779 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e08eeaa0a8d3c31404cfa6d022f83dab.mp3 afc05ba2196ee230da9673352e2cc8ab https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d0adc6978e1dc1fc5eeacf5bbe8c7f88.pdf 2406762906e3e7e6fc56f453ffe234e1 PDF Text Text What a Line! Text: Matthew 1:1 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Christmastide II, January 3, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah…Matthew 1:1 On Christmas Eve after our two Christmas services here, Nancy and I went home and I turned the television on and watched midnight mass from St. Peter’s. And this year I had the presence of mind when that was over to remember that Chicago is an hour behind us so I flipped to WGN and caught midnight mass at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. So, two services here and then two midnight masses. It’s stuff like that that makes Nancy question my sanity! (Laughter) But I love to see the scenes and the sights of St. Peter’s on Christmas Eve: the crowd such a diverse group, and the red-caped cardinals, (always wanted to be one of those.) and the magnificent sculpture of Bellini, and just that space. Well, it sort of makes Christmas Eve complete for me. There is always a commentator in English so that I can follow what the Holy Father is saying. And then sometimes they move the cameras away from the live action and show you different sights. This year they focused on some of the Italian crèches that are rather famous, paintings, and sculpture which are magnificent. The crèches at Christmas time are so much a part of the celebration - with the Christ Child in full halo and of course the Madonna, the Blessed Virgin, also in halo looking so wonderfully serene and peaceful. It’s one of the most common expressions of Christian art. The halos, the serenity, the tranquility, the beauty of it all, the little infant with arms outstretched and smiling. “No crying he makes,” of course. There is something heavenly about it. But art has a way of glossing over the kind of harsh stark reality that is the actual story. There is some legitimacy in that. It does, I think, become a sign that points us to the heavenly dimension. But on the other hand the crèche scenes do obscure the reality of the situation. The squalor and poverty of a manger for instance. The hay not necessarily all yellow and sweet smelling as the choir sang on Christmas Eve but probably soiled a bit. Amongst steaming animal dung, came the wails of a woman, a bloody birth. That is the truth of the story. And sometimes, when we paint over the stark reality of the story, while it does point us to that heavenly © Grand Valley State University   �What a Line! Richard A. Rhem Page 2   dimension and has a certain legitimacy, it also has the danger of distorting the real event and the real message. In a recent book, Born of a Woman, a rather controversial Episcopal Bishop, John Shelby Spong, has written that the nativity stories at the beginning of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke have, as a matter of fact, a way of distorting the reality. They have been, he says, the source of the subjugation and the subservience of women in the Church and in society by idealizing Mary, creating an image of Mary as the ideal woman. It’s a rather interesting thesis that he sets forth. And when he looks at biblical material, he does have some basis, although one has to weigh it, and in places his hypothesis is certainly somewhat speculative. He suggests, for example, that Jesus may have been married. Well, that wouldn’t be any problem. At least not for Protestant bones, I guess. He suggests the possibility that he may have been married to Mary Magdalene. Now there he is somewhat on some solid ground. In the history of the Church, the Blessed Virgin, Mary Mother of Jesus, has the central place, but if you read the Gospel stories, the predominant figure of the Gospel narratives is Mary Magdalene. Why is she so important? Spong simply raises the question: could it have been that Jesus was married? Could it have been Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene? And then he asks a second question. Could it have been that Mary Magdalene was not the ideal woman and that the appending of those nativity stories as they were added to the Gospel record somewhat later, the appending of those stories might have intentionally removed Mary Magdalene from the center stage and replaced her there with the Blessed Virgin? But when you read the Gospel story, Mary mother of Jesus doesn’t play a terribly key role. You go to Mark 3:21 and you find this Jewish mother out after her son she’s going to drag Jesus home because they are saying, “This is a wild man.” And he says, “Mother, get lost.” John 7:2 is a similar reference. Mary does not play at all the central role in the Gospel narrative that she has played in the tradition of the Church, particularly the Roman Catholic tradition where that whole development of Marian doctrine has taken place. Spong suggests that the Blessed Virgin is not an accurate portrait of Mary the mother of Jesus in the Gospel, but rather is the creation of the Church. What church? Well, of course, a male-dominated church, a male, celibate clergy. And the idealization of Mary as this Blessed Virgin was a rather safe woman for a celibate clergy to adore. Wouldn’t every man want every woman to be docile, obedient and powerless? Now that’s Mary according to the development of Marian dogma in the church. Here again Spong is on very solid ground. In the late second century there was a Gospel of James that didn’t pass muster for the canon, but it’s one of those books - there were many such representative writings at the time - and in the Gospel of James, the whole story of Mary is told. Mary’s birth to a very aged couple: Joseph and Anna. It was kind of a miraculous © Grand Valley State University �What a Line! Richard A. Rhem Page 3   birth. When she was very young she was dedicated and brought to the temple – sort of like Samuel – and she was raised by holy men in the temple. She had to get out of the temple before her puberty, of course, because the menstrual flow would pollute the temple. Again, a denigration of womanhood in its genuinely human state. Mary was given to an aged widower, Joseph, who had children from his previous marriage. To this aged widower Mary was entrusted and thereby her perpetual virginity was ensured. Because, in the teaching of the Western Catholic Church, it is not simply that Mary gave birth to Jesus as a virgin, but that her virginity was perpetual. And so the Gospel records speaking of Jesus’ brothers and sisters are written off as referring to the stepchildren of Mary, the children of Joseph by his first wife. All of this is common church tradition and accepted by many as historical fact. In the continuing development of the Blessed Virgin in the tradition of the Church we have then Mary’s perpetual virginity and, as a matter of fact, even the teaching on the part of some that Mary’s hymen was not broken in the birth of Jesus. There was not even the disruption of the birth canal in Mary. She was spared the “taint” of anything having to do with sexuality, her womanhood, in the bearing of this child. In so doing, the Church was removing Mary from common human womanhood and thereby also removing Jesus from the stuff that is part and parcel of our human experience. Mary was never allowed the intimacy and the ecstasy of the sexual relationship. Her sexuality was something that was not allowed because, in the development of the early Catholic dogma, sexuality was identified with sin and with guilt. And one of the major shapers of this was Saint Augustus, who was a great theologian and a great Christian, but had serious problems because of his own youthful profligacy. He identified sin with the sexual union and through the sexual union original sin was passed on from one generation to another. That whole thing has shaped Christian understanding and Christian doctrine more than you might realize. Saint Jerome, the translator of the Latin Vulgate argued strenuously against the possibility that the married state was equal to the celibate state for man or for woman. The whole monastic development in the Catholic Church, the monasteries and the convents were a reflection of the highest spirituality that was attributed to the celibate state. Mary becomes the epitome of this sexless human, drained of its reality and all of its genuineness. When Spong speaks about this ideal woman: docile, obedient and powerless, he is on strong grounds historically. This is the image and it is a distorted image. It’s not faithful to the Gospel record itself, and its impact has been considerable. Actually the Marian dogma has continued to grow into this present century, although most acute Catholic theologians will have very little to do with it today. But it was only in 1854 that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated by Pope Pius IX, and it was in 1950 that the dogma of the bodily assumption of Mary into heaven was promulgated by Pope Pius XII: the doctrine which determined that Mary, holy as she was, would not have died a normal © Grand Valley State University �What a Line! Richard A. Rhem Page 4   death. So you can see that in the history of the Church there has been a strong movement away from the biblical picture of Mary the mother of Jesus to this kind of idealized woman, spiritualized and drained of her genuine, full, humanness. Spong says that this image has been fed by the nativity pictures. And its development has been a major instrument for the subjugation of women, with refusal to give women positions of authority and leadership in the church. And such a perception of the ideal woman has spilled over into larger society, resulting in subjugation in the secular realm as well. And I think probably that point cannot be contended. But the interesting thing, and my point this morning, is that, in viewing Mary thus, we lose the wonder and glory of the grace of God that came to expression in Mary and in Mary’s son Jesus, our Lord. If only the Church had read again the genealogy of Matthew, it would have known that the Immaculate Conception was a ridiculous matter. You know the Immaculate Conception has nothing to do with the conception of Jesus. The Immaculate Conception in Catholic dogma has to do with the conception of Mary. Mary’s conception was immaculate they say (in other words, “without sin”) in order that she might be a pure vessel to carry the Godhead, Jesus. And so they moved the whole deal back one generation in order to avoid the “taint” of original sin for the Virgin Mary. But, as a matter of fact, all you do is remove it one step back. The Gospel of Matthew would tell us that, if you would go back far enough, you have some line for Jesus. Matthew’s genealogy, like all biblical genealogies, was put together with a specific theological purpose in mind. If you compare Luke’s genealogy and Matthew’s genealogy, you cannot possibly harmonize them. They are totally different lines. The genealogy of Matthew, any biblical genealogy, makes no attempt to give the exact order right on down the generations. They are always constructed to make a certain point. And Matthew, writing to a Jewish Christian community that was receiving Gentiles into its fellowship, told the story of Jesus to this Jewish Christian community in order to show them that it had long been the intention of God that the Gentiles should be included into this fellowship of God’s people. Matthew goes back to David and back to Abraham. He says to David, “To you of Israel, yes indeed, Jesus was the Messiah, the one promised, the one who would come to be like David. And then he goes back to Abraham so he can say, “and he comes from Abraham from whom God said, ‘And all nations of the earth shall be blessed.’” So he goes back to particular ancestors of the Messiah, to David and to the universal covenant of grace with Abraham, and that is his purpose in putting together this genealogy in this way. If you would look at Luke, chapter 3, you would find that Luke starts with Jesus and weaves his way all the way back to Adam, Son of God, because Luke’s gospel was not for a Jewish Christian community, it was for a Gentile community. Luke was also trying to say Jesus came as the Savior of all people, and so he brings it all the way back through David, through Abraham, all the way to Adam to say he was the universal Savior. © Grand Valley State University �What a Line! Richard A. Rhem Page 5   But, back to Matthew. His purpose is to connect Jesus to the messianic promise in David, and the covenant promise in Abraham. But in the meantime he mentions four women. That in itself is unusual. There are four women mentioned in the genealogical table in Matthew, chapter 1. Who are they? Tamar. Do you know who Tamar is? She was the daughter-in-law of Judah, founder of the tribe of Judah. She married the son of Judah. The Bible says that son was wicked and he died. So then Judah’s daughter-in-law is without a husband. The law of Levite marriage in Israel said that in that case the next son must take this woman in order that seed might be raised up to the brother who is dead. But the next son doesn’t cooperate. His name is Onan. He intentionally spills his seed on the ground and for this he dies. God’s judgment. Judah says, “Hmmm. This woman Tamar, there is something deadly about that woman!” He’s got one more boy, but he thinks, “I am not going to risk my last son with Tamar.” So he says, “Tamar, cool your heels. Go back and live with your father and when my youngest son is old enough I will give him to you.” Well she waits and she waits, and she waits, and nothing happens. One day she learns that this youngest son is a full adult and realizes Judah is procrastinating. He is not being honest with her. So what does she do? She hears that Judah is going to go down where the sheep are being sheared and she goes along the highway and sets up a little booth…of prostitution. Judah, not realizing the woman in the tent is Tamar (for she has disguised herself and it has been a while since he has seen her), enjoys himself with her for an evening. And out of their union there is a pregnancy. Word comes to Judah, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is pregnant.” He says, “Bring the whore out, we’ll burn her.” But she is an intelligent and clever woman. Tamar had managed to slip Judah’s ring off his finger, and she pulls it out and says, “It’s true, but the one who did it owns this ring.” Judah said, “Oh, my goodness. She’s more righteous than I,” for he knew he had not fulfilled the legal obligation to her. And he honors her. And so Tamar is in the line of Jesus Christ. Rahab. Did you ever hear of Rahab? She lived in Jericho when Joshua, “Fit the battle of Jericho,” and he sent some spies in to reconnoiter the city. They heard about this happy brothel run by Rahab and they went there and their presence was discovered. Rahab, always equal to the moment, hid them up on the roof. The king called up and said, “Any men there?” She said, “Oh they were, but they are on their way.” When they were gone she went up and said, “Now you boys are going to come in with the army and, when you come in, spare me and my family.” They said, “Well, put a scarlet cord in the window, and that will be the sign.” Rahab managed to save her family when the walls of Jericho fell down. Rahab, the Canaanite, is in the line of Jesus. And then there was Ruth. Ruth was a Moabitess. There was an Israelite couple that went to Moab during a famine in Bethlehem in order to find food. Naomi was the woman. Her husband later died and her two sons also had died and left her alone with their Moabite wives, one of whom was Ruth. Naomi said, “I am going back home to Bethlehem.” And Ruth said, “I’ll go with you.” Naomi said, “Oh, don’t go with me. Stay here.” She said, “No. Where you go I will go, where © Grand Valley State University �What a Line! Richard A. Rhem Page 6   you dwell I will dwell, your God will be my God.” Wonderful story of Ruth in the book by her name. And once back in Bethlehem Ruth starts gleaning in the field of Boaz. Boaz was a wealthy old critter, and he notices Ruth one day. Naomi, sly old fox, she sees Boaz eyeing Ruth. And one night when Boaz was going down to the threshing floor where they were going to do the harvest, Naomi said, “Ruth, my dear, take a bath. Put on some Esté Lauder, (Laughter) your finest gown and go see Boaz. Wait until he has eaten well and had a couple of nightcaps. Note the place where he lies down to sleep and join him.” Simple as that! And Ruth and Boaz eventually marry and have a son, Obid, who had a son Jesse, who had a son David, whose greater son was Jesus Christ our Lord. And then, of course, also listed is the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Do you remember her name? Bathsheba. David looked at her, longed for her, took her, illicitly. She became pregnant and consequently David had to have her husband killed so he could take her as his wife. She bore a child but he died as a punishment from God. But she bore another son and his name was Solomon. As David lay dying she pleaded on behalf of her son and, although Solomon was not in the line of succession, David arranged things so that Solomon succeeded him on the throne. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba: all in the line of Jesus according to Matthew. It’s unusual to begin with that there would be women mentioned at all, but what was Matthew’s point? Raymond Brown, the great Catholic New Testament scholar, has a big thick book entitled The Birth of a Messiah, and he has a section there, “Why Bring on the Ladies?” He gives a couple of reasons that have traditionally been put forward, but finally gives the consensus of opinion, and it is this: There are two things that these women have in common. Number one: they are foreigners. And to a Jewish Christian community this word of Matthew to them was, “Look, the Messiah himself is the product of mixed blood. Canaanites, Moabites, Hittites. Where do you get this blue blood, this pure blood line stuff?” And, secondly, in every one of the cases there was something irregular and extraordinary about the union of these women with their partners. In each case the women took initiative. They showed ingenuity and they furthered the purposes of God. God blesses them even though their ways were contrary to that which was the acceptable standard of behavior. And in 1854 one part of the Christian Church was worried about the Immaculate Conception of Jesus. Matthew would have told them that Jesus came from some line. You go home this afternoon and read Genesis 38, Joshua 2, the Book of Ruth, and II Samuel 11 and 12, and you’ll have more interesting reading than the pro football playoffs could possibly compete with. (Laughter) Something that would compete well with whatever soaps you would want to watch tomorrow. (Laughter) You see, Jesus Christ came into the grimy, grubby, humanity of which you are all a part. The Church has done us a terrible disservice by making it all sound so squeaky clean, draining it of all of its life blood, its vitality and its reality, making the blessed Virgin this ideal woman, this docile, passive, powerless, obedient one. © Grand Valley State University �What a Line! Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Making Jesus somehow or other come out of some pure vessel in order that he might not be tainted with the common human humanity that we all share together. Now if we would listen to the scriptural record itself, if we would simply take Matthew’s word, then we would have to acknowledge that Jesus came from a line that had all of the ingredients in it that makes up the life and the tapestry of the lives of all. And that is the glory of the Gospel. Matthew was trying to say to the Jew, “Look, he came from David. He is the Messiah, the one you have been looking for.” He tried to say to the Gentile, “Look, he came from Abraham, the covenant of grace for all people.” He tried to say to male domination, “He came from women who took initiative, who took ingenuity, who moved and shook in order to further the purposes of God.” And more than that. He says to us all, “He comes from the kind of stock that you come from with all of its light and all of its shadow.” The red-blooded reality of the incarnation of the word is the flesh of Jesus Christ constituted of the stuff that we are all constituted of. He came into the world a Savior for the likes of us because he was in every respect made like his brothers and sisters. So says the writer to the Hebrews. And the greatest wonder of the Gospel and of the Christmas story is this. Jesus came into our ordinary human stuff with the powerful grace to transform us - everyone. There is a Christian organization that has very strict rules for its leadership. If you are a member of this organization and your life’s story has left you somewhat crippled and tainted, scarred and broken, then you may be a part of this fellowship but you may not be a leader. To be a leader, for example, you may not drink in public. Oh, a glass of wine at your own table with the shades down, but not out in a restaurant. That is hypocrisy! That is dishonesty! I would never be a part of an organization that said that I could be any different in my own home than I can be in the marketplace of the world because my Savior comes out of the marketplace - out of a manger of soiled hay with steaming animal dung - with a peasant maid all bloody and wailing. This organization says you may not be in a position of leadership if you have been divorced. You may not even be in a position of leadership if you, God forbid, should marry a divorcee. I remember a dear aunt of mine after my divorce when she learned that I was going to marry Nancy, she said, “Why did he have to marry a divorced woman?” Someone reminded her that I was divorced. And she said, “Oh, well, yes, but do you have to multiply the sin?” (Laughter) I mean, wasn’t there some chaste virgin somewhere in Israel? (Laughter) Well, for twenty years it was a good choice. No, good friends, the Church has not been honest. The Church hasn’t told the truth. The Church has idealized some figment of the imagination and it has robbed us of the wonder and the glory of the Gospel that reaches us where we are - human, human as we are! The ambiguity of our personhood, transformed by the grace of God, never loomed so large as in the Christmas story where Jesus is born of Mary, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. I wonder, do you think that Matthew included those women because he was aware of the fact that there were serious rumors going around about Mary, about a birth out of wedlock? I suspect that may be true. Maybe he was trying to say, “Look, God doesn’t operate © Grand Valley State University �What a Line! Richard A. Rhem Page 8   according to the rules of your pomp and piety, your self-righteousness and holier than thou attitude, that disqualifies people and cuts them out. God has been operating all the time in this kind of questionable manner, with the likes of Tamar and Ruth and Bathsheba, so Mary is no exception.” I think God has a wonderful sense of humor. I think God must have marvelous belly laughs at all of the pretensions of our piety and pomposity. The wise men knew there was a star that marked a significant birth and a cosmic event. So they thought, we’ll stop in Jerusalem at the palace, someplace having to do with the king. Little did they know it wasn’t Jerusalem but Bethlehem, not the palace but a stable, not the king but a peasant girl. One of these days when I move from life through death to life eternal and I have a free afternoon, I am going to invite Mary to lunch. And I am going to look her in the eye and I am going to say, “Come on now, Mary, what really happened?” And I am going to invite as accompanying guests, Tamar and Rahab and Ruth and Bathsheba. And don’t you think we’ll have a time. (Laughter) Do you want to come too? Isn’t it good news! Don’t ever let anyone tell you that anything that you’ve ever been, or anything that you have ever done, or any record you’ve written in the story of your life disqualifies you from being an instrument in the grace of God - a beloved child of God - forgiven, cleansed, made whole. Because God the great lover has been about this business and will be until he brings us all home. That’s the wonder of Christmas. That’s the Gospel. Thank God. Reference: John Shelby Spong. Born of a Woman. HarperSanFrancisco, reprint edition, 1994. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmastide II Scripture Text Matthew 1:1 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References John Shelby Spong, Born of a Woman, 1994 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930103 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-01-03 Title A name given to the resource What a Line! 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 3, 1993 entitled "What a Line!", on the occasion of Christmastide II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 1:1. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Inclusive Jesus' Birth Mary Mother of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/11e4dc63046b41538e21bda097817e40.mp3 4a7a8497062c1d8ccc57a4871a2e9b07 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4e8a5cd241bd90d334a598b7545b7375.pdf 6a9f387bd68757a2d5af6de13786bcd0 PDF Text Text Light of the World Text: II Corinthians 4:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany I, January 10, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon For it is God…who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. II Corinthians 4:6 We have come to celebrate the fact that light has come into the world, and to wonder at the mystery of that light, which for some becomes the light of the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and for others seems to be not light at all. This is the season in which we point to our reality that light has come into the world, that God has been revealed, that God has been unveiled, that God has made God’s self accessible and available, and comprehendible and apprehendible to the likes of us. And yet it is also the season in which we wonder about the mystery of why it is that some believe and others believe not at all – or, to wonder even further, why it is that we, who are exposed all our life to this mystery, if we are honest must say that we have never fully sensed the dawning of the light. For you see, in this celebration in this season of the year we recognize a double act. On the one hand light has come into the world, but on the other hand the critical personal question is, “Has the light dawned upon me? Have I seen the light?” There is always that double edge. It is one thing to celebrate that the light is here, and it is another thing to wonder at the mystery of the dawning of that light on our deepest selves. It is not enough simply to affirm that the light has come; it is essential finally that I can say, “I have seen the light.” The Apostle Paul tells the story of Epiphany in his own way, out of his own experience. Had I read a Gospel lesson this morning, I think I would have read the first chapter of John, the prologue to John’s Gospel. The prologue to John’s Gospel might well be called the Christmas Epiphany passage, because in that passage John calls our attention or makes a connection between creation and the coming of the light in Jesus Christ. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by him and apart from him was not anything made that was made.” That light was coming into the world, and John affirms in the fifth verse of that first chapter, that that light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not comprehended it. So John connects the coming of light with the creation story. © Grand Valley State University   �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 2   In Time Magazine last week, on the 28th of December, the cover asked the question, “What Can Science Tell Us About God?” The cover story dealt with that question from the aspect of the physicist who probes deep cosmological secrets. It’s an interesting article. It’s the kind of thing that Time usually does at the end of the year, maybe at Christmas and Easter, tipping their hat to the spiritual realities of the world. But, in that article, it recounts the fact that centuries ago there was an Islamic scholar who spoke about the fact that the darkness would have been just preceding the brilliance of light, and that all of reality would have been contained in a mere speck prior to the creation. In the New York Times this past week there was an article about some further confirmation of the “big bang” theory, that all of reality - the whole cosmos, the whole vast expanse of the cosmos – was at one time just a knot of energy tightly compacted, and that the “big bang” was the explosion, that nuclear-type explosion that created the cosmic reality that continues to this day to be expanding. There was some further verification for that theory, which I have to admit, goes over my head. But at the end of it all, the authors of the article say that agnosticism is still a pretty good scientific position to take, but atheism may not be as valid as once it might have been. One hundred years ago with the onrush of the natural sciences, it seemed as though God was just going to be moved off the map, or off the globe. But after a hundred years of intense scientific inquiry, there are some very profound scientists today who would say, “You know, there is a curtain there and if you haven’t been able to look behind the curtain, then it’s rather presumptuous to say that no one is home.” Well, the creation in this description is so complex; it is such a mystery that it challenges the best minds and causes them to stand in awe of the complexity of life from its molecular structure to its very complex arrangements. The creator hasn’t really been ruled “out of court” yet in terms of the best of science that’s out there. The creation of light. There is even an article in the New York Times this week about the discovery of a huge invisible mass that they have been looking for, a mass that would indicate - which would give some confirmation to – the theory of the “big bang” as the way it all began. One scientist read the read-out from a computer and said, “Well, if you are a religious type you might say you are looking at God.” How did it happen? Who knows? But, if there is something to that “big bang” theory, then, with the coming into being of all of this cosmic matter, there would have also been the explosion of light. We know now from our probe into outer space that it is cold and dark there but, in that moment of creation, poetically the Genesis writer says, “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’” There must have been light, blinding light, if that “big bang” has any credibility about it. And that light, the light at the beginning of the natural world, is for John and for Paul, an analogy of that Light that explodes within the mind and heart of the human person who comes to see the brightness of God in the face of Jesus © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Christ. That is what Epiphany is all about. It is the celebration, the dancing before the Light that has come into the world. The good news is that the Light has come into the world. Just as surely as the natural light was indicated when God said, “Let there be light,” just so surely in the face of Jesus Christ – so says John, so says Paul, so did they witness and testify – there is now light to enlighten our human experience, our human lives. Light in the natural realm, but also light in the personal realm through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul says, “To look into the face of Jesus is to look into the heart of God.” I like that passage. I think it says it beautifully, brilliantly: that in the contours of the life and ministry of Jesus we see into the depths of the nature of God. And when Paul speaks about this light, he is, of course, telling his own story. We read that story in the book of Acts. Paul, a Jew, serious and devout, committed to the way of Israel, cognizant of the threat that was placed before temple and law in the ministry of Jesus, set about to exterminate the Followers of the Way. He tells us that it was about noonday, somewhere on the way to Damascus, that he had a vision - saw a bright light - was thrown to the ground, blinded. For Paul it was that dramatic and that vivid. For Paul indeed it was like that initial atomic explosion at the creation. It was a blinding flash, and he was blinded and, led on into the city, he prayed, and finally one was sent to him and we read it was as though the scales fell off his eyes. That’s the way it is. The blinding flash of physical light that blinds one is analogous to the blinding flash of insight into the truth. Paul’s experience was that out of which he spoke and out of which he ministered for the rest of his life. The light had dawned upon him, for you see there is a double aspect that we must reckon with in Epiphany. On the one hand, the light shines and Jesus is the light of the world, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness will never overcome it. But the other side of the coin, the completion of the circle, only comes when one says, “I have seen the light.” Paul could say the Light has come, and I was blinded by the light, the light shining in the world, and suddenly I saw the Light. It is interesting when you think about that, because it wasn’t as though he was some pagan, a reckless, careless, unspiritual individual, of which the world is full, of course. That wasn’t the case with Paul. It wasn’t the case with Paul that he was following some false God. He was following the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of covenant grace, the God of David and Moses. He was the son of Israel. But suddenly the Light struck him and everything changed. His world got turned upside down and redirected. Strange how that happens isn’t it? In the context of the passage in Corinthians, he is defending his ministry. He often falls under attack, and has to give an account of himself. He is doing that in this letter, and, in the course of saying, “I have carried on an authentic ministry, an honest ministry. I set forth the truth before the common conscience of my fellow men and before the face of God,” he hears the objectors say, “But not all believe.” And that is a mystery isn’t it? It is a mystery that you could be sitting here this © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 4   morning and the one next to you believing fervently and you in all honesty having more questions than certainties. Paul tries to explain that. I am not very satisfied with his explanation. He says, “Well, to be sure not everybody believes, but if one doesn’t believe it is because they are blinded by the god of this world.” Well, I don’t know, Paul. From a preacher’s point of view, that gets me off the hook a bit. In other words, if I make sense to you and the Light dawns, it’s because there is a connection here, but if nothing happens then the failure must be that Satan has blinded your heart, your mind. That whole conception of the universe peopled with spirits of darkness is a little strange, frankly. I don’t think of my world that way, do you? Maybe I’m naive, but I am not as ready as Paul was simply to explain the one that believes as opposed to the one who doesn’t believe in terms of devils going about blinding people. Our Reformation forbearers tried to explain the phenomena of belief and unbelief in terms of God’s predestinating, electing grace. That ought to send chills up and down your spine. I don’t believe that either. Thank God. Double predestination: the fact that somehow, in the mystery of God’s counsel, you are chosen, you are damned. Poof! You know our forefathers and foremothers believed that? That you didn’t really have a chance. If you were elected you had had it. And if you weren’t, you had really had it. That was, frankly, a theological scheme by which to explain why one believes and one doesn’t. How would you explain it? Here two people sit. One believes. One doesn’t. They hear the same stuff. They eat the same meals. They watch the same television. They go out into the same world. One has faith. One doesn’t. How would you explain it? Because you see, it is one thing to say that the Light has come into the world. That is our Christmas gospel; that is what we celebrate. The Light shines in the darkness, but have I seen the Light? Well, I like to think that maybe it’s not so much explained by little spirits of darkness pulling curtains over hearts, and I certainly don’t think that somewhere in eternity God decided to choose you and leave me out. I think it has a lot to do with our human experience, don’t you? Some people in the midst of their human experience are so broken and scarred that it seems almost impossible for them ever to trust. Some people never having been loved find it impossible to love. Some people never having experienced the embrace of forgiveness find it impossible to forgive. Some faith has been shattered on the shoals of human suffering. Some faith has been ignited in the midst of suffering. Suffering doesn’t necessarily turn you one way or the other, but it can still turn you. I could give you instances of those who suffered deeply and came out with strong faith. The Psalmist said in retrospect, “It was good for me that I was afflicted.” But I could show you other people who suffered deeply, who are cynical and full of despair, and for whom the ongoing religious life is hollow and empty. Human experience has a lot to do with it. © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 5   I like the way we are nurturing our children at Christ Community. In this season of the year they are being taught to cultivate “Epiphany Eyes.” Because it is not only Epiphany, the manifestation, the revelation, the turning on of the light, but it is the eyes to see and behold. It is to create within us that expectation that we will be apprehended by the Light and we will have the Light dawn upon us, that we will see the Light. The cultivation of an expectation creates within us a readiness and an openness for it. I think it is good also to remember as we wonder about these things - why one believes and why one doesn’t, or why there was one time when your experience was warm and enriching and now it seems rather distant and cold - that the Light shines and Epiphany happens not simply once. There may for some be the dramatic turn-around of an Apostle Paul, but for most of us, here and there, a ray breaks through in a deeply moving experience, times when suddenly we feel, as Wesley expressed it, “How our hearts strangely warmed.” Oh, it’s a mystery. I wish I knew how to throw the switch. I wish I knew how to trigger it for you. I can do no more than Paul advised. Giving up all kinds of manipulation and any distortion of the word of God, simply commending the truth before the common conscience. Before the common conscience of humankind and before the face of God, to set forth this story that the Light has come into the world - that in the face of Jesus we see into the nature of God and that can be trusted. And some Sundays you walk out of here and say, “That really got through to me.” And some Sundays you walk out and say, “Could have better gone to brunch.” And sometimes it’s me. But, as often, it’s you. What you bring. What you anticipate. What you are looking for, and what you need. Oh, I wish I could take all of you on occasion and shake you, take you by the nape of the neck and say, “Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Are you questing? Where are you? What are you doing? Where are you going? Are you doing more than just going through motions? Is your faith, your devotion, more than just hollow ceremony and empty form? Is there some passion? Have you been touched? Has the fire burned brightly lately? The Light has come. The Light has come. The Light shines in the world. Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world.” And in the face we see to the heart of God. But the face of Jesus isn’t available for you. Where finally then in your human experience will you find the Light shining? Well, I suppose, to drag out an old saw: If I can’t see it in Jesus’ face any more, then you are the only face I have in which can be mirrored the face of Jesus, that is a mirror of the heart of God. It’s a Mystery all right! And we do make a mystery of it I suppose. We carry on our theological discussions and we split our doctrinal hairs. I suppose, finally when I look into your face and know I am accepted, finally when I feel your arms around me and know I am loved, finally when I look into your eyes and know I am forgiven, finally when you touch me, the Word becomes flesh, and then it is not the objective reality alone that Jesus is the Light of the world. Then it is that Light that floods my soul. It is in the encounter one with the other that Epiphany © Grand Valley State University �Light of the World Richard A. Rhem Page 6   happens today in the ongoing community of those who stem back to the Word made flesh, the Word who was the explosion of Light revealing the One who in the beginning called forth an explosion full of light. The Light has dawned upon us. Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Epiphany I Scripture Text II Corinthians 4:6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930110 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-01-10 Title A name given to the resource Light of the World Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 10, 1993 entitled "Light of the World", on the occasion of Epiphany I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 4:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Creation Divine Mystery Face of Jesus Insight Light Nature of God Transformation https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fd4ea468a3c982088b6737a8adc36965.mp3 74ea8539af528b0831507fe49a248058 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3284061f7b835bf50960a1aeb1abf3b1.pdf 2734ca89220379f74e4098385a713f22 PDF Text Text Marks of Leadership From the series: On the Threshold of the Third Millennium Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany III, January 24, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon Of Issachar, those who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” I Chronicles 12:32 The gifts we possess differ as they are allotted to us by God’s grace, and must be exercised accordingly. Romans 12:6 ...among you, whoever wants to be first must be your servant ... Mark 10:43 Well, it’s been quite a week hasn’t it? No matter what your political party, I think you couldn’t help but get caught up in some of the excitement. After all, everyone loves newness and as our new president said, “the mystery of renewal” is something in which I think we all want to participate. The movement of change was so obvious from one generation to another, detectible in the musical sounds. Mr. Bryson, wanting to reflect that which happened in the nation’s capitol invited the president to be with us this morning to play his saxophone. But the president was busy, but we have Christopher! It’s been a fun week, a great week, and it is so nice that it coincides with the newness in our lives at the top of the year and the newness that is a part of our life together as Christ Community. I have been looking forward to this time to celebrate it together with you and with these who have now been commissioned to their respective ministries. It is always wonderful to have a new beginning, and I believe that we are at an important watershed in our life together. Coinciding as it does with the events of this past week, we can say, “These are our times. Let us embrace them.” And we can say with the poet, Maya Angelou on inauguration day, that this is a time to sense the pulse of this new day, to look out into our sisters’ eyes and a brother’s face and to the country and “to say, simply, very simply, with hope ‘Good Morning.’” That’s where we are together. And as we implement our new leadership arrangement in this congregation, I want to begin by thinking with you and with those who have been commissioned to their respective ministries about the marks of leadership. © Grand Valley State University   �The Marks of Leadership Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Those marks of leadership become clear, I think, in the three lessons that were read this morning. In the Old Testament lesson the delegations came to David in order to give their loyalty to him. Their request was that he be king over all of Israel. You will remember from your Old Testament history that Israel’s first king was Saul. Saul came to a tragic end but, as it was assumed, as it is always assumed, the royal houses perpetuate themselves. And so there were those leaders around King Saul who sought to establish his son as king. Yet, down south, was the Robin Hood of Israel, young David, with a band of bandits around him, who had such charisma and who had gained such fame in the land. For seven years the two tribes of the south said to David, “You are our king.” But the old monarchy was perpetuated in the north, and the nation was being torn apart with civil strife and civil war. Finally, the leaders of the north could see that the future lay with David and that obviously the blessing of God was not on the House of Saul. If Israel was to find its place in the sun, then certainly it had to make David king over all the tribes. And so the leaders came first, then delegations from each of the tribes. I singled out the delegation from the Tribe of Issachar because they are characterized according to what I would like to suggest as the first mark of leadership for the Church of Christ. They are characterized as those who had an “understanding of the times” to know what Israel had to do. They were visionary. They were far-sighted. They were practical. They were pragmatic. They were wise. From this, I would like to suggest the first mark of leadership is a holy worldliness. When I was growing up, worldliness was a great thing to avoid. It was the great sin. But I am using that word in the sense of the people from Issachar who had an understanding of the time. The Church too often has been characterized by people who have been devoted, dedicated, serious, sincere, but lacking sometimes that sense of where the movement of history was going. Where was the cutting edge? And what had to be done today in order to capture tomorrow? The men of Issachar were the kind of leaders who were able to see the handwriting on the wall. They were able to look into the horizon and see what was breaking, and they were able to position Israel in order that it might, under David, realize its golden age. It never had another age like the age of David. Their choice, their decision was confirmed in the prosperity of the nation under this great king. We need in the Church a kind of holy worldliness – that is, set apart for God, but worldly, wise in the ways of the world. Far too often in the Church we have had sincerity and piety, but not always visionary leadership and the strength and giftedness of that leading. When I think back, over thirty years now, to when I first came to this congregation in 1960, I can tell you what at that time was a surefire formula for being elected to congregational office. You had to be male, on the young side, and promising. You had to come to church in the morning. You had to come to church © Grand Valley State University �The Marks of Leadership Richard A. Rhem Page 3   in the evening. You had to teach a Sunday School class of irrepressible, impossible young sixth graders. (Laughter) Maybe you’d have to take a stint at being Sunday School superintendent. Then we always elected officers in November and, along about September when family night began and midweek prayer meeting began, if you would show up on Wednesday night, and if you could catch your voice and croak out a prayer, I can assure you you would be deacon the next election. (Laughter) Then, if you served a term or two or three as deacon responsibly, if you grayed a bit or balded a bit, you could become an elder. Understand, I salute all of those who have served 120 some years in this place because it was always recognized that leadership was nothing if it was not rooted in devotion to Christ and loyalty to the church, but in all honesty I want to say that there was also, too often, a resistance to the strong leader who was making a mark in business, industry, the professions. There was almost a resistance to bringing such a person on board the governing body of the church. Rather, the church became the place of authority for those of adequate piety. But, all over this country still to this day, there are good and sincere people leading the church who lack leadership quality, who lack a sense of where things are going and where the church has to position itself if it would capture the future. Not so the men of Issachar. They said, “This civil war is destroying the nation. The House of Saul has got to go. David is our leader.” They had an understanding of the times, to know what Israel had to do. We need people who are visionary, creative, daring, able to negotiate the passages of the structures of our society in order to make the Church of Jesus Christ a viable institution that has power and thrust, that has integrity, spirituality, but a kind of far seeing vision that will enable us to execute the mission of Jesus Christ in a fast changing world, in an amazing world on the edge of the third millennium. That giftedness is the gift of the Holy Spirit. I think that’s where there was a lack in the past. We identified the gifts of the Holy Spirit with the “more spiritual aspects of ministry” - someone who could lead in prayer, teach a class, make a pastoral call. These are important, necessary spiritual gifts for the nurture of the body. Paul uses the image of the body of Christ as an image for the Church, and in two or three or four different places in his letters he lists various gifts of the spirit, always making the point however that all gifts come from one spirit. They are not to be exercised for selfaggrandizement, but for the common good and that all of the gifts, no matter how they manifest themselves, have not only a common origin in Spirit, but also a common dignity in value. All of the lists are not the same. I chose Romans 12 today because there is one important distinction in the list in Romans 12. In the 7th verse it speaks about a gift of service. Maybe a more careful translation would be practical service, or in the New English Bible you will find that gift translated as the gift of administration. Now I take it for granted that the leadership of the church will include people gifted in prayer and spiritual © Grand Valley State University �The Marks of Leadership Richard A. Rhem Page 4   devotion, and loyalty and dedication, and Christian life, but what has not always been understood is that the “worldly” gift of administration is also a gift of the Holy Spirit. So I want to say that the second mark of leadership is that it is in its diversity gifted by the Spirit for the common good. That’s why this morning, in order to act out what we believe regarding marks of leadership, we have had elders and deacons, and boards of trustees and operations council all mixed up. They said to me, “In what order should we march in?” I said, “It doesn’t matter, you’re all mixed up.” They said, “You can say that again!” (Laughter) We used the same oil and the same words, the same commissioning because, in the diversity of these gifts and the diversity of these people, we have a common source of spiritual power in the Spirit of God, and a common place in which to exercise the gift. In all of its diversity it is still one ministry. It used to be that we ordained elders and deacons and we constituted various committees to do stuff - no more! We are seeking now people with specific gifts for specific ministries, recognizing that, in all of that diversity, there is a commonality of spiritual empowerment for the common good of this institution that needs to be prayed over, that needs to be healed, that needs to have financial finessing, that needs to have visionary strategic planning – all of this, the wholeness of the body, demanding a diversity of gifted persons. We are recognizing that baptism is our ordination, that ministry is shared, and that what we need to do is appoint people whose gifts we recognize to execute these ministries. The Church isn’t a democracy. The Church isn’t a republican form of government. The Church has nothing to do with winners and losers. Jesus, on the way to Jerusalem with the shadow of death looming over him, shares with his disciples what is in store for him. And James and John come and they say, “Jesus, when you come in your glory, could we sit on your right and left hands?” Talk about insensitivity! Jesus knows the only glory he is going to get is the glory of martyrdom. Talk about misunderstanding! The other disciples got involved too; they were indignant with James and John, but what made them angry was not that James and John wanted to be number one and number two, but the fact that James and John thought of it first! And so you have the feuding and dissension. You have the desire for power and position, for pomp and circumstance, and Jesus had to gather them all and say, “Look, it’s not that way. It is that way out in the world. It is that way in Washington. It is that way in probably every other institution and organization of which you are a part, but it’s not that way in the Church.” He said, “The Gentiles have great men lording it over them, but it shall not be thus with you. The one who would be great must be the servant of all.” And that, I believe, brings us to the third mark of leadership: humble servanthood. Jesus is our model. He says, “I have come not to be served, but to serve.” Dear friends, what we have done in this congregation is a radical restructuring. I don’t even dare tell the Reformed Church in America what we’ve done, because we’ve turned © Grand Valley State University �The Marks of Leadership Richard A. Rhem Page 5   their constitution upside down. But then, that’s not the first time. Constitutions of organizations are frantic attempts to get down on paper what has already happened in the life of a living organization. I say that with some fear and trembling in the presence of the Judge (Judge Post), but there is a real sense in which our situation is like that of the nation. As President Clinton said in his inaugural address, “Thomas Jefferson long since recognized that, in order for America to meet its future, it would have to change much,” and he said, “We change not for the sake of change, but in order to preserve the ideals of the nation.” And so, while we must always be in dialogue with the past, it’s like the Constitution of the United States. It stands so that we must always come up against it, but we must also continue to interpret it in the ongoing life of the nation. And so, here too, we saying what we are doing is more biblical, more reflective of this institution which has a ministry function that is classically thought of as spiritual, and a management function that needs to be thought of as ministry. In order that the institution may be well positioned, strong and vital, moving into the future, able to execute the mission of Christ, we are so structured now that we can move with facility and agility. We can look into the future on the edge of the third millennium and say, “These are our times. Let us embrace them.” We are able to look into the eyes of our sister and into the face of our brother, and to our country, and our faith community, and simply, very simply with hope say, “Good morning…Good morning.” © 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 On the Threshold of the Third Millennium Scripture Text I Chronicles 12:32, Romans 12:6, Mark 10:43 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-0-19930124 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-01-24 Title A name given to the resource Marks of Leadership 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 24, 1993 entitled "Marks of Leadership", as part of the series "On the Threshold of the Third Millennium", on the occasion of Epiphany III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Chronicles 12:32, Romans 12:6, Mark 10:43. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Church Community of Faith Holy Spirit Servanthood https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c877e42e85eff7f265195d7e0b8f1f1a.mp3 7623e3941c70e94716155f5d1056b6cc https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/04d29a08584579e627f2589f10dbd178.pdf 5469514484530f54eb536d28b697806b PDF Text Text Credo From the series: In the Threshold of the Third Millennium Text: Acts 17:27-28 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany IV, January 31, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon “... so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for God and find God though indeed God is not far from each one of us. For in God we live and move and have our being; as even some of your poets have said. For we too are God’s offspring.” Acts 17:27-28 “Credo.” That is a word that we have taken into our English language but it is really a Latin verb form from the Latin word credari, which means to trust or to put one’s faith in. And credo, the first person singular of the verb. In other languages other than English, oftentimes the form of the verb tells you the person and includes the pronoun. In this case credo means I believe. And this morning in the second of three messages on the edge of the third millennium, as we think together about our faith, about our community, and as we look to the future, I want us to move from last week and the whole question of our structure to the question of what we believe at this juncture in human history and at this point in our own lives. I entitled the message “Credo,” which means literally I believe, because I want to lift up the fact that in a certain sense, this is a personal profession of faith on my part. Every sermon ought to be the preacher’s personal profession of faith. It ought to be the confession of the preacher’s faith. The preacher ought not to proclaim what he or she does not passionately believe. It happens sometimes. Among my many faults I think that has not been one. I think I can say without fear of contradiction in your midst that what I have all these many years preached is that which I passionately believe. I have not preached to you what I do not believe. One can speak about what the Church teaches or what the Christian tradition is somewhat from a distance rather objectively without personal involvement or passion. One can speak of that. One can teach that way. But one cannot preach that way. At least, one ought not to preach that way. For to preach is to give © Grand Valley State University   �Credo Richard A. Rhem Page 2   expression to a compassionate, compelling conviction in order to persuade, in order to convince, in order to move a people. And so, I say Credo this morning because I want to lift up the fact that this I believe. And perhaps more importantly, this I believe passionately. But also because I want to say to you that you too ought to live with a passionate faith. And I want to raise the question: What do you believe - passionately? What do you really believe? What do you really believe? There is a difference between a nonchalant answer to a nonchalant question like that, and an answer that comes from really sitting back and saying, “What do I really believe?” Would you begin to tell me what the Church teaches? Would you begin to tell me what you learned in catechism? Would you begin to outline for me the Christian tradition as you have imbibed it? I would stop you at some point and I would say, “Now, come on. What do you believe?” In other words, what elicits from you passionate, compelling conviction? I have a suspicion that we live with a lot of rather foggy and vague ideas. And then something happens in our life and we are put on the spot or we have some critical juncture in our human experience and suddenly it becomes clear to us that “I believe this,” or “I do not believe that” in spite of the fact that those elements may or may not have been a part of the kind of generalized, vague faith structure that we carry around with us. I want to say this morning that I believe that Christ Community Church ought to be a place where faith is a matter of passion. Where we live out of a compelling conviction. Where it is more than - the Christian tradition holds . . . or the Church teaches . . . or the Bible says.... I would that we would be a community of people that were moved by passionate faith, where things were clear and were articulated in our experience, were things for which we are willing to live, and if need be, things for which we would be willing to die. Credo. What do you really believe? What would you write down in a paragraph of twenty-five or fifty words entitled “These Things I Believe”? Paul was a passionate believer - a person of passionate conviction. In the scripture lesson this morning Paul comes to Athens. I envy him that. In September I am going to take some folks to Athens, and we will be able to appreciate the grandeur of the ancient city, but only from the ruins of the present. It must have been some experience to come to Athens in the first century. Oh, to be sure, the Golden Age was five hundred years earlier, but Athens continued to be a great center, a great city, the university city of the western world, to be sure, where all of the great thoughts that have ever been thought were thought and discussed. Paul came there in the midst of his missionary journey and, while he was waiting for his companions to join him, he signed up for a city tour. I want to say, I would like us to be passionate believers like Paul, but I would hope that we might be able to be a bit more appreciative of human culture than Paul because after his city tour, Luke tells us that he was disgusted. He was disgusted because he saw all of the temples, and all of the idols, and apparently © Grand Valley State University �Credo Richard A. Rhem Page 3   he had this overwhelming sense of a spiritual quest that was coated over with darkness and it disturbed him. I don’t want to be too hard on Paul, for he was a man of compelling conviction with great passion, who was turning the world upside down because he was so convinced that the one true and eternal God had acted decisively in the event of Jesus Christ; that this was a cosmic event and so he went everywhere telling the Gospel. Thus, when he encountered Athens with its layers of religion representing humankind’s vague religious quest, it upset him. And I want to honor that. But I do also want to lift up a danger when our religious conviction can sometimes become so focused and so frantic and so fanatic that we miss the larger picture. I would have wished that Paul might at least have given us a line of appreciation for the wonder and marvels of Athens. There has never been a greater cultural explosion and expression of the human spirit than Athens. I wish he could have been more open to appreciating the goodness of that. But, I go astray a bit. Let me return to the story. Before long the citizens of Athens heard that Paul, the passionate missionary, was in town and they brought him right to the very supreme court, as it were, to give witness to his faith. He did so rather smartly I believe, connecting with his audience, making reference to the statue of the unknown God, and then saying, “I know that God. And that God I proclaim to you.” He moved to the broad canvas of creation, “This one who has created all things....” And then he narrowed down, finally focusing on Jesus and the resurrection and the coming accountability of all before the face of God through Jesus Christ. Paul was a passionate believer who with all of his heart believed that the one true and eternal God who spoke and brought all things into being had come to be manifest in this one Jesus Christ, and Jesus in his way and in his life was vindicated in his death and resurrection, and the end was near. And because Paul believed that the end of the world was near, he called all to account after the proclamation of this good news of what God had done in Jesus Christ. Not a bad sermon really. Not a bad technique of preaching. And with all the passion that was his person, he presented the resurrected Christ as the window into God before whom all peoples would be brought to account. That was nearly 2000 years ago. And now we stand on the edge of the Third Millennium. What do you really believe about the things of which Paul spoke? Is it now enough for us to continue to say the things that Paul said, or do we somehow or other have to take stock of a perspective of 2000 years, which separates us? All that separated Paul from the event of Jesus Christ was a couple of decades, and yet there were a couple of decades there. Paul had no personal first-hand experience of the events of Jesus. He experienced Jesus, he says, by revelation. And he experienced it also by discussion with the other apostles. But Paul’s primary conviction came out of that mystical experience when he was thrown on his face on the Damascus road - the encounter with the ascended Lord. Now for us, do we, as we approach the Third Millennium, do we simply continue to reiterate what Paul said, or must we judge what Paul said in the light of Paul’s © Grand Valley State University �Credo Richard A. Rhem Page 4   background that brought him to that point? And do we reiterate the 2000 years of Christian church doctrine that has come in the meantime? What I mean to say is, from Paul, primarily, stems Christian theology. One of the things that I shared with you last fall that has gotten as much response as anything I have ever said as I was going out to Brandeis University for a discussion with Protestants, Catholics and Jews. I suggested to you that there have been a series of forks in the road along the line and that really it would not have been necessary for Christianity to develop separately from Judaism. It would not have been necessary for Islam to develop separately from Judaism and Christianity, and it would not have been necessary for the Christian Church to be divided into Orthodoxy and the West, and then the West into the Catholic tradition and the Protestant tradition. Those forks in the road need not have happened. There was no compelling truth that necessitated those splits. Those splits happened through human fogginess, though human misunderstanding, through human stubbornness and blindness, through human pride and arrogance. Somehow or other, when I said that, it seemed to ring a bell with a number of you. And now I am wondering, on the edge of the Third Millennium, whether or not we must not look at Paul and what happened in his formulation of the faith and, in dialogue with that, find our own way to bring to expression what is happening in our world today, in order to make an impact on our world for the one true and eternal God who was revealed in Jesus Christ. Paul, after all, thought he was at the end of the age! Paul had absolutely no sense at all that 2000 years later we would be here. Remember that Paul was jerked by God out of his tradition, uprooted as it were, turned upside down. Paul, so steeped in the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and then so convicted by Jesus Christ that he was able to be absolutely uprooted from his Jewishness. Yet he need not have thrown over the faith of his forbearers, for he says that the Jew had every advantage. He never said that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was not the true God or that Israel did not have true faith. He was simply trying to say to his Israel, “Look, the promised one is here.” But I wonder whether or not 2000 years later we don’t have to seriously consider what our message has to be for the Third Millennium. I read a very interesting book recently entitled, The Presbyterian Controversy, which was a study of the years 1922 to 1936 in the Presbyterian Church. That is the period of denominational crisis out of which arose Fundamentalism. It was a time where five fundamental doctrines were annunciated as absolutely essential for orthodox Christian faith. There was a deep division within the church as to how those events were to be understood and interpreted. In that book there is a statement by Henry Adams in his autobiography, published in 1918. He spoke about his birth, I suppose, in the year 1854, and he said, “A school boy in 1854 stood closer to the year one than to the year 1900.” Follow me? In 1854 years there was more continuity, more similarity, less challenge or disruptions to assumed understanding of reality than happened in the next forty-six years. And © Grand Valley State University �Credo Richard A. Rhem Page 5   that was written at the beginning of the 2oth century. What would he say if he stood now another 140 years later with the dramatic, radical, revolutionary developments in human understanding, our knowledge of the physical universe and our sense of the development of history? I think sometimes that those of us in the conservative Christian tradition have had to live a schizophrenic existence. We are modern people out there every day of the week. We live with business and industry and the exploding knowledge in all the professions. We operate with computer chips and we live in a world where we have landed a person on the moon and have a space vessel going out toward Mars, and all the other amazing things that are a part of this human scene of ours, and then we come into church and it is like another world and another age. It is hard to weave, between the religious realm and that secular realm, a relationship and a dialogue, a connection and an interlacing between their two realities. At the beginning of this century there was a great Christian optimism. We were going to evangelize the world in this generation: That’s what they said in 1910 at a great missionary conference. But it’s not happening is it? Do you foresee the time when the world will become Christian? Frankly, I don’t. Do you foresee the possibility that all of those world religions with their centuries of development and tradition will somehow or other be brought into the Christian Church? Do you really believe that? I’ll confess to you, I don’t really believe that. What then? What then must be our credo as we enter the third millennium? I wonder if God, through the processes of history, as God’s Spirit moves in the development of human experience, is bringing us at the edge of the third millennium and saying, “The thing you’ve got to do is, out of your experience of Israel and out of your experience of Jesus Christ and out of your Christian tradition, you’ve got to enter into dialogue with the richness of Judaism and the richness of Islam, and the richness of Buddhism and Hinduism. You’ve got to begin to talk about that insatiable religious quest in the human heart that is universal and forget the imperialism that would seek to bring everyone into the Christian Church and begin rather to share your knowledge and faith and trust in the God made available in Jesus. Bring that to the table. Our intention must be, in the decades ahead, it seems to me, not to bring everybody to Christian faith, but to bring the world to trust in the God whom Jesus revealed. Not the institutional imperialism and triumphalism that would make the whole world Christian, but rather in Jesus’ name to bring the world to the kind of human community that Jesus lived out. It’s really an exciting day in the Church. On the edge of the third millennium I want to invite you to join me into a continuing pilgrimage, probing the faith in order to understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches today. It is a day in which exciting things are happening. I brought some books with me this morning that I thought it might be fun for you to see. After all, I am at the threshold too, of © Grand Valley State University �Credo Richard A. Rhem Page 6   going on vacation, so I have begun to gather (retrieves books from pulpit) - take a look at this! For one thing, I am wondering if we don’t have to get back behind Paul and this is one of three or four recent publications - A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, 500 pages long It happens to be written by a Catholic. There are three or four others. Hans Küng, Christianity and the World Religions, Paths to Dialogue with Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, 460 pages. Hans Küng, Judaism Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, 750 pages. And then this one: The Birth of the Modern, World Society 1815 to 1830. Fifteen years, 1100 pages. And you thought I was wordy! Now, dear friends, I just say to you that there is so much that is happening in the world of scholarship, in the Church and outside of the Church, which is trying to come to terms with modernity and an ancient faith. My calling as a theologian in the traditional understanding of that calling is simply to explicate what is given, and not to think beyond it. That is orthodoxy’s definition of paradigm theology. It is my conviction that such orthodoxy is idolatry. It is the great tool of those in power in the institutions to keep the institutions intact. “Don’t bother me with the fact, my mind’s made up.” But we cannot afford, on the edge of the third millennium, simply to continue to reiterate yesterday’s answers to yesterday’s questions. That’s fundamentalism repeating an answer that at one time throbbed with passion because it connected with life. It is our task to believe passionately, engaged with our contemporary experience and the experience of our world, and there is nothing in the experience of the contemporary world that need frighten us or threaten us. Paul’s message was still a relevant message, pointing to the one true and eternal God, the creator of all things, whose face we see, whose heart we see in the face of Jesus. The way of Jesus is a way of justice, and righteousness and peace. It is a way full of love, full of grace, working on behalf of others and our world in terms of Jesus’ mind and heart. Working toward the healing of persons and the humanization of society. I’ll tell you, that’s what I really believe. I believe it passionately. And to the extent that you are willing to join me, we are going to open a whole new page with a daring attempt to confess what we really believe in order that we might really make a difference in faithfulness to the God who is always before us beckoning us on. The God who, when we have discovered the final secret of the universe, will still be more. The God who gives us confidence and a foundation for a sure hope. The God who keeps the world from disintegrating and unraveling. The God who allows hope to arise in our hearts and healing to happen, who calls us to the full expression of our humanity and the humanness of our world. Ah, it is an exciting task! What do you really believe? What do you really believe? © 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 IV Series On the Threshold of the Third Millennium Scripture Text Acts 17:27-28 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930131 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-01-31 Title A name given to the resource Credo 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 31, 1993 entitled "Credo", as part of the series "On the Threshold of the Third Millennium", on the occasion of Epiphany IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 17:27-28. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Belief Diversity Inclusive Paul Spiritual Quest https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8ddb4fcfe8ff620604897964cc715049.mp3 ea8d6b5ceed9e09a0400b791a49a98b2 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bc2ff9517a8a56ed4bc0bbffc9eca7ac.pdf a498dba48a4234c1c3afe9adc1cac715 PDF Text Text Mission: Passion Unleashed From the series: On the Threshold of the Third Millennium Text: Isaiah 58:12; Luke 4:17-18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Epiphany V, February 7, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon “You will be called the repairer of the breach, a the restorer of streets to live in.” Isaiah 58:12 “...The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him ... The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me...” Luke 4:17-18 On the threshold of the third millennium Christ Community is newly structured for a forward movement. We struggle with a fresh expression of Christian faith, seeking to translate the tradition in order that we might connect our faith with our human experience. This morning I want to call you to a new sense of mission, a new commitment to be the people of God. I call you to effect the purposes of God in the world as the agents of grace and reconciliation, bringing people together in the name of Christ our Lord. Mission: It has always been a part of the Christian tradition. Missio, the Latin word, means to send, to send out or to be sent. I want to suggest that we ought to be sent out with passion. Passion unleashed. Passion that is compelling emotional engagement with the task. I want Christ Community always to be passionate. Passionate about what we believe and passionate about that which we do in the name of Christ. No kind of routinized ritual, external form, dead-in-thewater, but passionate - with deep conviction, compelling conviction leading to compelling action with emotional engagement. It is that, I believe, to which we are called as the people of God. And as we stand on the threshold of the third millennium, God needs a people who will fearlessly, courageously, unstintingly, unrelentingly be there as a concrete community of love and grace, bringing peace and reconciliation to all people in the local community and throughout the world. I want to call you this morning to be a people unleashed for mission with passion. I want to call us as a community to be committed to the humanization of the world, to the humanization of society. © Grand Valley State University   �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 2   One of the nice things about having the Perspective class after worship is that I can clarify the fogginess of the sermon, and I can answer the question that I raise in the minds of some. I had a very good question raised to me last week, because I had suggested toward the end of the message that I was not so concerned that we make the world Christian as that we make the world human. And the question was asked, “Well, is that just humanism?” It’s a good question, and the answer is, no it is not. There is a kind of classic humanism that would be defined as over against God. Atheistic naturalist humanism would see human society and the world as a purely human project with no intervention and no involvement by a God if there was one. No, that’s not what I mean. I am thinking rather of the phrase of the Catholic theologian Hans Küng who said, “God’s cause is the human cause.” What I would love to call us to this morning is that we be the agents for the humanization of society, the humanization of the world, meaning that we seek to do that which would make for all people a fully human existence possible. So all people might be set free, set at liberty, the shackles off, all forms of human bondage removed so that all people in all sorts of conditions could move into the fullness of human existence as God intends. Jesus lived such an existence. In him, we believe, was full humanity modeled out for us. When I say that I believe the Church is called to work at the humanization of society, I mean that the church is that group of people who are called to seek to effect the purposes of God in human lives and in human society as a whole. That, to be sure, is a little different than the classic understanding of mission in the history of the Church. The modern missionary movement was initially born in the 19th century, although there has always been from the beginning this impulse to “go into all the world to preach the Gospel.” But the modern movement, the evangelization of the world, really had a new birth in the 19th century and the object there was to bring all of the world to Jesus Christ. It was world evangelization. There was a great missionary conference in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910 and a great missionary statesman named John R. Mott had a cry that really motivated the student population of the day: “The evangelization of the world in this generation.” There were always educational missions, and medical missions, and farm-agricultural missions which were the accoutrements to the missionary impulse, but the major focus of it was the proclamation of the Gospel, the goal of which end was to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. One rather contemporary missionary statement spoke of the missionary movement of our forbearers as a movement motivated because they could not conceive of people dying without Christ. D. T. Niles said, “In our generation it is more that we go because we cannot conceive of people living without Christ.” But, when I speak of the humanization of society, I have to admit to you - I want to acknowledge to you - that I am not speaking so much in that classic sense of trying to Christianize the world because I am not at all sure that we are called to Christianize the world in terms of bringing the world into the institutional © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 3   structures of the Christian church. I believe that we are there to witness to the whole world to the God to whom Jesus points us. It is the God of Jesus that we want to point all people to, and we want to do that by all means possible. I think that the missionary movement with all of its good intention and all of its sincerity, and all it has accomplished, nonetheless, because of the very institutionalization of the Christian faith, tended to become a rather arrogant and triumphalistic and imperialistic movement into other cultures. I must say that I don’t really believe, in spite of hundreds of years of witness and sincere effort, that we have done more than slightly dent a Muslim culture or an Oriental culture. Now in Africa today there is an astounding rate of conversion into the Christian church, but that is in a third world; that is not in the first world. The first world is secularized and sometimes that can perhaps dull our sense of the Christian mission. But let me make it clear. I believe that we are called to be the witnesses of Jesus Christ, pointing to the God of Jesus, the God that Jesus reveals, and we are to do that by all means possible. St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel by all means possible even in last resort with words.” The humanization of society is a Christian imperative, and I believe we are called to do that. Let me give you a little autobiographical sketch for a moment. When I came here in 1960 I wanted 50% of the budget to go to missions and 50% to stay at home. I was so young and so idealistic that I even turned down a raise. I refused a raise one year because I said, “if you will not go 50% I won’t take a raise.” One of the great pillars of the congregation looked at me and said, “Young man, you’ve got a family coming. Wise up. You’d better start thinking about retirement - it’s not too soon.” He was right. I was wrong. I was idealistic. I was going to change the world. And then I came back here in 1971 and I went with some of you over to the Institute for Successful Church Leadership where Bob Schuller told his story. When he arrived in California, an old pastor took him aside and said, “If you want this new church to prosper, use this formula: give 50% away and put 50% back in.” And Schuller was smarter than I was. He said, “No, I’m going to give only 10% away. But we’re going to build a missionary center right here because mission is where you are.” He said, “You know if I give 50% away I’ll never build a base here, and I’ll never be able to give much more than I give the first year. But if I build a bigger base here I’ll be able to give ten times more than what 50% would have been.” His math was right, and reality has proved him right. I came back and his vision became our vision - this was to be the place of our mission. Not to neglect the world, but to begin here and to build here a center of creative Christian faith which would be a fruitful movement issuing out of this very place. For two decades we have been working at that. We’ve been stretched. We’ve really always been reaching beyond our means - always dreaming a little bit beyond what we could possibly do. But I think that it’s time for us to be fully unleashed. To unleash our passion in the mission of Jesus Christ here, in the nation, and in the world. Not in order to © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 4   make the world Christian, but in order to humanize the world, transform it so that it might be as the God we have found in Jesus would have it be. That’s the prophetic word I hear here. Jesus stood in the prophetic tradition. Jesus was a prophetic, charismatic figure. The world evangelization, the institutionalization of the church was down the line. But if we really hear what we heard this morning, then God was saying to that Old Testament people a long time ago, “Don’t get all caught up in your rituals, in your church structures, in your sacrifices, in your priesthood and all that business, because I don’t really care about that. If you want to do that, you ought to do that because it can help you be what you ought to be. But you see, religion is never an end in itself. The practice of religion is never an end in itself. Worship, devotion, ritual, liturgy - whatever it may be – is not an end in itself. It is to imbue in us the depths of the mystery of God in order that out of the experience of worship, out of the experience of the reality of God we might be galvanized into significant and meaningful living in the world – significant human living in the world, and the humanization of the world. Old Judah said, “Hey, what’s up. We are doing all this sacrificing and incense and candles, and all of that, and you don’t seem to heed.” And God says, “Is that why you fast? You want to mortify yourself? I’ll tell you what mortification I want. Put your life on the line out there in the community: feed the poor, give shelter to the homeless, clothe the naked, take them into your home. And then call and I’ll answer.” The prophet of our reading said, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me. The spirit has anointed me to proclaim good news.” Jesus came to his home synagogue and he read that word aloud to his home congregation, “The spirit has anointed me.” That’s what Christ means, the anointed one - “I am anointed to proclaim good news, relief to the captive, healing to the broken, setting the prisoner free.” They said, “My, that fellow really speaks quite well. Isn’t that Joseph’s son?” Sure enough, Jesus, Joseph’s son – that’s who it was. But you see he had been on the outskirts of Israel, on the outskirts of God’s people. He had mingled with those who were outsiders and he had done some healing and they had heard about that. And so he knew that underneath that first blush of enthusiasm there was a kind of hostility brewing because Jesus had the audacity to consider the outsider also embraced by God’s love and grace. And so he said to them, “Let me remind you of your own tradition. Do you remember the instance of the famine, when Elijah was a prophet? To whom was the prophet called? To no one in Israel, but to a widow, a woman, an outsider in Zarephat. And what about Naaman? What about Naaman, the leper? No leper in Israel was cleansed, but Naaman the Syrian was cleansed. You see, God has always been concerned about the outsider. My ministry is to all people, and if that offends you, I’m sorry.” Well, it offended them alright. They said, “Let’s throw him over the ledge. Let’s do away with him.” There was wrath and anger, and hostility that are so often in religious people - Christian people. And Jesus ran afoul of it, and everyone who has had the audacity to stand in the prophetic © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 5   tradition has run afoul of it because it is a very human characteristic to turn religion in upon itself and make it self-serving, when actually God would have God’s people turn inside out, to live on behalf of those who are on the outside, to let them know that they are not on the outside. The old philosophy of mission was to go to the outsider to bring them in. But, with all my heart, I believe we ought to go to the outsider to tell them they are already in. That’s the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ. Not to make them like us. Not to force them into our structures, into our institutions, but to tell them of the promiscuous grace of a God that already embraces them, and that has come to a particularly full focus in Jesus Christ our Lord. Not to make them Christians like we are, but to point them to the marvelous God to whom Jesus points us. That’s the mission to which we are called, and I am ready for this place to be unleashed for such a mission, laced with passion. You know a couple of weeks ago I was out at the Crystal Cathedral at a conference of churches uniting for global mission, which is the movement that Bob Schuller is hoping to get going. It’s a rather loose affiliation of congregations - a congregationally based movement with very little administration and bureaucracy, but the ability to move immediately with flexibility into opportunities for mission. When he was negotiating the Hour of Power in Soviet television, they said to Bob Schuller, “Here is 50,000 acres of land. Could you make it productive for us? We will give it to you if you can bring us tractors. Bring us seed. Bring us know-how.” When I was in Chicago last summer at the Churches Uniting meeting, David Schouts who has preached for us in the past, of the Hinneton Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis, volunteered to head up the Russian farm project. Just a couple of weeks ago in California, David Schouts reported on that project, and he has got Ralph Hostadler who was the CEO of Land of Lakes, retired, who has taken over that project and has taken all kinds of people and resources. Two young men from the Soviet Union, one a member of the parliament, is helping him organize a cooperative project sponsored by CUGM, Churches Uniting for Global Mission, on behalf of the Soviet people. They are helping them gain some knowhow as to how to make farms productive and how to distribute what they produce. Those kinds of opportunities, I believe, are out there in our world. These are the kinds of things we have to do. Let God take care of what God would do with those Russian people. But for God’s sake, let’s get them some grain and some cattle, and get them fat. Then on Wednesday morning, the last morning, there was a black speaker named Leon Sullivan. I hadn’t really heard of him, but when he began to speak, (this man must be in his middle seventies) - I had to look up to him, a big man. When you walked by him it was like there were all kinds of vibrations. This was somebody, and when he spoke I learned he was a Baptist preacher from Philadelphia. And could he preach! Oh, my goodness, he could preach! I learned that he was Leon Sullivan of the Sullivan Principles. The Sullivan Principles were written by Leon Sullivan when he was on the board of General Motors. He came © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 6   back from South Africa and he said, “In South Africa when American corporations do business, they must dismantle Apartheid in the workplace.” And it happened. The American corporations in South Africa for some years now have operated on the Sullivan Principles. And this was that Leon Sullivan. He had just flown in from Brussels where he had been meeting with the economic community in Europe. He had just met with Helmut Kole and Francoise Mitterand. And he is all turned on about Africa, because right now Leon Sullivan is in the business of raising enough money to send a thousand teachers a year for the next four years to Africa. It only takes $10,000 to support one teacher. He sees the need for education, to teach children. He is looking for 1000 teachers for the next four years. He said (There was a group there of 40-50 pastors, I suppose.), “How many of you could support one teacher - $10,000 for the year? Raise your hands. “Should I have raised my hand? Well, should I have? Would you also keep paying the building debt off? I mean, don’t give me the $10,000 out of your envelope! I need my salary! (Laughter) But, have you got some more? Would you dig deeper if I had raised my hand? Would you? And I thought to myself, “You’ve really changed.” In 1960 when I first came to this place I would have wanted to raise money to send a missionary to tell them about Jesus. Now I want to raise money to send a teacher to educate them so that they might feel the presence of a God whom Jesus incarnated. Someone in the congregation sent me an article and said, “This might be interesting in light of your present series.” It was an article about the Arlington Street Church in Boston, a church that is called “The Conscience of Boston.” It’s a church that has been a center of social activism and social protest for 200 years. It is the place where Unitarianism was born. William Ellery Channing was a great minister there for 40 years. He had the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson in his congregation. He had the best and the brightest, and the mightiest of New England there. It became a significant center of Christian witness on all kinds of issues that divided and tore society apart. And the Arlington Church was always on the “wrong” side. It was the place where the Abolitionist Movement to dismantle slavery found its headquarters. In the 60s it was the place where William Sloan Kaufman and Benjamin Spock invited the young men of Harvard and Yale to burn their draft cards in protest against the Vietnam War. It was the place in the subsequent decade where every social cause found expression. Its present senior pastor is Kim Crawford Harvey, the first woman senior pastor, who is lesbian. You notice I say she is lesbian. She is not a lesbian. Because people are not gay or lesbian, people are human beings. They are people. Their orientation may be one way or the other, but you don’t refer to me as a heterosexual. I am a person. The Arlington Street Church has found a new issue that needs addressing. There is a great flourishing congregation again, with a budget bigger than it has been for 20 years because they have addressed this issue, which is tearing our society apart. © Grand Valley State University �Mission: Passion Unleashed Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Randall Terry is the head of a movement he calls Resistance . You see him on television on Christian broadcast channels (that I don’t watch), eliciting from people their baser motives, creating fear and division and trying to raise money. He was quoted as saying that if he had scripted Bill Clinton’s first two weeks himself, he could not have done a better job. He’s just delighted at all of the controversy around the White House because fundraising letters are in the mail, and he calls it a bonanza. I read the article on the Boston church, and I’m not a very pious guy and I don’t lay a lot of stuff on you, but when I was done, my eyes were moist and I said, “Dear God, I would that Christ Community would be a community of such integrity that it would provide a shelter for all sorts and conditions of human beings, that would create a space where people could be together, where there would be the acceptance of diversity, the encouragement of dialogue, the embrace of grace, and a love that was a true reflection of the love of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord.” It seems to me, in the words of the title of a book by James Davison Hunter, that in the midst of this time of “Culture Wars,” this world, this nation, needs a people who will be a voice for reconciliation, who will seek to bring people together, who will seek to honor every person’s dignity, who will guard the dignity of every person, and will create a place for people to be fully human in the worship and the service of God. I don’t know why churches, why religions, seem to breed the kind of hostility that in Nazareth wanted to kill Jesus, and did kill Jesus. But I know this, that in the face of Jesus I want us to be something other. I want us to be full of love, dripping with compassion, able to deal honestly with every social issue. I want us to be civil and committed - a place of light, love, healing. Dear God, wouldn’t that be great! Wouldn’t that be great! © 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 On the Threshold of the Third Millennium Scripture Text Isaiah 58:12, Luke 4:17-18 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-0-19930207 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-02-07 Title A name given to the resource Mission: Passion Unleashed 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 7, 1993 entitled "Mission: Passion Unleashed", as part of the series "On the Threshold of the Third Millennium", on the occasion of Epiphany V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 58:12, Luke 4:17-18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Grace Inclusive Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/82d546ffe23623e073b28d4d37311cfb.mp3 0b0265d430c02cf3c72d8e1cc0147ea3 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e35fe89a71f294747ca3fac5a7fb8427.pdf 6f7a22212dc35214e1a56676ac1f5da0 PDF Text Text Table Fellowship: A Sign of God’s Nearness From the series: The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Text: Mark 2:15 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent I, February 28, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon When Jesus was at table in his house, many bad characters . . . were seated with him.” Mark 2:15 We have entered another Lenten season. The advantage of the celebration of the Christian year is that it brings us annually through those events, and gives us opportunity to hear those stories that have shaped us as a community of faith and as the body of Christ. So we come once again into this Lenten cycle and we begin our Lenten pilgrimage, following the steps of our Lord, as it leads to his death, his crucifixion. But it is not as though we simply revisit the old story. It is not as though it has all been said before. The stories are the same. The events are the same. But we are not the same. There is the passion and pilgrimage of Jesus, and then there is the pilgrimage of each one of us. We come as different people. For one thing we are a year older than last time. Every time we come, we come as those who have had new experiences. Some of us have been devastated. Some of us have been exhilarated, and all of us have gone through the kinds of experiences that have changed us and will make it such that our angle of vision is a bit different this time as we come through the old familiar cycle once again. I probably am more aware of that than you, because I have both the privilege and the responsibility to prepare for this season with greater intensity than would be expected of any one of you. It has been my custom over many years now to leave you for an extended time, prior to this season, in order that I might do some new and in-depth preparation and come back ready for this Holy Season. As I reflect and prepare I am conscious of new lenses, new insights rising to the surface. With the capacity of computers today, if someone were to enter in all of the themes and texts of my Lenten preaching over 22 years, I am sure that you could see evidence of such shifts of perspective. As a matter of fact, I am aware of a very significant shift in my own perspective and understanding going back at least © Grand Valley State University   �Table Fellowship: Sign of God’s Nearness Richard A. Rhem Page 2   three years now. Back in 1991 I preached on “The Sign of The Cross, The Way of Jesus.” Rather than looking back from the perspective of Paul, I began to suggest we walk in the footsteps of Jesus. Paul’s perspective is very much the perspective of the Church in its theological tradition. Paul, after Good Friday and after Easter, steps back, and from the perspective of post-Easter looks at that death and tries to make sense of it. Essentially, Paul raises the question: What was the meaning of that death? And I think for many years that was also the question that occupied me, trying to make sense of that death, trying to understand that whole complex of ideas that we call atonement. Was it necessary for Jesus to die so that we might be forgiven? Those questions were really Paul’s questions. Paul was the first Christian theologian, I suppose, and Paul’s reflection on Jesus, on crucifixion, on resurrection were the shapers of our Christian tradition. But of late it seems to me that the significant question for us is not Paul’s question, What was the meaning of that death?, but rather, following in Jesus’ footsteps, to attempt to peer through his lenses and then ask, “Why?” More and more I began to ask myself, “Why? What was there in Jesus that caused the human community of his day to crucify him?” That question, it seems to me, is significant for us as we seek to become the disciples of Jesus. The other question, Paul’s question, is more a theological question. So this year again, I continue, probing and asking - but this year investigating the faith of Jesus. In the series title I suggest that the core of that faith was trust in a gracious God. I want us to think together, “What did Jesus believe?” We don’t often think of Jesus as a man of faith, do we? Didn’t he know everything? Didn’t he have a card up his sleeve? Didn’t he just sort of go through this thing as a charade? No, I don’t think so. A lot of very exciting New Testament research coming out today is able to pull back some layers and to see Jesus the Jew, Jesus the believing Jew. While I have been gone I have read several of these books. One book was entitled, The Marginal Jew. Another, The Historical Jesus: The Story of a Mediterranean Peasant Jew. And a third one, Jesus, a Life. It was exciting to see these studies uncover the concrete context of Jesus’ Jewishness and his historical allure, to see the contours of Jesus: what he believed, how he lived, how he acted. It is out of that concrete context that, I believe, we must come to some kind of understanding of why he was crucified. We have the Table set here this morning. We do that in remembrance of Jesus, for on the night in which he was betrayed we believe he gathered with his intimate disciples, and he broke bread and he poured the cup and gave them that tangible sign of his presence. But, beyond that, was he not also saying to those that were his most intimate associates, his friends, “Be with me while I share this last cup with you. I need you.” He was looking for human support and succor in this point of crisis in his life. And as a matter of fact, this is not so out of sync with the whole of his life. If you go through the gospels with this in mind, you will find © Grand Valley State University �Table Fellowship: Sign of God’s Nearness Richard A. Rhem Page 3   that Jesus was always having supper. Simon the Pharisee invited him to supper. He was often found eating at Mary and Martha’s home in Bethany. He was always sitting at table with someone. The four Gospels all record the feeding of the five thousand. There was something about Jesus that in his table fellowship signaled the nearness of God, and when the Gospel writers remembered the historical Jesus, the thing that they remembered and continually brought to expression was the table fellowship of Jesus. Jesus was a party hound. The last supper was not something out of line with what had been the hallmark of his life. He sat down with people. In response to some of his critics in Matthew, the 11th chapter, he just sort of shakes his head and says, “You know, I can’t win with you people. John the Baptist came, neither eating nor drinking, and they said he had a demon. He said, ‘I come both eating and drinking and you call me a wine bibber and a glutton.’” [And because we want to be like Jesus we have Pete Theune on Team who is our Minister of Gourmet. (Laughter) We are always eating here, aren’t we?] But for Jesus this was the way he bonded with people. With whom do you sit at table? You sit at table with those whom you love. Somebody says, “Let’s have a meal together.” You say, “Not with you.” Or you say, “Oh, I’d be delighted.” You don’t just eat with anybody. You don’t eat around do you? (Laughter) Nancy and I have just returned from Florida, and it always amazes me. You live with people all weeks and months of the year, and then you discover that you are going to be within fifty miles for ten days down in Florida of someone who lives down the block. They say, “Oh, let’s get together.” My goodness. You can’t believe how tough it is to take a vacation! Everybody that is with me all year wants to “get together” on vacation – you know, “Come and have a meal.” Well, it’s because that’s the way we experience community and express friendship. And it was even more so in that culture of which Jesus was a part. Hospitality was a prime concern. And to sit down and break bread with someone was a sign of acceptance, of embrace. The Dutch New Testament scholar, Edward Schillebeex, said that was the very hallmark of Jesus. The presence of God was mediated by Jesus while he sat at table. In the text of this morning, Jesus embraced the wrong people. In the listing of the text in the bulletin from the New English Bible, it says he was sitting at meal with “bad characters.” Shame on Jesus. Sitting down with “bad characters,” tax collectors and sinners. He went through the tollbooth and Matthew, (Levi, as he was called by his fellow Jews) was there, taking toll. Jesus said, “Follow me.” And Matthew said, “Not me. You don’t know who I am.” Jesus said, “Follow me.” Matthew got up and followed him. Matthew was a tax collector, ritually unclean, excluded from the community of God’s people, an outsider, and Jesus said, “Follow me.” And Matthew couldn’t believe it. When he found that Jesus was serious, Matthew said, “Let’s have a party.” Matthew invited his friends. And who were his friends? Other “bad characters.” The religious right came to Jesus’ disciples and said, “What’s he doing eating with bad characters, tax collectors and sinners?” That’s why in the end they killed him. © Grand Valley State University �Table Fellowship: Sign of God’s Nearness Richard A. Rhem Page 4   In the table fellowship which was the hallmark of Jesus ministry, he gave witness to what he really believed, and that is that God is gracious and invites all. That word is very threatening to a religious institution. A religious institution is strong to the extent that it can create an over-againstness with all of those who are not “our kind.” Isn’t it remarkable, really, that the Church has duplicated the very mentality of the Jewish community of Jesus’ day in its exclusion from this table? It has said, “Oh, you can’t come,” or “If you ask permission, perhaps you can come,” or “Is everything right in your life so that you might come here?” or “Whoa, not you!” But not Jesus. Jesus opened his table of fellowship to all people. And it was that kind of thinking, that kind of behavior that got Jesus crucified. I have said on occasion, “Rather than putting a fence around this table, we should set it up on Savidge Street and offer bread and wine to those passing by on their way to skiing up north, saying, “Have bread and wine for the journey, and have a good Sabbath.” What did Jesus believe? Jesus believed in a gracious God, and he would sit down with anyone in order to communicate in his action, in his openness and availability, that God’s embrace was wide enough to include them. He mediated the Presence of God and the offer of salvation in the table fellowship, which was the characteristic of his whole life and ministry. What did Jesus believe? That God was trying to get God’s arms around all sorts and conditions of humankind. They killed him for that. And the Church has been excluding people ever since, duplicating the very spirit and attitude that rejected and crucified Jesus. It really blows my mind when I think about it. What Jesus wants us to sense when we come here is that God’s arms are around us. If Jesus were here I believe he would say to you, “You come.” And you would say, “Ah, but Lord.” And he would say, “You come.” You would protest and say, “But you don’t know,” and he would say, “Oh, yes I do. You really need to come.” And then when we come, there is that sense of our belonging to one another. That was the intuition behind that old tradition of saying, “If you are not right with your brother or sister, you don’t come here.” Because this is a table of reconciliation. This is a family meal and you have got to be right with one another. This whole congregation, in a few moments, will be on its feet and moving and flowing, and there will be a sense of our coming together because we are one. We belong to each other. We embrace one another. We support one another. We care for one another. We are God’s people, God’s children. We are brothers and sisters. That’s what Jesus demonstrated concretely in his action and behavior. He broke bread with all people as a sign that there is grace for all. And he says to you, “You come. You come. This is for you.” © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent I Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Mark 2:15 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930228 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-02-28 Title A name given to the resource Table Fellowship: A Sign of God's Nearness 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 28, 1993 entitled "Table Fellowship: A Sign of God's Nearness", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent I, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 2:15. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Faith God of Grace Inclusive Lent Presence of God Table Fellowship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/5d3e8fd4ed033198996c59b29c040426.mp3 f23069e6345ae35b8fc92af8f3aef661 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cbedc1f888842495f4ccbed603fd1efa.pdf 480842e0e3724422876e0b9d99c3087f PDF Text Text Suffering: Is There a Reason for It? From the Midweek Lenten series: Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Job 3:1-26; Psalm 88:1-18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 3, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon This evening we will begin a study of Job in a series of messages under the theme Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering. For these Lenten meditations I want to raise certain questions, the questions that I think arise rather naturally in our minds when we enter into the darkness. I want us to deal with human suffering, recognizing that there is some suffering that comes upon us because of our own wrong choices. Someone said to me on my return, “Did you read the newspapers while you were gone?” And I said, “Yes.” “Did you read about bald men that they are more prone to cancer?” I said, “Yes.” And then I said to him, “I eat too much. I drink too much. I smoke too much. The least of my worries is my bald head.” There is that which comes upon us, which we bring upon ourselves. And in those cases perhaps we can find some connection between what we are experiencing and what had been our patterns earlier. Of course, sometimes we suffer because of the wrong choices of others. But that’s not the real human darkness that I want to speak of in these weeks. The real human darkness, the mystery of suffering, is that which comes upon us for which there seems to be simply no explanation, and which affords us not a modicum of human understanding. It is simply the mystery of suffering. I want to say in this series of messages that that is a reality that is a part of our human experience. I want to deal with it, not out of some morbid desire to probe in the darkness, but rather in order that we might, if we are in the darkness, find a way to cope and survive. And if, pray God, at the moment we are not personally in the darkness, we know not what tomorrow brings. There are few of us who go through life unscathed, that do not come into those deep, dark valleys where the shadow of death is cast over us. So I hope that it might be a sense of preventative therapy simply to acknowledge the fact together that a very real part of our human experience involves the mystery of human suffering. And to do that, I want to focus on the stories of Job and Jesus. We will begin with Job. We will move toward Jesus. And perhaps they will interface at some point. But in both cases we have stories of persons who experienced the intensity of the darkness, © Grand Valley State University   �Suffering: Is There a Reason For It? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   and didn’t simply passively capitulate, but rather were so bold as to question God. Jesus said, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” And Job railed against heaven, maintaining his innocence and claiming God to be unjust. Yet in both cases there was a movement, a movement from the sense of utter desolation to a kind of waiting on God in the darkness. For the one on the cross who said, “My God, my God, why…?,” he breathed his last saying, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit.” And Job, in the experience of the revelation of God, didn’t simply, passively submit, but he did surrender himself to Almighty God. Both of them going through the experience found a place to rest and wait for the darkness to clear and for the light of God to break upon them. If I were to set concisely the goal that I have for these messages, it would be that we might be enabled when we enter into the darkness to find God as our friend and not as our enemy. It is ironic, but it is so characteristic of our human response to suffering that, at that point at which we more desperately than any other time need to sense the presence of a gracious God, we tend to see God rather as the adversary, and experience God as the enemy. That seems so characteristically human. I think it is particularly the response of good religious people. We who have been nurtured in the faith are most vulnerable to experiencing God as the enemy in the darkness. We are all vulnerable people, fragile. Who of us always does it right? Who of us has not made wrong choices? And who knows our weaknesses and the ambiguity of our being more than we do? Who knows the complications of our own persons more than we do ourselves? And who is harder on us than we are ourselves? I think it is precisely that that sets us up. We who are particularly religious people are somehow set up to experience God in the darkness as the accusing enemy rather than as our friend. What is operating here? What is operating when I move to the darkness and begin to accuse myself and feel the foundations shake underneath me and begin to condemn myself? What is operating? Is it not a movement from the good and gracious God modeled out in Jesus Christ to an understanding of God as the stern judge who rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked? If you scratch us, I dare say that even you at Christ Community, who for these twenty-two years have been brainwashed with grace – if you scratch, underneath is too often that fearful vision of God as the one who is the stern judge, the one who punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous. We can talk about faith until we are blue in the face, but when push comes to shove and when our life moves into the deep, dark shadow we become the accusers of ourselves. And we see God as joining us in that accusation against us rather than, as the whole Christian Gospel tells us, God being for us. So, I believe it is important for us to think a bit about human suffering in order to better understand who God is for us, there in that place, and to look at who God is for us in that place in the light of the stories of Job and Jesus. Perhaps in so doing we might find some place to rest, come what may - be it light or shadow. © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is There a Reason For It? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   The first thing I simply want to say is that human suffering is very real. We read about it in our newspapers. Sometimes we encounter those who suffer greatly. And sometimes it is our own personal experience. The Psalmist in Psalm 88 speaks of suffering. I said before I read, it’s the one Psalm in the whole Psalter in which there is not a ray of light. Psalm 22, that Jesus quoted on the cross, “My God, my God why hast Thou forsaken me?” is a Psalm of bitter complaint, of intense suffering poured out. But it ends in faith and in praise. Not so, Psalm 88. It is interesting that Psalm 88 made the cut when the canon was put together, when the hymnbook of Israel was collated, because it is just pure darkness. It’s not exactly the kind of Psalm you want to wake up in the morning and read for your devotions. But there are those times when no light breaks through and I am glad that that reality is recognized in the scriptures, that in the Old Testament faith there were those who, like Job, addressed God and could bring to speech the awful suffering of his soul, having found no resolution. There are days like that, and sometimes weeks and months like that. As far as Job is concerned, he curses the day of his birth. He wishes he would have been stillborn. He says, “Why? Why don’t you simply let me die and be at rest where I’ll no longer know this awful torment of soul, this terrible suffering?” Job’s friends to their credit had come to be with him. And even better than that, we are told that they sat with him and didn’t say a word for seven days. For seven days they were simply present to the other, which is so terribly important. But when Job began to make his claim they couldn’t keep silent any more. They were good religious sorts, and they felt it imperative upon them to rush to the defense of God. They operated on the basis of the traditional understanding that I mentioned a moment ago: God is the stern judge of all the earth, rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked. Their syllogism went something like this: Suffering comes from God. God is just. Therefore, Job is guilty. Job’s syllogism was: Suffering comes from God. I am innocent. Therefore, God is unjust. His friends couldn’t just sit there and take that. They had to defend God. Of course , God couldn’t be unjust. The only option was that Job must be hiding some deep sin. Their orthodox faith, their little system, was such that they could not get out of their own minds and actually identify with Job in his suffering. The moment Job began to defend himself they rushed to the defense of God. And in the Book of Job, if you go home and you read it between now and next week, you will find there are three cycles of discourses. Job’s three friends go on and on, and on and on, defending the honor of God, and Job intersperses his counterclaims. It’s interesting that when Job began to say, “I am suffering and I know not the reason why,” his friends could not just hear it and be silent with him, but rather had to begin to explain why he must be suffering. There is a reality of human suffering. “Is there a reason for it?” The message of the Book of Job is, “No.” Now that was a challenge to the traditional understanding of things. That was a challenge to the orthodox understanding of © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is There a Reason For It? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   things. “Human Suffering: Is There a Reason For It?” The real mystery of it. In the face of that real, deep human suffering, the Book of Job says there is no reason for it. There is no connection between what I am experiencing and what my life has been. To connect as cause and effect, sin and suffering, is to fly flat in the face of the Book of Job. Thank God, Job is there, because as I said, there is something about us when we enter into the darkness – we get very hard on ourselves. We accuse ourselves. No one can accuse us better than ourselves, because no one knows those weak spots in our soul like we do. So, we begin to suffer not only that darkness that has come upon us, but then our own sense of unworthiness, our own guiltiness, and it exacerbates and it can become a syndrome that picks up momentum until we are absolutely crushed under it. The Book of Job says, “No, don’t do that. That’s not true.” The whole purpose of that book in the Old Testament canon is to speak a word of God against that inhumane tendency to connect sin and suffering. The darkness can be very real. There is something in us that so wants to have an explanation. Often there is none. The most brilliant philosophical discourses, the most profound theological reflections down through the centuries have not always been able to give a rational explanation or the reason for suffering. We have it not within ourselves to explain it. Therefore, the best counsel is to wait on the Lord in the darkness. I can’t go through the whole series for you tonight, but our problem with starting a series here is I would like to give you the resolution at the other end and I can’t do that. I simply have to say to you that we are not left hanging. There will be that resolution which is not a rational explanation, but is simply a trusting in the darkness. But I think that it is good for us simply to come to the recognition that there is some terrible suffering as a part of the human experience. And then to recognize that if it happens to us, we must wait. And if it happens to another, we must be compassionate. © 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 Midweek Lent Series Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Scripture Text Job 3:1-26, Psalm 88:1-18 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-0-19930303 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-03 Title A name given to the resource Suffering: Is There A Reason For It? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 3, 1993 entitled "Suffering: Is There A Reason For It?", as part of the series "Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 3:1-26, Psalm 88:1-18. 