785 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1e6f03fe89a3ae4265982d4550eb2125.mp3 f7b851e1b11ce73d0aecf8da111b8890 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1752ae2ab7ac76de21548984349c5796.pdf cbc9def3307f63343c085d65961ce107 PDF Text Text Rootedness and Belonging Eastertide; Mothers’ Day Philippians 3:8 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan May 14, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon For Mother's Day and for our reflection on the family, I have a dilemma for you. Perhaps a better word would be paradox, and that is that it is in the family that we gain our rootedness which has the positive value of giving us a sense of identity as to who we are and who we are being called to be. It is also in the family that we can be so deeply rooted that we fail to have an appreciation for an openness to the wonderful diversity of creation. That is something of a paradox, and what I want to say to you today is that the family is so terribly important for giving to us a shaping and a formation that will enable us to move through life effectively, but it is such a perilous task because if we don't do it with great care, we can be shut down rather than opened up. A couple of weeks ago I was invited to Grand Haven High School for their Diversity Day. The Diversity Day was a morning in which they brought in someone from the outside, an actor, a psychologist-type, a very effective speaker who addressed half the student body while the other half went to their respective classes. And then they did a switcheroo, and I was one of a number of guests who were brought in to address or to be with the students in their respective classes while half of them were being addressed by the star of the morning. I, of course, represented the field of religion, and I was paired with Rabbi Alan Alpert, my good friend from Muskegon. Bob Kleinheksel was also one of those who engaged with the students. But, Alan Alpert and I, before we opened our mouths, were already a statement to the diversity that exists within the religious community and the fact that that diversity can be overcome with mutual respect and affection, as we were very good friends and we are able to share with the students about our own relationship and the relationship of our respective communities. As I began to address that situation, suddenly I recognized the fact that all of my nurture, all of my training, all of the influences of my home and my church, all of the efforts and the prayers of my parents and my pastors and my teachers were to the end that I might be narrowed down, not opened up. This simply struck me. Obviously it wasn't anything I didn't know all my life, but I never thought about it in this context. I realized before those students that a diversity day like that in old © Grand Valley State University   �Rootedness and Belonging Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Kalamazoo Central when I was a Maroon Giant would have threatened the pants off me, because I was traditioned, I was nurtured, I was shaped, I was formed, I had rigor mortis of the soul before I was graduated from high school, and it struck me so that all of that which was done for me was to give me tunnel vision, narrow me down, secure me in the truth, and, as I shared with the students, done by tender, loving, well-meaning parents and pastors and teachers with the best of intention and done so tenderly, but it is a fact that it was to close me down. Now I am so far from that today that I can hardly believe that it's still going on, and so, I said to the students, "That doesn't go on anymore, does it?" They said it does, and of course I really knew that it still goes on, because isn't that what home and family are for? Isn't that the function of parents? And then, thinking about it, I recognized how perilous it is to do that job of nurturing and shaping and forming. Now, the positive side of it is obvious. I was rooted, and rootedness is essential for a healthy human being. I knew who I was; I had a sense of identity, a strong sense of identity. I had a sense of God and family and faith and those fundamental values and issues of our human condition. But the peril is that nurture and formation end by creating walls around us, isolating us from the other, and insulating us from the rich diversity of the human experience. I had set aside an article that I came across sometime ago for this particular Sunday prior to my Diversity Day experience. It was written by a fellow named Pico Iyer in Civilization, the magazine of the Library of Congress, and the title of the article is "Citizen Nowhere," an excerpt from a book recently published. This particular author, who is a journalist, was reflecting on the fact that there is a new human being emerging, a human being with a global soul. He represents that group, which certainly is a first-world, affluent phenomenon, nonetheless a growing phenomenon in our world today and a kind of experience that many of us can somewhat identify with, although his situation was certainly in the extreme. He grew up in India and he never knew his father's native tongue nor his mother's native tongue, they all shared British English, and he was born into a home of Hindu faith, raised in Christian schools, and identifies mostly now with Buddhist communities. He spoke about the nature of this phenomenon which is becoming more and more the case in our world where one may not dwell on the continent where one works, or, in his case, have no relatives on the continent where he more or less lives. He told about the thousands and thousands of miles, air miles, that he clocks and said these kind of people are the people that still engage with the rituals of death, perhaps scattering a father's ashes 6000 miles from where one lives, or get up in the morning in Santa Barbara and in the evening be in the broken heart of Manila Or start out in the Big Apple and end up in the dusty streets of Haiti. A world in which we are thrown around and thrown together, exposed to all kinds of experiences, one upon another in rapid fire, ending up with a porous personality that doesn't really know who it is, a porous personality that can become whatever the particular situation and location calls © Grand Valley State University �Rootedness and Belonging Richard A. Rhem Page 3   for. People who grow up as he did in three different cultures and live somewhere in the cracks, people who are so informed about every facet of every issue and can see so many sides of every question that they have no basis for making a judgment or come to conviction or make any commitment. He talks about being unaffiliated. He says, "Oh, there's a blessing of being unaffiliated - one can continue to have new experiences that bring wonder and awe. But, unaffiliation can also cause lack of responsibility and accountability." And then he spoke about the threat of rootlessness and the fact that the human soul needs rooting, and that in this day, in this phenomenon which is becoming increasingly common, the threat is for a kind of amorphous being to evolve that has no sense of identity when no one else is around, who doesn't know really who one is or what the human condition is all about. So, if it is possible to be so deeply rooted that one is isolated from the diversity of creation, it is also possible to be so exposed to that diversity that one has no sense of who one is and what one is called to be. Interesting juxtaposition and on this day of the family, this Mother's Day, I thought it might be good for us to recognize the paradox of that need for nurture and shaping and formation and that need to so nurture and form that we will be able to transcend all of those givens of our lives, those givens over which we have nothing to say, the color of our skin, our race, our ethnic grouping, our national alignment, our religious tradition, our creedal grouping, our sexual orientation, those things that are simply given to us. Nurture that is positive must root in order to give a sense of identity, and nurture so that there is the ability to transcend all of those natural givens in order that we might find a community in which the other is no longer other, but is embraced in a larger grace and love and community. At the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus, there was a breakfast by the Sea of Tiberius, with those going back to Galilee. Peter had said, "I'm going fishing." They said, "We'll go with you." And, however they took up their lives, it was in the picking up of that life in Galilee that they experienced again the presence of the Lord, but they had come to the bonding of community. The classic example has to be Paul, who has gotten a lot of bad press and probably deserves most of it, but that amazing thing about Paul is the degree to which he was able to transcend the traditioning, the formation of his life. He talks about it in that third chapter of Philippians - circumcised the eighth day, born of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews. As to the law, a Pharisee. As to zeal, persecuting the church. As far as the righteousness of the Law was concerned, blameless. All of that and what did he do for it? And this is the danger of effective nurture. It made him a violent person, because he was on the road to Damascus, issuing warrants of arrest to those who were of another Jewish sect, the followers of the Way. If nurture is not carefully given, it will imbue in one the idea that one has the truth and, whether taught explicitly or not, © Grand Valley State University �Rootedness and Belonging Richard A. Rhem Page 4   will imply that is the only truth. It will isolate one from the larger human community and, where things don't go well, it can issue in a violent personality. We see it in our world today which, as Piko Iyer has said, is becoming a global village. A global village sounds secure, but it's a global city and it's threatening, and the rising of nationalisms around the globe are full of peril and danger, and in the religious sphere the upsurge of fundamentalists is a consequence of fear and the insecurity of those who feel threatened in their little respective selves. If we are not careful in the nurturing of children and adults, we'll be creating persons who are threatened by the other and have a potential for violence. But Paul had an experience and it was an experience of Jesus Christ, and talk about transcending, he takes all of that bundle of credentials and says, "I consider it refuse." Another translation says rubbish. That's a little radical, but then Paul was never known for moderation. But he was so imbued with all of that tradition of his Jewish Pharisaical face, that for him to be able to tie it all in a bundle and let it go was nothing less than a miracle of grace. He saw something more. He was the one with some validity; he is credited as being the founder of Christianity. Not Jesus, but Paul, because Paul saw in the Jew Jesus, in the God of Jesus, the God of Israel who was a God of inclusivity - he saw the possibility of a grace of God that embraced the whole world. Paul was the universalizer, taking his cue from Jesus, and he was able to let go. That's a miracle. Do you know how tough that is? He let it all go and created a whole new community, and I want to say that the only reason for the church is to be a community which can give a sense of belonging and be a center for generating inspiration, emerging in conviction and commitment for the transformation of the world through the tearing down of all barriers that separate humankind, to tear down those barriers that separate us from the other who become so threatening because of color of skin, because of ethnic curiosity, because of sexual orientation. Suddenly we de-humanize, we denature, we demean and destroy. This community is a community of inclusion intentionally, respecting no boundaries or barriers that would divide. It's not easy. It is very easy to nurture, deeply rooting. Giving a narrow sense and a tunnel vision builds strong institutions, builds strong congregations. It's quite a risky thing to tell you that we don't possess all the truth. It's quite a risky thing to tell you that there are other places where the grace is just as free, quite a risky business to tell you that you don't have to be here any more than you have to be here in order to be fueled up to get out there and do the job you are called to do. I'm proud of this place; I'm proud that last night at "A Night of 100 Stars," honoring volunteers in this area, 20% or 25% of the volunteers in this Tri-Cities area came from this community. (Three of our people were very instrumental in putting on that event - Trudy Schultz, Kathy Bolthouse, and Gloria Klinger; there may have been some others involved.) I'm not surprised at all. Peter has been leading the charge into this community for a number of years now because the © Grand Valley State University �Rootedness and Belonging Richard A. Rhem Page 5   purpose of this place is not an end in itself; it's not that this place may exist. It is that this place may exist in order to send people out of here with a sense of breadth and grace and reconciling love that will tear down every barrier and bind together all the people of God, all of the children of God. It's a tricky business, but what a wonderful, freeing thing it is when the fear drops away. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to embrace the other as a brother or a sister, and what a beautiful community this is. We had an Elders' Meeting again this week and I said to the people who came, "I love this community. I'm so proud of it. I believe in it because of the kind of people who are continuing to come to it, all sorts and conditions of humankind. Wonderful." Now, how do you nurture so that you create enough rootedness through a sense of belonging in community that you can go forth, having transcended all peculiarities? That is the task and that is divine. © 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 Mother's Day, Eastertide IV Scripture Text Philippians 3:8 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20000514 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-05-14 Title A name given to the resource Rootedness and Belonging 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 14, 2000 entitled "Rootedness and Belonging", on the occasion of Mother's Day, Eastertide IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Philippians 3:8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community Diversity Inclusive Mother's Day https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b4f2d5998e348e4dee5c1abd28f9874e.mp3 898de4f0a619f4d4f3b5e96044022484 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/673ce979c4bcac903bf35974e4110c41.pdf edb5b06530ab89ee66deac8f8de89fcf PDF Text Text Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells Memorial Day Weekend Text: Psalm 84:2; I Corinthians 5:35-36; John 19:40 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan May 28, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Memorial Day Weekend, a weekend in which we remember those that we have loved and lost a while. It is a civil holiday and, along with Thanksgiving, perhaps the civil holiday that has the deepest spiritual significance, a time to honor those who paid the supreme sacrifice to preserve our liberty and to keep our freedoms alive, and then from that, the custom generally of remembering those who have gone before us, of visiting cemeteries and adorning graves with flowers, a time to pause, a time to remember, a time to grieve and a time to give thanks. I remember vividly my first visit to a military cemetery. It was in the spring of 1984 in a little Dutch village toward Arnam. It was a British military cemetery and I think the village was Osterbaan. We visited a war museum there, and then we walked across to the cemetery. As I said, it was spring and the shrubs were absolutely splendid, and the cemetery was so obviously kept meticulously, with great care. I had never been struck before in the environment of a cemetery, but here I was deeply moved, I think for the first time existentially, to look across the field of crosses and stars of David, the names of primarily young men, the dates of birth and the dates of death indicating the brevity of life and the horrible cost of war and the price of preserving freedom and beating back the demonic darkness. It was a deeply moving experience; it was a spiritual experience; it was one of those moments along my pilgrimage way that I can remember that I really felt something very deep. In 1995, Nancy and I led some pilgrims over to Europe and there outside Cambridge, England, there is an American military cemetery. Again, one simply cannot come upon that scene without being moved. A field of crosses or stars of David in orderly rows, and name after name after name of the youth of the nation. A beautiful memorial wall, a striking chapel, and once again I felt how we have honored our dead. There has been that tradition; there have been those who have seen to it that those who paid that supreme sacrifice are not forgotten, and the very way in which it is all kept speaks of the dignity of the human spirit. Going to Normandy 50 years after the invasion, stepping on the beaches and looking on the cliffs, seemingly impossible to scale, set with concrete bunkers that © Grand Valley State University   �Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells Richard A. Rhem Page 2   seemed impenetrable with their huge guns facing out to sea, then moving up into the American cemetery there, one again feels the tremendous cost in which that battle was won that turned the tide of the war. Well, those experiences for me, I must admit, were the experiences that imprinted deeply upon my consciousness the importance of the dignified honoring of the dead, and of having an appropriate setting in which to remember, to grieve, and through memory to feel the connections once again, and to let the love of those we have loved and lost well up within us. The year 1984 was a significant year for me; it was the year of sabbatical, the first six months of that year, the first three months of which we spent in Schenectady where I was the theologian-in-residence in this great, old First Church in downtown Schenectady, and it was there that I was introduced for the first time to a Columbarium. Within that grand old building there was a room set aside, chapel-like, with a table and a candle and an open Bible, and one wall in which there were niches in which were the urns of those whose cremains were being kept. A sacred place in which the people of the congregation could come, sit, meditate, pray and remember, and could experience again the connectedness with those they'd loved and lost. In 1984 I came back in the fall to take up the task here once again and one of the things we did as a kind of exercise in renewal was to constitute eleven task forces in all aspects of our community life. One task force, at my instigation, was a task force to study the viability of creating our own columbarium. The conclusion of that task force at that time was not yet, not now. It may have had something to do with the fact that we included the local undertaker on the committee, I don't know. But, columbaria involve cremation, and in 1984 that was not as common as it is now. It is becoming a more common practice, for various reasons, reasons of space, ecology, economic considerations, and more. But, in any case, I think that it is time for us once again to have that option open to those for whom that is an appealing place in which to remember their loved ones. I entitle this message, "Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells," because it is very much my own personal perspective. Burial customs are a part of every culture and every society, and there are those who say that burial customs are the last customs that a people will change, it is so primal. It is written so deeply into our past. In traditional communities, there are ways that this is done that are simply taken for granted, as though that's just the way it is and the way it ought to be. I read that little section in the Gospel of John, the burial of Jesus. Whether the story was intended to be literal or symbolic is beside the point. I read it for that little phrase, "... according to the burial custom of the Jews," because every people have had certain rituals of death, certain burial customs, and this is not a matter of some absolute truth. It is not a matter of right or wrong. It has everything to do with a personal perspective or with a personal inclination. And so, on this Memorial Day Weekend which is a Memorial Day which doesn't have to share place with Pentecost, which happens sometimes, or Baccalaureate, which © Grand Valley State University �Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells Richard A. Rhem Page 3   happens other times, but rather is a weekend which stands alone, I thought it would be the right time for us simply to think together about one more option that is available to us as we deal with death and dying with dignity and with honor. There is, as I said, no right way to do this. When I began in the ministry, I used to conduct a funeral service with an open casket in the front, which I haven't seen for a long, long time. Those customs do gradually change. If we were an Episcopal congregation, the casket would be led in procession by the cross with the clergy reciting resurrection texts, a very nice ritual, actually. We have in this congregation a funeral pall which is a vestment cloth that goes over the casket, which I don't know whether we have used yet, just because when it comes to that moment, we haven't gotten into that kind of rhythm, but it's a very, very good custom because it puts a sameness on every casket, whether it is mahogany or brass or pinewood box, and a beautiful symbol of our leveling before the face of God. Whatever the customs of a particular community may be, if they are done with dignity and meaning and if they communicate that to those who are grieving, then they are good and they are right. But there is one word that I ought to address to this matter of cremation because it is my impression that early on it may have been practiced by those who were intending to deny the resurrection of the body. Whether that is true or not, I don't know. I'm sure that it was true that the Church reacted to cremation, sensing perhaps that it was a denial of the resurrection of the body. Paul's chapter on the resurrection, I Corinthians 15, ought to dispel any problem with the matter of cremation, for in that rather involved and torturous discussion of the 15th chapter, this much is clear - Paul arguing by analogy says that while there is continuity, there is also discontinuity, and that which is buried is not that which comes to life again, and it doesn't make one bit of difference whether the corpse is laid in the ground or the ashes placed in an urn. According to Paul's argument, you don't put a plant in the ground and expect that plant to come back. A plant bears seed, the seed is buried, disintegrates, dies and from it comes a new plant which is resurrection. He talks about a spiritual body, but how can you have a spiritual body? He's stammering, of course, because he's talking about the things about which we really don't know. But, what he was affirming was what he says I think even better in Romans 14, "Whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord, so whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's." And his resurrection faith and hope was based in his trust in God who is the God of the living, the God who gives life and to whom we go when our breath returns to the one who gave it. So, as far as the manner of dealing with the body, it is a matter of indifference, a matter of personal preference, a matter of choice, and I think we are seeing a movement more and more toward the practice of cremation. © Grand Valley State University �Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Why here? Why in the environment of the Church? During that year, 1984, once again Nancy and I made a little journey northward to Friesland, to the North Sea seaport of Holwerd from which my mother's family immigrated, and in those little villages in Friesland in The Netherlands, and generally in Europe, the skyline is punctuated by grand bell towers. Driving into the village, making one's way to that tower, one comes to the village church and there around the church, mantling it, the old churchyard, was the cemetery which is the burial custom of Europe for years. We made our way through the gilded fence and there almost immediately I saw on the gravestones the names of my maternal grandparents, van der Houde and Posthumas, and it gave me a sense of connectedness. It made me realize how we are all bound together in the chain of the generations, bound together in the bundle of life, bound together in the communion of the saints. The old terminology was the Church militant and the Church triumphant, but, as a matter of fact, all one. It is not at all unusual here in the celebrations of baptisms or marriage or in the solemnity of the funeral service to have three and sometimes even four generations present, rarely five, with deep rootedness in this family of faith, this concrete congregation. With the mobility of people in our day you may say, "Well, there is no longer such a thing as the village church," and yet, I sense with our youth going out and having their children, more and more they are coming back here in their family sanctuary to the baptism of their children. Again, the title of the message, "Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells." This is where my heart dwells. This is where I have lived in community with you all these years. This is where my children have been baptized; this is where my children have been married, made their profession of faith, come back to have their children be baptized. It is here that I have family beyond my family. It is here that I have community, the bonds of love, and it seems to be that one of the finest, if the final, service that the Church can offer is the environment for the remembrance of those we have loved and lost a while. I have some logistics to work out and I know it will create some special circumstances, but I envision having the whole thing happen here - the visitation, service of worship, the gathering following, and for those who so choose, the burial in the Columbarium in the shadow of the Chapel, where one can come at any time to remember, to weep, to laugh and to give God thanks for life enriched by deep bonds of human relationship that death finally cannot break. Joshua said to Israel on one occasion, "Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we'll serve the Lord." I would say to you, "Choose that which feels right for you, but as for me and my house, remember us where our heart dwells." © 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 Memorial Day Weekend, Eastertide VI Scripture Text Psalm 84:2, I Corinthians 5:35-36, John 19,40 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-0-20000528 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-05-28 Title A name given to the resource Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells 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 28, 2000 entitled "Remember Me Where My Heart Dwells", on the occasion of Memorial Day Weekend, Eastertide VI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 84:2, I Corinthians 5:35-36, John 19,40. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Remembering https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b7be61b1d531e27356aa3566d19f3f01.mp3 694f590459d6f60d2cbec393f470ce50 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7fc9a1931c55f7ba5134056d3428ef95.pdf 3a6b67ccb6e39ca5ff2b463abb1870f1 PDF Text Text I Wish Someone Had Told Me That – Or, Did They? Baccalaureate Sunday Text: Romans 8:31,39 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Eastertide, June 4, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon This morning I want to speak to you graduates. These remarks are for you, but the congregation is invited to listen in because there may be a thing or two for them, as well. In this year 2000, when you get a diploma, I received a Medicare card, and that may qualify me as a sage. Having lived this long, I have acquired some wisdom, and I thought there were some things I would like to share with you. In fact, they are the things that I wish someone had told me - or, did they? There are some things that I wish that someone had told me as I was growing up, some things that could have saved me some anxiety and some mistakes, some things I wish I had known. I wish someone had told me that - or, did they? Maybe they did, because you don't always listen, nor did I, and sometimes the wisdom that flows just rolls off your back, and later on, maybe, this conversation will come into focus. I have no illusion that just another sermon is going to change your life, but I didn't really think you wanted another sermon, either, so I thought I'd just tell you some things that I wish somebody had told me, or if they did, I wish I had caught on to. At this commencement season, I am aware of the fact that these young people and countless others across the country receive all kinds of encouragement and challenge, in motivational speeches we'll hear from Presidents and Generals and significant people who will address all kinds of graduating classes and all phases of education in these days. We'll get little snippets on the television news and, by and large, they will be words of encouragement; they will be words of motivation to achieve, to pursue your goals, to pursue your dreams and to work hard and to accept the challenge of life, and that's good, because it is true that you will kind of slide through if you can, but you also do respond to challenge when it is significant and meaningful. So, I think all of that is good, but I also had the strong feeling as I contemplated Baccalaureate Sunday that we do put a lot of pressure on our graduates. As parents and as pastors and as teachers, we create a lot of pressure for them and we are not always totally honest with the way life really is. There are some things we don't tell you, and I thought that this morning I would © Grand Valley State University   �I Wish Someone Had Told Me That – Or Did They? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   like to tell you some things that I wish that I had understood. It's a little different from the voices you're going to hear at this time of graduation. I hope you get a lot of challenge, a lot of encouragement. I hope you are stirred and motivated, but this is going to be an alternative voice. First of all, what I wish someone had said to me is: Relax a little bit and take time to live, and don't let the pressure squeeze you into a mold, meeting everybody else's expectations, the expectations of all the people in your life who are important and society in general. Take some time to live. Have a bit of humor about your life. Relax a little bit; let up a little bit. I suppose there's not another church in the country that would ever print that poem on the front of its liturgy by Jenny Joseph about wearing purple, but the poet suggests that when she gets old, she's going to wear purple, she's going to do all kinds of outrageous things, all kinds of silly things, all kinds of foolish things. And the only reason that poem sells, the only reason we read it and we smile at it is because in all of us we spend an awful lot of time toeing the mark, living up to expectations, doing the thing that is wise and respectable and responsible and in all of us there's a little something that needs to break out of that once in a while. If the poet is going to wear purple and be outrageous when she's old, she does suggest that maybe she ought to start practicing so it wouldn't be such a shock when she got old, and it occurred to me that we're not always honest with our children and our youth. We push pretty hard and our society creates a lot of pressure on young people. I think they're working very hard. I'm very impressed with what our young people are doing these days and I think it even goes farther than that. There are probably a few Baby Boomer parents that need to hear what I'm going to say this morning, also, and that is that we can get into a mode of drivenness about achieving and succeeding. We are bombarded by the media with the fact that we ought to be consumers, we ought to purchase and possess and acquire, and there is a groundswell in our society, I sense, that it's not easy to live up to, not easy to meet the expectations, and we start with young people like this and we simply try to push them and not say to them, "Once in a while it's okay to wear purple and to dance in the rain and to do something foolish, just for the sake of it, because it's a part of living and, God knows, it's not easy and you're going to have to be responsible and work hard and do all of that which you have been encouraged to do by the many voices that you have heard." That is all good, but hear me this morning: Don't be driven. Learn to relax. Learn to live fully and let that whole beautiful person you are come to blossom. There is another thing I want to say I wish someone had told me: Don't expect that you are going to acquire Truth with a capital T. Don't ever expect that, in whatever field you enter or whatever kind of life you lead, you are going to have Truth, absolute Truth in your possession, because, being human, that is impossible, and I wish someone had told me that because I was trying to nail it down, to get it right, to have all the ducks in line. I thought that I could come to a possession of the Truth and stand in the Truth. I wish somebody had told me that © Grand Valley State University �I Wish Someone Had Told Me That – Or Did They? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   is not possible. It is not possible because of the nature of our human experience. We are people in process. We are a part of a cosmic process. We are a part of an evolving process with a new emerging reality all of the time and, for God's sake, it is 15 billion years already and who knows where it's going, and if we are creatures in process, if we are people on the way, as we certainly are, then we do not possess absolute Truth. That means that we ought to live with an open mind for expanding knowledge and humility before the things we don't know. Let me give you an example. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was invited to be a part of the Diversity Day at Grand Haven High School, and it was a stellar event in which some of you were exposed to the diversity of race, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion. It was exactly the kind of thing that you should be exposed to because you are entering a world that is full of diversity and diversity comes closer to home all the time. I mention this as an illustration because in the local newspaper we're carrying on a battle of words about the fact that that should not have been done and, of course, the sticking point is the question of sexual orientation. Some are saying these young people should not be exposed to the fact that sexual orientation is a given of our human nature. The scientists are studying it and all the information is not in. It's certainly obvious to anybody who has an open mind at all that sexual orientation is a part of the constitution of the human being and it is as diverse as are people, and yet you would think by reading the newspaper that you could quote a Bible verse that seems to condemn a same-sex union and that God has spoken and that's all there is to it! That really is not the case at all. The problem, you see, is that this Bible is used for some kind of absolute rulebook that has information in it rather than recognizing that this book is an ancient book, a marvelous book of the story of the spiritual experience of people, the people of Israel and the people who followed Jesus as a record of their experience, their encounter with God, their devotion to God. Instead of recognizing that, it becomes a kind of moral guidance book with rules in it. Now, the Bible says a lot about your sexuality. It says it to all of us, no matter what our orientation may be. It says be faithful and responsible in the exercise of this wonderful gift. But, the questions that we are aware of in our day about sexual orientation weren't even in the purview of this book. It doesn't address it at all! Of course, there were abusive sexual practices then and they were condemned and there is abuse of sexuality today and it should be condemned. That has nothing to do with whether a person is homosexual or heterosexual or somewhere inbetween, and to refuse to know that, to admit that, is simply to close your mind to what is obvious to all of us. So, one would live in ignorance, and one living in ignorance could become arrogant, and when ignorance and arrogance combine, the potential for violence is there. This is not a sermon about sexual orientation. Don't forget my point: You are never going to have absolute Truth with a capital T. I use the other only as an illustration of the disruption and the disharmony and the alienation and the violence that can occur when people think they have the absolute Truth spoken by God rather than recognizing that we are people on the © Grand Valley State University �I Wish Someone Had Told Me That – Or Did They? