</a> 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 Iraq War, 2003-2011 Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Veterans Photographs Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Relation A related resource Veterans History Project interviews, RHC-27 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-80 Language A language of the resource eng 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-80_Oakes-Vietnam-Scan-080728-0017 Title A name given to the resource Live 81 mm round Subject The topic of the resource Vietnam War, 1961-1975 United States--History, Military Marine Corps Military life Soldiers Photographs Description An account of the resource White object in the center-right of the photo is a live 81 mm illumination round that went through Oakes' poncho and landed between his head and the Gunnery Sgt's head during a night firing in a rain storm. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Oakes, Ronald Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Ronald Oakes Vietnam and Iraq photographs (RHC-80) Veterans History Project interviews, RHC-27 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Vietnam War 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> 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/c8cd4905dff30703788410f354c0281c.mp3 d2d742015fcfb73eeef539e1506002e4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide IV Scripture Text Job 19:25-26, I Peter 1:3 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19890416 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1989-04-16 Title A name given to the resource Living a Doxology Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 16, 1989 entitled "Living a Doxology", on the occasion of Eastertide IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 19:25-26, I Peter 1:3. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/158e652a23c89d86678ecac8b18f738a.mp3 145306282dd88be32b6acf1df72eadd1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Thanksgiving Day Scripture Text II Corinthians 9:11-12 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19861127 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1986-11-27 Title A name given to the resource Living a Wow! 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 27, 1986 entitled "Living a Wow!", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 9:11-12. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/efa87a05ef4bf1c92c035b5442ec6b72.mp3 5c77b3f06765d9789d7d5cad8a3f994f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b818a3401034b8939c347399695986cb.pdf 2c4decf99ca9df05a70e6e9d24bc6607 PDF Text Text Living Before the Face of God Baccalaureate Sunday Text: I Timothy 6:11-16 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 5, 1988 Transcription of the spoken sermon But you, man of God, must shun all this, and pursue justice, piety, fidelity, love, fortitude, and gentleness. Run the great race of faith and take hold of eternal life. For to this you were called; and you confessed your faith nobly before many witnesses. Now in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Jesus Christ, who himself made the same noble confession and gave his testimony to it before Pontius Pilate, I charge you to obey your orders irreproachably and without fault until our Lord Jesus Christ appears. That appearance God will bring to pass in his own good time -God who in eternal felicity alone holds sway. He is King of kings and Lord of lords; he alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light. No man has ever seen or ever can see him. To him be honour and might for ever! Amen. ... I Timothy 6:11-16 (NEB) Commencement is a time of the giving of many speeches and most of them can be lumped in the category of moral imperative, an urging of graduates to plunge into life with seriousness of purpose and diligent effort, to pursue lofty goals, to live by high ideals and to strive for nobleness of life. Who could argue with that? Surely this is a good occasion for such stirring rhetoric. What is usually missing, however, and in the context of public education necessarily is missing, is any foundation for such moral urging. One might well raise the question to much commencement speechmaking, "Why?" It is the "Why" I want to address on this Baccalaureate Sunday. From the perspective of biblical faith, the reason one ought to enter seriously into life with discipline and purpose and live fruitfully, creatively and significantly as a catalyst for the betterment of one's world and society is because one is not one's own; rather life is a gift and is lived before the face of God. It is the consciousness of God, the Living God, the Creator of the Universe, the gracious, saving God revealed in Jesus Christ, that shapes human life into a faithful response, pointing one to the highest and best and fullest realization of one's potential. © Grand Valley State University   �Living Before the Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   The text this morning might seem to lead us down the pathway to another instance of moralistic cheerleading: Pursue justice, piety, fidelity, love, fortitude and gentleness. Run the great race of faith and take hold of eternal life. Good counsel, to be sure; who would argue with such encouragement? But, again, why? Let me try to answer that and thereby avoid the pitfall of another blind call to goodness and duty. The call to serious, disciplined living here is based on the assumption that one is not one's own. Note the address, "But you, man of God." Is that a technical designation of one in Christian ministry? Perhaps in this instance. Yet it is not to be so limited. The biblical assumption from beginning to end is that God is God and the human person lives before the face of God. That is stated expressly in verse 13: Now in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Jesus Christ... The solemn charge to duty is given "in the presence of God," but what is explicitly stated as the context of this charge is true for us all at all times and in all circumstances. We live before the face of God. God is the great reality embracing all of nature and history and God is the ground and goal of our lives as well as the origin, preserver and finally the goal of all existence. Since the 18th Century, the Enlightenment Movement in France and Germany, our thinking has been secularized. Reality has been bifurcated in such fashion that the world has been viewed as a self-contained system running on its own with its own natural law and bound together in a chain of cause and effect. God, if God is still retained as a reality or possibility, is outside the reality of history and nature. If God is given place at all in the natural world and the drama of history, it is at specific points of intervention, still maintained by the religious but even that is denied by the thoroughgoing naturalist. In the philosophical movement, which gradually filtered down to popular thinking, this removal of God from historical existence and the natural world was spoken of as emancipation. Just as Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed the slave, so clearing the world of God was thought to give space to the human person to develop potential and carve out a destiny free from the oppressive restraints of religion. Much religion was and is oppressive. Much coercion and manipulation by religion has done untold damage to human personality and bound the human spirit in a strait jacket of fear and guilt and neurosis. Let that be freely acknowledged. © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   But, that being candidly admitted, it must be recognized that a godless world and a godless existence is a dismal business leading not to creative freedom and selfexpression, but rather to a dead end of hopeless futility. It is the absence of a sense of the reality of God that is responsible for much of the malaise, the ambiguity, the confusion, the moral crisis of our present world. In a Christian Century editorial (June 1,1988), James M. Wall addresses the loss of the transcendent source of moral values, the loss of a norm beyond the standards of individuals or communities. Entitled "Ed Koch, Call Your Office," the editorial suggests that from time to time one ought to check in to determine if one is still aligned with what is true and good and right - call your office. Koch roused the Jewish community in New York City against the black democrat candidate, Jesse Jackson, in the recent primary. Wall suggests Koch acted as though a moral compass were irrelevant. He goes on to declare, The ethical crisis in our public life stems not from the lack of parochial ethical standards but from the failure to turn to any transcendent standard in making decisions as individuals or as communities. We are not calling our offices because there is no one there to take the call. And if we did call, we would get only a recorded message we ourselves had made, advising us to do whatever will enhance the bottom line, make us feel good or guarantee a profit and/or a victory, preferably both. Examples of this attitude abound in contemporary society. In addition to Koch, they include Ed Meese in the Justice Department and Ivan Boesky on Wall Street. The dominant operative mind-set tolerates and actually encourages a rudderless moral climate. Modernity has brought us incredible advances in the way we live, but it has left us in a situation where we do not know how to live. The prevailing standard is victory, not values.... Wall quotes a Czech-born novelist, Milas Kundera, (The Art of the Novel, p. 2) who regards Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, ... Kundera regards Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote as the first novelist of the modern era who captured what it means to exist in a society that puts all its emphasis on knowing a lot about little pieces and cares nothing about the largest piece of reality. It was during Cervantes's era that Western civilization began to assume that the only reality that matters is that which is subject to measurement. The central authority for all existence had once been called God, and that authority's representative on earth was the church. Both of these entities were pushed into a sacred reservation to keep them out of harm's way, while rational and wise men (never women) pursued knowledge. Or as Kundera puts it: © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   As God slowly departed from the seat whence he had directed the universe and its order of values, distinguished good from evil, and endowed each thing with meaning, Don Quixote set forth from his house into a world he could no longer recognize. In the absence of the Supreme Judge, the world suddenly appeared in its fearsome ambiguity; the single divine Truth decomposed into myriad relative truths parceled out by men. Thus was born the world of the Modern Era... [p. 6]. I cannot begin to draw out and document the disillusioning end of the demise of God in the modern world, but if you are really interested in one person's account of where we are after a century of Nihilism filtered down to popular understanding, read Allan Bloom's book. The Closing of the American Mind, whose subtitle reads, "How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today's Students." Nihilism is a philosophy, a world and life view that denies any reality beyond the human mind and system of values. There is no God, no ultimate source of truth or goodness. It is all simply human devising. Nihilism means Nothingness. Hans Küng, in Does God Exist?, defines Nihilism as "The conviction of the nullity of the internal contradiction, futility and worthlessness of reality." (p. 388) Bloom traces the line from Nietzsche’s philosophical ideas to contemporary American Society where the denial of any Absolute is a given, but where the resultant chaos of right and wrong, truth and error has led to the recognition of the need for values clarification. The problem is there is no transcendent reference, no absolute standard or norm. Consequently, one must determine one's own values and then live authentically in the light of those values. Since there is no norm, one value is as valid as the next and tolerance rules over all. Bloom writes, My grandparents were ignorant people by our standards, and my grandfather held only lowly jobs. But their home was spiritually rich because all the things done in it, not only what was specifically ritual, found their origin in the Bible's commandments, and their explanation in the Bible's stories and the commentaries on them, and had their imaginative counterparts in the deeds of the myriad of exemplary heroes. My grandparents found reasons for the existence of their family and the fulfillment of their duties in serious writings, and they interpreted their special sufferings with respect to a great and ennobling past. Their simple faith and practices linked them to great scholars and thinkers who dealt with the same material, not from outside or from an alien perspective, but believing as they did, while simply going deeper and providing guidance. There was a respect for real learning, because it had a felt connection with © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   their lives. This is what a community and a history mean, a common experience inviting high and low into a single body of belief. I do not believe that my generation, my cousins who have been educated in the American way, all of whom as M.D.s or Ph.D.’s, have any comparable learning. When they talk about heaven and earth, the relations between men and women, parents and children, the human condition, I hear nothing but clichés, superficialities, the material of satire. I am not saying anything so trite as that life is fuller when people have myths to live by. I mean rather that a life based on the Book is closer to the truth, that it provides the material for deeper research in and access to the real nature of things. Without the great revelations, epics, and philosophies as part of our natural vision, there is nothing to see out there, and eventually little left inside. The Bible is not the only means to furnish a mind, but without a book of similar gravity, read with the gravity of the potential believer, it will remain unfurnished. The moral education that is today supposed to be the great responsibility of the family cannot exist if it cannot present to the imagination of the young a vision of a moral cosmos and of the rewards and punishments for good and evil, sublime speeches that accompany and interpret deeds, protagonists and antagonists in the drama of moral choice, a sense of the stakes involved in such choice, and the despair that results when the world is "disenchanted." Otherwise, education becomes the vain attempt to give children "values." Beyond the fact that parents do not know what they believe, and surely do not have the self-confidence to tell their children much more than that they want them to be happy and fulfill whatever potential they may have, values are such pallid things. What are they and how are they communicated? The courses in "value-clarification" springing up in schools are supposed to provide models for parents and get children to talk about abortion, sexism or the arms race, issues the significance of which they cannot possibly understand. Such education is little more than propaganda, and propaganda that does not work, because the opinions or values arrived at are will-o'-the-wisps, insubstantial, without ground in experience or passion, which are the bases of moral reasoning. Such "values"" will inevitably change as public opinion changes. The new moral education has none of the genius that engenders moral instinct or second nature, the prerequisite not only of character but also of thought. Actually, the family's moral training now comes down to inculcating the bare minima of social behavior, not lying or stealing, and produces university students who can say nothing more about the ground of their moral action than "If I did that to him, he could do it to me" - an explanation which does not even satisfy those who utter it. Bloom concludes, © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Thus our use of the value language leads us in two opposite directions - to follow the line of least resistance, and to adopt strong poses and fanatic resolutions. But these are merely different deductions from a common premise. Values are not discovered by reason, and it is fruitless to seek them, to find the truth or the good life. The quest begun by Odysseus and continued over three millennia has come to an end with the observation that there is nothing to seek. This alleged fact was announced by Nietzsche just over a century ago when he said, "God is dead." Good and evil now for the first time appear as values, of which there have been a thousand and one, none rationally or objectively preferable to any other. The salutary illusion about the existence of good and evil has been definitively dispelled. For Nietzsche this was an unparalleled catastrophe; it meant the decomposition of culture and the loss of human aspiration. The Socratic "examined" life was no longer possible or desirable. It was itself unexamined, and if there was any possibility of a human life in the future it must begin from the naive capacity to live an unexamined life. The philosophic way of life had become simply poisonous. In short, Nietzsche with the utmost gravity told modern man that he was free-falling in the abyss of nihilism. Perhaps after having lived through this terrible experience, drunk it to the dregs, people might hope for a fresh era of value creation, the emergency of new gods. Perhaps no one has given finer expression to the reckless affirmation of selfdetermination apart from any tradition, community value or transcendent ground of existence than Frank Sinatra singing, "I did it my way!" Call the office? No need; no one is there. I did it my way! But, what of God? If God is God, then human life is lived before the face of God. Our text speaks of "The presence of God and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made a good confession." There we have a model set forth: Jesus before Pilate. Sinatra sings, "I Did It My Way!" Jesus trembles and cries out, "Nevertheless, not my will but Thy will be done." Can there be any starker contrast? Two different worlds. Two different conceptions of life and Reality. My Way! Thy Way! The whole life of Jesus was characterized by an overwhelming sense of living before the face of God. With Jesus, it was not a matter of finding out what works and doing it in order to become successful as the world judges success. Rather, it © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 7   was to determine the will of God and do it in spite of human approval or disapproval. Before Pilate he was strong, steady, unmovable. Tell me, if you had to choose, would you stand with Jesus knowing it would lead to crucifixion, or with Pilate thereby saving your power and position? What choice would you make? Of course, you would stand with Jesus - masterfully clear-eyed, strong, not with the pathetic Pilate, anxious, fearful, equivocating, vacillating. Who was really on trial? Who was really in command of the moment? Is it not abundantly clear that Jesus' "Thy will be done," freed him from every other bondage? True to God, therefore truly himself. They crucified him. But, Jesus reigns, and one day every knee shall bow to him, every tongue confess him Lord, to the glory of God! To the glory of God! The phrase sets the writer on fire. He breaks out into praise with a great doxology, as he calls to mind God Who will bring all things to their consummation in His own time, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. God Who in eternal felicity alone holds sway. He is King of kings and Lord of lords; he alone possesses immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen or ever can see him. To God be honour and might for ever! Doxology. That is the tone quality of a life lived consciously before the face of God. To live in the spirit of doxology is to live spontaneously, creatively in a constant sense of awe and wonder, awe and wonder before the mystery of God, the meaningfulness of existence, the sheer majesty of an eternal purpose already at work, in us, through us, moving from Creation to new creation. Doxology: The breaking forth of worship from one who is already participating in life that is eternal - that is life lived within our time and space, but breaking through those limits, breathing already the air of another reality, a transcendent dimension. ... take hold of eternal life. For this you were called. So enjoins the text. In John's Gospel, Jesus says, I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Again, he declares, © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 8   This is life eternal that they might know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. To live before the face of God is to live in the consciousness of a Reality beyond the limits of time and space, beyond the appearances empirically perceived, beyond the limited realm of nature that can be measured and of history that can be documented. To live before the face of God is to have a transcendent reference point, an absolute from which to measure, truth by which to discriminate the confusing clamor of claims to validity that play upon one. Doxology! Not passive resignation to Fate. Doxology! Not unprincipled yielding to what works, is effective, gets one by or brings one instant reward. Doxology! Not self-serving narcissism that aims at the instant gratification of desire, the pleasure principle - doing what feels good. Doxology! Not a spineless, careful, fearful failure to dare, to risk, to live, to love -satisfied with an obscene mediocrity. Doxology - The overflowing life that senses the very Creative Spirit of God rushing through it, reaching for the stars, dreaming the impossible dream, believing that there is so much more, unwilling to rest with what has been, dissatisfied with what is, always stretching, reaching, pushing the limits, knowing that the possibilities of Reality are as limitless as the God Who is the ground and goal of all that is. And so I call you to take hold of life eternal and I ground that challenge in who you are - a person, created in the image of God, the God Who is the source, the ground, the norm of all that is good and true and beautiful and whose purpose for you is the fullness of life in the present and beyond what eye has seen or ear heard or has ever entered the human heart's conceiving. That is to live fully, richly, creatively - that is to live before the face of God. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Baccalaureate Sunday Pentecost II Scripture Text I Timothy 6:12-14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19880605 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-06-05 Title A name given to the resource Living Before the Face of God Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 5, 1988 entitled "Living Before the Face of God", on the occasion of Baccalaureate Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Timothy 6:12-14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awe Baccalaureate Sunday Consciousness of God Mystery of God Transcendence Values https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c35ef3f269bd2608898f29714a20d01a.pdf 9314f7b24cb17020f041efa332106801 PDF Text Text Living Before the Face of God: Healed and Whole From the series: Meeting God Again For the First Time Text: Habakkuk 3:18; Luke 19:9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 23, 1997 Transcription of the spoken sermon Marcus Borg, whose book, The God We Never Knew, has provided for me the themes of the preaching this fall, concludes the book with a chapter entitled, "Salvation: What On Earth Do We Mean?" You know that I like language and I like play on words and I love the way he has used an idiom in that title, for "what on earth do we mean" is borrowing that idiom "on earth," an expression which we use without reflection, although we know how to use it and when to use it. I heard it in my youth most often, when my father said to me, "What on earth are you thinking?" And we all use it with one another when there is something that we think is out of line, something out of order, something that is being misused or maybe some ugliness or some meanness. "What on earth are you saying?" "What on earth do you mean?" "What on earth are you doing?" It is interesting to study the derivation of idioms. I don’t know where that one came from, but I know this - that when we use it, we don’t really mean, "What on earth are you doing," as opposed to, "What on the moon are you doing?" or, "What on Mars are you doing." We don’t mean anything by "on earth." It’s just an expression that has come into our language and we use it. We know when to use it and how to use it, and everybody understands when we do use it. When a phrase becomes an idiom that is taken for granted, then it can be rolled back, then it can be restored to its literal sense to make a point. And that’s exactly what Marcus Borg does. "What on earth do we mean by salvation?" Not, "What is salvation in terms of eternal life?" Not, "What is salvation in the religious sense in which we usually think about it?" Marcus Borg has tried to get us to re-imagine, to re-think, and in this final chapter he challenges us to re-think salvation or to think again about salvation and its meaning and, as he has done throughout the course of the book, he has sought to focus our attention here rather than there. Now rather than then. On earth rather than in heaven. © Grand Valley State University   �Living Before the Face of God: Healed and Whole Richard A. Rhem Page 2   What on earth do we mean by salvation? In other words, what is salvation in my present experience? What does salvation mean for the here and now, my everyday existence? That hauls us up short, because we tend to think about salvation as that escape that God has provided us in order to save us from condemnation and to bring us to glory. In so doing, focus is other-worldly. It is of another age, and far too often it has far too little content relative to the life I am living right now. And I think that tragically we pour another-worldly content into it, failing to stop to think in order to experience salvation on earth, now, every day, in our ordinary days, in our ordinary life. Salvation. The word itself reminds us of salve. Salve is a healing ointment which we apply to wounds. Another word in that family is salvage. Salvation includes the salvaging of our lives. Salvation, then, speaks about healing and the move toward wholeness. The title of the sermon is "Healed and Whole," and I should qualify that, lest I imply that salvation is some status that we achieve or some achievement that we bring to ourselves as a finished product. Much rather, let me say, living before the face of God, healing and moving toward wholeness, because I believe that salvation is a process, not a product. It is that which is engaging our existence day by day, not something that has moved us from one status to another and guaranteed the future. Salvation. What on earth do we mean? I wish for a few moments you could disengage from everything you have ever been taught, ever heard about, ever thought about salvation. These old words become so encrusted with baggage, with nuances, connotations. And they’re so connected with particular experiences, people and places that it is very hard for us to break through and to think salvation in a fresh and clear manner. I know that we can’t wash our minds of all of that which has accrued over all of our years but, just for a moment, think with me about salvation on earth, the process of being saved, here and now. I suspect that most of us have moments when we ask ourselves, what on earth is my life amounting to? What on earth am I doing? What on earth am I giving myself to? What is my life? Where am I going? What of my life? Most of the time we’re busy enough so that we can get off that in a hurry and we can get on to important things like appointments and setting new goals and allowing the drivenness of our lives and our compulsions to keep us moving, not pausing long enough to allow those moments of serious reflection to penetrate to the depths, just to stay and to wait long enough with the questions. What is my life? But, sometimes it does happen. Perhaps some of you are experiencing those questions this morning. Maybe a medical diagnosis, a loss of employment, a loss of a loved one. Maybe just a boredom of ordinary days. And then there is that pause and that question. © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: Healed and Whole Richard A. Rhem Page 3   I suspect something like that was going on with Zacchaeus. We don’t know, but we are told that he was a chief tax collector, and that he was rich. So, externally, I suppose we would say Zacchaeus was doing all right. Of course, he had joined the enemy. He became an agent of the oppressing power; he was in the upper echelons of the tax bureaucracy and everyone hates tax people. And so, he had to make a decision. He could live, apparently, with the rejection of his fellow Jews, his countrymen. But something was going on. Something was eating at him. Maybe it was just that Zacchaeus no longer really liked Zacchaeus. We know something was going on because Zacchaeus scrapped his dignity and scrambled up a sycamore tree in order to get a glimpse of Jesus who was going to pass that way. The reputation of Jesus had preceded him. He was a person known for healing; he was a charismatic personality; he seemed to move multitudes and he had been an agent of the transformation of people’s lives, and I suspect that Zacchaeus was there on more than a celebrity hunt. I’m sure there were many who crowded around to see this person, but I suspect that anybody who goes to the measures that Zacchaeus goes to had something deeper in mind, and he must have been totally shocked to get the invitation of Jesus, who invited himself to Zacchaeus’ home. We’re not told a lot about it, except that Zacchaeus seemed to experience a total transformation, giving away half of what he earned, and being willing to restore fourfold to anyone whom he had defrauded. The story is just a little vignette, and the details aren’t there, but we can imagine something going on - a person suddenly stops to say, "What is my life? What on earth am I doing?", who encounters Jesus, drawing forth from Jesus the comment at the end, "Today salvation has come to this home." Salvation. Jesus didn’t say that Zacchaeus had been outside of the covenant and now came in. Indeed, he says he, too, is a child of the covenant. He, too, is a son of Abraham. No, it was something else that was going on internally with Zacchaeus. Maybe it was the dignity and the respect that Jesus accorded him, he being so used to being despised and rejected of all humankind. I can imagine that, when Jesus saw that little fellow up in the tree, called him down, watched him scramble, Jesus probably fell in love with him right there, maybe had a good bellylaugh. Maybe it was just that genuine human encounter, just the sense that someone looked at Zacchaeus as a human being, accorded him some dignity, some person-to-person reality that turned him inside out, transformed him. Jesus said that that was salvation. Jesus didn’t say a lot about repentance and faith and all of the stuff that we’ve barnacled that term up with. Jesus met a person and somehow or other must have said through body language or real language, "Zacchaeus, you are accepted." And Zacchaeus was changed forever. I love the description of grace that we have on the cover of your bulletin. It’s by Paul Tillich and I have never found anything that I think says it any better. I see Zacchaeus in those opening lines. Tillich says, © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: Healed and Whole Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The experience of grace strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. I wonder if that’s not what was going on with Zacchaeus, if that’s not what made him scurry up the sycamore tree. Can you identify with some of this? Those moments of reflection when we pause long enough to look ourselves in the mirror and what we see causes us to say, "What on earth am I doing? What on earth am I giving my life to? Who am I, anyway?" Tillich says it can happen at a moment like that. Maybe grace is experienced at a moment of encounter such as Zacchaeus and Jesus when ... a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you and the name of which you do not know. Tillich says, if it ever happens to you, ... Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted! If that happens to us, we experience grace. You see, he belabors the point because the whole gospel of Jesus Christ has been associated with the religion of performance. We can talk about grace until we are blue in the face, but it always brings with it all of the trappings of religion that involve repentance and obedience and performance and that God Who is the monarch, the all-glorious king afar off, the God Who is the offended deity, Who, to be sure, loves us and has provided a way for the embrace, nonetheless is a God before Whom to be honest we cower because we know we can never measure up. So, Tillich says if there is ever such a golden moment in your life, just sit still, just wait, soak it in, absorb it. Don’t try to do anything. Don’t try to figure it out. Don’t intend anything; don’t perform anything; just let it soak in and accept it. I’m accepted. Just accept your acceptance! That must have been the experience of Zacchaeus, and it is really so simple because, you see, the gospel of Jesus Christ would not be good news if it brought with it some demand on our part, some performance, something we have to believe. How can you believe what you don’t believe? If you believe, it is a gift. Faith is a gift, not something you can generate within yourself, some path of performance. Well, that, too, is grace, the expression of our lives, the genuine, authentic expression of who we are. Grace is precisely that - it is the acceptance of who we are. © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: Healed and Whole Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Evangelism is not going into all the world and telling the story that can get a response from people. Evangelism, good news, evangel is to go into all the world and tell the whole world what is already true, what has been always true, eternally true, and will be eternally true. It is the proclamation, not of what we ought to as human beings do for God, but it is the proclamation of what God has done. If we could just accept it. And it is simple. You are accepted! You are accepted. There’s nothing you can do about it. You can never get away from it; it will embrace you, it will chase you. You cannot flee the presence of grace because God is not some monarch afar off, offended, our adversary, our enemy, someone to be appeased and propitiated. God is the one in whom we live and move and have our being, the one who embraces these children at the baptismal font, who passively receives, who goes with us through all our days and will be there at our end; the One Who heard our borning cry and at the end has one more surprise. If you could just accept it - you are accepted! And if you can hear it, then you still may get into dismay and confusion as Habakkuk when the enemy’s at the door and disaster looms on the horizon, and you may cry to God and you’ll hear the words that Habakkuk heard, "The just shall live by faith or by faithfulness." In other words, trust, trust, trust that you are accepted. Trust. And if you hear it, then you say, "Okay, okay. So the olive crop fails, no herds in the field, no cattle in the stall. Strip me naked. Lay me bare, and still I will rejoice in God my salvation, my salve, my salvager, the One who doesn’t loom on the other side of eternity waiting to check me in, the moral policeman, the gatekeeper." No, God is here now, trying to get through to us, "You are accepted. You are accepted. You are accepted." And if ever once the soul is seared with the burning, branding iron of grace, then nothing will shake us, nothing will move us, for we have learned in the inner corpuscles of our being that all is grace and all will be well, and that’s all there is to it, and that is what on earth we mean by salvation, and heaven will take care of itself! Reference: Marcus Borg. The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a more Authentic Contemporary Faith. HarperOne, 1998. Paul Tillich, “You Are Accepted,” Chapter 19, The Shaking of the Foundations. Charles Scribner & Sons, 1955. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30b24471b93930e6da17a43fc76ddb65.mp3 5335c7e7af47c15bff356d68b0d03a6c 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 XXVII Series Meeting God Again for the First Time Scripture Text Habakkuk 3:18, Luke 19:9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Marcus Borg. The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a more Authentic Contemporary Faith, 1998 Paul Tillich, "You Are Accepted," Ch. 19, The Shaking of the Foundations, 1955 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-0-19971123 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-11-23 Title A name given to the resource Living Before the Face of God: Healed and Whole 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 November 23, 1997 entitled "Living Before the Face of God: Healed and Whole", as part of the series "Meeting God Again for the First Time", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Habakkuk 3:18, Luke 19:9. https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/befcd6a9717ce1988cae2762beb203e5.pdf de1954b1bb8b583be2337cb95c306751 PDF Text Text Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension From the series: Meeting God Again For the First Time Text: Genesis 3:10; Psalm 130:1, 4; Psalm 132:1; Philippians 3:12 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 9, 1997 Transcription of the spoken sermon About three weeks ago, our house began to tremble and a check out the window revealed that, down the driveway next door just south of us, lumbered a great big Cat, some kind of heavy equipment. It had a steel arm that seemed two stories high that came, finally, to an iron jaw. The next morning the engine roared, the Cat positioned itself in front of the home that had sat next to ours as long as we had been there. The arm went up, the jaw came down on the flat-roofed dwelling and punctured through it, here, there, in another place – through that roof like it was nothing but tar paper. And then the arm raised up and the jaw moved over and down to the side and simply nudged the wall in and another wall in and another wall in, and before one knew it, that which had been a home in which to dwell was lying in fractured rubble on the basement floor. And then those jaws reached down and hungrily grasped all of the shattered fragments, lifting them up and depositing them in a dump truck that was waiting. Once all of the rubble was out of that floor, once again the arm rose up and moved over to the side of that poured concrete wall and just went, "Poof, poof, poof," and then crrrunched those slabs of concrete until again the jaws could come down and pick up the pieces and put them also in the truck and, within a day’s time, where a dwelling had been there was now simply a vacant lot, a sandbox. Demolition. Deconstruction. Dramatic. Changing the landscape. Not just for the fun of it, but in order that in that place there might rise a new dwelling, to the end that my tax appraisal will go up. Deconstruction, demolition is a part of the human experience in order that there might be reconstruction, new construction. An old and inadequate dwelling was demolished in order that a new house might arise more adequate to the moment, to the time, to the person. And, as I experienced that event, I saw an analogy of my ministry, a ministry of deconstruction, perhaps even demolition – I hope not with the brutality of that iron Cat. Nonetheless, for the same purpose. The analogy breaks down at one point. In the case of the house, there was total demolition, total clearing of the space before the new construction could begin. In © Grand Valley State University   �Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 2   the case of my teaching and preaching ministry, it is necessary, obviously, that there be deconstruction and, simultaneously, construction, that there be dismantling and, at the same time, mantling anew, lest we be left for a time with no place to dwell. But, the purpose is the same, and the deconstruction and the dismantling that must always take place in terms of our faith dwelling is not in order to demolish, but to clear the space for something new and more adequate to our ongoing knowledge and human experience. It has always been that way in the faith journey of the people of God. Jesus stood in the line of the Hebrew prophets. Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew. His devotion, his worship, his communion with God was within the parameters of his Jewish experience. But he reached into that structured religious establishment and rearranged some rooms and created some new spaces, challenging the conventional wisdom that had moved God afar off. He brought God near, the unbrokered presence of the God Who was accessible to all. And, of course, he paid for it with his life. It was the same throughout 2000 years of church history, but perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in the 16th century. We are the children of the Reformation, that disruptive event in the life of the church that tragically tore asunder the body of Christ, and yet necessarily dismantled and deconstructed an institution that had become overlain with forms and structures that blocked and hindered and obstructed the flow of the grace of God rather than aiding that flow. It must have been difficult for people in the 16th century, at the time itself. I think, for example, of those who came to the altar for the bread and the cup, believing that when the bell sounded at the altar and the priest invoked the spirit of God there was a miracle that occurred, the transubstantiation of the bread and the wine into body and blood, literally. Martin Luther had a hard time moving away from that. His fine distinction was that the bread remains bread and the wine remains wine, but the body is above and around and under the physical element that doesn’t change. Similarly with the cup, so that over against the transubstantiation of the Roman church, the Lutheran tradition had consubstantiation, con, that prefix that means "with." The body was with the bread; the blood was with the cup. I suppose there were those who were troubled when John Calvin suggested that it is neither transubstantiation nor consubstantiation, but rather that Christ is present spiritually when one receives bread and cup with faith. I suppose there were those who brought their children to the baptismal font and got the baptism executed and breathed a sigh of relief because the Catholic tradition taught that the child was born with original sin and that in the baptismal act, the grace of God removed the original sin and gave the child a fresh possibility, a new start, a start for the first time, as it were. I suppose there were those who were troubled when they brought their child to the baptismal font in Geneva, only to learn that there was no automatic grace attached to the act, for © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 3   the sacramentarian conception of things had been altered to where it was now the prayer and the faith that engaged the promise and brought the grace, but without that automatic guarantee. Throughout the history of the church, as human knowledge has expanded and human experience has grown, and reflection on the faith has continued, there has been that ongoing deconstruction, not in order to leave us naked and bare, but in order to clothe us anew with that which is more adequate, which is in accord with the broader spectrum of our human experience, so that one need not check one’s mind at the door and come in for mindless ritual or devotion but, rather, that one with mind and heart according well might offer one’s whole being to God. In these fall weeks we are re-imagining God, not simply because new is better or old is no longer valid in every case, but in order that we might meet God again for the first time, in order that we might have a fresh experience of the living God, a taste of new wine, that we might experience the presence of God, the illumination, the light of God on our total experience in a whole new way in order that it might be deeper and richer, in order that it might engage our whole being and our life of worship and our life generally might flow out of a center within us that is whole, in order that there might be cohesiveness in our life. Living before the face of God - that’s the purpose. That’s the end of our thinking and our rethinking. Our thinking and our rethinking are vitally important, but are always a step removed from what really matters. What really matters is the communion of the soul with God. What really matters is that we might live with that peace of God within us, that we might live with a kind of confidence and strength and serenity in the conscious awareness of the presence of God in whom we live and move and have our being. Sometimes it’s necessary to deconstruct some of our images and some of our systems and doctrines, because they become blocks. They no longer fit with that which we experience otherwise. They no longer illumine our lives, but they become, if they can be continued, just rote exercises that we do out of custom or superstition, rather than that which we do thoughtfully, with awareness, with attentiveness. Finally, all that we do here together is only for one purpose - that we might live before the face of God in a relationship that is personal. Let us be clear about that. What we are engaged in here week after week is sometimes a matter of deconstructing, but never as an end in itself, but always to aid and abet that living, personal relationship with God which is at the heart and center of our religion. The function of religion is the hatching of the heart; it is the opening of the self to the sense of the sacred, to the holy, to God. And in order to make that accessible, available, in order to create the environment, the setting in which that may happen, we stammer and stumble and we re-imagine, sometimes involving dismantling, but always in order to be mantled afresh with a sense of the gracious, living God. © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 4   The images we carry of God, as we have noted, are terribly important. That Genesis story pictures the Garden of Eden, that blissful place in which the human persons are placed, protected, innocent, and unaware. The image of God in that old Hebrew myth which is so profound in portraying our human experience, our relationship with God, conveys the image of a God Who comes into the garden from outside, Whose very presence brings with it fear and guilt to the human person who has engaged in that inevitable human act of wondering, experimenting. The church, I think, has missed the point of that garden scene, particularly through the interpretation of St. Paul. The experience of experimentation, that transgression, the coloring outside of the lines is called "the Fall." As a matter of fact, there is part of the liturgy of the church that recognizes that there was something more going on there. It is called The Paradox of the Fortunate Fall, because obviously that which evolved in the human being following that transgression was gain along with the pain. There was that inquisitiveness that brought knowledge and awareness and fear and guilt. There is in that story a reflection of that which is endemic to the human person, a sense of fear and guilt, a sense of treading over boundaries. Dwelling east of Eden now involves alienation and estrangement. Yet, who could say that they should have stayed within Eden in that innocent unawareness? In the Hebrew tradition, the images of God were churned as they wrestled with the concrete experience of their life in the presence of this Creator God Who could only be conceived of as sovereign lord and king in a hierarchical society that was structured from the top down. Yet, there was also a sense of the grace of God. The Psalmist, in Psalm 130, speaks out of the depths. Have you ever been in the depths? Have you ever had to cry out of the depths? Out of the depths I cry to you, O God. O God, if you should mark iniquity, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. And the forgiveness creates hope and newness. Here we have one model, one experience, but the experience of a personal relationship with God, the sense that there is a grace that embraces even the one who in the depths, in the crisis, feels estranged, alienated. The next Psalm is a poem of serenity out of creaturely humility, the human person being what the human person ought to be, not lifting up the eyes, not raising the sights too high, not haughty of spirit, and consequently, in that acceptance of the human condition, experiencing the presence of God as a child nursing at the mother’s breast. "O God, my soul is serene." Serenity through the awareness of God Who is Creator and I a creature. © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 5   But, there are also people like Paul whose lives are going down the road one way and who have an experience, cataclysmic and dramatic that turns them around in their tracks and, whatever that vision of Jesus involved, it issued in the transformation of Paul’s life. Was it for him also a moment of awareness? Did he suddenly see everything in a moment? What he saw clearly was that religious structures are transcended in that kind of experience. His wrath was raised when religious people came in after him, into the communities that he had formed, like the community in Philippi, with "religion." He calls them dogs; "Beware of the dogs, the mutilators of the flesh." Paul has been pictured in a thousand sermons as a classic case of conversion, obviously from Judaism to Christianity. It’s just not so. Paul in the 3rd chapter of Philippians denigrates not at all his Jewish experience. It was a very positive experience. It was a very adequate experience. It had the potential for mediating to Paul the God of Israel. But that mystical encounter which he had, relativized it, until he came to see, not Christianity, but the possibility, the experience of the reality of the communion of the soul with God. He was born a Jew and he died a Jew. He would never have sensed himself to be anything else, but I think he would have said, "It’s not so important that I’m a Jew anymore," and I don’t think he had the foggiest idea that he would be the founder of Christianity, which he was. Jesus didn’t found Christianity. Paul did. But he would have said the form doesn’t matter, because religion is not a ritual form or a doctrinal system. The experience of God transcends religious ritual and doctrine. All is transcended in the communion of the soul with God. Once the soul has been indelibly marked, when it has been seared with the seal of the presence of God, the reality of God, then all religious form and structure is relativized. Then use it or put it aside. But know that, in a moment of awareness, the presence, the embrace, the undergirding, the overshadowing of God – of the sacred and the holy that permeates the whole of reality – sustains, succors and nurtures and nourishes us. So, where are you? That was God’s question to that first couple cowering in the bushes. "Where are you?" "Hiding." "Why are you hiding?" "Well, we decided to be human." God knows our frame. God remembers that we are human. God made us that way. God didn’t create this whole vast cosmos and all the myriad millions of humankind in order with a blast of God’s breath to damn it all. God is the One in whom we live and move and have our being, who says, "Where are you?" Why don’t you just stop for a moment, for just for a moment. You could become aware, if you could just hear you are loved. If you could just break through as © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 6   Paul broke through and finally see that, if God is for us, who could be against us? That there is nothing in life or death or principalities or powers or things present or things to come, nothing in the heights or the depths, nothing in all creation that could ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. If for just a moment you could become aware, it would transform us forever and enable us to rest from our restlessness and be reborn with an energy that, with the Apostle Paul, we would say, "I press on with joy, seeking to grasp that which has grasped me." © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/002f0445ebe2a49ab830148f2a3a450a.mp3 6279c408b092c1d3ef29f955d24915f8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XXV Series Meeting God Again for the First Time Scripture Text Genesis 3:10, Psalm 130:1, 4, Psalm 132:1, Phil. 3:12 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-0-19971109 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-11-09 Title A name given to the resource Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension 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 November 9, 1997 entitled "Living Before the Face of God: The Personal Dimension", as part of the series "Meeting God Again for the First Time", on the occasion of Pentecost XXV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Genesis 3:10, Psalm 130:1, 4, Psalm 132:1, Phil. 3:12. Faith Journey Grace History of Church Re-imagining the Faith https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b9f08d479468c8f1d31fac7ff41f5f95.pdf 648844b3872966b310cab47d13bf6d19 PDF Text Text Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension From the series: Meeting God Again For the First Time Text: Micah 6:8; Matthew 6:10 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 16, 1997 Transcription of the spoken sermon I pulled a book from my shelves this week. It had been there for a long time. I always knew it was there, but I had never read it. I purchased it in the early 70's. It was published in 1970. To show you how ancient it is, it cost me $1.25. I pulled it down now because of its title, its title which I thought might have something of interest to say to the theme of this morning’s message, which is, "Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension." The title of that book is The Politics of God, and I smiled to myself as I realized that, from the time I came into the ministry until the present, I’ve done a 180° turn. When I came into the ministry, I was strictly warned not to bring politics into the pulpit. In fact, we all know that in polite conversation one is not to speak of religion or politics. In preaching it’s a little difficult not to speak about religion, although some do it successfully. But, politics – derived from the Greek word, polis, which means city – I’ve come to see, has everything to do with the biblical tradition on which we stand. The faith of Israel, which came to expression in Jesus, is from beginning to end very political in terms of its concerns for the polis, the city, or, extended, for the human community. The wellbeing of the human community is of extreme concern to the God of Israel, to the God Who comes to expression in Jesus Christ. One cannot be faithful to the biblical tradition without taking seriously the social dimension. It is there from beginning to end. While we ought never to neglect the personal dimension, as we said last week, it is the social dimension that is by far the major theme of the biblical tradition, and it is interesting to me that I could have missed that in all of my years of training and the early years of my ministry. But there are two ways to avoid that social dimension. I pursued the first way in the early years of my ministry. That is the way that is represented in the question – listen to the question, see if you recognize the question – "Where will you spend eternity?" Now, for one thing, that’s a question addressed to an individual and, secondly, it’s a question that takes the focus off the present and this world and focuses it on the world to come. I was very good at that. Most of you are happy you never knew me. I would have been trying to get you saved. Not so much to make your life © Grand Valley State University   �Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 2   good here now, but to get you secured for eternal life in heaven. That was my focus. I didn’t understand anything else. I thought that’s what it was all about. In the more recent decades, the social dimension of the biblical tradition has been avoided by an equally individualistic approach, but this time, the approach of self-fulfillment or peace of mind. It’s a focus on me and my comfortable adjustment in life. There was a very acute sociological analysis of American society published in 1985 called Habits of the Heart and, in that analysis of American society, American society was characterized by the phrase, "The therapeutic society." Not therapy in the sense of the clinical technique that deals with emotional or psychic disorder, but therapy in the sense of enabling us to be adjusted in our environment, in our situations. Now, there’s nothing really wrong with that, except to reduce the function of religion to be an agent for my personal adjustment is hardly worthy of the religious traditions that have marked the human family down through the centuries. But, in either case – whether the focus is on the individual to bring that person to personal salvation for eternal security in heaven, or whether it is on the individual to create peace of mind and self-realization here and now - what is missed is that social dimension which is in the scriptures from the beginning. Israel was born in a liberation movement. The founding event of Israel was the Exodus, and in those opening chapters of Exodus, you remember that the God of Israel was one who was understood to hear the cries of the people. It is stated in those opening chapters: the cries of my people have come to me, and God calls Moses to lead those slaves out of Egyptian bondage. Walter Brueggemann speaks about the royal consciousness of Egypt that had a totalitarian grip on the people who were held in oppressive economic exploitation. And that regime was legitimated by the royal priesthood. Israel moved out of that situation of slavery and into its own land and, for a couple of hundred years, lived under what we could describe as a theocracy. God was king. No more of that human monarch on the throne that led to oppression. But memory is short, and before long there was that debate within Israel. There were those voices saying we want to be like other nations. We need a king. And Samuel warned Israel about the implications of establishing a monarchy. But, nonetheless, it was established. And it went not so poorly with Saul and quite well with David, but you remember Solomon whose oppressive public works projects threw the people into servitude again, with economic exploitation and political oppression. It was a domination system all over again. But there was one thing that saved Israel from being just like all the other nations, because, with the rise of monarchy, came the voice of prophecy. If I were to name what gift Israel has given to the world, it would be that prophetic voice, that prophetic voice endowed with the spirit of God that had the courage to speak truth to power. That is the prophetic function and, in Israel’s history, that which © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 3   shaped it, made it unique was that prophetic voice that was always addressed to those who abused the people. I could have chosen most any prophet. I could have chosen passage after passage to illustrate what I am trying to say this morning, but I felt that Micah’s language was so descriptive as he addresses the leaders of Israel, addressing those who are responsible for the political and religious leadership of the nation. "You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin off my people and the flesh off their bones. You eat the flesh of my people, flay their skin off them, break their bones in pieces, chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a cauldron." He goes on to excoriate the prophets who play for pay, who have a word of peace for those who can pay, but no word at all for those who don’t put something in their mouth. He criticizes the priesthood which carries on an empty ritual, legitimizing a regime that is full of injustice, lacking all compassion. And then in his conclusion, he says, "Because of this terrible oppression of the vast majority of the people, Zion will be like a plowed field and Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins." Well, there are those who say, "Well, what should we do? Would the Lord like 1,000 calves, 10,000 rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn, the fruit of my body? Would this please the Lord?" To which the prophet says, "Look, you know what the Lord requires - to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. It isn’t that difficult." This was the prophetic description for a society marked by justice and compassion. That prophetic voice came to expression again in Jesus. Over against that politics of exclusion through temple rites and holiness and being the right kind of people, Jesus countered with a politic of compassion. We sang together the Lord’s Prayer in which Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray and in which we have the words,"Thy kingdom come." In other words, your rule prevail. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The focus is here and now. Thy will be done, here and now, as it is in heaven. The Sermon on the Mount, in which the Lord’s Prayer appears, also has the Golden Rule, which wasn’t original with Jesus and has come to expression in several different forms. But, as a matter of fact, it still is very much at the heart of the social concern, albeit in that more personal relationship: Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. And the very statement is in marked contrast to the rather flippant attitude of so much of contemporary society symbolized in a bumper sticker I saw recently which said, in Old English print, "Do Unto Others and Split." Jesus, in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets, called for a politics of compassion and embodied in his ministry, in his table fellowship, in his openness to all, that access to the grace of God and that embrace by God of all people. And it was in his challenge to that © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 4   established authority, reflecting very much the established authority of Micah’s day although without a reigning monarch, that Jesus was crucified. Someone has said that there were three times when the justice and compassion which God wills for society had been rejected - one time in the Hebrew monarchy, a second time in the ministry of Jesus, and then a third time when the emperor Constantine established the Christian faith. That establishment of the Christian faith by Constantine has often been characterized as the conquering of the empire by the Gospel, but has turned out in all truth to be the co-opting of the Gospel by the empire, because from 313 on, with the legitimization of the Christian faith, throne and altar once again came together. The throne created space for the altar and the altar legitimated the throne. Just as the kings of Israel had their retinue of prophets and priests who were paid to speak the party line and to speak no other line, just so the temptation of the church has been to baptize the regime rather than to stand over against it, in the name of the God of Israel, in the name of Jesus, and to say human community is to be structured other than the way it is. Well, what are we to do about it? It is such a massive problem. Are you aware that our world, our society, our global society and even particularly our American society are in a state of crisis, and that the crisis is not really a crisis of abortion or sexual orientation or crime on the streets? The crisis is rather the structures and the systems by which our societies are shaped and formed, the way in which they function. We are coming to see rather lately that the problem with the failure of human community is a systemic problem. It is not that there are not a lot of people of good will. It is not that there are not a lot of people who are trying to do good things. It is that the very way in which our systems, political and economic, are structured continue to exacerbate the problem rather than move us toward world community. In our own country, just to cite one facet of the crisis, there is a growing gulf between the rich and the poor. Let me give you some statistics, just to help you take that in. During the 1980s, 90% of the total increase in income went to the wealthiest 20% of the population. The remaining 10% of the increase was spread over 90% of the people. Obviously, that has to lead to the growing gulf between the rich and the poor. In 1963, the ratio of CEO salaries to average worker salaries in the same company was 41 to 1. Now, being the local CEO, I think that’s fair. 41 to 1. That was 1963. You know what it is now? 225 to 1. You know what it is in Germany right now? 20 to 1. In 1963, the wealthiest one percent of families owned 23% of the wealth in terms of homes and cars and stocks and savings. The wealthiest one percent owned 23%. In 1994, the wealthiest one percent owned 44%. In the U.S., the ratio of annual income received by the top 10% of the population compared to the bottom 10% is 6 to 1. For comparison purposes, in Finland it’s just over 2 to 1, in France, 2 ½ to 1, in Germany and the United Kingdom, 3 to 1. These statistics simply point to an inevitable growth in the gap between those who possess and those who lack. It is a trend. That’s the direction in which it’s moving. But those © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 5   particular statistics are only signs of something that can be seen in the social structures. Education, for example, is lacking severely in poor areas of urban blight, but is doing well in fortunate areas like ours. And yet, even here one doesn’t have to scratch too hard to find a begrudging of that which is the future of society. In those areas where wealth abounds, there are growing gated communities. Now, I like gated communities. I like to feel safe and secure behind those walls, to know that there is a guardhouse and a guard. And one can understand the growth in gated communities among the wealthy because there is so much crime and violence in society, and crime seems everywhere and out of control, and the need to build more prisons and to gain more prison beds is in the news all the time. Might we ask, might we ask why? Are American people simply more prone to crime? Or is there something in the social situation of our own country and our own time that is exacerbating that move to crime and violence? Are we so inured with the American dream? Are we so shaped by a consumerism culture that, failing to realize it, we turn violent? And is it possible that there can be human community where there is more crime on the street and more gated communities? We will not be able to survive that way. There is no human community that way. If you take God out of the equation, if you take human decency out of the equation, it is simply this, that any world that has people who have nothing to lose is a dangerous world. It cannot be a world of human community. It is simply a practical matter, of wisdom, even apart from God, even apart from the God of Israel, even apart from the way of Jesus, even apart from just plain human decency as we have been shaped by the biblical tradition. It is not an easy matter to address. I am not an economist. I am not a sociologist, and you must be tired of blustering rhetoric from the pulpit that would lay a layer of guilt in order to execute better performance. That’s not what this is about. It is extremely complex. It is a global problem. But, do you sense that it is a very real crisis in our world, and would anyone refute the fact that it is a central biblical concern and therefore that about which we must be concerned? Is it not true, as the followers of Jesus in the tradition of the God of Israel, that domination systems, economic exploitation and political oppression, poverty, hunger, people living below a subsistence level where there is nothing but hopelessness and despair - is that not something about which our souls should be wrenched? I was criticized after the first sermon because all I tried to do was raise the consciousness, whereas it was claimed I should have a passionate appeal to do something. Well, I’m not sure that it’s my responsibility to solve the problem. Why is it any more my responsibility to put the new system together than yours? Aren’t we in this together? There are those of you with greater expertise than me. And together, in community, if we are concerned about it, then ought we not to be putting our creative heads together and our creative caring, passionate souls together to say, "How in the world can we make this a more humane world?" © Grand Valley State University �Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension Richard A. Rhem Page 6   What would happen if we took our PAC money, Political Action Committee money, and pooled it and stormed Lansing and Washington and buttonholed our legislators and even greased their campaign fund a little and said to them, "What are you doing for the least of these, my brothers and sisters?" Rather than make sure you vote correctly on that amendment that will create a tax loophole so I can give more to Christ Community? You see, you don’t need a guilt-inflicting sermon from a preacher without expertise as to how to solve the thing. Hear me. Hear me. There is a social dimension to our faith and together we must address those structural, systemic problems that make for multitudes of humankind a human existence less than fully human. God cares, and we must care, too. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2c12c6f0dcec875c0e2de9196996ba51.mp3 09d5104dee4b9dc88eca42b11bade194 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XXVI Series Meeting God Again for the First Time Scripture Text Micah 6:8, Matthew 6:10 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19971116 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-11-16 Title A name given to the resource Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension 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 November 16, 1997 entitled "Living Before the Face of God: The Social Dimension", as part of the series "Meeting God Again for the First Time", on the occasion of Pentecost XXVI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Micah 6:8, Matthew 6:10. Compassion Inclusive Nature of Religion Prophetic Voice https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d85ebfe78b79d44c3c7eed8529ff1ca2.pdf a6c0c476ec08c5c7b8bbdb6d426a3b24 PDF Text Text Living By Yesterday’s Truths From the series: Good News Then and Now Text: Acts 21:21; Mark 2:22 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan October 3, 1999 Transcription of the spoken sermon After a month's hiatus I pick up again a series I initiated in the month of August. That was probably since many of you were not here for the first four messages and then we left off the series in September, which means those who were here have very little recollection of what we were attempting to accomplish. So, let me run through briefly my purpose and what we have pointed to thus far. The title is GOOD NEWS THEN AND NOW, by which I want to say that the Gospel or the good news of God's revelation and grace that appeared in Jesus Christ was Good News in its initial expression and as it has been in every age since, so it is now Good News. But, in order for that to be true, the formulation of that Good News has had to develop in ever-new expression. In order for the good news to be understood as good news, the Church has had to find fresh formulations in the ever-changing landscape of history's unfolding. Christ Community is bringing the grace of God to new and fresh expression in an intentional manner not happening in many places and we are doing it because we believe we have in the Christian tradition a treasure which it is incumbent upon us to translate into the idiom of our day so that it can address us and our generation with its gracious, redeeming truth as it has generations for 2000 years. We have a very special opportunity in November when Bishop John Shelby Spong, Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey, will be with us for a weekend dealing with his bold and prophetic claim that Christianity must change or die. Bishop Spong is controversial; prophets always are. And his book, which I will begin to discuss Wednesday evening, is a challenging address to the Christian Church, is criticized widely and rejected by most. But we will hear him because what he is calling for has been going on here for a long time. We are on the threshold of Century 21, the third millennium, and we will remember as we always do at the end of October the Reformation of the Church in the 16th century. What better time to think seriously about the need for © Grand Valley State University   �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 2   reformation anew, for at the heart of that significant event in the Church in the 16th century was the conviction that the Church must be re-formed according to the Word of God and always be being reformed. That word reformed has become a name, a label, but in its emergence it was a verb, an action word that spoke of the ongoing necessity of re-forming the Church. In the 16th century, I suspect the need to ongoing reformation was affirmed in light of the recognition that the Church becomes stagnant and even decadent in its institutional life. The thrust of that call to ongoing reformation was thus the need for inward renewal, the Church's forms and structures to be open to fresh words of the Spirit and the renewal of spiritual life. What was probably not in view was the need for reformation, reformulation of the messages and content of the faith, a fresh translation of the Gospel because the world would drastically change: the understanding of reality, the physical universe and a transformation of human consciousness. That, however, is what faced the Church as it moved into the modern age and the last two centuries have been a period of great conflict within the Church as it has tried to come to terms with a transformation in human consciousness and thinking. My study of the 18th and 19th centuries has focused on Protestantism, and particularly Protestant Liberalism, but it has been true of the Roman Catholic Church, as well, that, as has been said, the story of Liberal Protestantism can be seen as a series of salvage operations, attempts to show how one can still believe in Jesus Christ and not violate the ideals of intellectual integrity. The reason the battle has raged especially in the Protestant Church is that there has not been the hierarchical, authoritarian structures in place to shut down dissent. And the reason the battle has raged in the Liberal Protestant Church is that the conservative evangelical Church still adheres to the orthodoxy of the 17th century; that is, to this day churches in the conservative Protestant tradition operate, as does the Roman Catholic Church, with a medieval mind-set and with a faith understanding that has not faced up to and dealt with the questions which the modern world has put to the orthodox understanding of Christian faith. Let me review for a moment. This series began by pointing to the severe crisis that arose in the early Apostolic Church because the expected imminent return of Jesus Christ to judge the world and bring the present age to an end did not occur. Rather, as we read in II Peter 3, the mockers who made sport of those early believers asked, "Where is the day of his appearance? Everything seems to be going on as it has since Creation." Rather than the end of the age, history was continuing. Now, how were those, who saw the last of the Apostles die and Jesus not coming, to understand what the meaning of the Gospel was? © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 3   But, as we noted in the second sermon, eventually, after several centuries and severe conflict, there was established the orthodox faith. Orthodox means right opinion or right thinking. In the emergence of early Catholic tradition there was achieved an agreed-upon doctrinal formulation, including the two natures of Jesus Christ - truly God, truly human – and the doctrine of the Trinity. In the meantime, the Church moved from persecuted minority to being the established religion of the Empire. But for our purposes today, let me simply say that the core content of the faith, the orthodox faith, was established and maintained through the centuries to the 16th century and the Reformation, which broke the unity of the Western Church and from which emerged Protestantism. In that renewal movement there was a fresh return to scripture and a fresh understanding of the grace of God, but really no break from the orthodox Christian faith. The structure of the Church was shaken, but orthodoxy remained as did the authoritarian character of the Church. The authoritarian center of the Roman Catholic Church was the teaching office of the Church whose head was the Pope, while the fledgling Protestants claimed their authority in the Bible. But in both cases, the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches claimed a divinely revealed faith with, in the case of Rome, infallible dogma and, in the case of the Reformers, an infallible Bible, guaranteeing the truth of revelation. And then the world changed - changed radically, and the modern world was born. The modern era in Western Civilization began with the scientific revolution in the 17th century. A mere listing of the names: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, tell the story. Francis Bacon formulated the scientific method of empirical investigation and John Locke's philosophical writing on human reason set the course for the modern understanding of critical thinking. The 18th century is the century of Enlightenment and the philosopher of the Enlightenment par excellence was Immanuel Kant, who understood the Enlightenment as the human movement toward emancipation from the "tutelage" of medieval times; it was the human coming of age. It was Friedrich Schleiermacher who, studying Kant, was convinced that, for there to be a future for religion and for theology, including Christian theology, it would be necessary to discover a new foundation on which to stand. No longer would it suffice to cite Church dogma or scripture, for the authoritarian claim of both had been undercut by the critical thinking that arose with the scientific revolution. In Friedrich Schleiermacher, Pioneer of Modern Theology, in the series, The Making of Modern Theology, Keith W. Clements describes Schleiermacher's context, The Enlightenment, thus: Schleiermacher was born into the world of the Enlightenment ..., that period of European thought and culture occupying roughly the whole of the eighteenth century and, with the latter half of the preceding century, © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 4   comprising what is often called the "Age of Reason." As the name implies, it was the period when the innate and universal endowments of human thought were adjudged to be capable to providing men with whatever knowledge of nature, morality, and religion was necessary for his welfare. It marked the beginnings in Europe of the exile of orthodox Christian theology towards the periphery of intellectual and social life, as both the credibility of, and necessity for, supernaturally inspired doctrines were challenged by rational, anti-dogmatic modes of thought. (P. 8f) Schleiermacher proved to be the greatest Protestant theologian between Calvin and Barth. He is called the Father of Modern Theology and he set the course for Protestant Liberal theology for the next century, and still today he is not without influence. In 1797 in a work entitled On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultural Despisers, he claimed no external authority either in Church or scripture, but claimed rather that religion was rooted in the human person in the feeling of absolute dependence. With this understanding of the foundation of religion and, in his case, Christian faith, Schleiermacher gave new expression to the faith without claiming any external authority. He established a new ground of authority in the human experience of dependence, developed a new method for doing theology, and re-imagined the Christian faith, giving it fresh expression. For Schleiermacher, the feeling of absolute dependence was the experience of God, the gracious ground of all being. But there was a second stage in the movement to modernity, that being the rise of historical consciousness. A century after Schleiermacher gave his "speeches" (1797), another German theologian-philosopher-historian, Ernst Troeltsch, came to grips with the use of historical thinking and its implication for faith – religious faith in general and Christian faith in particular. In his History Sacred and Profane (1964), Alan Richardson describes this second stage in the revolution to the modern: We should never forget that it was one and the same movement of critical inquiry which first culminated in the seventeenth-century scientific achievement and later in the emergence of the fully developed historical critical method of the nineteenth century. The critical faculty, once awakened, could not rest satisfied with the successful exploration of the realm of nature; it was bound to go on from there to the critical investigation of the more intractable region of human nature, and when the idea of development was fully understood, to seek to understand scientifically how, in fact, man and his institutions have come to be what they are. Since the nineteenth century it has been an axiom of Western thinking that men and their institutions cannot be understood apart from their history, or that to know what a thing is, it is necessary to give an account of its past. This is part, at least, and a very important part, of the meaning of the statement that we nowadays live in an historically-minded © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 5   age. The historical revolution in human thinking, which was accomplished in the nineteenth century, is just as important as the scientific revolution of two centuries earlier. But they are not two separate revolutions; they are aspects of the one great transitional movement from medieval to the modern way of looking at things. That statement by Richardson points to the movement from the medieval to the modern world and I cannot stress too emphatically what a revolution that entailed. Ernst Troeltsch believed that transition took place in the Enlightenment of the late 17th and 18th centuries, not in the Reformation. The Reformers were premodern, still medieval in their way of thinking and their approach to the past. The critical element in the modern period is the rise and dominance of critical thinking, that is, the use of human reason to ask questions, to probe, to investigate and not simply to take for granted what appears on the surface or what some witness claims. Critical thinking is simply the way we think and act in our everyday life; it is the common sense view of the world and a common sense understanding of the past. An important ingredient in historical consciousness is the scientific understanding of reality, the understanding that nature works by natural laws and regular processes. The historian now begins to assume that the past is to be understood as one understands the present. This is where the rub comes in: Christian doctrine is based on supernatural intervention, miracles and events that contravene the regularity of nature. The biblical story conceives of a three-story universe and God dipping into our history from time to time. Now all of that supernatural framework was being called in question. In an excellent portrayal of the crisis of faith and history, Van A. Harvey, in his work, The Historian and the Believer, begins thus: Out of the mists of the nineteenth century, there arise again and again spectral figures that refuse to be exorcised. This is particularly true of Protestant theology. Schleiermacher, Strauss, Feuerbach, Kierkegaard, Ritschl - all continue to stalk the present because they identified and analyzed so profoundly issues that still bedevil us. Yet their presence is embarrassing because the various solutions they proposed now seem so patently dated and, in some cases, comic, that we feel justified in dismissing their work or ignoring them entirely. But just at the most important junctures of our own intellectual enterprises, we are disturbed to discover that we are wrestling with the same old issues, that the same questions have returned again in only a slightly different guise. With that realization, the possibility suggests itself in the back of our minds that the answers once proposed may not be so fantastic as we had so smugly © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 6   assumed. We find ourselves rethinking the thoughts of those whose conclusions we look upon with disdain. This is always painful. The writings of Ernst Troeltsch, particularly, evoke this discomfiture. The issue with which he wrestled throughout the greater part of his life was the significance of the historical-critical method for traditional Christian belief and theology. He discerned that the development of this method constituted one of the great advances in human thought; indeed, that it presupposed a revolution in the consciousness of Western man. To be sure, Western culture, in contrast to many others, has always been characterized by a sense of history. But only in the nineteenth century did this manifest itself in a sustained and critical attempt to recover the past by means of the patient analysis of evidence and the insistence on the impartiality and truthfulness of the historian. The distinctions between history and nature, fact and myth; expressions like the growth of language and the development of the state; the tendency to evaluate events in terms of their origins; the awareness of the relativity of one's own norms of thought and valuation; all these, Troeltsch saw, are but the by-products of a change in thought so profound that our period deserves to be put alongside those of previous cultural epochs as a unique type. This revolution in consciousness found its formal expression in the creation of a new science, history. Underlying this new science was an almost Promethean will-to-truth. The aim of the historian, it was declared, was to "tell what really happened." The magic noun was "fact," and the honorific adjective was "scientific." Description, impartiality, and objectivity were the ideals, and the rhetorical phrase and the value judgment were looked upon with disdain. This drive to recover "the facts as they really happened" has, with some justice, been criticized of late, but it should not be forgotten how revolutionary this will-to-truth was or how reactionary the forces were that needed to be overcome. Only when the question "What really happened?" was consistently and radically posed, did it become clear how much of what was previously accepted as fact was, in truth, fiction; how so many long-trusted witnesses were actually credulous spinners of tales and legends. Indeed, it can be argued, all reliable historiography rests on some such distinction as "whether or not something actually happened; whether it happened in the way it is told or in some other way ...," as August Wilhelm Schlegel wrote in his review of the Grimm brothers' Old German Songs, and it is difficult to quarrel with him and still account for the concepts of myth, legend, and fairy tale that constitute so much of the mental furniture of our age. This will-to-truth became attached to a method, and the presuppositions of that method, Troeltsch concluded, were basically incompatible with traditional Christian faith, based as it ultimately is on a supernaturalistic metaphysics. This incompatibility was most clearly seen, he thought, in the © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 7   realm of Biblical criticism. The problem was not, as so many theologians then believed, that the Biblical critics emerged from their libraries with results disturbing to believers, but that the method itself, which led to those results, was based on assumptions quite irreconcilable with traditional belief. If the theologian regards the Scriptures as supernaturally inspired, the historian must assume that the Bible is intelligible only in terms of its historical context and is subject to the same principles of interpretation and criticism that are applied to other ancient literature. If the theologian believes that the events of the Bible are the results of the supernatural intervention of God, the historian regards such an explanation as a hindrance to true historical understanding. If the theologian believes that the events upon which Christendom rests are unique, the historian assumes that those events, like all events, are analogous to those in the present and that it is only on this assumption that statements about them can be assessed at all. If the theologian believes on faith that certain events occurred, the historian regards all historical claims as having only a greater or lesser degree of probability, and he regards the attachment of faith to these claims as a corruption of historical judgment. Troeltsch poured scorn on those of his contemporaries who attacked the historical method as a manifestation of unbelief while employing something like it to vindicate the truth of their own views. The method, he claimed, did not grow from an abstract theory, nor could one ignore the cumulative significance of its extraordinary results. "Whoever lends it a finger must give it a hand." Nor could the critical method be regarded as a neutral thing. It could not be appropriated by the church with only a bit of patchwork here and there on the seamless garment of belief. "Once the historical method is applied to Biblical science and church history," he wrote, "it is a leaven that alters everything and, finally, bursts apart the entire structure of theological methods employed until the present." Christianity must, therefore, build its religious thought upon it or else be consigned to the limbo of those countless other antiquated forms of religious belief that were unable to make their own accommodation to the Zeitgeist. Actually, Troeltsch believed the church had no real option, because it is impossible even to think without the new assumptions. They have already penetrated to the deepest levels of Western man's consciousness. They are a part of the furniture of his mind. Therefore, one must be willing to see the matter through to its final consequences, to let burn what must burn, hoping that a new synthesis might emerge on the other side, a synthesis all the stronger for having been purged by the fire. Troeltsch himself tried to do this and, if his efforts now appear dated and relative to his own time, that only seems, ironically enough, to vindicate his thesis; namely, that the expressions of the human spirit - its language, art, philosophy, and © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 8   religion -are