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/d1d1dc2a10dff0a3d4fc9de79b6b0bd7.mp3 2cfea0bb5ee9b86b72936a28ea1365c7 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9e6421440e06cdea38dcad56c2a47ff5.pdf e2e49263b553aca6f1d110084155c423 PDF Text Text God of the Abandoned From the series: The Faith Of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Text: Mark 1:41 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent II, March 7, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. Mark 1:41 Religion is powerful stuff! Probably the most powerful phenomena in our human experience. It has the ability to galvanize whole communities of people into action. It has the power to solidify someone’s purpose and to lead one to heroic heights or to horrible deaths. Religion is powerful stuff! And it can be absolutely divine, or it can be utterly demonic. It may be too early to call, but the disaster at the World Trade Center may finally be traced to an Islamic Fundamentalist group. And, if that is to be the case, it is not a reflection on Islam, it is a reflection on religion in its fundamentalist manifestations, whether Muslim or Christian or Jewish. It was a week ago today that federal agents were making a move on the citadel in Waco, Texas, only to be gunned down and subsequently to have it in siege with an army of agents. An enclave led by a crazy, mad man, a religious leader, a man who claims for his authority the direct communication of God, who claims to be a son of God, a messiah, an anointed one. Religion is powerful stuff. In the events of the week past we see the manifestation of its power in that negative form. We are a part of society somewhere in the middle, I suppose, aren’t we? Christ Community, aren’t we rather decent average types? A little above average, you say. Decent and good people, reflective I suppose of kind of the mid-section of society at large. So that it is not difficult for us to look at those acts of violence and to write them off as dehumanizing, as contradicting everything that we believe that religion ought to do for one. We are able, in that extreme manifestation, to recognize it as the utilization of this tremendous power in a demonic way. But religion is a power phenomena, and those of us in the middle, able to recognize that, might be troubled and threatened by some other manifestation of religious leadership – for example, that which was exemplified by Jesus. How do you distinguish a religious leader who says he speaks in the name of God? How do you know? How do you judge? How do you discriminate? Not so hard over against the Muslim bomber or the Waco Wacko. © Grand Valley State University   �God of the Abandoned Richard A. Rhem Page 2   But how do you think Jesus would do? How do you think Jesus would do if he were a part of our community this morning? You see he made claims not so different from the man in Waco. And when you get religious leaders making radical claims on one side or the other, most of us in the middle grow rather uneasy, don’t we? I don’t suppose Jesus would last a lot longer in our society today than he did then, because we can never forget that those whom he threatened were folks like us. They were that kind of middle slice of society. They were decent, serious, devout and sincere and, in most cases, led by religious leaders who had vested interests to be sure, who were interested in keeping the status quo. But the claims of Jesus were as radical as the claims of David Koresh. How do you judge? How do you discriminate? I suppose the only way you can do is like Jesus said, “by the fruits.” When a religious leaders’ actions and calls to action result in violence, domination, dehumanization, coercion, manipulation, then we in the middle are quite quick to say, “that’s wrong, that’s an abuse of religion because it is an abuse of people.” But what about the radical claims of Jesus on the other side? Well, you say, they resulted in quite the opposite. Jesus went about doing good. Jesus went about healing. Jesus went about lifting up. Jesus went about setting free, liberating. Jesus’ whole ministry was a ministry of love and grace, and the consequence of that was quite opposite from what we have seen in our own time this past week. Jesus said, “Love your enemies. Pray for those that despitefully use you.” There was a total contrast between this contemporary expression of religion and the religion of Jesus. But we have got to remember that in both cases we are talking about individuals who made radical claims. Jesus, understood more clearly today perhaps than ever before, was a Jewish believer, rooted in his own culture, his own society, his own day, reflective of the value systems and the faith systems and structures of his people. But the point is that the people in the middle were as upset with Jesus who came at them from one angle as we are with a David Koresh who comes at us from another. Because, as I said last week, Jesus didn’t die in bed; he was put to death. And in order to determine why he was put to death, we are looking during this Lenten period at the faith of Jesus, at Jesus as a believing man: his conviction about God and the things that were ultimately important to Jesus. As we examine the faith of Jesus, we are maintaining during this Lenten Season that, at its core, it was trust in a gracious God. It was a God whose grace was inclusive rather than exclusive. The God of Jesus was the God of the abandoned, the God of the outcast, the God of the outsider. The God of Jesus was the God with whom there was no outsider. And it is all well and good to sing the praise of Jesus as long as we recognize that we certainly would have been a part of that middle slice of society, good decent, serious and sincere folk, led by religious leaders who wanted nothing more than to keep the structure of things, to keep society somewhat on an even keel, to keep intact orthodox faith structures and generally accepted moral standards. It was to keep society in a state of reasonable wellbeing. We cannot think of the Jewish leaders as being irresponsible, as being © Grand Valley State University �God of the Abandoned Richard A. Rhem Page 3   conspirators, as being demonic. They were simply leaders of people who had their own vested interests, and their own agenda, but also who had the responsibility for doing the best they could to make things as good as possible for the society of their time. Jesus was a threat to that because his conviction, the heart of his faith, was that even in their decent application of religion, they had turned the heart of God’s upside down. The story of the leper is the case in point. Mark places it at the early part of the Gospel on the preaching tour of Galilee. Leprosy was an inconceivably horrible disease. The name covered a wide variety of diseases actually. But without real medical knowledge of its cause, recognizing the defilement, the disfigurement, society had ruled that the leper must be cast out, must be ostracized, must be isolated. It was a horrible disease that carried its own pain and suffering to a degree hardly fathomable. But added to that was the isolation from community, the declaration of being ceremonially unclean, being unfit for the gathering of the community of God’s people. In the Middle Ages there was actually a practice in the Roman Church of leading the leper into the sanctuary and the priest reading over him the burial service. The man was dead...while he was yet alive! The little vignette of the leper that we read as our lesson– Bishop Lightfoot, one of the New Testament scholars of a former generation, says that little story is more packed with emotion than any other story in the Gospels. For the leper himself displayed an urgency that caused him to break through the barrier that was erected against him. He had no right to address anyone. He was to go down the street with his head bared and his clothes wrinkled, calling out, “Unclean, unclean,” lest anyone should come within distance of him. But, rather than do that, the leper breaks through, he comes to Jesus, he kneels before him and the language would tell us with great urgency says, “If you will make me clean....” Jesus, the text says, “ was moved with pity” – a more accurate text would say, “was moved with anger,” – and said, “Be clean!” Moved with anger, anger, I suppose at the hellishness and the horror of what a human being can suffer. Anger at the disfigurement of the created intentions of God. Anger at the community of God’s people that excludes and pushes away. Anger at all of that that is so wrong. Anger. There is a place for anger. There is a place for anger in society, in our lives. There are some things that should make us angry, that should move us to compassion which borders on anger, and anger that is filled with compassion. And then Jesus, likewise breaking through the booths and the barriers, the constraints of socially accepted behavior, stretches out his hand and touches God. Because it was Jesus’ conviction that there is no one whom God has abandoned, that there is no such thing as an outsider, that it is impossible to be an outcast in the presence of God. Made folks very nervous. Threatened the structure of their social life and their doctrinal understanding and their moral behavior. Jesus turned it all on its head, in the name of God, claiming to be a spokesperson for God. Claiming to act out what he was convinced was true of God. © Grand Valley State University �God of the Abandoned Richard A. Rhem Page 4   This weekend we have been engaged in a significant concentration on the HIV virus and the crisis that AIDS has brought to our world. And it has been a good weekend, full of information, education, alerting us, making us aware. It is important. We cannot put our head in the sand. It is also a terrible blight on the human body, and it is that with which we must all be concerned. It is important that we get behind every effort at education, and every health care movement to delimit the destructive power of this plague. But here in worship, what I must say to you as a Christian congregation is that whatever we do out there, we must do it out of the conviction that we are called to follow Jesus in disallowing the possibility of anyone being abandoned anywhere, for any reason, that we are called to be a community of compassion and care and to reach out and to touch, and to heal in the name of Jesus. The faith of Jesus found expression in the action of Jesus. And we are called as the disciples of Jesus to let love issue forth in compassionate ministry to bind up wounds, to embrace and to hold, to be with the suffering and the dying. That large middle slice of society of which we are a part is able to look at a David Koresh and say, “That’s wrong. That man is demonic.” But what will we do with that one who comes to us from the other angle? Who makes as radical a claim upon us, and as radical a call to us? Religion is so powerful, but it can also be a power to block the flow of compassion. Let me sum it all up in this - which is a bit radical and very dangerous. But let me suggest it anyway. Never let your theology (your doctrine), nor your morality, come in the way of following the lead of your heart to be compassionate. Never let your doctrine, or your morality, block the flow of God’s love through you. Thereby, you’ll follow Jesus. Someone said to me yesterday, “Somebody somewhere is preparing a cross for you.” And I said, “That’s O.K. if it is for genuinely, faithfully following Jesus. Then I’ll be in good company.” © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent II Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Mark 1:41 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-0-19930307 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-07 Title A name given to the resource God of the Abandoned Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 7, 1993 entitled "God of the Abandoned", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 1:41. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Compassion God of Grace Inclusive Religious Authority https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b68c40c3a6d092a43a7f4a6fd26fa2f9.mp3 9858126fbadf0754e18a2d570676c452 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d584cb5944a406c0aaa5a5e948f9c3f0.pdf 979fd549b9b8f8a08e0e6af3d610b65f PDF Text Text Suffering: Is It Punishment? From the Midweek Lenten series: Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Job: 8:1-16; 21:7-27; 22:1-5; 23:1-10; 42:7-9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 10, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon The lesson from the scripture tonight is a collation of passages from the Book of Job. I am going to suggest that you take the bulletin home and read the entire text from your Bibles at home. But tonight, I invite you to listen as I read from a translation by Stephen Mitchell. His book, entitled The Book of Job, has an introduction and then a translation of the dialogues found in Job. It's very well done, and I hope to weave together these readings to make some things clearer. As we said last week the Book of Job has a prologue and an epilogue. The prologue and the epilogue, if they were put together, would make their own story. That story is a very ancient story from the region of Mesopotamia that dealt with a righteous sufferer who experienced terrible calamity and yet who was very patient, blessed God, and then had his fortunes restored. That old story, which would have been readily recognized by those who first heard or read the book of Job, became the occasion for the biblical writer to address the question of suffering. The author has inserted something new between the prologue and the epilogue – a Job much less compliant in the face of suffering. The main body of the biblical story consists of Job's complaint; the responses by his three friends, Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar, and then a young man, Elihu; then finally, the whirlwind, the voice of God, the vision of God, and the resolution. The Job of the dialogues is not patient, but impatient, a rebel against heaven who cries against God, who calls God to account, who would bring God into court, who says, "You are unjust," and who maintains his integrity and his innocence throughout. I've selected some readings from Stephen Mitchell so that you get the flavor of these dialogues. It is impossible within the compass of a brief service like this to do justice to this book. But at least perhaps you will get the idea of what is going on in this drama. The dialogue is in three cycles. In the first cycle in the 8th chapter, Job’s second friend Bildad says, "…punishment means that wickedness has been done." Now that's the traditional way to understand suffering. That's orthodox religion. If © Grand Valley State University   �Suffering: Is It Punishment? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   there is suffering it is because there has been sin. Suffering just doesn't happen "willy-nilly." It's punishment for what has been done wrong. Bildad says, How long will you go on ranting, filling our ears with trash? Does God make straightness crooked? Or turn truth upside down? Your children must have been evil. He punished them for their crimes. But if you are pure and righteous and pray to God for mercy, surely he will answer your prayers and will fill your greatest desires. Your past will seem like a trifle. So blessed will your future be. You have to think of those words of wisdom as being addressed to a man in intense suffering - on the garbage heap. That's why Job's friends have come to be called "miserable comforters." Then in the 21st chapter Job retorts, Your doctrines can't be right. If your doctrine were right the innocent would be blessed and the wicked would suffer. But as a matter of fact, when I look out on human society, it doesn't work that way. The wicked sometimes prosper." Here's the point of Job's speech: Why do the wicked prosper and live to a ripe old age? Their children stand beside them. Their grandchildren sit on their laps. Their houses are safe from dangers, secure from the wrath of God. Not one of their bulls is impotent. Not one of their cows miscarries. Their grandchildren run out to play, skipping about like lambs. Singing to drum and lyre. Dancing to the sound of the flute. They end their lives in prosperity and go to the grave in peace. Yet they tell God, 'Leave us alone. We can't be bothered about you. Why should we pray to God? What good will it do to serve you?' Is the lamp of the sinner snuffed out? Does misfortune knock at his door? Is he really driven like chafe, blown like straw in the wind? Is calamity saved for his children? Let him have his punishment now. Let his own eyes see disaster. Let him choke on the wrath of God. For what does he care about others when his own life comes to an end? One man dies serenely wrapped in safety and comfort, his thighs bulging with fat, the marrow moist in his bones. Another dies in despair, his life bitter on his tongue. Both men rot in the ground and maggots chew on them both. So says Job. Job's righteous and orthodox friends can hardly let him get away with that. And so Eliphaz, the Temanite, said, What use can man be to God? Even the wisest of men? Does God profit from your goodness or gain by your perfect conduct? Would he sentence you for your piety? Or punish you for your faith? Your guilt must be great indeed. Your crimes must be inconceivable. © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is It Punishment? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Job responds in an eloquent passage. If only, he cries, he could bring his case before God: Still my condition is desperate. His fist still beats on my skull. If only I knew where to meet Him, or could find my way to his court. I would argue my case before Him. Words would flow from my mouth. I would counter all his arguments and disprove his accusations. Would he try to overpower me? Or refuse to hear my defense? Surely he would listen to reason. I would surely win my case. For he knows that I am innocent. If he sifts me I will shine like gold. My feet have walked on his way and never strayed from his path. I have kept all of his commandments treasuring his words in my heart. And then the dialogues are over and we come to the epilogue. Here it is obvious that the purpose of this whole drama was to demonstrate that Job was right; that there isn't a connection between sin, punishment, and suffering. To bear that out I read simply this paragraph from the 42nd chapter: After he had spoken to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz, the Temanite: 'I am very angry at you and your two friends because you have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has. So take seven bowls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a sacrifice for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you and for his sake I will overlook your sin. For you have not spoken the truth about me as my servant Job has.' So Eliphaz, the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar, the Naamathite went and did what God had commanded. And the Lord accepted Job's prayer. Our focus in these Lenten evenings is the mystery of human suffering. As we said last week there is some suffering that obviously is the result of our carelessness or the irresponsibility of some other, but there is a mystery of darkness and human suffering which has no explanation, and it has been a stumbling block for so many in terms of faith in God. That is the suffering of the innocent. Those who have a fundamental integrity of life, but yet it seems that life continues to dump on them. The greatest minds over the centuries have struggled with this problem and we know that there has never been a satisfactory, rational explanation. Surely we are not going to find one either. But my purpose in these Lenten evenings is a kind of preventive therapy so that if we are in the darkness we might find help. And if we are not in it, pray God, then preventive therapy so that, if we enter into it we might in the darkness find God to be our friend and not our enemy. I have been a pastor long enough to know that it is precisely in the darkness when one comes into intense suffering that one tends to accuse one’s self and condemn one’s self, to be filled with self-doubt. We are vulnerable to that kind of thing because none of us do it right all the time, and no one is as hard on us as we are on ourselves. There is seemingly something © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is It Punishment? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   endemic in human nature and broadcast in human society that seems to connect suffering with a punishment for sin. The stories of Job and Jesus I think will indicate that that is not a legitimate connection. Job cried out, "Unjust. Unfair!" in the midst of his pain. Jesus in darkness said, "My God, my God, why?" Thank God for those who in the darkness have uttered these expressions, which give us permission as well when we have no other word to say. Job's curses and blasphemies were the expressions of such intense pain that he could not hold it back. And so with us, there are those times when there seems to be absolutely no light, and no hope, and no future, and no reason, no rationale, just pain. At such times, as well, we may take the words of Job or Jesus to our lips and know that we are at least not isolated, but have company with those who have gone before us. To find God as our friend in suffering is so critically important, rather than to see God as the adversary. "Why is God doing this to me?" I am trying to approach the subject in this season by raising the honest questions that haunt us. Last week, "Suffering: Is There A Reason For It?" I said, "No." The kind of suffering we are taking about - that intense darkness – is such that there is no reason. The clichés trip off our tongues in reference to ourselves and sometimes painfully in reference to another when we say, "God has a reason for it." Don't ever say it! Don't ever say it! The Book of Job took on the whole orthodox understanding of things, the whole Old Testament tradition and said, "No. No. God doesn't have a reason for it." If God has a reason for it, it's not anything that you or I are ever going to be able to figure out. Tonight, just shifting the focus a little bit: "Is It Punishment?" All that I have already said would indicate that I give another firm "No." It is not punishment. God does not punish us like a parent who punishes a naughty child. I make the statement boldly. I hope it runs square in the face of everything you've ever believed in order to shake you up a little bit, and allow you to hear me. Allow me to say something to you tonight that may get you off from that if you would tend to fall into that so-typical human pattern. "Suffering: Is It Punishment?" "No." The three friends of Job said, "Yes." They sat with Job for seven days and didn't say a word. That's the best thing they did. But when Job said, "I am innocent. Why is this happening? God, you are unjust," they rushed to God's defense. They could sit in silence and identify with his darkness and his pain until he opened his mouth. But when he challenged the system of ideas, the doctrine, the insight that was traditional, that was orthodox. (Orthodox means the received opinion, the true, correct doctrine.) When Job in his pain blasphemed God and challenged that one-on-one relationship, that causal connection between sin and suffering, they had to rush to God's defense. Do you ever rush to God's defense? I used to rush to God's defense, when I was young, when I was growing up, when I was studying theology, when I was uptight and upright. When I was young I would rush to God's defense. I can remember a © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is It Punishment? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   time in my own life’s spiritual maturation when I realized that I didn't have to defend God, that God could take care of God's self quite well. But I used to do it. If you would make a statement that was contrary to correct doctrine, I would fault you. I would argue with you. I would defend the received tradition. If there was some piece of human experience that didn't fit into the biblical mold, I would deny the experience rather than check the mold. I was a defender of God. I remember it so clearly. I know now in retrospect (Thank God you didn't suggest it at the time, had you known me.) it was not that God needed to be defended, but that I needed to defend my little structure of things. I was defensive. I thought I was defending the honor of God. I thought I was defending the Word of God. Like Job's friends, that made them totally unable to enter into his pain. They couldn't even hear him. They couldn't allow his pain to penetrate into their depths, because his pain and his cries and his near blasphemy was so threatening to what they believed in their little box that they had to turn their back on the sufferer in order to preserve their structure. I said Sunday at the conclusion something that several of you have spoken about since then. One of you here even wrote me a beautiful card about it. The fact that we ought never to let our doctrine or our moral principles stand in the way of leading with our heart, of letting compassion flow through us. It’s not a bad insight actually. It was worth the price of the service - the entrance fee. The more I think about it, that's what happened to religion. Religion starts as an experience. It becomes solidified in a doctrine, and it becomes codified in a moral code. Then we lose the experience. We become disciples at second or third hand. We experience over here; now it’s a creed and a code. And the creed and the code shape us and make us prisoners, so that we can no longer identify with the experience. Job's friends had their doctrine right. God is not capricious. God is not unjust. If you are good, things will go well for you. If you are wicked, you will suffer. Job, you are suffering: Job, you are wicked. Job said, "No." They said, "Yes." As those three cycles took off they became more strident because when you are threatening a person’s doctrinal box or moral code, you are dealing very near the core of that person. We get very nervous when somebody is jangling our religious cage. They were defenders of God. I used to defend God, too. It was one of the great liberating moments of my life, it was like a burden rolled off my back when I woke up to the realization one day that God could take care of God's self. So, Job will not be silenced. They cannot confute him. He says to them, "I am innocent." He goes to the extreme at the tail end of his dialogue to take an oath, to call down terrible curses upon himself if he is not being true. And then also, in the one passage that I read, he says, "Your doctrine simply does not hold true in what you observe in human experience." Now he may overstate the prosperity of the wicked a little bit. Even the wicked don't get off as good as he described, but the Psalmist in Psalm 73 said the same thing. "Surely God is good to Israel, but as for me my feet had almost slipped when I observed the prosperity of the wicked." Some people seem careless, carefree. "Life is just a bowl of cherries," and they don't seem to have a care about God or anybody else. And they get by just fine, © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is It Punishment? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   thank you. It’s true. If we are honest there is no relationship between one’s outward circumstances and one’s piety or morality. Some bad people get it in the neck. And some good people get it in the neck. Job said, "Just look around you. If you could get your focus off your doctrine and moral code, and your concern to preserve all your little structures - if you would just open your eyes." That's what an orthodox person cannot do: cannot open his or her eyes. It’s too threatening. The system will be shattered by the unevenness of human experience. Well, the Book of Job was written in order to take on that whole traditional connection between sin and punishment and suffering. After the speeches are all over, there is this overpowering vision of God. Job has been saying, "God, you are unjust." And the vision shows Job how powerful God is. Job's issue is never addressed. There is simply this revelation. It is as though the God of the cosmos is saying, "Do you know anything at all about who I am and what I am about? Do you think I am tinkering around with those little petty things that concern you? Well, my goodness, I've got this whole cosmos in my hands. Where were you when creation first dawned? Where were you when I bound the creatures with chaos? And on and on. It’s marvelous poetry. It doesn't even address Job's question. Job never questioned the omnipotence of God. He was questioning the justice and mercy of God. God doesn't even address, doesn't even acknowledge his question because God is God after all. Job saw the revelation. You see, God did take Job seriously. God did get pushed into showing God's self and the experience of that revelation was so overpowering that Job said, "I repent in dust and ashes." But note this, he never said, "I repent and acknowledge that I indeed am lacking in innocence and integrity." No, no. He repented and recanted only to this extent: He said, "Well, you're right. How could I know the greatness and the grandeur that is God?" In the epilogue there is the vindication of Job. Not an answer. But God says to those "miserable comforters" with their orthodox doctrine and their legalistic morals, "You didn't speak truly of me as did my servant Job." Job spoke truly. Job spoke honestly. "You are all caught up in your little structures. You have pat answers. Clichés trip off your tongues. And you spoke falsely. My servant Job spoke truly. Take some oxen and some rams and go make a sacrifice and ask Job to pray for you." The point of the book is thus powerfully made that that old traditional connection that suffering is the punishment for sin is not true. Why is there suffering? It is not answered. But God is, and God unveiled God's self and vindicated the truthfulness of his servant Job. "The Mystery of Human Suffering: Is It Punishment?" No. And, therefore, we may never look at another and judge another and claim that their suffering is the punishment of God. One more thing we may never do. You'll do it. You'll do it in spite of this eloquent plea. You'll do it because it is second nature to do it. In all these three decades of pastoral ministry how many times haven't you said it to me? But, you may not say it! "Say what?" Say this: "Why is God doing this to © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is It Punishment? Richard A. Rhem Page 7   me?" Don't say it. God is not doing it to you. God is not your adversary. God is not your enemy in the darkness. God would be your friend. As we move from Job to Jesus we will see that trusting in the darkness is finally the last word. Reference: Stephen Mitchell. The Book of Job. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., Revised edition, 1987. © 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 Midweek Lent Series Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Scripture Text Job 8:1-6, 21:7-26, 22:1-5, 23:1-10, 42,7-9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Stephen Mitchell, The Book of Job, 1987 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-0-19930310 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-10 Title A name given to the resource Suffering: Is It Punishment? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 10, 1993 entitled "Suffering: Is It Punishment?", as part of the series "Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 8:1-6, 21:7-26, 22:1-5, 23:1-10, 42,7-9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Nature of God Orthodox Belief Sin Suffering https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4c6899833d7f9455d3961ff65abe3882.pdf c1cf06394eab657545503a8adb082c7c PDF Text Text Smashing Idols – Again and Again From the series: The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Text: Mark 3:5-6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent III, March 14, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon …he was grieved at their hardness of heart…conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Mark 3:5-6 Jesus died the way he died, because he lived the way he lived. He lived the way he lived because of the faith that he had, because of his conception of God, his understanding of the nature of God, and the spirit and attitude of God. We are trying in these Lenten weeks to discern the faith of Jesus - Jesus as a believing person in the midst of this world. Because our concrete actions and our attitudes, our behavior, really finally stem from what we believe, deep down. And if we can get to the faith of Jesus, maybe we’ll understand something of the life of Jesus. But we might not want to do that. Because if we ever discovered it and ever truly followed it, we might end up as Jesus ended up, of course – crucified. He didn’t die in bed, remember. He was put to death. We are trying to see that larger canvas which reveals the faith that he had, leading to the life that he lived, bringing him to the death that he experienced. We are able to do that better today than probably any time in the last nearly 2000 years. It’s not easy to find a historical Jesus. There are volumes and volumes written about the quest for the historical Jesus. Particularly in the 18th century when the whole science of history arose, there was a great quest to find the Jesus of the Gospels. The historical methods that were used and the way the documents of the Gospels were treated led to a blind alley, a dead end. And then for a time the possibility of discovering anything about the historical Jesus was just given up. All we had was the Christ of the Gospels, the Christ of the New Testament Church. We couldn’t get back to history itself. The reason it’s not easy to get back to history is because you are talking about Gospel documents which were already many decades removed from the life of Jesus. No one followed Jesus around with a stenographer’s pad. And then of the manuscripts we have which record the early Gospel accounts, already removed by two or three decades or more from the event, the best manuscripts are out © Grand Valley State University   �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 2   another century or so (the earliest around 200 CE). And so, by that time, there was a lot of interpreting and a lot of shaping, because it was a very polemical period, it was a controversial period, and so it is not easy to find the historical Jesus. But I am saying to you that today we may have a better chance of getting some sense of the historical Jesus, the believing man, the Jew in the Judaism of his time, than has been true to this point. There are a number of recent studies out right now. One of the most significant is by John Dominic Crossan, a Roman Catholic scholar, who has written The Historical Jesus, a Story of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. It’s an excellent, scholarly work. Fascinating book. Not the kind of book you read for devotions for Lent. It’s a scholarly treatment. It assumes a lot of background. But there is kind of a neat image he uses for Jesus in his concrete life. He speaks about Jesus as “proclaiming the unbrokered presence of God.” The “unbrokered presence of God,” proclaimed by Jesus meant God’s presence, God’s nearness, God’s accessibility to anyone and everyone, everywhere, at all times was proclaimed. The “unbrokered presence of God.” You know what brokers are? They are people who don’t own anything, and don’t do anything, produce anything, they just make money on other people who do. (That’s supposed to be funny!) (Laughter) But I am glad there are brokers. I love brokers. Don’t leave, brokers, I’m going to redeem you yet. Because you see there are a lot of things that I want to do in my life and I don’t know how to do them. You know - detailed paper work, contracts, and knowledge I don’t have. But I want to get this thing effected, so what do I do? I call my broker. My broker does it for me. For a fee. But, it’s worth it. I get it off my back. Details I don’t have to worry about, get the job done, pay a little fee. I would rather pay a few bucks and get the job done for me. That’s what brokers do. Crossan says that Jesus “proclaimed the unbrokered presence of God.” The “unbrokered presence of God.” In other words, you don’t need me as a broker of religion. And as an ecclesiastical institution, you don’t need Christ Community. And we don’t need the Reformed Church in America. And we don’t even need all of the structures of the whole Christian Church because, according to Jesus, God’s presence is immediate - available - accessible. The “unbrokered presence of God!” Well, if he’s right, I am out of business. I mean, I work hard. You don’t really want to read all of the theology I do, do you? Do you want to worry yourself about it? Do you want to have miserable Saturday nights like I do? No! You would rather go out for dinner. Have a nice evening. Get up on Sunday morning, yawn, stretch, come here. And I do it for you. I work hard, and I earn my fee. But now, here comes Jesus, and he says, “All that isn’t necessary, folks. You really don’t need him.” Well, I can understand why they killed him. (Laughter) I am serious. That’s really what was going on. Because if you were a part of the religious establishment, if you were a part of the temple and the priesthood, and the sacrificial system, and the holy days, and all of that, plus everybody that got to © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 3   set up a hotdog stand outside the temple on special days and pay the fee for that. I mean, it was good for business! It was quite an institution! And anybody that threatens institutions like that is touching the economic life, and the social life, and the religious life of the community. And anybody who comes in with that kind of iconoclastic plan is probably going to pay for it with his life if he is making any kind of inroads at all. In the passage we read, if we had started earlier in the second chapter, about Jesus being in a house. You can’t get in the door, so some desperate friends of a paralyzed man chop a hole in the ceiling and they let their friend down, right in front of Jesus. He says, “Your sins are forgiven!” And they said, “Who is this - to make that kind of a claim? Only God can forgive sins.” He said to himself, “Well, you don’t think I can do that? Which is easier, to say that, or to actually make the man walk? Man, stand up.” The man stood up. But, you see, in the traditional establishment of things, there was a connection between sin and sickness, and you needed the whole priesthood, the whole mediation of the religious institution in order to provide the way by which sins could be repented of and forgiveness could be pronounced, and healing could be effected. But if you bypass that by taking a lame man into your presence and say, “Your sins are forgiven,” that undercuts the whole decent and orderly structure of things. They came to him and they said, “Your disciples don’t fast. Why don’t they fast?” Jesus played fast and loose with “fast.” He said, “They can’t fast when the bridegroom is there.” Because when you have a wedding reception, you don’t fast. At a wedding reception, you toast the bride and the groom, and you dance, and you have a wonderful party. Jesus was saying, “My presence is the presence of the Kingdom. God’s presence doesn’t need to be mediated here. And the time of the “unbrokered presence of God” here at this time, is not a time for fasting. There are not some little religious practices that you have to do, to say, “Pardon me, I am having a wonderful time, but I am going to take time off in order to do these little religious things.” Jesus said, “For goodness sakes, stay at the wedding reception.” And then, of course, there are the two instances in the third chapter about the Sabbath. The Sabbath is probably the finest gift that Judaism has given to the world. The gift of the day of rest, ceasing from labor, ceasing from figuring, planning, conspiring. Ceasing from everything, and simply being for 24 hours the presence of God. Great gift! And I am sure Jesus observed Sabbath. We have lost Sabbath. We don’t keep Sabbath any more - to our loss. But, even such a great gift as Sabbath can become a bondage, and it can become a barrier to doing what one needs to. In the case of the disciples, it was a humane thing to feed people. There are not some religious rules that need to be followed. If someone is hungry, for goodness sakes, eat! And in terms of the healing of the man with the withered hand, Jesus was angry. He was angry at their hardness of © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 4   heart. Paradoxically, religion can make people so hard of heart, hard of heart in the execution of their religious duties. Jesus said, “For God’s sake, forget it!” “Man, come here. Stretch out your hand.” He said, “Is it right to do good or ill on the Sabbath?” Certainly God is into doing good, into healing, into giving life. Well, the sixth verse of that third chapter says that they went out and began to conspire to kill him. Because those are just examples. Mark marshals them in one after another, in order to show that the whole presence of Jesus was a challenge to the religious establishment. It is not a case of where the Jews were bad people or that the New Testament gives them such a bad rap, but they were just people like us. They were simply the prisoners of a traditional religious pattern of things. They were caught up in the structure of the institution, and Jesus challenged the institution at its most basic level. He spoke of the “unbrokered presence” of God. He said, “You don’t need an institution. You don’t need a temple. You don’t need the priesthood. You don’t need me. I don’t have a franchise on the presence of God. God is such that God is available for everyone and anyone, every time, any time, everywhere.” Well, in saying so, he relativized the importance of the religious institutions and the religious functionaries. And so they killed him. I don’t really think though that Jesus was against religion in its institutionalized forms. I suppose Jesus knew what all of us know. Spirit always needs form. There have always been institutional forms, institutional expressions that have been the particularization and the concretization of the religious motivation, the religious quest. And, I think, that’s legitimate, necessary and good - until it becomes an end in itself and becomes a barrier to the free flow of the Spirit of God, and the love and grace of God in the world, as so often has been the case. You say, “Well, Jesus mediating the unbrokered presence of God to anyone, anywhere, any time – What about all of the statements of the New Testament that say things like ‘No one comes to the Father but by me,’ and ‘Jesus Christ the only mediator between God and humankind,’ and all that?” Well, I’ll tell you about all that in the New Testament. Do you know what the New Testament is? It is a collection of the documents of the early Christian Church. Now think with me for just a minute. What do you have in the New Testament? Do you have some objective, unbiased statement of timeless and eternal truth? No. You have in the New Testament a polemical document of an early community, which was very fragile, very vulnerable, weak, fragile, fledgling, insecure. It was trying to find its own identity over against this massive institution of Jewish religion out of which it comes. Jesus destabilized the temple. Jesus destabilized the priesthood. Jesus destabilized the whole Jewish system without, I think, intending to be anything else than a good Jew. But he destabilized it. And there were those who, after his death, believed he was with them still. They experienced his presence. And so unexpectedly, who would have believed that this rag-tag community might grow and become like a spreading flame through the Roman Empire? But in those © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 5   early decades they were seeking to find their identity over against this massive institution from which they had derived. They didn’t know if they were Jews or what. They still went to the temple. They still said their prayers. They still had their feast days. They were also followers of Jesus, thinking he was the Messiah. They were really in a transition period. They were about to jell, but they weren’t really yet what they were going to become. They didn’t know where they were going. But one thing they knew is that Jesus had been crucified by this religious institution and, over against that institution and its legalism, and its moralism and its oppressive tyranny, its domination of people, this community of followers of Jesus were saying, “No! Jesus is the Way.” It is really no wonder that the scribes and Pharisees come off pretty poorly here. You would almost think that they were some kind of demonic folk when, as a matter of fact, they were people just like us. And so, in this attempt to bear witness to their absolute conviction that Jesus was God’s presence here and that Jesus was indeed the way, the truth and the life, they put all their eggs in that basket, and these documents aren’t at all balanced objective accounts of what was, but they are the faith-ful witness of those who found everything focused in Jesus. And so, within a relatively short time, this infant community with all its vulnerability and fragility took on strength, numbers, power, form, structure. This infant Christian community, in the name of Jesus who destabilized the whole Jewish institution, found its sea legs and put stabilizers out and formed an institution over against Judaism, another brokerage house of religion, Christianity, just as much a brokerage house of religion as Judaism, and no more legitimate. By the year 312 CE, the Emperor Constantine made the Christian movement the established religion of the Roman Empire, an amazing success. And it was a fatal hour because now the state co-opted the Church, and the altar and the throne became one, coupling with faith the powers of state and religion to dominate people and control masses. Christianity had arrived in the world and it became exactly what Jesus had tried to smash in his own Judaism. So now we have not only Judaism, we’ve got another brokerage house. Merrill Lynch has got a real Paine ‘n Webber. (Laughter) Each one claiming to have the absolute truth. Each one claiming to have the only way. Each ostracizing the other and excommunicating the other. Each trying to penetrate the other side and bring it over and make it like itself. It is the tragic story of religion throughout 2000 years, and it had gone on, of course, before that. So, you see, it just may be that if Jesus came back now and looked at the Christian Church, he would shake his head and say, “I thought that’s what I died to prevent.” I was in a discussion group this week where I mentioned the fact that I grew up thinking