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   way, but that knowledge is expanding and we must be open to new knowledge, and then change our mind where necessary, but always be humble because the capital T Truth is God's, never the possession of the human. Dear God, I wish someone had told me that. There is another thing somewhat related and that is that life isn't neat. It is complex and full of ambiguity. It is not simple to find your way. It is not easy to be human. It is full of questions and if we're honest it is full of struggle and wrestling within, and I use as an example of this my hero, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 just before the camp where he was incarcerated was liberated. Bonhoeffer was a pastor and a theologian and he was really in his heart a pacifist. He really believed that to follow Jesus was to be nonviolent. But, he was in that situation of the rise of Hitler and Nazism, and he recognized that if Nazism were to prevail, Western civilization would be lost, and so Bonhoeffer as a pacifist made a decision to join a conspiracy to kill Hitler. Now, do you see the conflict? I'm a pacifist; I don't believe in violence and now I join a conspiracy to kill the head of state, which is treason as well as murder. Can't you see the conflict? Can you not see that this man wrestled within himself and he has this strong conviction about being non-violent and yet he sees what he has to do. He has to act. In the human arena, you are going to have to act and you are not always going to know that it is exactly this or that; you are going to have to act with limited knowledge and limited insight and sometimes you are going to make a mistake and you are going to do something wrong, because life is difficult and life is complex and life is full of ambiguity, and you have to act without knowing everything, and you cannot know everything, but you have to follow your conscience and follow your heart and do what you think you have to do, knowing that it is a judgment call. Read Bonhoeffer's poem in the back of the liturgy, "Who Am I?" This brilliant, deeply spiritual person -was he cock-sure, self-righteous? Not at all. He said, "Who am I?" Those in the prison whose life he lighted up because he led them in prayers and worship, they admired him and respected him. He was a fragrant presence there, but he said, "They think of me that way, but who am I? Am I that, or am I what I feel inside me, with all the struggle and all the distress and all the turmoil in my soul. Am I a hypocrite? Am I one thing one day, one thing another day?" And finally, "Thou knowest, O God, I am Thine!" That statement came out of the cauldron, that came out of struggle, because life is not easy. The corners are not neat; loose ends are not all tied up and you are going to have to live with that. That brings me to a final word about God. I put some things in the liturgy, in the insert by St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I wish somebody had told me that God was in everything and present to me in every moment, in every experience. Don't get me wrong - I had a deeply sensitive and devoted home and church and I am grateful for that, but what I am saying is the impression of God I had was like a super-policeman up there keeping records. © Grand Valley State University �I Wish Someone Had Told Me That – Or Did They? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   Even St. Paul said that we come into this world at enmity with God. I felt there was an adversarial relationship with God and that if I didn't keep in the tracks pretty well I would incur guilt and then I'd be alienated from God and it seemed to me that there was an awful lot of that in my nurture, my growing up. I don't know how to tell you something different, except that I don't know how important God is to you right now, but God will become important to you and when that moment comes, I want you to know that it's the God of Hosea, the Hebrew prophet who spoke about Israel and Israel's rebellion and disobedience and all of that, even though God had tenderly nurtured them and cared for them, and in this very human presentation of God, the prophet speaks of God as being angry with them. Then, however, the prophet has this deep, deep insight, for he puts these words in God's mouth: How can I give you up, 0 Israel? How can I give you up? I should give you up, but how should I give you up? I can't give you up because I love you. The cosmic lover. I'll never give you up. I can't give you up. I'll never abandon you. I don't care where your road takes you, what experiences you have, remember Hosea's God, because Hosea got it right in the midst of a lot of other stuff where he spoke of the God who is a lover who will never let you go and is as present to you as your breath is, in some burning bush or flaming sunset or in some human relationship in which you find yourself made whole. In all of that, God is. God is the God that Paul pictures in the 8th chapter of Romans who is for you. If God is for us, who can be against us? And then he gives us that picture which you hadn't ought to literalize, but the picture of Jesus who dies crucified, risen, ascended, and sitting at the throne of God and making intercession for us. In other words, you have an advocate at the throne of power of the universe. That's the picture; that's the image. But the idea of it is that there is something in the heart of things that is for you, for you, on your side, that will never let you go. Nothing can ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. I don't care how ambiguous your situation, how poor your judgment, what wrong path you may take, how much you stand in confusion before all of the options that hit you in your life, God is with you, win be with you, will never let you go. I sort of knew that, but God wasn't so user-friendly for me, and I want you to know there is no adversarial relationship between you and the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and so relax a bit, open your mind to truth wherever you find it, act in your life according to your vision and your values, in the midst of the ambiguity in which you don't always know the answers, and love God, love God, because you are loved of God, and that will never change and that's the greatest thing in the world. God bless 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 Baccalaureate Sunday, Eastertide VII Scripture Text 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-0-20000604 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-06-04 Title A name given to the resource I Wish Someone Had Told Me That - Or, Did They? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 4, 2000 entitled "I Wish Someone Had Told Me That - Or, Did They?", on the occasion of Baccalaureate Sunday, Eastertide VII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Romans 8:31, 39. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Diversity Immanence Inclusive Love https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fb70ab5bc8cd906f939f9e541830e8da.mp3 d86112028b3f5677156ec5f8ea1e1400 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/66e3feeb3a07b1e9634bb125bbc37c5a.pdf 85fa03a34f461f6a5851bea5f08d2a0b PDF Text Text Fire From Heaven Pentecost Sunday Scripture: Joel 2:28-32; Acts 19:1-7 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 11, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon It was as the past century was about to dawn that there was a significant event in Chicago, just down the lake. On the shores of Lake Michigan, there was created the Columbian Exposition. I was not aware of the tremendous dimension of that event, the Chicago World's Fair, but on the shores of Lake Michigan in 1893 there was created what they called The White City. The great architects of the country vied for the right to design that city. This exposition covered some 644 acres and, as one came from the lake or along Lakeshore in Chicago, one was met by this gleaming, white city: resplendent buildings, a reflecting pool, the triumphal arch - all made sort of like out of material similar to plaster of Paris or papier-maché. There were steel ribbings for the shape, but it was not a lasting kind of creation. It was the sort of thing you do for a fair and exposition, a temporary display. But it was magnificent, it had the grandeur that was Greece and the glory that was Rome, and it was the celebration of the coming to this continent of Christopher Columbus. The Columbian Exposition was full of all of the daring and the boldness and the greatness and self-assurance of the American spirit at the end of a century looking forward to the 20th century which would be the American century in which the American spirit would dominate the world, obviously, in the providence of God. There was, to look at it in retrospect, a great deal of hubris, a great deal of human pride, but there was a great vision. The Cosmopolitan magazine of March 1893 had on the cover a bundle of sticks, called a fades, a Roman symbol for authority that the magistrates had paraded before them, a bundle of sticks bound with a cord and an axe, and on each one of the sticks was written the name of a denomination, obviously all being bound into one, and there was a ribbon that tied the bundle which said, "The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man," and there was an American eagle with his sharp eye guarding it all, which had in its beak a twisted ribbon on which was written, "Intolerance." The centerpiece of the Columbian Exposition was the first World Parliament of Religions, and the planners brought to Chicago religious leaders from all around the globe. There were Hindus and Shinto priests and Catholic priests and Baptist preachers and Buddhist monks - you name it. The ten great religious traditions of the world were represented in this first ever © Grand Valley State University   �Fire From Heaven Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Parliament of Religions which was dedicated not to the snuffing out of the respective religious, but rather, a banding together of all the religions against all irreligious. I don't have time to read to you some of the statements of the opening of that exposition, and particularly its centerpiece, the Parliament of Religions, but there are statements that are filled with idealism, filled with hope, filled with a vibrant spirit that humankind was on the very threshold of realizing the kingdom of God. That was at the beginning of the 20th century. The exposition closed in October. There was an economic downturn, and the condition of those who had served as waiters and cleaners and all kinds of personnel in this great exposition all summer found themselves without work. Many of them became homeless and found in this temporary exposition, now abandoned, a place to find shelter. This spectacular White City in January of 1894, because of those who were finding shelter there and making a fire to keep themselves warm, a fire which got out of control, the whole White City on one night was reduced to dust and ashes. It may have been an omen of what was to come, for all of the hopes and all of the dreams that were gathered together in that exposition and that Parliament of Religions, in a great closing ceremony at which was sung "America" and "The Hallelujah Chorus" by a 500-voice choir, the fusing together of the heavenly city and the earthly city - all of those hopes and all of those dreams which envisioned a future unlimited, were shortly brought to grief as the world entered into the first great World War and then the second great World War, and then the Holocaust and the horror in our own memory of that awful event. Those wonderful dreams of humanity, of oneness, of unity which, of course, were all under the auspices of the American spirit and a kind of benevolent, liberal, white Protestantism, nevertheless came to grief. The journal to which I still subscribe, The Christian Century, was named at this particular period The Christian Century because the 20th century was to be the Christian century, and then it all came to grief. There was a group of theologians in the 60's who became known as the "Death of God theologians," and Professor Harvey Cox from Harvard, who was here recently with us, wrote a book at that time which became a bestseller, The Secular City, asking how one finds God in a culture totally secular, a culture in which the leading scholarly opinion is that God is dead. From that exuberant hope and idealism at the end of the century before to the middle of this past century, the despair. Harvey Cox, who wrote The Secular City, has a more recent book just a couple of years out which he has entitled Fire From Heaven, which documents the great White City and the hopes of the Parliament of Religion, and he says at the same time there was in Los Angeles among the poor in a totally down-and-out district, in an abandoned warehouse, an outbreak of spiritual enthusiasm and power. 1906, among uneducated, many illiterate poor folk under the leadership of a black pastor, a movement that has become known as the Pentecostal movement, the stark contrast between the White City and the Parliament of Religions, the © Grand Valley State University �Fire From Heaven Richard A. Rhem Page 3   aspirations for a unity and oneness for all humankind, sort of under an American, Protestant, Christian banner brought to dust and ashes, and in a few decades coming to expression in the death of God, and this little movement no one noticed from people about whom no one ever heard, called the Pentecostal movement, which is alive and well today at the end of the 20th century and moving into our own present 21st century. Harvey Cox acknowledges that he took the analysis of the death of God theologians too seriously and that, while the hopes of those great leaders at the end of the 19th century have come to nothing, God was doing a work among an obscure people, beginning a movement that encircles the globe today. So, instead of the Secular City of the 69's, Harvey Cox’s latest book is entitled Fire From Heaven because, finally, the present and the future are not left to human ingenuity and human planning, but rather, we wait upon the Spirit of God. It is a fascinating historical retrospective and I would say only this - that it is very easy 100 years later to mock the planners of the World Parliament of Religions and the hopes and the dreams of the White City. It is easy enough at this point to recognize human pride, human naiveté. It is easy enough to put them down for what was, nonetheless, a magnificent dream. It was naive in that, in its speaking of Pentecost, the arrival again of Pentecost, this language in which they spoke, they were really seeing a blossoming of liberal Christianity, and they were naive to think that somehow or other we humankind can plan and shape and determine the landscape of the future. But, let's give them credit - it was a magnificent dream, and what the horrors through which we have passed in the 20th century have taught us is perhaps a touch of humility and then the recognition of a diversity which is not to be put into a blender and homogenized into some kind of bland human formula, but a diversity that is representative of the depth of the human spirit, that is, representative of the diversity of the human creature that is a reflection we would say today of the intention of the Creator. Oh, we can put down those dreamers of yesteryear, but they had a great dream, and what we have had to go through, the horror of war, of Holocaust, and the globalization of our human experience is the recognition of a grand menagerie of human creatures, of a grand rainbow of human personality and human beings. We have come, I think, today to celebrate and to rejoice in the diversity which is not an obstacle to be overcome, but a creative wonder in which to rejoice. As we recognize that diversity, we just may be in a better position to begin to realize the hopes and the dream, acknowledging all of its naiveté and all of its human pride. Nonetheless, the dream of a world that is one and a humanity that is living in peace, giving to each one dignity and acknowledging that God, that deep Mystery Who is the ground of our being and the Source of our life, that God Who is beyond each of our traditions but present in each through God's breathing, God's Spirit, we just may be on the threshold of a new, wonderful age for humankind who have come to give up their dreams of dominance and their fear of the other, © Grand Valley State University �Fire From Heaven Richard A. Rhem Page 4   ready to join hands with all of those who are other, whether through race, religion, ethnicity, education, economic status, sexual orientation, whatever it may be - to look at the other and not be afraid, but to embrace in an unconditional love that recognizes in each one the image of the God Who is beyond us, but on Pentecost came to dwell within us, and finally, to make us one. As you go through the narthex, pick up a little ribbon and wear it as a sign of your solidarity with all who are other, with whom we are one through the Spirit of God. References: Harvey Cox. Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century. Da Capo Press, 2001. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost Scripture Text Joel 2:28-32, Acts 19:1-7 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Harvey Cox. Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century, 2001. 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-0-20000611 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-06-11 Title A name given to the resource Fire From 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 June 11, 2000 entitled "Fire From Heaven", on the occasion of Pentecost, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Joel 2:28-32, Acts 19:1-7. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Diversity Inclusive Pentecost Spirit of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ab0e832950cbf1a7394580bc382ce63b.mp3 8bc41061a35f5e37e14c9525b8640f93 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8fba6ff5fe1e74c43a977489ae9fdc41.pdf fc82fcac7280e82a1946a763619b17c2 PDF Text Text 1+1+1=1 to the Higher Power Trinity Sunday Text: John 1:1,14,18; John 14:9; II Cor. 3:18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Father’s Day, June 18, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon As the early Jesus movement moved into the early Catholic Church stage, the experience of Jesus moved out of the context of Israel geographically, but also spiritually, into an alien culture as far as Israel was concerned. It moved into a world dominated by Imperial Rome and marked by Greek culture, Greek thinking, Greek language, Greek philosophical ideas. And so, it was the task of those who were sent out by Jesus Christ to tell their experience, what they had experienced in him, in quite another context, quite another religious, cultural context, and that is always a difficult thing. To translate an experience is difficult, even when you are talking to those in your own language and your own environment. But, now to try to tell someone of a transforming experience in a totally different context to those who have had no share in your background, your spiritually traditioning - that, indeed, was a major task, and that was the task of that early Jesus movement. It was a movement Jewish to the core. The disciples were those who had been nurtured on the central tenet of the creed of Israel, "Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God is one." And now they had experienced in a transforming way that God, in their encounter with Jesus, a human, historical figure with whom they had walked and talked and shared the table of fellowship. In that human, historical figure they had encountered the God of Israel, the God of Moses, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. When they met God in Jesus, they didn't meet some other God. They didn't stop to say, "I wonder about my Judaism. I wonder now if I have to become something other." No, they were fully cognizant of that experience of Jesus being the experience of God, the only God they ever knew, they ever worshiped. The task was how to give expression to that, how to translate that into another context so that it could be understood. In order to do that, we always have to find some common meeting ground; we have to find something in common so that those to whom we are bringing a message or translating an experience can relate to it through some shared knowledge or experience. The Greek civilization, the © Grand Valley State University   �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 2   ancient world, those to whom they went were not irreligious. They were religious. There were Oriental, mystical religions, there was all the Greek mythology, there was certainly a religious context from which to try to find that which might help communicate their experience. Secondly, there was the whole Greek philosophical tradition. Philosophy was born of the Greeks centuries before. Someone has said all of Western civilization is a series of footnotes to Greek philosophy. So that Greek philosophy conceptually provided the intellectual, rational tools by which they attempted to translate that God experience. But, in the beginning, of course, it was the experience and they stammered and stuttered and tried to give expression to that which had transformed their lives, and we have the raw material of the eventual church dogma in the New Testament. The church dogma says, according to the title of this message, “1 + 1 + 1=1.” (One of my dear friends said to me yesterday, “You restructured religion; now are you starting on math?”) “1 + 1 + 1=1” because these were Jewish people and they could not begin to conceive of God other than one, but they had experienced God in Jesus, a human, historical figure, and once they had experienced God in Jesus, Jesus crucified was alive with them still, a powerful presence still with them in the Spirit. We find this in the documents of the New Testament. Paul was the earliest one to write. I love Second Corinthians 4:6. It has been a text for us. "We've seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." That's how Paul said it. In the third chapter of that letter, he was defending his apostleship and he was saying, "Do you think I need letters of recommendation? I don't need letters of recommendation; you are my letters of recommendation; your transformed lives validate my gospel." And then he goes into a paragraph with Moses and the veil of Moses' face. I'm not going to get into all that, but he comes down to the end of the chapter and says, "But we, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the Lord, are transformed by degrees into his likeness by the Spirit." The last paragraph of the third chapter says, "The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is..." One might ask, "Does Lord refer to God? Or does Lord refer here to Jesus?" and one might find different commentators coming up with different answers. Those are a very confusing few statements because Paul is confused, because this great monotheist of the God of Israel is talking about God in a human face, and how does one do that? He says somehow or other by the Spirit in that face the glory of the Lord was shining, and then he talks about that face as the Lord, and he says, "As we gaze on that face, we become like that face, shaped like that one who was the shape of the heart of God," and he says all of this is through the Spirit of God. And so, Paul is trying to give expression to that experience that he had. He never encountered the historical Jesus, we don't believe, but he did have that visionary, mystical experience and this great champion of the God of Israel became the apostle of Jesus Christ as the incarnation of the God of Israel. © Grand Valley State University �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 3   This is what John says, as well. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, the Word was God." I like to translate that, "In the beginning was the intention, God's intention. In the beginning was the intention of God and in the fullness of time, the intention became flesh and dwelled among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son of God." No one has ever seen God, but the Son has revealed God and, as John was telling the story of Jesus decades later, Jesus has that discussion with the disciples. Jesus is going to leave them. They know the way and all that, and finally Phillip says to him, "Just show us the Father and we'll stop bugging you," and he says, "Oh, really, Phillip? Have I been with you so long and you still don't get it? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." Did Jesus say that? I doubt it. I don't think so. Wouldn't that be a bit off-putting, Jesus going around ringing a bell saying, "Here comes God. Just look at me, here comes God." That doesn't feel right to me. I think what we have in the Gospel of John is precisely the experience of finding God in Jesus. This is faith's affirmation. Jesus simply was that authentic human incarnation of the living God, and those who encountered God in Jesus tried every which way to bring to expression that which they had experienced, that which was the deep conviction of their lives, that Jesus was the intention of God in human flesh so that in order to communicate that, John has this beautiful discussion with the disciples in which Jesus says, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father," which is the same thing that Paul was saying, "We've seen the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The New Testament is not a systematic document. Paul was not a systematic theologian, but all of that raw "stuff" eventually got gathered up because the Jesus movement, which was a Jewish movement, had to somehow or other come to understand its own experience. The God of Israel now, these monotheists had to reckon with, had been enfleshed in a human, historical figure who was crucified and yet present and powerful with them still so that they broke bread and remembered him and experienced him and went out to do his work in the same powerful fashion as when he was in the flesh. How do you figure? Well, eventually, of course, they had to give some account of that. Now, if they had been in India and Jesus had been an Indian and they had been Hindus, they wouldn't have had a problem. Cast the mold for another little image and put it on the shelf, because Hinduism is polytheistic and it believes in numerous historical manifestations of the Divine Mystery. That doesn't work for a Jew, because you can have not only no representation of God, but there is only one true God, Creator of all. But, to touch Jesus was to touch God! To look into Jesus' face was to see into the heart of God! How could it be? So, Jesus is God? But, Jesus is human. That was the problem of the nature of Christ; it consumed a couple of centuries. And if Jesus is God, and God is God, and the Spirit of God makes Jesus present now, now you have 1 + 1 + 1=1. How do you figure? © Grand Valley State University �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 4   We could ridicule the doctrine of the Trinity because that is what this eventually became, the dogma or the doctrine of the Trinity. We can ridicule it; we can be confused by it; we can be frustrated by it, but we have to know that some of the most brilliant minds, some of the most serious persons in that ancient world wrestled with this experience which they tried to translate into Greek conceptuality, and they knew they were up against a real problem. Augustine wrote a treatise on the Trinity and after it was over, he said, "We say these things not because we would say these things, but because we wouldn't be silent," trying to give some kind of word to experience. Eventually the Church formulated this doctrine of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one God blest forever. 1 + 1+1=1. You see, it's not a problem as long as you are in the heat of the experience, the white heat of the experience of God, because the experience is enough to say I can't make logical sense of it, but I know. Then, once the experience gets translated into a formula and it becomes a dogma and then the dogma is used to catechize the next generation and the next generation, now we have a problem because there is no longer that white heat experience. Now it becomes an intellectual conundrum; it becomes a puzzle, and now you have creedal authority and a Church institution enforcing a creedal statement with those who may or may not have had the experience of God. Then you have orthodoxy which can be very, very killing if it lacks the experience. This sermon was born one day when an old veteran of the A.A. movement said to me, grousing about ministers and churches, which is his custom, and I suppose finding a sympathetic ear in me, he said, "I wish I could take all the community pastors down to an A.A. meeting and make them sit there and listen to people who really talk about God!" And I have had enough experience with the A.A. community in the past to feel that would be a very good move. So, I went back and went through some of the A.A. material again. I found reference to Ernest Kurtz who was here a few years ago. Ernest Kurtz wrote the definitive history of the A.A. movement, entitled Not God. This is what the human being has to learn Not God. I am not God. But, God is. That is, there is a Higher Power, and the AA. movement, in its steps, gives one the freedom to understand God in one's own way, not worried about dotting the I's or crossing the T's, but recognizing that God is, coming to an awareness that I am not my own, I have not created this whole phenomenon we call the world, I have not created my own life. All is gift, all is given, I am given and I am a part of that which is given, and there is a mystery that is beyond and beneath and above all that is. And in the A.A. movement, just call it the Higher Power. Call it anything you want to call it. Visualize it any way you want to visualize it. Use any kind of an image that will work. But it is the movement from I am not God to God is, and as the veterans of the A.A. movement say, if one can take that step, in other words, if one can come to an awareness that God is, that Ultimate Mystery of all things, and if one can trust that power to be gracious in the transformation of the human person, then one is on the way to health and healing. Then the doctrine of God may become refined. Then someday someone along that path may discover the © Grand Valley State University �1+1+1= 1 to the Higher Power Richard A. Rhem Page 5   face of Jesus, and in the face of Jesus, may see into the heart of God and all of its wonder and all of its beauty, because Jesus is the face that gives form to the Mystery. And then one may feel some tingle in one's pinkie, and that would be because there is a connection, because it is not the ancient One, period, but the ancient One who is present in the Spirit. After all, that's all that Trinity Sunday is trying to say - that God is, and that God is for us, that God is focused in the face of that gracious one full of mercy and available to us through the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ or the Holy Spirit, or whatever you want to call it, because, you see, finally God is not about giving us a theological exam, and coming to worship is not about a rational discussion of the conceptual framework of the ontological Trinity, thank you very much. We come here in our deep grief and brokenness and our great joy and celebration, when the diagnosis is cancer, when the last week has left us bereft of our most beloved, when we launch our youth, bundle our babies, and experience the deepest dimensions of human experience. It is then that God is that which gives us hope, that is what sustains us and keeps us, that infinite and inexhaustible ground of our being, that overshadowing presence, because you see, it's 1 +1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power. Image it as you will, but I suggest you'll go a long time before you'll find a more beautiful image than that etched in the face of Jesus, and we, beholding as in a mirror that image, we with unveiled face beholding that image, miracle of miracles, are shaped into that image. We begin to take on the likeness. And so, you know, the historical Jesus is no more, but the Spirit who is affecting that transformation is yet still, and though I cannot see his face, I can see your face, and in your face, I see his face which is the picture of the heart of God, God, who is good. That's all Trinity is all about -1 + 1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II Scripture Text John 1:1, 14, 18, John 14:9, II Corinthians 3:18 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20000618 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-06-18 Title A name given to the resource 1 + 1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 18, 2000 entitled "1 + 1 + 1 = 1 to the Higher Power", on the occasion of Trinity Sunday, Pentecost II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: John 1:1, 14, 18, John 14:9, II Corinthians 3:18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Intention Father's Day Jesus Movement Spirit https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8c6751e1e19dddb047ed60397bfc5bf4.mp3 2b4158c043b4c57ef7b070d091553d38 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f18249fe9dc72d95801dae723075c1a3.pdf 47cf452e950ee7461b0177a581664366 PDF Text Text Mystery, Manifestation and Community Pentecost III Text: Exodus 3:2; Mark 1:11; Acts 9:3 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan June 25, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Reflect with me for such a few moments about what we have done here this morning, what we have experienced. In the tradition from which I stem, the church at its worship is to be marked by word and sacrament. That is, word which gives explanation and the sacrament which is a visible demonstration of the meaning of the word. As we reflect on that, we will be doing what the sermon is intending to do - to reflect on the sacramental action in order that we might be reminded again or that we might have clarified for us who we are and what we are to be about. Before I proceed, however, let me remind you that two weeks ago was Pentecost and we celebrated the Festival of the Holy Spirit and we brought to a close that approximately six-month cycle in which we go through those marks of the life of Jesus' birth and life and death and resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. And then the Sunday following Pentecost is Trinity Sunday in the calendar of the Church, because at that point we are ready to reflect or to realize, perhaps, as never before the Trinitarian structure of our religious experience, that that Ultimate Mystery not at our disposal, that Ultimate Mystery that we call God, does break in or emanate from, become apparent to the likes of us in the arena of history. The Ultimate Mystery shows itself in some historical manifestation and that historical manifestation becomes the agent by which the mystery is revealed, at least to some extent, and a believer is engaged by the Spirit, for to look at that manifestation, some say "I believe," and others would say there's nothing to it. But, to look at that manifestation ... for example, to look into the face of Jesus and say, "My God," the Church has always recognized is the consequence of the Spirit of God; it is the gift of God. God reveals God's self, and so there is Ultimate Mystery, historical manifestation, and the concrete encounter of the individual, the believer who has the epiphany, who sees, who experiences the illumination. Sometimes that illumination results in a message and a mission whose consequence is a community, a movement, a community of faith. Sometimes even a religion is born. But at this point on the Church calendar, we can see the trinitarian structure, not only of the nature of God, but the trinitarian structure of our own religious experience, an ultimate mystery, a manifestation of history, a © Grand Valley State University   �Mystery, Manifestation and Community Richard A. Rhem Page 2   believing person through the Spirit who may become the nucleus of a community of a whole religious tradition. I selected the scriptures I read in order to demonstrate that that is exactly what was going on with Moses. Moses, brooding in the wilderness, tending sheep. I love Chaim Potok's description of this moment in Moses' life. It's in the insert in your liturgy. Read it this afternoon. It takes a novelist to tell you what the Bible is all about, really, a great writer like Potok. You may say, "Well, he psychologizes that experience of Moses." Yes. How else? How else does it happen? Of course, and Chaim Potok is using his imagination, to be sure, but I think it's so moving, so powerful. There's Moses who has been raised with the knowledge that he is a Jew, but in the court of the Egyptians, lashes out in an heroic act or a dastardly act of murder, and flees from justice. He is in the wilderness tending the sheep with too much time on his hands to rummage it around in his mind – the gods of Egypt, slavery, murder, all of that - must there be some other god? Must there not be some other truth? And then one day a bush is burning and is not consumed and he hears a voice and it becomes a holy place, and Moses becomes the historical referent of that ultimate mystery and from Moses stems the nation Israel and the Torah whose roots are in Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and whose consequence is the history of Israel. Ultimate Mystery. Moment of manifestation. Community, religious community flowing therefrom by the Spirit of God. It was no different for Paul. Paul, restless, serious, cantankerous, passionate, urgent, on the way to Damascus to stamp out that Way, maybe unconsciously because he felt it was such a powerful way, this way of Jesus, only to be blinded with light and turned around in his tracks, becoming now not the one who was out to arrest the followers of the Way, but the one who took that way and understood it after three years of meditation in the desert, understood the way of Jesus as Judaism for the Gentiles, who understood the way of Jesus as the universalizing of that which was intrinsic in Judaism, even though Judaism had been particular and local. Yet, Paul could see Yahweh was not a tribal God; Yahweh was the creator of the heavens and the earth. There was no other God. Therefore, in Judaism itself, in its particularity, in its understanding of the one true God, Creator of heaven and earth, was the invitation to the whole world. The grace that Israel knew was for a world, and Paul becomes the great founder of the Church. Of course, it was with Jesus the same way, not really so different. When he joined the Baptist Movement, when he was baptized with John the Baptist, he was joining a revolutionary movement that was looking for the imminent incursion of God. He was looking at the horror of the historical situation, the poverty and the homelessness, the domination and the oppression and, in identifying with John the Baptist through his baptism, Jesus was identifying with that movement of social criticism that believed that somehow or other if God was just, God would have to do something. And he hears a voice and in the hearing of a voice, he gains identity and a mission, and he is