intelligible only in terms of their time, that man is immersed in history like a fish in water, that man's failure to transcend history only reveals that he is a creature whose thought is something less than absolute. The application of the principles of historical criticism to the Bible in the nineteenth century was a traumatic event in the history of Protestantism. It is true, as Emanuel Hirsch has pointed out, that Biblical criticism had been practiced in a modest way since the beginnings of the Reformation. Luther himself was a shrewd critic. But it was only in the third decade of the nineteenth century that it was possible to subject the Scriptures to rigorous analysis without dogmatic presuppositions and limitations. The attempt to do so naturally aroused the hostility of theologians and the ecclesiastical authorities. Did not the entire enterprise rest on unbelieving presuppositions? (Pp. 3-6) What developed fully as historical consciousness was already anticipated in Schleiermacher. Troeltsch was a century later and during that 18th century there was great ferment as theologians struggled to preserve a safe place for faith in Jesus Christ amidst the rising tide of scepticism about the biblical witness. Historical critical study of the scripture was now being engaged in with great vigor. In 1835 David Friedrich Strauss published his Life of Jesus, which was a bombshell. His treatment of the scriptural source was revolutionary in that he treated the Bible as any other literary work, asking questions about who wrote, why, to whom, etc., and he totally undercut the supernatural character of scripture. There were sharp reactions and condemnation of his work, but the battle was on and there was excess on the side of the new critics and defensiveness and fearful over-reaction on the part of conservative scholars. By the end of the 19th century, Ernst Troeltsch was the leading dogmatician in Europe and he took up the struggle, similar to Schleiermacher a hundred years earlier, but now in a new climate of opinion, one marked by historical thinking. He wrote, So I began like Schleiermacher by establishing the peculiar independence of religion by means of the psychology of religion, by showing that every attempt to derive religion from other basic activities (of the human consciousness) has failed. Only I did this on the basis of a psychology which is different from Schleiermacher's and in the front against different opponents - not moralists and rationalists, but modern positivists and those who see religion as an illusion. (Zth K, VIII, p. 28) Troeltsch recognized the need, as had Schleiermacher, to find a way to continue to believe and have a genuine religious experience in terms of present human understanding and experience. He wanted to be both Christian and intellectually © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page 9   honest and to this purpose he gave his life. Near the end of his life he wrote of his deep and vivid realisation of the clash between historical reflection and the determination of standards of truth and value. “The problem thus arising presented itself to me at a very early age ... I was inspired by ... the interest in reaching a vital and effective religious position, which could alone furnish my life with a center of reference for all practical questions and could alone give meaning and purpose to reflection upon the things of this world. This need of mine led me to theology and philosophy, which I devoured with an equally passionate interest. I soon discovered, however, that the historical studies, which had so largely formed me, and the theology and philosophy in which I was now immersed, stood in sharp opposition, indeed even in conflict, with one another. I was confronted upon the one hand, with the perpetual flux of the historian's data, and the distrustful attitude of the historical critic towards conventional traditions, the real events of the past being, in his view, discoverable only as a reward of ceaseless toil, and then only with approximate accuracy. And, upon the other hand, I perceived the impulse in men towards a definite practical standpoint - the eagerness of the trusting soul to receive the divine revelation and to obey the divine commands. It was largely out of this conflict, which was no hypothetical one, but a fact of my own practical experience, that my entire theoretical standpoint took its rise. (Christian Thought. London, 1923, pp. 4-6) There you have the driving force for the large undertaking which would characterize Troeltsch's life passion and work. His was an authentic struggle to be intellectually honest, attuned to the best thinking of his time, and to find a place to stand that would enable a vital religious experience and provide a foundation for values. Troeltsch was convinced that theology must always seek to relate itself positively to the rational knowledge of the day - not uncritically, but in dialogue and critique. In an introduction to Ernst Troeltsch -Writings on Theology and Religion, Robert Morgan writes, The modern intellectual situation determines the form to be taken by theology. This is characterized by the intellectual revolution effected by modern science and critical history. Troetlsch's strenuous efforts to understand this modern intellectual and cultural situation led him into sustained work in the history of ideas, with special reference to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ... Troeltsch considered that the intellectual and cultural revolution of the eighteenth century requires that theology submit itself to a corresponding revolution in method. He was to characterize this as the transition from dogmatic to historical method. What this meant was a break with the old supernaturalism which modern critical history had rendered impossible and a purely historical approach to the Bible and © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page10   Christian tradition,m combined with a rational defense of the metaphysical basis of religion. (P. 7) I cannot do more within the confines of this sermon to detail the tremendous undertaking of the task in which Troeltsch engaged himself; but I hope to have given at least some sense of crisis of Christian faith as he understood it brought about by the emergence of human historical consciousness. As I reflect on the learning, the passion and the dedication of a scholar like Ernst Troeltsch, whose motivation was to find a solid basis for the understanding of religious experience, its legitimacy and the critical role it plays in human life and community, I marvel that the conservative evangelical Protestant Church and the Roman Catholic Church have continued to steel themselves against the historical method which Troeltsch proposed and against the insights which the method has brought to light - the understanding of religion in general and the Christian religion in particular. I have been immersed in the rise of modern thought and theological development of the 18th and 19th centuries over the past three months and I am beginning to get some sense of how we got to where we are. I have set before you two Christian theologians, Friedrich Schleiermacher and Ernst Troeltsch, both brilliant scholars and passionate believers, one writing 200 years ago and the other 100 years ago. Both were convinced the Church must find a basis for its faith and an understanding and expression of its faith in terms of the best intellectual understanding of its time. They have not been without impact, but primarily in the Liberal Protestant tradition. In the Roman Catholic tradition those thinkers who sought to apply the historical method to dogma and scripture were silenced and in several instances removed from leadership and even excommunicated. In the conservative Protestant tradition, which is my background and the background of many of you, Schleiermacher and Troeltsch might as well never have lived. Conservative Protestantism, and that includes not just the fundamentalist Church and Pentecostal churches, but much of the mainline Church as well, still resist what both Schleiermacher and Troeltsch believed to be necessary 200 and 100 years ago, respectively. When I consider this, I understand why there has been a mass exodus of intelligent people from the Church and why the Church has little standing in the centers of learning in the world. I understand, too, why religious scholarship has moved out of Church-related institutions and seminaries and is finding place in secular institutions of the state and, even there, one is not always totally free to pursue disinterested scholarship. Perhaps I should not be surprised. Jesus pleaded for the recognition that new wine demands new wineskins. That forms, structures, language and conceptuality © Grand Valley State University �Living By Yesterday’s Truths Richard A. Rhem Page11   need to be open to change and transformation. The religious-political institutions had him killed. Paul had a vision - a new insight that revolutionizes everything - the grace of God available to Jew and Gentile through faith in Jesus Christ – and arriving in Jerusalem he was warned by James that the Jewish Jesus people were disturbed by reports from the mission field that he was advocating dropping the Mosaic tradition. His life was in danger and finally, tried in Rome, he died a martyr. There must be something about the human creature that resists the new and especially in the area of religion. I am learning that it is not really an intellectual understanding of religious truth that is desired, but a gut level experience, a stirring of the emotions, a confirmation of absolute truths received uncritically even though that is not how we live our lives generally or what we expect from our doctors when our health fails. And so, I see congregations growing through praise music and worship as entertainment. I see Pentecostalism growing through the provision of deeply emotional experience. And I realize that there is a slim minority who value and seek religious experience which is congruent with thinking and critical understanding. But I believe that slim minority is a critical piece of the puzzle for, historically, prior to the modern period, the Church was the womb of the arts and theology was the Queen of the Sciences. I wonder if we have not sold our birthright for a mess of pottage because we have failed to engage in the hard work of holding together faith and reason. That, as I see it, is the challenge before this community. References: Keith W. Clements. Friedrich Schleiermacher, Pioneer of Modern Theology, Vol. I of The Making of Modern Theology. Fortress Press, 1987. Van A. Harvey. The Historian and the Believer: The Morality of Historical Knowledge and Christian Belief. University of Illinois Press, 1996. Robert Morgan. Ernst Troeltsch, Writings on Theology and Religion. Westminster John Knox Press, 1990. Alan Richardson. History Sacred and Profane. SCM Press, First Edition, 1964. Ernst Troeltsch (1865-1923). Christian Thought: Its History and Application. Hyperion Press, 1979. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4dccf7bf3d169950e5505ea74166e227.mp3 be3092f2ea19dafa3e8a168f17a83674 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 Then and Now Scripture Text Acts 21:21, Mark 2:22 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Keith Clements, Friedrich Schleiermacher, Pioneer of Modern Theology, Vol. I, 1987 Van A. Harvey, The Historian and the Believer, 1996 Robert Morgan, Ernst Troeltsch, Writings on Theology and Religion, 1999 Alan Richardson, History Sacred and Profane, 1964 Ernst Troeltsch, Christian Thought, 1979 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-0-19991003 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1999-10-03 Title A name given to the resource Living By Yesterday's Truths 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 October 3, 1999 entitled "Living By Yesterday's Truths", as part of the series "Good News Then and Now", on the occasion of Pentecost XX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 21:21, Mark 2:22. History of Religion Re-imagining the Faith https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/30efd72a365ac1ef2f695ed2119482b5.mp3 3d215c3b370b35f117dc19a602431d1f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/69bf57baa7f46260026bf9181618c0e1.pdf e25215b622cdfb94575ac450564b7894 PDF Text Text Living From Commitment From the sermon series: Lifelines Text: Luke 14: 27, 33 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany II, January 20, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon Noone who does not carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine…none of you can be a disciple of mine without parting with all his possessions. Luke 14: 27, 33 To commit is to entrust oneself to another. In the Christian Faith it is to entrust one's life to God through Jesus Christ. It is to turn over the controls of one's life to Christ, to yield to His Lordship, to recognize Him as one's sovereign, one's King. The Christian Life is a life lived out of commitment to Jesus Christ. That commitment involves the whole of life; every area of life is affected - human relationships, vocational decisions, attitudes, political and economic decisions. In the Christian understanding of things, one's spiritual commitment is not one dimension of life among others, but the primary decision of life which shapes all others. It is also the Christian understanding of human existence that yielding one's life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is not to lose one's life, but rather to come into the fullest possible realization of being, of a truly, fully human existence. I begin with this message a series entitled, "Lifelines." It will be my purpose to show that the total commitment of oneself to Jesus Christ and the consequences of that commitment, or the living out of that commitment lead to life in its fullness. Commitment to Christ and the disciplines of Christian living are Lifelines. In this series we will focus on several facets of the Christian life in order to find the path to the abundant life Jesus came to bring and which He makes available to us. Before we examine some of the disciplines of life, however, let us begin with the recognition that the call of Jesus to follow Him involves us in a costly choice: He calls us to radical commitment. Radical is a word deliberately chosen. It comes © Grand Valley State University   �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 2   from radix, root. The call to follow Jesus reaches to the very root of our existence. His claim and call are uncompromising. His claim and call are serious. He would shape us from the core of our being so that the attitude and actions of our daily lives are the fruit of that one primary and fundamental commitment to be His disciple. The choice of texts presented a problem only because there are so many possibilities. The Gospels carry the theme repeated in various contexts. I point you to the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 14. The paragraph beginning with verse 25 begins, Once, when great crowds were accompanying him… No one could accuse Jesus of inviting followers on false pretenses. He always laid it on the line. Obviously He was not running for election. He was not astute at winning friends and influencing people. There was nothing manipulative in His manner. He was a person consumed with God and the Kingdom of God He came to inaugurate. In the vivid language of the East, He put it this way when the crowd swelled and He feared there were many following without really understanding what was at stake. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine. No one who does not carry his cross and come with me can be a disciple of mine. …none of you can be a disciple of mine without parting with all his possessions. Luke 14: 25-33 The sharpness of the saying jars us and that is precisely its purpose. To hate means literally to love less and the counsel is obviously not hatred in intimate human relationships which are sacred but simply to say there is no relationship or claim upon the disciple of Jesus which takes precedence over the claim of Jesus on our lives. The renunciation of possessions was a familiar model for conversion in the world of Jesus. The gentile who converted to the God of Israel was called to such a oncefor-all act of renunciation, which entailed a break with one's social relationships. Edward Schillebeeckx, in his book, Jesus, points out that this pattern was taken over from late Judaism. Being converted meant in practice surrendering all one's possessions, becoming odious, having to leave father and mother, etc., and all one's worldly goods. The radical break with the past was called for by Jesus in light of the coming rule of God. The narrative of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus illustrates that this young man was not ready for radical conversion because he was unwilling to renounce all and give to the poor. The actual surrender of all material goods was the sign of a true conversion. As for the call to cross bearing, that was a familiar sight in the Palestine of Jesus' day. Crucifixion was the fate of the Zealots who were always plotting against the © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Roman occupiers. Once again here, cross bearing was a sign of the willingness to lay down one's life and Jesus' own death on the cross became the concrete illustration of the cost of discipleship. Cross bearing was the willing assumption of the suffering involved in following Jesus and aligning oneself with the cause of the Kingdom of God. It is voluntary. It is not a burden thrust on one about which one can do nothing; it is an active assumption of the consequences of following Jesus. All of the imagery of this paragraph and the others liberally sprinkled throughout the Gospels speak of death, the dying to self. In his book, Alive in Christ, Maxie Dunnam tells of a friend, Brother Sam, a Benedictine monk who shared with him the service in which he took his solemn vows and made his life commitment to the Benedictine community and the monastic life. On that occasion he prostrated himself before the altar of the chapel in the very spot where his coffin will be set when he dies. Covered in a funeral pall, the death bell that tolls at the earthly parting of a brother sounded the solemn gongs of death. There was silence - the silence of death. The silence of the gathered community was broken by the singing of the Colossian words, "For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. " (Col. 3:3). After that powerful word, there was more silence as Brother Sam reflected on his solemn vow. Then the community broke into song with the words of Psalm 118, which is always a part of the Easter liturgy in the Benedictine community: "I shall not die, but live, and declare the words of the Lord. " (Psalm 118:17 King James Version). After this resurrection proclamation, the deacon shouted the works from Ephesians: "Awake, O Sleepers, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light." (Eph. 5:14). Then the bells of the Abbey rang loudly and joyfully. Brother Sam rose, the funeral pall fell off, and the robe of the Benedictine Order was placed on him. He received the kiss of peace and was welcomed into the community to live a life "hid in Christ." (p. 27F) That is a beautiful ritual, a vivid image of the call to discipleship, not just to monastic orders. Jesus calls us to life through death, the death of self, selfcontrol, self-life. That this is the call of Jesus and that His claim on our lives is absolute there can be little argument. But granting that, how do we live that out in our world in our day? What does it mean to follow Jesus today? We have just been reminded of one of our own generation who put his life on the line and paid the supreme price for his discipleship. Martin Luther King said shortly before he fell from an assassin's bullet: © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Every now and then I think about my own death, and I think about my funeral. ...I don't want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long... Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize... Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards... I'd like somebody to mention that day, that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody... Say that I was a drum major for justice, say that I was a drum major for peace. That I was a drum major for righteousness, and all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia. February 4, 1968 And he did. Would anyone say he was a failure? About three years ago Archbishop Romero was likewise gunned down while saying Mass in EL Salvador. He was killed because his call to discipleship led him to take up the cause of the poor and oppressed in that troubled nation. The moving film, "Gandhi," has reminded us again recently of that great spiritual leader who changed the face of India and he too took an assassin's bullet. Around the world today many languish in prisons because they have espoused unpopular causes in situations of tyranny. Our world is no stranger to the violent death that pursues those that seek to bring justice and righteousness to bear on the concrete conditions of humankind. But what of ordinary mortals like you and me living in the safety and security of Western Michigan? What does it mean for us to live from commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord? Sometimes I fear we put discipleship out of reach when we speak of King and Gandhi and of course, Jesus, who remains the preeminent model. One hardly knows where to begin and certainly there are many more things to say than can be dealt with in the compass of this message. Yet we can say some, things. First, the call to commitment is the call of the gracious God revealed in Jesus Christ. There are not two Gods. The God of grace Who in Jesus has touched our world is the only true God and His heart is love and His movement toward us is gracious. In the face of Jesus we have seen into the heart of God. © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 5   This is the God of tender compassion Whose love will not give up on His people, Whose judgment is the other side of His love with the intention of calling His people to their senses and to return unto Him. The call to commitment is issued by Jesus Whose heart was moved with compassion because the people were restless, harassed, like sheep without a shepherd; Jesus Who said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest." The call comes from one Who dealt tenderly with the weak and embraced the sinner, offering unconditional acceptance and a continuing positive regard for persons. It must be obvious then that total commitment is not the call of a despotic sadist who enjoys seeing people on the rack. A second thing that comes to mind is that the call to commitment issued by Jesus is not properly responded to by a heavy religiosity. Any cursory reading of the Gospels will detect a strong strain of anger in Jesus, anger directed toward the most religious groups of the day. His anger was not a disapproval of religious practice as such but against religious practice as a way of self-righteousness, selfjustification before God, religious practice that was outward conformity to structured ritual and ceremony without corresponding inwardness, religious practice that fulfilled institutional demands but was exercised apart from the more important matters of love, justice and mercy. A third observation I would make is that the call to commitment transcends institutional structures. Perhaps I can put it simply this way: Jesus calls persons to life in God, not simply to join the Church. By now you know me well enough to know that I consider the institutional form of the Church as a necessary evil. Spirit needs form and apart from the institutionalization of the Gospel in the community with creeds and rituals and forms of organization, the Gospel would not have reached us. All organized religion involves a set of rites, an ethical code and a body of doctrine. The institutional Church - just like the Judaism of Jesus' day, consists of rituals, ethics and doctrines and these structures become the vehicle by which religious reality is mediated from one generation to the next. By these institutional forms – rituals for worship, rules for conduct, articles of faith for understanding – a religious system is shaped which is the carrier, the mediator, of religious belief and practice. But when Jesus called to commitment he was calling persons to something more than institutional loyalty. In fact, it was the perception that He was a very great threat to the institution that got Him crucified. There was fear for the Law and the Temple. He dared point beyond Law and Temple to the God toward Whom both Law and Temple pointed, thus relativizing Law and Temple in the face of the absolute demand of God. Keeping the Law was not an end in itself; rather the Law was God's gift to Israel that they might find fullness of life. The Temple was not an end in itself; rather it © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 6   was the place where altar and sacrifice and Priesthood were present to mediate the presence of God to the worshiper and bring him beyond the outward forms into the gracious presence of his God. That would suggest a fourth comment: The institutional forms of religious faith and practice fulfill a necessary function in providing the structures by which we find our life's fulfillment in the worship and service of God. Here I am not saying anything not already mentioned, but I say this explicitly lest I be understood to be cavalier about institutionalized religion. How could I be? My whole life is spent in the cause of institutional religion because I see in it the only means by which the Truth of God may be conveyed and the worship and service of God cultivated, through which God is glorified and His people led into the fullness of life. There are rare souls that seem to be able to go it alone, to find the ecstasy of mystical contemplation of God in splendid isolation, but such is not possible for many. And even those who find the vision of God in the solitude of contemplation did not learn of God in a vacuum. The institution is necessary; its forms and structures are the vehicle upon which the Truth of God is conveyed. They are the signs pointing beyond themselves to the mystery of God and apart from them the vision would soon die. The institution also provides the social structure within which we are aided in the spiritual quest. We are social beings. We do not live as isolated atoms in the Universe. We are bound together in the bundle of life. We were created for community and we need the support and encouragement of one another. Personal devotion is essential; contemplation in solitude is essential. But such cannot take the place of corporate worship when as one body we are caught up into the presence of God and lose ourselves in the wonder of worship. The purpose of religious structures then is to mediate the knowledge and experience of God. If we did not have them we would have no access to God but if, having them, we never rise beyond them, we will never experience the mystery of God. Charles Davis says it well: Religion is the drive toward transcendence, the thrust of man out of and beyond himself, out of and beyond the limited order under which he lives, in an attempt to open himself to the totality of existence and reach unlimited reality and ultimate value. This drive cannot be confined to the observance of a moral code, settling questions of right and wrong within a limited frame of reference. The person who is merely moral knows nothing of the heights and depths of human experience and existence. Even a religious system set up to mediate the drive toward transcendence cannot contain it. It never fits exactly and at its best is inadequate © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 7   precisely because it is in itself limited and relative, not transcendent and absolute. (The Temptations of Religion, p. 73) Again, David writes, For religion the relativity of any human order of truth and value indicates its mediating function. Its purpose is to become transparent, to lead beyond itself and mediate a transcendent experience. Summarizing what we have said: 1. The call to commitment is the call of the gracious God revealed in Jesus Christ. 2. The call to commitment issued by Jesus is not properly responded to by a heavy religiosity. 3. The call to commitment transcends institutional structure. 