that the whole globe was going to be Christianized, that there was going to be world evangelization – everybody would become Christian and then Jesus would come again. I don’t believe that any more. It could happen. You never say © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 6   never in history, but I don’t see the world becoming Christian. I see the resurgence of the great religions of the world and the absolute necessity of the religions beginning to talk to one another, because if we don’t the prophetic historical religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - are going to blow up the globe. Waco, Texas, the New York Trade Center, the killing outside the abortion clinic in the Panhandle of Florida – it’s all in the name of God, my friends. The historical religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - they are called prophetic religions, and someone in the discussion group said to me, “Well, religion needs to be institutionalized.” They said, “Christ Community is an institution.” I said, “Yeah, tell me about it, I know.” They said, “What do you see? What do you see?” I said, “I don’t know. But I do believe this, that the Christian Church, as it is currently organized into three great branches and the branch of which we are a part is fragmentized into hundreds of small little competing companies, brokerage houses.” They said, “We are all pouring energy into the survival of those institutions while the world is about to be blown up.” And, it seems to me what we need to do is align new alliances and new coalitions - the old ones aren’t working. And then someone told me a rumor that was circulating in Catholic circles. It was only a rumor he said, but he has some connections that make me think that there might be something to it. He said that the word out of Rome is that the present pope is rather seriously ill. I hope that’s not true, because I don’t wish him any ill, but certainly the present pope is to me the epitome of the barrier and blockage of what needs to happen in our world in terms of movement forward on a whole variety of issues. But, nonetheless, maybe he is ill. I don’t know. But, in Africa there is a black Cardinal who can speak Arabic and who has connections to Israel, who is being spoken about as the next Pope. And I began to dream. I began to think. You know, three years ago we would have said that the east-west ideological standoff was something that was seen to go on and on, and the arms race and the nuclear threat, and then suddenly out of the blue, to the amazement of the whole world, the candles were lighted and prayers were said, and the walls tumbled down and Eastern Europe began to unravel. And, of course, that creates its own set of problems but, nonetheless, there is more freedom and more potential for democratic humane existence in the world than we would have thought possible just three or four years ago. Things can happen. History is open. History is dynamic, and the Spirit of God moves through structures and sometimes structures that seem impregnable get blasted. Sometimes something happens and the kind of accommodation with all kinds of demonic compromise gets blown sky high and there is newness, and the new wine of the kingdom begins to flow. And I thought to myself, what would happen if there appeared on the scene someone with the charisma of a Jesus and the spirit of God who could say to the Christian religion, “Unwrap yourself. Go back to your founder. Go back to Jesus. Undo your trinity. Undo your Christology. Undo your elaborate theories of the © Grand Valley State University �Smashing Idols Again and Again Richard A. Rhem Page 7   atonement. Go back to Jesus whom you rejected and see him as an advocate of the best of your covenant religion.” One who would say to Islam, “Look into the face of Jesus and see if Jesus is not really what you are all about.” You know my dream was that Jesus could become the Savior of the world in a way that I would never have dreamed. Jesus will not become the Savior of the world as the Christ, the exalted Christ of the Christian religion. But Jesus might just become the Savior of the world in the alchemy of God’s grace by the smashing of the respective religions in order that the truncated images of God represented in each one of them might unite to reflect that one true God, might somehow or other shine through the broken fragments into a newness and freshness that we have not yet dared to dream of. Wouldn’t that be something? I wonder if we would dare give up our Christianity for a world-saving fresh vision of the true and eternal God whose “unbrokered presence” would embrace one and all. You know when I went out to Brandeis last fall and I told you what I was going to suggest they consider: what might have happened if the Jews had not rejected Jesus; the Christians, Mohammed; the Romans, the Greek Orthodox, and you clapped. You applauded. I believe you are like people all over the world, Christians, Jews, and Muslims. I believe people all over the world like you, good people, spiritually hungry people, sincere people, morally serious people would just love for all the institutional trappings to get out of the way and that people would soften in order that you could all embrace your neighbors and we could all worship before the one God who was full of grace. It will take some idol smashing. Got your hammer ready? © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/363eda46c609f75c3ae851a70d0400be.mp3 d9705aae12a8714835acfaa79feb51df Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent III Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Mark 3:5-6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930314 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-14 Title A name given to the resource Smashing Idols - Again and Again Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 14, 1993 entitled "Smashing Idols - Again and Again", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 3:5-6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Inclusive Nature of Religion Unbrokered Presence of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/673e96bb3456ee833c64ac256e353a04.pdf 49f8756330fbd916d2c6440727da8e68 PDF Text Text Suffering: Can It Be Vicarious? From the Midweek Lenten series: Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Text: Isaiah 53:1-11; Hebrews 12:1-2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 17, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon The question tonight is whether suffering can be vicarious, that is, on behalf of another or in the place of another. Or, perhaps, is suffering redemptive? Is it possible that there is a suffering in the world that works for the salvation of the world? Not thereby attempting to rationalize suffering or to take away anything that I have said in the last couple of weeks about suffering, but simply recognizing that suffering is a mystery in our human experience, and asking the question: beyond the fact that in so many cases we can simply give no reason for it, beyond the fact that we want to affirm that it is not punishment and there is not a causal connection between sin and suffering as we have seen in the Book of Job, nonetheless, is it possible that sometimes suffering has a positive, saving consequence? That’s really the question. In the Old Testament, as I said, obviously in that servant poem, there was the conviction that there would be one who would suffer and thereby bring salvation to many. Through this one, who bore the sin and the grief of the many, there would come salvation. “He will see the travail of his soul and be satisfied.” Interpreted by the Christian Church after Good Friday and Easter as a portrait of Jesus, it is very possible that Jesus fed his own soul on these servant songs. It is very possible that when Jesus moved away from John the Baptist with his calling down of the judgment of God on humankind and announcing the end world, that Jesus, moving away from that mentality of John, found his own identity and his own ministry in these servant poems: that he was not to be the Elijah who would come and bring down fire from heaven, but that he was to be the servant who in his exemplary life and in his suffering would effect salvation. It is difficult to say. We can’t really say that. We can say that the New Testament Church certainly understood the life and the death of Jesus in those terms. It seems as though there is something, not only in Israel’s state tradition, but really in a wide spectrum of religious systems, or a wide spectrum of religious expressions that there is some sense that something has to happen to deal with © Grand Valley State University   �Suffering: Can It Be Vicarious? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   what is wrong in the world in order to make it right. That something has to be paid. Or that someone has to pay. Now it has certainly been a part of Old Testament faith as well as some interpretations of the New Testament at the heart of things, but it’s not only biblical faith but also many other faiths as well have some kind of sacrificial system. It seems as though there is something very primal in the human person that believes that God must be appeased, that we are wrong and need to be put in the right, and that in order for that to be effected some offering has to be made. I say that’s not only in the biblical tradition; it seems to be in religion in general, and I wonder then if it is not something very primal in the human person. Is there hell to pay? For example, we read about genocide in Bosnia. Not just genocide or ethnic cleansing, but the methodical rape of Muslim women as a strategy of war in order to dehumanize, in order to impregnate with a generation of children over against whom there would be this equivocation. The systematic rape of women by an army of men as a military strategy. How does that make you feel? The last time the Balkans erupted there was a world conflagration, and then there arose a Hitler who conceived of the final solution using the Jewish people as scapegoats. Ripping families apart. The Holocaust. Six million Jews in the gas ovens. How does that make you feel? There is a report by the United Nations that has just come out which I think will probably (It’s always a little risky to call these things at this point.) reveal the complicity of the United States government, the Reagan and Bush administrations, in the financing of the El Salvadorian conflict. They supported the army over against the guerilla groups that perhaps had as much atrocity on their side. Though there were voices raised about the fact that it needed to be a political solution, nonetheless, we continued to pour in guns and tanks and helicopters, and military advisors, supplying a regime that murdered the Catholic nuns. We were part of the configuration that gunned down Archbishop Romero who had taken the side of the poor in El Salvador. We the superpower, in order to make sure that Communism did not get an inroad into Central America, we are all tied up in the atrocities, the massacres of the people in El Salvador. That report will reveal more than we will want to know. I could not help but feel repulsion, revulsion, as I saw Alexander Haig, at a Senate committee testifying about the fact that perhaps the nuns were gunned down because they tried to run a blockade! How cynical can we be? I just got a little tail end of a clip of a movie that’s being produced. James Garner is going to be in it. I don’t know what it is going to be called. It’s about the sale of the R.J. Reynolds Company and the breaking up of all its subsidiaries in a move which turned that business into a cash cow, weakened the industry, split up the conglomerate, had absolutely no concern about the future of the companies or the economy of this nation, but was a bold and blatant grasp for immediate money, capital. Apparently they are making a movie about it now. I don’t know what will happen, but it will be interesting to see. It is a story that happened two or three years ago. I had 100 shares of R.J. Reynolds, and a member of this congregation called me, my broker, who said, “It just went up 20 points. Do you © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Can It Be Vicarious? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   want to sell?” And I said, “Yes.” If I had waited another week it would have gone up another 20 points. But Gordon Van Hoeven said, “You can be a bull but you hadn’t ought to be a hog.” (Laughter) So I sold and made $2,000. Somehow or other I am also in complicity with this move in corporate America that was a blatant grasp for immediate cash. Perhaps the problem with our economy is the fact that there has been so much greedy grasping for the short term, a refusal to pour the resources into research and development, or to look at the long term and the good of the nation. Who would look for the long term good of the nation? Well, obviously there are those of you here present who could speak to these financial questions with much greater erudition. I mean simply to be thinking about our world, and I am asking you: Is there anything wrong with the world? Are there things that are so obscene, so unspeakably awful that it would be obscene to say that God can simply say, “Well, I forgive you”? Is it possible, given what I have set forth as admittedly extreme instances, but which nonetheless are part of a fabric of wrongdoing – is it possible that the only thing that needs to be done is for God to say, “You are forgiven”? I wonder if that primal thing in the gut of humankind has resulted in religions coming up with sacrifices and offerings. In Israel it became the conception of Isaiah 2, the innocent suffering on behalf of the others, the one bearing the guilt of the many. In the Christian Church, Jesus is seen as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” I think that’s perhaps all of a piece, and it is all that kind of primal sense we have that it would not be decent for God to say, “It doesn’t matter. I forgive you.” Now the problem that I have is that I don’t believe that God is a God of retribution. I don’t believe that God is going to line us up against the wall and say, “tit for tat.” It seems to me that that system would fall right back into the trap of the thing that we saw in Job, where God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. The Book of Job said, “No, that’s not so.” And what I see in Jesus also says, “No, that’s not so.” So, how does a God who would be gracious deal with that which is so terribly wrong in our world without just making light of it and pushing it aside as though it wasn’t there? How does God deal with that awful evil and still grace us and redeem us? That I think is all tied up in the Mystery of Jesus’ life and Jesus’ death. Certainly Jesus died because he lived the way he lived. And living the way he lived he ran into the Hitlers and the Bosnias, the El Salvadors and the R.J. Reynolds of this world, which means he ran into all of us. And so in that sense he did die because of the sin of the world. But I wonder, in all of the biblical metaphors that are used in trying to get a handle on this Mystery, I wonder if somehow or other in identifying with Jesus who felt abandoned, God was absorbing into God’s self all of the pain and darkness and evil and wrong. I don’t know. I just wonder if the Mystery of the cross, symbolized in the darkness and the cry of God’s forsakenness, was the identification of God with Jesus, soaking up like a sponge all of the acid and © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Can It Be Vicarious? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   venom and bloodshed of human existence in order that God could say to all of us, “You are forgiven.” Not cheaply because it doesn’t really matter, but in a costly fashion because somehow or other God swallowed the poison, God’s self in our brother Jesus, who drank the cup to the dregs. Somehow or other in the Christian Church there has been an understanding of Jesus as bearing our sin, as suffering in our place. I suppose the power of the Christian Gospel stems from the fact that it speaks to that primal sense within us that somehow or other all of the hell that has been suffered in this world cannot simply be shoved aside, but needs to be absorbed, which is maybe the hell of Calvary and the desolation that Jesus experienced. If that is true, then maybe we can see Jesus in the history of Israel as in his life, living out what Israel was called to be: the servant of the Lord, and it is life living it out. Living it out as that one exemplar on behalf of us all, and being faithful even unto death, thereby fulfilling what we are called to be and calling us to follow in his footsteps. Then he gathers us into himself, absorbs all of our wrongs, and all of our pain, and all of our suffering, suffering for us and not without the fruit of salvation. For God raised Him up. God said, “It is enough.” And now to the whole world and the whole human race is the glad announcement that there is forgiveness. There is grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. I don’t know, but it seems to me sometimes one can suffer on behalf of another and bring salvation. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ce5a28b2a8769b0bfa047a14a870d6be.mp3 e16a2b8460ccc4f9ae1acc9f1d02e05f 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 Midweek Lent Series Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering, Midweek Lent Scripture Text Isaiah 53:1-11, Hebrews 12:1-2 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930317 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-17 Title A name given to the resource Suffering: Can It Be Vicarious? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 17, 1993 entitled "Suffering: Can It Be Vicarious?", as part of the series "Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering, Midweek Lent", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 53:1-11, Hebrews 12:1-2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Forgiveness Grace Hebrew Servant Poems Nature of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a96c7d01918fe508417cd74d8128d89e.pdf 7d9edd71674acfcdc3f6fa2204bee3b3 PDF Text Text By What Authority…or Who Says So? From the series: The Faith Of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Text: Jeremiah 7:1; Mark 11:27-28 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent IV, March 21, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord… Jeremiah 7:1 The Chief Priest, Scribes, and the Elders came to him and said, “By what authority are you doing these things?” Mark 11:27-28 Jesus died the way he died because he lived the way he lived. And he lived the way he lived because of what he believed essentially, at his heart, what he believed about God. These Lenten weeks we are trying to determine the faith of Jesus. I have suggested that right at the heart of that faith was the conviction that God was gracious. That God was near. That one could trust God to be gracious and near, never to let one go. That seems rather harmless. Why in the world would Jesus get into trouble for believing that? But you see, he acted on that conviction. He acted on the conviction that God’s grace embraced all. And so in his table fellowship he sat down with all sorts of people and became very threatening to those who had drawn lines and circles to include some and exclude others. He reached out, touched the leper, and healed the leper, contrary to the whole social structure of the day, which ostracized the leper and placed the leper outside of community. He took on his religious establishment in terms of its ritual and its perfunctory performance. He didn’t fast with his disciples. He didn’t keep the fast. And in terms of the Sabbath, although he observed Sabbath as a gift of God, he did not keep it legalistically, so that it became inhumane. He realized that all religion, all religious ritual, all religious observance ought to be for the enhancement of our humane existence and not a burden on it. And so in all of that he was threatening to the religious establishment. Religion sets down codes and pathways, and observances and performances, and obligations and demands, and then it says to us, “Fulfill those and all will be well.” But Jesus said, “No.” In order to be well, do only those things that will enhance your spiritual life and your sense of the presence of God. © Grand Valley State University   �By What Authority, or Who Says So? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Finally, after his ministry in Galilee – which was no bucolic backwater as it is so often pictured but, rather, Galilee of the Gentiles, Galilee where the international trade routes crisscrossed. Galilee included Nazareth and, within four miles, Sepphoris, which was the capital of the Galilean territory of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas made Sepphoris a great city with theatre and temple and civic works. It was called the Ornament of Galilee – Jesus, after carrying on his ministry there, provocative as it was, knew nonetheless, that finally he had to bring his message to Jerusalem. In the Synoptic Gospels we have Jesus going to Jerusalem just once. In John’s Gospel, he seems to go back and forth, observing the feasts there on more than one occasion. We can’t know which is more correct, but in any case, the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, give us the sense that Jesus finally headed to Jerusalem in order to bring things to a head. Jesus knew that he would have to confront the religious establishment at its central shrine. It was one thing to carry on that ministry and to make his claims in Galilee; it was another to come to the very precincts of the temple and make his claim. Those who study these things debate as to whether Jesus was finally calling the religious establishment to account, or whether perhaps even unconsciously Jesus was calling God to show God’s self as to whether or not his ministry was indeed a ministry of God’s Spirit. Do you think he ever wondered about that? Is your Jesus such that he just plowed through his life and the events to the cross without wavering, or is there room in your Jesus for questioning and self-doubt? I wonder. Anyone who made the claims that he made, anyone who caused the waves that he caused, anyone who went to the root of things – that is, was the radical that he was – I suspect there were those times all alone when he looked into the heavens, into the starry night, and wondered. Couldn’t it be possible that he needed to go to Jerusalem to know indeed whether or not he was right? In any case, he came, and in that movement into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, a bold prophetic act itself, he comes finally into the temple precincts. We speak of “cleansing the temple,” but it wasn’t the cleansing of the temple. It was a prophetic act. It was a symbolic act. It was like all of the Old Testament prophets who would do some action to underscore their word. I don’t think that Jesus was against the temple, or against the priesthood, or against the sacrificial system. I think Jesus was a Jew - every inch of him a Jew, a believing Jew. I think it was a matter of his understanding of what it meant to be a Jew. What it meant to be a person in the covenant of God’s grace. What it means to be a son of Yahweh. But he went into the very center, the very heart, into the shrine itself. And in this symbolic act - well, it might have been nothing more than going into the parlor and turning over a table or two and causing a bit of a stir in order to get some attention, and make his proclamation. He certainly didn’t empty the whole thing out. Actually what was going on there was quite legitimate. It was absolutely necessary for the whole temple to operate. Jesus was © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority, or Who Says So? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   not attacking that which was happening. He was rather taking his message and his claim into the heart and into the center of his own tradition, into its central shrine and saying, “This is all relativized in the name of the God who is beyond all of our particular expressions of God.” Jesus was calling for repentance and renewal - a fresh grasp of what God was calling his people to be. And in so doing, he challenged the whole established system of things. That’s really quite amazing isn’t it? What he did there was to act out what he had been doing as we have seen in these past weeks: sitting at table with all kinds of people, touching the leper, not observing the fast, keeping the Sabbath as he understood God intended it to be kept – all of those things threatening to that carefully prescribed way of doing things. The religious system - he challenged it. What would we think if we who have been imbibed and nurtured and saturated with Christian faith, we who have been brought from the baptismal font, taught that Jesus is the only Saviour of the world and Christian faith is the final and last revelation of God’s truth, and the only means by which the world might be saved – what would we do if one came in and challenged those assumptions? If one started to erase the lines that we have drawn and to tear down the barriers that we have erected, dismantling the structure that we have built? Overturning those tables was what Jesus was about, concretely and symbolically. He went into the temple itself, and through that symbolic, prophetic action said, “God doesn’t need this temple. God doesn’t need this priesthood. God doesn’t need these sacrifices. All of these are means, and quite legitimate means when used properly for the mediation of the presence of God and the grace of God, but God needs none of them. And to the extent that you absolutize them, to that extent you falsify them and you go against God.” Well, as I asked, “What might we say?” Might we not also come to him, this destabilizer, and raise the obvious question: “By what authority do you do this? How dare you! Says who?” That was the issue. You see the assumption is – and I suppose that it is a natural assumption and probably we all share it – the assumption is that there is some norm, some standard, there is some kind of absolute by which things are measured and constructed and by which observances are carried out. Some kind of absolute norm. There was an assumption that the whole temple apparatus was not only a true means of access to God, but it was the one absolute. And that, apart from it, God would be quite disabled and people totally handicapped. Jesus simply called all of that into question. So by what authority? He was being questioned by those who were orthodox. To be orthodox was to have the correct opinion or the correct understanding or doctrine. There is a truth. It has been spoken. It has been revealed. It can be articulated. And it must be embraced and followed and obeyed. That is characteristic of religion in general. The orthodox line is the correct line. It is the © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority, or Who Says So? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   true line. In all of the religions that line is absolutized and eternalized. It is not seen as a historically conditioned expression of faith in God, and experience of God at one point or another, but as something above time. And now, once it is articulated, you may not think about it any more. All you do is hear it, accept it, and pass it on. Hans Küng, one of my favorite theologians, can no longer teach those who are preparing for the priesthood for the Roman Church because he has dared to challenge the orthodox line of the Roman Church. And so, if you take his courses now, you don’t get credit for them in your preparation for the priesthood. Jesus was a destabilizer of the orthodoxy of the Judaism of his day, and they crucified him. All of the Gospel writers connect the temple incident with his death. It would seem that was the friction point. That was the climactic moment. That was the time they said, “He’s got to go.” But in order to make it appear as though they were reasonable, they came to him and said, “By what authority?” They weren’t serious, and he knew it. So he said, “I’ll answer you if you will answer me. What about John the Baptist?” Of course, he had them, because they didn’t want to acknowledge that John was a prophet of God, operating in the spirit of God. But if they didn’t acknowledge John, the people would be after them. So they simply declined to answer, and he declined to answer. And that question remains unanswered, that burning question, “By what authority?” Do you ever raise that question to me? Do you ever wonder by what authority I say what I say, and do what I do? What will I say? Well, if I was in the Greek Orthodox tradition I would say, “tradition,” that whole blessed tradition back to the first century. If it is in the tradition, there’s no question. The prayers and the rituals in that tradition are repeated down through the centuries. That tradition in all of its glory and all of its splendor. If I were in the Roman Catholic tradition I would say, “the ecclesiastical authority of the Vatican Office of Teaching.” The Roman Catholic tradition, in order to steel itself against the acids of modernity relatively recently in terms of Church history, postulated the infallibility of the Pope, would you believe? And, of course, being poor Protestants in our fragmented pitiable state, coming out of the great Roman Church in the sixteenth century, we needed something upon which to base our claim, and so we’ve invented a paper pope - this inerrant, infallible Word of God. All religions need authority. All religions have a lust for certitude. All religions do their best to absolutize, to get it clear in black and white, i’s dotted, t’s crossed, no loose ends, and no questions allowed. So they said to Jesus, “How dare you? Who are you? By what authority?” Do you ever say that to me under your breath? There are congregations all over the world that would not tolerate what you tolerate. They would walk out - en masse, because they do not come to struggle in the presence of God for what is true, but to have reinforced what they already know. Religions are full of answers, and too often unwilling to ask the questions. © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority, or Who Says So? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   What would Jesus do if he came today? A world full of papal infallibility, and Ayatollah’s, and church bureaucrats and pastors like myself, televangelists, all of us who know too much. Not always right, but always certain. He would do his very best, I believe, to destabilize. I think he would try to destabilize Jewish fundamentalism, and the rabbinical office in Jerusalem that is determining who can be a Jew and who cannot be a Jew, and imposing the rigid interpretations of orthodoxy on all of those people. I think he would have a field day in the Vatican. He would suggest that it is long overdue to take away that statement “outside of the Church, no salvation,” particularly the Roman Catholic Church. And he would go to the World Council of Churches, but he wouldn’t know to whom to talk. It’s just kind of a mess. I think he would say to these three great prophetic religions that all find their basis somehow or other here, he would say, “Until I can destabilize you, until I can shatter your foundations and tear down your structure, you will all be absolutizing yourselves, and cursing each other, and excommunicating each other. You will be bringing your world, if not through nuclear holocaust, to a religious war, and a kind of terrorism. You see someone has said that Jesus, in his interpretation of the Torah, his understanding of that tradition, would have advocated a politics of compassion. Politics. Politics, the arrangement of things, the whole structure of things. Jesus came advocating a politics of compassion, the unbrokered presence of God. The unmediated presence of the grace of God in this world, and in all of creation. He opposed the whole temple establishment, which was the politics of holiness, which was a way to separation - an exclusiveness, separation, dividing of peoples. Religion has been the great divider of people. Jesus was crucified because he tore down walls and broke down barriers, because he believed that God would gather all God’s children into one. Dominic Crossan's recent book The Historical Jesus is a very careful, methodical, historical search using the very latest methods of historiography. I think it was a year ago I shared with you, from an interview with Crossan in the Christian Century, a conversation that he imagines: Jesus says, “Dominic, you’ve done a fine job. Congratulations.” And Dominic says, “Thank you, Jesus. You liked my book, and the method is good, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is Dominic. And, thank you for being honest and not diluting my claims. Now, I suppose, Dominic, now that you see that, you are willing to join me in my program. And you’ve been captured as well by my vision.” Dominic, “No, I don’t have the courage, Jesus. But I’ve put it out there, haven’t I? Is that enough?” “No, Dominic. It’s not enough.” I could continue that conversation a bit, “So, Jesus, by what authority?” “It’s what I’ve got to do. It is the Spirit of God. It is the passion of my life. It is all I know. I must be true to that which the Spirit of God tells me to do.” “Then you die.” “Then I’ll die.” Reference: © Grand Valley State University �By What Authority, or Who Says So? Richard A. Rhem Page 6   John Dominic Crossan. The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. HarperCollins Publishers, 1991. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/74b7b75d150ca4ae0e10afc0ec27890d.mp3 e0b26209569435c859a19b9aa8a53f45 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent IV Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Jeremiah 7:1, Mark 11:27-28 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, 1991 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-0-19930321 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-21 Title A name given to the resource By What Authority...Or Who Says So? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 21, 1993 entitled "By What Authority...Or Who Says So?", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Jeremiah 7:1, Mark 11:27-28. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives God of Grace Non-exclusive Nature of Religious Authority Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ae562377967707e6b4d9b0bfcef548d9.pdf 6e011328b4f64cbbbd186b77ac5dc186 PDF Text Text Suffering: Is One Abandoned? From the Midweek Lenten series: Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Job 23:3; Mark 15:34 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 24, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon As we have moved through this Lenten journey, we come to the very heart of it this evening. Actually in these meditations I am reversing the events of the narrative itself. We go to Calvary this evening, and then back again to Gethsemane next week. I do that because I want to treat as honestly as I can the sense of abandonment that Jesus experienced. But I don’t want to leave the study there. I want rather to leave it with a final word of trust. So I am going to move to Calvary and back to Gethsemane, contrary to the record itself. The whole question of God and suffering which has been our focus defies rational explanation. Human suffering puts a limit to human reasoning. Inevitably, down through the centuries people have tried to reconcile the almightiness of God and the anguish of human suffering, and there have been all kinds of schemes proposed. The technical term is theodicy: the justification of God in light of the reality of human suffering. There have been some grand schemes proposed, but finally there simply is no rational explanation that can remove the sense of darkness and despair, which is so very real a part of our human experience. Someone has said that all of the attempts at rational explanation and understanding are like a lecture on nutrition to a starving person. For when one is in the anguish and in the darkness, there is no satisfactory explanation. There is only the darkness and that fragile connectedness that is the consequence of the experience of the absence of the presence. That’s a rather complicated thought, isn’t it? The sense of the absence of presence points to that other one that one has known, whose presence one has known. Only as one has known that presence does one become conscious of the absence. So, ironically, it is the sense of the absence that points to the presence and becomes that tenuous link between the darkness and the Living Lord. In Job and in Jesus we see the depth of human suffering. We see it in their cry of abandonment. What an eloquent word in that Old Testament story. Can’t you feel the pathos of Job’s cry, “Oh that I knew where I might find him. I go forward and © Grand Valley State University   �Suffering: Is One Abandoned? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   he is not there. I go backward and I cannot reach him. I go to the right hand and I cannot behold him, and to the left hand and he is not there. Oh that I knew where I might find him.” And Jesus. The words from Mark’s Gospel, the cry from the cross, borrowed from Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” In the case of Job the purpose of that Old Testament book was to break the link between sin and suffering, that traditional conception of things that if one is suffering one must have sinned because God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. So the “miserable comforters” who come to be with Job, being prisoners of that scheme of things, cannot fully enter into Job’s suffering because their scheme disallows their total identity with him. They cannot hear him. His anguish is that he is suffering and he cannot figure it out because he has lived with integrity. So he knows in his present human experience that the scheme of things that is traditionally accepted, the conventional wisdom, simply doesn’t hold. That’s part of the anguish, when our human experience doesn’t fit the mold. Some of us know what that is to get in circumstances that simply don’t fit. They don’t fit the conception of things that we had always taken for granted, that we had always assumed, that had been taught us from our childhood up. In Job’s case he suffers alone, because there is no one who will grant him that, just perhaps, there is a mystery of human suffering that shatters the conventional wisdom and the commonly accepted scheme of things. The Old Testament book is an eloquent denial of that conventional wisdom that God, the rewarder of the righteous and the punisher of the wicked, makes everything finally come out right. And that, if one is suffering, one has sinned. A denial of the conventional wisdom that suffering is the punishment for wrongdoing. No causal relationship. No necessary proportion between those two, says the Book of Job. We have in the book itself, finally, this overpowering revelation, which doesn’t answer the existential question of why, but is a revelation of God, so that Job out of his darkness and anguish is encountered by God. Then, picking up that old tale which is at the beginning and the end of the dialogues, we have the restoration of Job in this life. So for Job there is the awful anguish and the revelation, and the restoration. But it is not so for Jesus. For Jesus we have the cry of abandonment, the darkness and death. The cry of abandonment of Jesus reaches to a brassy heaven that makes no move in reply. There is no scattering of the darkness. There is no alleviation of the pain. Jesus hangs abandoned to the public gaze. Job’s problem was difficult enough: the suffering of the innocent. One living with integrity, yet crushed. But it didn’t begin to address the anguish of Jesus. For with Jesus the absence of God at the moment of his terrible need begged the question of the whole project of his life. This is the one who had proclaimed the nearness of God, the presence of God, the grace of God. This was the one who had announced the presence of the Kingdom of God in the midst of the people. Consequently, it was not simply that he was suffering. It was the fact that everything he had staked his life on hung in the © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is One Abandoned? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   balance. That was the depth of the anguish of Jesus. Who can begin to imagine, to conceive of the physical agony of Jesus? But I suspect he hardly was conscious of the physical suffering in light of the mental and spiritual anguish that he was undergoing. I asked you on Sunday morning whether in your understanding of Jesus there is any room for self-doubt. I believe that that must have been the great temptation of Jesus. The temptation to lose faith. To stop trusting in the midst of that darkness when his whole life’s project was on the line and the heavens were silent. Might he have been wrong? He had set himself against the whole institutionalization of religion, that whole structure – the temple and the priests, and the sacrifices – not denying the efficacy, not denying the fact that they were a part of this covenant people of God and not denying that they had been and still could be the mediators of the grace of God, and the presence of God, but relativizing all of that and announcing the presence of God for all. The inclusive concern of God. God of the abandoned. God of the outcast. God of the godless. All of that was at stake as Jesus hung there, for it was Roman power and Jewish religion collaborating to put the lie to everything for which he had lived, and for all the claims that he had made; therefore, far beyond anything that Job suffered, Jesus saw everything go up in smoke. There are different opinions as to the citation of Psalm 22. Mark, giving us that opening cry, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” was reflecting his understanding, I think, of what was happening. But there are those who say that cry, which Mark gives us from Psalm 22, goes through the utter depths of human suffering, but comes through finally at the end of the Psalm to offer praise to God and express confidence in God. There are those who say that word from the cross was simply the beginning of the citation, the quotation of the Psalm. God’s children have long recited the word of God in times of extremity as the source of comfort and strength. There are those who say this is what Jesus was about. And it may be so. Mark is considered to be the earliest Gospel, and it is interesting that, especially Luke and John, later Gospels, coming perhaps with the Christian interpretation of Jesus’ death, soften. They don’t have the word of forsakenness. They have in Luke’s case the word of trust: “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” a citation from another Psalm. Or in John’s case, “It is finished,” a declaration of accomplishment. I wonder if maybe even those Gospel writers were uncomfortable leaving the raw suffering and darkness, and cry of dereliction as the last word? In any case, that’s what we have in Mark. So in the cry of abandonment, in the case of Jesus according to Mark, there is suffering, and there is darkness, and there is death. In the case of Job, after the point has been made, there is revelation and restoration. In the case of Jesus, there is abandonment, darkness and death. I think sometimes we attempt to defend God and a rightness of things so that we are uncomfortable just leaving it with the darkness. But to the person who is in the darkness, it is not always a kindness to try to lighten the darkness. © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Is One Abandoned? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   William Styron, the novelist of Sophie’s Choice, has Stengle making his sad journey from Washington to New York on the train to bury his two close friends who had committed suicide and, in his utter despair, a black woman who is a fellow traveler, offers him Psalm 88, the one Psalm that we began with at the beginning of this series and in which there is no alleviation of the darkness. Again, paradoxically, Psalm 88, which is unrelenting darkness, becomes a source of comfort to one who has no eyes but for the darkness in the present circumstance. The cross gives us a true, an honest, and an awful insight into our human existence, which is historical existence, which means that we move one step at a time, and one day at a time. Therefore, we walk by faith and not by sight, and at the cross we see that sometimes there is a sense of abandonment with no alleviation, no relief, and no final resolution. That’s a hard word, but it’s honest, and it is true to human experience. Henry Nouwen says that we resist being with people in their pain. We do, don’t we? We would love to fix it. We resist simply being there with care. We would go there with a cure. It is an act of tremendous grace to go there with care and identify with the darkness and not try to explain it away. I think we pastors are probably the most vulnerable to that temptation to try to make it better. But the cross and the cry of dereliction is testimony to the fact that within the parameters of our life, our human experience sometimes is an experience of abandonment, darkness and death. But that dismal word is not my last word, thank God. I mentioned to begin with that it is that sense of absence that points to the presence. Even that cry of dereliction was a cry to God: “My God, my God.” The link. The fragile link between the darkness and the living Lord is the cry. And, for us, we cannot talk about the cross without at least pointing ahead two weeks hence to Easter. If it is the cross, and only the cross, then there is only bad news. For there was no alleviation of the sense of abandonment for Jesus. But the one to whom he cried, we believe, had not abandoned him, but was present with him and not unaffected by him. That’s bald-faced trust. That is an affirmation of faith that comes from Easter faith, but in no way does that take away from the darkness. Yet our darkness can never compare with his darkness. For if we have lingered with him in his darkness, then we have learned with him to cry, even to sing, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child.” But if we have been with him in the darkness, we also will know now and again what it is to steal away to Jesus. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c850af7f5f30fe23af99ebac22c4e672.mp3 d192f0e560ba8971192f153b25b5286a 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 Midweek Lent Series Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering, Midweek Lent Scripture Text Job 23:3, Mark 15:34 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-0-19930324 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-24 Title A name given to the resource Suffering: Is One Abandoned? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 24, 1993 entitled "Suffering: Is One Abandoned?", as part of the series "Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering, Midweek Lent", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 23:3, Mark 15:34. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Job Nature of God Suffering Theodicy https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d4a9ae5f246964ffa35845405dba3fed.pdf d2a3cd92c4149ce0d1d0b31550c4d933 PDF Text Text The God Who Forgives From the series: The Faith Of Jesus; Trust in a Gracious God Text: Psalm 130:4; Luke 23:34 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Lent V, March 28, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon But there is forgiveness with you…. Psalm 130:4 “Father, forgive them….” Luke 23:34 Jesus died the way he died because he lived the way he lived, and he lived as he lived because of that which he believed in. The faith of Jesus - that’s what we have been trying to get at these weeks. What did Jesus believe? That is an important question because what he believed shaped how he lived, and how he lived issued in the way he died. So to understand his death we need to know what he believed. We’ve been saying that at the heart of it was a belief in the nearness of God. Trust in a gracious God. Or, for today, trust in a God who forgives us. Sometimes, in the Christian Church, we tend to think that we have a monopoly on forgiveness. It is not so. I have been trying to say in these weeks that Jesus lived out his Jewish faith, and it was as a believing Jew that Jesus believed in the God who forgives. Jesus is sometimes claimed by us as the first Christian and that is not true. He was a believing Jew. And if he believed in the God who forgives, then it is because in his own Jewishness, Yahweh, the God of Covenant, was a God of grace. We do a great injustice if we think of the Old Testament as being over against the New Testament. In fact, even that terminology is a put-down for Israel. For it is not as though there was an old covenant, and then a new covenant, as though there are two covenants. There is only one covenant of grace. There was its form in Israel, and its form in Jesus. To be sure, Jeremiah, speaking to Judah in a time of its own rebellion said that a time would come when God would make a new covenant. But it is the same covenant. It is new in the same sense as we speak of the new moon - the new moon that has appeared recently this week in a small sliver. It’s not a new moon at all; it is the new appearance of the old moon, the same old moon. Thank God! Israel knew that God is a God who forgives and probably nowhere does that come to better expression than in the Psalmist, the Psalter hymnbook of the Old Testament, particularly in the seven Psalms, the group Psalms 32, 51, 102, and © Grand Valley State University   �The God Who Forgives Richard A. Rhem Page 2   130, as we had it this morning. There we find this marvelous statement. “There is forgiveness with Thee,” the Psalmist cries out of the depths. The depths are the chaos, the watery chaos, the chaos that always threatens the world and humankind, and one, in whatever experience he may have been in, feels the foundations shaking, and he is being sucked down. He cries, “Out of the depths. Out of the depths, I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my cry. Let your ears be attentive to the supplications.” And then, conceding his guilt, making no rationalization, no parade of excuses, he simply says, “Lord, if you should mark iniquity, who could stand?” Lord, if you kept books, who of us could stand? But then this amazing, wonderful Gospel declaration, “But with you there is forgiveness.” Jesus lived that way. That’s what he believed. And we can tell, because that’s the way he acted. He was one who, going through Jericho one day, picked out the leading entrepreneur, the wealthiest man in town, the one who had gotten the franchises on the tax-farm system, Zaccheus, by name. He may have been short, but he was big. And he was curious, for whatever reason we don’t know. Maybe just curious. Maybe some hankering need, some unfulfilled yearning that all of the taxes that he could skim off could never satisfy. Jesus said, “Come down. I want to dine with you today.” And in that story we have what we’ve been talking about all these weeks. The table fellowship of Jesus. He sat down at table. He sat down at table and thereby mediated the grace of God. He said to Zaccheus, “I’m going to your house today,” thereby indicating an acceptance that amazed Zaccheus. It’s a lucky thing that he didn’t fall out of the tree. “I’m going to your house today. I’m going to sit at your table today. I’m going to be in solidarity with you today. I’m going to speak the grace and the forgiveness by my very presence in breaking bread with you today.” Luke probably adds the story recorded in the 8th verse that tells us about Zaccheus’ amazing response to this amazing grace. Zaccheus claims that he is going to make restitution far beyond the law would require, but Luke probably adds that verse 8 - it was a story without that verse at one point, but Luke uses the story as a paradigm, as a model which shows the results of conversion. But if you just take out the fact that he was going to make all this restitution, read the story without verse 8, then you will find Jesus at his table gracing Zaccheus with his presence and saying, “Today salvation is come.” If you put verse 8 in there, the thing that tends to happen to us is that we tend to see Zaccheus making restitution and then Jesus saying, “Today salvation has come,” as though it is salvation that has come in the wake of the restitution that has been made. But that is not so. Jesus simply embraces this man, and it is in the embrace that this man is transformed. Grace always grants the acceptance, and whatever follows is a consequence of the initiative of the grace of God. It is the announcement of forgiveness that is the catalyst of repentance and penitence. And in the church, and in religion in general, all sorts of religions, that’s what we never keep straight. Somehow or © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Forgives Richard A. Rhem Page 3   other when we get organized, and we get institutionalized, and we get our prescriptions and our formulas, and we have our way in and our processes and our structures, then it becomes a matter of believing certain things or doing certain things, behaving a certain way, making a certain response, on the basis of which we are embraced. That is simply the way of religion - all religions, because as Walter Brueggemann says in his commentary on Psalm 130, “This premature announcement of forgiveness scandalizes all of our calculating religion.” I wonder, is that enough? The story from the instance of the Psalmist, the story of Zaccheus, and I could add the stories of the prodigal son or the Publican and the Pharisee or I could multiply the stories of Jesus, but in the Zaccheus story is what we have been talking about - the God of the abandoned, the God of the outcast, the God of the excluded. Jesus undercutting the religious institutions, the institutional forms. I don’t think he had anything against religious forms, as long as they were recognized as the medium through which the presence of God and the grace of God came. But not as absolutes. Not as though, somehow or other, the organized religion, or church, or temple, or the mosque held the spigot which could turn on and off the grace of God. No! No, Jesus spoke of an immediacy of the forgiveness of God, announced ahead of time, before there was any evidence of faith or repentance, or penitence. And I wonder, is that enough? A couple of weeks ago on Wednesday night I raised the question about whether or not “That’s Enough?” Is it enough just to say, “I forgive you?” God knows that there is something in us that disallows that, calls for something more. I think there’s something primal in us that wants something more. I think it is true of all religions. Religions speak about appeasing God, or expiating God, or atonement. Religions have a means by which to put people back into communion with God, and there is always a sacrifice or an offering, or a price to pay. There is, it seems in religion, be it Islamic, Jewish, Christian, some bookkeeping that has to go on. God can’t simply forgive. I think there is something in us that demands that, because we structure our religions with that same “tit for tat.” Paul uses the image of the Roman law court. This is his metaphor, at least one of his metaphors. He has more than one for the atonement, but essentially, Paul’s metaphor claims that Jesus “takes the rap” for us, so that there isn’t really forgiveness pure and simple. Something has been paid. Someone has paid. Is that important? Is that necessary? There must be something in us that senses that that must be necessary. That’s the way we operate. I mean, you can’t run a world on any other basis, can you? But look at our world. Last night on the NBC News there were two clips about the escalating violence, the IRA, the bombings, the capricious bombings in England. A three year old killed and then a twelve year old killed. There was a funeral yesterday, and services being called in Ireland out of deep concern, and the Protestant extremists in northern Ireland not having anything really to do with Protestantism, but they killed four Catholics again, gunned them down, dead. You see the terror on the faces of the people. Then the clip from Israel where the © Grand Valley State University �The God Who Forgives Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Palestinian issue escalates, the violence is greater, stabbings, shootings, a young man named Martin Fletcher, I think, who goes to the store and buys his pistol and takes some target practice, hating to do it and yet feeling he must do it. This terrible thing going on in Bosnia Herzegovina, the genocide where as a military strategy the soldiers rape and impregnate the Muslim women. Dehumanizing. Terrible things! Do you just say, “You are forgiven?” But, you see, what’s going on in our world is the festering, and the festering again of ancient feuds, and old, old hurts that will not be let go of. It’s true in Bosnia. It’s true in the Balkans - what is going on is a result of ethnic pain out of the past. It’s true in Ireland. It’s not just Catholic/Protestant. It’s deep wounds in the culture, centuries back, continuing to come between because there is something primal in us, I am sure, that demands retribution and vengeance and retaliation. Where retribution and retaliation and vengeance operate, there is no end! It never ends! So, I wonder. I ask this question. You think about it with me. Was God with Jesus on the cross just dying? Was Jesus’ breakthrough the thing he was reaching for, was that what got him killed? The fact that he undercut the religion tit-for-tat and the neat bookkeeping of people in mosque and church. Was he crucified because he tried to say, “Retribution, vengeance, retaliation, tit-for-tat will not work? There is only one way to break through, through this accursed human plague, and that is to take it on the chin?” I wonder. Jurgën Moltman, in his book, The Crucified God, claims that God does not need a blood sacrifice to forgive us. I think he needs to show us that that won’t work. It is only love that becomes the transformative catalyst that changes people. It is only if I can forgive you before you say, “I am sorry.” It is only if I can enwrap you in my arms while you are still alienated that something happens inside out. I wonder if God, in Christ, was taking it on the chin? And all the darkness, and all the atrocity, and all of the horror of the human story crashing in upon God, in Christ, on the cross, and God absorbing it all, just absorbing it all. Then hearing Jesus who lived out his faith in concrete action and died saying, “Father, forgive them.” I suspect if that won’t do the trick nothing will. And I suspect that Easter is the sign that that love may be crucified, but never finally defeated, and that finally, either here or there, God won’t quit until we get the picture. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/06a12ea6a0b0f3e6e9a2db90335d2c6c.mp3 888cc70b03c46bad22818cbeddf5a36e Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Lent V Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Psalm 130:4, Luke 23:34 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-0-19930328 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-28 Title A name given to the resource The God Who Forgives Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 28, 1993 entitled "The God Who Forgives", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Lent V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 130:4, Luke 23:34. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Forgiveness Nature of God Transforming Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6f9975ba9c92e0775c3b29e6d446dd40.pdf ff9d3037cd116fd38732380825e315b0 PDF Text Text Suffering: Nevertheless… From the Midweek Lenten series: Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Text: Romans 8:18-39; Mark 14:32-42 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan March 31, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon Jesus expressed the ultimate in human suffering with his cry of dereliction: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” We raised the question last week: Are We Abandoned? And suggested that it was in the sense of abandonment, in the consciousness of the absence of God, that we had a tenuous link to the presence of God. For one does not miss what one has not experienced. So, ironically, paradoxically, the very absence was a sign of the presence. That experience of abandonment and knowing the presence only in the absence was the deepest of human suffering and the nadir of Jesus’ anguish. The garden experience was the place where he waged the greatest conflict and won. It was not on the cross that he won the victory. It was in the garden. On the cross the die was set; the die was cast. There he experienced the abandonment and the awful suffering. But in the garden it was the struggle to be true. It was the last chance. His entry into the garden was not marked by a sign “No Exit.” It could still have been different. But it was with a poignant awareness of what lay before him that he struggled there. Lest we take away at all from that suffering, we must recognize that Jesus was not some stoic, setting his chin, gritting his teeth, simply going through with it. He was not a fatalist, throwing up his hands, saying, “Whatever will be, will be.” It was in the garden that he said, “Please release me.” He did not want to go through with what he was going to go through. In fact the language that the evangelist uses could not be any stronger. One New Testament commentator says that when Mark records words like, “My soul is crushed within me,” it could be translated, “I wish I were dead.” So this was no heroic figure. No calm philosophical Socrates draining the cup of poison. This was a trembling human being. This was a human being who knew fear and trembling, and who faced down the darkness, fully cognizant of all of the implications, pleading for release, yet coming finally to say, “Nevertheless. Nevertheless. Not my will but Thy will be done.” The irony of that is that in so winning through, in bowing in such obedience, Jesus found the truest human freedom. Had he buckled at that moment, he would have denied his truth. He © Grand Valley State University   �Suffering: Nevertheless… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   would have denied himself. He would have become a slave in bondage to fear, to prejudice, to all of that which was set against him and the truth that he proclaimed. He would have denied his deepest sense of who God was and what God had called him to be, and to do, and to say. He would have lost his freedom and been robbed of his strength if he had saved his life, and so his “Nevertheless,” was really his breakthrough to victory. It was the saving of his soul. It was the holding on to his life. And the very giving of his life. “Nevertheless, Thy will be done.” In the home in which I grew up, and in the church in which I grew up, and the piety which was a part of the shaping of my life - family prayers, long prayers. (There used to be long prayers in church. That was a pretty good example of our liturgical sense at Third Reformed, Kalamazoo. I had no idea what these various prayers were, but I knew they were long prayers.) There are certain clichés and certain little phrases. I remember as a young person a certain church I attended that was not my own had a pastor I liked to hear quite a bit, but in his pastoral prayers I knew that he was about 1-1/2 minutes from landing when he would call upon God to cast the “lariat of his love around us.” One of the phrases that tripped off the tongue almost without thinking, well, indeed without thinking was “Thy will be done. Thy will be done.” Oh, those are words that sometimes I hardly dare pray, now that I have become somewhat conscious of what those words really mean. It is quite rare with me when I can honestly say, “Thy will be done,” when it runs counter to my will and what I would have done. I am not very good at that point of ultimate submission. I am a rebel. A strong rebel, affirmed of my way. Jesus in full light of the darkness said, “Nevertheless, Thy will be done,” and ironically won his freedom in bowing to the will of God. That’s not how we see the will of God very often. Usually the human will and the divine will are in competition. They are over against each other. It’s God’s will at the expense of my will. Or if it is my will, it’s at the expense of God’s will. It’s like there’s 100% will out there and whatever percentage I give to God is deducted from my share. So there’s conflict. We never really believe that it is finally in finding the will of God that we find true freedom and the empowerment of our own will to be all that we can be. So Jesus was able to say, “Nevertheless, Thy will . . .” And in the wake of Jesus, those who follow him have also found a great “Nevertheless.” It has been expressed nowhere more powerfully and beautifully than by St. Paul in the 8th chapter of Romans. That chapter is so replete with riches that one paragraph is enough to give a congregation indigestion in one message. Sometimes I treat it as a paragraph at a time and I forget the string, but beginning with the 18th verse, he talks about suffering. He talks about the fact that the whole creation seems to be caught up in these convulsions. It is almost as though there is a cosmic convulsion, a suffering, a bondage, and a darkness. The Apostle says that we are all in the whole creation - one translation has it “the whole creation is on tiptoe” - © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Nevertheless… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   for that day when we will be delivered and freed from this bondage which has its share of suffering and darkness. Then he goes on to give us that marvelous assurance that “in all these things”– that is, in all this crap, that he has been talking about that we have to wade through –“in all these things God works for the good of those who love him.” I was not welcome last Saturday to this church. It was Woman’s Day, but I got to listen to the tape. My friend, Carmelita Murphy spoke powerfully, as I knew she would. She spoke about the darkness and about being willing to stay for a time in the darkness. That sometimes the darkness becomes the womb of newness, and that in the disarray and the dis-ease, in the brokenness and in the pain lies the seed of the new which is striving to be born, because the Spirit of God also is active in the darkness. Someone in the discussion raised a question; it is a question that I hear often. It is a question often raised by people who are concerned with the present state of things, whether it be the world, the nation, the church, the community, or the family. The question was raised: “But how do we know how to go on when all the norms of the past…there’s just a breakdown all over?” Carmelita was equal to that question. She said, “Someone has said that breakdown leads to breakthrough.” If we could only believe it. If we could only hang on long enough in the darkness. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I hate the darkness. We all resist the darkness. If we don’t resist the darkness there is truly something dysfunctional about us. To be followers of The Way, we do not need to be masochistic and go out of our way to find suffering, but we don’t really have to because there’s plenty to go around. If only I could remember in the darkness that it is so often the prelude to the dawn and that the brokenness is that which invites the newness that sometimes can only come when we have had forcibly ripped out of our tight fists that which is all settled and safe. The Apostle concludes with what must be among the most marvelous words ever written. “What are we to say to all these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Famine or nakedness or peril or sword,” cancer, betrayal . . . you name your hurts. “What can separate us from the love of Christ?” All these things? No. None of these things. “For we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” For the Apostle Paul said his “Nevertheless,” in the wake of Jesus’ “Nevertheless.” His “Nevertheless,” wasn’t exactly Jesus’. Jesus’ was “Nevertheless, Thy will be done.” But following Jesus, Paul could say in the face of the deepest darkness that life could hand out, “Nevertheless in all these things we are more than conquerors. For I am persuaded that neither life nor death, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things in the future, the world as it is or the world as it shall be, nothing in all creation shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: Nevertheless… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   So we will kneel tonight and we’ll take cup, and we will be in touch with Jesus. As you taste and digest, let this word of promise seep into the pores of your being as well. With the touch and taste of bread and wine, let the word “Nevertheless,” become the word that you take into Holy Week, knowing that you will never be abandoned. You will never finally be left alone in the darkness, for you are loved with an everlasting love, and with cords of love God has bound you to God’s self. God will never let you go. Let the bread and the cup, the body and the blood be the sign of God’s never ending love for you tonight. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6d71afec9b91c5b3edf394f1c78b5f6c.mp3 7cd8269dabe5d35ca3bffc4b833a0e6f 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 Midweek Lent Series Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering, Midweek Lent Scripture Text Romans 8:18-39, Mark 14:32-42 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930331 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-03-31 Title A name given to the resource Suffering: Nevertheless... Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 31, 1993 entitled "Suffering: Nevertheless...", as part of the series "Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering, Midweek Lent", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 8:18-39, Mark 14:32-42. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Suffering Unconditional Love of God Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b8ba316a3e59e9c5e07e2beae852fd77.pdf 8cba3711b3a419f340fba237aece4438 PDF Text Text Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them From the series: The Faith Of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Palm Sunday, April 4, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey... Zechariah 9:9-10 … he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’” Luke 19:28-48 We have entered again into Holy Week. We come to that moment, that flash point, to that time when all of that that was in ferment in the life and ministry of Jesus comes to a head. This was no accidental trip to Jerusalem. Matthew, Mark and Luke have Jesus going to Jerusalem just once. John has Jesus making several trips to Jerusalem. Which is the case, we really don’t know, but it doesn’t really matter. The point is that this trip was to be a time when things would come to a head. There is pretty much a consensus about that, that this might be considered a prophetic action and a political statement. This was an intentional move on Jesus’ part to gather his whole life and ministry into one and challenge the very heart of that religious establishment and tradition of which he was a part. He knew what he was about. He knew what he was doing. It was one thing for him to have gone about the hills of Galilee proclaiming his message as a charismatic holy man and prophet, but he knew finally he would have to come to this central shrine - to this very heart of that tradition that had shaped him – all of that covenant faith down through the centuries centered here in Jerusalem in the courts of the temple. Jesus was coming now to make his point finally there, and to bring his ministry to a head, perhaps to see what God would do, or to give God an opportunity to move in vindication of the claims of this one who believed he was speaking and living in the flow and power and spirit of the power of God. Jesus came to Jerusalem. In these Lenten weeks we have been making the point that he died the way he died because he lived the way he lived. And he lived the way he lived because he believed the way he believed. How did he believe? What did he believe? What was the faith of Jesus? That is the question we’ve been trying to get at. We have noted some of the aspects of that faith and conviction. © Grand Valley State University   �Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them Richard A. Rhem Page 2   That God would build all into a community. That there was no exclusiveness, but rather the inclusive love of God. That God never abandons or lets go. That God is near and full of grace. And in his table of fellowship, Jesus mediated the very presence of God. In doing that, he got into serious trouble. Those things seemed so positive and so good, who could object to them? Wouldn’t everyone agree? Was not that which Jesus believed something like the American flag, and apple pie? Wouldn’t everybody affirm those things: the nearness of God? The grace of God? The inclusive care of God? The fact that God won’t abandon? That God’s presence is available to all? Who would object to those things? Well, I’ll tell you who would object to those things. It was all of those guardians of society. For what Jesus did was to destabilize the order of his day, the social order of his day, the temple order of his day, the ecclesiastical order of his day, the political world, and the social world. Jesus was a destabilizer. Jesus undercut the conventional wisdom. Jesus challenged the things that everybody knew and everybody understood, and those ways and structures and forms by which everybody organized their lives. We all have conventional wisdom by which we live. That enables us to live without thinking every time we take a step or make a move. There are some things which we simply know. There are some things we simply take for granted. It’s like looking at the world through glasses. When I look at you through my glasses I see you out there. I don’t think about these glasses, these spectacles. I see through them, and seeing through them I see what is out there. I see what is true. I see what is real. However, of course, these are reading glasses so they don’t work. I can’t see you at all. (Laughter) But, normally, spectacles give us a certain shape and form of things. We very seldom question the spectacles. I always know when I start singing more wrong words than right words that it is time for me to see John Leenhouts and check the spectacles, but that’s a very specific case. Most of the time, in the living or our lives, we don’t question our presuppositions, our biases, the dominant conventional wisdom of the day. We don’t do that. “My mind is made up, don’t bother me with the facts!” We get into certain well-worn ruts that are comfortable, that are like an old pair of shoes. Then you don’t have to think. You know about certain kinds of people, and you know about certain nations, and you know about certain colors, and you know about certain behaviors. There are things that you just plain know. You don’t have to go through that whole process of thinking again. Do you? But then some human experience comes along and challenges what we thought was all settled. Of course, most of us are able to crush that down. Sometimes it requires our anger to do that, however. We hope it will make it go away so that we don’t really have to go through the whole process of reorientation to a new understanding of reality. Dear friends, that’s why Jesus died. He called people up short. Good and decent folks like us. He destabilized the way one gets up in the morning and shaves and showers, and goes off to work. He called in question all of that that makes life © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them Richard A. Rhem Page 3   able to be negotiated without too much stress, too much thinking. That’s why he died. Because in his prophetic call, living in the flow of God’s spirit, giving voice to his vision, he challenged the conventional wisdom, the social, political, ecclesiastical relationships and structures of his time. When he came to Jerusalem, he was bringing all that to a head. So as Luke tells us the story, he sets it in the context of a prophecy from Zechariah. In the ninth chapter of Zechariah, the first eight verses are kind of an oracle about God coming to deliver his people. Probably this prophecy was written in the fourth century B.C. when maybe Alexander the Great’s great army was moving south along the Mediterranean. Maybe the prophet even saw the legions of Alexander the Great moving toward Egypt, where he would subdue that empire. You see, the ancient world was a world also of shifting power arrangements. In Israel’s history there first was Israel, and then it split into the Northern Kingdom, and the Southern Kingdom, called Judah. Then the Assyrian Empire moved in and took over the Northern Kingdom. Some 400 years later the Babylonians overcame the Assyrians, and eventually they came and they carried the people of Judah into exile. Then the Persians overcame the Babylonians and let the Jews go back to Jerusalem. Eventually, Alexander the Great and the Greeks move across the landscape. Then, finally, there were the Romans who were in power when Jesus was there. With all of the stresses and strains, and the juggling for power at such a time, a prophet saw the armies move by and he envisioned God embracing and encompassing God’s house. He thought perhaps this incredible shifting of powers and empires would be a propitious time for God’s anointed one to come – that one who would be anointed with the Spirit of God and would bring justice and peace. Israel was always looking for that servant of the Lord, that one who would be full of the power of the Spirit of God, who would be able to mediate justice and bring Shalom. That messianic vision always beckoned them. They looked for a day when God would rule over all. When God’s justice would prevail. When there would be peace on earth. When the lion and the lamb would lie down together, and the wolf would graze. Ah! The vision! The vision of the one who comes as a peaceable king. He comes riding on a donkey. On a colt. Not a war-horse. Not a mighty charger. He comes and he brings the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom together. He removes the enmity. He heals the wounds of the divided Israel and he speaks peace to the nations. This is the picture that Luke gives us from the prophet Zechariah - the context in which we see Jesus coming to Jerusalem. You see Jesus on the crest of the Mount of Olives about to approach the city, riding on a donkey. Looking at Jerusalem, he weeps. Can’t you feel those hot salty tears, the pathos of his life? Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if only you knew the © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them Richard A. Rhem Page 4   things that make for peace, but now they are hid from your eyes. And there will be this terrible devastation. This terrible destruction. Violence. Atrocity. Because, Jerusalem, you knew not the time of your visitation. Jesus believed to his dying moment that the eternal God was visiting Israel in him. That he was the mediated presence of God, the God whose presence is really an unbrokered presence in the world. Jesus said, “Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” And we know that within forty years it happened that way. The walls were torn down, the temple burned, the people slaughtered and massacred. Jesus weeps. He weeps for Jerusalem. He weeps for the folly of the human way that seems again and again and again to invite such awful devastation, such violence and death. And so he comes with tears knowing he will probably die. And he does die. He dies because of the sin of the world, not for the sin of the world as though, somehow or other, God was waiting to pour out God’s grace and speak God’s word of forgiveness through some sacrificial death. I know it says that here. I understand that. But that, in all honesty, doesn’t really connect with my world and what I see going on in the world, which seems to be such a duplicate of what was going on in Jesus’ day. I know the biblical writers are using Old Testament imagery, simile and metaphor. But they were on the other side of Easter looking back at that death. They were looking back at the cross and trying to figure out what in the world was going on. Why did he die? What did it mean that he died? Why did he have to die? What was the significance of that death? This was necessary. It was an attempt to understand in retrospect. It was an action of interpretation, of translation that goes on and will always go on. And St. Paul gave us the imagery of payment and atonement. But the Gospel writers were trying to tell us by telling us of the life of Jesus, and the events of Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus. Over these weeks, and even in Lenten series over the last few years, we have seen that the Gospel writers were showing us that the way he lived caused him to die. As I think about that, it seems to me that what he taught was not that God’s great problem was that God could not forgive. The Psalmist believed in God’s forgiveness. “Oh Lord, if thou should’st mark iniquity, who could stand?” But there is forgiveness with God. Forgiveness. Grace. It’s all in the Old Testament. Jesus believed in a God who forgives. The problem was not that God could not forgive. The problem was that God cannot get through. The problem was not that God would love to take away my sins and give me a personal relationship and a passport to heaven, but rather the problem is that God cannot change me! God cannot get through to me! Somehow or other there is no transformation here! I go on and I repeat again and again, and all of my brothers and sisters in history repeat again and again the same kind of foolish obstinate death and destruction over and over and over again! Jesus says, “If only you knew.” I suppose that it’s because of the World Trade Center bombing, but in the New York Times in the last two months there has been so much about the Middle East © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them Richard A. Rhem Page 5   and the Muslim Fundamentalist Movement. I am sure you have been reading about it in whatever you read. Egypt, particularly, where the Muslim Brotherhood has rejected violence but has spawned into other groups because there are groups that absolutely insist on blowing up the world in order to make their point. The problem with the Muslim Fundamentalists is that, not only are they against Israel and against the United States for being with Israel, but they are against their own secular Arab leaders. And what they want to return their nation and their culture to is a religious state, so that their own leaders also need to go, so they have really nothing to lose. There is this worldwide conspiracy. An article a couple of days ago relates how they are pouncing on the ancient Christian church in Egypt, the Coptic Christians. The interconnections with the World Trade Center bombing means that this terrorism is being exported and the battles will be fought anywhere in the world because our world is interconnected. The point of the article is that a professor from some Florida university says that we will have a serious problem for a long time to come, and it’s not certain what can be done about it because our world presents so many opportunities for this kind of guerilla terrorism. There is now a group of people, militant of mind, absolutely dedicated, willing to die, full of purpose, full of fire, who are determined to effect this revolution in our world, take it one generation or ten generations. I was interested to read the last paragraph of a guest editorial, which had a huge drawing at the bottom with a sign like a road sign that gives warning of men working. But this one man had a bundle of dynamite and the fuse was lighted, and on one side was Egypt with a sphinx and a pyramid, and everything all in devastation. Then over here was the World Trade Center and all was devastation. Everything - civilization devastated. You see, as long as we had east and west, U.S. - U.S.S.R. we had this focus on the super powers and the super powers sort of helped everything like this. But now we live in a world where there is eruption all over the place. What’s going on? People who are angry. People who have nothing to lose. People who will say, “Burn, baby, burn.” This professor from a Florida university says that the Muslim rulers themselves are going to have to put down those fanatical groups, and perhaps brutally. I read it and I say, “That’s true. That’s true.” How can you have a world where you can have that kind of stuff going on? You have to put it down with force, don’t you? But what happens when you put it down with force? All you do is cause it to come out in another place. It seems to arise in another more militant form, another more deadly form. Do you ever deal with those ancient blood feuds, those great, great angers and hostilities between people? Do you ever really solve the problem that way? Of course not!! That’s the story of history. Jesus, 2000 years ago, saying “Jerusalem, Jerusalem.” Was not his point that there is only one way to deal with that which is so endemic to the human situation that spews violence and spawns response in violence? That is the way of © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them Richard A. Rhem Page 6   sacrificial love. Turning the other cheek. Loving the enemy. Embracing the one who despitefully uses me. Of course, you can’t run a world that way. But my point is, you see, God’s problem is not that God cannot forgive me. God’s problem is that God doesn’t seem to be able to change me. Jesus didn’t die so that I could have the sentence removed and I could have a passport to heaven. I mean, wouldn’t that be wonderful. I could say, “Yes I believe. I’ll take that ticket. Thank you very much,” and remain unchanged. I couldn’t, of course. But that, as a matter of fact, is what has happened. We have this neat theological system of Christian doctrine where we have a problem, our sin; a solution, Jesus’ death. Sin removed. Guilt removed. Openness to God. All of that stuff and the world continues to be on the brink of exploding because in the human heart there is never any significant transformation. Not in my heart. And not in the hearts of Muslim fanatics, and Jewish Orthodox, and Christian Fundamentalists. The problem is not that God can’t forgive my sin. The problem is God can’t break through to me. I put my glasses on. Got it made up. Figured out. Don’t make me change. But, don’t you see, the word repentance comes from the Greek word metanoia , which means to change one’s thinking. The problem with the world is not that God can’t forgive the world of sin. The problem is that the world’s thinking will not change. And we egg each other on, and we escalate the violence, and we raise the stakes and nothing changes! Well, let me give you an image to close. Let’s imagine on the wall a beautiful Oriental rug. Since we are talking about things Middle East, let’s roll it up. Now it’s just a big roll up there. Now it’s like a movie screen. Let’s pull it down a little bit. You see it coming down a bit? You can begin to see the pattern? Now, of course, when it’s rolled up there it is complete. It is all woven. The design is done. We can pull it down as fast or as slowly as we want to, but when we get it all the way unrolled it will be a completed, finished product, but as it was already when it was rolled up, and that unrolling becomes a revelation. An unveiling. An unrolling of what is. That’s an old conception of God, of history, of creation. That’s the way former generations and former centuries used to think about God the King, omnipotent, in control, knowing the end from the beginning, controlling all things. But let me suggest another image which I think fits more with what we understand about the human person, about human willing and decision making, about the forces that are operative in history. Let’s image a huge loom on which there is a tapestry being woven. God is significantly involved in that weaving process, but we get involved as well. Punching in our threads. God moving and accommodating according to the threads we put in. You see, when you are operating on a loom with a tapestry that is in process, it is in process. It is in the process of being created. Its design is not yet finished, nor clear. And what happens over here will be somewhat dependent upon what happens over there, and about all of the input of all of the crazy people called human beings. God © Grand Valley State University �Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them Richard A. Rhem Page 7   negotiating, maneuvering, operative, engaged, judging. blessing, but not pulling strings. God let Jesus die. God let Jesus hang there. We are not puppets on a string. Jesus is the visible sign of God’s presence in the void. God never letting go. Never giving up. Never abandoning. Weeping. Broken hearted, but never giving up. You see the cross is that human NO to all that Jesus lived for! And Easter is God’s far grander “I will not take ‘no.’” That’s at least the way I understand it - it is what helps me know what I am called to do. That’s to follow Jesus. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/53592ecabdac6908165eb42a68498b32.mp3 d91aef8b0dee8131684d53a86d65075f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Palm Sunday Series The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God Scripture Text Zechariah 9:9-10, Luke 19: 28-48 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-0-19930404 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-04-04 Title A name given to the resource Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 4, 1993 entitled "Jesus Died Because of Our Sins, Not For Them", as part of the series "The Faith of Jesus: Trust in a Gracious God", on the occasion of Palm Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Zechariah 9:9-10, Luke 19: 28-48. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Atonement Forgiveness Grace Inclusive Love Nature of God Presence of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bd91d3605061e8e5442a6c71637018c5.pdf b16077893f69d3097bc22cf752c8427e PDF Text Text Suffering: The Need For Another From the series: Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Luke 22:14-24 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Maundy Thursday, April 8, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon We can bear just about anything if we are not alone. We can go through just about any valley if there’s someone to walk with us. Unless, of course, we are accompanied by friends like Job had in his deep valley. We call them “miserable comforters” because, although they started out well, by sitting silently for seven days and simply being present to Job, they could not keep silence once Job began to reveal the intensity and the depths and the darkness of the anguish that he was experiencing. The real test of a friend is whether or not they can just absorb all of that pain and darkness that sometimes erupts out of the human heart when it is in the intensity of the dark night of the soul. Job’s friends couldn’t do that. They began to protest against Job’s cries to heaven and his cries against heaven. I suppose that it is because of the experience of a Job, for example, that most of us live lives of quiet desperation, not really revealing who we are. And not really bringing to expression the things that are in our depths. I have a book on my shelf, an old book really, written by John Powell, Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am? Well, of course, I know why I am afraid to tell you who I am. If I really told you who I was, if I really dared to reveal myself, would you still be able to embrace me? Could you still love me? Or, with Job’s friends, would you begin to perhaps defend God, or whatever. Why Am I Afraid To Tell You Who I Am? That’s part of the deep anguish of human suffering: to feel isolated and alone with no one to whom to reach out and to reveal. The anguish within. Jesus understood that. On that night in which he was betrayed, he sat at table with his disciples. It may have been the Passover Feast or it may have been the night before Passover. In any case we are told it was at the time of Passover and it was that gathering around the table. I chose Luke’s story because of what seems to be a rather peripheral side note I suppose, and yet it’s the kind of thing I wanted to say tonight. Jesus sits at table and in the fifteenth verse he says, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you.” In the original the word is repeated. “I have desired with great desire.” Used once as a noun and once as a verb, expressing the intensity of that desire, that yearning, that longing. © Grand Valley State University   �Suffering: the Need for Another Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Jesus knows now there is no question about what lies before him. So in this dark night of his soul he gathers around him, with him, those whom he had come to love and to whom he had given himself. He says, “I desire with such great desire to celebrate this feast with you.” In our darkest moments we really need another. If there is only someone to whom we can speak. To whom we can reveal ourselves. With whom we can feel so safe that we know that there is nothing that we can reveal about ourselves that will result in our being condemned or judged or rejected. Then we can go through just about anything. Job’s friends proved flawed at that point. Actually, Jesus’ friends did too because, when they went from table to the garden, he said, “Stay with me and pray.” But they fell asleep. We do let one another down so often at the point of our greatest need – that need to know that we are not alone, that our darkness is shared, that our pain is being absorbed by another, and that no matter what we are going through for whatever reason there is still someone there with us. We can go through almost anything if we are not alone. It was appropriate that this series of Lenten midweek meditations conclude on this night, the theme of which has been the Mystery of Human Suffering, because Passover is really the Old Testament feast of liberation and freedom and deliverance from the cauldron of human suffering. Sometimes I wonder how I lived so long without seeing some things that are so very plain, but for some reason or other I know that, in my growing up and in my training and many years of my preaching, I have identified the Lord’s Supper with the death of Jesus for our sin. I perceived it only as a feast of atonement, or a feast of celebration of atonement. Now I believe that is not necessarily the case. A festival of atonement, the Great Day of Atonement, was in the seventh month, the tenth day of the month and it led into a harvest festival, the Feast of Booths, or the Feast of Tabernacles. But that wasn’t Passover. Passover was the annual celebration of the deliverance from Egypt. The Exodus was that prime central event of salvation when God with mighty arm set God’s people free from the house of bondage, from the slavery of Egypt. You read the opening chapters of Exodus. You read how the cries of God’s people went up to heaven. God heard their cry. The terrible suffering, which is duplicated all over our globe tonight. The horrendous measures of a pharaoh whose power was threatened by the growth of the population of a people. An oppressive ruler. An absolute monarch, totally unfeeling. All of the anguish of that Hebrew situation in Egypt is a paradigm of the ongoing suffering of humankind in the midst of history, and finally God says, “Enough.” And God sets God’s people free. God says to Moses, “Have the people roast a lamb and be ready to move because this is the night of freedom. It is the deliverance from the oppressive human situation of bondage.” God set God’s people free. That is the Old Testament experience to which Jesus connects this meal that we celebrate tonight. In the intensity of his own anguish, having suffered what he suffered – “My God, if possible, lift this cup from me.” All of the darkness that he endured, all the © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: the Need for Another Richard A. Rhem Page 3   suffering that was his lot – all of that, gathered now and coming down in a heavy shadow upon him, he gathers with those whom he loves. I wonder if he wondered if this Passover he was celebrating, or was about to celebrate, was a sign that God might do again then what God did in Egypt? Maybe so. Maybe he came to conclude that it was not through his teaching, through his modeling out, but that somehow or other he was going to effect the change that had to be effected in the midst of that people, in his dying. We don’t really know, except that we know at this point he knew inevitably that he would die. But would his death be the means of deliverance and liberation? Would his death be the way by which Israel would be set free, and then perhaps the whole world? Human suffering is the constant chronicle of darkness. It was true in Egypt in Pharaoh’s time. It was true in Jerusalem in Jesus’ time. It is true all over our globe tonight. Yet we come to this Passover Lord’s Supper to remember, but also to hope. To remember, to be sure. But the Passover in its initial celebration was a feast with sandals and backpacks ready, of a people who were ready to move into a new future. They were ready to go. They were coming out of darkness and they were moving toward the light. They ate bitter herbs. They ate unleavened bread. They didn’t forget that from whence they were going to depart, but they knew that they were on their way to something new. So, for us the Lord’s Supper is a Eucharistic feast. It is a feast of Thanksgiving because we take bread and break it, we take the cup and pour it, and we know that it cost the life of one who loved us and gave himself for us. But we know that we do this hastily, hastening toward Easter and toward the light and toward resurrection. So we come, perhaps in our darkness, but we come as a community together because that’s what Jesus intended so that we would never have to be alone. So that we could take one bread and drink from one cup and know that we were bound together in community, in communion, because you can endure almost anything if you are not alone. Jesus would make us brothers and sisters, one of another, caring for one another, supporting one another, being there for one another. Knowing that in this darkness the light will dawn, experiencing here in the bread broken and the cup shared, the community in communion that will enable us to move into the dawn of Easter. I experienced the breaking of bread and the sharing of a cup in a remarkable way a couple of months ago. Before I went on vacation I told you that a friend of many of us, Ernie VanDam – Ernie and Doris who were here for many years – that Ernie was on the threshold of death. I did not think by the time I got down there he would be living. In fact I anticipated getting down there and coming back for his funeral. We got down there and he had come home from the hospital with tubes, sacks, bags and was a shadow of himself. But yet it was Ernie, irrepressible Ernie. Then in the middle of our stay we had a call from a couple of other of our people, Marilyn and Weldy Brumels, who wanted to stop and see Ernie. I said, “Meet us at the gate and we’ll go in together,” because I had something up my sleeve. I brought a shirt with clerical tabs along with me. Not to wear at the pool. © Grand Valley State University �Suffering: the Need for Another Richard A. Rhem Page 4   (Laughter) But just in case. When we arrived at Ernie’s I said to Doris, “Open a bottle of wine and give me some bread.” Then the six of us—with Ernie in his hospital bed with sacks and tubes and things—we broke the bread, we shared the cup. I hugged him; I kissed him. All of us were weeping together. Loving each other. Made one with bread and cup. I don’t know whether Ernie will be back here or not, but I know that together we experienced the possibility in the darkness and the vulnerability and the mortality of the human situation, of that which lifts and enables us to transcend all of that. It happens at a rail like this, with a table like this and with people like this. You can go through almost anything if you are not alone. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2d992fc99977251c0e25d15c0a54e8e8.mp3 0853f52f2670acfc25b9e5b905e5f08d 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 Maundy Thursday Series Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering Scripture Text Luke 22, 14-24 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-0-19930408 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-04-08 Title A name given to the resource Suffering: The Need For Another Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 8, 1993 entitled "Suffering: The Need For Another", as part of the series "Job and Jesus: The Mystery of Human Suffering", on the occasion of Maundy Thursday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 22, 14-24. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Empathy Job Passover Suffering https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1989eea9dfa8b14a230505f9b61ceeab.pdf 5dddf1a82436b221dca8701ea7279b0b PDF Text Text The Faith of Jesus Vindicated Easter Sunday Text: Ezekiel 37:9; Romans 1:4; Mark 16:6 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan April 11, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon …breathe upon these slain, that they may live. Ezekiel 37:9 …declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 1:4 … Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified, He has been raised. Mark 16:6 I often have maintained that if Lent is properly preached, if one has been true to the Gospel and honored the Way of Jesus, Easter is just a matter of saying, “The Lord is risen.” In this case, this Lent, we have been speaking of The Faith of Jesus, and this morning I want to say that the faith of Jesus was vindicated by the Living God who brought Jesus to life from the dead. Note that the resurrection of Jesus is not really something so significant about Jesus. It is not something that happened because of some intrinsic quality of Jesus, something that would separate Jesus from us, his brothers and sisters. Easter is not the celebration of something that Jesus did. It is the celebration of something that God did. God raised Jesus from the dead. What we celebrate today is a mighty act of God, the Living God, the God whose breath is Spirit. The God whose breath enlivens and inspires. The God who creates in the first place and is able to call the dead to life. We serve the Living God who is able beyond human possibility, beyond human extremity to say ‘yes’ when we’ve said our final ‘no.’ Let me say it one more time. Jesus died the way he died because he lived the way he lived, and he lived the way he lived because he believed the way he believed. He believed in a gracious God who had drawn near. A God whose presence was unbrokered, available to all. A God who included rather than excluded. A God of the abandoned. A God who forgives, full of grace. Jesus not only believed that, but he lived it out and proclaimed it, and in so doing he ran afoul of the established borders of society: religion, politics, all of those who had a vested interest in the status quo, and keeping things as they were. Jesus was a © Grand Valley State University   �Faith of Jesus Vindicated Richard A. Rhem Page 2   destabilizer. Jesus ran counter to conventional wisdom. He challenged the assumptions on which people lived without ever examining them. Jesus destabilized the status quo, and they killed him. Easter is God’s reversal of that human judgment. Easter is the vindication of the faith of Jesus. In raising Jesus from the dead – and he really died – the creed says as much, for it says, “They buried him.” This was no masquerade. God called him to life from the dead in order to say Jesus was right, and Jesus’ way was God’s way, and Jesus’ life was the Life. And so we celebrate today the act of God in the vindication of the way of Jesus, and the faith of Jesus. Let me ask you a question for your Easter meditation. It’s a very important question. In the midst of all the beauty and wonder, the grand music, the lovely flowers, the festive occasion, which we experience just now, let me ask you this question. If the cross were the last chapter, would you follow Jesus still? If there were no Easter glory? If there were no grand triumph? If there had been no public vindication, would you follow the way of Jesus nonetheless? I suppose what I am really asking you is, “Why in the depths do you follow Jesus? Why do you call yourself Christian?” Is it because in all of the light and splendor of a moment like this we have that triumphant note, “The Lord is risen!” The one who said, “Because I live, you too shall live.” Is this then the way to victory and to triumph? Is it the guarantee of life beyond life and all of that? Do you follow Jesus for that reason? Then perhaps you will hesitate a bit as I raise that question to you. If the cross had been the last word, would you still follow Jesus? Would you still believe in that way, in that truth? I have been wrestling with that question, and my answer is, “Yes I would,” falteringly, too often half-heartedly, and always inadequately. But even if Good Friday were the last chapter I would want to live as Jesus lived, and believe as Jesus believed. Think about him for a moment again. He was a grand person. Think of the magnificence of his life. Think of the freedom with which he lived. Don’t you love him for the way in which he stared down all of the imposing structures of society? The way he challenged the conventional wisdom. The way he simply refused to be one more sheep in the mass. Don’t you love him for that freedom, for that courage? For that consistency. For that faithfulness that, even in the darkness of Gethsemane, could get out the words, “Nevertheless not my will but Thy will be done,” which was a commitment to the way that he had gone from the beginning. It was staying the course. It was being true to the vision. It was sealing what he believed with his very life. The compassion of the man! Breaking through the taboos of his day. Reaching out. Embracing the abandoned. Touching the leper. Gathering in the sick, the children. The humility of his life. Washing the feet of his disciples. Finally offering his life. Would you say ‘Yes’ to Jesus, even if the cross were the end? I would. I believe that to live that way carries its own reward and is an end in itself. I think that’s really the only way one can really follow Jesus. Not following him because of what he promises us. Not following him because of some external threat, as though there is some gun at my © Grand Valley State University �Faith of Jesus Vindicated Richard A. Rhem Page 3   head if I don’t. Not following him out of a sense of obligation, but following him finally because I love him! And I want to be like him! I want my life from the inside to be what I see his life to be, no matter what the end is. I’d better not say that loosely, glibly, because to say that is to say ‘No’ to so much of my American, twentieth-century culture that has shaped me. I am more a product of my culture than a critic of it. It means saying ‘No’ to that precious American individualism over against the needs of community. Saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus means saying ‘No’ to that wisdom of the street that says, “Take care of Number One.” Saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus means saying ‘No’ to my consumerist culture that would acquire, and acquire, and secure. Saying ‘Yes’ to Jesus means saying ‘No’ to the philosophy that winning is not only the best thing, but is the only thing. Would you follow Jesus if we had ended in the darkness of Good Friday at noon, with the thumping of the organ, and the forsakenness of the one who died the way he lived? Well! I anticipate your question. And perhaps your question would be, “Then doesn’t this make any difference? Then isn’t there any need for Easter? Isn’t this essential? Doesn’t this add anything?” And I would say, “Yes, it certainly does.” Easter is the foundation of hope in the midst of that struggle to follow the Way of Jesus in our world that crucifies him over and over again. In our world of Somalia’s and Northern Ireland’s and Bosnia’s, and Israel’s and Palestine’s, and Latin America’s, and poverty and sickness, and oppression and tyranny, and greed, and all of that. In the midst of that human scene, this gives us a ray of hope because it says to us that love will not finally be crucified. The things for which Jesus lived, and the things for which Jesus died, are the things that matter to the God who created them in the first place, the God who is able to speak a word that will raise the dead. Easter gives us hope so we might be faithful in following Jesus, where otherwise we could live only with despair, and we look at the victim and only promise more tragedy, with no alleviation of the awful darkness, which is so much a part of the human scene. If Good Friday were the last word, if the Cross were the last word, then history is a terrible tragedy. Then there is unrelieved suffering. Then there is nothing to scatter the darkness. Then I will be true to Jesus, and I would rather die as Jesus died, than to live the way the world tells me to live. But I would have nothing to say to all of those who suffered, and who continue to suffer. I would have nothing to say to those who bear the burden of the human story. Then the victim would always be victimized by the murderer. Then the violated one would always be trampled by the rapist. Then God or the powerful and oppressor, would always lord it over those oppressed and downtrodden. Then human history would be one unrelieved story of crucifixion. Then I would not know, I would not have a clue that there is something in this cosmic reality, some grace, some heart at the heart of things, some love that will not finally allow the darkness to prevail. I need Easter, lest I despair. I need Easter, lest the tragedy finally wear me down. I © Grand Valley State University �Faith of Jesus Vindicated Richard A. Rhem Page 4   need Easter to keep on believing and trusting and hoping. I need Easter to keep on following. When the Romans decimated Jerusalem in the aftermath of the events that we celebrate today, a band of Jews fled south to the fortress of the Massada and they barricaded themselves in that almost impenetrable fortress. The Romans threw up great ramparts, great building projects in order finally to be able to assault that fortress, and when they finally succeeded they found that band of Jews had fallen on their own swords and taken their own lives rather than be taken. But in the ruins that you can visit even now, there is a room that was the synagogue where they worshiped. In that synagogue when the ruins were excavated they found a fragment of a manuscript. The manuscript was of the prophet Ezekiel. The fragment that they found was Ezekiel 37, read this morning “…a valley of dry bones exceedingly dry.” And the words of the Lord, “Son of man, can these bones live? Thou knowest, O Lord.” And the word of the Lord is prophesied to the bones and the wind blows, or the Spirit blows, and the bones take on flesh and are joined together, and the bones become a living army standing up, brought back to life from death. God’s possibility in the face of human impossibility. God’s people have always been a people of hope, even of joy because, in the face of every human circumstance, they have been able to say, “Nevertheless.” I would follow Jesus if Good Friday were all there were. But thank God there’s Easter Sunday. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c21b12681b83a601466472bbb20c4bd6.mp3 ad0097c6290260a401f7188d54c1b431 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 Easter Sunday Scripture Text Ezekiel 37:9, Romans 1:4, Mark 16:6 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930411 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-04-11 Title A name given to the resource The Faith of Jesus Vindicated Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 11, 1993 entitled "The Faith of Jesus Vindicated", on the occasion of Easter Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ezekiel 37:9, Romans 1:4, Mark 16:6. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Hope Nature of God Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/bd9b5344140ce02c53bde00522ae6fbd.pdf 407342191b63529483b83bed3b9df3b6 PDF Text Text Good News From the series: Faith in Jesus: Trust in God Text: Luke 1:1-14; Luke 24:13-17, 28-35 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide II, April 18, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Luke 1:1-14 … As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked among with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. Luke 24:13-17 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. Luke 24: 28-35 We made a move last week. Easter was the hinge. We are making a shift from our Lenten pilgrimage in which we focused on the faith of Jesus, an examination of those things that Jesus believed—the deep convictions of Jesus’ life that shaped the way he lived, and the message he proclaimed, and the ministry he performed. We saw that Easter, when the crucified one is brought to life by God, was an affirmation, was a confirmation of that way of Jesus—the resurrection of Jesus by the power of God. And the Christian movement understood this resurrection as God’s ‘yes’ to Jesus—as the seal of God’s approval on the way Jesus lived and what Jesus taught. Now in the season of Eastertide, I want us to see how the Christian movement, coming out of the womb of Judaism as it did and drawing its vision from Jesus the Jew, came to define itself as having faith in Jesus. The difference is in the preposition. The immediate community around Jesus experienced that resurrection as “Good News,” as wonderful “Good News.” That “Good News” would eventually trigger a new genre into the literary world. The Gospels are really a literary genre of writing all their own. They are not biographies, not chronicles of the days of Jesus’ life. They are faith documents, proclamations of faith from a particular theological understanding. It is the life of Jesus seen through the lens of Easter, and it is a celebration full of joy in that triumph of the resurrection. © Grand Valley State University   �Good News Richard A. Rhem Page 2   When those first witnesses encountered Jesus, they reached for a way to express what they sensed, felt. How were they to explain it? What was their experience? What do you think? How might you have described it? Here was one who had been crucified, and with the shattering of faith and all of the disappointment that surrounded the darkest of all days, this one who had been crucified was present. There was a presence, and there was a power, and it was personal, and it was Jesus. It was the one who had been crucified who they sensed was with them. How were they to explain it? They spoke of resurrection. The idea of resurrection did not arise with Jesus’ resurrection. The idea of resurrection had been in Jewish faith, at least in Pharisaic thought, for a couple of centuries. There was a growing conviction in Judaism in those centuries that God would raise the righteous, who were suffering under the heel of the oppressor. The Jewish people believed they were God’s elect and chosen people, and that in their terrible sufferings God would not leave them destitute, but God would raise the righteous. In Daniel there is a statement to that effect. So the idea of resurrection was not introduced with the experience of Jesus risen from the dead. I think often in the Christian Church we have stressed in the Easter event the empty tomb, the objectivity, the factual nature of it. Actually, to be honest, it was not that historically objective. It wasn’t the kind of thing that you could demonstrate and prove. Luke starts out his Gospel by saying, “I have been aware of these things from the beginning. I have studied them very carefully, and I am going to give you an orderly account of these things. I think that we have a document whose historicity, whose reliability we can count on. Nonetheless, it is a document of faith.” And as a matter of fact the appearance of Jesus was not the resuscitation of a corpse, so that you go down the street and you see somebody you haven’t seen for a while. You shake hands and you say, “How nice to see you again. Hi, Jesus. Gee, I thought it was all over. How are you?” No, it wasn’t that. There was something strange about it. It wasn’t the resuscitation of a corpse. I used the prophecy in Ezekiel 37 in the Easter message last week. In the valley of dry bones the Spirit of God, or the wind of God, blows across those dry bones and they begin to come together. They get sinews and flesh, and they stand up like a living army. The point of that is that it is the Breath of God. It is the Spirit of God that enlivens. It is not the fact that the dry bones actually become living again. Too many of us like to hang on to that empty tomb as if to say, “doesn’t that prove it?” Too many of us cling to the empty tomb as though Jesus was laid in that tomb and three days later his corpse came to life and he walked out. Perhaps that imagery is almost inevitable. We tend to think in concrete images. And that can be misleading. The old funeral committal liturgy – we have a new one now with which I am more comfortable – but you’ve probably heard these words at a grave side: “To Almighty God we commend this God’s servant, looking for the general resurrection in the last day, through the Lord Jesus Christ, who’s coming in © Grand Valley State University �Good News Richard A. Rhem Page 3   glorious majesty to judge the world…” And then this, “The earth and the sea will give up their dead.” Now if you take that literally, over here in Spring Lake in the cemetery, all of a sudden, Whoosh! There they go! Or, say you are out on a Caribbean cruise and suddenly the sea at the Bermuda Triangle just kind of erupts with bodies. Is that how we must take that image, so concretely, so physically, of the resuscitation of corpses? We do need concrete imagery. It helps us. It is really all we know. But listen to the rest of the concrete, physical descriptions in the Gospel accounts. In the Gospel, Luke for example has Jesus at one point sitting down at table and eating fish, but that probably was in order to say, “Look this wasn’t a fantasy. It wasn’t a phantom, a ghost.” We are talking about real personal presence. On the night of Easter the disciples are behind a closed door and suddenly Jesus is there. I mean he “appears” - doors and windows are barred. How does he do this? No explanations are given. Then there is the story of the two guys walking on the Road to Emmaus and somebody joins them. They don’t recognize him at first. Now please, they don’t recognize Jesus? When he agrees to sit down at table with them, when he blesses the bread and breaks it and gives to them, then, says the author, “their eyes are opened.” But once they recognize him in the breaking of bread – whoosh, he’s gone! The body the Gospel writers speak of is able to do things no resuscitated body could do. Whatever Luke has to say about him having a filet of halibut, he didn’t need fish to sustain that spiritual body. A spiritual body. It seems a contradiction in terms and it can be confusing. The New Testament witnesses - how were they to express it? This one whom they knew to have been crucified, dead, buried, was experienced as alive, powerful, present personally. So they struggled to give witness to their conviction. That experience finds stammering expression in the Bible, using various images and metaphors, but it breaks down when we try to use language because it is an inexpressible experience. What was their Easter faith? It was Good News to them because it said to them that the God of Israel had said ‘yes’ to the Way of Jesus. They were following Jesus. They had listened. They had heard. They had heeded. They were followers of Jesus. They had come to love Jesus. Then on Good Friday it all ended in the darkness of Golgotha, and now this one who had been crucified was alive and it was Good News to them because it was a sign and seal to them that the Way of Jesus was the Way of God. It was a sign that Jesus was right, that God was like Jesus said God was. That Jesus was right over against the established religious authorities and the whole temple authority structure. Their experience of a resurrected Jesus confirmed what Jesus had promised, that God was a God of the abandoned, a God full of compassion, a God of inclusive love, the embracing of the whole world, a God who would touch and heal, a God who forgives. Not a God who was waiting for some kind of sacrifice to be made in order that God might forgive, but a God like the Old © Grand Valley State University �Good News Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Testament Psalmist said, “Lord, if you should mark iniquity who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you.” Jesus was right and the fact that the crucified one was raised confirmed in the hearts of his followers that Jesus was right. That was good news to them. You know there was nothing in the faith in the risen Jesus of those early Jewish followers, those disciples that would have necessitated the breaking off of the Christian Church. In the Eastern origins of the Christian movement there was no need that it be separated from the womb of Judaism because they were in line with that strain of Phariseeism that was looking for resurrection. Jesus was a righteous one. God raised Jesus. If Peter and James had first met Jesus they would have been dumbstruck, of course. But on reflection they would have said, “Hallelujah, God raised the Kingdom. It’s true. Jesus said the Kingdom was among us. The Kingdom is here.” Now, to be sure, they didn’t expect that one would be raised; they were looking for a general resurrection. So Paul, a Jew, writing that Letter to the Corinthians says, “Jesus raised as the first fruits, but the first fruits are the first fruits of a harvest that is to follow very soon.” Obviously those Jewish believers experiencing the crucified one living, named it “resurrection” and expected the whole thing to explode very quickly. Well, it’s been 2000 years, and it didn’t happen that way. But that doesn’t take away from what their experience was of Jesus’ living presence. It was a confirmation of Jesus’ Way, and they put their faith in Jesus. Again, not faith in Jesus in place of faith in the God of Israel. It’s not as though now Jesus is God. It is that they had faith in Jesus because of the God to whom Jesus pointed them. It was simply a confirmation of the God of Israel who takes the side of the righteous, which was their deepest conviction. It was Good News for them! But it was more than that. It also, as I concluded last week, gave them hope. It gave them hope that the world was not finally a Good Friday world, but an Easter world. As I said last week, “I would follow Jesus if Good Friday were the last chapter. I would follow Jesus if the cross were the end. I believe in Jesus’ way of being human in this world. But if that were the end, there would be no hope.” In our world especially with the media available to us, where into our living rooms and into our dens and our kitchens, pour all of the images of the anguish of the world, if I had no hope in God I would still want to follow Jesus. But I wonder if I wouldn’t run out of gas and if that would not be to live with a terrible sense of futility in the face of all that’s wrong in the world. What’s going on in Bosnia, again this week – it seems like it is as bad as it can get, but then it gets worse. The continuing drama around the world of Palestine and Israel, and you name it, to say nothing of Los Angeles, of racism, of sexism, of homophobia, of the divisions that tear people, of the moral vigilantes that would blow up the world for the sake of their idea of God and truth. In a world of almost unrelieved tragedy, if I did not believe in Easter, I think it would be almost overwhelming when you look into the faces of the poor, of the refugee, of the © Grand Valley State University �Good News Richard A. Rhem Page 5   starving child, of the old woman with a babushka with marks of suffering on her visage. It would be almost too much if it were a Good Friday world, period. The Gospel means literally Good News because God didn’t leave Jesus dead; God not only said ‘yes’ to Jesus’ Way, which I want to follow, but God also said, “Righteousness will not always be crucified. Love will not always and forever be defeated. Justice will not always be absent from the land.” I don’t know how. I don’t know when. The images in the Bible, in the New Testament, in the Easter community are rich pictures of a day when there is a city, a new Jerusalem, and through the city there is a river of crystal and on the banks of the river are trees whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Images of a day when God will make all things new and tears will be wiped away and there will be no more pain and no more sorrow, no more death and crying. Images of an age that is ending and a new age that is being born. They are all images. They are all stammering attempts to say, “I believe in God. I believe in a God who is creator, whose breath calls the dead to life, who vindicated the way of Jesus and one day, some way, will make all things new.” That’s Good News. That’s the Gospel. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/705d4e85a806c9319831cb2a3f839df1.mp3 090bf057ce6a0b7800a96e70c0ae10ce Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Eastertide II Series Faith in Jesus: Trust in God Scripture Text Luke 1:1-14, 24:13-17, 28-35 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-0-19930418 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-04-18 Title A name given to the resource Good News Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on April 18, 1993 entitled "Good News", as part of the series "Faith in Jesus: Trust in God", on the occasion of Eastertide II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 1:1-14, 24:13-17, 28-35. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Christian Community Gospel Nature of God Resurrection Way of Jesus https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cad7291f389d2d48d1276b24de994abc.pdf 8bd6d2d9a013037cb12dda40a155778c PDF Text Text The Human Face of God From the series Faith in Jesus: Trust in God… Text: Acts 3: 14-15 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide III, April 25, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon You…killed him who has led the way to life. But God raised him from the dead. Acts 3:14-15 We made a switch at Easter. We moved from the consideration of the faith of Jesus to a consideration of a faith in Jesus on the part of that early community that gathered around Jesus. The switch was a switch from examining how Jesus believed, which shaped how he lived, which caused his death, to an examination of how those around him who had been impacted by him, who had experienced the faith of Jesus, came to put faith in Jesus. The Christian movement, which only gradually differentiated itself from the Jewish community, is characterized by those who put faith in Jesus. So with a little switch of the preposition from the faith of Jesus to faith in Jesus we move out of Lent and into Eastertide and try to get a handle on how that early community came to view Jesus as the unveiling of God. Jesus had been a faithful Jew. He lived within the context of the covenant of grace. He knew no God except the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And he had no intention to do anything but to speak to that covenant community and to speak to them of their God – of the nearness of their God, of the graciousness of their God – and to call them to trust in that God. He was a threatening figure. His destabilizing ways undercut the established shape of things: the temple and the priesthood, the political and religious structures. And because of this he was crucified. It would have appeared that he was simply one more in that line of prophets that had characterized the history of Israel. A prophet would stand and speak for God and would bring upon himself the wrath, particularly of the leadership of the community, and would end up a martyr for the faith. Jesus himself spoke about that whole line of the prophets that had been killed by “Jerusalem.” So it might have appeared that Jesus was simply one more of those. He had made his proclamation. He had made his call. He had been obedient to God. And he was killed. © Grand Valley State University   �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 2   But there was something different this time. This time his followers became conscious of the fact that the one who had been crucified was alive. Not in some bodily form. Unfortunately in our Christian tradition, in order to affirm the reality of resurrection, sometimes we have spoken about the bodily resurrection, and there is not a bodily resurrection—that corpse laid in the tomb didn’t suddenly resuscitate and walk out of the tomb. Jesus is spoken of as “appearing.” When Paul lists the resurrection appearances, sometimes to an individual, sometimes to a group, he also includes the appearance to himself and we know that was a vision. The appearances of Jesus were the inward experiences of those who sensed that the crucified one was alive and present and powerful, but not in an ongoing historical bodily human existence. Rather, God had raised this one to another dimension of life or reality, but a dimension of life and reality that was able to be experienced as personally, powerfully present. Still active, still alive, still with them. So those who had been with him throughout his life, who had understood gradually the faith of Jesus, came to believe that in him God had done some unusual thing. That God had vindicated the Way of Jesus. That God had authenticated this one as God’s servant. That God had said “yes” to Jesus’ faith and Jesus’ way, and Jesus’ call. So the followers around Jesus, and the experience of Jesus living in their midst, spiritually alive, began to put their faith in Jesus. Now in the beginning those early witnesses had no sense of separating from the temple or from the Jewish community. For example, in the story I read a moment ago, Peter and John in the ninth hour, about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, are making their way to the temple to pray. They were good Jews. They were going to pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the God of the Covenant, the God of covenant grace. They didn’t know any other faith. They went to the temple to pray and to praise God. They went there with a sense that this one who had been crucified was with them also. They came to a cripple by the gate called “Beautiful,” who was placed there every day by friends so that he could beg for alms. Not a bad place to beg for alms, you see, people coming to church looking for a way to look as good as possible. So they flip him a coin, come in to the altar and feel a little bit justified. It was a pretty good place to pick up a nickel or a dime. This time Peter and John come by and he held out his hand and they say, “We don’t have silver and gold,” and he says, “Then you’re not worth much. Get out of the way so somebody can come.” That’s really the bottom line for this man. But Peter says to him, “Look at us,” catching his attention. “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.” And the man stands up and walks, and he begins to leap and to praise God. He goes into the temple and the people see him as the one who had always been there, day after day. He was the lame, the cripple, the handicapped one leaping and praising God, and they were astounded. © Grand Valley State University �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 3   This gives Peter an occasion to bear witness to what had just happened. So he says to them, “Why are you so amazed? Why do you wonder and stare at us as though through our power or our piety this man was made to walk? No,” Peter says, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus.” You see Peter and John after Easter and after Pentecost in the presence of the Pentecost Spirit, and Peter says, “It is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is the God of Israel. It is the God whom you are all here to worship. It is this God who has healed this man.” But, notice, this God healed the cripple in the name of Jesus. Peter says to the Jewish leaders who later call him on the carpet for what he has done, “You rejected the holy and righteous one. You killed the author of life.” In the New English Bible, (I like the translation a little bit better) it says, “You killed him who has led the way to Light. You killed him who has led the way to Light, but God raised him up.” Now he says, “…by faith in his name.” His name. The name stands for the person, for the reality, for the essence. The name equals the person in biblical thought. The name of God is the essence of God, the power of God, the person of God. And the name of Jesus is the person of Jesus. He says, “…by faith in his name.” His name itself has made this man strong whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given him perfect health in the presence of all of you. Now, this is rather interesting. Here in the immediate aftermath of the explosion of Good Friday and Easter the disciples are sorting out what in the world is happening. Jesus whom they loved was crucified. They think it’s all over. But it’s not over. They experience the presence of the crucified one, living! The crucified one then has been vindicated by God. God has said “yes” to this one, so this one was right. And this one is still with us now. Peter says a cripple is healed by the power of God through this one. What’s going on here? I don’t think they knew. I don’t think any of us could or can know exactly. But for Peter and John, representative of that early apostolic community, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of David, the God of covenant grace, the God of Sinai, the Creator – this God seems to be accessible or available through Jesus. Jesus becomes as it were, a handle on God. How do you image God? Could you form a picture in your mind? Maybe it’s off the cover of an old Sunday School leaflet of your childhood. Were you ever in a group therapy session or a seminar where they had you lie on your back? I remember one instance where I had to lie on my back, breathe deeply, close my eyes and visualize a huge white screen, and then let images tumble. Maybe somebody was reading something and you had to let images tumble. The only thing I ever see on that white screen is a white-out. One time I saw whole flock of white doves. (Laughter) I never see anything. I don’t visualize very well. Some people visualize very well. But, how do you visualize God? How do you bring God near? How do you get in touch? I mean, God – God! The eternal God, God incomprehensible! Beyond our human ability to comprehend, apprehend. That God becomes for us available, even visible in the way of Jesus. Jesus becomes the © Grand Valley State University �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 4   human face of God. God seems to draw near to us in Jesus. So Peter and John can say to this cripple, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” But they are not claiming that the healing is the power of Jesus. Rather they say clearly that it is the power of God. It is not as though Jesus now comes as a secondary God or in competition with God, but Jesus becomes as it were, the conduit. Jesus becomes the mode of access. Jesus is the one who brings God near. Jesus is the one who draws us into the mystery that is God. Jesus becomes the medium for the experience of God. There was no reason for a Christian Church at this point. For Peter and John, I think it would have been the farthest thing from their minds. If you had said they were going to be disciples of an eventual institution called a Christian Church over against the Jewish community of faith they would have denied it at that moment. Those who study this thing tell us that probably this passage is the earliest attempt to give some kind of formulation to that relationship of Jesus to God. It is stated here that Jesus is not God. I think Jesus might have been very comfortable with Peter and John bringing the power of God to bear on that cripple through his name because Jesus represented God as a God who heals us: the God of the abandoned - the God full of compassion - the God who forgives us - the God whose power is available to us, so I think Jesus probably would have been comfortable with this. I am not so sure Jesus was comfortable with what eventuated down another few decades and down another couple of centuries where Jesus is elevated, and elevated and elevated until Jesus is God. In the early creeds of the Church, this human servant of God, Jesus, is continually elevated until he becomes God and becomes for Christians the primary focus of worship and prayer. I am not sure that that development would have been in accord with the intention of Jesus. There are enough evidences in the New Testament itself that Jesus intentionally deferred to his “Father,” as he called God. Jesus never abrogated to himself the prerogatives of deity. Jesus was the servant. Jesus was the proclaimer. Jesus was the revealer. Jesus in his life showed the Way, spoke the Truth, offered the Light. But in the development within the Christian Church over the first four and a half centuries, the development moved from this kind of conception to a higher and higher and higher raising of Jesus to where (and this is in preparation for Trinity Sunday down the way a few weeks), where in popular conception we almost have three Gods. I don’t know if it’s possible to hop back over those centuries and over those creedal formulations to get back to something like this, but sometimes I think we’d be better off if we could be right where Peter and John were at the Gate Beautiful. If we could say to the cripples, to the broken, to the outcast, to those who are lost, if we could say, “Look at me. In the name of Jesus, God’s servant, stand up and walk.” You see what Jesus made available was the presence and the healing power of God. © Grand Valley State University �The Human Face of God Richard A. Rhem Page 5   The healing power of God . . . how do we access that? How did Peter and John access that power? It still happens today. There are still healings today. Everybody can’t do it, but some can do it. Some have the gift of healing. Some with the laying on of hands seem to communicate an energy that enlivens and makes whole. Perhaps they are people who believe and know that the whole world is pregnant with God’s power and presence, God who can make us whole so we can live, begging outside at the gate but dancing and leaping and praising God. Most of us are cripples. Most of us are dragging around so much baggage and garbage, and we hold tightly to our lives when someone needs to say to us, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” How are we healed today? In the name of Jesus, but now through the presence of those who follow in his footsteps. Reach over and take the hand of the person next to you. There, in that flesh, the way of Jesus and the presence of God continues to heal and make one another whole. If we could only divest ourselves of all of our protective layers, we might be more open to the power of God which surrounds us. Feel that presence…and “In the name of Jesus, who showed us the power of God, rise up and walk.” That’s a God you can love. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ffd458ae1223b42ce15f56618927d4e9.mp3 bd7e9c7d9827b010e6711433435645ff 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 III Series Faith in Jesus: Trust in God Scripture Text Acts 3: 14-15 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930425 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-04-25 Title A name given to the resource The Human 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 April 25, 1993 entitled "The Human Face of God", as part of the series "Faith in Jesus: Trust in God", on the occasion of Eastertide III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Acts 3: 14-15. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Faith Followers of Jesus Presence of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/34f3161a574651367bd33a00cbdf3006.pdf 8667306d8f5594aebda32d40a40b3cd5 PDF Text Text Family Values: Jesus’ Style Mother’s Day Text: Mark 3:35; John 21:16-17 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Easter V, May 9, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35 “Do you love me? …Tend my sheep…Feed my sheep.” John 21:16-17 The family is an endangered species. You hear about it all over the place. What ever has happened to the family? This statement for example: “Much of the very mechanism of our modern life is destructive of the family.” That statement is a quote from the National Congregational Council Report, 1892. They were saying it 100 years ago, and they are saying it today. There are prophets of doom all over the place who are telling us that society is unraveling, social relationships are full of brokenness and pain, and the family cannot possibly endure the pressure. Actually we are being barraged with bad news about the family, and in his book Culture Wars, James Davison Hunter says that, in those social issues that are tearing the fabric of American society apart, the family is the very central focus. The things that center around the politicization and the debate about the family are at the very center of those issues that seem to be at the core of what is causing so much ferment and so much disruption in the social order. The Congregational Report said, “the very mechanism of modern life is destructive of family,” 100 years ago. And so in our day there are incredible pressures and forces at work, creating new situations daily and with every passing decade. The pressures on the family are not to be gainsaid. Nonetheless I want to bring to you this morning a message of hope about my conviction for the potential that lies before us for creating in our day a more humane world and a greater sense of community which accords dignity and worth to every individual. All of the ruckus in our day about the destruction of the family is coming largely from the religious right. Now I don’t like labels. I know it’s too easy to lump people into a category and to label it and to do away with them. But I don’t know how else to say what I need to say this morning without saying some things rather clearly that will help you to get the context of my comments. We live in a day when (again, I have to use a labeling word) © Grand Valley State University   �Family Values: Jesus’ Style Richard A. Rhem Page 2   “conservative” means those who have become rigid in their righteous views. Now, I use this word narrowly. In its broader sense I am a conservative. Every enlightened and educated person needs to have a conservative edge to him or her because a conservative is one who would preserve the best values of the past. So I don’t like to give up the word conservative to a single definition. But it is used to describe what, in the Christian movement, in the Christian Church today, is a very vocal and a very militant right wing. Sometimes we speak of fundamentalists. Their approach to scripture is literal. Morality is very tight, reflecting a pattern of long ago. “Family Values” has become a code word for these people who have a very definite idea of what the family ought to be as ordained by God. But as James Hunter Davison says in this book Culture Wars, what is at stake is a certain idealized form of the nineteenth-century middle class family, a male-dominated nuclear family that both sentimentalized childhood and motherhood, and at the same time celebrated domestic life as a utopian retreat from the harsh realities of industrialized society. What the religious right is focused on is a model of the 19th century, that has certainly continued into this century, but which is in itself a relatively new (250 years or so old) view of a traditional family. In the culture wars phenomena of our day we have a great polarization in society, the polarization of those calling for new forms and shapes of human community, and those who would go back to the so called traditional or nuclear family. Researchers tell us today that in what many conceive of as the traditional family, where the father goes to work and there is a male dominated home and the mother stays home and cares for the children, and children experience the nurture of two parents, that that is the experience of only 4-7% of our population. Yet today we have a great cry and hand-wringing about the unraveling and disintegration of the family and the fabric of society. I want to say to you that I think a lot of the fear that sometimes borders on hysteria is the consequence of the excessive media saturation that we have, much of which is very right wing, particularly in the case of television, Christian broadcasting. I don’t spend much time with TV and I spend even less on Christian broadcasting. Some of you may be offended by this, but I have got to tell you I think that much of the appeal of these TV personalities draws fives and tens of dollars out of sincere humble and relatively poor people who are concerned about these issues. But just as disconcerting is the reality that they are also supported by the thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars of some of the wealthy who would support them in order to reinforce the status quo of a day gone by. I don’t think this world is being made more humane through the efforts of Christian television. I think Christian broadcasting networks, Trinity Broadcasting, or whatever you want to call it, whatever you want to watch, is a source of divisiveness in society. I think that it creates hostility. It works on people’s negative emotions. It creates fear in the human heart, leading to despair, and is one of the great agents in the culture © Grand Valley State University �Family Values: Jesus’ Style Richard A. Rhem Page 3   wars that politicize society and create much of the tension that we have in our society today. (Amen spoken from audience.) I was delighted when I got to New York last week at my Perspectives meeting to find that the May issue, which I hadn’t received yet, has an opening article by David Meyers. David, a very respected social psychologist at Hope College was here a few weeks ago talking about his book, In Pursuit of Happiness. The title of his topic in Perspectives was “Let’s Focus on the Family.” Now you’ll probably catch that the code words “Focus on the Family” is the title of the program authored by James Dobson. Some years ago we showed a series of films with that title by James Dobson, here on Sunday evenings. They were very good. They had a lot of good stuff in them. But what has happened to the whole Focus on the Family movement, the Dobson movement, is that it has become, I think, a movement that has broadened out beyond the families to the whole cultural war agenda. Homosexuality, the abortion issue, I could give you the statistics from David Meyers to show that what has happened to “Focus on the Family” is that it is no longer a focus on the family. Meyers is pleading with the right and the left, now that the election is over, to begin to truly focus on the issues of family, because while I think that the hysteria and the hand-wringing is all out of proportion, there is no doubt that the family is critical to the well being of society and the family needs our deep concern and deep commitment. David Meyers states in this article, for example, these troubling facts: child abuse reports have soared from well under a million cases annually to nearly three million. The divorce rate has doubled. The happiness in surviving marriages has slightly declined. Teen sexual activity has doubled with accompanying increases in sexually transmitted diseases. The 5% of babies born to unwed mothers in 1960 has quintupled to more than 27%. Increasingly everywhere in America children are having children. In 1960 one in ten children did not live with two parents. Today nearly three in ten do not. Now that’s just a collage by David Meyers and we could get other statistics and other dimensions of this from many sources, so don’t hear me saying this morning that there is not a concern for the wellbeing of the family. Don’t hear me saying that we do not need to redouble our efforts for the nurture of the family and the support of the family as an institution. All of that is true, but I want to say to you as a Christian community that there is a kind of hysterical frenzied hand-wringing cry full of despair and hopelessness which I think is like acid undercutting the morale of the body politic, the social structure, rather than bringing to it a kind of positive nurture and insight that we as the family of God experience together and need to share with our world. There is such a division and such a polarization in our society, fueled by intensive fundamentalist media saturation, so that I think people fail to gain an historical perspective and sometimes lose their civility and their decency. And with that © Grand Valley State University �Family Values: Jesus’ Style Richard A. Rhem Page 4   they lose also then the creative positive power to make a difference and to effect human transformation, the kind of human transformation that’s going on in Griffith School with their “Circle of Friends,” where children are learning how to care for one another. No, dear friends, the family isn’t going to fail. People are going to learn to live in every new social situation in covenant and in faithfulness. People are going to continue to find ways to live in marriages, to raise and to nurture children, and to build human community. In a book that I picked up this week, What Ever Happened to the Family there is a discussion of 1930 to 1990, only 60 years, but in that survey of those 60 years, it is amazing that there are any of us that are still normal, and sometimes I question us as well. Think about it. 1930 to 1990. The great depression into the 40s with the Second World War and world convolution, into the 50s with the kind of euphoria following the war and that era of peace and well-being that was also an era of permissiveness and fear of parenting in many respects. The eruption of the 60s, the whole civil rights movement, moving into the narcissism and “me” generation of the 70s and into the 80s, and to the present. We have not only fewer traditional families, nuclear families, we have blended families and we have perpetual families. We have all kinds of new arrangements, new forms of family and community. And it is not surprising when you think about the tremendous ferment in the world in the last half century. Hear me. The form of the family will change. The form of the family has always changed. There is no static period in human history. Every time there is a social eruption there is resultant change. And in the meantime there has always been social evolution so that new forms have evolved and people have simply learned to live in new arrangements. Sometimes it’s been good, sometimes not so good. The pendulum swings back and forth. But don’t believe anybody that tells you that this is the worst of all possible times. There are also wonderful signs of new possibility in our day. We have the possibility in our world today with changing forms so obvious of using our creativity to build a more humane world. Goodness sakes, aren’t we aware, isn’t it impossible not to be aware in our world today of so many things that were hidden to our forbearers? Don’t we know today that we are called upon to treat every person with dignity and respect? Don’t we know today that the nineteenth century nuclear family that was male dominated was oppressive to women even when women didn’t know they were being oppressed? Don’t we know today that the whole issue of abortion is about human rights? Don’t we know today that sexism is as blatant a sin as racism, which continues even into our day? Don’t we know today that sexual orientation is not a choice and a preference, but a given and that such people need to be accorded human dignity and worth? Don’t we know today that the possibility for human relationship and human community is as multiple as there are types of people? Is not the diversity of the human family an indication of a God who loves diversity and loves with © Grand Valley State University �Family Values: Jesus’ Style Richard A. Rhem Page 5   prodigality? Don’t we know today that we could be on the threshold of a world that may be unraveling in order that it may be woven into a more beautiful pattern? I have a friend who loves to say, “It is necessary to let things chaoticize.” We don’t like things to chaoticize. We want things orderly and predictable and manageable, but as a matter of fact it is the chaoticization of those structures and forms that create the openings where the new light can come through. But we can find new arrangements and new possibilities where we are people of good will who will treat one another with dignity and with value. That is the possibility. The forms will change because they will give way to the accelerating pressures of our contemporary world. But you can’t go home, friends, you can never turn the clock back, and the Christian family has no right to wring its hands in despair and sit down in hopelessness and weep. It is for us to model out a new community, because while the form of the family changes the function of the family remains the same. It is the function of the family to create the space for human connectedness where we learn to love and where we are loved, where we are cared for and we learn to care, where we see modeled out compassion and become compassionate. The family must be the one place in this world where love is unconditional, enabling us to be released to love unconditionally. The form of the family will change. Let it go. The function of the family will always be the same: the creation of human connectedness where I know I belong, where I know I am loved, where I am accepted just because I am, where I am cared for, where I in turn learn to love, to care, to mend and to heal, to do unto others as has been done to me in the community, the form of the family that is mine. But beyond the biological family, the family of God. We here, in this Christian community, we can be the extended family. It was in the 50s with all our prosperity and our economic acceleration and the growth of corporations and the moving of people all over the country in that time of prosperity that we lost the extended family. And again, you never go home. But we have the possibility in the church to be family to one another, to experience community here, to know our connectedness, to be cared for and to care, to feel the compassionate love and support of another and to compassionately love and support. I don’t think Jesus probably ever celebrated Mother’s Day. You know mothers are wonderful and Jesus had a Jewish mother, which is really special, I guess. There was a day when he got out on a limb somewhere and they said to Mary, “Have you read the newspaper report?” She said, “Don’t tell me!” She said to Jesus’ brothers, “Go get him. Let’s bring him home.” Doesn’t every mother want her son or her daughter to be decent, somewhere down the middle, not too far to the right or to the left? I know that as long as my mother was alive I stayed pretty close to the middle. (Laughter) I mean, it’s just a matter of respect, you know? But Jesus © Grand Valley State University �Family Values: Jesus’ Style Richard A. Rhem Page 6   was out there turning the world upside down and Mary came to where he was preaching and she couldn’t even penetrate the crowd, so she sent him a message: “Dear Son, I have come for you. Your Mother.” Not “Hi Son, This is Mom.” This was signed “Your Mother.” It must have been hard for her to receive a note back: “Dear Mother, who is my mother? Who is my sister? Who is my brother? Those who do the will of God, those are family to me.” Not in any way to denigrate the ties that are biological, but in the Christian community we know of ties that bind us more firmly, with a greater bonding: the ties of the family of God – those who do the will of God, those who love and seek to create a loving community. I think that’s “Family Values: Jesus’ Style,” because what God is about, dear friends, is to make better lovers of us all. Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/86cd07d8d50961092450bcdb1cc042c0.mp3 f7feec19bd2eec89238135a0fe994a5e 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 Mothers' Day, Eastertide V Scripture Text Mark 3:35, John 21: 16-17 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930509 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-05-09 Title A name given to the resource Family Values, Jesus' Style 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 9, 1993 entitled "Family Values, Jesus' Style", on the occasion of Mothers' Day, Eastertide V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Mark 3:35, John 21: 16-17. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Diversity Transformation Unconditional Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f97220491c563be8a6aa520560c839e7.mp3 8329a28ac6fd608bc8fede687923713d 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 VI Scripture Text John 20: 16, Revelation 22:4 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Eric Clapton, "Tears in Heaven," 1992. 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-0-19930516 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-05-16 Title A name given to the resource Would You Know My Name If I Saw You In Heaven? 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 16, 1993 entitled "Would You Know My Name If I Saw You In Heaven?", on the occasion of Eastertide VI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 20: 16, Revelation 22:4. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Transcendance Transforming Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/522480f194e26ae22f3a0a91bb9e74f4.pdf 1d742dc5c57186ba6c78634438620f63 PDF Text Text All This and Heaven, Too! Ascension Day Sunday Text: Luke, 24:51; Romans 8:31-39 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan May 23, 1993 Transcription of the spoken sermon …he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven. Luke 24:51 If God is for us, who is against us? …Christ Jesus…is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us….nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39 (Selected) This is Ascension Sunday. Some of you may have missed our service on Thursday evening. (Laughter) Well, I used to have to go to Ascension Day service. Someone asked me, “Do you have a service in your congregation on Ascension Day?” I said, “No. I love my wife, but to just preach to her alone wouldn’t turn me on.” (Laughter) You probably did miss the Ascension Day service, so we are going to do it today. We call it Ascension Sunday now, but Thursday was the 40th day after Easter. According to the way that Luke tells the story of Jesus there was resurrection on Easter morning, and then there was a period of time - 40 days – but that’s a period of time in biblical terminology, a period of time in which the risen one from the presence of God made an appearance to his disciples. Then, Luke tells us, those appearances ceased. He puts it on a timeline of 40 days, and then 10 days to Pentecost and the pouring out of the Spirit of God. So we celebrate Ascension Day in order to remember that the crucified one was exalted into the presence of God; that Jesus who was crucified was not only raised from the dead but was received into the presence of God, enthroned and empowered; that Jesus is in heaven with God for us on our behalf. According to the way that Luke tells the story, we have Jesus appearing to his disciples, but that appearance was the appearance of the resurrected one. Jesus didn’t have an address. He didn’t live someplace during that period of time. He always came from God. So the appearances of Jesus were the verification of the reality of his living presence with his disciples. The Christian Year is just about over. We are coming to the end of another cycle. But it is interesting that the story of Jesus as we celebrate it in the Christian Year is not a story that begins with the birth of Jesus. Rather the season of the © Grand Valley State University   �All This and Heaven Too! Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Christian Year begins with Advent when we celebrate the fact that God will bring all things to completion. We celebrate our Christian hope in the first season of the year, and then we move to Christmas and the birth, and the life, and the death, and the resurrection of Jesus. In other words, the story of Jesus is the ground of our hope, and the fact that Jesus is exalted in the presence of God is the deep assurance with which we live. I want to say just a couple of things very briefly to you this morning. The first may seem obvious and unnecessary to say and yet I am going to say it: the exalted one is none other than the one who was crucified. It is Jesus who died who is in the presence of God. The exaltation of Jesus is the consequence of the life that Jesus lived – the way that he walked, the faith in which he believed. Paul tells us in his great hymn about Christ in Philippians 2 that he “humbled himself.” Paul says, quoting a hymn of the time that, Jesus humbled himself, took on the form of a servant, became obedient unto death, even death on the cross whereby, wherefore, God has highly exalted him and given him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God.” The one who is exalted is the one who was crucified. I say that because sometimes I hear Christians talk as though it is possible in our present human experience to know victory and triumph. I remember a chorus from when I was a kid, “Victory in Jesus.” Sometimes I hear in some parts of the church a kind of triumphalistic attitude. Do you know that word? I looked it up in the dictionary. It’s not there! (Laughter) But it’s a word anyway. Triumphalism or a triumphalistic attitude is a kind of arrogant, superiority whereby we figure that we are on the winning team. You know - come to Jesus and be a winner. Join the church and be a part of the Christian movement, be “Number One.” It’s not true. Come to Jesus, and to the degree that you are faithful to the Way of Jesus, you might be a loser. Was Jesus a winner or loser? You say, “Well, he was a winner.” You know, “Crown him with many crowns. The lamb upon his throne.” I want to remind you on Ascension Sunday, that Jesus was a winner only because he was willing to be a loser. Jesus was a servant. Jesus went the way of suffering. He was a man of sorrow, despised and rejected. Jesus slugged it out and the world said ‘No’ to him. The world put him to death. And to the extent that the Christian Church today would follow the way of Jesus, I don’t think it would be any different. Young people, as you make your decisions, crucial decisions in your life right now, think long, decide carefully. It is so easy to just get caught up in the stream of things, unthinkingly making decisions, trying to be “Number One,” trying to capture the world. Suddenly you get yourself locked into a way of life and a structure of society. Then you get to be a doddering old fool like me and suddenly you say, “How can I get unlocked from all of this and really be what Jesus wants me to be?” © Grand Valley State University �All This and Heaven Too! Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Jesus was not a winner. Jesus was faithful to God. Jesus did all that he believed that God called him to be, and it got him a cross. We cannot leap over our present experience and grab that crown from Jesus and reign with him now. We are called to serve with him now, and if need be to suffer as he suffered. And if need be to go through crucifixion as he went through crucifixion because it is God who exalts the one who is willing to obey and follow - even to death. No cross. No crown. Don’t believe those superficial siren calls that say, “Come to Jesus and be a winner.” Well, that’s a downer. Want to reconsider? (Laughter) Is that all I have to say? No. I want to say this too, that in the meantime when you are slugging it out making the decisions that would honor Jesus and go the way of Jesus, you are not alone. Paul explained his understanding of the Christian faith in the letter to the Roman Church as fully as anywhere. Then when he concludes his exposition he says, “What shall we say to all these things?” That’s his question. “What shall we say to all these things?” He concludes, “If God is for us who can be against us?” There’s a promise for your confirmation and for us all. “If God be for you, who could be against you?” Then he summarizes all of the events we have just celebrated, for he says, “It is Christ who died, yea that was risen again, that is at the right hand of God who is praying for us.” Jesus in heaven, in the presence of God praying for us. Cheering you on. Encouraging you. Your cheerleader in heaven - one who has gone before you, who has gone through the cross, received the crown and is there in the presence of God and knows your name, and cares, and is with you and says to you what he knew so fully, “If God is with you, who could be against you?” Oh, you say, “But there’s a lot of things that could go wrong.” Paul knew that too. He says, “Famine, nakedness, persecution, sword, peril.” Well, what would be your list today? What things go wrong in our lives? Paul says, “It doesn’t matter.” Give the list however you want to construct it. Then he says, “Those things will never separate us from the love of Christ. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us,” but conquerors in the conflict and able to stand in the midst of the storm, able to stand against all of the pressures that would bring us in another way. You are not alone. God is for you. Jesus is praying for you. “There’s nothing that will ever separate you from the love of God.” That’s the way he concludes this chapter in some of the most beautiful lines that have ever been penned. He says, “Neither life nor death, nor principalities nor powers, nor things in the heights nor the depths, angels, things present, things to come, nothing in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” You have all you need here and now to follow the way of Jesus in spite of the cost, in full light of the cross. But even that is not all I can say, because the exaltation of Jesus is a sign to us that this is not all there is. There is all of this, and heaven too. © Grand Valley State University �All This and Heaven Too! Richard A. Rhem Page 4   I was really moved last week at how deeply so many of you were moved at the song of Eric Clapton, “Tears in Heaven.” It reminded me that down beneath our education and our sophistication and our kind of natural reserve for one another the hearts of us all are haunted by heaven. The longing of us all deep down is to know that this is not all that there is. Jesus is in the presence of God, through the cross, receiving the crown. We can’t claim the crown today. Ours is still the way of the cross, but beyond that we have one waiting for us, preparing a place for us. The promise of Jesus in heaven is the promise of heaven for those that follow Jesus. Jesus with us here. We with Jesus there. All of this. All of this and heaven too! Thank God. © Grand Valley State University � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d9e75a1ac9f58b67d16315a9b03e79e5.mp3 2780971a8eea22e14f748f0497f32fc1 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Ascension Sunday Scripture Text Luke 24:51, Romans 8:31-39 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-0-19930523 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-05-23 Title A name given to the resource All This and Heaven Too! 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 23, 1993 entitled "All This and Heaven Too!", on the occasion of Ascension Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 24:51, Romans 8:31-39. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Followers of Jesus Liturgical Calendar https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d330977562ac845c064c88573ff2823e.mp3 c1eaca2b59841e8e4d0f853274823c5f 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 Sunday Scripture Text Numbers 11:19, John 14:12, 18, Acts 2:4 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19930530 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993-05-30 Title A name given to the resource Spirit Embodied Humanly 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 30, 1993 entitled "Spirit Embodied Humanly", on the occasion of Pentecost Sunday, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Numbers 11:19, John 14:12, 18, Acts 2:4. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives History of Israel Non-exclusive Pentecost Universal Grace