driven out into the wilderness forty days and forty nights. "Who am I? Whence the voice? What is this all about?" And from © Grand Valley State University �Mystery, Manifestation and Community Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Jesus comes Paul, comes you and me, the community of faith that moves from that historical encounter with the word made flesh, who had face for the heart of the Eternal. So, you see, that simply is the nature of religious experience. I marvel sometimes at my naiveté. I sort of always knew that there was this trinitarian thing, that God revealed God's self in Jesus and illumined our eyes by the Holy Spirit, binding us to Jesus who bound us to God. I knew that was a gift; I knew that was a revelation. But, I thought that it was the only true revelation and, if it's the only true revelation, you see, then anybody else who had a revelation has to be wrong. Then I came to see that every religion claims a revelation. There's no religion where someone sat down and said, "I think I'll think up a new scheme of things." Mohammed had a vision resulting in the Koran. The Buddha had his pilgrimage and experience and illumination. Moses did. I even had to say in my naiveté that Moses, who was the historical agent of the Jewish faith and the tradition of Israel, wasn't understood by Moses' own people, because they didn't read it through the eyes of Jesus. I had relativized the Old Testament. I even had to claim that the Jewish people didn't understand their own book. Is that arrogance? It certainly was ignorance. Now I can see the trinitarian structure of all religious experience, and I want to say that every community claims its story and every community that develops because of the authenticity of that story, that experience, develops its rituals and its sacraments, and every such community has a mark and that is what we did this morning at the baptismal font in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, baptismal water prayed over for the Spirit's movement, placed on the forehead of infants as a sign that they belong. We've all been baptized and that's what marks us; it is our union card, as it were. And then we came to the table because a community, to be a community, to have an identity, a sense of who it is, needs to commemorate, needs to come back again and again to its founding story, needs to come back to the table of our Lord, a table of Jesus where bread is broken and the cup is poured out as a sign of the violent death that this one experienced because of the way he lived, of the way he was, of the manifestation of God that he was. So we come back to this table in order that we might remember Jesus, in order that we might have fresh in our minds that face that reflects the mystery, the ultimate grace and love of God at the heart of things. The sacramental character of the Church. We could use different symbols, different materials, we could enact it differently, but what we do has long history and deep meaning, and I want to say just two things in closing. One is that that is our way. That is a way. That is not the way. But, because it is not only a way, and our way, it becomes for us the way. Why should I play fast and loose? Why should I treat with nonchalance, why should I accord lack of importance to that baptismal font and that communion table just because it is not the only way? Because it is my way, and if it is my way, it is the way. While I look at another © Grand Valley State University �Mystery, Manifestation and Community Richard A. Rhem Page 4   who walks another way but experiences a similar grace, experiencing that ultimate mystery that is known here in baptism and in table and in preaching and in sacred dance, hear me again - our Christian way symbolized in baptism and table is a way. It is not the only way. But, since it's our way, for us, the way, and it's full of grace and wonder and beauty, and I love it very much. Then, I would say this, although it is not the only way, although it is one way, if it is good and true and beautiful, then it is worth the passion of my life to keep the community that has grown up around it alive and healthy. Then it is worth the engagement of my life to keep a community like this alive and well, with a strong sense of identity, knowing its tradition, loving the life to which it is called. If it is my way, if it is for us the way, then it deserves the passion of our lives. We've had a lot of funerals here lately and just last Sunday in this place we buried Betty Hofstra, 88 years, a beautiful saint of God. She was the fourth generation, the daughters and grandchildren and the great grandchildren. And because it was Sunday and they didn't open the grave, nonetheless, I went to the cemetery with the family and there, particularly the fourth generation, the little ones took yellow roses and stood around the gravestone where Great Grandpa Oscar was marked. It was a beautiful experience with beautiful children remembering their Great Grandma in the presence of the grave of their Great Grandpa, sanctified by prayer. How else do you give sanctity to human life? How else do you celebrate the death of a saint? How else do you give adequate value to a newborn? At the moment of birth at the gift of a child you want to pray, you want to sing, you want to dance, because life is pregnant with the holy if only we have eyes to see, if only we pause long enough, if only some place along the way there is a community of people with whom we can join in order to celebrate birth and death and the commemoration of the heart of our story. It's been quite a weekend. I married a daughter, baptized a grandson whose father I baptized, and as we speak, a sister is being operated on in emergency whose consequence will be serious cancer, I'm sure. Now, how do you do that unless there is a God before whom one can kneel, before whom one can pause and be still, before whom one can know that ultimately all is grace and all will be well? Why in the world, if this is a way, even if it isn't the only way, need I treat it nonchalantly? Should I denigrate it? Why can I not be passionately engaged in it because it's not the only way, but, by God, it's good. It's good. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost III, Father's Day Scripture Text Exodus 3:2, Mark 1:11, Acts 9:3 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20000625 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-06-25 Title A name given to the resource Mystery, Manifestation and Community Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on June 25, 2000 entitled "Mystery, Manifestation and Community", on the occasion of Pentecost III, Father's Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Exodus 3:2, Mark 1:11, Acts 9:3. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community of Faith Inclusive Spirit of God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e25a30db1b34a8a59a084b7009741285.mp3 21fb718bb048903228e441c9073d66bb https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d23f80d9ecd499848f6bc44d6c990614.pdf 509431daf74c349553abf87ab170e42e PDF Text Text Freedom and Commitment in a Global Society Independence Day Weekend Text: Galatians 5:13 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost IV, July 2, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Not in every worship would such a mellow tenor be able to sing "America" so beautifully. There are liturgical purists in the Church who feel that civil holidays have no place in the celebration and the worship of the people of God, and, of course, there is a point to guard the worship of the Church. It can get ridiculous, you know. I mean, a sermon on celebrating Girl Scout cookies would be stretching it a bit. But, after all, as the people of God, we are also people of a nation and you cannot divorce the experience of your religious existence from your existence as a citizen. We are a part of a nation and of a civilization and our religious vision has shaped that civilization and been shaped by it, as well, and I do believe there is a place, at least with some of the more important civil holidays, to bring a reflection into the experience of worship, to celebrate the blessings that have been ours as a nation. I think it is not at all out of place to recognize the heritage that is ours with gratitude and to place that heritage and that experience in the light of the word of God in order to see how we're doing with it and how responsibly we are exercising the privilege of it. And so, for just a few moments this morning, I want you to think with me about this nation, about our heritage. I want to do it with affirmation and with gratitude, for we do celebrate a very, very great national heritage and civilizational tradition. We are a people of the United States of America; we are people of the West, of western civilization, and we have a heritage that has been richly blessed of God. I don't have to say that certainly it is a flawed vision and we have failed often, not living up to our ideals in great measure and in many respects. Nonetheless, we are a fortunate people and it is good to celebrate that and to remember it. Civil holidays do sometimes stretch the ability of the preacher to find a relevant text because the texts of the scriptures really do not address the kinds of things that we will be reflecting on this morning, and yet I think, for example, in the Prophet Isaiah, the 58th chapter, we do have that which we can bring into our own experience. Before the verses which I read, the people are complaining to God. They're saying, "We're very religious. We do all of our liturgies and sacrifices and rituals and you don't seem to take note of us." And the scripture lesson began with that question, “Is this the fast that I desire, says the Lord?” In other words, © Grand Valley State University   �Freedom and Commitment in a Global Society Richard A. Rhem Page 2   do I want all kinds of religious rigamarole? Do I need the smoke of your incense, the fragrance of your sacrifices? Do I need your obeisance and your devotion? Show me your devotion in a life committed to justice and compassion. Unshackle the prisoner and feed the hungry and clothe the naked and give the homeless shelter. Then, then the light will rise upon you. Then you'll call and I'll answer. Then you will be a repairer of ancient foundations, standing in the breach, affecting renewal. Religion has an end in itself. It is not at all what God desires or intends. Religious devotion is to result in fair and compassionate action. Paul in the letter to the Galatians is dealing with what we might say is a theological matter, a matter of grace as over against the performance principle. Specifically in this case, the question of circumcision, the Jewish rite of initiation, but that's not so important. The important thing that Paul is dealing with is the fact that we are set free from that heavy obligation, that onerous task of religious duty, and we don't come to God through all of our clap trap of religious practice and observance, beautiful as it may be in some cases, boring as it is in many cases, but rather, we come to God by the grace of God. We are set free, but we are set free, Paul says, not for self-indulgence, but for commitment to the other, to love. Set free to love. Set free to love in very concrete fashion, to live a life of commitment out of the freedom with which Christ has set us free. So, I think in the biblical perspective, you do have what I want to say this morning about our responsibility as a nation who has been so richly blessed. I want to say that we are called in our freedom to commitment in a global society, a world so far different than the world into which this nation was born, and yet a world that needs so desperately the blessings that we have received and the insights and the understanding and the wisdom that have marked our Western tradition. So, I want to say just a few things about that, and I want to begin simply by affirmation of our Western tradition, of our heritage, our national heritage as the United States of America. What a wonderful tradition it is. What a wonderful heritage it is. What a treasure it is, and how fruitful it has become in our midst, and how richly blessed we are as a people. I think there is every reason for the people of God gathered in worship to give God thanks and to reflect upon and celebrate that tradition, that civilizational track in which we find ourselves having emerged. Human dignity, the rights of the individuals, of liberal capitalism which has given us economic prosperity, human rights, although certainly not spread far enough, broad enough, completely enough to enough of God's children. Nonetheless, we know better. We know the ideal. We have the rule of law, a society under the rule of law; the Elian Gonzalez case tested that. Emotions got in the way and a tragic fiasco resulted, but finally the rule of law. Apart from the rule of law, it's chaos. One can change the law, but one lives under the law. All of those aspects of a national experience have been for us a source of very rich blessing, indeed, and something for which certainly we thank God. We have a national heritage that is a part of the Western civilization that is rooted in Israel, that great prophetic tradition, a little taste of that this © Grand Valley State University �Freedom and Commitment in a Global Society Richard A. Rhem Page 3   morning from Isaiah, rooted in Greek philosophical thought, that rich, rich cultural flourishing in those centuries before Christ, and in Rome a model of governance and law. Israel, Greece, Rome flowing into Europe, experiencing the Renaissance, the coming to flower of the human being, the recognition of the human being, the throwing off of all authoritarianism, and the development therefore of critical rationality and the Enlightenment, and all of that opening up the possibility of modernity which has brought us where we are today, not only with our freedom, not only with our prosperity, but with the technological breakthroughs - the Genome Project, the mapping of human DNA, the possibilities that will break forth in the future, in the near future, which will boggle our mind, a globe tied together intimately through the Internet, a world that is absolutely amazing. It is so amazing that people get scared. It is so fast and rapidly changing with so much potential, that a lot of people will run into the shelter of fundamentalist religious trying to stave off tomorrow and turn back the clock. But it is a world that has absolutely flowered out of that Western tradition from Israel and Greece and Rome, through Europe, Renaissance, and the U.S. of A., and we stand today as the guardians and the guarantors of that precious heritage. It is no mean thing. It is a great gift. It has given us so much and it has ongoing potential for the wellbeing and the good of the world. But, having said that, I want to say that, while it is unique, it is not universal. By that I mean that in this global society that has become so small and intimately connected, it ought not occur to us to export our Western civilization globally. There are great civilizational groupings that make up the human family and half a dozen or so, all of them shaped initially, intimately by a religious vision. Again, ours informed by Christianity coming out of the womb of Judaism, Greek philosophy, Roman law, but so with the Asian civilizations, so with the Orthodox countries, the Muslim civilizations - these respective civilizations are so deeply rooted. They are deeply rooted in blood and ethnicity and it far transcends allegiance to an idea or an ideal; it far transcends a national border, a nation state. What we have to recognize today is that the West is not the best for the rest. It is ours, and we ought to celebrate it and we ought to seek its renewal and we ought to preserve it and enhance it in every way we can, but we live in a global situation where our civilization must be understood as unique and not universal. To claim it is universal is simply false. That can be documented. And it is immoral. If we were to export Western civilization globally, it would take military might. It would take enforcement in its institution and in its maintenance. It would take that old imperialism that marked the 19th century when Europe had hegemony over the rest of the globe, or in the 20th century in the dominance of our own particular nation. We could do it for a time through the imposition of power, but it is immoral and it would be dangerous because in the long run it wouldn't work, © Grand Valley State University �Freedom and Commitment in a Global Society Richard A. Rhem Page 4   because in the long run, coercion is overthrown by that which is more deeply rooted in the human spirit. And so, we are unique but we are not universal; we ought not to be. Therefore, what we need to do is reject mono-culturalism which would see the globe as marked by just one culture, and also multi-culturalism. Now, that may surprise you because you know me as a bleeding heart liberal, and I have to say that I have been inclined to multi-culturalism because, after all, one ought to respect diversity and respect differences. But one must recognize that our founding fathers saw diversity as a problem, and to meet that problem, they had the little Latin phrase, E pluribus unum, out of many, one. The typical old, classic symbol for that was the melting pot. A New Testament scholar whom I deeply respect, Krister Stendahl, who has been here with us, Bishop Stendahl says that in the melting pot, you have to recognize that the dominant culture wins. You sort of assimilate everything into the dominant culture, and that's true, and I think we have to be very sensitive about that. He suggests rather than a melting pot, we have a salad bowl, where you have the various ingredients maintaining their own identity. But, however you do it, what we have to recognize is that multi-culturalism will deny, and therefore destroy, the uniqueness of Western civilization, which is not universal, which is not for everyone, but which has a heritage, a wisdom, and a fruitful tradition with which we ought not play fast and loose. No mono-culturalism, no multi-culturalism, but a recognition of the uniqueness among the diversities of civilization, and then a mining of that heritage and that tradition for its best. And then recognizing that those qualities and those virtues are biblically rooted in the Hebrew tradition, expressed in the Christian tradition, reinforced by Greece and Rome. We ought to know who we are; we ought to know the pit from which we've been hewn, and we ought to recognize its value and do everything we can to make it better and to make it a part, a gleaming part, one of the facets of the global reality. And then, I would say this, too - because of the position of power that we have, it is absolutely incumbent upon us to bear the burden for the rest of the world. It is incumbent upon us, the U.S. of A., to bear the burden and the cost of implementing a peaceful world. We need to do this by recognizing our uniqueness among the diversity, rejecting the mono-culturalism and the multiculturalism, and then doing what we can in a world such as we see before us to accommodate the respective civilizational groupings. We need to do this through the energy and the resources that are ours, recognizing that it will be incumbent upon us to take the lead, to yield, to compromise, and back down. It's always the responsibility of the one in power to yield and to give way, to be sensitive because in a position of dominance such as we have, if we don't do that, we will incite a backlash which can be read almost anywhere around the globe today. They love the golden arches of McDonald's, the world loves the economic prosperity, the world loves all of the gadgets and the toys and the affluence, but they don't want us dictating their civilizational ways, and we need to recognize that a world which © Grand Valley State University �Freedom and Commitment in a Global Society Richard A. Rhem Page 5   is diverse will always be diverse, and therefore needs accommodation, needs somebody who has the power who will give up the power here and there in order to make the whole thing work. Paul Schroeder, a retired history professor from the University of Illinois, says a peaceful world has resulted when there has been a dominant power that is benign, that is able to use its power in a positive fashion, and the problem of such a world comes when that dominant power is either unable or unwilling to pay the cost. In such a case, there is incited a backlash or the rising of competing ideologies that finally will undermine that status quo, that peace that has been achieved. I hear people grumble about all the billions of dollars that we ship overseas. Of course, we never stop to figure out that the beneficiary of all of that far beyond anyone else is ourselves. You hear Congressmen brag that they've hardly ever been out of this country. Someone of them said they didn't even own a passport. What kind of head-in-the-sand stupidity is that? You hear people thinking that you can turn the clock back, shut down movements like free trade and return to an isolationist kind of position. What kind of ignorance is that? And since we are in a position of such dominance and such power, it is incumbent upon us to be full of grace, full of integrity, to lead with generosity and with sensitivity. There is a good deal in this morning's scriptural passages about the pointing of the finger, the fighting and devouring of one another, added to the hostility and anger. Did you happen to catch the little piece in the news last night about taking down the Confederate flag over the capital of South Carolina, only to raise it on a flagpole in the yard somewhere? You can have whatever position you want on that, but when I saw on the television screen the hatred and the meanness and hostility, I saw the violence of the human animal. I thought to myself, "Dear God, I wish I was preaching this morning where my friend John Richard DeWitt is preaching, within sight of the capital, First Presbyterian, Columbia, South Carolina." I think I could get excited about preaching there this morning. But, you know, it's not a Carolinian problem; it's a human problem, and I have to say to you that, as citizens of the United States of America and as children of God who have been so richly blessed, who have such a marvelous tradition, the tradition of the West - we may not allow meanness, divisiveness, bigotry and hostility to mark us. Where is the Church? Where are the pulpits of America? How can we allow it to go on, when I have to say to you we are blessed, we are affluent, we are full of resources, we have limitless power, and it's time for us to take the lead and giving it away with gentleness and graciousness, not yielding up our power to lead, but yielding up our egotism and our self-indulgence. We are called in a global society in freedom to commitment and only thus will the Spirit of God be able to nudge this whole process along, that creative, enlivening Spirit of God that would move us animals onward toward Spirit in order that there might be peace on earth © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost IV Scripture Text Galatians 5:13 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-0-20000702 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-07-02 Title A name given to the resource Freedom and Commitment in a Global Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 2, 2000 entitled "Freedom and Commitment in a Global Society", on the occasion of Pentecost IV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Galatians 5:13. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Compassion Diversity Global Community Inclusive https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f6696cb990308efd8cb6c04211602160.mp3 34f6ca74cdce81ee97caac77027df6e1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2a82130876e534059c54b762d513b913.pdf f670a6e8fe9a3fa222dcffc6eb4cde82 PDF Text Text Prayer Changes People Pentecost V Text: Jeremiah 29:11-14; Psalm 131:1-2; Matthew 6:8-9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 9, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Some months ago I received a letter from one of our members, a good friend with whom I was going to have lunch, and as a prelude to the lunch, he gave me a series of questions that he thought would be good for discussion. He indicated that he had heard, from me and others who had come this way, the ultra-liberal view of things and he wondered about the old, traditional answers to some of the old, traditional questions, such as Creation and Adam and Eve and the Virgin Birth and Resurrection, Salvation through Christ alone. Then he had a whole paragraph on prayer in which he indicated that he had a Christian surgeon friend who said that in all of his many, many years and many, many procedures he had never known any effect of prayer in the changing of the result. He gave a whole paragraph to prayer and so, while I didn't think I wanted to get back to Adam and Eve or even the Virgin Birth, I thought probably those old questions about prayer continue to come, to rise within us in the variety of our human experience. What does prayer mean? Does prayer change anything? Does it affect reality? Prayer, now, not in its whole spectrum. There is prayer as praise. Prayer as adoration, prayer as confession, prayer as thanksgiving. That's all given. But, prayer as intercession, prayer as petition, prayer that asks God, as it were, to do something. That kind of prayer has always been the source of deep questions within our Christian experience, and so I thought this morning it might be well for us to spend a little time and reflect on prayer because certainly prayer is the very heart and center of the religious life or spiritual life. To be religious or to be spiritual is to pray, and yet, as our understanding of our faith and our experience moves and changes, how do we understand this exercise of prayer, this communion with God, this conversation with God? And does prayer affect or change reality? Those questions are certainly not new and I recognize and I want to say in the beginning that to give a sermon on the subject of prayer requires of one to be very careful and very sensitive. There are devotional habits that we have all developed over the years and it is never my intention to talk anyone out of that which is © Grand Valley State University   �Prayer Changes People Richard A. Rhem Page 2   satisfying and that which works for them in their spiritual pilgrimage and in their Christian life. My correspondent was taking a step back and looking at prayer somewhat objectively, wondering about it from a step removed from real existential engagement, and a sermon necessarily has to do that, too, and all of us can do that on occasion. But, to preach a sermon on prayer is a very risky thing because, in a congregation gathered like this, the whole spectrum of human experience is present, and while there are plenty of you who can take that step back and think with me about it this morning, there are no doubt others of you here in an existential point in your life where you are praying for your life, and I have often found that while many times with many people a conversation about prayer is possible, for others, it creates a great defensiveness and we become very protective and can be easily wounded as one discusses this kind of thing. In the crucible, we tend to react emotionally, not rationally, and in a setting like this this morning I am aware that there may be those of you who are deeply engaged in some existential moment where the wrestling and prayer is where you are, and I hope that you can, nonetheless, for just a few moments, think about this wonderful gift, this wonderful reality that we call prayer. I had set down this topic some weeks ago and was intending fully to treat it as one has to treat it, from a step removed, looking at it as a phenomenon of the spiritual life, and two weeks ago, my sister Lois underwent surgery. The diagnosis was melanoma cancer in all the vital organs and in the brain, and the doctor gave the diagnosis to her in the presence of her family and she is now home under Hospice care, for he said it could be a week or it could be a month, those things are not predictable. And last week a niece of mine – who happens to be the oldest grandchild of my parents, who when she was a little tyke I took care of one whole summer because her mother, my sister, couldn't pick her up, being pregnant once again, another one with whom I am very closely bonded – had a stroke, followed by seizures which have continued through the week, as late as this past Friday. And so, I found myself praying, and a preacher is always thinking about the next sermon, and so for the last two weeks I have been very much aware of what I intuitively sense, of what I emotionally feel, and of what I intellectually understand. I've been preaching this sermon for two weeks in quite another fashion than I intended to when I put down the subject and committed myself to preach on prayer today, and it's been really a good exercise for me because I have been so existentially engaged in the practice of prayer while also reflecting on the praying and on my own engagement in this exercise, and what I have come to see is that my understanding of prayer is really part and parcel of my understanding of God. And my understanding of God, it is no secret to you who have been with me for a while, the image of God has been transformed over the last few years from the classic theism with which I was nurtured and educated and which for most of my ministry I preached, transformed from that classic theism to an understanding of God as part of the reality of our life. The old classic theistic conception of God is that of the supernatural being outside of our reality who dips into our reality now and again to effect this or that, that idea of God as © Grand Valley State University �Prayer Changes People Richard A. Rhem Page 3   Almighty, the sovereign of history, the ruler of the world, the one who shifts the gears of the universe, the one who determines all that happens, that one, in a word, who is in control -that's the God with which most of us have grown up. But, also I think that image of God or the understanding of God has become more difficult for us. As we have come to more and more of an understanding of our world, of our human existence, of reality as such, I think that that old image of God as Almighty, in control, has really created our problems with prayer, because I do believe in all honesty that prayer has been a question and oftentimes an anguishing problem for devout persons. For example, I pray for my child and she is healed. You pray for your child and she dies. Or, droughts and floods and hurricanes and all of those natural disasters that we call in the insurance lingo the "acts of God," a God who is all-powerful and is in control, but does not rule out cancer in a child, or in our own lifetimes that most chilling realization that God's chosen people, the Jews, could be murdered en masse, six million, as occurred in the Holocaust. What does one do with God in control in face of human tragedy and suffering? Well, of course, I know the traditional answers - "God makes no mistakes," we say, feeling we have to say something in the face of tragedy, saying something like that which can really only wound the one who has experienced great loss. Or, "It is the inscrutable will of God and it will be made clear one day." Well, you can't argue with that and it has worked for many people, but in all honesty, it doesn't work for me anymore and I suspect there are many of you who say the same. If God can heal, why is it only one here and there? If God can send the rain or spare it, if God can send the wind or hold it back, then why should life be laced with such ongoing suffering and tragedy, if God is really in control? That is, if God really controls, pulls the levers, the strings, and determines all that happens? In the face of my own existential concern for those I dearly love, I had an opportunity to test the different image of God, not a God in control, but a God a part of the very reality of which we are all a part. If you want an attempt to label it, it is a conception that can be referred to as pan-entheism. Pan is the Greek word for "all," and the preposition en is "in," and theos, of course, is the Greek word for God. Pan-entheism tries to say God in everything and everything in God. God more than everything, but nothing apart from God, nothing exists apart from the presence of God. All of reality shot through with God. God present to all and all embraced in God, so that God is not one who needs to be called into the process. God is not one being, be God supernatural and super-human, human writ large. God is not just another being, a spiritual factor that here and there reflects the course of nature and interrupts the process, but rather, God as the enlivening center of all that is, the creative Spirit that moves it all. God present to all, in all and all in God so that prayer becomes coming to be at one with that mystery that is one with us. © Grand Valley State University �Prayer Changes People Richard A. Rhem Page 4   How, then, does one pray? Did I, do I pray for God to heal my sister's cancer? No, I don't. What, then, do I pray for? I pray for awareness. I pray for an awareness of the presence of the life-giving, loving God in all things that binds us all together. I pray for a sense of the enlivening, life-enhancing, loving, sacred and holy One, bringing me and those I love into sync with that which is God, the deepest and most profound Mystery of all reality. Because when I can come to recognize my part as a part of the whole, when I come to sense that I am laced into this whole amazing and wonderful miracle we call life and reality, when I come to the awareness that God is in me and with me and in and with those I love, then, in that awareness, there comes a certain peace, aware of the totality of things, of life's beauty and its terror, of a flower in a crannied wall and a child with cancer, and knowing that all of it is a part of this reality into which our lives are woven, a reality that is shot through with the holy, a reality to which God is present at all times, in all things, a presence whose awareness can give peace. And so, then I can go to be with my sister, I can go to be with my niece, I can be present to them in solidarity with them in this crisis of their physical being, but present to embody a love and a care and a concern which is the expression of that mystery of love that is God. In our Christian tradition, the word became flesh. In a human face we saw God and not that God was in one human face, period, but that God has become human, God has come into expression in the human. God is expressed in you and in me. We are God-persons to one another, and the presence of God to one another, and the embodiment of compassion and love and the deep bonding of human relationship, and that's beautiful, and that's powerful. No matter what the existential circumstance, to be able to break through to that sense of the presence of a God who is the mystery of life and love - that's powerful. There are a lot of studies being done, currently one underway at Harvard, a huge study on the connection of prayer and healing, and the evidence has come in that there is a therapeutic effect in worship, devotion, a life of prayer. But, I don't want to put it on that basis. I don't want to sell you on prayer; I don't want to sell you on worship, because it's good for you. Whatever happens that is good is a byproduct of the wonder of the experience of God, of being at one with the whole scheme of things which is the scheme of things whose font is God, God that inexhaustible, infinite source and ground of all that is, to be aware that I am embraced, that I am a part of and bound to those I love with a kind of community that is deeper than words can describe. To come to that is to come to amazement, to come to peace, and to know that all, all will be well. Of course, it will, because all together we are in the embrace of that mysterious love coming to expression in a process that is full of beauty and full of terror, but which embraced and experienced in the humanity of the other, in the bonds of love, in the mystery of compassion, enables one to say, "All is well. All is well." Prayer changes people, and I said "Prayer Changes People" because when I wrote that down some weeks ago, it was over against "Prayer Changes Things." But, this © Grand Valley State University �Prayer Changes People Richard A. Rhem Page 5   is the irony -when once I break through to that sense of being secured and that loving mystery I call God, and I am changed. Reality just may change, as well. I looked at my sister on Thursday and two weeks ago she was so terribly sick. Through competent medical care and the loving ministry of the Hospice people getting her taken care of, the morphine patch to relax and to cut the pain, to look at her and see her smile, to know her peace, I could say to her, "You know, you just might be peaceful enough to reverse that whole cancerous process." And it could happen. I don't know how it happens. I don't know what happens when we pray, when we pray in our words and our body language and our presence in the yearning depths of our hearts, I don't know what happens. Who knows what that positive yearning affects since we are all interlaced into a continuous reality, since we are all part of that web of being, who knows what my love and concern and compassion may affect beyond me? Jeremiah was a theist, I think. He wouldn't like my transformed image of God, for the God of Israel was sovereign of history who set the boundaries and determined the destiny of nations, but Jeremiah was simply imagining God in his way. The important thing is not that image; the important thing is that Jeremiah had a basic, fundamental trust in God. In the midst of the darkness of the Exile, he trusted in God, he believed in God, he trusted in light, in love, and the purposes that are endemic to the whole scheme of things. And so, he said, "I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans of good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope." I'll tell you what –I lived my life for several years on that text. You see, the biblical images that are so beautiful and powerful are poetry. They are the poetry of the soul -God's eye is on the sparrow, the very hairs of your head are numbered, your name is engraven in the palm of God's hand. Images, images that point to something profound and deep that you can trust, and if you can trust, you can resign yourself in peace and life becomes a prayer and your presence to one who is suffering is a prayer, and your presence to those who celebrate a child is a prayer. Prayer which arises out of that fundamental trust - that changes people. So, then, pray without ceasing. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost V Scripture Text Jeremiah 29:11-14, Psalm 131:1-2, Matthew 6:8-9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20000709 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-07-09 Title A name given to the resource Prayer Changes People Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 9, 2000 entitled "Prayer Changes People", on the occasion of Pentecost V, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Jeremiah 29:11-14, Psalm 131:1-2, Matthew 6:8-9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Divine Presence Panentheism Prayer https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9073add7a8137211f80237522884aa26.mp3 57aed479e1ff50d7aad2361b2159fd34 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/55610773190b4889fd30ac3be3a70103.pdf 7e3ba49d87605e6082114930d46cdc15 PDF Text Text Religion Made On Earth From the series: Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Text: Isaiah 44:18; Acts 17:27-28 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan July 23, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Today and for a few weeks to follow I want to speak to you about religion in order that we might understand more clearly that in which we are engaged as a worshiping community. I want us to consider the nature of this phenomenon of religion which for us is still important and informs us not only in our worship, but also in our way of life. For many people, perhaps, religion is less important, and they have fallen away. And yet, back over the eons of time religion has been endemic to the human situation. As long as there have been those whom we would denominate human, we find traces of religion. The practice of religion is really the attempt of the creature to come into relationship with the Ultimate Reality. Call that Ultimate Reality what you will— God, the mystery, the sacred, the holy. Think of it in terms that are personal or think of it in terms of some life force, whatever that may be, and that Ultimate Mystery has been thought of in all those ways. As a matter of fact, human beings try to figure out what in the world is going on, who we are, where we have come from, and what will be the issue of our being here. Is there any meaning to the practice of religion? Is there any purpose? Is that meaning or purpose intrinsic in the process of itself, or is meaning something we bring to the process and create in the midst of it? All of those options are open. But I believe to be human is to be religious, because to be human is to live in the presence of a Mystery. We didn’t create ourselves. We are here by a grace or a fate, and we live and move and have our being. We live before a Mystery that is beyond us, that cannot be fully grasped but has been experienced— according to the testimony of people down through the ages who have encountered it in some concrete way. That Ultimate Reality breaks through, or bubbles up. In any case, to be human is to come at some point to recognize that life has an ultimate ground and source and to wonder about it. The religions of the world are human phenomena that are the consequences of someone’s experience, the © Grand Valley State University   �Religion Made On Earth Richard A. Rhem Page 2   results of which gathered a community or cult that developed a way of worship, liturgy, prayers, hymns, sacraments, and rituals of various kinds. The community, the cult, called those who followed that way to a way of life, an ethics, a morality. Religion is a human phenomenon, and what I want to say this morning in this first message is very simple, but if you really hear me, it’s very radical. You won’t hear it often in church, but I believe that it is simple and it is true: religion is made on earth; it is a human construct. Religion didn’t fall ready-made from heaven. There is no absolute religion with God’s stamp on it as over against all of the other religions practiced by the diversity of humankind. All religion is made on earth and is a human construct. If you could buy that, I wouldn’t have to preach anymore. We would recognize together that what we have is a story, a way of devotion and a way of life which is the consequence of long history. It is the consequence of some who had an encounter with that Mystery, told their story and created what has become for us the Christian tradition, flowing out of the Jewish tradition, and of course, the biblical tradition. One might ask, “Well, isn’t it true?” Is a sunset true? Is a poem true? Of course, it’s true. It is true in the sense that it puts us in communion with God. It satisfies the hunger of our heart. It elicits from us what is noble and best. It gives us a reason for being. It gives us a hope. It enables us to go on to tomorrow. Of course, it’s true. But religion is not true in the sense that a chemical formula is true, not in the sense that the hard stuff of the natural sciences is true. It is not empirical and verifiable. Religion is a judgment call. Religion is a choice. Religion is a response to a story. It is engagement in worship and community; it is the following of a way of life. Religion can be good or less good, but not true or false in a sense in which we deal with true and false in a world marked by the scientific method, empirical investigation. No, religion is a human construct and all of them alike are made on earth. Now if you can receive that, you will have learned a very radical and very important truth this morning. Oh, I suppose you know it and have known it for a long time, or you probably wouldn’t be hanging around here. But nonetheless, I want to underscore it as we begin a series of contemplating the nature and the function and the practice of religion. In the dawning of human consciousness there were those ultimate questions, the questions which arise because we are human, self-conscious and conscious of the other. The great religious traditions of the world are the consequence of communities gathering around a visionary experience, a founding story. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Religion Made On Earth Richard A. Rhem Page 3   The problem was, and still is, that there is also something intrinsic in our human nature that wants to take that which is valuable and good and helpful and absolutize it. We want to make it the exclusive way, the exclusive truth. We want to assert dogmatically that the visionary experience we have had, our insight, our intuitive grasp of things is the only way, is the only possible understanding, is the only door to eternal life. Monotheism, the idea of one God, was a step forward. To say God by definition is to say that Ultimate Mystery, that ultimate source of things. Finally there could be God and none other. There’s no problem with that. That was an insightful move. The problem is when, as a monotheist who affirms with some understanding that God can only be one, I claim that one is the God of my particular religious vision, rather than recognizing that my image is a groping after the Ultimate Mystery that lies beyond every concrete God image. In Babylon the Jews were in exile and they were losing their grip, and so the prophet, trying to get them to hang on to their God of Israel, writes this taunting, mocking piece in Isaiah 44. It is full of satire. “Look how stupid is this idol worship of the Babylonians. Craftsman takes a tree, cuts it in half, with half the tree he builds a fire, warms himself. He cooks his meal. And from the other half he shapes an image. And then he bows down and worships the image. How stupid can you be?” says the prophet. Not a very nice attitude. Did you catch that? How stupid can you be? The same tree: part of it for a campfire to cook over and to warm him, and the other part of it for an idol, a block of wood shaped and formed, bowed down before. How stupid! Oh, really? If the prophet had been honest and fair, he would have known. I suspect he did know some of the liturgy of the Babylonian cult. They weren’t stupid. They were fully aware that a block of wood shaped into an image was a mediator of the mystery. There are prayers in the Babylonian liturgy that plead for the God of heaven to come down and indwell this image so that God might have a concrete existence in the midst of the people. Hmm. Sounds like the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Maybe they knew what John knew when he said, “No one has ever seen God, but the only Son has made God clear, or revealed God.” The prophet was using satire and ridicule because he had this little rag tag band of exiles, and he was trying to hold them together for Yahweh God. It was harmless. That only becomes dangerous when a group manifests that kind of attitude and spirit and then gets power. If you have power to enforce your monotheism and your exclusive claim, you can become a very dangerous person. Someone once wrote that history is bound to be bloody when it’s made by people © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Religion Made On Earth Richard A. Rhem Page 4   who barely understand themselves, yet declare that they understand God perfectly. Then they meet other people who think the same, only differently. And then you have the violence and the hostility and the bitterness that fuels so much of the unrest in the human family. This has always been the case and remains so in our day. Religion is a human construct. That doesn’t mean that it is not the mediator of revelation and saving grace. We believe that Moses was encountered by the living God, but the only way that could come to be a religious movement was through human language, human articulation, human formulation, human cult, liturgy, prayer, ritual, commandments, and a way of life. Every religion has those aspects. Every religion has a story, an experience, an encounter, a vision which issues in a mode of worship and in a way of life. But you see, if I would claim that my Christian faith or my Jewish-Christian, biblical tradition is true and true alone and the only truth, I would also be saying that Mohammed was just blowing smoke, that what happened to Moses couldn’t happen to anyone else, that the Buddha in his moment of enlightenment was not dealing with any ultimate truth breakthrough, that all of the founding stories of the great religious traditions were false, and mine is true. Well, we have dealt with that often enough here, but I am still struck with its ignorance and its arrogance. Every religion is made on earth. It doesn’t fall out of heaven. If it is a good religion, it puts earthlings in touch with heaven. If it’s a good religion, it mediates between humans and that Mystery whom no one has ever seen, nor can we know, apart from a gracious unveiling here and there, now and again. But religion is a human business. Religions are not all the same. Some are better than others in terms of the grace they mediate, in terms of the fruit that follows from the observance, and that can be discussed. As a matter of fact, what cannot be denied is that all of us humans who are religious are engaged in a structure of story, worship, and life which is a human construct. So then, how do you judge religion? Well, let me suggest a few things. Good religion opens the mind. It’s easy enough to say, but also indicative of the fact that there has been an awful lot of bad religion, because most religion has not been about opening the mind, but about closing it. It has been about the statement of an absolute deposit of faith beyond which one ought not to think. In other words, it has been about the creation of a box within which one can think all one wants to as long as one doesn’t get out of the box. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Religion Made On Earth Richard A. Rhem Page 5   But good religion will open the mind. Good religion will open us to the reality of this world. It will give us access to all of the sciences and the explosion of knowledge which is so amazing in our day—amazing breakthroughs in biology, for example, that deal with the human being; the Genome project, the DNA mapping, that kind of thing. We don’t need to be threatened by that. A good religion will say to us, “Go for it! Understand it. Be fascinated by it, and profit from it.” Good religion opens the mind. Good religion will help us to understand our own religion, and to understand the historical conditions of every religion. We’ll begin to see how other religions arose, how they developed, and why they are what they are. Without a kind of absolutism that says mine is true and all the rest are false, I’ll come to Isaiah 44 and say, “Prophet, I understand what you were doing in that context, but I don’t like your attitude. And you were not fair to Babylonian religion.” It will enable me to say to Paul, who comes to Athens and sees all the temples and all the statues and becomes frustrated and disturbed, that the Athenians were simply seeking the same ultimate Mystery he encountered. He was disturbed because he had this amazing vision. He was gripped by a vision. He believed that all of this imagery and all of these gods and goddesses represented in the city of Athens simply didn’t measure up to that which had gripped him and grasped him. He wanted to tell the whole world about the God of Israel who had become incarnate, not in a block of wood, but in a human face. And it is natural, good and right that he should have shared his vision, as long as he didn’t do as the prophet did and denigrate those who were groping after the Mystery. After all, that is what human religion is—groping after the Mystery. Good religion will help us to understand that. Good religion will give us a sense of why things are the way they are. For example, in our house right now, the aroma is marvelous. There’s a pork loin roasting. The clan is coming over. But we didn’t invite our Jewish friends. Because of the dietary laws, I wouldn’t invite my Jewish friends over for a pork loin. Now why did the Jews have a restriction against pork, or any of the dietary laws? They had a hygienic basis. I suppose they thought pigs were full of trichinosis, and they probably were, and it wasn’t healthy. It became a religious thing, but it had a very practical base. Now you tell a pig farmer today that his pork is not the “other white meat” and he will be offended, because those pigs live in palaces now. Well, then, the dietary law is not necessary anymore, is it? Not really. But is it okay still not to eat pork? Of course, it’s okay. But you’re not dealing with something that is part of the ultimate structure of reality. It is a choice. A Jewish person might say, “I belong to a Jewish community and we have dietary laws, so that when I eat, I am reminded of God. When I eat, the very way I eat, the things I © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Religion Made On Earth Richard A. Rhem Page 6   eat, the things I don’t eat remind me that I am a child of God, the God of Israel is my God.” And that’s good. Or maybe there is something we can identify with a little more: the Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath. What a wonderful institution! I commend it to you. I commend it to myself, for whom every weekend is shot to heaven. But I heard on the news last night that at Camp David yesterday the conversation between Barak and Arafat was casual. Why? Because it was the Sabbath. Now who knows what they really did in the bushes, but for the face of the world, the Sabbath was observed. Is that good? Sure, it is good. Does it reflect something in the ultimate structure of things? No. The problem is, if everybody was as observant as the Jew and an American Christian who is trying to get an Arab and a Jew together, you’d have the Arab Sabbath on Friday and the Christian Sabbath on Sunday. So you’d have Friday, Saturday and Sunday just written right off and you couldn’t get anything done. On the other hand, if three days were spent by our world leaders in the contemplation of Creation and God, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday might be more profitable. But is it something that is in the ultimate structure of things? No. Is it a fruitful, helpful choice? Absolutely. It is good for all of us to observe Sabbath, not because that is the way reality is, but because that reality constructed by us is a very good way to be. Good religion will help me to understand those things, so that I know that a lot of the things I do are arbitrary. They are judgment calls on my part, and the thing I have to be satisfied with is whether or not it is a means by which I am in communion with, I am in touch with, that Ultimate Mystery. Is it a way that is fruitful in my life? If it is good for me, does it have to be good for you? If something else is good for you, do I have to deny that the something else can be a means of grace for you? No, not at all, because religion is made on earth and it is a human construct. The point is that religion be faithful and fruitful in mediating to us that Ultimate Mystery that embraces us and undergirds us and overshadows us and gives us life as a gift and hope for the future. And then, good religion will lead to compassion. I am reading Karen Armstrong’s Battle for God. Incidentally, I talked to her in London last week and she is going to come here in October of 2001. She stresses again, as she stressed in her History of God, how all the great religious traditions call for compassion. Good religion will warm the heart. It will open the mind and it will warm the heart, and it will result in a compassionate people. A lot of good religion has a pretty bad track record, and we still haven’t been able to master that one. Did you see the ABC Evening News at 6:30 last night? I perked up my ears when they said there was a religious problem somewhere in the country. Well, it happened to be in a suburb of Chicago, Palos Heights. On the news screen was © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Religion Made On Earth Richard A. Rhem Page 7   the story of a Muslim community that has outgrown their facility and they were going to buy a church building which was for sale in Palos Heights. Then the Palos Heights Reformed Church appeared on the screen. (I spoke there a few years ago, but they haven’t asked me back lately.) The Muslim congregation was going to buy that building until there was an uproar in this suburb of Chicago that is filled with many, many Christian people. And so the City Council offered the Muslim community $200,000 to just walk away, and they were going to do it until, bless his heart, the mayor said to his council, “Number 1, you say you’re going to use that for a recreational facility. A year ago you turned it down because it wasn’t large enough. Number 2, we don’t have $200,000 just to pay out. And number 3, the reason you’re doing it is wrong.” That’s right down the lake, folks. It’s not just a religious thing, it’s a human thing. It’s the fear of the other; it’s the threat of that which is different. Good religion will break through to us where we say it cannot be. The world cannot continue in all of the intricacy of the human community to live with that kind of paranoia, that kind of divisiveness, that kind of fear of diversity. Good religion will result in compassion, or it’s not worth anything it claims to be. Good religion will elevate the aesthetic tastes, because there was a day when the Church was the womb of the arts, of magnificent architecture, the beautiful paintings, the lovely music that moves the soul—all of that comes out of the spiritual center that is elevated by the encounter with God. I look around today and see such a terrible loss of the aesthetic sense and the deterioration of religion. Friends, to be ultimately committed to one’s faith and vision does not necessitate the claim that it fell out of heaven. To be totally committed and deeply nurtured in one’s faith vision does not necessitate the denial that it is a human construct flowing out of the human experience of God, winning its way through liturgy, prayers, and an effective way of being human. But to acknowledge that religion is made on earth is to be able to join hands and hearts and arms with all God’s children, for good religion will understand itself and feel compassion for the other. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost VII Series Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Scripture Text Isaiah 44:18, 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-0-20000723 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-07-23 Title A name given to the resource Religion Made On Earth Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 23, 2000 entitled "Religion Made On Earth", as part of the series "Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression", on the occasion of Pentecost VII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 44:18, Acts 17:27-28. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Compassion Pluralism Religion as a Human Construct https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6d3fd1aa30df4163f9d9ed08e23d0ec1.mp3 29b5c8141d5936fd0db39c089cac373d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4540e21db0926f15d96182c32e2b6973.pdf 44cdc67dd6a0e239b12e4b4a44e8e69f PDF Text Text Religion as Prozac From the series: Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Scripture: Matthew 11:28 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost VIII, July 30, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon I began last week a series of message in which I want to acknowledge the significant critique of religion that arose in the last century, and doing it in order that we might find fresh expression, in order that we might respond to those meaningful criticisms that were made of religion. The critique of religion in the 19th century was really a natural follow-up to the whole transformation of the landscape through the development in the 18th century of the scientific method, empirical investigation, actually looking at the world and observing, experimenting, testing. The scientific method which has shaped our whole modern understanding of reality, getting its full speed in the 18th century eventuated in the 19th century with the development we call historical thinking when people began to think about where they were in light of the past, how things developed, the history of institutions, forms and structures, religion being one of them. We began to understand that one can only understand the present in light of that which gave it birth and through its development over years or centuries or millennia. So, people began to think about their religious experience, for example, their religious tradition in terms of the history of its development, and began to see, began to understand that, as we said last week, religion is a human construct, that really all of the respective religions are human constructs. They can't be anything else. A Moses has an experience of a burning bush and I would say a genuine and authentic experience of the mystery that we call God. But, how does it come to expression? The only possibility is through human language, and if that is an authentic experience of the living God, a community will gather around it, and if a community gathers around it, there will be a teaching. Somehow or other a Moses will have to explicate that experience. Before long, there is a creed, and as a community gathers, it will have forms of expression, liturgies, rituals, prayers, hymns; that whole cultic experience will be produced. And then, of course, someone will say in light of that experience, then how should we live? And so you have the whole ethical domain. © Grand Valley State University   �Religion as Prozac Richard A. Rhem Page 2   We began to see that that is the nature of religion - a founding experience, a teaching, a mode of devotion, a way of life. And the reason that religion has been a universal human experience is that it is that exercise, that observance in which we are consciously and intentionally engaged with that ultimate mystery of things, those ultimate questions that drive our existence. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What does it mean? What is the purpose of it all? Is there any meaning or purpose in this human existence of mine? Those are questions that are age-old; they dawn with the dawning consciousness of the human person, and they are with us still. They haven't run out of their legitimacy or their validity. They are the inevitable questions. An interesting thing happened in the 19th century. Along came those social revolutionaries and among those social revolutionaries, reflecting on the history of religion and seeing religion as dealing with those ultimate questions, was a thinker named Ludwig Feuerbach who recognized that the mark of the human being is that a human being can jump out of his or her skin and reflect on him or herself. We don't have a dog anymore, but I used to love to use our dog as an example. Hershey could look at me with those beautiful big brown eyes, but he never scratched his ear and said, "Here I am, looking at you looking at me." Now, I will do that. I might pause for a moment and say, "Here I am on this stool, speaking to you who are listening to me," and I might reflect on this moment. I might jump out of my skin and observe myself in this moment. That's a mark of being human. That's self-consciousness. That's the capacity for self-transcendence. Feuerbach recognizing that capacity for self-transcendence, said that is exactly what God is. God is the project, the product, the projection of our wishes and desires and fears and sense of dependence projected outward unto the screen of reality. God is simply the projection of man's own infinite nature. It must have been an idea whose day had come because it caught fire, it struck gold, it became the unquestioned assumption of much 19th century thinking. And then along came Karl Marx, who said religion is not just the projection of the individual's wishes and desires outward; rather, religion is the projection of society's hopes and dreams outward. Marx said Feuerbach dealt with the essence of the human, but that is an abstraction. Religion is really the result of people who are suffering, who are finding consolation in the promise of another world, a better world, a world where there are streets of gold and angels in attendance and the glory of God. Marx said religion is the opium of the people. Now, that from many pulpits has been pounded on and misconstrued, really. Marx was not criticizing religion at that point. Marx was saying the function of religion is to console people who are living in human anguish, and in that sense, it was a positive thing. It enabled people in dire human circumstances, which marked 19th century European mass population, to get comfort, consolation. In their human distress and oppression, they are consoled by the comforts of © Grand Valley State University �Religion as Prozac Richard A. Rhem Page 3   religion which is the construction of another world and another age, that gives them hope and it keeps them going. Now, Marx went further to say that because they are consoled and comforted, and because they are kept somewhat at peace, they don't see their world as a world that needs to be changed. They accept their oppressed situation, waiting for their vindication and eventual redemption in another world, in another time, and to that extent, Marx was critical of religion. To that extent, Marx believed that one had to tear the flowers off the chains that bound the human being, not simply so the human being would live with the bleak chains, but so that the human being finding that, in fact, we are bound and shackled, would throw off the shackles, and of course, Karl Marx was looking for that great social revolution. Marx was looking for the class warfare, for the workers of the world to arise and to overthrow the rulers of this world and to bring in the classless society, the Utopia, in which case he said, in Utopia religion will disappear because there won't be any need for religion. It will be superfluous, because in a classless society where all are living equitably and justly, there would be no need for the consolations of religion. And so, it will simply disappear. Lenin, following Marx, said not simply that religion is the opium of the people, but that it is opium for the people, and he charged the priesthood and the rich and powerful of the world, those who held the power, with intentionally keeping people in the shackles through the consolation of religion. He saw it as a scheme, as a conspiracy. Keep the people singing hymns so that they don't realize how bad their situation really is. That was the critique in the 19th century, a powerful critique of institutional religion and primarily Christian religion, Judeo-Christian religion, at least, and it is a criticism that had a great deal of legitimacy, for the Church did miss the boat with the working class, the masses of the European continent of the 19* century. There was a great alienation. I suspect that Europe in its post-Christian state today may be in part, at least, explained by the failure of the 19th century Church to deal with the actual social problems of the 19th century. There was a collusion of throne and altar and those who were in control and set the terms for society failed to recognize the alienation of the masses, and that was a legitimate criticism, the fruit of which we are reaping even today. There was another factor that Marx saw clearly and that was that religion was still claiming that it could explain the world rather than recognizing that religion doesn't explain the world, science explains the world. We were in that transition period when religion was still trying to say that in the Bible, for example, there is a knowledge of history and there is the explanation of scientific reality, the reality of our world, and it enabled Marx to show the backward looking, closemindedness of the Church. The Church has been dragged kicking and screaming into the kingdom at every point with the explosion of human knowledge. As I said last week, good religion will open the mind but traditional religion has © Grand Valley State University �Religion as Prozac Richard A. Rhem Page 4   characteristically sought to close the mind, and so there was that battle between exploding knowledge and the retro view of the Church and that enabled Marx' s criticism to be more poignant because it was obvious to those who sat up and looked. As a matter of fact, the world was exploding with knowledge while the Church lived in its benighted, dogmatic slumber. There was a significant criticism of religion and as always happens we don't believe strongly enough, we don't trust deeply enough in the Church and so we react very poorly to those criticisms. But, we can also look from the perspective of 100 or 150 years to see that, thank God, Marx was wrong. Marx was wrong in his analysis of social development and the way that history would go. Marx didn't foresee it all, that a dominant capitalism had the capacity to change and to become more socially sensitive. The great class warfare, thank God, never eventuated, and Marx's Utopia which was a figment of his imagination anyway, of course, never arrived. So, we can say that in his historical development and his view of the future, he was wrong. But I think the most fundamental way in which Marx was wrong is his failure to understand the nature of religion and this is really where I changed my mind about what I wanted to say this morning. Marx was saying, as a matter of fact somewhat positively, that religion is a sedative, it's a narcotic, that it dulls people to the pain of existence. Lenin, as I said, more negatively said that it is fed to people in order to bewitch them, in order to drug them and give them no sense of the reality of the life that they are living. And religion can have that manifestation. Religion can be an orgy. Once in a while I watch that late night television stuff and I see people totally entranced and at other times whooping it up in the pews and dancing in the aisles and blowing whistles and waving their hands and being slain in the Spirit, being absolutely like a cold mackerel at the altar, and I think to myself that is nothing but a narcotic. It reminds me of the person about the fourth row one week here years ago who started saying "Amen" and pretty soon waving the arms, and getting generally enthusiastic about the sermon, when an usher went up and tapped him on the shoulder and the man said, "I got religion," to which the usher replied, "Well, you didn't get it here." So, I look at some of that and I realize that religion can drug, it can be an emotional orgy. And then, this is where I changed my mind, I said to myself, "What's wrong with that?" Because Marx was right - it's tough to be human. Now, there aren't any that I know of here that would fit into that 19th century oppressed class for which Marx spoke prophetically, but what Marx thought was that religion was just a consolation for those who were oppressed. He failed to realize that religion is something far deeper in the human being, dealing with those ultimate questions which we, be we poverty-stricken, hungry and naked, or among the rich and the famous, have those questions that cannot be denied. Human existence is tough and we are all faced with those limit situations. We celebrate births, but children die and, as a matter of fact, we'll all die and what does it mean to be a part of this human scene? Those are questions that fill us © Grand Valley State University �Religion as Prozac Richard A. Rhem Page 5   with wonder and sometimes with deep confusion, and before it, we seek some meaning, some clue to what it is all about. Why are you here this morning? Why have you stuck with the Church when multitudes and multitudes and many of them clear-eyed and thinking people, have simply abandoned the Church? Why are we still doing this? I suspect because we still feel the need, the importance of community, of a supportive community in which we can engage in the human quest together, in which we can raise our questions, in which before the mystery of life and in its joys and in its sadness, we can be supportive of one another, a community in which we can experience care and express compassion. I suppose those of us who haven't left are simply giving evidence of an ongoing spiritual hunger and thirst. I said to someone not so long ago, most of the people to whom I could appeal have left the Church and most of the people still in the Church wish I had left. There are all kinds of spiritual hunger, all kinds of questions and all kinds of questings out in the world beyond the walls of the Church because religion is not just a matter of consoling people in their oppression as a kind of narcotic, a sedative against reality, but it is the quest, the human quest. Our religion is a human construct, but it becomes the agent and the vehicle by which we come into the presence of that ultimate mystery and are faced with those ultimate questions and find a community in which we can think together and reflect together and, in the meantime, find that supportive love and encouragement that enables us to go on in the midst of deep waters, through the fiery furnace, knowing that we are not alone. I found a piece in Cahill's Desire of the Everlasting Hills, which is a quote from Potok's Asher Lev, a story of Asher Lev, an observant Jew going into The Duomo in Florence, this great, grand structure, and, finding Michelangelo's final old Pieta, as an observant Jew, is transfixed by it and he stares at it. He said, I stared at the geometry of the stone and felt the stone luminous with strange suffering and power. I was an observant Jew, yet that block of stone moved through me like a cry... like the call of seagulls over morning surf, like the echoing blasts of the shofar sounded by the Rebbe. I do not mean to blaspheme. My frames of reference have been finally formed by the life I have lived. I do not know how a devout Christian reacts to that Pieta; I was only able to relate it to elements in my own lived past. I stared at it. I walked slowly around it. I do not remember how long I was there that first time. When I came back out into the brightness of the crowded square, I was astonished to discover my eyes were wet. (Thomas Cahill, Desire of the Everlasting Hills, p. 302F) Somehow or other, all of the human suffering, for Asher Lev, was gathered up in that sculpture and in a moment transfixed, the stone like a cry, pierced him. © Grand Valley State University �Religion as Prozac Richard A. Rhem Page 6   One never knows when or where that will happen. Authentic religion is the opening of the soul and the heart to that which will not be domesticated in our religious structures nor our creedal formulas nor our liturgies, but that which will address us as human, speaking to us of a mysterious dimension of reality that we can never grasp, but in the meantime, in the moment, it is speaking to us words such as, "All will be well. All will be well. All manner of things will be well." Religion is the poetry of the soul that lives in a world that can be explained by the natural sciences in terms of its structure of reality. Religion gives us the images that somehow or other inspire hope, that speak to that longing, that thirsting, that yearning for that we know not what, but we call God. Five or six years ago there were ten million people on Prozac and 80% responded favorably. That's wonderful. It's wonderful how our unbalanced chemistry can be brought into balance to enhance life and to make us alive, fully alive, fruitful and effective. So, all hail to Prozac. So, why not religion as Prozac? Why not in the midst of my sweaty existence, hearing a word like "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I suspect you come here week after week for a phrase of a hymn, a paragraph of the scripture, a song, or the meanderings of a preacher and just maybe sometimes, now and again, there is the rifting of the sky and heaven shines through, and that's as good, maybe better, than Prozac, although it can be addicting. References: Thomas Cahill. Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus. Anchor, 2001. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost VIII Series Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Scripture Text Matthew 11:28 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Thomas Cahill. Desire of the Everlasting Hills: The World Before and After Jesus,, 2001. 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-0-20000730 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-07-30 Title A name given to the resource Religion As Prozac Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on July 30, 2000 entitled "Religion As Prozac", as part of the series "Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression", on the occasion of Pentecost VIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Matthew 11:28. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Community Nature of Religion Spiritual Quest https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/176abaa85fa310d8c484686d366c4c53.mp3 c23d473f7a2b91607b158e8371efb64a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e27fa7ae75d77643853299fecec7e4b4.pdf 3461431494c671dc8221549d3072c9dc PDF Text Text Religion as Illusion From the series: Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Text: Isaiah 43:3; Ephesians 4:13; Matthew 6:3 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 6, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon I have within reach of my desk chair a volume of The New York Times Magazine of some three years ago which has a bright red cover and big letters in black about God. It is about the God question, and there is article after article about the quest for God in all of the respective forms of that quest and the various religious traditions, as well as within our own country and within our own Christian faith. There is an interesting piece by Jack Miles. Jack Miles wrote the book, God: A Biography, which some of you perhaps read within the last two or three years. Jack Miles writes about the resurgence of religion and he says that what is happening is the dealing with questions that have been postponed too long, questions that finally cannot be put off, questions about the ultimate meaning of life. He makes a couple of points that are fascinating to me because I suppose one always likes to have one's own biases confirmed, but we have been talking a lot here about religion as a human construct, as a response to the mystery that is God, and Jack Miles says very clearly that the resurgence of religion involves not fascination with the mystery of religion, but with the mystery in response to which the religions arise. In other words, the resurgence of religion is a serious quest for God, or for the holy, the sacred, the ultimate. The religions are response. They involve all of the dimensions of that quest that seriously hungers and thirsts after the knowledge and the experience of God. He says one other thing that pleases me very much and that is, in order for religion to have broad social viability, it needs to have established its intellectual viability, at least by a few. The social viability for the many depends upon the establishment of the intellectual viability of religion by the few. He recognizes that there are only a few that have the interest, the fascination, the patience and the preparation to investigate the intellectual foundations of religious expression, religious faith. But, he makes the point that those few are very critical for the larger practice of religion because ideas count, ideas make a difference, ideas trickle down and shape the large majority of the population eventually, and therefore, it is critical that someone somewhere, that some people somewhere engage in a serious investigation about the intellectual viability of religious faith, © Grand Valley State University   �Religion as Illusion Richard A. Rhem Page 2   and we do that here. We do it here seriously and it cannot be engaged in, it cannot be executed for us today without our going through the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century lie the roots of modern atheism and we have been looking at some of those brilliant thinkers who were atheistic in their posture and who were often anti-religious, believing that religion had to be jettisoned in order for humanity to grow up. It seems as though Ludwig Feuerbach had this idea whose time had come, the idea that God is a human projection, that our own selftranscendent capacity, our ability to step out of our skin and observe ourselves was simply absolutized and projected into heaven. What we really worship is a human projection. God is the ideal of our humanity to the extent that we are able to conceive it. Karl Marx took that idea and said religion is wishful thinking, it is consolation, it is a narcotic for the oppressed multitudes. "Religion," he said famously, "is the opium of the people." He was not severely critical of that, except that he said to the extent that religion dulls human awareness of suffering, of injustice, of what is wrong with this world. To that extent it keeps us from dealing with that wrong here and now. He saw the religious structuring as creating another world in which everything would be all right, all the wrongs would be righted and we'd finally have peace and satisfaction. So, Marx believed that to the extent that religion was a narcotic to dull us to the present, it allowed us to focus on another world, keeping us from dealing with that which had to be dealt with in order to transform the world and to bring about a just society. Sigmund Freud followed in the steps of Feuerbach, as did Marx, simply accepting the idea that God was a projection. There is no God "out there," so to speak, that there is no objective reality. Freud saw religion as illusion, as the consequence of our oldest, strongest, most urgent wishes, our human wish for security, for justice, for the prolongation of earthly life, for the future life. The oldest, strongest, most urgent wishes of humankind he saw as the seedbed of religion. He had it all mixed up with the Oedipal complex and the fact that the experience of the human race could be seen in the experience of a child, the helplessness of a child, the need for protection, looking to the father, the authority figure who is both loved and feared. The father, then, and the experience of the child, becomes the God figure that is projected outward, but, essentially, it is wish fulfillment, living by illusion. Illusion is not the same as error because the religious hopes and dreams cannot be demonstrated to be true, but they cannot be refuted, either. They are illusions; they are unfounded beliefs by which humankind lives in order to find comfort and to have hope and courage. Religion as illusion. Well, what will we say to that? In the first place, I suppose we have to recognize that much of what Freud said was true. Freud is the father of psychoanalysis, but probably also the one that made psychology in general a household word. Freud was a brilliant thinker, a careful analyzer of the human psyche. He is the one we © Grand Valley State University �Religion as Illusion Richard A. Rhem Page 3   look to as the one who uncovered that underground river of the unconscious which so powerfully influences what we think and what we do. There are so many insights that came through Freud that I'm not competent nor would I begin to try to give a synopsis of his thought, but he gave us brilliant insight into the human psyche and it was his conviction that our religious faith and practice is a childhood fantasy carried into our adulthood and that our religion is simply illusion. As I immersed myself again in these 19th century thinkers, I am impressed with the fact that they are brilliant. They are a century after the breakthrough in the natural sciences. The world was opening up; reality was opening up, and they brought to light scintillating insight. As I reflect on them in the light of my own education and training, my own nurture and upbringing, I realize what a tragedy it is that there was such an adversarial relationship between these 19th century thinkers and the Church. I suppose it was inevitable. It is probably a case of the chicken and the egg. I don't know if they were so nasty that the Church got its back up, or if they were so threatening that the Church became nasty. It may well have been the latter. But, as I see that history, I realize how much we have lost by being at enmity with some of the most brilliant thinkers of the past century. They were atheist and I think they believed that they had to be that and against religion to one degree or another, because only thus could they get the cobwebs out of our human minds and hearts so that we might grow up to come to maturity, that we might face the real world that was coming more and more to light. But, in that adversarial relationship between the Church and science, the Church and the human sciences, we lost a great deal. I saw a TV ad yesterday for Gore against Bush in which he had George Bush with a background of Houston, the smog capital of the world, and George Bush looks for all the world like he is hung over, and I said to myself, "How too bad." Of course, that's the real situation. They slug at one another and put each other down and do their best to make each other look ridiculous, but how unfortunate that that is the only way that we, the electorate, can be appealed to. There is no civil dialogue, no civil discourse, no setting forth of issues that are discussed intelligently, but rather, the other is made to look like some kind of a fool, and I thought about the way Dr. Freud was portrayed to me in my own education. He was really a bad man, a rotten man. He was really a reason why religion was in deep trouble because of his terrible threat, because of his thinking, because of his ideas. I so wish that someone at some point would have sat me down and said, "Look at the brilliant insights that are coming to light. If you could only hear them," because there is much religious expression that is illusion and there are an awful lot of people who cling to religion as a crutch in their weakness, their insecurity. There is an awful lot of lack of reality in religious expression in the Christian Church as well as other religions. Only when one comes to acknowledge that and understand that is one going to be able to put religion on a more sure foundation © Grand Valley State University �Religion as Illusion Richard A. Rhem Page 4   in light of the modern world. We have still in the traditional, classical paradigm of Christian faith, not come to terms with the knowledge that has come to light in the last two and a half centuries, and the critique of religion that has come forth in the nineteenth century is a significant critique that uncovered great weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the intellectual understanding of the faith, which in turn has its repercussions in practice and in life. What a shame that in the Church we have not had enough confidence to hear the critique that could open up to us new questions that could give us a new understanding and greater confidence in the expression of our faith and practice. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who took in, absorbed all of this trained development of thought of the 19th century and into the early 20th century and who, in his brilliant mind, able to assimilate all of that, got himself into a situation where, of course, he was arrested because of his conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, finds himself in jail, in prison thinking the faith. His Letters and Papers From Prison are a spiritual gem, a document that can keep one engaged for a long, long time. I have given you some citations in the back of your liturgy for your meditation this afternoon. But, what I love about Bonhoeffer is that, having taken in all of the critique of religion, he was able to admit to much of it. He spoke of man come of age; that was his classic phrase. He spoke of God being edged more and more out of this world in terms of the explanation for how things work. He acknowledged the present situation without arguing with it or trying to refute it. He said, "This is it. Now what will we do?" And he began to think about how Christ could be meaningful even to those who were without faith in God. He asked questions about religionless Christianity, what would it look like? And this I love, he said, "I want to confront people in their strength. I don't want to take rather healthy, well-adjusted, somewhat affluent people who are getting along just fine and try to convince them how miserable they are so that I can give them a Gospel pill to make them better." He said that is unworthy of the Gospel. Let us confront the human person at his or her very strength, with God. How does one encounter those who are doing just fine, thank you, those who are reasonably well-adjusted, reasonably happy, reasonably prosperous, doing a good job - how does one convince them that underneath there is a hunger and a restlessness which only the God quest can finally satisfy? How does one present God to people's strength, not to their weakness? How does one look them in the eye and not whine? This was Bonhoeffer's quest. This was the thing that occupied him and he was wrestling with the faith with a great intensity in those days of incarceration. I thought about Isaiah 43 because Bonhoeffer was certainly going through a dark valley. He must have known the very real possibility that any day his name would be called. But they say that in prison he was a shining light, a source of encouragement, the embodiment of hope, thinking as he was thinking about God and religion in the light of everything that he had understood and studied and become aware of, he was able, nonetheless, when his name was called to say to © Grand Valley State University �Religion as Illusion Richard A. Rhem Page 5   his friend, "This is the end, the beginning of life." He could kneel at the hangman's noose and commit his life to God. In other words, his quest, his engagement with the God question was not that which undercut his trust, but it was his trust that enabled him thus to query and to quest. He was able to ask those questions while experiencing what the prophet spoke of as that presence in the midst of the flame, through the rushing river. He was able to live as Jesus pointed us to in that Sermon on the Mount. He was in sync with reality as he understood it; the lilies of the field, the birds of the air, Jesus said, pointing to creation, to be able to be at one with that and to live with trust. I am not trying to say that Isaiah was not a theist or that Jesus was not a theist, for that matter. I am saying that in their understanding of God they were able to point us to a presence that would be with us, and one of the things that we struggle with in our own day as we try to interpret the faith and translate the faith is how to say God, how to image God, because it is that image of a theistic God, the governor of the universe pulling the gears and turning the wheels, that God "out there" who controls us and pulls the strings, that God that doesn't work for me anymore and for many of us. It is the re-imagining of that God that is the difficult task. But, it doesn't mean that one has to live without God, for one can believe that if God is God, after all, God will be sufficient for whatever comes. And to think thus and to wrestle thus is not in order finally to have an intellectual answer, but it is finally in order to have peace with God, to have that kind of confident non-anxious living to come, as Paul said, to maturity. Or, as Freud said, to grow up, to move beyond childhood illusions and superstitions and magic, to be able to think deeply and to entertain every idea and concept and every suggestion anywhere with a confident trust that somehow or other there will be a fresh expression. Paul said, "No longer being children tossed about by every wind of doctrine through the cunning and scheming of people like me." Think of Paul. Think of the transformation of Paul. Think of this passionate, deeply traditioned Jew who was able to turn around and to come to a new expression that enabled him to say in the face of Jesus, "My God!" You see, if we are not afraid, then we can ask the questions, clarify the questions and wait in the darkness if need be for the clearing and for the answer, but all of it is finally that we might rest in the Lord, having the presence through the flood and through the fire, and be able to take the name of the Lord upon our lips with our last breath, to be able to live and to die and to be all right. That is our quest. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost IX Series Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Scripture Text Isaiah 43:3, Ephesians 4:13, Matthew 6:3 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20000806 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-08-06 Title A name given to the resource Religion As Illusion Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 6, 2000 entitled "Religion As Illusion", as part of the series "Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression", on the occasion of Pentecost IX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 43:3, Ephesians 4:13, Matthew 6:3. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Presence Nature of Religion Spiritual Quest https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/799516baa3c3c1dc0c031b1146ef77ab.mp3 ed099916fc9e7ac75f3c1176e5c881e9 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a3030a4290dea7563fc2bea6b7ec506d.pdf ab5f0bd6d14211eab6f5f99381277485 PDF Text Text When god Dies… From the series: Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Text: Psalm 42:2; Romans 1:20 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 13, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon We have been considering the significant criticism of religion that came to expression in the nineteenth century in order to understand it and to find fresh expression for the reality of the experience of God. It seems to me it is really not possible to find a fresh expression that will be adequate for the twenty-first century unless we have some understanding of the philosophical and theological discussions of the modern period, particularly those of the nineteenth century. What came to expression at that time was the realization that religion is a human construct. Of course, the faith communities fought that idea. They claimed that religion was a divine revelation, a largely ready-made religion that came from heaven. But the insight of the nineteenth century certainly is true—religion is a human construct. From all we know today about the origin, function, and nature of religion, all we know about historical development, it is quite foolish to deny that religion is a human construct. On the basis of this insight, the nineteenth-century German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach said that God was nothing but an illusion, a projection of human fears and hopes and aspirations. God, so to speak, was created in our own image. That assumption or declaration became the foundation for nineteenth-century thought. Religion—a human construct, yes. And based on that, God became a human projection. Now there was no one home in the universe; nobody out there, so to speak, no counterpart to that human projection and aspiration. While it would be very foolish for us to try to deny that religion is a human construct, once one has assented to that, it does not follow that no one is home. For understanding that religions are human constructs is understanding that religions are human responses to the Mystery that encounters us, that upholds us, that permeates reality and encounters us in our human existence. So although we won’t deny that our religion is a human construct, if we will continue to be religious, we will do it on the basis of our conviction that for better or worse, religion is an agency, a medium by which we come into communion with that © Grand Valley State University   �When God Dies… Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Ultimate Mystery of things, that infinite and inexhaustible ground of all being, that source, guide and goal of all that is. This, of course, is the issue as we look for fresh expression: to hear the significant criticism and then to find a way to say “God,” nonetheless. The nineteenth century came to its climax in the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, whose name conjures up nihilism—nothing means anything. Nihilism, or nothingness. There is no foundation, no meaning, no purpose. Just capricious, purposeless reality as it exists. Nietzsche died one hundred years ago this month, August 15, 1900. He is famously known for his claim, “God is dead,” to which he added, “We have killed him.” The last decade of Nietzsche’s life was one of misery and terror. He moved into insanity and died a pathetic and broken person. But Nietzsche had come out of the rich soil of Protestant Christian faith and experience. He was buried next to his Lutheran pastor father, and his mother’s father and grandfather likewise were Lutheran pastors. Yet in his work and study Nietzsche had come to the conclusion that the God of his tradition—the God of Western civilization—was dead, and this sensitive and brilliant thinker had the courage to draw the implications of the death of God. At this point it would be typical of pulpit rhetoric to say, “You see what happens when you deny God?” But that would be to miss the point altogether. For Nietzsche to conclude that God was dead was an anguishing understanding. Nietzsche wrote, “How much collapse [will follow], now that this faith has been undermined, because it was built upon this faith, propped up by it, grown into it, for example, the whole of European morality.” Nietzsche looked at it all, opened his mind to every bit of knowledge and understanding available. Then he drew the conclusion that God, as God had been conceived, was dead, and he was horrified by the thought. Thomas Altizer, one of the leading death of God theologians in the 1960s, wrote about the contemporary situation, calling it “a new chaos, a new meaninglessness brought on by the disappearance of an absolute or transcendent ground, the very nihilism foreseen by Nietzsche as the next stage of history.” Altizer also wrote, “No honest contemporary seeker can ever lose sight of the very real possibility that the willing of the death of God is the way to madness and dehumanization.” A Jewish thinker, Richard Rubenstein, in his book After Auschwitz, said no one could believe in the traditional God of Judaism and Christianity after Auschwitz. He wrote of “the ambiguity, the irony, the hopelessness, and the inevitable meaninglessness of the time of the death of God. ... If I am a death of God theologian, it is with a cry of agony.” (p. 263) So what we have in these particular thinkers and in this particular development is a conclusion reached in the light of the critical rationality of the modern period, the kind of knowledge that all of us take for granted in the world in which we live, © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �When God Dies… Richard A. Rhem Page 3   a world of scientific breakthrough, of technological advance, of historical understanding of human development, of the behavioral sciences, of sociology and anthropology—all of the knowledge available to us. These particular thinkers said God is dead. That is, the traditional God as conceived of in Western civilization and in Western Christendom does not exist. If you think about it for a moment, we have noted how, in the early dawn of humankind, religion was a part of that dawning human emergence. In paganism or in primitive forms, whatever you want to call it, humans became conscious of their vulnerability before the forces of the universe and created religious systems. In these systems they personified and deified the forces of nature, and then worshiped them, offering sacrifices and prayers in order to find security in this very insecure universe. So in large measure the origin of early religious expression had a great deal to do with securing human beings as they came to consciousness and realized the vulnerability of being human. With the development of the great monotheisms, one God as creator of all, governor of all, provident ruler of all—the omnipotent omniscient God—that particular God became the ground of morality. That God was Moses’ vision of God issuing the Ten Commandments. But all religion began in a founding experience with a certain understanding or teaching or dogma, developing ways of ritual and worship and a way of life or culture. If the God of any one of these religions dies, then on what authority does one base one’s morality? Nietzsche said, “God is dead, and now everything is permissible.” Not that he was advocating that, but he was saying the whole foundation is gone. Without that absolute transcendent ground, the whole European morality is gone. The human is free-floating, and that was a terrifying thought for Neitzsche. Indeed, it drove him mad. But he was one of those who, understanding what he saw, had the courage to draw the implication. There are not many in the human family who, seeing deeply and profoundly, have the courage to draw the implication when it leads to the abyss. Better that the people go blindfolded or in their naiveté than to tell the truth which could lead to chaos. The nineteenth century was a watershed, and those who would think deeply and clearly and ruthlessly must come to terms with the claims of modern knowledge. Perhaps one will not find God at the end of the scientific quest. But the religious experience must at least be conceived of in terms of our broadest understanding of reality. Otherwise, our head is in the sand, or we go through life blindfolded, or we go through life fearfully denying what is there on the horizon. Nietzsche said God is dead, and in the 1960s scholars said, “That’s where we are.” But nothing really came of it because there was such strong reaction; because it is such scary business. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �When God Dies… Richard A. Rhem Page 4   There have been responses on the part of the Christian community. For example, if you have experience with the Roman Catholic tradition, you know that it still tries to operate in an authoritarian manner, by fiat, by the teaching the Office of the Congregation for the Faith to convince the faithful of what is true and what is not true. But authoritarianism has been thrown off in the modern period and I cannot conceive of it finally ever gaining its foothold again. Then there is the global phenomenon of Pentecostalism that Harvey Cox has documented in his book Fire from Heaven. Everywhere on the globe there are people who are having the experience of God in an ecstatic experience. They are experiencing God apart from their rational faculties. They are experiencing God at the gut level, if you will, highly emotional and very satisfying temporarily. The thing about emotional fixes is that you have to have a fix again and again and again. This is not a criticism of those who find their mode of operation through that means. But certainly for us who want to engage our reasoning faculty as well, it is not enough. Pentecostalism is working, working its way in a world that became arid through the intellectualism and the skepticism of the nineteenth century. I suppose it arose in reaction to the claim that God is dead. But Pentecostalism will not work for some of us. Bless those for whom it works. There is also the reaction of Fundamentalism. Fundamentalism would like to claim to be the old, old faith, but actually it is a relatively new faith. It is a reaction to modernity. It is a reaction to Feuerbach and Marx and Freud and Nietzsche. It is a reaction to the liberal Christian Church that tried to accommodate the insights of the nineteenth century into an understanding of the Christian faith. But Fundamentalism cannot long persist because it lives by assertion of that faith; it lives by saying it over and over and more loudly. But simply to affirm does not make it true. The Evangelism 2000 Conference recently ended in Amsterdam with some 10,000 evangelists from around the world gathered by Billy Graham as his last great effort. What came out of that conference again establishes Fundamentalism: Jesus Christ alone is the only savior of the world and all that goes with that exclusive claim. I do not believe it is where Billy Graham is personally, but there were ten percent of those ten thousand people who signed a document even more rigid than the conference statement itself. Well, if you were an evangelist, wouldn’t you like to have the only key to the truth, the only key to the salvation of the world? If there were other “keys,” suddenly yours could lose its power. I suppose such a conference, such a rally, would be the last place in the world where the implications of the interfaith dialogue would be expressed. Then we have the whole area of “Christian Science.” Isn’t it amazing that in the twenty-first century there is still controversy about evolution and Creationism? Isn’t it amazing that there are very intelligent people in our country who are © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �When God Dies… Richard A. Rhem Page 5   giving all of their energy and all of their minds to the establishment and the buttressing of a literalistic view of an ancient book that was a marvelous mythological presentation of the creation of the world? It is very difficult for me to understand Creationism, and I do not believe that it can possibly prevail. But in our society today it is a living issue. I cannot comprehend that this whole effort can succeed in the long run, in the light of day before those who would be open to pursue the truth through the use of critical judgment. In the title I used a small “g” for God because it is not God who has died, but god who has died. The respective images of God that come to expression in the various religious understandings of the world no longer connect with our knowledge. Western Christian, Protestant faith in the God who is still the governor, creator, omnipotent, omniscient ruler of all—that God is the God about whom the death of God theologians speak. That is the God Nietzsche said was dead. But to say that a particular image or conception of God is dead is not to say that God is dead. It is to say nothing about that ultimate ground of being that emerges or surrounds or embraces us and comes to expression in the creativity of the Spirit in the midst of the cosmic flow of things. The God of traditional Protestant expression—that god is dead. I experienced the death of that god yesterday at the funeral of my sister. In my old home environment, the place from which I emerged, I was very much a stranger, very alien. The expression of piety in that funeral was far, far more emotional and sentimental than anything I had grown up with. Mine was a much sterner expression of Dutch mystical pietism. But there I was in my old home territory where my family still worships and I heard emotion in the musical expression, emotion in the “open mike” testimony and in the statements of the pastor, and I noted the frequent use of “we know, we know, we know.” I wanted to say, “You tell me so often how much we know because I suspect you are trying to convince yourself that it is true.” I had to admit that the god of my childhood is dead. That god will not serve for me. I do not begrudge anyone an expression of faith that is satisfying and comforting, but I know that the god they addressed is dead for me and that god will not bring fresh expression to the twenty-first century, to a world that is breaking open in the wonder and the mystery of it all. That god of my childhood died, but God has not died. I read Psalm 42 and I identify with that, don’t you? My soul longs for God, for the living God. When will I come and appear before God? O God, my soul is cast down. Why have You forgotten me? © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �When God Dies… Richard A. Rhem Page 6   I long, I yearn for the experience of God. Hope Thou in God. I shall yet praise him, my God and my Lord. That expression touches me as deeply as it did the Psalmist. But it is a God conceived quite other than the Psalmist’s image I’m sure, which is as one would expect. It should be because of the tremendous explosion of knowledge, of reality, of the world of the human being, of social reality. Of course, the image is different. And when I use the old phrases or sing the old hymns, I can do it understanding it as poetry, as the imagery of a generation of faith that preceded me, that handed faith to me. But if I want to give fresh expression, I have to find new language and that is not easy to do. If I am not honest about that, if I cannot say that god is dead in the emotionalism, in the grieving and all of that which came to expression in a service that was a marvelous testimony to my sister, my own spiritual life will wither. It was a language I can no longer use and I must say, then, that god is dead. But only a small “g” god is dead. God continues to be the mystery toward which my soul longs, longing still for living waters. When god dies, if it is the god of the small “g,” there is no need to panic. Trust. Wait. Nietzsche said, “I live between two ages, one that is dead and one powerless to be born.” We haven’t moved very far. We’re still between. Most of us are not ready to give up the old. For some of us who have had to do that, the new is not at all clear. Yet if I trust God, I can wait in hope, in the darkness, with the longing of my life reaching toward the mystery that is beyond us and beneath us and permeating the one reality into which our lives are woven. That is our quest. References: Rubenstein, Richard L. After Auschwitz. Indianapolis: Bobbs- Merrill, 1966. See a discussion of Nietzsche in Richard Elliott Friedman’s The Hidden Face of God. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1995. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost X Series Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression Scripture Text Psalm 42:2, Romans 1:20 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Richard Elliott Friedman. The Hidden Face of God, 1995. (For a discussion of Nietzche). Richard L. Rubenstein. After Auschwitz, 1966. 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-0-20000813 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-08-13 Title A name given to the resource When god dies... Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 13, 2000 entitled "When god dies...", as part of the series "Religion: Significant Critique and Fresh Expression", on the occasion of Pentecost X, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 42:2, Romans 1:20. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Mystery Religion as a Human Construct https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/c25aaec3a76ae5d4cfb261f258195927.mp3 93226fc1f744f341c7f77586fd16c631 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/87444afb3781bd14e130a761d1cf5095.pdf 174aa37de5f4bfffad01664f6fe97e1c PDF Text Text The Experience of God in a Pitiless Universe Text: Job 38:2; Job 42:3; Luke 13:2 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan August 27, 2000 Transcription of spoken sermon A week ago yesterday Nancy and I walked to the bluff sometime around noon because there was a helicopter going back and forth along the beach, skimming the surface of the water, and we knew that the search was continuing, the search that had ensued the day before. A mother had brought her nine-year-old son and his friend out to pick blueberries and then for a special treat, to come to Kirk Park just north of our home for a time of delight on the beach, in the sun, and in the surf. The lake on Friday was a raging lion. The breakers beautifully curling and then the fierce undertow in its wake, and Timmy and his little friend were just a little ways out. They were knocked down by a large wave; the friend managed to surface and come to the beach, but Timothy was not to be found. We stood on the bluff on Saturday morning and noted the helicopter coming out of the south once again. It paused to hover, to circle again, to hover, and we looked at each other and we knew there had been a sighting of that little body, and, to be sure, the Sheriff boats came down, the body bag was opened, the body placed in it and brought to the beach. The family was brought down in a little tractor-like vehicle to identify the body of their child, a scene too grievous to be witnessed, really. We live in a pitiless universe. We love that lake. It’s never the same. When I’m home on a day, I’ll wander out to the bluff several times just to take it in. Sometimes, as a week ago Friday, it is a lion and on Saturday morning a lamb. In all of its beauty and all of its terror, it is a wonder to behold, providing delight, recreation in a multitude of ways. But, it’s a killer, and as I experienced that last Saturday, knowing what I was hoping to preach and knowing what I would be struggling with through the course of this week past, that lake became for me a parable, a parable of the pitiless universe of which we are a part. That lake which we love so much, that lake which is so magnificent in its beauty and in its terror, that lake which is numb to the struggle of a drowning child, deaf to the desperate cries of a mother, that lake is a parable of the universe of which we are a part. It is a pitiless universe. It is neither good nor evil; it just is. It is a universe that has evolved and emerged, we’re told, over 15 billion years from an original explosion of something or other to the present state of things, but it’s a pitiless universe. We speak of the floods and the fires, the earthquakes that ravage the © Grand Valley State University   �God in a Pitiless Universe Richard A. Rhem Page 2   good earth and decimate the human family, and the earth, the world, the universe is unaware and unfeeling, simply, inexorably going on its natural course. Not only earthquake, flood and fire, the food chain itself - we know that all life is sustained by feeding on life. There is no other way. There are those who would attempt to somehow or other soften that reality. One may become a vegetarian, I suppose, but as a matter of fact, we know that in nature we speak of it as “red in tooth and claw,” whether it be the lion that crouches, pouncing on the gazelle, or whether it be the wasp that stings the caterpillar, paralyzing it, laying its eggs in the caterpillar in order that they may nourish themselves in the flesh of the caterpillar until the caterpillar is no more. Life is brutal and violent and pitiless; life is, and the processes of the universe of which we are a part are inexorable, unfeeling. There is no pity there; there is no guilt there; there is simply the reality, and we are a part of that reality. We carry with us all of the instinctual nature of the animal that we are. But, we have become something more than that animal. We have emerged into something we might call spirit; we have consciousness; we are aware; we are able to step out of our skin and observe ourselves and observe our surroundings. We are able to observe those pitiless processes of the universe and to stand in awe and in wonder at the miracle of it all. We have become something more than the animal that we also are and continue to be. We have created history, human culture. But, human culture, human history, if nature is red in tooth and claw, is bloodstained with the violence and the brutality that we have perpetrated on one another. The classic phrase, “Man’s inhumanity to man,” is the human story, the story of violence, brutality, of war and rape and pillage. I need only point to one event that many of us remember in our own lifetime, the Holocaust, in which demonic evil incarnate in humankind brought about the ashes of six million human beings and the tragedy that the Jews suffered in Europe, the crematoriums still there as a witness to what we are capable of, we who are human, who have another dimension, that spiritual dimension, who have risen above the base animal instinct, nonetheless. We, too, have acted without pity and although the Holocaust is behind us, the killing continues here and there around the globe far too frequently. So, fire and flood and earthquake, war and ravishing, rape and pillage continue, and we who are human have emerged to the point at which we become aware of it. We become aware of the pitiless universe with its inexorable processes and we become aware, also, of our responsibility, our responsibility to act other than with our animal nature and all of the darkness that is pent up within us. The Genesis story is trying to say that when it says that human pair, in succumbing to the temptation to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, fell. But, you have to put “Fall” in quotation marks because the “Fall” was upward, because they came into the cognizance of the distinction between good and evil, and coming into that cognizance, the writer of the story says that God © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �God in a Pitiless Universe Richard A. Rhem Page 3   says in the pantheon of heaven, “Now they have become like us.” That was the Hebrew insight into the human possibility, capability, competence, responsibility, and consequently guilt, for we carry with us that animal nature, but we know something else. We know that we cannot live by that base instinct. We know that we must transcend that nature that we have inherited and that we must act other than on that instinct. We must act on the basis of pity, compassion. We must act responsibly for justice and for equity. In this pitiless universe, in our bloodstained history, we are those creatures who have emerged to the point at which we are aware of what we are doing. We know and in knowing we have lost our innocence, and now it becomes incumbent upon us in the midst of a pitiless universe to create enclaves of compassion, to bring mercy to bear, indeed, to give opening for love to flourish. For, although our history is bloody with brutality, being cognizant as we are of who we are and what we are doing, it is to compassion that we are called and all of the great religious traditions of the world, all of them are alike in this - that they call the human family to compassion. Indeed, that is the function of religion, to create communities of compassion, to cultivate grace and mercy and love. And we do it in our families, for example, where we are bonded and knitted into love. This summer being a summer in which I have thought so much about religion and then experiencing as I did the death of a sister, experiencing it firsthand, but also stepping back a moment and experiencing myself experiencing it, well aware of the inexorable process of a killing melanoma, I was nevertheless able to take my sister’s hand and look her in the eye and say, “But, you are healed.” Or, with Nancy, to sit with her on the edge of her bed the last time when we were there, aware that it may be the last time that we will be together, to put our arms around her and have our picture taken with her in a moment of tenderness, knowing that she was surrounded by the caring competence of Hospice and the loving devotion of family, knowing that therefore all was well. Then, coming from her funeral on a Saturday to a Sunday dinner with our extended local family where we as a family experienced a first, that is, the oldest grandchild off to college, and joining hands in a circle before the meal to be able to speak words of love and tenderness, to be able to speak words of value, to be able to articulate and bring to expression the depths of emotion that we all felt as we had hand joined to hand around that circle with this beautiful boy that was on his way. Not only in the immediate family, but in the family of the church. Yesterday I had the privilege of performing the marriage of George Postmus and Mary Hettinga, Mary Jannenga, the Jannenga tribe here for many years, marrying them on the lawn in the center of a circle made up of the family. And as I looked at the circle of the family, I realized that I had married three of them, baptized several of the children, buried their dear parents. I remembered Joe Jannenga who was always sort of my weathervane through all the years since I returned in 1971, making course corrections twice weekly. Joe, always with loyalty and faithfulness and trust, moving along. And I thought to myself, “Dear God, I must be getting old. I must be getting to be an emotional old man,” because I almost couldn’t start the © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �God in a Pitiless Universe Richard A. Rhem Page 4   liturgy for thinking about that family connection in this family connection, and births and baptisms and funerals and weddings - all of those significant passages of life. Even in the nation, do we not hope and work and pray for a compassionate and just society? Do we not weigh the candidates’ political speeches? Do we not cast our vote for that one in whom we trust the best for the body politic will arise, and do we not, as responsible citizens, know that it is our calling to be committed to justice, to the well-being of all God’s children? Yes, that is really what it is all about, and I’ve been talking all this time and I haven’t yet mentioned God, but I’ve been talking about God from the beginning, for all of my talking is about that mystery that we call God. I have been speaking of a mystery and you say to me give some definition to that mystery, and I say I don’t say mystery simply because I haven’t yet discovered the delineations of the deity, but rather, because the deity is beyond the capacity of the human mind to define. That is a philosophical, theological enterprise in which I can get obsessed and with which I am fascinated, but that is not really terribly important, for the only place that God is known is in the tenderness and the compassion and the love of human connection in human community. It is in those moments where soul meets soul, where souls are seared in love, mutual affection, compassionate union that God is known. Maybe my detractors would say, “Tell me of God, not of human experience. All you have spoken of is human experience,” and I’d have to protest and say, “I cannot talk about God other than in human experience, for it is only in human experience where love dwells, where compassion prevails, where justice is done, where souls are melded into one.” That is God. For as John said, “The one who dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in that one, for God is love.” We are not the first people who have struggled to understand God. Job protested against the conventional wisdom of the day, what everyone believed in his day. Job, from his ash heap, protested against his miserable comforters who insisted what everyone insisted at the time that if you suffer, you have sinned. Job said, “No. No.” Of course, Job, likewise, claimed more than he should know so that finally in that confrontation with the whirlwind, with that overpowering presence, he said, “Finally I put my hand over my mouth and repent in dust and ashes.” Wasn’t Jesus saying something like that when, being told with some arrogance about some Galileans who died under the brutal rule of Pilate, some Jerusalemites who were crushed under a falling tower, he said, “What are you trying to tell me? Are you trying to tell me that somehow or other they were worse than others? Do you understand God? Do you know the ways of God?” Is it not as Job says, speaking words of darkness, speaking of that which one doesn’t really know? But, this one knows. Even as Job had to turn the whole thing on its head in order to be true to his human experience, so you and I know we live in a © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �God in a Pitiless Universe Richard A. Rhem Page 5   pitiless universe and the desperate cry of the human heart, the cry of desperation will not halt the sun in its course or the moon in its rising. But, God is where love is, where tenderness prevails and compassion and care are given. There God is. That is God. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XII Scripture Text Job 38:2, Job 42:3, Luke 13:2 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-0-20000827 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-08-27 Title A name given to the resource The Experience of God in a Pitiless Universe Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 27, 2000 entitled "The Experience of God in a Pitiless Universe", on the occasion of Pentecost XII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 38:2, Job 42:3, Luke 13:2. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Compassion God Justice https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1bddd3c6ee72dbd06ad1582ecb85cf57.mp3 ded93e48a664dbd61512c41069f25e3c https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/50566ee3819393a4c430613fa4a92044.pdf 40406536065c8775da35a456a5a9fa5f PDF Text Text The Gift of Sabbath Text: Exodus 20:8; Deuteronomy 5:12, 15; Mark 2:27 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan September 3, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon I smile a bit as I think about bringing a sermon on the subject of the Sabbath. I suppose it has taken me several decades in order to preach with passion and conviction the fact that the Sabbath ought to be rigorously observed. That is because of the way I was raised in my family home as a child. The Sabbath was observed very, very carefully. The Sabbath day was absolutely predictable; it never varied. If we, in the summertime, rented a cottage at a neighboring lake, we would move out on Saturday. That’s when the rent began, of course, but we would go back home on Saturday night and do the Sunday ritual and go back on Sunday evening for the week’s vacation. There was no frivolity, there was no playing. When I think about the Sabbath as I experienced it as a child and as a youth, I don’t think it was exactly the intention of the Sabbath observance prescribed by the Ten Commandments. We got up early in the morning, off to 9:30 church. My mother stayed behind. Part of the meal was prepared on Saturday night, the rest she prepared on Sunday morning because when we got home after church and Sunday School, we had to sit down immediately to eat because my father had to get a brief nap before he gathered my mother and me up and we went off to pick up my grandparents, and then they went to the Dutch service in the afternoon. I was left with some aunts, “unclaimed jewels” they were. Then they came back from the Dutch service for coffee and cookies and the extended family all came around. It was quite nice, really. And then we had to hurry home for a light supper in order to get back for the evening worship. When I was a younger child, it was Junior Christian Endeavor on the Sunday afternoon, and when I got a little older, it was Intermediate Christian Endeavor before the evening service. And then, of course, because I was a mistake and came along rather lately, I got dragged along, my poor parents being burdened with me, and so I always had to go out for coffee and cake after the evening service. Now, that’s a Sunday! That’s a Sunday. When I think about it, I smile because obviously it was so contrary to the intention of Sabbath. That’s the way Sabbath was observed and I also am mindful of the fact that for my parents, for our household, it was the total social structure of our life. The whole social © Grand Valley State University   �The Gift of Sabbath Richard A. Rhem Page 2   structure of our life centered around the church and therefore, I guess it didn’t appear to be an oppressive thing to them or an abusive thing at all. For a child? It was a long day. When I was in college or seminary I heard the old Presbyterian minister who was a great preacher, Donald Grey Barnhouse, who experienced that in his Scottish Sabbatarian practice as a child, who said of the hymn, “Day of All the Week the Best, Emblem of Eternal Rest,” “If heaven is like a Sunday, I don’t know if I want to go there.” Well, that rigorous observance of Sabbath which had so much value is also very difficult to keep going without it slipping into legalism. That’s a tension that we simply have to live with. If we’re going to do something religiously, if we’re going to do something rigorously, then there is a kind of obligation about it which, if we miss the glow of it, can be perceived and experienced as an oppressive legalism. I think in my own Dutch Calvinist roots there was a lot of legalism which a child simply has to endure, failing to see the intention behind the practice. So, I have to smile a bit when I think about how important I believe Sabbath observance is at this point in my life, the observance of Sabbath as that principle of punctuating one’s life for rest and for refreshment and for worship, for the contemplation of God’s creation, and for the remembering of God’s grace. The point of my message this morning is that we have lost the Sabbath principle. It is almost non-existent in our society today and we are paying the price for it. We live in this marvelous, exciting age in which we have been able through the application of intelligent mind, reason, skill and competence, to create a culture that is so filled with possibility. We have mastered so much of the universe. We have performed technological miracles. We have possibilities undreamed of only a generation or two or three ago. We call these things labor-saving devices, or time-savers, and the irony is that the more we have developed the capacity to save time and to multiply our productivity, we have not found more leisure or rest, but we have become more driven. I do believe that we live at a frenetic pace and part of it is simply because we can. Look at all the gadgets and technology that are at our fingertips in order for us to do so much more than ever could have been done before, having created more time. I heard on the very early CNN Headline News this morning that we are working more hours than ever before, according to a study just out, and the minority populations among us are having to work even more just in order to keep up. We live in a society where I am sure there are those of you out there who would say it’s absolutely essential for us to maintain our standard of living to have two incomes in the home. And so, we become a people who are driven by our success. We become the victims of all of that which is possible for us, and there is precious little consciousness of Sabbath in terms of rest and cessation. We escape in exhaustion to the weekend, not the Sabbath. And then, because we’re rather affluent and we have so much possibility, what we do on the weekend of escape in © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �The Gift of Sabbath Richard A. Rhem Page 3   order to let our hair down is rush off some place! We pack our cars and we have to keep up two places and we complain about that, but yet, we wouldn’t give that up. We have all kinds of toys to enjoy and, of course, the weekend is just crammed with the wonderful good old American religion. It happens in the stadiums around the country, many of them brand new, with all kinds of creature comforts, wonderful professional sports. Football starts today, doesn’t it? There’s college football on the weekend. I mean, you can cram the whole weekend full with wonderful exhilarating experience until you are so exhausted you can’t wait to get back to work in order to get exhausted again and to rush into the next weekend. Are we not in a frenzied pace? Are we not the victims of all the possibility and the prosperity and all the capabilities that are ours? The Sabbath principle is almost non-existent, and I think that is a kind of syndrome that feeds on itself and we are in one of those spinning modes where we don’t seem to be able to get off the trolley. I heard on National Public Radio a few weeks ago some report about the German economy, the fact that they are being forced to open up more business hours through the week. Germany is probably the most highly structured European society, although The Netherlands is not far behind. In the 60s when I was in The Netherlands, there were just so many hours that a business could be open and so in the weekend on Sundays, most of the stores were closed. If you needed a pharmacy, it was printed in the paper as to what pharmacy in, for example, the city of Leiden, would be open. But, the government regulated how many hours it could be open. This was a humanitarian principle; it was for the well-being of the workers, for the well-being of society at large, and it was, I am sure, a residue of the old Dutch Calvinist Sabbatarian principle. But, I heard just recently that there is tremendous pressure being put on the German economy, the German government, to allow businesses to be open more hours because they are losing business in a world that is global, connected by the Internet where you can shop anywhere, 24 hours a day, and if you are closed, you have lost out. Well, it’s just an illustration of the fact that in our world we are going faster and faster and faster and the frenzied pace is dizzying and instead of finding ourselves able to relax and take time because of all of the possibilities, the array of technological devices, we are caught up in it, and it is for that reason that I preach this sermon, to being you to awareness of the human need for Sabbath. It may sound like a complaint, like a Jeremiah, and I don’t mean that at all, and as I said, if it slips into a legalism, it can become coercive and very negative in its effect, but I want to hold Sabbath before you today. Let me just say a couple of things about the Sabbath in its biblical rootage. Obviously, in the first place, it is a gift. It was intended as a gift for the humanization of the creature. It was not some prohibition, even though it involved a prohibition. But, its heart, its purpose, its thrust was not prohibition, but invitation, invitation to catch one’s breath, invitation to cease and desist. It © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �The Gift of Sabbath Richard A. Rhem Page 4   was a recognition in the wisdom of that early Hebrew culture of the need for life to be punctuated with pauses, the need for life to have those boundaries and limits to that unceasing, relentless cycle of work and labor and productivity. We have become managers, anxious, wanting to subdue and subject and to dominate, and the Sabbath principle was contrary to that human drive. If you take the whole Sabbath cycle, every seven years and every seventh seven years, every 50 years, that is, there was to be a cessation of that driving determination to produce and to accumulate and to acquire and to master. Every seventh day the human being was called simply to be, to be a human being rather than a human doing, simply to stop and to contemplate, to catch one’s breath, to get out of the rat race, to let go and to be. The intention was that it be a wonderful gift. There are great social implications in the Sabbath observance because it was not only for you, but for your servants and for your animals and for your land. The intention was that the whole created order needs time, time to be. The great Jewish Rabbi Heschel speaks of the Sabbath as the cathedral of time. The great European cathedrals are sacred space, but the Sabbath is sacred time. It was an oasis; it was a resting place; it was a very, very great gift. It was a gift that was marked by the cessation of work, of labor. And once again, that can become legalistic and that is not its intention. Although the Sabbath in the Hebrew Creation account is the seventh day, the Christian movement moved it to the first day in celebration of the resurrection, it could as well be the third day or the fifth day. The point is that life have a rhythm of work and rest. The point is that we need to have the cycle broken and when we have that cycle broken, the intention is that we not work, that we, indeed, rest. I don’t know where our drivenness comes from. Some might point to our Calvinism or our Puritan roots or whatever it may be, but while the biblical account recognizes the necessity of labor, that work was not an end in itself. In the creation account, the seventh day was the climax. It wasn’t a mere interlude. All one’s labor, all one’s energy, all one’s action was to culminate in rest, delight, contemplation of the wonder and the miracle of life, recognition that one is not one’s own creator, recognition that one is borne along in a process, recognition that finally this whole created order is the gift of God. One could say it’s the contemplation of creation according to the Exodus account, for if you read in the 20th chapter, the Sabbath commandment is in light of creation. But, if you go to the Deuteronomy account, the Sabbath commandment is based on the need to contemplate salvation or grace. You were slaves and God set you free. And so, it is a cessation of work but not as an end in itself, but as an opportunity to delight in the wonder of life and the miracle of life and the glory of life. The Sabbath is a time to be open to God. If we don’t have those seasons and days and rituals and actions, prayers, stories, sacred myths - if we don’t have them, God dies. God dies in our awareness. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �The Gift of Sabbath Richard A. Rhem Page 5   I was reading Karen Armstrong’s The Battle for God and I came across that paragraph which I put in your insert. Just since the modern periods of the Enlightenment everything has been tried to be reduced to rationality, where the myths are exploded and perhaps the rituals and the cult looked at divisively. But if we don’t have sacred space and sacred time and sacred language, God becomes a non-factor. We can become very numb, very dull to our rootedness in the Divine. Thomas Moore, in The Care of the Soul suggests that it is not a case of remembering and so observing, it is a case of observing and then remembering. It is important for you to come here week after week and to be reminded in a hymn, in some word of scripture, some statement from the pulpit - it’s important to come here in order to be made aware again, to be called to attention again, because we can dull to it, we can die to it. Dag Hammersjold says God does not die on the day we fail to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day that our life is no longer illumined by a radiance whose source we can never discover. I need to be reminded. I need to be reminded that creation is God’s gift, life is gift, and all is grace, and so I need this time, I need this time to come and to hear “When Morning Gilds the Sky, my heart, awakening, cries, ‘May Jesus Christ be praised.’” “This Is My Father’s World, I rest me in the thought,” or “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound.” I need to be gathered in this community where there is birth and there is death, where there is health and illness, where there is joy and there is sadness - I need to reminded that I am a part of the bundle of life. I need to have time. If I don’t have time, if I don’t take time, if I don’t make time, I’ll lose part of my humanity and it’s not that God is going to be angry with me, it’s that I’m going to lose the sense of the presence full of grace. It’s not that I’m going to go into free-fall; it’s just that I’m going to forget that underneath are everlasting arms. The gift of Sabbath, dear God, how we need it. How I think all of us probably need a lesson or two from my father and mother. (I didn’t think I’d ever say that.) © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XIII Scripture Text Exodus 20:8, Deuteronomy 5:12, 15, Mark 2:27 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-0-20000903 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-09-03 Title A name given to the resource The Gift of Sabbath Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 3, 2000 entitled "The Gift of Sabbath", on the occasion of Pentecost XIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Exodus 20:8, Deuteronomy 5:12, 15, Mark 2:27. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Community of Faith Worship https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/55be25f5ecb9dc74be92bd300a58ca6d.mp3 812055e63903072f5ee639ac2f5127f4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XVII Series The Heart of the Matter Scripture Text Joshua 4:6, 24:15, I Corinthians 3: 21-23 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20001001 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-10-01 Title A name given to the resource A Charter of Freedom: A Matter of Choice Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 1, 2000 entitled "A Charter of Freedom: A Matter of Choice", as part of the series "The Heart of the Matter", on the occasion of Pentecost XVII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Joshua 4:6, 24:15, I Corinthians 3: 21-23. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/27177fb47ead74bafb941554695dc9e2.mp3 0bf65b7a3ca6559914d784746027bbde https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b57c3e97ed9de0b3b642f515aa23d50e.pdf d5c8b454ea2abafd48497ab3a443263d PDF Text Text An Emerging Vision: What Matters? From the series: The Heart of the Matter Text: Psalm 78:6-7; Jeremiah 29:11; James 4:14 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan Pentecost XVIII, October 8, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Psalm 78, from which I just read, continues as a recitation of the history of Israel because the Psalmist did as he instructed people to do, that is, to tell the stories, to tell the stories in order that the children might know them, even the generation yet unborn, and come into the same experience of the grace of God. I'm going to tell you a story this morning. It is a story that some of you have lived and others of you know, and for some of you, it may be new. But it is not so bad when you are trying to figure out the future to look at the way you have come. The story centers around that wonderful text in Jeremiah 29, the 11th verse. Israel is in exile. There are those voices that are saying, "Don't settle down. Get ready to get out of here. You can never be blessed here." And then the voice of Jeremiah is heard in a letter, and Jeremiah says, "Settle down. Seek the welfare of this place." And then this wonderful promise, "I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans of good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." It is a wonderful image - to give you a future and a hope. There are times when we all need images to sustain us, to inspire us, and to keep us going, and the 11th verse of Jeremiah 29 was that for me in a very personal way at a time that was very dark in my own life and I had to cling to that promise, a future and a hope. How would you have written to your parents that your ministry was probably over if on the day of your ordination you got a letter from your father who said that while you were in the womb you were prayed over and dedicated to God? And having been thus warped from the womb and entering obediently into the paths of service, now to find myself in a situation where, through the breakup of my family, I figured that there would be no more ministry for me, because we are talking about the dark ages back in 1970, and I had to sit down in Europe and write a letter to Mom and Dad and tell them the bad news. But, I appended to that letter of doom Jeremiah 29:11, a future and a hope. And, by the grace of God, the congregation here assembled at that time extended to me an invitation to return here and to become their pastor once again. I never really thought about it so much as I have just reflecting on all of this for this message. I have been © Grand Valley State University   �An Emerging Vision: What Matters? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   accused of being a "Johnny-one-note" with the theology of grace, and I'm guilty. That remark resembles me. But, there was grace here before I came back. There was a people here full of grace who made a very bold move in extending to me the opportunity to be their pastor when the next item on my agenda was a divorce, having three little children to care for and one chapter of my dissertation written. Now, that's a risky business and this congregation was full of grace, and it was that grace and that experience of grace that made Jeremiah 29 come true in our lives together. The 70s were heady days. The experience that was mine became a paradigm for the experience of many people who were broken and bleeding and bruised and hurting, who had been excluded in one way or another from the Church. We became a model of gracious acceptance, and that theology of grace that was resident in the people before I came became the hallmark of this community, and the growth went off the charts, so that we had to go from one service to two and from two services to three, and then eventually we had to build this sanctuary, for when I came back, we were in the original little church that is now the Parlour. It was June of 1978 when we held a service starting there and we processed out of that sanctuary around the sidewalk and into this sanctuary. The longest running television program on the networks at that time was CBS' "Look Up and Live," which was on every Sunday morning. The CBS cameras were here to catch us leaving there and coming in here, and they broadcast our first service in this sanctuary. Well, those were pretty heady days. The growth was exciting and the grace was resplendent. About that time I began to worry about that growth. I don't know if I ever articulated this publicly or not, but I began to worry about becoming an entrepreneur of religion. We were becoming a mega-church before the era of the mega-church, and I could see how easy it would be to get caught up in that and to be determined and shaped and formed by that exploding growth rather than shaping that growth in a way that was consistent with my understanding of the word of God and the Christian tradition. I actually spoke that to some of the leaders and they were very, very understanding of what I was talking about. So, in 1980, we came out with our second Identity Statement. Perhaps you will remember that last week I held up this little brochure, "Dreaming the Future." There still are a few of them in the boxes around the church. In this brochure, there are Identity Statements from 1971, full of grace, 1980, and 1993, and the one from 1980 is very interesting, in light of what I have just been saying, because it was in 1980 that we began to ask the question, not how do we continue to grow and succeed, but after all, what is God calling us as a church to be? In that statement which is a rather long statement, these points occur, We would be a place for the intersection of the word of God and the world, of the Christian tradition and contemporary culture. We would be a place where the Christian tradition is translated into the idiom of contemporary culture, giving it a voice to speak meaningfully in the pluralistic society of © Grand Valley State University �An Emerging Vision: What Matters? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   our day. We would be a place where controversial issues, ethical, social, political, find a forum for discussion, enabling persons to understand the issues and to live out a faithful response as a people of God. You can begin to get a sense of what was going on at that time, a growing awareness of the world about us and a growing intention to address that world from the perspective of the Christian tradition. And then there is this significant statement – We determine to be true to that which we believe God is calling us to be, whether that means harmony with the religio-cultural flow or not. We will adjust our program and mission with the dynamic movement of history, not in order necessarily to be successful in institutional terms, but in order to be faithful to what God is calling us to be, and to be effective in mediating the grace of God to the world. We will be what we determine God is calling us to be, not in order to be successful, but in order to be true. It was a watershed moment for us as the decade of the 80s dawned and we had all of this exciting growth behind us. It was a watershed moment in which we said success is not an end in itself. We determine to have integrity. We determine to be true to what we feel God is calling us to be. It was during the decade of the 80s after this statement was published here that I was invited eventually to be Professor of Preaching at the Seminary. It was in 1985 that a Reformed journal was founded for the purpose of stimulating theological discussion in the Church, and I was invited to be on the Board of Editors of that journal, and I began to write articles and those articles reflected the things that we had been talking about here, the things I'd been preaching about, the things I'd been teaching on Wednesday nights. It was like a harvesting of all of that. It was a bringing together and coming to clarity of all of the ferment that had been a part of the scene here now for some 14-15 years, and those articles brought me to clarity and bringing me to clarity, that clarity began more and more to be expressed in the pulpit here. It was in 1988 that I wrote the now famous article on "The Habit of God's Heart" in which I suggested that maybe the extent of God's grace was as broad as the human family. Even though that article seriously called into question Hell, all Hell broke loose, and the Church decided that no Professor of Preaching with that kind of wobbly theology ought to be nurturing new preachers, and so I came back here. But, I came back here saying we must be not less radical, but more radical, because I had begun to sense that that is where the rub was. Martin Luther in a marvelous statement says you can confess Christ all over the board, but if you don't confess Christ at the point where the issue is burning, you betray Christ, and so we began to deal with the issues more forthrightly than ever before and in 1993, we published what is now on the back of your liturgy, printed on everything we do, and that was another movement forward for us. © Grand Valley State University �An Emerging Vision: What Matters? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   That text, Jeremiah 29:11, was my inaugural text March 14,1971, for it had been not only my own existential anchor, but it was that vision with which we began and now, in 1993, we wrote the statement that is still our statement, and we moved to be specific about the grace of God in terms of those who were embraced. We added one category, that of sexual orientation, because that is where the fire was raging, and we wanted to be clear and explicit that there was nothing in the sexual orientation of a person that had anything to do with exclusion from the grace of God. There was one other point in this last statement - we had come to see that if the grace of God is as broad as all of that, then there must be revelatory and salvific significance in the religious traditions of others, and so we said it explicitly that the light of God is found in other traditions. To say it another way, we denied the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. In so doing, we have found ourselves standing alone, an independent congregation. As I look back over that unfolding, that developing story, I see how an energizing vision becomes the emerging vision of a people on the way. To me, it is an exciting business. It fascinates me how important it is to ask "Who are we?" To have a sense of identity and a sense of purpose, to live with awareness and to live with intentionality, for a people who does so will continue on a journey and will get to a point where we are today where we have the opportunity to re-imagine what the Church is all about. I have been using that language for some time, but this is the time now to do it, to think entirely new thoughts about the very structure and the nature of the Church, for the Church is an ancient and venerable institution and its structures and its ways taken for granted, never even thought about anymore, and we are at a point at which, well, to use my old phrase, we can throw all the pieces up in the air and let them come down once again. For, maybe the congregation gathered in worship today and in the future is just one facet of this Center of Religion and Life. Maybe we will look back in ten years and we will say there was a watershed in the year 2000 when we chose an academic person to come in and run this church rather than another ordained clergy person. Maybe it will indicate that our move is to a Center where there is awareness and intentionality through reflection and serious, hard wrestling with the truth, which frees up worship which is celebrative, in which the passages of life can be celebrated, the passages of birth and confirmation and marriage and death - a Center wrestling with reality, reflecting on the truth which filters down into a marvelous Worship Center where our grandchildren are told of the love of Jesus in a way that will enable them to wonder and to grow and to come into their own experience of reality without all that painful dismantling that so many of us have to go through, a Center academically tilted, perhaps, because if you are not aware, if you don't understand, if you don't know, then how can you worship right? How can you nurture? And that correct thinking must ultimately lead to correct action and compassion. © Grand Valley State University �An Emerging Vision: What Matters? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   If you walk in these halls some day during the week, you may bump into some elderly person obviously needing help and, being helped with tenderness, being accorded respect and dignity, for our Adult Day Care ministry is underway. And so, whether it is a newborn upon whom we place the waters of baptism, or whether it is the last rites for one who is moving from life through death to life eternal, whether it is a child in the Worship Center hearing the stories so that they may ultimately put their hope in God, or whether we're caring for one another, the marginalized, the most vulnerable members of society, as a matter of fact, there will be a community aware, intentional, ever re-inventing itself, reimagining itself, becoming what it must become because of what it sees and understands. James says, "What of your life? What is your life?" This will be a place where you can come and, in all of its various facets, be faced with that question, "What is your life?" God knows when you get to this advanced point, you recognize that James is right. It is a brief moment; it is a vapor, but the thing that is important is the nurturing of the young so that the future generations will come with us, not to imitate our forms and structures, but having been grounded in the truth, set free to find their own way. I was in the airport in Rome a couple of weeks ago and going back and forth from pilgrims to gates to passport control and walking through that vast hall, and there was a moment in which it was like all the action froze, just for a moment, and I saw people everywhere dashing for a gate, furiously fumbling for their cell phones, lugging their luggage, and I looked on their faces and I wanted to say, when the action stopped for me just in that moment, "Do you all know who you are? Do you know where you are going? What is your life?" What really matters is awareness, intentionality, issuing in worship irrepressible and nurture that sets free and grounds and gives wings, and compassion that never quits © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XVIII Series The Heart of the Matter Scripture Text Psalm 78:6-7, Jeremiah 29:11, James 4:14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20001008 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-10-08 Title A name given to the resource An Emerging Vision: What Matters? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 8, 2000 entitled "An Emerging Vision: What Matters?", as part of the series "The Heart of the Matter", on the occasion of Pentecost XVIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 78:6-7, Jeremiah 29:11, James 4:14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Inclusive Pluralism Theology of Grace https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3269647c9043dc6a9a2cbd971fe28f95.mp3 55b970c16588bcdd4051f0c746c9083c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XIX Series The Heart of the Matter Scripture Text II Corinthians 8:8 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20001015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-10-15 Title A name given to the resource An Intentional Commitment: A Matter of Heart Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on October 15, 2000 entitled "An Intentional Commitment: A Matter of Heart", as part of the series "The Heart of the Matter", on the occasion of Pentecost XIX, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: II Corinthians 8:8. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/73fe2a6264a97dcf66de48c7e3f5fdfb.mp3 1414e1c629c2ccf732c7188fb6c3732d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b2486fad9135d9c1253058a44c0bed6d.pdf 8662a11de972f6c99c0cec2468596576 PDF Text Text In Face of Mystery Text: Job 23:3; Romans 8:38-39 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 5, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Life is a mystery and we live this curious existence before the face of a Mystery, before the face of God, for God is Mystery. Beyond all of the images and all of the intuitions that we have, God is beyond all of that, and so, our human existence and the God of our life are all bathed in mystery. Job, that epic poem that so powerfully presents the struggle of or the question of why the righteous suffer, in the passage read this morning, cries out, “Oh, that I knew where I might find God!” And how many of us haven’t cried the same at a time of crisis or a time of grief or a time of loss, a time of anxiety? “Oh, that I knew where I might find God!” Paul, of course, knew the struggle, too, if you take the paragraph I read from the eighth chapter and put it in context, you would find that Paul was talking about the struggle in the seventh chapter, that famous passage about the flesh and the spirit, what he wills to do and what he ends up doing and who will deliver him. And then the eighth chapter talks about the spirit and about creation as though creation is bound and straining, yearning for release and freedom. And then he comes to that marvelous conclusion to the eighth chapter with the affirmation that nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Job, at the end of that passage I read, said, “When God has tried me, I will come forth.” There is the intense struggle with the mystery, the mystery of suffering or the mystery of loss or the questions of meaning, the intense struggle, and then the trust, the affirmation of trust in the teeth of the struggle, as it were, a resting finally in the love of God from which we will not be separated. It seems that the mystery of life comes to its sharpest expression in that relationship of our body to our mind or our spirit. At that point of human consciousness, I become conscious that I am. I become conscious that I have a body. I am not a body, period. I am and I have a body, and I am not apart from the body. I become conscious of that mind, matter, dualism that marks my existence, and that is such a mystery. © Grand Valley State University   �In Face of Mystery Richard A. Rhem Page 2   This message for this day was spawned on the day I left my sister who died in August, left her for the last time, knowing that it might be the last time, and indeed, it turned out to be the last time. All the way home I kept thinking about the fact that here we talked together, we sat on the edge of her bed together, she was fully cognizant, fully alive, fully conscious. We could laugh together about family stories and weep together about the inevitable end, but there we were together in all of the normalcy of a human relationship, a family tie and bond, and as I left there knowing that it may well be the last time, I thought, “What a mystery.” And sure enough, the next time I saw her was in the casket where the shell was there. I wouldn’t have mistaken her ever. It was Lois. But not. The matter was there, the spirit was gone. What happens when the spirit which doesn’t exist apart from the matter, which is the host, ceases when the host ceases? We know from all sorts of studies and human experience that the matter, the body can be so racked with pain that it can drown the spirit. We know that the testimonies of drug addicts say that the tissues of the body can scream so loudly that the spirit is lost, it’s captive, it’s submerged, it’s drowned. Those who deal in human torture tell us that every human being has a point at which torture will break the spirit. Torture applied to the matter can submerge the spirit. It’s a mystery, isn’t it? I’ve been with people on a number of occasions at the moment of their last breathing and it’s always different, of course, but where there is someone who is with you, conscious, cognizant, alive, and then in a moment gone - what a mystery. I think that you and I might have been given a sneak preview into where things are going in the future with that wonderful person in our midst last week, Huston Smith, who is probing the edges of that which lies beyond the possibilities and capability of science, suggesting from what has come to light in science itself that Spirit may not only be hosted by matter, but Spirit may generate matter. Thus matter is generated by Spirit, indwelt by Spirit, and, finally, Spirit departs the matter that was its host. In the best of scientific probing and religious wrestling there is the possibility in our day that we may be coming ‘round to where the dogmatisms of a rigid supernaturalism and the dogmatisms of a scientific reductionism may be transcended. In Huston’s words, there may be “light at the end of the tunnel,” where these two great human enterprises that have been in such adversarial relationship may be coming to a time when we will be able to at least give expression to that mystery that we are in the face of that Mystery that is God, and which will enable us to pursue the scientific endeavor with integrity, live with critical rationality, but also with a trust that is grounded in that reality, that we may come to see that spirit enlivens matter and then moves on in that cosmic journey, that evolutionary process to whatever lies beyond. We may be coming to a point where these great human enterprises will enable us to not block out the light from any direction, but with good heart, with © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �In Face of Mystery Richard A. Rhem Page 3   intellectual integrity and human passion, to rest in the wonder that is life now and hope in that which is yet to come, a journey into the Holy One, into eternal light which would enable us with good heart to use the words of the poet, those we’ve loved and lost a while, those who have gone on before us, but in whose train we shall follow, for we move from light and life through death to light and life beyond our fondest dreams. Thanks be to God. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and 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 All Saints Sunday, Pentecost XXII Scripture Text Job 23:3, Romans 8:38-39 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-0-20001105 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-11-05 Title A name given to the resource In the Face of Mystery Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 5, 2000 entitled "In the Face of Mystery", on the occasion of All Saints Sunday, Pentecost XXII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Job 23:3, Romans 8:38-39. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Consciousness Mystery Search for God https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7b7620556e1232522192a960710aee18.mp3 1f35ab8354264a48923ae7f1a7d2b45a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/deef5b30b46a24f2772556b0d257fe38.pdf 2cfaf9afa030f01f92e4dc61794e9c42 PDF Text Text Humility That Opens to Wonder Text: Exodus 4:13; I Corinthians 15:9 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 12, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Well, I imagine that all week long you had conversations about the election which even six days later has failed to deliver for us in any certainty the President elect. It’s a very interesting period of time through which to live. The positive side of it, I suppose, is that we are talking about it together and one can also see some positive significance in the fact that maybe we are learning how important is the single vote, and perhaps we also are taking a look at the whole process, wondering about the Electoral College, for example. And certainly we can see a positive thing in the fact that, although we are at an impasse and stalemate and we don’t know just what is going to develop in the next few days, nonetheless, there isn’t any panic around. We have a confidence in that long tradition of Constitutional rule and the judicial process and, although however it comes out may not please everyone, nonetheless, I think basically we all believe that somehow or other decently and in order this matter will be resolved. But it also gives us added lengthened opportunity to reflect on the whole elective process, the political campaign that seems to get longer every time. It also gives us occasion to wonder about that point at which we find ourselves when the parties are bought and paid for, when the debate is reduced to sound bites, when the multitude of television ads becomes more shrill and frenzied, asserting an agenda bought and paid for and denigrating the other. Language fouled and conversation polluted. As a people we wonder, don’t we, if there isn’t a better way? You may think that Bruce and I consulted about his remarks this morning, but I assure you that we didn’t at all. I’m glad that he called us to revisit two weeks ago when Huston Smith was here. Last week being the beautiful All Saints Service, I didn’t really have occasion to do it, but I want to revisit that, along with what he said this morning, because I sensed such a sharp contrast in what we experienced in Huston Smith’s presence in our midst as over against the shrill frenzy of political rhetoric whose decibels go higher and higher. Here was a gentleman, a scholar, a man of great knowledge, great wisdom, and great grace who was with us in significant conversation, leading us in reflection on matters that are of deep importance to the well-being of society, the well-being of our lives and our future, and in his sermon, “Beholding the Glory,” suggesting to us the glimpses, the © Grand Valley State University   �Humility That Opens to Wonder Richard A. Rhem Page 2   intimation of transcendence that come to us in those thin places in our lives if we are able to see them. A friend knew that I was going to preach on humility this morning and called me with a quote from Huston Smith to the effect that humility is not low self-esteem, but it is, rather, the coming to recognize and distance oneself from one’s own separate ego, to be able to step back and recognize that one counts as one, but not more than one, and that in charity the other counts as one, as well. And in that humility that we saw embodied in him, we were able to think with him and see with him the glory, for I believe that humility opens to the possibility of wonder. Following the worship service, I had the wonderful privilege of sitting here between Huston Smith and his friend of many years and a relationship many years ago, Duncan Littlefair, and we experienced conversation between these two men, conversation that was lively, encountering, engaging, with different personalities, Duncan in his powerful determination to make distinctions that lead to clarity, Huston in marvelous candor, admitting that he always has a hard time choosing between dichotomies and his words “mealy-mouthed Huston.” I hope you didn’t miss the rarity of that encounter, a conversation between two prophetic figures with decades of experience, knowledge, and wisdom, differing personalities but engaging one another with civility and with candor and with grace and affection, to the end that truth might be glimpsed, not to make a point, not to win an argument, not to establish some absolute claim to the truth, but in the cause of truth in order that understanding might be furthered, conversation sacred, its holy, honest exchange where there is the loss of ego, the dissolving of self and the focus on truth to the end of understanding. My, that was a marvelous and all too rare experience, and we had just heard Huston pointing us to the way to behold the glory, pointing to those places where the layered reality becomes luminous in nature, in art, human relationship, and in the wisdom traditions. The advantage I had over you is that I had also just recently listened to a funeral meditation that Duncan had shared with me in which the transcendent one, the holy, the sacred could be glimpsed if only there are eyes to see it, in a blade of grass or a blossom or a bird or a leaf, or a sunset or a human relationship, and the wonder which is a consequence of the pointers of both of them being exactly the same. Huston said, “I use the word God.” Duncan said, “You don’t need to use God, but it’s okay if you do. It’s a philosophical concept.” It is a means of explaining, but the means of explaining is not the important thing. It is the reality, that reality to which it all points. Whatever we call it, whatever language we use, if there has been an emptying of the self, if there has been that vision of something beyond, then that awareness that brings wholeness and holiness to our being, however it is spoken of or expressed as we try to give expression to it, it seems to me that in both cases, the secret is humility. It is not an accident that the word human and humility and humor have a common root, the root of humus. You know what humus is - the little residue that worms leave after moving through the soil, it’s © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Humility That Opens to Wonder Richard A. Rhem Page 3   vegetative decay; it’s that brown-blackish, rather unpleasant stuff. It is no accident that we are named human, for we are of the humus, we are of the soil, we are earthy and therefore, the most appropriate manifestation of the human is humility, and in order to come to an appreciation of the human, humor, because we are rooted in the soil, we are earthly, but we are more than that, as well. Because we know that we are earthly, we know that we are so rooted, so grounded, we know, as well, that we are more. We know that we are beckoned by the spirit to the experience of spirit, to the life of the spirit. Here we are, these ridiculous animals who know, who experience, who feel, who intuit, who have that sense of transcendence that calls them even while being rooted in the soil. They are anchored solidly. Humus. Human. Humility. And humor, one of the best antidotes to the egoism that shuts us off from wonder, being so filled with self, so self-assertive, so self-securing, so self-aggrandizing that we have no eyes to see nor ears to hear and our life is devoid of wonder and of joy, of grace and of peace. How do you come to it? Ah, that’s where preaching is stumped, for what does one say next? How does one come to it? Moses came to it, but was given a revelation an epiphany, a manifestation of the sacred and the holy that made his life holy, set apart to a great task because of a great vision that came after the brooding wilderness experience. Someone said in the scriptures it speaks of Moses 120 years old at his death, twenty years in Egypt as a prince learning to be somebody, forty years in the wilderness learning to be nobody, forty years learning what God could do with someone who had learned both lessons. No lack of self-esteem, but a brokenness, an honesty, an awareness, the simplicity of seeing truthfully and then acting in light of the wonder of the vision that comes when we’ve been emptied of the self. The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth, but he had a vision, a revelation. Paul, frenzied, passionate, defensive, threatened by this new movement with the name of Jesus, going about to destroy, to obstruct, to hold down, to stamp out, in a moment’s revelation, a vision, a light. How does it happen? I don’t know. It’s a grace; it’s a given. It’s not at our disposal, but it happens if we are serious, if we are engaged, if we can come to some honest estimate of ourselves, if we can let go. Moses had to let go of Egypt. Paul had to let go of all that which was sacred and holy to him that structured his whole life. Those security systems that we have built tightly around us - if only for a moment we could let go, if we could see through, there might be a bush that would burn or a light that would shine. It reminds me of the political campaign - noisy assertion, frenzied activity, absolutist claims, dogmatic assertions, control and manipulation. There is so little honest conversation that seeks not to make a point, but to open the truth more clearly. It is humility, it is that dying to myself, it is that recognition that I © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �Humility That Opens to Wonder Richard A. Rhem Page 4   am not God, that life has been given and is gift and if only for a moment I can step outside this frenzied drivenness of contemporary life, I can just pause long enough to look at the face of a child or a flower or a sunset and know that I am embraced in something marvelous and wonderful beyond my imagining - then my life will be bathed in wonder and there will be joy and peace. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XXIII Scripture Text Exodus 4:13, I Corinthians 15:9 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20001112 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-11-12 Title A name given to the resource Humility That Opens to Wonder Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 12, 2000 entitled "Humility That Opens to Wonder", on the occasion of Pentecost XXIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Exodus 4:13, I Corinthians 15:9. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Epiphany Humility Transcendence https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/eb14e20af6a8cef7711e973074ba94bf.mp3 670b2213112097061098e1ba9c53560a https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f08f31be8e7905ced97f8bf5e90e9509.pdf 5330b9961fc0aa05797382c44f9986a2 PDF Text Text The Root of Good Religion Text: Psalm 116:17 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan November 19, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon I suppose you can tell by the title of this message, “The Root of Good Religion,” that there must also be bad religion in the world, and when I determined to speak on the root of good religion and selected this wonderful Psalm 116, I wasn’t really thinking about the bad religion, but in my more specific preparations, The Grand Rapids Press came with the Religion Section in the Saturday Press, and the lead story was about a free thinkers group, a big colored picture accompanying it. This group, the Free Thinkers Association, has been meeting in Grand Rapids for about three years, and I found it a very interesting story. The Free Thought Association is affiliated with a group out of Madison, Wisconsin, from which all kinds of liberal diatribe arises. They say they are a community of agnostics, atheists, humanists, rationalists, and they discuss topics which interest them, intellectual questions, burning social issues, and so on. They meet a couple of times a month. That which binds them together in community, ironically, is their mutual flight from religion, and the thing that has marked them, has made them have something so important in common that they would become a community is the fact that they’ve all been wounded by religion in its institutional form, in its establishment forms. There are a number of people cited in this article, devout Catholic people in their background, a former Fundamentalist Baptist, a very devout Christian Reformed young man, a lapsed Episcopalian, and a Methodist, and so on. It’s a conglomeration and it pretty much covers the spectrum of established religion and they have come together because, in one way or another, all of them at some point in their life began to have questions for which their particular tradition had no answers. They began to receive some of the teaching of their respective traditions and it didn’t make sense to them and they determined that they didn’t believe it. Then, contrary to most of us, they had the audacity to verbalize their doubts and their questions and doing so, they found themselves really shunned, excluded, cut out, isolated because they had become a thorn in the flesh of their respective communities. They had become a threat, and they were not appreciated at all, and so there was alienation between them and their families and their faith communities. © Grand Valley State University   �The Root of Good Religion Richard A. Rhem Page 2   Well, that’s not so hard to figure out, and if you think about it for a moment, you can understand it because religion which is as universal as humankind arose very, very early in the dawning of human consciousness; for what is religion, after all, but that intuitive sense that there is something more, something that grounds our lives, that there is a source and a ground and a guide and goal of all that is. We live in the face of mystery and that mystery must have appeared very, very early in the human story. One becomes aware of one’s self, thereby one becomes human. One becomes aware of the other, of the human relationship. One experiences the miracle of birth and the mystery of death, and one simply, naturally begins to ask those ultimate questions - why is there something rather than nothing? From whence has it all come? Whither is it all tending? And what is the meaning and the purpose of it all? Those questions are as fundamental as human existence itself. And then someone has an epiphany experience. Someone sees something. Someone tells a story, a story of a revelation and around it grows the ritual and the cult and the sacred stories and the tradition. Very early in primitive stages there were tribal religions, that which was the tribe’s solution to the mystery, that which gave a sense of coherency to life, a statement of its purpose and its meaning, that to which one could cling for enlightenment, for security. And then, someone had another idea or someone’s experience didn’t connect with that explanation. That one becomes a threat to the tribal unity and sense of meaning, because that religious story and practice was rooted frequently, most often, in fear, not illegitimate fear, genuine fear, because life is perilous. We are vulnerable. We do live in the face of mystery and most of the major issues that impinge upon us are beyond our control and so one of the functions of religion has been to create that sense of security and community, giving meaning and purpose and cohesion to placate whatever gods may be, to put one in the right, to curry the favor of the mystery, whatever the mystery may be. And then, when one questions that solution, one becomes very threatening and the tribe or the tight knit community will bind together and will exclude, will condemn, will reject that one who has become a source of irritation, opening up those things that had long been settled. As I read the stories of some of these people, I could identify with that. But, when I read their definitions of reality - “only that which can be perceived with the natural senses or indirectly through the proper use of reason” - denying the possibility of revelation or faith, I knew that was too narrow - simple reductionism. I went to the computer and to their Website and read a recent lecture on quantum physics which was fascinating, but didn’t have a lot to say about the wonder of birth, of the mystery of death, or the existential reality of getting through every day. I didn’t look up an earlier lecture on the voucher question, but what I sensed about these people is they are serious and they have inquiring minds and they want to know and understand, but they have been © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �The Root of Good Religion Richard A. Rhem Page 3   wounded deeply by the whole enterprise of religion and so they have fled religion, becoming skeptics, rationalists. Of course, reading that in the wake of a Huston Smith visit where he was so eloquent about the necessity of getting beyond that adversarial relationship of those two great enterprises, science and religion, I thought to myself, “How sad that these people, having been so wounded, have now such a thinned gruel, a 2% milk kind of thing, almost water, a diet that cannot really satisfy the deepest instincts, nor do justice to those most profound intuitions of the human spirit.” I should invite them here, I think, because they could pursue their questions with no quarter asked, but we could share with them something more, for there is good religion. Good religion is rooted in the experience of grace and it issues in gratitude. I don’t know just what the Psalmist’s experience was, but he was in some kind of crisis and he says to the Lord, “You saved my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. I will take the cup of salvations.” In the Hebrew, the word is plural - the cup of salvations. I will take hold of the whole of life, as it were, the whole of life in which I have experienced the salving, the mending of my life in the midst of it all. I will take the cup of salvation and name the name of the Lord. I will embrace life, which certainly is not just one bowl of cherries, not one rainbow after another, life in all of its complexity. The Psalmist spoke of a deep crisis in his life and certainly, if we are honest with it, it is like the Apostle Paul in the eighth chapter of Romans who speaks of famine and nakedness and peril and sword, an ancient listing, but we could list our own, the vulnerabilities, the perils that jeopardize our existence every moment - all of that to which we are vulnerable. The diseases that stalk our steps and the sudden crisis that can wipe us out - all of that is part of life. If we were to deny any of that, then we would simply have our heads stuck in the sand. That’s an unrealistic kind of idea that will only be shattered on the rocks of human experience eventually because, finally, we all live fully life with all of its light and all of its shadow. But, somehow or other, the Psalmist had come in a concrete experience to feel that just intuitively now, I suppose, that that mystery that surrounds life is the mystery of grace, that it is a healing mystery. I love the illustration of Huston Smith of light and darkness. If you had two cubes divided by a wall, in one there was light, the other pitch dark, if you took the wall down, the light would invade the darkness. The darkness would not overcome the light. It is only an image, it is a symbol, it is a story, but it makes a beautiful point. The Psalmist somehow or other believed it; Paul believed it, and Paul said, “Since God is for us, who can be against us? Nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The Psalmist said, “I will take the cup of salvation and praise the name of the Lord. I will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the presence of all God’s people.” © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University �The Root of Good Religion Richard A. Rhem Page 4   Good religion comes out of an experience of grace and it issues in gratitude. It goes way beyond that initial fear that might hold us prisoner for a while, it comes to a point of sensing, as Scott Peck said in The Road Less Traveled, that there is a grace beyond us that continues to come to us, and out of the experience of grace there is that within us deep down that will out, that will come to expression, that simply must be spoken or sung or the heart will burst. The Psalm begins so marvelously, “I love the Lord because ...” Let me suggest at the head of Thanksgiving week that you go home and in some moments of quiet, write those words, “I love the Lord because ...,” and then simply reflect on your life. The old hymn says “Count your many blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.” If you would take a moment to do that, I think you would also begin to say, “This, yes, this is what is really central to my life. This is what is important to me. I love the Lord because ...” And out of that experience of grace, the issue is thanksgiving that simply must come to expression, because love needs a song, love needs an anthem, love needs to dance, or the soul would explode. The root of good religion is the taste of grace issuing in praise irrepressible. © 2013 Kaufman Interfaith Institute and Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Pentecost XXIV Scripture Text Psalm 116:17 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-0-20001119 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-11-19 Title A name given to the resource The Root of Good Religion Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 19, 2000 entitled "The Root of Good Religion", on the occasion of Pentecost XXIV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Psalm 116:17. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Consciousness Epiphany Grace Nature of Religion https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4f567a0a54f271e282c95f8a8532f692.mp3 f019ca13b2b4c3779c3ac34e0cc9be50 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Thanksgiving Day Scripture Text I Chronicles 29:9, 29:22, 9:7 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20001123 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-11-23 Title A name given to the resource Beyond Duty to Delight Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on November 23, 2000 entitled "Beyond Duty to Delight", on the occasion of Thanksgiving Day, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Chronicles 29:9, 29:22, 9:7. 