4. The institutional forms of religious faith and practice fulfill a necessary function in providing the structures by which we find our life's fulfillment in the worship and service of God. If the above statements are true, then it must be evident that the call to commitment is a serious call to find the highest possible human fulfillment in a life whose first priority is the worship and service of God. God has made us for Himself. There is a hunger in the human heart for God. The universality of religion would seem to demonstrate that. To be sure that claim has been disputed and it does seem in our day there are many who live "onedimensional" lives with no transcendent reference, no worship, no sense of mystery beyond the human and the mundane. Yet our day would also seem to witness to that hunger for transcendence. We speak of the younger generation "turning East." With the lessening of influence of the traditional Church we have seen a rise of the cults and bizarre expression of religious devotion. Ernest Becker, the noted scholar in the field of psychoanalysis finds in the human being a longing for the heroic. He sees a universal fear of death but not the fear of extinction so much as extinction without meaning. We want our lives to be significant, to mean something, to find ourselves caught up in something bigger than ourselves. Although he does not profess to be a Christian thinker, he finds great truth in Kierkegaard who found in the Gospel's call to total commitment that which lifted the person out of himself and satisfied his longing for meaning, (cf. The Denial of Death). © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 8   God calls us to Himself not that He may be enhanced in His Sovereign Rule, but because God is love and love would bestow the best and highest gift on the creature made after His own image. The truth of Jesus' words has been proven over and over throughout the centuries. To grasp on to one's life is to lose it; to lose one's life in the service of Jesus and the Gospel is to find it. Thus the call to commitment is an invitation to experience Life at its highest. It is the call of the gracious God in Jesus Christ to experience abundant life. If that is true, then it must be evident that the successful living out of one's commitment is always threatened from two directions: a. From the danger of absolutizing the institution and its form and structure; b. From the danger of abandoning the institution or giving it only slight regard. The first danger is succumbed to by the religious. Jesus' greatest foes were the highly religious: those who absolutized the established form of Jewish faith, who made idols of Temple and Law and ritual. One can see this so very prevalent in our own day with the upsurge of visibility and volubility of the religious Right. Fundamentalism has become militant in our country as illustrated by the conflict over Creationism and Evolutionism. One can see it also in the mean-spirited militancy that crusades against abortion and the rights of homosexuals. There is little civility in the debate on issues in which there can certainly be differences of opinion. In great emotional display evidencing deep-seated anger, we see people demonstrate for God and Truth as though they had some corner on the truth. What they have done is absolutize their position, which is limited and relative because it is a human perspective on divine truth, not that truth itself. One can see the danger of absolutizing the institution where people are controlled and manipulated by religious leaders. Often the implication is if you do not follow my leading or support my program, or serve in my institution, you can have no part in the Kingdom. But there is danger on the other side, as well. Too many have "progressed" to where they recognize that God and the institutional forms structured to give access to Him are not synonymous and have thus simply written off the institution and the practice of religious life. One theologian of sorts writes that he doesn't need the institution or the symbols anymore. Growing up as a Scottish Presbyterian, it was all so deeply ingrained “that he can go on without it.” Fine. But who will tell his children and provide the © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page 9   experience in which they might be overwhelmed with the mystery of God? Who will pass the torch of faith and maintain the community of faith for the generations yet unborn? For many years now at Christ Community I have chosen the difficult path of teaching you that our creedal statements are not the last word, our way of worship is not the only form of true worship, our grasp of the Christian life must always be open to examination. Our institutional life and structure is not absolute; our program as a congregation is not synonymous with God's perfect will. Yet I have called you to commitment to Christ and the Church and its life here, recognizing we have blinders, we are flawed, and we stand always in need of correction and further insight. What "sells" today is to reduce complex issues to simple formulas, claiming they are absolute, beating the drums, whipping up the emotions and leading a crusade. Such has not been my style nor the posture of this congregation. We have sought rather to be both Civil and Committed. Is it possible to recognize the relativity of our grasp of God's Truth and of the structures of our life and worship and yet be totally committed to God through Christ in the life and mission of the Church? I believe it is. I would hope that I might myself be "Exhibit A." I believe in what we are about here. I commit myself unreservedly to it, even though I recognize the flawed nature of all we do and are. This is the kind of commitment to which I call you. Spirit needs form. Faith needs structure. The Gospel of Christ will be perpetuated from one generation to another only if we maintain the community of faith, flawed though its every expression is, relative though its grasp of Truth may be, partial though its obedience always is. The cause of the Kingdom of God is carried on in the world by people like us for whom God is a priority, who, having found Him gracious, find the fullest experience of being human in the worship and service of His Name. We have striven never to come off as laying on you heavy duty and obligation. Rather, we have sought to lead you into the joy of losing yourself in the service of God. The Gospel paradox is true - greedily grasp your life to yourself and lose it; give your life away for Jesus' sake and find it. You don't have to do anything. God loves you anyway. But in failing to find yourself, your gifts and energies in the employ of God, you lose out on the deepest joy of being human. © Grand Valley State University �Living From Commitment Richard A. Rhem Page10   God's claim on you is absolute; Jesus' call to commitment is total, because God being the fountain of love would give Himself to you as you offer yourself to Him in response to His redeeming grace. Thus I set before you the key lifeline: Commitment. Living from commitment is to live fully, richly, deeply. It is the abundant life. © 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 Series LifeLines Scripture Text Luke 14: 27, 33 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-0-19850120 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-01-20 Title A name given to the resource Living from Commitment 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 20, 1985 entitled "Living from Commitment", as part of the series "LifeLines", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 14: 27, 33. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Epiphany Followers of Jesus Institutional Religion Nature of Religion Spiritual Quest Transcendence Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/efa0b8cb04890365d330c491c8d5eafa.mp3 b0cce55d5901a27da5288fc7da68edb8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany IV Series LifeLines Scripture Text Mark 1:35, Luke 22:42, Luke 23:46 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19850210 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-02-10 Title A name given to the resource Living in Dialogue 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 February 10, 1985 entitled "Living in Dialogue", as part of the series "LifeLines", on the occasion of Epiphany IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 1:35, Luke 22:42, Luke 23:46. 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/ec8ce67379aad2c8fad4b2dd475b0f85.mp3 0a374b926a702615743bacdfbefd03aa Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide IV Series Easter People Scripture Text Acts 4: 36, 11: 23-24 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19910421 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1991-04-21 Title A name given to the resource Living Open-Hearted, Open-Handed Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 21, 1991 entitled "Living Open-Hearted, Open-Handed", as part of the series "Easter People", on the occasion of Eastertide IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 4: 36, 11: 23-24. 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/b3bc780261077c9f69e0ca412ef776a3.mp3 8dbbfe8f3099e4896fa26ea20c3190d2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany II Scripture Text Mark 1:35 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-0-19880117 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-01-17 Title A name given to the resource Living Out of a Quiet Center Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 17, 1988 entitled "Living Out of a Quiet Center", on the occasion of Epiphany II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 1:35. 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/fb100a79f720914d4ba398b12859755e.mp3 9642fc7d145f9d0f7c9632912e503c64 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bf131020b8c5003a093a3edcb5e60317.pdf 806359be2b93196a6c8a728181bad601 PDF Text Text Living With Care From the sermon series: Lifelines Text: Isaiah 42: 3, 6; Matthew 9: 36 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan February 17, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon Having entered the circle of those whose life span has reached the half century mark, I have been thinking about life and decided that it would be a good time to have a thorough checkup, to get a reading on the present condition of this "house" I live in. A stress test was suggested, but I responded that I have one of those every day. Having been blessed with good health, I am not one that gives much thought to my physical body and I am quite sure I do not take care of it as I should. That is a confession. I certainly affirm the attention given to physical health in our day. Wellness is in and that is good; that is biblical, for our Judeo-Christian faith affirms the body and Paul speaks of proper regard for the body since it is the Temple of the Spirit. Proper eating, rest, exercise - all of that is important, and we could no doubt develop a series of lectures entitled "Lifelines" which would deal with the various disciplines by which good physical health is maintained. There is a high level of consciousness about health matters. In Times Square last week I saw the brilliant neon signs for Sony, Minolta and Tobishi, and sandwiched in there somewhere was a new weight control diet plan advertised in glittering colors. I noticed it on my way to Mama Leone's, where I had a sevencourse dinner. I have been setting before us in this series of messages another set of lifelines spiritual disciplines by which to enhance the spiritual dimension of our human existence. Do not misunderstand me, please! I would not want to set physical and spiritual over against each other. We are not "souls" and "bodies," compartmentalized so that we can deal with the one in isolation from the other. Neither should we choose to cultivate the spiritual and deprecate the physical, or vice versa. © Grand Valley State University   �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 2   However, the lifelines I have been speaking about are spiritual disciplines through the exercise of which we deepen the spiritual life and cultivate the presence of God in our lives, thereby enticing the fullest, richest of human experience. Physical wellness has caught on; it has become with some even an obsession. Spiritual wellness (or fullness) is more difficult to "sell"; there is a great lack of spiritual discipline among us in the Church, let alone the population in general. This morning in Louisville, at the Human Heart Institute, the third person will undergo surgery to receive an artificial heart. Such medical experimentation is inevitable; we will continue to push back the horizons and establish new frontiers in medical science. I do not speak against that or call it into question. However, when we remember Barney Clark and when we see what William Schroeder has gone through, it must be abundantly clear that there is a sharp distinction between extension of physical existence, and quality of life. The stages we are going through are the only way to progress in our capacity to extend and enhance life, but it is obvious that extension is not synonymous with enhancement. One thing is certain: we will never beat out the Grim Reaper; we may stave off death, but it is only a matter of time. How important it then is that we get things in proper prospective. Might we not be giving our attention, time, energy and resources to the preservation of what we can never finally keep while failing to develop that which we will never lose? Life in the biblical sense, in the ultimate sense, is more than a beating heart. Jesus said, I have come, that they may have Life, and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) Again he said, This is eternal life; to know Thee Who alone art truly God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. (John 17:3) The life Jesus spoke of is eternal life and that is not some esoteric existence after death, but a present possibility, a present reality. Eternal life is here and now, living in communion with God through Jesus Christ. The spiritual disciplines I have been setting before you in this series are not ends in themselves; they are means to the end of life in relationship with God. They are forms and structures by which we may practice the presence of God. Spiritual disciplines give us access to abundant life: life which is full, deep, rich; life which is truly human, fully alive. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Spiritual disciplines practiced in the course of our present existence develop communion with God that robs death of its sting and makes it but a point of transition to a form of existence in the presence of God of which present experience is but a foretaste and foregleam. As I have indicated before, Jesus is our model. Paul prayed for the Galatian Christians "until you take the shape of Christ." In Jesus, God revealed Himself - we see who God is. In Jesus, God revealed His intention for human existence. To this point in this Lifelines series, we have suggested: 1. We must intentionally begin - commitment. 2. We must yield to God's grace, which transforms us from people of the clenched fist to people of the open hand. 3. We must present ourselves in regular appointment in the corporate worship of God with His people - living with wonder. 4. We must daily open our lives to Him and cultivate His presence -living in dialogue. Finally, let me suggest that we must become involved with God's mission in the world: 5. We must live with care. Care is an interesting word. It has taken on various meanings. To be full of care may mean to be burdened with worry and anxiety. Such care Jesus said is lack of trust. He would have us care-free, not care-full. We also use it in the sense of "Do you care if ..." Does it matter to you, in other words, and we may respond, "No, I don't care ..." Sometimes in that sense we communicate indifference. I am using care in another sense. I use it here to convey just the opposite of indifference. I am suggesting that God calls us to live with passionate concern and sensitivity to our neighbor and with a sense of responsibility for our world. Just as I began this series with a theme – Commitment, which was not itself a discipline but the prior decision to cultivate a disciplined life, so I end not with a specific discipline but rather with the fruit of such discipline - a life engaged in mission, a life of care. This is extremely important. We do not cultivate the spiritual life simply to turn in on ourselves; we are not content simply to develop our own soul as though we lived an isolated human © Grand Valley State University �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 4   existence. That, in fact, is a contradiction: if we are isolated, we are not fully human. God created us for Himself and each other. We are created for community - a fully human existence is a life in relationship with God, and with neighbor. The highest, richest, fullest human existence is a life drawn out of itself, lived with care for the world and all God's children. The best of spiritual directors have seen this clearly. There is an inward journey the cultivation of a personal spiritual life. There must be an outward journey, the moving out in compassion to the world. The two journeys must be engaged in simultaneously. It is not the case that we can become spiritual masters and then begin to serve in the Kingdom. Training for Kingdom service is "hands on" training. It is as we engage in the mission of Christ in the world that we are driven deeper into the spiritual life and as we deepen the spiritual springs of the soul we will be driven out into the world in the cause of Christ. Inward journey. Outward journey. In worship and personal devotion we find our lives transformed into the posture of the open hand and we enter the arena of service. Such service requires regular maintenance of our spiritual life and thus we seek grace and power in worship and devotion. In Israel there is a classic example of what I am addressing in this message. From the heights of Mount Herman and surrounding mountain ranges fresh water flows into the Jordan River. When in the Holy Land, we came down from the Golan Heights and stopped at a small bridge over the sparkling, fresh, flowing water of the Jordan. We also took a boat trip on the lovely Sea of Galilee. The Jordan flows out of Galilee at its south end. The sea is still fished as it was in Jesus' day. The water is sweet. The Jordan flows south and empties into the Dead Sea. It is called the Dead Sea because of its heavy saline content. It is also called the Salt Sea. It is heavy with mineral content. I swam in the Dead Sea and could not submerge myself. One bobs on the surface like a cork. Surrounding the Dead Sea it is wilderness, a desert, stark and barren. The water is useless for irrigation; it cannot make the desert bloom. What is the difference? It is the same water. The difference is that the Dead Sea has no outlet; there is nowhere for the water to go and thus it becomes stagnant. It brings death rather than life. The Sea of Galilee is fresh, supporting life, watering the countryside and making it fruitful. The Dead Sea is stagnant, devoid of life, leaving the area a wilderness. The Sea of Galilee both receives and gives. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 5   The Dead Sea takes in but has no outlet. And that is a parable of human existence. Through the cultivation of spiritual discipline we receive spiritual grace and power. Through caring ministry, grace and power flow through us to the world and our lives are fresh, vital, fruitful. God calls us to be channels of grace, conduits of love, instruments of peace, caregivers. This is so central a biblical teaching that I need only point you to the lessons of the day. The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 42:1-7, is one of the so-called Servant Songs and response. The Servant Songs of Isaiah portray the mission of one who proclaims the Good News of God, suffers and finally gives his life in carrying out his service for God. Biblical scholars have pointed out that sometimes the Servant seems to be an individual, sometimes a corporate personality, thus representing Israel in its calling to be God's special instrument of salvation to the world. One commentary states it thus: The servant is conceived as an individual figure, but he is the figure who recapitulates in himself all the religious gifts and the religious mission of Israel ... He is the fullness of Israel; in him the history of Israel reaches its achievement. He incorporates the dominant features of Israel's past; he has some of the traits of a new Moses: he is the spokesman of divine revelation, he is the witness of the divinity of Yahweh to Israel and to the nation; he is a prophet. (The Anchor Bible, Servant Israel, p. LIII) Further, he writes, The Servant poems are not "predictions" of the future in the simple sense. They are rather insights into the future, into the ways of God with men, a projection of how judgment and salvation must be realized if they are to be realized at all. For the community to whom the Songs were addressed, they are a challenge to a commitment, to a faith in a future, which is revealed in the figure of the Servant. Unless Israel accepts the Servant as its incorporation, it cannot keep faith with Yahweh. (Ibid., p. LV) Chapter 42 presents the Servant. God's Spirit is on him and he "will make justice shine on the nation." His manner will be one of tenderness and compassion. He will not break a bruised reed, or snuff out a smoldering wick. He will bring God's teachings to the world. The word in Hebrew is torah, which we usually translate as law, but which does not mean law in the narrow sense of legal code but "way of life." It really means here "revelation." The Servant brings the revelation of the Truth of God to the Nations. He does so not in great public display with noisy ostentation, but quietly with sensitivity, setting forth the light of God's truth in the world's darkness. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 6   The response to the Song in verses 5-9 sets forth clearly that God, the Creator, has called Israel to be His special agent to bring light and salvation to the world, to establish justice and create order in creation. Listen to this clear call: I, the Lord, have called you with righteous purpose and taken you by the hand; I have formed you, and appointed you to be a light to all peoples, a beacon for the nations, to open eyes that are blind, to bring captives out of prison, out of the dungeons where they be in darkness. Called. Formed. Appointed. Israel's mission is unmistakably clear. She is God's elect people. God called one nation to bring light and salvation to all nations. Election is to service. It is both privilege and responsibility. Israel was God's special People; its mission was to be a beacon for the nations. Israel failed in its mission. The whole of Old Testament history was reduced to a righteous remnant, finally to Jesus. Jesus found the model for his ministry in the Servant Songs. He adopted the posture of the Servant of the Lord. He became the Suffering Servant. He finally died vicariously for the sin of the world, bringing salvation to the world. Jesus fulfilled the ideal of the Servant. Matthew, in our New Testament lesson, pictures him in his healing ministry. In 9:21-22 the Greek word Sozein is used three times in regard to the woman who touched his garment. She was healed. She was "saved." Jesus came to save, to heal, to make whole. He came to restore order and unity to God's creation. In this context he gives sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and life to the dead. Jesus' miracles were not for the sake of sensationalism; rather they were signs of the presence of the Kingdom, the rule of God. They were signs pointing to the new order, the new Creation. God's presence and power were mediated through the life and ministry of Jesus. Our text paints a beautiful portrait of the Saviour. Matthew gives us a summary statement after citing miracle after miracle. He writes: So Jesus went round all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, announcing the good news of the Kingdom, and curing every king of ailment and disease. The sight of the people moved him to pity: they were like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless… The sight of the people moved Jesus to compassion. He saw the multitude and sensed their confusion: sheep without a shepherd, harassed, helpless. His life was a gift to people; He proclaimed the Truth. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 7   One translation reads instead of "announcing the good news of the Kingdom," "proclaiming the Freedom of the Kingdom." He brought the truth that set persons free. He brought wholeness to persons: sight, hearing, health - life itself. Thus the highest ideal of Old Testament insight - the calling to be the Servant of the Lord - found its embodiment, its fulfillment in the life and ministry of Jesus. If, then, Jesus is our model, if we are to take on the shape of Christ, we will not only imitate him in his life of communion, but we will follow him in his life of service. Like Jesus, we are called to live with care. The care with which we are called to live is as broad as the world and as personal as our neighbor. Obviously I am using care in the sense of concern and compassion that draws us out of ourselves, our private lives and personal pursuits. To live with care is to acknowledge that I am my brother's keeper; that the experience of the grace of God makes me, with St. Paul, a debtor to all, responsible to share the Gospel. To live with care means, again to cite St. Paul, "to look to each other's interest and not merely to your own." To live with care means to accept responsibility for the world, for the cause of justice and the doing of righteousness; it means to be engaged in the great issues that confront the world and society; to be informed and to exercise whatever influence one has in the network of one's relationships to work for and speak for truth and right and mercy. Let me draw from today's Scripture two dimensions of caring which find expression both in the Servant Song of Isaiah and the Gospel reading. First, to care is to proclaim the truth, to witness to the revelation God has given, to announce Good News, to share the message of freedom through the liberating action of God. This the Servant was called to do. "... the islands wait for his teaching." "To be a light to all peoples, a beacon for the nations. This Jesus did; he taught. "... teaching ... announcing the good news." This we are called to do. We are the People of God, the new Israel, the Body of Christ, the extension of the Incarnation. We have been given the knowledge of God's revelation in the face of Jesus. We have learned of His redemptive acts and we have experienced His grace. Therefore we are called to witness to the Truth. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 8   We must do this with proper humility and deep sensitivity. We must not do so with arrogance in a proud spirit. Only out of gratitude and the awe that God should have been merciful to us do we in turn witness to the truth we have found in Christ Jesus. It is our conviction that God has revealed Himself supremely in Jesus and that His grace is extended to the world through Jesus. This does not deny that there is truth, goodness and beauty beyond the Christian Church. There is no need to deny that God's saving intention and action reaches beyond the bounds of the Church as we know it. It is to say, however, that His last word is Jesus. Jesus is the Truth that sets people free. All religions are not alike. One is not as good as another. The Gospel is liberating. That's why one can translate Matthew 9:35 announcing the Freedom of the Kingdom. The Servant's posture was one of humility. His approach filled with compassion, he did not break the bruised reed. But he faithfully bore witness to the Truth. My knowledge and understanding of world religions is limited and a religion can be understood fully only from within. Yet I am convinced that the Christian Gospel is the Truth that sets people free. The Gospel is a liberating Truth that changes human life and society. Where the Gospel has made its impact felt, there has resulted a humanization of society. It is still happening around the world and there is still great need for the worldwide witness to Jesus Christ. We call people not to religion; they have religion. We call them to the Way of Life. In our world this calls for greater sensitivity than ever before and the difficulties of bearing witness to God's grace are more complex than ever given the nature of today's world scene with ideological conflict and revolutionary ferment, especially since we are a world power seeking to maintain the status quo. Thus it is so very critical that the Christian Church claim its own identity as the People of God who are called to mission - a mission that will witness to God's truth both in our own nation and beyond - to the whole world. That's why the Catholic Bishops are doing what they are doing in publishing pastoral letters on subjects like nuclear warfare and economics. Differ with their conclusions, if you will, but recognize their responsibility to bear witness in that arena, for God has called, formed and appointed His people to be light to the people and a beacon to the Nations. This is why Desmond Tutu, newly appointed bishop in South Africa, speaks against the apartheid policy of that nation. It is the Church's calling to confront injustice and oppression. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Care Richard A. Rhem Page 9   I could go on. The People of God are called to care and caring equals costly engagement, concern for the Truth, for justice and righteousness and a commitment to tell the story and announce the liberating Truth of the Gospel. Secondly, to care is to touch and heal. The ministry of Jesus bears eloquent testimony to the care that flowed from him: Sight for the blind, hearing for the deaf, the lame walked, the dead were raised. Captives in all sorts of human bondage were set free. It is not without good cause that Jesus has been called "The Man For Others." Compassion flowed forth from him to all he met. He responded to the slightest spark of faith and never turned away from human need. He was moved with compassion as he looked on the multitude. So often we are moved with anger; we look with disgust at the action of the rebellious youth, the revolutionary, the poor and oppressed. Or, perhaps worse, we are indifferent, apathetic. We are hardened to human suffering; we become numb. We can wall ourselves off from the monstrous hurt of the masses and our neighbor. Non-involvement is the easy way out. Jesus cared. Jesus reached out and touched. Jesus brought healing and wholeness to human lives burdened with despair and futility. We stand on the threshold of Lent. We have a new opportunity to find the fullness of life to which he calls us. It will take intentionality - commitment. It will involve opening up and sharing, worshiping together, seeking God's presence in solitude, and a movement out of ourselves - a determination to care through costly involvement. Living with care is living at its best. Nothing can bring greater joy, deeper satisfaction. To care is to be - fully human, fully alive! © 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 V Series LifeLines Scripture Text Isaiah 42:3, 6, Matthew 9:36 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-0-19850217 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-02-17 Title A name given to the resource Living with Care Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 17, 1985 entitled "Living with Care", as part of the series "LifeLines", on the occasion of Epiphany V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 42:3, 6, Matthew 9:36. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Empathy Hebrew Scriptures Meaning Servant Songs Servanthood https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b6f20315306bc4d857b283610c14c4be.mp3 bfee391c72ba82c471de40e6f70a9d27 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2de542fa4199b6fc0ccd04497d3a0ff6.pdf 6730dae388345ad60706587564312394 PDF Text Text Living With Intentionality Confirmation Sunday Psalm 16:7-11; Luke 12:41-48 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide III, May 4, 2003 Transcription of the spoken sermon On this day, or as I contemplate this day I always think about these young people and some word to say to them and, hopefully, a word to them which is not without significance to the whole congregation. I want to say how impressed I always am on this day with our young people. They are wonderful kids. Well, they should be, they are yours, of course. Young people, I am going to speak to you and then the other folks can listen in. What I really want to say to you is the consequence of what was happening some weeks ago when I was thinking about what the theme and text would be and my mind was filled with images of war and destruction and devastation, and the suffering and even the sight of liberation, tearing down statues and thinking about people who perhaps for the first time could open their mouth and speak their mind without fear of death. I was thinking about how much of the world consists of people who are living with suffering, tragedy. And then I am thinking about you and I am thinking you are the lucky ones. You know that? You're the lucky ones. When I say that, I have to confess to you that I always use the word luck with a bad conscience, as I have confessed here before, because my father wouldn't let me use the word luck because you just weren't lucky. There was a divine providence and God had one’s life pretty much written out, and so luck was not a word around our dinner table, and I admit luck is really not a word for a sermon, for a pulpit, for a church, for a Christian congregation. But then, I have never been tied by what is proper. You are the lucky ones. We're all the lucky ones. I was delighted to find in Psalm 16 that in verses 5 and 6 the Psalmist speaks about God being his portion and he says, "You hold my lot and the boundary lines have fallen to me in pleasant places." Do you know what that is about? That reference goes back to when Israel entered the Promised Land and conquered the land and the Canaanites were there. It was one of the early instances of ethnic cleansing. When they got into the land, there were the twelve tribes and a couple of them stayed on the east side of Jordan, but the rest came in and they had to © Grand Valley State University   �Living With Intentionality Richard A. Rhem Page 2   divide up the land, and how do you divide the land? Well, at one point Joshua got disturbed with them because they weren't getting on with the work and so he called them together and had a couple representatives from each tribe and do you know what they did in order to determine who was going to go where? They cast lots. Do you know what that means? They held a lottery. They rolled dice, in other words. Now, to be sure, they prayed before they rolled the dice, which I would highly recommend if you go to Las Vegas. This was a common practice. To be sure, they believed that in the casting of the lots that God's will was going to be executed. There is a verse in Proverbs, "Man throws the dice, but God makes the spots turn up." Of course, that is the whole thing about life, isn't it? Is it all prescribed? Is there a God up there who is playing chess with us, or are we lucky? In any case, you are the lucky ones. I was awfully glad I could use that biblical reference to the distribution of land through the casting of lots because that was a practice in ancient society. What it kept somebody from doing, some great skillful, powerful entrepreneur, was it kept someone from building an empire because, from time to time, in these agrarian societies in ancient times, they would gather the community together and they would cast lots so that you got that portion this time, you got that portion next time. What it did was create a kind of equality. It leveled everybody from time to time and gave everyone a fair shake. So, this really was a practice, and to be sure, there was a conviction to that in the biblical understanding of things, that this was the way in which the will of God was determined. Well, that is a conception of God's involvement in our lives which is a little different than the one that I have but, nonetheless, that is what was happening. In any case, when that was over, you could say, "I'm one of the lucky ones." And when you say, "I'm one of the lucky ones," the thing that it does is it acknowledges a certain randomness about life, and everything we know about the universe today, our cosmologists, our scientists tell us that what has actually evolved and emerged in our universe, in our global reality, in our human story has an element of randomness about it. There could have been trajectories off in a thousand or a million different ways and, however it happened, here we are now and to say "You're the lucky ones," at least what it does is say everything that I have is not a consequence of my specialness. Sometimes religious communities think of themselves as special and then that can lead to an attitude of selfrighteousness, although it is always clothed in a real humility. But, you know, if God is playing chess with people and if I am special, and God has really favored me, how do I explain all of those whose lives are filled with tragedy? So, I like to get off that and just say "Wow! Wow! I'm one of the lucky ones." Because which one of you young people this morning chose to be born? Which one of you chose your parents? Who of us chose where to be born, when to be born? When you think about it, you must have to sit down and be amazed, and then when you think about all we have, the blessings of our lives? That's why I keep saying until everybody gets tired of hearing it, all is grace, because grace means gift. It means © Grand Valley State University �Living With Intentionality Richard A. Rhem Page 3   it is simply bestowed on us. Here we are, and I want to say to all of us this morning, we're the lucky ones. I don't think anybody would argue with that, so then let me ask a second question, or let me make a second point in the form of a question. Given you are a lucky one, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? That's why I read the parable about the man who was a big problem because he prospered so much that he couldn't house all of his goods and his crops. It was occasioned by the question somebody asked Jesus, somebody who was unhappy about the way the inheritance was divided. Do you know how many families have had rancor and bitterness and brokenness over inheritance? Jesus said, "Get a life. Get a life! Why would you trouble yourself over how the split came down?" And then he tells the story about this man who prospered so much that he had all of these crops and he didn't know what to do with them all. He said, 'Ah, I know. I'll tear down my barns and I'll build bigger barns." And so he built bigger barns and he talked to himself, he planned by himself. Himself, he himself was the center of all of his concern and he congratulated himself and said, "Ah, now I have it made. Eat, drink and be merry. Relax a little, already." And in the story Jesus says, "A fool. Tonight it's a coronary. It's over." And he implies that while the man gained all of that, he lost his life, his soul, his being. I use that story of Jesus to confront you who are the lucky ones with how you respond to the unimaginable good fortune you have to be born when you were born, where you were born, to whom you were born. What are you going to d o about it? We could put that question to our whole nation and one of the things that concerns me about the way that this nation is being led today is the fact that we who are so wealthy and so powerful, who have just demonstrated to the whole world, if there was any question about it, that there is really nothing we cannot do or accomplish, and when I read the policy statements now in fact being followed, it sounds to me like what we have to do is step it up, increase, according to the blueprint, the military defense budget 15 to 20 billion dollars a year annually, while the education budget gets cut and while the road system and the infrastructure suffers, and old people like me about to retire don't have prescription drug coverage. That really worries me. So, we are dominant and we are preeminent and the thinking today is that what we have to do is work at enhancing our preeminence. Well, it sounds like building bigger barns to me. But, I don't like to think about that too much. It's really an exercise in futility and despair, because I'm just an individual and what can I do? But then I realize I am responsible and I have been blessed. I'm one of the lucky ones. What can I do? And it's up to just a lot of us to do what we can do. I want to hold before you one of my heroes. His name is Albert Schweitzer. I don't know if you are familiar with him or not, but he died around 1960 at the age of 90, and this is out of his autobiography. He was a young man who grew up in a © Grand Valley State University �Living With Intentionality Richard A. Rhem Page 4   parsonage in Germany. His father was a pastor. Albert Schweitzer, before he was 30, became one of the greatest world biblical scholars and theologians. He wrote The Quest of the Historical Jesus, which is still a classic. He was an outstanding scholar. And then he became an accomplished organist. He studied with Widor. He became one of the world-renowned organists; he became one of the greatest scholars of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This guy, before he was 30 now. Now listen to this out of his autobiography: Long ago in my student days I had thought about it. It struck me as inconceivable that I should be allowed to lead such a happy life while I saw so many people around me struggling with sorrow and suffering. Even at school I had felt stirred whenever I caught a glimpse of the miserable home surroundings of some of my classmates and compared them with the ideal conditions in which we children of the parsonage at Giinsbach had lived. At the university, enjoying the good fortune of studying and even getting some results in scholarship and the arts, I could not help but think continually of others who were denied the good fortune by their material circumstances or their health. One bright summer morning at Giinsbach during the Whitsentide holidays, (it was 1896, he was 21 years old) as I awoke, the thought came to me that I must not accept this good fortune as a matter of course, but must give something in return. While outside the birds sang, I reflected on this thought and before I had gotten up, I came to the conclusion that, until I was 30,I could consider myself justified in devoting myself to scholarship and the arts. But, after that, I would devote myself directly to serving humanity. I had already tried many times to find the meaning that lay hidden in the saying of Jesus, "Whoever would save his life shall lose it, and whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it." Now I had found the answer. I could now add outward to inward happiness. He was 21 when he came to that resolution. He did continue his organ work and his theological research until he was 30, and then he started medical school, and he continued his other work while he was studying medicine and eventually he became a physician, and you know the story probably, he went to Africa. The rest of his life was given to the Congo building a hospital at Lambarene and serving the African people, for the rest of his life. His parents, his university professors, his colleagues, his associates, his friends said, "Stupid! Why would you waste your life that way? Look at your education, look at your gjftedness, look at your mind, look at what you can do in the world! Why would you go into the middle of Africa?" But, he was undeterred and he did it. He has probably received every award and honor that could be bestowed on a human being in consequence and his life © Grand Valley State University �Living With Intentionality Richard A. Rhem Page 5   continues to be a beacon light. Of course, he didn't come on it accidentally. As I said, his book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, is still a classic. He was convinced. He was fascinated, captivated, totally saturated with Jesus, and he changed his world. Not globally, but impacted it in such a way that we are still talking about it here, as we are still thinking about Jesus 2000 years later, because we are going to come to this table and the bread will be broken and the wine will be poured out, because we will remember that the cost of Jesus' way was his violent death. And I invite you, the lucky ones, to come and take that bread and that cup, not so you can have your sins forgiven, and go to heaven, but so you can live the way of Jesus here and now, because taking the bread and the cup is an act of solidarity. It is the raising of a banner. It is the flying of a flag. That is what this is about this morning. It is a rite of Christian identity. You get your own candle. You have to go your own way now. Let me suggest Jesus, who will ask of you everything and in consequence, give you life. References: Albert Schweitzer. Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography. Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1933. © 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 Confirmation Sunday, Eastertide III Scripture Text Psalm 16:7-11, Luke 12:41-48 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Albert Schweitzer. Out of My Life and Thought: An Autobiography. Henry Holt & Co., Inc., 1933. 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-0-20030504 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2003-05-04 Title A name given to the resource Living With Intentionality Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on May 4, 2003 entitled "Living With Intentionality", on the occasion of Confirmation Sunday, Eastertide III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 16:7-11, Luke 12:41-48. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Global Community Intentionality https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e9b237a80a1e2fc40d479052854283ae.mp3 f4293fa7f4f2040080942f229bdcb9b0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany II Series LifeLines Scripture Text Matthew 6:24, 33 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-0-19850127 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-01-27 Title A name given to the resource Living with Open Hands Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 27, 1985 entitled "Living with Open Hands", as part of the series "LifeLines", on the occasion of Epiphany II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 6:24, 33. 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/48c9b87092b10fb0b98a3d392794e487.mp3 a7b777306adc129b2acf796f5e9e20b3 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/61d9566a92d26dcdda169fd526207471.pdf a3e149ca05cd1d65c16576bff78decac PDF Text Text Living With Wonder From the sermon series: Lifelines Text: Isaiah 6: 1 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany IV, February 3, 1985 Transcription of the spoken sermon …I saw the Lord…high and exalted. Isaiah 6: 1 Viewing the Robert Kennedy story on television this past week I was reminded of the tumultuous events of the last quarter century. What drama and high tension have punctuated the flow of the years of recent decades. I remember vividly where I was the day John F. Kennedy was shot. Seeing familiar scenes flashed on the TV screen again this past week still sent a chill through me. The vast majority of our days flow without special significance and they are lost in the mists of the past. But not all days, not all events. Some days, some moments change us forever; they leave their imprint upon us and we can never be the same again. Isaiah knew that. He shared such an experience. Isaiah wrote, In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted ... It was not necessarily the occasion of the King's death, although that is possible. Perhaps it was the annual enthronement festival. At least it was a great worship celebration, a state occasion in the setting of the Temple with, no doubt, the pageantry of priesthood, altar and incense. Whatever was the particular focus of the worship that day, for Isaiah, it was a moment of revelation, of the breaking through of the hidden majesty of God, the penetration of his whole being with the vision of the glory of God and he was transformed; his whole life was grasped, shaped and given its destiny. In chaste and restrained fashion he describes the vision: © Grand Valley State University   �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 2   ...the skirt of his robe filled the temple. About him were attendant seraphim ... calling to one another, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.’ As he was transfixed by the scene, The threshold shook to its foundations, while the house was filled with smoke. Such was the vision of the glory of God. In reaction to the vision of God's holiness, the prophet was overwhelmed and sensed his unworthiness, his uncleanness in the presence of the Lord and he cried, Woe is me! I am lost. He knew immediately that there was a great gulf between the creature and the Creator. Such a vision would be his undoing, for he cries, I have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. But the gracious God revealed Himself not to destroy His servant; rather the ministering seraph took a glowing coal from off the altar and touched his lips, signifying his cleansing and the removal of his sins. Then it was that he heard the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? Who will go for me?" To which Isaiah answered, "Here am I; send me." And the word of the Lord was, "Go and tell..." And Isaiah became one of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, speaking the word of God to the People of God. This passage is obviously about the making of a prophet, about the vision of God and the prophetic call. In this message, however, I want to use the passage for another purpose, which, although not its primary teaching, is yet certainly a valid use. Let us consider the experience recorded here as an instance of the encounter with God in the celebration of worship. Worship is our focus. And even though Isaiah's experience was very personal, as all moments of divine revelation must be, yet its occasion was the corporate worship of God's people. It is corporate worship about which I invite you to think with me. Corporate worship is a lifeline; it provides the occasion in which Eternity breaks into our time, heaven touches earth, God reveals His glory, Grace and forgiveness are realized, the call of God is heard, and our response is offered. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 3   Worship provides the setting in which we are lifted out of ourselves, beyond the limits of the ordinary, in which we have the experience of transcendence and we are enabled to live with wonder. Living with wonder — That is the enrichment that worship affords. Moving from the experience of worship into the ordinary and the mundane to pick up our duties and exercise our vocations, all is transformed. A glow radiates over all of life. We move through the world as through a magnificent vaulted cathedral, conscious of the vertical dimension of life by which the horizontal plane of our lives has been intersected and transformed. Archbishop William Temple wrote: To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God; to devote the will to the purpose of God. Those statements seem to flow directly from the experience Isaiah recorded for us. Worship is a lifeline because it is the highest action of the human person whereby true humanity is realized through the vision, grace and call of God. Worship is a spiritual discipline. It is means by which we are shaped into the persons God has called us to be. That shaping, that forming of persons, of a people, is accomplished most notably through the experience of corporate worship. In this message I recommend to you the great importance and value of regular corporate worship. I do so not to make it a legalistic requirement, the socalled "Sunday obligation." I do so because I believe the regular, corporate worship of the people of God gives structure and rhythm to life. I recommend regular, corporate worship to you as a spiritual discipline, indeed, a lifeline, because I believe it is so vitally important to have a regular weekly appointment in which you can be unlocked from the world's grip, freed from the grip of value systems and ideologies that would mold you into a sub-human existence, lifted above the economic struggle for survival, the competitive struggle that creates tension with values of mercy and compassion, the perils of a consumer culture that pummels you with eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die – like a dog, a culture that would convince us that this is all there is. No people can know spiritual formation, the shaping of life and value by the Word of God without a regular appointment with the occasion and the setting in which our lives may be encountered, confronted, judged, graced, healed and sent forth again to be the people of God in the world. Living with wonder. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 4   That could be a definition of being human. It speaks of living with the awareness of God, with the awareness that there is something more, a transcendent dimension; with a sense of grace that overcomes brokenness and failure; with a sense of vocation, calling, that gives life meaning and purpose. A sense of wonder. Living with wonder would enable others to sense through our language and behavior a life lived in openness and awesomeness before the world of things and peoples. As a friend and colleague described it, In an over-rational and over-explained world our overweened arrogance of knowledge teaches us that wonder is a temporary state of curiosity caused by an ignorance of adequate explanation. To realize that this universe, the one in outer space as well as inner space, holds mystery beyond imagination. Dag Hammarskjold was a celebrant of that mystery. He said in his diary, “God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason. (Howard Moody) Isaiah's life was transformed in that moment of vision which occurred in the context of corporate worship. Every time we gather together here we place ourselves in the posture and setting where lightning may strike. Reflect with me about the act of corporate worship. Obviously one could bring a whole series of messages on the subject of the corporate worship of God and I cannot begin to cover the subject in this one message. My focus is very limited and specific: I am setting before you the great importance of a regular corporate worship as a spiritual discipline by which your life might be characterized by a sense of wonder. In choosing this narrow focus I create for myself inevitable problems. First, I can point to the vision of God which transforms human existence but I cannot guarantee that that will "happen" every time we gather for everyone, or even for anyone. God reveals Himself. God gives Himself. God is sovereign in His own unveiling. The same thing stated negatively - God cannot be manipulated by liturgical acts, incantations, sacramental actions. God is God. He is not at our disposal. He is not a genie to be "rubbed," moved by a magical formula or coerced into action by ritual of priest or people. I face a second problem: To speak of the vision of God is not the same thing as experiencing the vision of God. To speak about worship is not worship. Speaking as I am now, tied to a biblical text over which we have prayed and to which we © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 5   give attention is an essential action of corporate worship. In speaking as I am, I speak out of prayerful preparation with confidence in the promise of God to speak through my words. Yet here, too, God remains God; God remains free. In our Reformation tradition we have highly valued the sermon. We speak of the Word made flesh, the Word written and the Word preached and we call them all the Word of God. Nonetheless, apart from the present action of the Living God, the Word written remains a dead letter and the Word preached but human stammering. In other words, in corporate worship all of the forms, liturgical acts, gestures, sacramental actions are human structures that provide the framework in which the "happening" may occur. To use an analogy, the structure of the service and the actions in which we engage are like the train tracks. Whether the locomotive moves down those tracks is not in our power to determine. There is a third problem I face related to the one just mentioned: I can only describe that to which I refer rationally; yet what I am seeking to describe is beyond reason. Obviously as I speak to you I must attempt to be clear, to make sense. I work hard to make the message understandable. It must therefore be reasonable, able to be grasped by the reason. It must be logical so that its meaning can be grasped. But when I speak of the vision of God, of the inbreaking of God, of a “lightning strike” of revelation, I am speaking of an action of God, the experience of which is ineffable. The definition of “ineffable” is that which “cannot be expressed in words; unspeakable, unutterable, inexpressible.” Do you sense my dilemma? I am speaking about what is unspeakable, attempting to express what is inexpressible, trying to utter the unutterable. The best I can do is to point you by means of speech in logical thought, to a Reality which can only be experienced. In a classic study of the experience of God, which is beyond reason's ability to grasp or describe, The Idea of the Holy, by Rudolf Otto, the author states: This book, recognizing the profound import of the non-rational for metaphysics, makes a serious attempt to analyze all the more exactly the feeling which remains where the concept fails, and to introduce a terminology which is not any the more loose or indeterminate for having necessarily to make use of symbols. (Forward) To speak thus of "feeling" certainly is not to reduce religious experience to a purely human phenomenon. The translator of Otto's book writes in the preface: It is possible to devote our attention to religious “experience” in a sense which would almost leave out of account the object of which it is an experience. We may so concentrate upon the “feeling,” that the objective © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 6   cause of it may fall altogether out of sight. Is religious experience essentially just a state of mind, a feeling, whether of oppression or of exaltation, a sense of “sin” or an assurance of “salvation;” or is it not rather our apprehension of “the divine,” meaning by that term at least something independent of the mental and emotional state of the moment of experience? (p. XIIf.) In reference to Otto's purpose, the translator affirms: He is concerned to examine the nature of those elements in the religious experience which lie outside and beyond the scope of reason - which cannot be comprised in ethical or "rational" conceptions, but which none the less as "feelings" cannot be disregarded by an honest inquiry. And his argument shows in the first place that in all the forms which religious experience may assume and has assumed, so far as these can be reinterpreted ... certain basic "moments" of feeling ... are always found to recur. Speaking directly to our point, he continues, Here we are shown that the religious "feeling" properly involves a unique kind of apprehension, sui generis, not to be reduced to ordinary intellectual concepts, and yet - and this is the paradox of the matter - itself a genuine "knowing," the growing awareness of an object, deity. ... a response, so to speak, to the impact upon the human mind of the divine," as it reveals itself whether obscurely or clearly. The primary fact is the confrontation of the human mind with a Something, whose character is only gradually learned, but which is from the first felt as a transcendent present. "The beyond," even where it is also felt as "the within" man. (XIV F.) When I speak of the problem of expressing what is essentially inexpressible, I am speaking of what Otto describes in his study. The translator states it thus: The "feeling" element in religion involves, then, a genuine "knowing" or awareness, though, in contrast to that knowing which can express itself in concepts, it may be termed "non-rational." The feeling of the "uncanny," the thrill of awe or reverence, the sense of dependence, of impotence, or of nothingness, or again the feelings of religious rapture and exaltation, - all these are attempted designations of the mental states which attend the awareness of certain aspects of "the divine." (p. XV) It is to the "feeling" that remains when the concept fails that I point you. I can only point to the experience. Isaiah described such an experience in the imagery of the Temple service. There in the midst of some festival celebration God broke through to him. © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 7   It was a life-transforming moment. For the rest of his days he was shaped by that vision. Few of us will ever have such a vivid, dramatic encounter. But it is the contention of this message that it is in the setting of corporate worship that we put ourselves in the way of such an experience. It is here in the sanctuary that we are most likely to be encountered and that we have the greatest potential for apprehending the divine vision. If we would live with wonder then we can do no better than place ourselves in the presence of God with spirits open to the lightning strike of His glory. Rudolf Otto coins the word "numinous" to describe ... The specific non-rational religious apprehension and its object, at all its levels, from the first dim stirrings where religion can hardly yet be said to exist to the most exalted forms of spiritual experience. (p. XVII) But he maintains that we cannot dispense with the knowledge that comes through human reason and moral experience. He insists, writes Harvey, that for him the supremacy of Christianity over all other religions lies in the unique degree in which ... in Christianity the numinous elements, such as the sense of awe and reverence before the infinite mystery and infinite majesty, are yet combined and made one with the rational elements, assuring us that God is an all-righteous, all-provident, and all-loving Person, with whom a man may enter into the most intimate relationship. (p. XVII) Thus it is Otto's contention that religion ... is a real knowledge of, and real personal communion with, a Being Whose nature is yet above knowledge and transcends personality. This apparent contradiction cannot be evaded by concentrating upon an aspect of it and ignoring the other, without doing a real injury to religion. It must be faced directly in the experience of worship, and there, and only there, it ceases to be a contradiction and becomes a harmony. (p. XVII) God is the object