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/c755c8b8e3a01866343377826a3b2546.mp3 cccd7ffc3167241cc5b328dc0fe79192 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cbdb3c4afb237eddbe97ba31bf064303.pdf efc575f242dcec728295f6bed51e1733 PDF Text Text Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Advent II Text: Amos 8:5; James 4:13-14 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 10, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Well, are we having any fun yet? The season is well underway, the holidays are bearing down upon us, the calendar is crowded, the activity has become more intense, the deadlines face us, and I thought it might be well this morning to raise that question - Are we having any fun yet? That question, of course, arises in our contemporary culture at moments when we are in a flurry of activity, when we have gone through great exertion, when we have moved mountains, so to speak, on behalf of our pleasure and happiness, and in a moment of awareness, look at each other and have to laugh at ourselves and say, "Are we having any fun yet?" I speak this morning about what I sense is true, not only of myself, but of most of us and contemporary society, and that is that our lives are marked by an increasing frenzy and drivenness, and the irony is that the Advent season is a season that calls us to wait quietly in contemplation and reflection on the question, for example, in James, “What is your life before the face of God?” I touched on this Labor Day weekend in a sermon about keeping Sabbath, noting how Sabbath observance had become the weekend, and how so many of us expend great energy accumulating our toys, gathering our brood, heading somewhere to a point of pleasure, only to come home at the end of the weekend tired, wearyr and exhausted, a time when I think the question may arise, "Are we having any fun yet?" It is a question that has popped up in our contemporary society because of that very drivenness of which I speak, the fact that our lives are busier, the lights are brighter, the sounds are louder, and the whole pace of things continues to speed up, and in this Advent season, as I said, which ironically is a time in which we are invited to slow down and to wait, to reflect, and to prepare for the coming of the Lord, that very aspect of contemporary life is exacerbated with so many wonderful things which we do and to which we are all invited - the galas, the celebrations, the parties, the shopping, the baking and all of the rest. So, I thought it would be well this morning for just a few moments, gathered here in the beauty of the sanctuary on an Advent Sunday to think about our lives and about how we are living them and whether or not we are living them, or whether © Grand Valley State University   �Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Richard A. Rhem Page 2   we are being lived, whether we are using our time or whether we are being used, whether we are directing our resources or whether they are being directed, whether, in other words, we are living out of the inwardness of the Spirit, or whether we have become the captives of a culture that increasingly stifles the spirit. It's not easy to live in a culture in counter-cultural fashion. But, if one would cultivate the life of the spirit in the present day, one would certainly be swimming upstream and fighting a momentous force that would carry us in quite another direction. What is going on, anyway? Well, we live in a consumer society. We have been shaped into consumers, and that's not a new idea. We're all really aware of it if we think about it for a while. A consumer, of course, is one who consumes, and to consume demands the expenditure of time and energy and resource, and all that is consumed is taken away from that larger whole and there have been many voices that have been raised about the dangers or perils of a consumer society. Consumption for needs is one thing, even for desires is one thing, but the economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, back in the 80s wrote a very significant book entitled The Affluent Society, in which he pointed out the nature of our society today which is different from any other society, in terms of its economy and its practice of living, in all of history, and that is that we have become a society in which desires are created in order to be fulfilled. So, we have been created more and more as a consumer society by the forces of production that would address not simply the things that we need for our human existence, but rather, plant ideas in our heads, so to speak, create the desire which makes us a consumer of the product that is then gladly supplied. It becomes a syndrome which feeds on itself. The producer creates the means of developing the appetite for the product, and the producer producing the product, having the capacity, needs to produce more product, and so there is more bombarding of the human psyche seeking to instill a broader need or a desire base and a greater appetite to consume and it's all a very vicious circle. Galbraith pointed out that that is what is new about our society today, and I suspect that if we are sensing that we are being driven, if we are feeling more of the frenzied, frazzled edge of life, it has something to do with this very drive to consumerism of which we are a part. If you want examples of this, watch television a little bit. Just watch the "Today" show and see how many times Katie Couric bops back on the screen for a fivesecond appearance just to remind us that, after all, we are tuned into "Today", suggesting that they will be right back after these messages. The commercials are messages, of course. Messages are generally helpful. They are always suggestive, and you may be like me, just simply irritated about the fact that you can't even get the weather report in so that, at the end of the day I know what I ought to buy, but I don't know if it's going to rain or snow. And when you take the number of minutes in any hour that is given over to the commercials, you understand that something is going on. Who owns the networks? Corporate America owns the © Grand Valley State University �Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Richard A. Rhem Page 3   networks, and the great producers of the nation controlling the networks use them as a marvelous, sleepless machine, a 24-hour money machine to bombard us with messages that instill within us from the outside desires that create the need to consume, and it is a hallmark of our present human existence. We have become a consumer society in the extreme and, of course, there is a justice issue here. The figures about the consumption of the average American over against the average person any other place in the world you want to go is embarrassing, and the amount of resource and energy and time expended to provide that is amazing, and the cost of that in terms of environment, ecological concerns, natural resources is a matter about which serious and reflective people have spoken, but that's not really my point this morning. My point is rather to call us to awareness of this shaping of us from the outside by a cultural milieu that would make us its pawns and keep us from living out of our inwardness, out of our spirit, this peril of being lived rather than living, this stifling of the spirit through inordinate consumption by obsessive desires for accumulation, gathering of toys, and all of the other aspects of our contemporary, affluent society. The story is told of an old Texas Ranger who was brought to Dallas and the headquarters of the great Nieman-Marcus store and given a tour by the President, and he was asked afterwards what he thought about it. He said, "Well, I don't think I've ever seen so many things I didn't need." I think that sums up pretty well what I'm trying to say about the psychology that is being foisted on us by a consumer society that is marked by the creation of desire rather than the meeting of needs. Now, I may hear some voices out there saying, "But, look at how wonderfully we have profited in this country with this particular kind of economic structure and order," and I want to be very clear this morning that I have all the respect in the world for entrepreneurial endeavor, for confidence, for industry and hard work, and for the character that it takes to build that kind of empire, and I want to be very clear this morning also that I am not pointing to a problem of the affluent into which category most all of us would fall. What I'm talking about this morning is not a problem of the rich. It may be more a problem of the wanna-be rich, those of us whose appetites have been stimulated to reach just beyond our means and to gain that which is, if all things were rationally discerned, beyond our grasp. I'm talking about a social problem which is a spiritual problem and about the fact that we can so easily get swept away into the cultural stream that we fail to be conscious of what's happening to us, and that failure of awareness is deadly because before long we become automatons, we simply lose the soul and we fail to live out of the spirit and God knows we won't know what to do with waiting before the face of God, being still and contemplating the question, "What is your life?" What I am speaking about is not new, for that question, "What is your life?" was offered by James in the context in which he was saying, "Woe to you who sit in Christ Community Church at the 10 o'clock service, planning your business © Grand Valley State University �Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Richard A. Rhem Page 4   agenda for Monday. Woe to you who cannot rest on the Sabbath or keep a holy day, for that driving desire to get on with business as usual." Indeed, the marvelous Hebrew prophets who were such incisive critics of society recognized exactly the same thing. Those who couldn't rest for needing to get back to business. So, it's not a new problem. It's just that in our contemporary society, it has increased exponentially because never before has there been a society in which every aspect of life has been pervaded by the matter of wealth and acquisition and so forth. An American philosopher, Jacob Needleman, has written a book with the unlikely title, Money and the Meaning of Life, in which he suggests that to come to the understanding of the meaning of money has to do with coming to the understanding of life, and he suggests an analogy for where our American society finds itself today. The analogy is that of a prison. A prison is full of prisoners who have been there so long that they have forgotten about life on the outside. They have forgotten even that there is a life on the outside, so that they have been so conditioned, become so adapted that they begin to believe that life in prison is simply a given of being human, and so they live within the prison walls. They have their spats, their controversies, they envy one another for what one might get and another not. It's an enlightened prison, there's a library stocked with good books and they read and they can study and they can organize and they have clubs and all sorts of things, and they work at improving their life, their society, but all within prison walls because they have forgotten that there is any other possibility. Then occasionally, someone comes in from the outside, a messenger from the outside who tells them about life outside and the messenger is met with mockery or with hostility. They are isolated or they are killed because the whole self and social project is threatened by that suggestion that there is another way to live and to be. Jacob Needleman suggests that we are in great danger today of being a part of a society that has forgotten that there is another way to be, that there is a spiritual dimension out of which one is called to live before the face of God, and that the messenger who comes in and whispers about another way is that occasional glimpse that we get in those all too rare moments of self-consciousness and reflection, and he suggests that that occasional glimpse is a call, a wish, a deep realization that we are being lived rather than living, and that our spirit has been stifled by what is often referred to as the rat race of our lives. That is the deeper issue, you see. We are probably not more materialistic than people of other times and places, and we are certainly not less spiritually hungry, and we have enjoyed tremendous blessings in the manner and mode of our living, but what is different again is the pervasiveness of that culture of consumption that calls us to acquisition, that wraps the promise of happiness in all kinds of things and toys and stimulates us to get on the fast track to wealth, to prosperity, to the good life, pummeled as we are by images of the suave and the chic and those who are with it who drive luxury cars. © Grand Valley State University �Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Richard A. Rhem Page 5   What I am dealing with, what I am pointing to, what I am suggesting is that, on occasion, when those moments of awareness arise, we let them be there for a bit, that we think, that we determine that we live from the inside out rather than being forced, jammed into a cookie cutter prison from without. What I am suggesting this morning is that two selves live within us, as the German poet Goethe said, and that that spiritual self in all of its weakness and its vulnerability that gives us a "beep" now and then is precisely the source calling us to life that is life, indeed, that is spiritually rich, that is full, that is happy. A few weeks ago for a couple of weeks in Perspectives, we had the Hope Social Psychologist Dr. David Myers here, whose recent book, The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty, documents item after item making the case that we are two and a half times wealthier than forty years ago and significantly less happy in a society that has social ills, and dis-ease, that all of our prosperity and all of our goods and all of our affluence have not been able to deal with, and may well have something to do with cause. And so, this morning, just in case you've had a murmur from within, or just in case this very experience and moment might raise your consciousness, it would fulfill its purpose if it brought you to a new awareness. Our Presidential election process seems to be coming toward its end and it has unraveled in legal and judicial fashion and one of the great strengths of this nation is that it will be settled and we will move on, but it has been so obvious over the past weeks that there are those who live with such partisanship and such ideological commitments that one simply knows that they are living without awareness. How can one carry placards and hoot and holler and cheer and boo? And those kinds of obsessive compulsions to that which is not ultimately important? Once awareness dawns and I begin to live out of the spirit, I am able to observe, or the spirit in me observes that which is going on around me, and I become the silent observer, unwilling to be pushed with the maddening crowd, unwilling to be herded by a captivating culture that would rob me of my soul. Good friends, are we having any fun yet? References: Jacob Needleman. Money and the Meaning of Life. New York: Currency Doubleday, 1991. David G. Myers. The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty. Yale University Press, 2000. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent II Scripture Text Amos 8:5, James 4:13-14 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References David G. Myers. The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty, 2000. Jacob Needleman. Money and the Meaning of Life, 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-0-20001210 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-12-10 Title A name given to the resource Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 10, 2000 entitled "Are We Having Any Fun Yet?", on the occasion of Advent II, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Amos 8:5, James 4:13-14. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Awareness Meaning Spiritual Dimension of Reality https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/04fae8e78999c087f73acbf444bd5df3.mp3 5c900bd76f93dda4743073d5e871cbe1 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/92824c9b7765dd1454c511e648063236.pdf 7a097dda5e6479bb20737536e724ed17 PDF Text Text The Lost Cause of Christmas Advent III Text: I Samuel 2:8; Luke 1:52-53 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 17, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon Last week I spoke a bit about Christmas and its drivenness and the frenzy of the season that can be so distracting for us that we fail, ironically, to do the very thing the Advent season is for, which is to wait, to be quiet, to contemplate. I spoke of that because I think it is an important fact of which to become aware, to be conscious. I didn't really mean to-be "Rev. Grinch," throwing a wet blanket on your celebrations, and it was not one more preacher's harangue about keeping Christ in Christmas or scolding you for the commercialization of the day. That is not how I understand preaching. My task is not really to scold you or to drive you or impose guilt upon you. My task as a preacher is to hold up a slice of life and invite you to think about it, invite you to think with me about it in order that we might come to full consciousness of our lives, in order that we might come to an awareness so that we live our lives and are not simply lived, in order that we might live from the inside out, and so I try to hold up that slice of life and invite you to think with me. This is really a conversation in which you are invited to think about it with me. Receive it not as some authoritarian proclamation, some declaration from above, some dogmatic utterance which is absolute. It's more often tentative. Someone went out last week and, apparently agreeing that the days could be frenzied and we could be driven in our life, said, "Now, next week tell me how to unplug." Well, as a matter of fact, we can't unplug. We are so thoroughly woven into the fabric of our cultural experience that what we have to do is live, learn to live with attention, and the only way that we can overcome that drive that would snuff out the spirit and stifle the emergence of spirit in our lives is through awareness and consciousness. But we cannot disengage from our social, political, economic structures, the whole social context in which we live. We could try to escape life somehow, maybe, flee to a monastery or a convent, but that's not possible for most of us. We're going to have to deal with life and all of its variety and all of its diversity and all of its seductiveness and all of its pressures and, in the midst of that, do our best to live with awareness that we might be intentional, that we might realize our fullest humanity and our greatest potential. © Grand Valley State University   �The Lost Cause of Christmas Richard A. Rhem Page 2   I saw a cartoon in The New Yorker the other day and clipped it out. The scene in the background was probably the Himalayas and there was a cave in front of which was sitting one of these Eastern gurus and there was a young man sitting in front of him with his backpack on, and the caption under the cartoon was, "Don't you think if I knew the meaning of life, I wouldn't be sitting in this cave in my underpants?" That's the way I feel often when I prepare to come here to try to say something with enough significance to get you out on a Sunday morning in a blizzard when you might well read the paper with a cup of coffee. So, hear me again this morning as I address the idea of the lost cause of Christmas. By the lost cause of Christmas, I want to set before you the almost impossibility of us celebrating the Christmas miracle as it originated in this world. I want you to think with me this morning about the fact that for people like us, it is almost impossible to observe Christmas according to its original meaning and intention – almost impossible, because the Christmas story is a story about a revolutionary movement toward liberation. It has a particular historical, social, economic, political context, and in the last decades we are becoming more and more aware of the times of Jesus, the time of Jesus' birth, the nature of the life of the average person the majority of which were peasants at the time that Jesus came into this world. I hope this afternoon sometime you take a moment and read the page in your liturgy from a book, The Message of the Kingdom, by Richard Horsley and Neil Silberman. Horsley has another excellent book that I did not quote called The Liberation of Christmas, and these scholars have taken what we know now about the concrete historical context of Jesus' birth and life and, in setting that forth, have come to understand the birth stories, as I believe they were intended when they were written by Matthew and by Luke. The context of the world into which Jesus came was a world in which the people of Israel, God's, people, Jesus' people, were a people occupied by a foreign power, a backwater province in a vast Roman empire, and there was social disruption brought about by heavy taxation, loss-of land, movement to cities, and the ever-present Roman legions. The period is spoken of as the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. The Romans were not bad people. In fact they were wonderful administrators. They are still revered for the law, the administration of government of which they were geniuses. But, nonetheless, the bottom line was the Roman legion, and there was the exploitation and the oppression of the poor of the provinces, and the people to whom Jesus came were a marginalized people who were voiceless and powerless, and the Song of Mary, is a revolutionary ballad. The closest I could come to in thinking about a parallel in our own experience would be the song “We Shall Overcome." There is tremendous power in music, tremendous emotional power that unites and bonds human beings in a cause or a movement- and those songs, in Luke's © Grand Valley State University �The Lost Cause of Christmas Richard A. Rhem Page 3   gospel the Magnificat which I read a moment ago, the song of John, the Benedictus, the song of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis, those songs which were based on the psalmody of the people of Israel’s past – Mary's particularly, as I mentioned, very much dependent on the song of Hannah. Those songs that celebrated the birth of Jesus were revolutionary ballads, which celebrated the mighty act of God moving for the liberation of God's people. "The mighty cast down from their thrones, the lowly lifted up,,.the hungry fed, the rich turned empty, away." The world is turned upside down in those songs. The way of the world as experienced by those poor and dispossessed people is turned upside down. There is a reversal of circumstance, and God is praised in a spirit of Doxology with great joy because now God has acted, God has moved, and those songs and the birth stories of Matthew and Luke are probably some of the earliest records we have of that early Jesus movement that was a revolutionary movement, looking for a change of historical circumstance, moving from being the underdog to the possibility of a humane existence. I don't think that, if we look at those songs carefully and if we put them into the context of which we are becoming more and more aware, the social, historical, economic, political context at the time of Jesus, there can be any question about that. Those songs continue that grand tradition of the Hebrew prophets who saw the possibility of an alternative world, of an alternative kind of community. And so, I say to you what must be obvious - it is extremely difficult for us to celebrate Christmas in its original meaning and significance, because we just have nothing in common with the poor, marginalized, voiceless and powerless people among whom Jesus was born. We naively identify with those people. We put ourselves in the skin of Zechariah and Elizabeth and Mary and Simeon and Anna, the people of Israel to whom the Lord came, but, as a matter of fact, if we're honest, we're on the other side of the line. We are Rome. We are empire. We are affluent. We are powerful. We call the shots in our world, and for us to celebrate Christmas in its original meaning and significance is to undercut ourselves and the status quo, which has dealt very kindly with us. Now, that isn't so profound and I think it must be clear if we think about it for a moment. The reason that Jesus was crucified, my old Lenten theme put concisely, is that he died the way he died because he lived the way he lived. The autnorities, ecclesiastical and political, of the day of Jesus, rightly saw him as a threat to the world as it was organized at that time. Any time a world is organized in any time, those who are the power brokers are not going to want that world to be changed, and they are not going to be happy with the prophetic voice which suggests an alternative possibility. So, I simply make the point - for us to celebrate Christmas is pretty much of a lost cause. So, what have we done? Well, I talked about one possibility last week. We have made a holiday out of it, and it's a wonderful holiday. Friends gathering together, families coming home, beautiful trees and flowers, the sights and sounds and fragrances of the season, all the remembrances of Christmases past, all of that © Grand Valley State University �The Lost Cause of Christmas Richard A. Rhem Page 4   wonderful, beautiful, warm, human experience. Nothing wrong with that. We've made the Christmas mystery and miracle into a wonderful holiday. I emerged from my lofty perch last night only to find that Nancy was channel surfing. When Nancy surfs, she is bored. Now, on most Saturday nights she is bored because I am incommunicado from about Saturday noon until I get here Sunday morning, I grunt. That's all. But I emerged long enough to come down into the bedroom where she was surfing the TV only to see that Lawrence Welk had arisen from the dead and there he was! It was the conclusion of what must be a famous Christmas special that is probably trotted out every year about this time, and I entered just at the end of the program where Lawrence Welk said, "And here comes Santa Claus," and Santa Claus came out in all of his regalia and all of his splendor and the band struck up "Joy to the World, the Lord Has Come!" I said to Nancy, "God has just spoken to me. I'm going to write this down so I don't forget it." Precisely, precisely. On this wonderful holiday, Santa Claus comes and the band plays, "The Lord Has Come, Joy to the World!" In the Church we have done another thing with it In the Church we managed to celebrate Christmas by weaving it from its original intention as a social protest, as a social critique, and moved it to the personal experience of salvation. We sang it a moment ago as a supplication and one of my favorite carols, "0 Little Town of Bethlehem, Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today." It's wonderful. Nothing wrong with that, either. The personal experience of being in communion with God, being at peace with God, the experience of grace and forgiveness, my goodness, how could I be against that? It is very, very important. It is just that that is really not what Christmas was about. Christmas was about an alternative kind of community, a different kind of society, different power arrangements, different economic arrangements. Now, if Jesus had been about personal salvation, Jesus may have gone about to people and said, "Are you saved? This is how you can be saved, if you will repeat this formula, if you believe in me, your sins will be forgiven and you will have the hope of heaven, the promise of something in another time and another world." The Gospels were not good news about the fact that a person can be reconciled with God through Jesus Christ. Paul talks about that, but then Paul thought the end was right around the corner and so he was excited about the fact that this treasure of Israel was for all people and all people could come into this experience of grace in this God of Israel, and of course, he identified this with the death and resurrection of Jesus which you don't find in the Gospels. The birth stories in Luke serve as a preface to his Gospel, which is about the life and the ministry and the teaching of Jesus, and Luke tells us in those birth stories how he understood this Jesus. How he understood this Jesus, according to the Gospel that we read every Christmas, is that this one was the act of the eternal God coming into human experience in the flesh of Mary's child in order to change the world. But, we've been able to salvage some of the spirituality and the piety of © Grand Valley State University �The Lost Cause of Christmas Richard A. Rhem Page 5   the holiday by turning it into the possibility of personal salvation and making of our Christian religion, frankly, a salvation cult. That's what we are, and we invite people to faith in Jesus, to receive forgiveness and have then heaven's gates open wide. Go through your hymnal, read your Christmas carols and just see how we have domesticated and spiritualized the story of the birth of Jesus. I don't mean to ruin the carols for you but, if you read them perceptively over against what was quite obviously the intention in the original story, you will find that we have made of this revolutionary liberation document an event, a matter of personal piety and salvation. So, what are we to do? We can recognize, for one thing, that throughout the centuries the Christmas story has regained here and there its original intention, because there have been peoples who have read the story and found hope and been inspired and have initiated movements toward liberation and freedom. Most recently in our own experience we know of Liberation Theology that originated among the poor, particularly in Latin and South America, in what they call base communities where the poor folk, the peasant folk would come together in homes and study the Gospels and they actually read themselves into the story. As I said a moment ago, we tend to identify with Anna and Simeon and Mary and all of them, when really we have to identify ourselves with the Roman Empire. These base communities of people that are dispossessed and socially outcast, marginalized and powerless, read themselves into the story and are able to identify with it and it has become a tremendous source of ferment and a movement toward more justice and equity and it has had that revolutionary intent realized in many of those communities. Interestingly, the Vatican has silenced some of the leading voices of Liberation Theology because the Church, in order to maintain its establishment status, doesn't want to rock the boat and get a peasant rebellion going, and so the Church has officially said you may not talk about the original meaning of Christmas. Continue to speak about saving souls. You can have the most wonderful personal spiritual experience in the world and no one's going to care. You can be just as pious, just as devoted, just as full of faith, just as sure of your salvation as possible, and there is not a tyrant or a dictator or a politician anywhere who will bother you. It's only when you begin to speak and act like Jesus did that you get into trouble. But, the stories have been a stimulus for that through the centuries. Still, here we are. What are we going to do? How are we going to celebrate Christmas, being in the position we are? Here I am white, male, affluent, powerful. The nation went through an extended period of time without knowing which candidate for the Presidency actually won, and now we know. Some voices are being raised about the fact that there are minority groups that have been disenfranchised, and I don't suppose we're ever going to know the full story of everything that went on, or really who got what numbers of votes. But, I wonder © Grand Valley State University �The Lost Cause of Christmas Richard A. Rhem Page 6   if there is anything to that. Is it a fact that minority people were herded down to get registered and that they went to vote, and once they went there, they didn't really know what they were doing? That's a possibility, isn't it? And one shouldn't be too surprised about that. For whatever reason you might defend it or attack it today, the Electoral College originally was instituted in order to ensure that the elite would rule, and as a matter of fact, when the elite rules, things go better. For people like me, at least, they do. But, now, I wonder if there is anything to the claim that the poor and the marginalized were disenfranchised. Jesse Jackson says so. I don't like Jesse Jackson. I worry about the fact that I don't like him and I really ask myself, "Is it because he's black that you don't like him? Is it because he's black that your first response is negative?" I don't think it is; I think it's because of the curl of his lip and the shape of his moustache, but then, my mother didn't like my moustache, either. So, I have to say, when he comes on the screen, I don't want to hear him, and when he talks about a mass demonstration of minority folk on Martin Luther King's birthday in January, I say, "Jesse, we've just been through a rather strenuous period of time. Can't we get on with life? Can't you drop it? You're nothing but an opportunist, anyway. Why don't you just let it go?" And then, I realize that I'd jolly well like it to be let go. In fact, I wouldn't change anything if it were up to me, if nobody complained. If there wasn't somebody out there, a gadfly, an irritant, a revolutionary, with all of his flaws and all of his foibles, if there wasn't somebody agitating, I wouldn't do anything about the world. What can a white, male, heterosexual, powerful, affluent person do to capture something of Christmas? If I were a woman, I would use the revolutionary, ballads to get equal rights. If I were a person of homosexual orientation, I would use it in order to gain respect and dignity and be accepted just as a human being. But I'm on top of the heap. Any protest that changes anything is going to diminish my privileged position. How can I celebrate Christmas? Holiday cheer? Revel in my personal salvation? And then, these words from Rudy Wiebe. I don't know who he is, but I like what he wrote: Jesus says in his society there is a new way for people to live. You show wisdom by trusting people. You handle leadership by serving. You handle offenders by forgiving. You handle money by sharing. You handle enemies by loving. You handle violence by suffering. In fact, you have a new attitude toward everything, toward everybody, Toward nature, Toward the state in which you happen to live, Toward women, © Grand Valley State University �The Lost Cause of Christmas Richard A. Rhem Page 7   Toward slaves, Toward all and every single thing, Because this is a Jesus society and you repent, not by feeling bad, but by thinking different. Maybe the only way I can be honest with Christmas and honest to God is to work at thinking different. References: Richard Horsley and Neil Silberman. The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus and Paul Ignited a Revolution and Transformed the Ancient World. Grosset & Dunlap, 1997. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Advent III Scripture Text I Samuel 2:8, Luke 1:52-53 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI References Richard Horsley, Neil Silberman. The Message and the Kingdom: How Jesus and Paul Ignited a Revolution and Transformed the Ancient World, 1997. 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-0-20001217 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-12-17 Title A name given to the resource The Lost Cause of Christmas Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 17, 2000 entitled "The Lost Cause of Christmas", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Samuel 2:8, Luke 1:52-53. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Awareness Incarnation Intention https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/617013094e622c71e5bb1b65034f2767.mp3 a32fc3b7bed85673de5ab7e835aab04f https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d20290c159099837d9d8b05315b8fc38.pdf 2ed64db7c8aefab2bd983d64a36dde01 PDF Text Text This Is Our Story Christmas Eve Candlelight Eucharist Text: Micah 5:5; John 1:14, 18 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan December 24, 2000 Transcription of the spoken sermon I had a very easy morning; I didn't have to preach, so I was able to sit where you sit and to take in the wonder of the story in song, pageantry, drama, and as I sat there, I was very much aware of the fact that that is precisely the way the Christmas mystery ought to be experienced. That is the way it is best presented; that is the way it is best appropriated. It is a beautiful story and it can best be sung. Of course, eventually it catches up with me and here I am, trying to preach about it again. But, let me contrast for you the story as it was dramatically, musically, instrumentally set forth, and the account which we read a moment ago in John's Gospel. The drama, the pageant, of course, is from the birth stories of Matthew and of Luke, principally Luke's story, the shepherds and angels and the virgin with the baby boy, but, also from Matthew the kings, and in those birth stories we have the story form. Can't you feel the contrast with the reading of the first chapter of John, prologued in this Gospel, "In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. All things were made through him and apart from him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of humankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never comprehended it." Then the little historical paragraph about John the Baptist, but then again the statement, "This was the true light that enlightens everyone that was coming into the world." And then another historical reference, "He came to his own and his own received him not," and that marvelous, climactic statement - "The word became flesh and dwelt among us." You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a literary critic to feel the contrast between Luke's marvelous story and John's more philosophical or theological presentation of exactly the same event. In Luke, it is story, and on Christmas Eve we're here to celebrate this, our story. It is a particular kind of story. Some would call it a myth, but it is not really myth in a technical sense, because it refers to © Grand Valley State University   �This Is Our Story Richard A. Rhem Page 2   historical events. This was the time of Caesar Augustus and Herod and his brutal reign. It happened at a particular place and in a particular social context, so the story is rooted historically. But, it is not just documentary history, either. It is not the kind of historical account, for example, if one would visit France and the Normandy Beach area and take in that marvelous museum that was built for the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, where one becomes in a cinematic production, as it were, a very part of that climactic moment of the Second World War. That is not the kind of history it is, either. It is a story that is rooted in history about real history and real people, but it is told with legendary accoutrements that make it into a marvelous tale, as it were. John does not tell the story. John philosophically, theologically looks behind the story to its meaning. But, John and Matthew and Luke are trying to give expression to the same mystery, the mystery of Christmas that we celebrate tonight. This is our story. It is our story. It is not the only story. There are other peoples of other times and other places who have stories, too, and those stories also reflect their deepest intuitions about what is at the center of things, deep down. But, this is our story and it is a marvelous story. It is a beautiful story. It is a story with a profound meaning. This is our story and it tells us about the nature of God. John in his more philosophical, theological presentation reaches behind the story to say that what the story is about, what Luke wrote about the shepherds, the angels in the night, the virgin Mary giving birth to a child in a cattle stall, is the birth of one who is truly human, but in whose humanity there was an intensification of luminosity, of revelation so that he could say that that word that was in the beginning with God, which could also be translated the divine intention, in this moment in history, was enfleshed so that in the humanity of this one who was born, who came to maturity, those who saw him and were encountered by him could do no other than to say, "My God." The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and John says no one has ever seen God, but this one shows us who God is. This one, in human flesh, is the selfexpression of God. This one sounded like God. This one acted like God. What one experiences in this one is what one experiences in God and, maybe most profoundly, John would say that in the manner of this one's revelation, humble birth as a child, one has an insight into the nature of God, which is love revealed in all of the vulnerability of a child. The nature of God read in a human birth. The being of God revealed in a child. The love and the vulnerability of a child's birth, the ultimate revelation of that which is at the core of reality. That is our story. That is what the story says. It's a wonderful story. It's a beautiful story, and what it tells us is even more wonderful: that at the core of reality is the love unconditional, as wide as creation, that embraces us and will never let us go. Our story speaks of a God who is love, a love that is vulnerable, and a love that is with us and continues to be available to us in the enfleshment of the other. In the © Grand Valley State University �This Is Our Story Richard A. Rhem Page 3   letter of John we read God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in them, the love of God experienced in human flesh, the ultimate truth about reality, as concrete and real as the person on your right and on your left, God revealed in Jesus, the nature of God, love, present with us. The story tells us what is true everywhere, at all times, and the ultimate, final word is love. That is our story. It is love that would stop at nothing to live out the embodiment of the heart of God, even to the extent of being broken and poured out in order that finally we earthlings might get it, with the ultimate truth lying in the vulnerability of love, because it's a reflection of the very core of reality. My, my, my, what a story! © 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 Christmas Eve Scripture Text Micah 5:5, John 1:14, 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-0-20001224 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000-12-24 Title A name given to the resource This Is Our Story Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 24, 2000 entitled "This Is Our Story", on the occasion of Christmas Eve, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Micah 5:5, John 1:14, 18. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Advent Incarnation Love at the core of reality