of worship. We attempt to speak of God. The description of God is spoken of as the attributes of God and Otto writes, ... all these attributes constitute clear and definite concepts; they can be grasped by the intellect; they can be analyzed by thought; they even admit of definition. An object that can thus be thought conceptually may be termed rational. The nature of deity described in the attributes above mentioned is, then, a rational nature; and a religion which recognizes and maintains such a view of God is in so far a "rational" religion. Only on such terms is Belief possible in contrast to mere feeling. (p. 1) © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 8   However, too much religion, including our Reformed tradition, has stopped there. As Otto says, ... so far are these "rational" attributes from exhausting the idea of deity that they in fact imply a non-rational or supra-rational Subject of which they are predicates. ... That is to say, we have to predicate them of a subject which they qualify, but which in its deeper essence is not, nor indeed can be, comprehended in them; which rather requires comprehension of a quite different kind. (p. 2) Otto points to the failing of Christian orthodoxy in that it found in the construction of dogma and doctrine no way to do justice to the non-rational aspect of its subject. So far from keeping the non-rational element in religion alive in the heart of the religious experience, orthodox Christianity manifestly failed to recognize its value, and by this failure gave to the idea of God the one-sidedly intellectualistic and rationalistic interpretation. (p. 3) So much for the problems I encounter as I point you to the discipline of corporate worship as the place and occasion for an encounter with the living God from which one derives the sense of wonder that transforms all of life. Recognizing that I can point to the vision of God but cannot guarantee that to speak about worship is not the same as worshiping, and that I must describe the worship experience rationally, but that it is an experience beyond reason, let me nonetheless say something about the experience of corporate worship. The first statement I would make is that our worship is response to God. He has taken the initiative; He has woven the truth of His being into the fabric of our being and no matter how much we deface His image in our souls, yet we can never fully divest ourselves of the trace of His imprint. This is where we part company with those following the German philosopher/theologian Feuerbach, such as Marx and Freud and company, who insist that religion is of human creation, prompted by human need and thus must be understood not as response to the revelation of God, but as a purely human action fashioning God out of human projections. We speak of the "feeling" that remains when the concept fails; we speak of that which shatters our reason and breaks the bounds of our rational thinking, but we insist that is a reflex action a response, a re-action. God reveals Himself; our worship is response. Thus worship is something the People do Godward; it is human action offered to God Who is the object of our worship. Therefore, while worship should be edifying and instructive, edification and instruction are not in themselves worship. Therefore, worship ought never to be boring, but neither is its purpose entertainment, simply holding the people's attention. Worship is the offering of praise and adoration to God Who has made © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page 9   Himself known to us so that we cannot but respond by acknowledging His worthship. Secondly, the corporate worship of God occurs in a carefully choreographed, dramatic pageant. Such a statement will certainly not be accepted by all without objection. Let me quickly admit that there is a large variety of acceptable modes of worship. Where God's people gather, God's truth is declared and God's Spirit is present, there the worship of God occurs. Let me acknowledge further that various modes and media of worship touch different persons. There must be no stereotyping of personality type that alone can worship truly, and worship depends not on one's theological understanding, liturgical training or aesthetic sense. Granting that I must insist that the worship of God demands of us the highest attention, the most strenuous care for detail, and the utilization of our best gifts all devoted to excellence of form and content in the experience of worship, I have acknowledged the legitimacy of variety in modes of worship: the silence of the plain Quaker Meeting House, the fervor of the Charismatic Pentecostals, the solemn dignity of Evensong in the setting of Cathedral magnificence. Yet, let me put in a word for the mode of worship created in this place week by week. I spoke of a carefully choreographed, dramatic pageant. The word pageant has several definitions. The most obvious is "a scene acted on a stage." Another definition is "a spectacle arranged for effect." And "pageantry" is defined as "splendid display; pomp." "Pomp" is defined as "splendid display or celebration; splendour, magnificence. " In the definitions of pageantry and pomp there is also another meaning of empty display or ostentation. That is interesting because it indicates what a fine line there is between truth and its counterfeit. That is why religious ritual and ceremony have so frequently through the centuries become empty, lifeless display without substance, without soul. Hollow forms have been the curse of the Church, foisted on her by ministers and priests without passion and faith, by religious leaders grown callous through familiarity with holy things. Acknowledging all of that, I must still contend that the celebration of worship of the People of God at its highest and best is the full-spectrum pageant in which is utilized the arts which appeal to the aesthetic sense: music that moves one in the depths; movement that expresses what leaves the tongue dumb; color and symbol creating a feast for the eye; the word of truth that engages the mind and triggers the emotion that triggers the will; candles and crosses and colors of vestments; incense and smoke rising heavenward; © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page10   the roar of the mighty organ; the chill of an obligate; the simplicity of a gesture - breaking bread, pouring wine, making the sign of the cross on a forehead with baptismal water; The word of assurance -"Your sins are forgiven; go in peace." Choir and congregation in one mighty voice, singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia! Go back to the definition of pageant: "A spectacle arranged for effect." That is it, you see: arranged for effect. What effect? The vision of God, surely! The vision of God, high and lifted up! I cannot in calm rational discourse affect the vision; I can only point to it, speak about it, draw out the implications of it. Sweet reason does not remove the veil from the face of the living God. Reason reaches its limit; rational discourse comes to its bounding and still beyond reigns the living God. He must come to us. He must penetrate our space and time. But if I can choreograph a pageant full of sound and sight which engages not only the head but the heart and soul, then at least I have set the stage - created the setting, arranged the spectacle where the effect might, if God be gracious, happen. In such a setting I just may catch a glimpse of His glory; there may well be a moment in which there is a rift in the sky and in that moment my life may well be transformed, become radiant with light and full of glory. Then I will have come to know God Who is beyond knowledge, and to possess a joy which is unspeakable. Then my life will be full of wonder, and I will walk beneath the blue sky of the heavens as though it were a great vaulted cathedral and my every day will be vibrant with praise. Finally, in such an experience of worship all of life is lifted into the presence of God, cleansed and claimed and sent forth to serve. It is here in worship that one is most likely to hear the Voice, "Who will go for me?" "Whom shall I send?" It is while one is lost in wonder, love and praise that one is most open to respond, "Here am I, send me." That, of course, is why this service always culminates in the offering. Where a People has caught a glimpse of the glory of God and heard the call of God, response is inevitable. Some action is called for, some gesture must be made. That is why the organ builds to mighty crescendo, the people rise, the gifts come forward and together we sing, "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow." © Grand Valley State University �Living With Wonder Richard A. Rhem   Page11   How could we remain seated, passive, uninvolved? Such is the wonder of worship. From such worship flows life full of wonder. Living with wonder is living with heaven on earth. Reference: Rudolf Otto. The Idea of the Holy. Translated by John W. Harvey. Oxford University Press, 1958. © 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 III Series LifeLines Scripture Text Isaiah 6:1 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Rudolf Otto. The Idea of the Holy. Translated by John W. Harvey, 1958. 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-0-19850203 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1985-02-03 Title A name given to the resource Living with Wonder Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on February 3, 1985 entitled "Living with Wonder", as part of the series "LifeLines", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 6:1. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Epiphany Presence Prophet Isaiah Sacred Transcendence Wonder Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7958e7a6ca51346bb2fff2c42d3ea585.mp3 c0433d3e75fee5169f7adad372f0a31c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series Spirituality in the Modern World Scripture Text Romans 5:18 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20010225 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-02-25 Title A name given to the resource Living Within a True Myth 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 February 25, 2001 entitled "Living Within a True Myth", as part of the series "Spirituality in the Modern World", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 5:18. 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/8fbcb70e8633ca6bdf046147f3224b1c.mp4 c299d03b7f6c6c2c190261da5b375317 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f63661ac6a25a6092ad94acd17347b59.pdf df9ae079cec3d59aca7a06e0ef931529 PDF Text Text GrandValleyStateUniversity Veterans History Project Robert Livo (45:55) Background Information ()         Born in DetroitMichigan, but lived in DearbornMichigan. (00:30) His father was a manager of a department store and his mother was a registered nurse. (00:46) He attended Catholic school in Dearborn. (1:50) When he was young and in public school, he would get in fights with other kids, play hooky and even steal money. (2:15) He sold popcorn door to door. He also sold sprinklers door to door for money. (3:10) In his senior year of High school he worked in the basement of the Coca Cola bottling company. (4:25) He joined the Naval Reserves in 1953. He did this because he knew the Navy would give him a warm place to sleep at night and because he liked the sea. (4:43) Because of previous experience, when Robert was placed aboard ship he was placed in the electronics department. (5:50) Service in the Reserve (6:15)           When sailors came into port they were often given 30 days leave. When they arrived in port, order was put in for Reserve men to fix equipment. (6:34) He was assigned to fix the radio wave guard of the ship. While he was doing the repair his hat blew off and he was so frustrated he did not continue the repair. (7:20) Robert’s striker continued and finished the repair. (8:50) There were a lot of complaints Robert recalls about food. He didn’t see it as being bad. He always thought it was good. (9:25) For his training, Robert was given 2 weeks at Great Lakes Naval Base and then another 2 weeks aboard a patrol craft out of MilwaukeeWisconsin. (10:44) Before going aboard his patrol craft, Robert was able to convince a girl in town to go on a date with him. (11:28) Robert thought that the training the Navy gave used his resources effectively. (12:18) Robert’s unit was fairly mixed ethnically. (12:46) One of the things the men would do would strike each other on the shoulder as a bonding exercise and to job about how tough each other were. (13:32) Practical jokes were fairly common. (15:05) Service in Brazil ()    This mission was to refuel cable layers that were used to lay cables to aid in missile and torpedo radar. (16:15) During this assigned he had 18 days in Brazil. He was glad to go on this trip because he wanted to see the world and see exotic places. (17:00) He took pictures while in Brazil, however the camera jammed and the film was not recovered. (19:04) � While on the ship they would commonly show films. The men enjoyed this very much. (20:22) Exiting the Military and College ()        Technically Robert was supposed to serve 2 years. (1953-1955) (21:05) Due to admission into the UniversityMichigan, Robert was allowed an early and honorable discharge. He was let out in September rather than November. (21:16) At the end of his first semester Robert was out of money. What he did was found a job working as a cook in a sorority. He was allowed one meal a week for this job. (21:47) Robert was given a grant for his books and tuition. (22:33) Robert was studying political science. He had no intent with continuing his courses with electronics. (22:45) Robert attended HenryFordCommunity College before attending the UniversityMichigan. Robert did have an agreement with his mother where as long as he was enrolled in college he could stay at home without paying room or board. (24:07) Robert was talked into transferring to WayneStateUniversity from HenryFordCommunity College on the proposition that they had better looking girls. (25:13) Career in Law (27:31)        Robert used the GI bill to get through law school. He attended the school at night. (27:37) Robert also divorced his first wife at this time. Law school was a positive funnel of his negative energy. (27:40) He had 2 boys with his first wife and 1 daughter with his second wife. (29:31) Robert practiced law for 9 years. (30:15) Robert began working in CheboyganMichigan after a very long process of pursuing a job. (31:08) Robert worked as a circuit judge for the next 17 years. (31:58) He did contract emphysema from smoking and diabetes. (33:36) Life at Veteran’s Facility (34:11)      While driving his car of a job assigned, Robert noticed something was wrong with his leg. Later that night he had serious problems occulting with his what he thought was his diabetes. Instead, his emphysema was acting up. (34:40) Robert took himself to the hospital and treated. (35:19) He was recommended to go to the Veterans Home in 2010 by his daughter. He was not opposed to the idea. Since he has gone there, he believes that it has made things much easier. (37:30) Robert works on the member council and addressing problems such as faulty vending machines. (38:58) Surprisingly veterans are very hard group of people to lead. (41:31) Thoughts on Service (43:00)    Robert joined the military to see how he stacked up against all the other young men. (43:10) Robert believes he stacked up reasonably well. (44:16) He feels sad for people who have not had the experience of the military. He thinks that the experience was over all very rewarding. (44:33) �� 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 LivoR1249V Title A name given to the resource Livo, Robert (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Livo, Robert Description An account of the resource Robert Livo, born in Detroit Michigan, serve in the U.S. Naval reserves from 1953-approximately 1954 to 1955. During his service, Robert went thought most of his training at Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois. The men were put to work often cleaning and repairing ships that had come into port. Robert worked in the electronics department. He was also sent on a small cruise assigned to refill line layers in the South Atlantic. During this cruise Robert was given 18 days in Brazil. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Moore, Debra (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Other veterans & civilians--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy 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 2011-09-09 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8e982c969fdc741ffa4a0105aa0d9968.mp3 4ee66ea1f3f7edae954b69750216a541 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/60de7a01a99d3b99d034a99496602e64.pdf 8f31ca57e4a580ccafdeb6266e5f8b21 PDF Text Text GV043-07 Connected Exhibit Interviews Interviewee: Elizabeth (Liz) Ritchie Interviewers: Gayle Schaub Date: April 20, 2016 Gayle: Liz: Is there a specific time or place, well not place, but if you can think of a story that or a specific time and it might just bubble out that…that you felt particularly…something. Particularly happy, or sad, or elated, or excited, or frustrated. :22 Gayle: Liz: I think that you come to college and you have a lot of those core classes you have to take but there are the electives that Grand Valley offers that really bring out who you are and start to morph, maybe your liberal education would be the right term? And for me that was ballroom dancing, and that class for me was a turning point not only feeling comfortable meeting with students outside of class to work on these dances but also to feel joy going to a class and being excited to go, and get an experience that’s not just bookwork and course-related but one that starts to make you interested in different cultures of dance and things of that nature, and for me that class was a huge turning point for what Grand Valley has to offer as far as classwork and you can kinda branch out from your major. You tried it just for fun? 1:20 Yeah. Yeah, I had a couple extra credits in one of my semesters and needed to get to full-time student to get to the fifteen credits and so I didn’t want to take another three-course science class and signed up for two gym credits. I signed up for ballroom dancing that semester and another one called body sculpting to help keep me in shape cause as you progress in your college career you find you are at the gym less and less, and so, but ballroom dancing was the one I really was passionate about going to and really excited to go to. My science classes I’m very interested in and I’m excited about the field I’m going into but to have a class… Gayle: What’s your major? Liz: I’m a biology major, but to have a class that is completely different from your comfort zone where you just kinda just dive right into every week was just a really cool experience for me. Gayle How many people were in it? Liz: 2:11 It was, you signed up based on whether you’re a girl or boy and then the class was taught together, and there were I think twenty girls and twenty boys in the class and so you switched partners for every dance. So you got to meet someone new while you’re learning the dance together and you met outside of class to perform a dance and then every week you actually danced in front of the class, and your final was choreographed in your own two minute class which was, your own two minute dance which, was really cool. �Gayle: Liz: What kind of dances? 2:44 Gayle: Liz: Did anybody, like, hate it? 3:05 Gayle: Liz: We learned the foxtrot, the salsa, the cha cha, the swing, western and eastern, just a whole array of dances throughout the semester. So you spent about two weeks on each dance and then you performed and then you switched into a new genre. I don’t think so, no. You came into the class and everyone was uncomfortable with the fact that you: a.) had to dance with the opposite sex, and b.) you had to come up with your own choreographed dances and so you can see as the semester progresses on people are going past the 30-second choreographed time and they’re just so excited to be in front of everyone and you really see that towards the end of the semester when everyone’s really actually excited and genuinely comfortable performing in front of everyone. So it’s kind of a high school awkwardness to a, your full potential in college what you can do as your own individual choreographer per se. I wonder if there’s a club here, like a dance…there must be. 3:45 There’s a swing dance club, I’m not sure about ballroom dance. I know there’s a swing dance club; I was in it for a semester. Gayle: But no more? You don’t have time? Liz: It’s yeah, that’s exactly right. Yeah, time is always… Gayle: So what made you choose this major? Liz: 4:05 I am a pre-veterinary student and I had a really good biology professor in high school and it turns out the biology courses and the curriculum ties right into the prerequisites for veterinary medicine and so I chose to be a biology major for that reason, but I think that my classes have really honed in on my interests and I think that it’s nice to have a major that’s not just a stepping stone for what you want to do but also that has really good professors. Professors that I’ve become really close with on a personal basis and who I can go and talk about ecology, and sustainable agriculture because I grew up in a rural community and to be able to translate those into my other liberal education classes, my Honors classes and then also know that I’ll be prepared going to vet school which is just really great. So I’m doing biology, you can pick whatever major you want as long as you complete the prerequisites. Gayle: So when do you have to apply for vet school? Liz: I apply this summer. Gayle: Oh! Oh, you - already? Before your senior year? Liz: 5:07 Yeah, yup. It’s really nerve wracking but I’m also excited because you finally, you go through high school and you figure out what you want to do and then you come to undergrad and you start to take all these classes but then when you fill out the �application it becomes a reality and it’s just really exciting but a nerve-wracking feeling I guess. Gayle: When are you going to, I mean where are you going to apply? Liz: I’m going to apply to Michigan State and University of Wisconsin Madison. Gayle: Two? Liz: Just two, yup. It’s $250 for the first application and then an extra $125 after that so I’m only going to apply to the schools I’d be interested in going to. Gayle: So what does that process entail? Do you have to have recommendations from here? Liz: 5:50 Gayle: Liz: So you knew you wanted to be a vet before you came to Grand Valley? 6:53 Gayle: Liz: Gayle: Yup, so you can have up to six, they’re called eLORs which are electronic letters of recommendation. One has to be from a veterinarian and then the other ones that you choose can be either an academic advisor, or a professor you became close with, but what you really want to hone in on is I guess how you’ve taken a challenge and improved upon that. They want their eLORs to be very specific for veterinary school. You also have to take the GRE which is, you know, a fun test and a lot of it’s based off you GPA, so they usually have a preliminary round per se, based on your GPA and your GRE scores and then schools will send you supplementary applications from there and you’ll fill those out and usually they have interviews, which happen around February and then they send out offers around March/April, so, it’s kind of a long process. Yeah, when I was four years old I decided I wanted to be a veterinarian. I started showing animals at my community, my county fair when I was five. So when I was four I got my first set of pigs and it was kind of an interesting year. My pigs didn’t make weight and so that was the year my dad taught me where bacon came from which is kind of interesting (laughs). It’s fine. Are you a vegetarian now? 7:23 I am not a vegetarian, but I-we raise all our own meat so it’s very different from…When I came to college I went to the grocery store to buy hamburger and I had to call my mom cause I didn’t know what to buy cause we just don’t buy hamburger from the stores, and so that was a unique experience coming to college and really having to do things on your own for a change and try to figure things out on your own so that was one of those – buying meat – for me was one of those moments. Have you been involved at all with the farm? The sustainability group, or anything that’s going on here at Grand Valley? �Liz: 7:56 Gayle: Liz: I became involved with the Humane Society one year but I’m just now looking into the sustainable farming in my courses so that’s been really interesting but I haven’t been involved on campus per se with that. No. Okay. Just curious, because I know they have a lot of people doing a lot of things and growing stuff and selling it at the market. 8:21 The farmer’s market is really cool in the fall and they have that and I’m always really sad cause you get to school and it ends in October so you’re only here about a month and a half and then it goes away. Gayle: Yeah, we’re here the whole time so. Liz: Yeah. Gayle: So where are you from then? Liz: 8:36 Gayle: Liz: I’m from a rural town southwest of Kalamazoo called Decatur and most people think Decatur, Illinois but it’s really just a small town that I grew up in. So we had about 2,000 people in my town and I graduated with 74, which is one of the largest classes of my community in about ten years, so to come to Grand Valley and have 25,000 students, and to kind of have to create your own identity was really fun for me because I grew up with the same kids from kindergarten until I graduated so to get to come here and meet new people, and recreate your identity you didn’t have when you were in second grade and did something embarrassing was really nice. Did you change your name or anything? Or change the way you…? 9:24 I became Liz when I came to college. I didn’t go by Elizabeth anymore I went by Liz. Gayle: That’s what you go by now? Liz: That’s what I go by now. So kind of a unique thing to do, I didn’t change my name but I go by a different name. All my professors call me Liz too. Gayle: I mean I didn’t have a name that I could do that with but a lot of people I know can do that. Liz: Yeah. Gayle: When you first got here, you were in a dorm? Liz: Gayle: Liz: 9:49 Yeah, I actually lived in the Murray International house which was a unique experience. I grew up with exchange students from around the world and we had about fourteen before I came to college. That stayed in your house? 10:04 Mhmm, yup. So my parents got our first exchange student when I was a baby and we had one every year until I graduated high school, some year two students and so I became involved in the Murray International House on their community council �and ran sustainability events for our community but also general volunteering and programming for Homecoming and Relay-for-Life. Then the next year, my sophomore year, I became involved with being a peer mentor and actually being more involved with the international community here on campus and working with their transitioning, and giving tours on campus and downtown Grand Rapids, and also doing programming specific for international students. For instance we had a lot of students that had never gone sledding before so we packed up a van and took everyone sledding and it was a great experience for them and we also had days that would highlight different cultures like Day of the Dead and different things of that nature to kind of make the international students feel more at home here in America. And also it was just nice to talk with them and their experiences about what’s different here on our campus, how their lectures are different and, I guess, to see them kind of flourish throughout the year. They become more comfortable with American customs and how classes are run and professors, and even just the language barriers in the beginning. That was just a really cool experience for me and from there I applied to be an RA and tried to become an RA in the Murray International Center but was placed instead in the Women in Science and Engineering building which I have no regrets from, it was a great experience working there with those girls. Gayle: Oh, so that wasn’t like you didn’t join that it kind of happened to you? Liz: Mhmm. Yeah, yup. Gayle: Did you ever want to study abroad? Liz: Gayle: Liz: Gayle: 11:51 I still want to study abroad, I’d like to do a veterinary-based program in Belize which is a kind of a hands-on program for undergraduate students it’s run by Michigan State. So I would like to do that over winter break this coming school year, but as far as a semester-long…excursion I guess, it would set me back a year for veterinary school just because of the basis of my nature and the classes I have to take. Still want to study abroad, still want to get in the undergraduate experience but not going to do it in maybe a traditional manner. Well that’s good. Have you studied language? 12:29 I studied language in high school and then this summer my friend and I are going to take up Spanish. One of my friends is a Spanish major that I graduated with, and she’s going to help me with that process. She’s fluent and she did a semester in Argentina which was really exciting to hear about how different things are there. Let’s see what else can I ask you about, if I can think of some things because you’ve had such a jam-packed experience already. Did you experience any moments of, like, “oh, what have I done?” No? As soon as you got here it sounds like you hit the ground running but did you ever feel like this was maybe a little vague or a little scary? �Liz: 13:13 No. My main challenge was in the beginning with how different academics were at the collegiate level versus the one I had in high school. High school came very easy for me, I didn’t have to study a lot. I did study but I didn’t have to study near as much as I did here, or read as much as I did here, nor were the books that I read at this level and so coming into the Honor’s College you kind of…the Honor’s College specifically, you kind of hit a brick wall in the beginning because you have to relearn how to study and how to be effective about it and how to manage your time. In a high school a lot of it is managed for you with your six class hours that your counselor makes for you and you go to lunch at this time, and go to practice at this time, and you go home and your mom makes dinner, you do homework and you go to bed. But here you might have only one class a day and you might have this freedom that is just unknown to you and what to do with that time and if you’re going to be productive or not that day, if you’re going to go hang out with friends what you’re going to do. If you’re going to visit the Writing Center all the time like I did to help with my Honor’s papers and my grammar because I wrote with commas when I thought it was okay to pause not where the commas actually belong which my Honor’s professor dinged me on right away. And so I don’t know, you have this new self-autonomy that you have to deal with when you get to college and how you deal with that kind of sets the foundation for how successful you’re gonna be and the resources that you in that process are really important and I think it’s really great, Gayle: Did you have any? Liz: And Grand Valley offers all those, Gayle: Did you have any “oh crap” moments where you thought “I should’ve managed my time better”? Liz: 14:50 Yes. Yeah, it happened when I started double-booking my time and not realizing it and having to use a calendar and my phone calendar and all of those things, and so the time where I had to tell someone “yeah, sorry I can’t meet. I’m meeting with my professor now.” And to kind of drop the ball was really a moment of “okay, I gotta get things together” but I learned quickly I think. You kind of have to learn quickly especially when you’re involved in everything I’ve been involved in. But I didn’t have a moment of…I guess you have the…breaking up with your high school sweetheart and that was a rough transition that first semester for me. I know a lot of people come to college with past relationships from their hometowns and everybody’s going to work out and you know for sure your relationship’s going to work out and then you get here and you realize it’s really not working out and so to have to deal with that long-distance breakup and that transition and feeling hopeless for a while but still having to kind of keep it together and keep your grades up I think that was my roughest semester probably dealing with that and then being away from home already, so you kind of become a little homesick and then not having that person that you had for support back at home because you just ended that relationship and that was probably… �Gayle: Liz: Now was that relationship with somebody who was also in school or? 16:17 It was a relationship with someone who was still in high school and so that’s why, ultimately it was the distance kind of that…made that a thing but, I don’t know you learn to adapt and move on. Gayle: Yeah, it sounds like you’ve got it together. Liz: Yup. I think you always try to have it together with boys but they always throw you one (laughs). Throw you for a loophole. Gayle: So, I mean it’s unusual to meet someone who had this plan and has stuck to this plan, and will probably stick to this plan. Liz: Gayle: Liz: 16:57 Yeah, I’ve never really gone through not knowing what I want to do and I know that’s a huge struggle for some people coming into college because they don’t know what they want to do, but I’ve had friends that have gone through that and ultimately they come to college the first year and they just try everything they can get their hands on and they take all of their electives that first year, usually though in one of their electives though they’ll have this spark and they’ll realize “ok, I really enjoyed this class let’s take another one” and then they take another one and meet with the professor, make that relationship and ultimately decide that that’s what they want to do. And for one of my friends that was political science. She loved doing the debates, she loved talking about the hot topics, she loved doing the research and for her political science is where she came of it and that’s what she’s graduating in in this upcoming semester so. I never experienced that but I know it’s a huge, huge problem for some students. Have you had any professors that really stand out that you just say “yeah, I wish everyone could take this professor” even though not everybody wants to do biology. Or have you had the opposite? Have you had like these, kind of, “well that was a disaster I’m glad it’s behind me” kind of thing? 18:15 I can honestly say that I’ve only had one professor I disliked at Grand Valley and I think that it was a teaching style because I know many students that really enjoyed his class, and learned a lot from his class. But I think that the a professor who’s really had the most impact on me was Dr. Matthew Hart, he teaches organic chemistry here and he was the first professor that really challenged me to step outside my boundaries in studying and how to learn from a different perspective. And organic chemistry is an extremely difficult class and it’s generally a class that pre-professional schools look at to see if students can make it through because it is so challenging and it may not be completely relevant to what they’re going into but it definitely shows how strong willed that student is, and how motivated that student is to succeed and get past it and for me that was that class. And that was the class that I struggled in in the beginning and got my first bad grade on my exam but I, I don’t know, you learn to persevere and I was in office hours all the time and so from then on I ended up first semester getting an A- in the and then the next �semester going in and kind of knowing Professor Hart and how his exams are and ended up getting an outstanding organic chemistry award at the end of it all and so it was just a really great experience and him and I are still fairly close and I think he’s the professor that I’ll probably look back on as being kind of that pivotal moment in my undergrad where I kind of got things together and just learned so much from. Gayle: So you’re doing Student Scholars? Liz: Mhmm, yeah. Gayle: What’re you doing? Liz: Gayle: Liz: Gayle: Liz: 19:57 I am doing a biology-based research project with parasitology and specifically racoon roundworms which is a zoonotic disease that a lot of children will get if a dog came into contact with a raccoon or something of that nature and got roundworms. And so it’s a very prevalent disease in western Michigan for raccoons from what our research has told and so we’re trying to see if the level of infection in a raccoon or how many adult worms are present can kind of give us an idea as to how many eggs that raccoon is putting into the environment. And so it’s very hands-on microscope work and being able to identify the roundworms and we’re doing Student Scholars Day and we’ve got our preliminary research done but it’s not significant per se. We’re going to do some tweaking of our methods which is what you do in research in real life. You do something and you realize it could’ve worked better this way and so we’re in that process of improving it and we will hopefully be publishing, or seeking publishment at the end of the summer which is really exciting to be a part of and it’s nice to see that - With a professor? 21:18 Yeah, with Professor Jacquot. It’s nice to see that in labs they’re all set up and the professor knows the outcomes and what’s going to happen but in the real world of research you don’t know what’s going to happen and you don’t know the challenges that are going to come with that and so actually going through the process and seeing all those bumps in the road and modifying your hypothesis, it’s kinda nice cause it’s…it’s what happens in real world research. So you guys, are you involved in writing it all, writing it up? Not just the methodology and the results but also the review and the, whatever, the background to the study? 21:54 Yeah, Professor Jacquot has had these samples in the freezer for about four or five years now and has just now put together a team of students to help him actually conduct the research, but as a part of my Honor’s senior project I wrote the rough draft of our paper and so, and he’s helping me revise it and things of that nature but we’ll be redoing all of our data collection in a way that we think will be better for the overall study and we’re going to include some more components that we hadn’t thought of before to try to improve the correlations but, yeah, I’ll be a writer of the paper…which is really cool. �Gayle: So what happens to kids if they get this? Liz: So it’s dependent upon how many eggs they ingest and where it travels in the body. So what happens is the kids…the raccoon is the dominant host, Gayle: Wait a minute, human kids? Liz: 22:27 Yeah, yeah kids can get it. It’s not super common but, it’s when dogs go out and they’re scavenging through dirt where there’s feces or and come back with that it’s the fecal/oral contact. If the child picks up a toy the dog licked and there happened to be, the dog maybe happened to run into the woods and come in contact with the raccoon or things of that nature it’s very easily transmitted at that point and so…it’s not super common but it can happen. Most of the time it’s not super serious you can do some level of like de-wormer or something kinda like you would do with your dog which sounds kinda really gross and things but it can be serious because as the eggs mature they travel through the liver and into different tissues in the body and so they can migrate into the central nervous system and that’s when you have super serious problems. So it’s not super prevalent but is a zoonotic disease and people can get it and so that kind of warrants research. Because if we, if you can predict based on the level of infection how many eggs you think were transmitted that can alter the doctor’s diagnosis as whether or not he’s going to do this or this depending on how many he thinks that the child ingested and it’s kind of the, the prevalence increases as the raccoons become closer to fragmentation which is either human development or farming because raccoons can get into trash and things of that nature and it’s easier for them to bring it into, like, human environments if they’re infected because we leave trash bins out and kind of like food and things of that nature so they kind of like to hang out around us. Gayle: Well I know a dog I was babysitting for and it was like rolling in raccoon poop and in the city we have raccoons all the time, you know? Like right in our backyard. Liz: Yeah, and it’s common for dogs to get it. Very common for dogs to get it cause dogs- Gayle: But adults can’t be infected? As much? Liz: They can but it’s just the nature of kids playing in dirt and soil. Like kids going out outside and playing in sandpits and things of that nature. Gayle: So they’re directly getting into it. Liz: They’re directly getting it, yeah. Gayle: Got ya. Liz: Gayle: 25:00 And the eggs are extremely dormant so they are extremely viable, excuse me, they can live in the environment up to five years of freezing cycles and they’re resistant to disinfectants and I think it was they could survive in temperatures up to like negative fifteen degrees and get like way down into the…yeah… So what about us gardeners? �Liz: I mean… Gayle: Don’t touch your mouth? Liz: It’s not super, yeah it’s not super common but yeah I wouldn’t touch your mouth if you’re digging around in the soil. Gayle: Yeah I wouldn’t. But I mean I have friends who let their dogs lick their faces. Liz: 25:42 Yeah I mean if they go out into the woods. Raccoon ecology they have these things they call, well they defecate in the woods into these latrines and so it’s basically like this community center where they’ll all, they’ll all like kind of defi- like all kind of in the same area so it’s…but usually there’re like seeds and things there too so small mammals will like pick up seeds from the area and become infected and then maybe a dog will get a squirrel that was infected and the dog then becomes infected and gets it. So it’s a lot more common in dogs just because they have a higher contact with raccoons and like small critters so, Gayle: Yeah rabbits do that community poop thing too. I see that in my backyard. Liz: Yeah so that’s why a lot of people always have their dogs on some sort of dewormer. Gayle: Interesting how much I’ve learned today! Liz: Yeah so if like you take good veterinary care of your dog and have them on a dewormer you should be good! I mean cause it’ll just automatically get rid of it. Gayle: Oh so like if they’re on a de-wormer they can’t transfer it to a kid anyway. Liz: I don’t think…well no because the de-wormer is gonna get rid of ‘em. Gayle: Alright. Liz: Right. Gayle: Interesting… Liz: Yeah…not to say that it couldn’t but it probably is significantly lower. Significantly lower…I haven’t really researched it… Gayle: So why, why…quick change of subject! Why did you pick Grand Valley? Did you apply to other schools too? Liz: 27:04 So I decided that if I was going to be a veterinarian and I was gonna go to Michigan State for four years I didn’t want to go there for eight years. Because I thought I would get bored, I would get sick of it cause it’s the same thing over and over and so I decided I didn’t want to do that. And so my mom is family friends with Joe Godwin who is a provost here and so he said “You should come visit Grand Valley!” and I was so against it in the beginning because I had my heart set on Michigan State but then I just decided I didn’t want to go to Michigan State but was still a little negative �on the idea of visiting other schools but I still came here and everyone was super nice and the tour of campus was just beautiful which is why I think they keep campus so nice because it is the number one thing people look for when they come to campuses is the appeal and I ended up staying with a girl from my high school that came here a weekend and I didn’t go with her to classes but I went with her to the library and walked around campus with her and she gave me more of the insider look that the tour guides maybe don’t tell you about Grand Valley and things, and I just fell in love even more. Then I just wanted to come here even more and so I only Gayle: Liz: Gayle: Liz: Like what? 28:13 Like I guess just talking about the professors here she had become close with and the organizations. She’s a special education teacher and so she volunteered in a school where she provided books for the students and became really close to these students on a personal level so it was her experiences with the extracurricular here that really caught my attention. And how much she loved the Honors program and I applied to be in the Honors program and was accepted so that was a huge part of me coming here. And so I guess her experiences, and her taking me into buildings I hadn’t seen before like they don’t show you the Honors college when you’re on tours which I think is a shame because I think that the, that that would be really cool to get to see the inside of that building and I think it’s just cause it’s so far on South Campus that it’s a lot to walk there so. I guess on…on my tour they didn’t take me there, and I’ve given a couple tours and it wasn’t on my tour thing and so yeah. I think it was the Honors College appeal that really… Was this library already here when you visited? 29:11 When I was here the steel beams were out for this library which was really exciting for me because I kind of got to see the transition and them my, my junior- my freshman year the library opened up and it was so cool to come in here and just try out all the chairs and I think that was the highlight of my roommates and myself to just come and try all the chairs because there’re so many different ones, and then to see the science building going up which was really exciting for me because I knew I would be in it my junior year cause that’s where the biology department was moving so to get to go into that new building…it was just…I guess the campus appeal was the big one and then the Honors college was my second one. I visited Ferris State University and I met with their biology advisor there who would’ve been the chair of the biology department at the time and he asked why I wanted to be a veterinarian and I told him and he told me “well why would you become a veterinarian when you could become a doctor and make more money?” And so for me after visiting Grand Valley and seeing the hospitality here and how nice everyone was and someone from the college—Libby Bonnell – who was just a sweetheart and was so nice to all the transferring students. To go from that to someone who would, was discrediting my field of choice which, veterinarians don’t even make bad money, so I was really put off by that and just to, I just wanted to be �passionate about what I do and so for him to be just so discouraging right off the bat I decided “I’m not going to go to Ferris” and we actually didn’t even finish the tour and we just left because I was so upset about it and so I decided that after that Grand Valley was my number one choice and kind of didn’t…I don’t think I even applied to Ferris, I don’t think, after that. Gayle: I wonder if they know that. Liz: I don’t know! I don’t even know who the guy was I was just so upset, and so discouraged by that. Gayle: That’s amazing. Liz: Yeah, and especially when you figure that you’re trying to get people to come to your school so… Gayle: Exactly. Liz: 31:05 I know some people don’t appreciate the arts and things of that nature, I do, but it it’s— that would be like him saying “You’re going to be an art major? Why?” you know? And so for me I think that’s really rude and condescending and I would never do that but for me that was like the analogy that I describe it as, he just didn’t appreciate my interests I guess…I don’t know. Gayle: Yeah well…bad move. Liz: That is a bad move…I hope he doesn’t do that to everybody! Can you imagine? Ugh! But a lot of people go to Ferris so they must not all meet with him, I don’t’ know... Gayle: Well…anything else you want to talk about? Liz: I don’t think so… Gayle: I mean you’re busy. Liz: I’m very busy yeah, but like a good amount of busy. End � 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 Connected Exhibit Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. University Libraries Description An account of the resource Collection of audio recordings and transcripts of Grand Valley State University students sharing their stories and experiences. The recordings were conducted as part of an exhibit created by the University Libraries in fall semester of 2016 titled "Connected" which featured short audio clips of students. The clips were combined with watercolor portraits of GVSU students by Ellie Lubbers and an interactive watercolor painting activity. Students were encouraged to paint 3" circles of paper to illustrate their current feelings about the college experience and attach them to the gallery wall. The aim of the exhibit was to inspire feelings of community, connectedness, and welcome to new and returning students. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> 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 Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Cadena, Cara; Schaub, Gayle; Frigo, Emily; Lubbers, Ellie; Fisher, Erin Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 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/. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ritchie, Elizabeth (Liz) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-04-20 Title A name given to the resource Liz Ritchie interview (audio and transcript) Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Schaub, Gayle (interviewer) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV043-07_RitchieL_2016-04-20 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/626">University Libraries. Connected exhibit files</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Relation A related resource Grand Valley State University Libraries. Connected Exhibit, September 2016 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Description An account of the resource Interview with Liz Ritchie conducted by Gayle Schaub for the GVSU Libraries' Connected Exhibit, displayed in September 2016. Edited clips of interviews accompanied watercolor portraits of students and an interactive watercolor activity for exhibit visitors. Liz is a biology major, currently applying to graduate veterinary programs. A student in the Honors College, Liz comes from a rural, farm community and has known what she wanted to study since she got her first set of pigs to show at the county fair when she was only 4 years old. Liz is a driven, talented student who admits having had to learn new study and time management skills to succeed at GVSU in her very challenging field of study. In spite of her demanding schedule, Liz has found the time to be a program volunteer, a Murray International House peer mentor, and a Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) resident assistant. She credits a lot of her success to her involvement with campus activities. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Subject The topic of the resource Universities and colleges Michigan College students Oral histories Education, Higher--United States--Anecdotes https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/72ae63c487169737493b2b027273f838.jpg 423562a95f13613d1b0e0ed348d2341e https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2c78b577bb5aec494fc15f375b44e3ed.jpg 6634587527a41588c4ee8e1c61af863a 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 Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 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-07_SD-Pie-Factory-26 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lloyd J. Harris Pie Co. Title A name given to the resource Lloyd Harriss Pie, Interior Description An account of the resource A black and white photo that depicts the interior of Lloyd Harriss Pie Co. Boxes are stacked in various piles. A person works on what appears to be some sort of machinery, and two men in the back move boxes. The back of Lloyd Harriss Pie, Interior. There is a yellow mark at the top. Handwritten in cursive in the top left are several names of those depicted in the image. Next to the second name is a question mark. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Factories Bakeries Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of Local History from the Saugatuck Douglas History Center for the Stories of Summer project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg 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/9f73a0a40688b8a8d8f5eefd2283ea47.mp4 a90fb7de4dfd39033363fc0a9090ae3f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a85286c22d0a2bcbeba893ae8ff19dce.pdf 0bb17412020d59267f112a0403c34e96 PDF Text Text Interview Notes  (Length 46:48)  Jim Lloyd  WWII Veteran  United States Army:  1942‐1946    • Born in Rogers Park Chicago 1922  • Attended Rogers Sullivan High School  • Attended Notre Dame College 1940‐Arts and Literature Major‐Degree in economics.  • Father‐Catalog Editor for Montgomery Ward  • Mother‐PTA  • Married 1942‐present    (2:13) Beginning of Experience:  • Heard about Pearl Harbor on the radio at home  • Enlisted in Army Summer 1942‐Halfway through sophomore year of college  • Signed up for immediate duty    (4:30) Wichita,  Kansas‐‐Training 1942  • Flight school  • Testing for placement‐ Group #1  • Assigned to college for 1 month‐Geography course  • Quarantined on Base for a disease outbreak‐didn’t affect him‐ couldn’t meet up with girls off  base that night (27:55)  • Close to Oklahoma border    (26:15) Arkansas  • Knee went out‐sent off to hospital for bone chips (Walnut Ridge, Memphis)  • Lived in a college dorm not a base  • (6:40) Memphis Tennessee  Military forgot to send  X‐Rays‐were lost  •  Visited by the Surgeon General of the Air Force in Kennedy Hospital(44:56)  • They said “What are you doing here?”  • ACL Replacement  • Wrecked ride at amusement park –crutch got stuck in mechanics of ride(45:33)  (7:58) Gulf Port Mississippi  �• 3 Unsuccessful surgeries  • Grounded from Air Cadet  • Super Secret Air Force bomber‐officer ran  • Took qualifying exam to run bomber‐passed    • • • (8:56) Denver 1943‐1944 approximately 1 ½ years (located near Lowry Airport presently  known as De Fault)  Greeted by military officials again as “What are you doing here?”  Armament repair work‐local gun torrents  Graduated    • • (10:00) Instructor for newly opened school for remote control bomber  2nd Teacher on D‐Shift 12‐7a.m. in Brick Barracks  Taught H‐3‐given syllabus in advanced electronics‐he did not understand‐had students help  teach class  B‐29 bomber came in finally‐wheels didn’t work  Military personnel were European veterans needing to be retrained  • • • • • (13:45) Court‐martialed   Answered role for another in PT‐no consequences‐1944  Received Good Conduct Medal‐1943  Met his wife at the USO‐1944‐moved from base to apartment  Made $53.00 a month  School closed up  • • (18:20) Shepherdsfield Texas  Asked “What are you doing here?”‐wrong aircraft experience  Spent 1 week before transferring on  • (18:50)Grand Island Nebraska Mid 1945‐spent 7‐8 months here  Joined bomb service group heading for Alaska  • •     • • Full Bomb Service Station‐qualified on the m30 carbine  Assigned to the Instrument Panel Group‐no idea how to run it‐military admits did not know  where else to put him  • Taught shooting the carbine to personnel   • Assigned a jeep and a driver‐would go crow hunting  �• Hitch‐hiked to N. Dakota to visit wife‐farmer and family gives rides to uniformed Jim  • Stayed in jail overnight for hitch‐hiking‐brought to edge of town in morning  (29:57)Returned to Notre Dame    (30:37)1st National Bank  • Chicago Illinois‐training program  • Gap of knowledge with other trainees  • Uncle was former officer at the bank  • Ended training program early because of extensions in program‐ 6mo. To 3 yrs.  • (33:45)University of Chicago  Received MBA‐night school    (34:33)Lived near Wrigley Field  Had wife and 2 kids at time  • Lived Broadway and Adley [Addison?]  • Only Catholic family in Jewish neighborhood  • (36:30)GE Supply Company  Worked from Warehouse to Asst. Traffic Appliance Salesman to Manager of Traffic Appliance.  •     (38:00)Park Ridge  • Worked for Warring Products (Chicago)‐makers of blenders  • Switched jobs with friend from Wisconsin for West Bend  • • (38:40)Wisconsin  Worked for West Bend Aluminum Company  Became sales manager for entire East Coast in a product division  • (38:58)Bissell‐Michigan  Recruited‐flew to visit plant‐turned down job  • Met old man Bissell    �• Re‐recruited by Mel Bissell‐President of company‐accepted job offer  Brother was also in military in the South Pacific‐flying‐served two tours as flyer of a  photographic plane‐given Distinguished Flying Cross medal (43:38)  (41:30)Military Experience overlook  Felt his experience was one of negotiations and no self preservation.  He learned to get along with  people who helped in later on in sales service.  No long lasting friendship but overall a good experience.   He is in favor of compulsory military for all people.  Good idea to have training at all times for people to  know what to do.    � 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 LloydJ Title A name given to the resource Lloyd, James (Interview outline and video), 2007 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Lloyd, James Description An account of the resource Jim Lloyds experience in the military began when an ample amount of recruits entering simultaneously and according to Jim the military had no idea what to do with the new recruits. From Chicago to Texas, the military was shipping him from base to base with no orders of why he was there. Upon his arrival they would always ask him why he was there and Jim would have no skills to assist each base he arrived at. He was used for positions as a teacher of gun torrents and advanced electronics which he was unprepared for but made the best of each situation. He was able to adapt well into military life regardless of their lack of efficient placement of his person. He was transferred around often enough that he never made it into active duty during the war. As the war ended he returned to life back in the states, where he returned to his wife and his family. His experience shaped his ability to adapt to changing circumstances but created no life long friendships from the military. 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.) Video recordings United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans 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 2007-11-17 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 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/40d4172508d0c4cc6838e94feae618b5.jpg fabd8429fdcff01401927200a7fe1790 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States 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 RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng 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-183_G057-0015a Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1966-06 Title A name given to the resource Lloyds Bank Limited and Midland Bank, Oxford, England Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of the historic Lloyds Bank Limited and Midland Bank buildings located at the junction of Cornmarket and Queen Street in Oxford, England. In the photograph, a double-decker bus is turning between the two buildings on its way to the Rose Hill residential area on the southern outskirts of Oxford. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Oxford (England) Lloyds Bank (1889-1999) Midland Bank Double-decker buses--England--Oxford Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</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 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 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/123338806f1749ea162aff85830d4151.jpg 7548ce5d05ed6debe78bb062ccd7af8d 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 Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States 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 RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng 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-183_C101-0022 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1962-07-01 Title A name given to the resource LMYA Regatta, Holland Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph featuring the Lake Michigan Yachting Association regatta sailing on Lake Michigan near Holland, Michigan, on July 1, 1962. Photograph by Douglas R. Gilbert. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Holland (Mich.) Lake Michigan Yacht racing Regattas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</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 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 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives